Guild Wars 2

whenever I play spvp I usually roll with

10/30/0/30/0 or 10/30/0/0/30 or even sometimes 30/20/0/20/0

I sometimes do put in the 10 points to SA for the condi clear, however it kills me to waste those points when I could get more dmg. or movement ability…

whenever im facing engis and necros on the other team which is almost always, it takes about 5 seconds for these suckers to double team a full condi stack on me which i cant do much about.

AND I MEAN – I CANT WALK FAST, I CANT HEAL, I CANT REGEN ENDURANCE IM BLEEDING OUT MY ANUS im talking a full shotdown here folks.

should i sacrifice points for 10 SA or is there another option?

Peow peow.2189:

whenever I play spvp I usually roll with

10/30/0/30/0 or 10/30/0/0/30 or even sometimes 30/20/0/20/0

I sometimes do put in the 10 points to SA for the condi clear, however it kills me to waste those points when I could get more dmg. or movement ability…

whenever im facing engis and necros on the other team which is almost always, it takes about 5 seconds for these suckers to double team a full condi stack on me which i cant do much about.

AND I MEAN – I CANT WALK FAST, I CANT HEAL, I CANT REGEN ENDURANCE IM BLEEDING OUT MY ANUS im talking a full shotdown here folks.

should i sacrifice points for 10 SA or is there another option?

There is another option: don’t engage with those classes you know you cannot beat.
If you are weak against conditions, don’t start a fight fight an engi or a necro. In sPvP your role should be mainly the one of roamer (quick decaps of unguarded points) and burst-er, so pick up those weakened targets and keep pressure on them.

Keep in mind that you are NOT supposed to beat any other class. Accept your weaknesses and deal with them.

I run Hide in Shadows on my #6 when I know I will need the extra cleanse, but it is more of a disengage than a stay in the fight.

K – acro thief: lyssa runes are an all clear, sword #2 gets one, shadow step utility removes 3 (it’s a stunbreak, condition clear, and disengage.. it’s far superior to signet of agility), and pain response nullifies most the opening burst if you don’t dodge it. Don’t open a fight with basilisk venom… you lose that powerful condition clear.

trickery d/p – try really hard to dodge their opening spam with dodge or shortbow 3. If you do get dumped on you’ll have to immediately use Hide in Shadows to remove most of it. After that it’s a dps race to kill them before they can restack conditions. A well used shadow step will lengthen the fight. I’m sure you know how strong the stolen fear is from necros so don’t miss steal and use it often. Steal from the engi and toss the gunk at him and drop a cluster bomb onto him and the gunk to proc chaos shield for yourself. That always seems to help a lot. When stealthed from your heal you can immobilize them and spam 2-3 clusterbombs point blank and do big damage. Lately (since I don’t use lyssa on d/p) I’ve been using thieves guild instead of BV and it makes most 1v1’s pretty easy. I got used to winning with BV so it feels like easy mode with TG

You shouldn’t be going into SA in spvp, not with the way things currently are. We’re at a disadvantage vs several builds but it doesn’t mean we can’t win. Sometimes it is best for your team not to engage but sometimes you should stand your ground.

I just put the points into SA. i actually run 0/30/20/20/0. It’s more defensive, but honestly the damage difference isn’t that big and i can deal with any condi class with ease.

I’m going to get flak for my setup, but idgaf because it works for me.

Remember folks: A live Thief always deals more damage than a dead Thief.

Heizero.9183:

I just put the points into SA. i actually run 0/30/20/20/0. It’s more defensive, but honestly the damage difference isn’t that big and i can deal with any condi class with ease.

I’m going to get flak for my setup, but idgaf because it works for me.

Remember folks: A live Thief always deals more damage than a dead Thief.

I use that build in wvw sometimes, it’s my favorite build that puts points into SA. However, you lose an absolute ton of damage compared to 10/30/0/0/30. 100 power, mug, poison on steal, 21 sec steal, 0-15% damage from initiative, fury up 50% of the time, boon steal (think removing protection), and better initiative management through the trickery line. If you’re taking hidden killer due to lower crit chance you’re losing even more dps not having executioner (fury gives you like 80% crit chance from behind) I think a s/d thief is just as tanky but does more dps over a d/p SA thief.

That being said, use what works for you. Is it giving you flak just saying it isn’t optimal?

Cheers!

10/30/0/0/0

Shadow Step should be in your utility bar in smaller scale fights and 1vX

D/P, lyssa runes, keep blinds up, and run some sort of gerilla tactic if necessary, engage>disengage>engage and keep control of your target.

S/x, lyssa runes, keep frequent steady condition removal with Inf Strike>Shadow Return, escape cooldowns of other classes, and return. In melee positioning is highly important.

Against necros, always dodge or avoid runes, dodge/FS/PW + Inf signet/Steal let’s you gap close in quickly and dodge at the same time breaking the runes, getting hit by 1 rune, especially the chill or fear, will in most cases always lead to your death if the necro is above average in skill. Counter random signet of spite with runes of lyssa, don’t let the necro counter runes of lyssa with signet of spite.

Against higher engineers that run grenade + bomb kit, fights can be hopeless because of the high utility and low cds, and pistols cause great pressure as well if you stay out of close range. Luck is really important in these fights, and to crit every attack taking them down quickly. Avoid anything that can lock you down, dodge elite turrets.

Against rangers, positioning is important, don’t turn your back on them, always move behind them, use LoS, stealth if you need to move out of range, use their stolen healing field to cleanse, and strike them from behind.

I like Withdraw much more than HiS, only because withdraw will prevent me from being locked down, and I’ll evade incoming burst after immobilize.

run lyssa runes on s/d. run ogre on d/p. the major dps condis that you will clear on d/p is from your heal. if you get nuked, use shadowstep to clear the rest or refuge to buy some time – try to avoid using refuge though. with d/p get used to using shadowstep (to gain distance for the 1sec cast of heal) + heal + shadowstep if you really screw up with anything (it will most likely confuse your opponent, and the combo will also clear six condis off if needed). also, steal from necros: their steal is great. get used to using shortbow as well – this is probably the best advice.

Don’t ever put points into shadow arts for spvp – bad idea.

I have to give credit to caed for showing me it first but I like using shadow refuge while in sbow to get a immobilize on the enemy to chain more cluster bombs. Not about clearing condi’s but a good trick to know regardless.

Hype.8032:

I have to give credit to caed for showing me it first but I like using shadow refuge while in sbow to get a immobilize on the enemy to chain more cluster bombs. Not about clearing condi’s but a good trick to know regardless.

i use refuge for the immob, then steal weapon swap and hammer them with d/p. Learned that from lux fortuna rank 9 thief :P but yeah caed wya is also cool

Peow peow.2189:

i use refuge for the immob, then steal weapon swap and hammer them with d/p. Learned that from lux fortuna rank 9 thief :P but yeah caed wya is also cool

When you steal with shortbow, 9 times out of 10, you should be using clusterbomb with it for a point blank clusterbomb shot. It takes a bit of practice to do, but if you can get it down, it’s one of the staple kitten nals in a d/p thief’s toolbox. another option is to immob → shadowshot. If you are in range, and your target is low on health, immobing before a heartseeker will guarantee your target to not dodge roll. you should be rarely ever using heartseeker though outside of using it for stealth.

lol, sorry you should die more from anus bleeding before you go back to your bridge.

I feel pretty much useless in spvp these days, more so because other classes can do it better and faster in most cases…even roaming in hotjoin. Shortbow #5 on battle for kythlo would be the only exception imo.

Neoheart.2750:

I feel pretty much useless in spvp these days, more so because other classes can do it better and faster in most cases…even roaming in hotjoin. Shortbow #5 on battle for kythlo would be the only exception imo.

play an engi on the side :P