Guild Wars 2

There is a Psychology behind the Thief class

~ Newer Thieves often wonder why or how higher tiered thieves can “see them through stealth” and know where they are. It’s often not the fact that we can see them, it’s that we played well and long enough to be able to accurately predict your movements.
~I know when I fight Thieves, and very much often.. chase them down I delve into the psychology of that Thief. I look at how they fight, I look at how they engage and disengage, I watch their motions determine whether or not they are a fight or flight kind of Thief. I look at my surroundings, and environment, I look at the exit possibilities. I take everything into account, Ambient creatures, near by animals, hittable Tower/Keeps (To CnD).

~We were once all new to Thief class. And we all had that question pertaining to how he/she knew I was there? The answer I’ve come up with is simply to Reverse roles and think what would you do, where would you go? If you can remember that and take that into consideration then you will be able to catch 90% of Thieves in this game. The last 10% know how to mask their tracks very well, and know their environment and shadowstep and porting abilities very well. So those unfortunately are the higher tiered Thieves advantage.

~Shadow Refuge- Yes this skill may be the one thing that decides whether or not you live or die in a fight, and 9/10 you’re saved. But that last 1/10 could be your day to meet death. When you’re inside shadow refuge, it’s not enough to pop the skill and just stand there. Any body can do that, to use shadow refuge to full affect and make sure that you’re actually safe while in it, do a dodge roll or 2 to guarantee safety. A lot of mesmers like to run greatsword and #5 ability knocks us out of refuge which is a buzz kill.. (Personal pet peeve— I hate getting knocked back whether it be mesmer GS, Ranger LB, Engineer Rifle, etc..) So make sure to dodge. And if your foe is visible and you have no dodges left, and they’re meleeing (Not aoeing) try to walk on the circumference of the refuge, and clockwise against their movements.

~To Be A Thief you need to think Logically. To Be A Great Thief, you need to think Logically and Psychologically (Personal Opinion)<—-

Refer to, To Be A Thief ~ https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/To-Be-A-Thief-1/first#post3826058

One very effective Psychological tactic to use is juking. Thieves are a king of juke moves.

One thing I some times do is drop an SR and shadow step away from it to create a gap. Some times I drop SR to force an Elementalist to cast AoE on it so I can sneak behind them while they are channeling their skill.

To make them think that I’m staying inside SR and see them blow all their knockbacks but nothing is coming out is priceless.

Crucial point to knowing what they will do next is their weapon layout. DP will stay near you but blind you heavily and occasionally backstab, SD will dance around you, DD will always try to stay close to you- if they back away something is wrong on their end, PD only worry when they run at you CnD is crucial to their skill rotation or they’ll even shadow strike, SP will shadow step a lot to get off PW and you’ll be met with blinds, fight them accordingly

@sirvincent I personally think necromancers have the best juke, spectral recall, since NO ONE expects a necromancers to juke you, even though the green line tells you where they are

Love dropping my Shadow Refuge, dodging inside it and watching the engies/mesmers/hammers blow their pushes, and then stand there dumbfounded for a second, only to start flailing aimlessly where my refuge was after I’m already gone.

RedSpectrum.1975:

@sirvincent I personally think necromancers have the best juke, spectral recall, since NO ONE expects a necromancers to juke you, even though the green line tells you where they are

The green line disqualifies them from being a jukester. One aspect of juking is to making your pursuer to think you are going one way when you’re actually going another way and stealth is the best tool for juking.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

RedSpectrum.1975:

@sirvincent I personally think necromancers have the best juke, spectral recall, since NO ONE expects a necromancers to juke you, even though the green line tells you where they are

The green line disqualifies them from being a jukester. One aspect of juking is to making your pursuer to think you are going one way when you’re actually going another way and stealth is the best tool for juking.

Well I wouldn’t say this disqualifies them as the term juking can be applied to real life where stealth doesn’t exist in gaming sense, I’d jut say necros are less effective at juking since someone who knows how they work ie me knows exactly where they went, around a corner though ala Battle of Kylo it’s pretty effective

RedSpectrum.1975:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

RedSpectrum.1975:

@sirvincent I personally think necromancers have the best juke, spectral recall, since NO ONE expects a necromancers to juke you, even though the green line tells you where they are

The green line disqualifies them from being a jukester. One aspect of juking is to making your pursuer to think you are going one way when you’re actually going another way and stealth is the best tool for juking.

Well I wouldn’t say this disqualifies them as the term juking can be applied to real life where stealth doesn’t exist in gaming sense, I’d jut say necros are less effective at juking since someone who knows how they work ie me knows exactly where they went, around a corner though ala Battle of Kylo it’s pretty effective

I would agree with you if not for the green line. Assassins in GW1 has similar skill (Shadow of Haste) which is more effective in juking because there’s no line tracing them.

Just read this thread. Some of you in here are individually wrapped pieces of kitten. “I like to manipulate people with full impunityyy! How droll~” Omg go dip some snuff and powder your Victorian wigs for crying out loud. Next class I start is going to be a thief just so I can learn it and take a mean one in each of your shoes. I’m gonna send each of you an eye patch and a sealed scroll to roleplay with and show me your deadly arts lol. Sorry OP and forum mods! Just had to get that off my chest pls carry on with your thievery.

Dunno why I’m so mean today so last post I promise. It must be the WvW trashtalk thread on reddit. If it helps, you can come to the engineer forums and tell us how much we suck! Or just me! I’m a free bag in wvw this is all I have left I swear. But for real, this is great advice on thieves vs thieves and how to read a thief’s intention when he or she is stealthing. If you guys find this note too offensive, just let me know via pm and I’ll edit in some nice words later and honestly.

John, that was quite possibly the most extemporaneous post on this forum. Lol.

Chicago Jack.5647:

John, that was quite possibly the most extemporaneous post on this forum. Lol.

Okay guys I looked it up, extemporaneous basically means uttered in the spur or heat of the moment

I would think knowing the thief’s tempo would also help a bit, is he the type to attack as soon as he enters stealth. will he stay in the whole time to move into position, or to recover for a bit.

I love using shadow refuge offensively. I once used SR on top of the enemy thief who immediately switched to SB to #2 me. I switch to my dagger mainhand and backstabbed him 1-2 s after casting SR. In the meanwhile he was stuck into SB for 9s because of his reflexes.

Another way I love using SR is to cast it on a running enemy. Shadowstep in it and backstab him immediately.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

One very effective Psychological tactic to use is juking. Thieves are a king of juke moves.

One thing I some times do is drop an SR and shadow step away from it to create a gap. Some times I drop SR to force an Elementalist to cast AoE on it so I can sneak behind them while they are channeling their skill.

To make them think that I’m staying inside SR and see them blow all their knockbacks but nothing is coming out is priceless.

You lose stealth if you leave SR early.

Zach.3264:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

One very effective Psychological tactic to use is juking. Thieves are a king of juke moves.

One thing I some times do is drop an SR and shadow step away from it to create a gap. Some times I drop SR to force an Elementalist to cast AoE on it so I can sneak behind them while they are channeling their skill.

To make them think that I’m staying inside SR and see them blow all their knockbacks but nothing is coming out is priceless.

You lose stealth if you leave SR early.

Only if you enter SR in first place… doh…

lol get called OP for talking about silly jukes and pre school trickery

Thank you guys for taking a look and providing your thoughts on my *Into the mind of a Thief" thread.

Zach.3264:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

One very effective Psychological tactic to use is juking. Thieves are a king of juke moves.

One thing I some times do is drop an SR and shadow step away from it to create a gap. Some times I drop SR to force an Elementalist to cast AoE on it so I can sneak behind them while they are channeling their skill.

To make them think that I’m staying inside SR and see them blow all their knockbacks but nothing is coming out is priceless.

You lose stealth if you leave SR early.

Only those who knows how to time CnD->Steal without getting revealed can pull this one off. It separates the good Thieves from the bad ones.

two thiefs killed me today and started jumping on my corpse, thats the psychology of an average thief

jihm.2315:

two thiefs killed me today and started jumping on my corpse, thats the psychology of an average thief

Unfortunately the Thief class is one of the classes that holds in high competition and rivalry with other Thieves. You want to be the best there is. That’s the mind set of a Thief. And you are never satisfied until you get your name across.

jihm.2315:

two thiefs killed me today and started jumping on my corpse, thats the psychology of an average thief

+1 to you, good sir!

AikijinX.6258:

jihm.2315:

two thiefs killed me today and started jumping on my corpse, thats the psychology of an average thief

Unfortunately the Thief class is one of the classes that holds in high competition and rivalry with other Thieves. You want to be the best there is. That’s the mind set of a Thief. And you are never satisfied until you get your name across.

i play guardian not a thief hehe

Aikijin’s comment about intra-class psychology is correct. I think we are one of the most competitive classes in our own class. The class I like to duel most against is a thief, and the fight that gives me most satisfaction for winning, is the thief.

Especially if you both hit low health a few times and manage to survive with kites/blinds/environmental use

you’re absolutely right Aikijin! i feel the same way but i can’t express it in english like the way you did cuz im bad @ english not my main language

Coloxeus.3480:

you’re absolutely right Aikijin! i feel the same way but i can’t express it in english like the way you did cuz im bad @ english not my main language

Yeah this is typically how I feel and think Thief-wise.