Guild Wars 2

Can the thief beat either of these?

They both have area denial, crowd control, and deals decent damage.

Rangers have stealth and Engineers got a truck load of ways to heal themselves.

Even “abusing” stealth, I couldn’t get close to these guys. The rangers will area cripple and bleed me, and the engineers just got a bunch of turrets, oil spill etc all over the place. If I get too eager they’ll outlast me due to their hp and defense.

Here’s how you win spirit rangers 100% of the time:
Signer of Malice + Daggerstorm + Pistol Whip spam.
To really turn things around, use the steal abillity from the ranger.
This creates a regen pulsing water field that cleanses those pesky conditions the Ranger might apply to you.
There’s literally nothing they can do but run away/call for help.
As for engies…I just try to burst them down as hard as I can and try to avoid their conditions.
Hope that helps!

It all depends on which build you are running on your thief. Every build has a counter build, and there is always a counter to a counter.

If your build focuses on dealing high damage, then spirit ranger and engineer are indeed high malices, because they are a counter strategy to your current strategy. If so, just avoid them.

To counter spirit ranger and engineer, run a ranged condition build. Stay out of the engineers turret field or dodge into the field, so they never hit you.

If you decide to run a backstab based damagin build, you should know your limitations and the counter builds that your are prone to lose against. You can then formulate your strategy and become a better player.

I have switched from a D/P backstabbing acrobatic thief to a P/D stealing condition thief. The counter strategy to my current build is condi rinse. Almost all classes are able to have such a setup. When I realise that my opponent is heavily build to counter my build (which I notice very soon), I flee. And by doing that, I can be more useful to than struggeling in a futile fight.