Guild Wars 2

I really don’t think this needs a story along with it. How do you counter these guys? Dat hammer+ mace/shield….Before you say blind field pistol offhand let me say this:

Yes, I do use the pistol offhand, and I do defeat a decent amount of them, BUT, if they hit you with even one stun, youre at the mercy of their 24/7 stun, yeah I can shadow step but the thing is that their stuns aren’t on a 50 second cooldown. They do hit relatively weak but hey, who needs power as long as I can keep you in one spot for an eternity and a half right? I really wish steal was a stun break sometimes…..

Only possible way is to use S/X where every stun is mostly evaded by ‘2’ or ‘3’ with S/D. Other than that there’s really no way to beat the OP builds warriors have right now, at least any normal player will not be able to handle warriors.

Either S/x or x/P
I’m using S/P, so no problems at all :P

RedSpectrum.1975:

I really don’t think this needs a story along with it. How do you counter these guys? Dat hammer+ mace/shield

Hammer + Mace/Shield is a build to counter melee Thieves build.

You need to use either P/x or shortbow. They don’t have the same mobility as GS warriors so keeping your distance is the only safe way. Unfortunately though, you cannot kill them with ranged weapons.

A Guardian with Hammer + Mace/Shield is even worst.

Just make sure to evade his First stun since he will prob open with that after that u can blind or use shadowstep as u said and dont forget shadow return from shadowstep is a stun breaker too and is availale for another 10 sec +- soits like 2 stun breaks in one skill. I dont see these warrs as a counter to thieves but its not a bild you can face roll it everytime

As you said OP you can win a bunch of time and some you lose, maybe those time you got outplayed?

I dont play warr but the stun build brought them back to spvp competitive level and i think thats good.

S/X can kill it (sword #2), but you have to be smart (meaning you never fight him near ur shadow return) and you gotta be full offensive otherwise you will not have enough dps.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

RedSpectrum.1975:

I really don’t think this needs a story along with it. How do you counter these guys? Dat hammer+ mace/shield

Hammer + Mace/Shield is a build to counter melee Thieves build.

You need to use either P/x or shortbow. They don’t have the same mobility as GS warriors so keeping your distance is the only safe way. Unfortunately though, you cannot kill them with ranged weapons.

A Guardian with Hammer + Mace/Shield is even worst.

A Guardian with Hammer + M/S has 2 knockbacks 1 immo and 1 ward which are all on fairly long CDs (compared to skullcrack), how exactly is that “even worse”? No, Hammer #2 is not a stun.

S/P and stun him more than he stuns you.

I play both Warrior and Thief at the moment in tPvP only and I have to admit that I have an easy time on my warrior thatn on my thief, even tho I main thief since beta and warrior since 3 months.
I think you can beat an hammer mace\shield warrior with healing signet using some of the common tournment thief specs (S\D 10 30 0 30 0, 10 0 0 30 30 or 0 30 0 30 10) but it will require a Greater effort and you will have to greatly outplay the warrior,
on the other hand the warrior requires much less effort to be succesfull with in tournments.
Unfortunately in this game some many fotm classes have not realy drawbacks if they miss something like an AoE or CC, cooldowns are nonesxistance for many classes and they can try to AoE or CC after few seconds.
It’s crazy to see how many noob warriors in tPvP just spam stuns and CC on people with stability on but they don’t pay anything for their bad gameplay cos they can keep spamming CC 24\7.

S/p, stun them while they try to stun you ;-)

Kolly.9872:

I play both Warrior and Thief at the moment in tPvP only and I have to admit that I have an easy time on my warrior thatn on my thief, even tho I main thief since beta and warrior since 3 months.
I think you can beat an hammer mace\shield warrior with healing signet using some of the common tournment thief specs (S\D 10 30 0 30 0, 10 0 0 30 30 or 0 30 0 30 10) but it will require a Greater effort and you will have to greatly outplay the warrior,
on the other hand the warrior requires much less effort to be succesfull with in tournments.
Unfortunately in this game some many fotm classes have not realy drawbacks if they miss something like an AoE or CC, cooldowns are nonesxistance for many classes and they can try to AoE or CC after few seconds.
It’s crazy to see how many noob warriors in tPvP just spam stuns and CC on people with stability on but they don’t pay anything for their bad gameplay cos they can keep spamming CC 24\7.

Basically this is what I have experienced as well. I have to put in so much effort, relatively, to kill someone on my thief as opposed to by other classes, and they call us noobs

MatthiasL.5346:

S/p, stun them while they try to stun you ;-)

+1 for saying almost the same as me S/P players ftw

Blind is the best method. When I play vs Stun-Lock Warriors they always complain about the blinds as the reason they couldn’t touch me.

If you are having a lot of trouble I suggest using liberal amounts of
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Shot

Careful timing of
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Black_Powder

in a pinch
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Infiltrator%27s_Arrow

Utility options are
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Blinding_Powder
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Signet_of_Shadows

(http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Smoke_Screen
Smoke Screen will be hard to use properly since it has such a short duration blind and you would have to kite them in it, although it does have a decently long duration that it stays out)

Traits that can blind are
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cloaked_in_Shadow
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Instinctual_Response

Last and probably least appealing is
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hard_to_Catch

This will prevent them from using their normal rotation because you will auto shadowstep away every 30 seconds when they land a stun.

Some of these are unconventional, but I find those to be the more intersting options because people are not often prepared for them.

Stun lockers can be a tough matchup for a thief because they are tanky enough to hold up against your damage and if they catch you with a stun when you don’t have a teleport up, then you are toast.

I’ve been playing mostly D/P, S/D and D/P, S/P giving up the shortbow. Blinds and poison on D/P will bait a Zerker stance out, then S/D can keep you safe until it expires. It takes a lot of work to counter it with those sets because you are so melee dependent, but it can be done. In any event it tends to be a long drawn out fight that is far less forgiving on the Thief than the Warrior. The win is really rewarding though, and often results in heavy insults flying in your direction.

@Gwalchgwn.1659: Nice!:-D didn’t read your post but you are absolutly right, s/p players ftw ;-)

While I havent run any D/ builds in sPvP recently, I’ve found that being patient usually helps substantially with stun lock warriors and guardians, though most of my expierence with it is from WvW. But, my main though here is if you abuse the blinds and stealth available they’ll blow all of their abilities trying to hit you, usually, which gives time to put in some decent burst, and when you manange to get them enough then the fight is pretty easy to finish most of the time. Patience and persistance.

You guys can watch Caed’s stream, I think the mug trait is important to counter CC warriors, along with Basilisk. Also the blind counters CC warrior super hard, you can wait until they pop their zerker stance, then you can do the blind finisher all day. Try to learn from Caed because I believe that Caed is the best thief NA.

Kinda annoying lately. Seems 80% of the population of WvWvW is running hammer stunlock & hp regen build.

As a thief, standing in black powder and using /dance is best option.

Yeah, they’re really annoying in sPvP since our burst is mitigated. But I’d have stun wars over LB/Hammer wars any day in tPvP.

Roll a stunlock warrior.

Zacchary.6183:

Roll a stunlock warrior.

But den when another faceroll build comes I’ll have to roll THAT one

Kaizer.7135:

Yeah, they’re really annoying in sPvP since our burst is mitigated. But I’d have stun wars over LB/Hammer wars any day in tPvP.

because lb/hammer takes more skill to play effectively compare to stun-lock warrior, But compare between these 2 builds, Hammer/LB > Stun-lock warrior A LOT. No comment it’s just truth.

Stunlock wars also suffer from blind spam. LB/hammer though are a pain.

Healing Signet is banned on most 1v1 servers. Fightning a Warrior without HS is super easy as a thief, especially a x/P one.
But every Warrior with Healing Signet is a really hard encounter for any thief: they are our natural counters.

RedSpectrum.1975:

Zacchary.6183:

Roll a stunlock warrior.

But den when another faceroll build comes I’ll have to roll THAT one

You gotta do what you gotta do for sPvP. Besides it’s good to know how to counter them by playing as one. Or in the case of the warr here, you see no counters, so you just keep on playing him.

I don’t have any trouble with stun warriors when using d/p or s/d. I agree with OlllllO shadow shot is your best option in these fights to keep up and blind and maintain pressure. Also, poison field from SB and the steal taken from warriors does nice poison application countering the healing signet; just don’t get skull cracked while spinning.

You have better mobility, and they only have melee weapons. Figure the rest yourself now

HELLruler.4820:

You have better mobility, and they only have melee weapons. Figure the rest yourself now

They have range cc and 100 gap closers that don’t put all their other skills on CD. And Thief mobility is admittedly falling behind most classes, even according to Anet. Wonder when that Thief buff they talked about is coming.

That being said, I play both War and Thief and my Warrior stomps everyone and everything in the most OP manner with less effort.

The problem is your using a cookie cutter build or relying on stealth too much…

Try someting outside of the box, try stealthless build, try range instead of putting yourself in harm with melee…

I run P/P with basilisk which usually takes them down to half, than a few traits/runes kick in for extra damage at 50%, than ice drake venom for a few seconds of chill slow/cooldown increase time which is under rated. Than I have my way with them at 900 range, if they do get close, no problem.

Roll for Initiative is a lifesavers in itself, 1 for full initiative refill, and the other for the nice evade, if they close the gap again, Just pop Withdraw for evade version 2, this time with heal. If they continue to close gaps, take full advantage of you 3 dodge rolls with 6 seconds swiftness… Or shortbow out.

If you get killed 1v1 in PvP its kinda your own fault :/

Littlefeather.8623:

The problem is your using a cookie cutter build or relying on stealth too much…

Try someting outside of the box, try stealthless build, try range instead of putting yourself in harm with melee…

I run P/P with basilisk which usually takes them down to half, than a few traits/runes kick in for extra damage at 50%, than ice drake venom for a few seconds of chill slow/cooldown increase time which is under rated. Than I have my way with them at 900 range, if they do get close, no problem.

Roll for Initiative is a lifesavers in itself, 1 for full initiative refill, and the other for the nice evade, if they close the gap again, Just pop Withdraw for evade version 2, this time with heal. If they continue to close gaps, take full advantage of you 3 dodge rolls with 6 seconds swiftness… Or shortbow out.

If you get killed 1v1 in PvP its kinda your own fault :/

1. I switch between stealth and evasion builds and have fought these guys with both
2. RFI Isn’t a full initiative refill but it is a stun break, there is one
3. Shortbow is too weak for these guys its like killing someone with bug bites as Kal Reegar says so informatively, only reall good thing is the poison field really, but im sure they can keep the stuns up to wear them off
4. Okay but I wouldn’t want to waste a heal for dodging- “okay then eat the stun then your choice” okay I’ll use withdraw then oh look more stuns and sword #2 isnt a break anymore
5. Most importantly what most seem to not be seeing, time does not stop for everyone, while im dodging around all over the place like a graceful gazelle and showing off my nice acrobatics, the warrior is a) healing b) shedding CD time

RedSpectrum.1975:

Littlefeather.8623:

The problem is your using a cookie cutter build or relying on stealth too much…

Try someting outside of the box, try stealthless build, try range instead of putting yourself in harm with melee…

I run P/P with basilisk which usually takes them down to half, than a few traits/runes kick in for extra damage at 50%, than ice drake venom for a few seconds of chill slow/cooldown increase time which is under rated. Than I have my way with them at 900 range, if they do get close, no problem.

Roll for Initiative is a lifesavers in itself, 1 for full initiative refill, and the other for the nice evade, if they close the gap again, Just pop Withdraw for evade version 2, this time with heal. If they continue to close gaps, take full advantage of you 3 dodge rolls with 6 seconds swiftness… Or shortbow out.

If you get killed 1v1 in PvP its kinda your own fault :/

1. I switch between stealth and evasion builds and have fought these guys with both
2. RFI Isn’t a full initiative refill but it is a stun break, there is one
3. Shortbow is too weak for these guys its like killing someone with bug bites as Kal Reegar says so informatively, only reall good thing is the poison field really, but im sure they can keep the stuns up to wear them off
4. Okay but I wouldn’t want to waste a heal for dodging- “okay then eat the stun then your choice” okay I’ll use withdraw then oh look more stuns and sword #2 isnt a break anymore
5. Most importantly what most seem to not be seeing, time does not stop for everyone, while im dodging around all over the place like a graceful gazelle and showing off my nice acrobatics, the warrior is a) healing b) shedding CD time

RFI does return full initiative. IDK when the last time you used it but as of lastnight, it does…

Shortbow escape, not Shortbow DPS…the topic is escaping or preventing being stunned

Withdraw escapes the gap, its an opener to an exit or even more of a gap.

“Most importantly what most seem to not be seeing, time does not stop for everyone, while im dodging around all over the place like a graceful gazelle and showing off my nice acrobatics, the warrior is a) healing b) shedding CD time”

Thats where your choosing the wrong option, if your intent is to escape being stun locked, why would you want to stay the fight? These methods are the get out of things, thats why its range build to safely DPS while at range, and always have the option to escape if needed.

Then I misunderstood since I knew you were smart enough to know a shortbow cannot kill those guys and http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Roll_for_Initiative
you get back 6 initiative not 12 or 15, using CnD of Black Powder then RFI does not count as full init regen :p

Grab bountiful theft. When his stability pops on headshot whisper in his ear…

“Thank you”.

Just turn 180 and walk away, really.

Bad or average ones I beat with d/p + sb. Good to great ones it’s better to find another target.

Blind is the best offer you can get.
I can win with ease against random warriors only using BP and maybe one stun breaker.

But when you face good warriors, you’re pretty much f**ed, unless you play perfectly and spam the blinds in a f***ing perfect timing.

I usually just use P/D against warriors of this type(I use P/D for everything regardless). The playstyles all revolve around melee, so shadow strike(P/D #3), cripple, and area access denial with caltrops works extremely well.