Guild Wars 2

Really bad on my Thief and learning in this game is kinda hard because there are no duels and practice mode is a pain with its constant 2v5s. Please, answer a few of my questions:

1. As a D/P, should I just accept that I can never beat 80% of the meta builds and only decap and 1v2 in a match? Builds like any non-zerk Engineer, certain Necro builds, D/D ele, shoutbow/hambow/greatbow Warriors, well played Guardians, condi Rangers etc.? Or am I just bad and any build can be beaten on D/P? I just don’t get how I can fight Necros/Engies that instantly put 6 condis on me, including chill and weakness, while all condi removal I have is Shadowstep and maybe HiS.

2. If my team is losing 4v4 and even 3v4 on other points, should I just concentrate on decapping and never even think about fighting or assist in fights to try and wipe the enemy team and sacrifice two other points to enemy roamers?

3. How often should I use shortbow and in what situations? I’m talking combat, not getting around. I find that even 1v2 with D/P is often impossible due to collateral damage some classes produce.

4. If I decap, see an enemy approaching and realize I won’t be able to decap in time, should I leave or try and fight the enemy?

5. Should I always full cap if nobody is coming or decap and move on ASAP?

6. If I get jumped by an enemy, what should I do? I find that trying to enter stealth takes too long, even if it’s just half a second, and I’m already dead or at 20% and full of condis. Should I blow every CD and initiative on SB to try to escape or even just die quickly on purpose to resume roaming as soon as possible? Or should I still always take a gamble whether or not I can BP+HS fast enough?

7. Is Shadow Refuge really needed? It’s slow and it rarely works as a save for me, because it’s an instant killing zone. It doesn’t help saving teammates that much either, because all people do nowadays is cleave.

Lets start.

1. You can kill thieves and mesmer
You can gank any Light and mediun armor
You should absolutely stay away from heavys, necros and engies

2. You should +1 even fights and flat ignore unevem fights. There are other classes that burden the role of helping a tem in a unevem fight, and your arent using one.

3. For movement and when there is far too much aoe for you to dive in.
You can also use it to spam poison to help taking down bunkers and slowdown resses

4. If you are left alone. Decap it.
Thought the real answer to this question depends on the enemy respaw

6. depends on Who ganks you. Read point 1.

7. Yes. Takes a little dancing but it work.
Usually you can ress someone before the cleave but if you notice its too much just let it die. Just dont die ressing.

YuiRS.8129:

1. As a D/P, should I just accept that I can never beat 80% of the meta builds and only decap and 1v2 in a match? Builds like any non-zerk Engineer, certain Necro builds, D/D ele, shoutbow/hambow/greatbow Warriors, well played Guardians, condi Rangers etc.? Or am I just bad and any build can be beaten on D/P? I just don’t get how I can fight Necros/Engies that instantly put 6 condis on me, including chill and weakness, while all condi removal I have is Shadowstep and maybe HiS.

Actually what you need to accept is the there is always a counter build to your build. The bunker build was born because Thieves have put other professions into this meta. However at the same time ArenaNet was nerfing our damage output. ArenaNet is also the reason for the condition damage bunker builds because that’s what they are promoting based on the recent game updates.

Condition damage bunker build is a direct counter to D/P builds.

Our main problem is, D/P is the only well-rounded build in PvP, that we are lacking diversity in build, so it’s not hard for other profession to build against us. If they can build against D/P, that build is good enough for any other Thief’s build.

2. If my team is losing 4v4 and even 3v4 on other points, should I just concentrate on decapping and never even think about fighting or assist in fights to try and wipe the enemy team and sacrifice two other points to enemy roamers?

This really depends on your team composition and strategy. If you’re losing a 3v4/4v4 fights then your strategy isn’t working and you may need to make some adjustments. But don’t tweak your team based on one situation, you need to have the ability to adapt to any situation.

3. How often should I use shortbow and in what situations? I’m talking combat, not getting around. I find that even 1v2 with D/P is often impossible due to collateral damage some classes produce.

I’m not a big fan of shortbow so I have not advice here, so I’ll let others answer this.

4. If I decap, see an enemy approaching and realize I won’t be able to decap in time, should I leave or try and fight the enemy?

Decap takes less time than capping, so you will always have enough time to decap. Even if the enemy made it in time, it’s still best to keep them there as long as possible — given that you can survive long enough for one of your team mate to assist you. But this will require coordination and communication. Your team captain will usually make the call.

5. Should I always full cap if nobody is coming or decap and move on ASAP?

IMO full cap unless you’re ahead in points.

6. If I get jumped by an enemy, what should I do? I find that trying to enter stealth takes too long, even if it’s just half a second, and I’m already dead or at 20% and full of condis. Should I blow every CD and initiative on SB to try to escape or even just die quickly on purpose to resume roaming as soon as possible? Or should I still always take a gamble whether or not I can BP+HS fast enough?

In most cases, if someone got to drop on you first, you are more than likely to go down even before you can do anything. So the best thing you can do is have a better communication with your team to give you a heads up on which enemy is missing so you can prepare.

7. Is Shadow Refuge really needed? It’s slow and it rarely works as a save for me, because it’s an instant killing zone. It doesn’t help saving teammates that much either, because all people do nowadays is cleave.

I only use SR in WvW, mostly as a decoy. Blinding Powder is a better choice IMO.

Okay. Thanks, guys.