Guild Wars 2

I have several questions about what a Thief should do and when as well as what it requires the rest of its team to do in order to be successful.

First, does a Thief need its 4 other players to be able to hold their own in a 4v4 or 3v3 without assistance? Not necessarily win the fights, but last long enough to allow the Thief to do what it needs to do before it gets there to +1.

Secondly, which is more important? If the far point is completely open, but there is a 4v4 going on at mid, which should a Thief prioritize? Decapping far or +1ing the mid fight? What if it is a 3v3? Or what if there are heavy bunkers on mid that will take a while to down?

If a 4v4 is happening at mid, and the other team has a Thief, and both home and far are open (you control home, and your opponent controls far), where should you go?

If you are decapping far, but your team is losing players in a 4v4 at mid, what should you do? Stay and cap far completely? Head to mid to try and even the numbers? Or attempt to complete a map objective (creature on forest) while you wait for your team to regroup?

If you are +1ing a 3v3 or 4v4 against bunkers, what is the best strategy? And how can a Thief effectively +1 in a 3v3 or 4v4 without getting caught in all the AoE? I’m a power-crit Thief, but my Shortbow seems to be very ineffective… especially against bunkers.

Thank you! :-D

Honestly, make a decision and recap whether it worked out or not, that’s how you learn what works best. You can also watch some sindrener or other good thief playing on twitch. As a general rule of thumb, go for the decap and if they send nobody you can full cap. At mid you try to kill out of position squishies, pressure respawning players and +1 small skirmishes.

Kageseigi.2150:

I have several questions about what a Thief should do and when as well as what it requires the rest of its team to do in order to be successful.

First, does a Thief need its 4 other players to be able to hold their own in a 4v4 or 3v3 without assistance? Not necessarily win the fights, but last long enough to allow the Thief to do what it needs to do before it gets there to +1.

Secondly, which is more important? If the far point is completely open, but there is a 4v4 going on at mid, which should a Thief prioritize? Decapping far or +1ing the mid fight? What if it is a 3v3? Or what if there are heavy bunkers on mid that will take a while to down?

If a 4v4 is happening at mid, and the other team has a Thief, and both home and far are open (you control home, and your opponent controls far), where should you go?

If you are decapping far, but your team is losing players in a 4v4 at mid, what should you do? Stay and cap far completely? Head to mid to try and even the numbers? Or attempt to complete a map objective (creature on forest) while you wait for your team to regroup?

If you are +1ing a 3v3 or 4v4 against bunkers, what is the best strategy? And how can a Thief effectively +1 in a 3v3 or 4v4 without getting caught in all the AoE? I’m a power-crit Thief, but my Shortbow seems to be very ineffective… especially against bunkers.

Thank you! :-D

1st is YES your team needs to be able to at least stalemate even fights. When I find a thief on my team I focus at minimum keeping 1 point capped at all times while keeping a 2nd neutralized. This allows the thief on my team (if they know how to play thief) the ability to carry the match.

2nd If you have home capped, they have far capped, and mid is a 4v4 you need to decap far then rotate off ASAP. The time it takes for you to decap far then get back to mid shouldn’t decide the fight in favor of the opposition. If it does you are going to lose that match no matter what you do b/c this is more of the same question handled in #1.

If my thief is on far and we wipe at mid I tell the thief to full cap to make them spread out their numbers while we all respawn. If we do not wipe and the fight continues would hope the thief to come back and even up the fight until we get a respawn. This puts the other team in a tough place b/c they have no caps vs our home cap. They have to commit a person to full cap their home node while we enjoy a 4v5 on 2 points.

Now as for +1 on a fight full of bunkers. I can’t really help you on this too much since I don’t play thief, and I can only tell you that your team should be coordinating damage. I also can tell you that when I play power mesmer I generally kill the support first. I honestly don’t know for thieves tbh, but I have had really good thieves on my team focus the ele in team fights to help out. I bet other players in this forum can help better than I.

1. If you can fullcap a point you don’t have quickly, not necessarily. But it’s very nice for them to be able to, and they should be able to.

2. Usually I say it depends on what’s happening. I usually go for a fullcap unless they can win the teamfight with me there, or there are low targets that just need one extra burst to go down. If the team is losing the fight I usually fullcap.

3. To me it depends on where you’re closer to, but usually home. You don’t get respawns there in case we kill someone at mid.

4. If the team becomes outnumbered at mid just fullcap. Don’t want to risk it, as you can get easy points by fullcapping, then regroup later. It’s basically a cushion.

5. Keep poison up on the bunker (I’m assuming tempest). Focus the squishy targets first. Don’t focus the ele unless they’re below 50% HP. You can force an invuln, then swap to another target briefly, then go back if the ele hasn’t healed up again. Basically, focus the ele if they’re low. It’s a waste of time to try and focus them down. It’s better to down the squishy targets and then cleave and take out the rest of the team, at least in my experience.

I’ve also found it effective to, as a thief, keep control on the ele while the rest of the team focuses down another target. That way the ele is disabled and can’t support, so it’s easier to focus down targets. As for being in AoE, I kinda just yolo it since I run D/P staff. I vault evade through traps and aoe to my targets, or if I need to, get out with vault. With shortbow you can stay off point and AoE the point. Put down poisons and cluster bombs.

Hope that helped

A full cap on an open point is very, very rarely a good idea for a thief. There’s really 3 situations where it’s worth doing:

1) The enemy team has very, very limited mobility (i.e. no revs, thieves, or mesmers on their team) and is caught up in bunker-heavy fights on other points.

2) The enemy team is dominating on all other points and there’s nothing else you can do until your team respawns.

3) The enemy team is just terrible.

In situation 2 and 3, the game is often such a clear win/loss that it doesn’t really matter anyways.

And regarding bunk-heavy 3v3 and 4v4 fights, you have a few options. You can try to focus a target during a weak moment with a steal burst combo (this would be a low HP ele in fire/air attunement, a necro that has run out of shroud, a warrior that’s already procced their passive Endure Pain, etc.). You play conservatively, hanging near the outside and using your initiative for head shots to try and lock down a target for your allies to focus (make sure they’re targetted so your teammates know to assist). Finally, you can plink away with short bow. Short bow is really a last resort and often too weak to be very worthwhile.

As Alchemyst said also, poison on the bunkers is very helpful.

And just remember that during any time you get caught in a 3v3 or 4v4, you should be closely watching the far points and disengage asap to +1 any small fights that pop up or decap open points. Tunnel vision is your worst enemy.

Dahkeus.8243:

A full cap on an open point is very, very rarely a good idea for a thief. There’s really 3 situations where it’s worth doing:

1) The enemy team has very, very limited mobility (i.e. no revs, thieves, or mesmers on their team) and is caught up in bunker-heavy fights on other points.

2) The enemy team is dominating on all other points and there’s nothing else you can do until your team respawns.

3) The enemy team is just terrible.

In situation 2 and 3, the game is often such a clear win/loss that it doesn’t really matter anyways.

And regarding bunk-heavy 3v3 and 4v4 fights, you have a few options. You can try to focus a target during a weak moment with a steal burst combo (this would be a low HP ele in fire/air attunement, a necro that has run out of shroud, a warrior that’s already procced their passive Endure Pain, etc.). You play conservatively, hanging near the outside and using your initiative for head shots to try and lock down a target for your allies to focus (make sure they’re targetted so your teammates know to assist). Finally, you can plink away with short bow. Short bow is really a last resort and often too weak to be very worthwhile.

As Alchemyst said also, poison on the bunkers is very helpful.

And just remember that during any time you get caught in a 3v3 or 4v4, you should be closely watching the far points and disengage asap to +1 any small fights that pop up or decap open points. Tunnel vision is your worst enemy.

^This!^

Depends who the player on thief is, but generally i always go for caps. Thieves nowdays are more elusive than ever due to 6 dodges, you will be wasting time trying to catch one meanwhile you could have decapped/capped a point.

You may try to kill them if they are at your skill level or worse but when i face players like Sind i just avoid them.

I also try to stay away from big fights since usually i would just get trained and my team never supports me nor focuses enemy thief.

Kageseigi.2150:

I have several questions about what a Thief should do and when as well as what it requires the rest of its team to do in order to be successful.

First, does a Thief need its 4 other players to be able to hold their own in a 4v4 or 3v3 without assistance? Not necessarily win the fights, but last long enough to allow the Thief to do what it needs to do before it gets there to +1.

Yes. There should be at least 3 members who can hold their own even in 5v3 fights. I’ve seen this many times, thus it can be done. If your team can handle the pressure, there’s really no need for the Thief to +1 that fight. Unless your team owns all the node and there’s nothing for you to do, the Thief should be capping/decapping.

However, this scenario differs from my own perception of what strategy should and could work.

IMO, let another profession handle the capping and have the Thief be one of the 3 members that can hold their own. Most of the time when we watch a match, a 3v3 or a 4v4 is mostly a stalemate only because everyone is building bunkers. The Thief has a lot of ways that can deal with bunkers, yet they are out there node-hopping when they should be part of the fight instead. If the meta’s mentality shifts and start to recognize what the Thief can really do in a team fight, they would be reluctant in sending them off to cap a node…and when this happens, there will be no more stalemates in a 3v3 or 4v4, one of them will go down and decide the fight sooner than later and make for a really enjoyable match. What the Devs are doing in their patches is to artificially make the game last longer by making the professions more tanky, but it seems that they are slowly realizing that the game might have last longer, but sure as hell it’s boring to watch. A Thief with a high potential of tipping a balance is out there node-hopping is not fun to do nor is fun to watch.

Secondly, which is more important? If the far point is completely open, but there is a 4v4 going on at mid, which should a Thief prioritize? Decapping far or +1ing the mid fight? What if it is a 3v3? Or what if there are heavy bunkers on mid that will take a while to down?

You have to communicate at this point. If your team needs you, then go +1, if not, go cap. Your effectiveness in dealing with bunkers depends on your build and your team’s build. It’s not hard to bring down a bunker as long as you coordinate your attacks and focus on one target. If you’re in solo-queue, forget everything I’ve said because you will need luck instead. The key here is communication, which is absent in solo. If you base your decision on assumptions, more often than not, it will backfire and bite you in the…you get the idea.

If a 4v4 is happening at mid, and the other team has a Thief, and both home and far are open (you control home, and your opponent controls far), where should you go?

Same answer from the previous question; communication. Even if you’re a seasoned veteran, if you failed in communicating, it is more than likely that your team will lose. You can get lucky in your assumptions but that will only take you so far.

If you are decapping far, but your team is losing players in a 4v4 at mid, what should you do? Stay and cap far completely? Head to mid to try and even the numbers? Or attempt to complete a map objective (creature on forest) while you wait for your team to regroup?

If your team own mid, then only cap until neutralized, then help mid. If not, completely cap it. If your opponent owns mid, more than likely they will push home if they win that team fight, so might as well completely cap far to have them pause and decide which node to cap next…this is assuming of course that one of their members is not already capping home during the team fight or they don’t already own home, otherwise they’ll push far and smash you. At this point, try to regroup with your team when they respawn.

If you are +1ing a 3v3 or 4v4 against bunkers, what is the best strategy? And how can a Thief effectively +1 in a 3v3 or 4v4 without getting caught in all the AoE? I’m a power-crit Thief, but my Shortbow seems to be very ineffective… especially against bunkers.

The best strategy is communication. Without it, you’ll be missing a lot of opportunities because your team member has information that may not be available to you. For instance, your team might have witnessed that one of your opponents have used their stun break, but that is something you didn’t witness yourself. You could have burst that person down, but lacking communication screwed you over.

You could also be missing a lot of vital information, for instance, a Thief pop-out behind you and your team mate can see the Thief, since your team has no way to tell you, you got backstabbed and was downed in a split-second. Or let’s assume that you’re trying to +1 a fight and your team has witnessed a DH or Ranger have dropped multiple traps in an area, you could end up triggering all the trap and get toast as soon as you arrived.

As I’ve mentioned above, it’s not hard to down a bunker as long as you can coordinate your attacks and focus on one target. With your build, you are more than likely to be auto-attacking and dropping poison clouds and waiting for someone to drop to 50% and then burst them down. Also, just a tactical advice, don’t switch target when your team pings one, instead wait for an opening then switch target to burst. More than likely, if you switch target on a ping, you’re giving away your team’s target for burst. Only switch if you know fully well that you can down the target, otherwise just be patient and keep spamming the poison and steal some buffs.

This is based on my experience, feel free to disagree.