I’ve heard a lot about the Thief having a great burst. But what good is even the most powerful burst if a target’s passive defenses completely and unavoidably counters a large percentage of it?
Defenses such as Mirror of Anguish, Reaper’s Protection, Tempest Defense, Eye for an Eye, Soothing Bastion, Defy Pain, Self-Regulating Defenses, or even the Thief’s own Instant Reflexes… all are completely passive. They are literally outside of the player’s control. They are 100% effective even for a player who is AFK. And all of them can either negate a burst after a certain amount of damage or even stop a burst before it can begin. There is no way to avoid them, nor is there even a way to detect if a target has them traited.
There are many other passive defenses, of course, though not necessarily as devastating to the Thief. Personally, I would suggest that all passive defenses (especially CC defenses) require the target to already be in combat before they can be activated, allowing opening CC skills to be effective on an unwary target.
However, here are two specific suggestions for the Thief to give it a better chance to land its full burst potential, so it won’t be as easily negated. Note that they are separate suggestions to be assessed each on its own, not together. The potential to stack them is there if they are implemented as trait choices, though I’m not sure if traits are the best way to implement them.
Assassination
The Thief has the reputation of being a sneaky assassin. This will allow it better ability to live up to that reputation. Assassination requires the Thief to be out of combat.
While out of combat, the Thief will gain the “Assassin” effect. The “Assassin” effect will be lost whenever the Thief is struck, and will not return until the Thief leaves combat.
When the Thief strikes an opponent while the “Assassin” effect is present, the effect is transferred to the target in the form of the “Marked” effect.
The “Marked” effect will remain present until the Thief is struck or leaves combat, or if this opponent leaves combat.
While the “Marked” effect is present, this opponent’s passive defenses will not take effect.
This will allow a Thief to open up combat with a full burst without fear of self-CCing itself. It will also force the opponent to defend itself actively, giving the Thief the potential to down the opponent with an initial burst if it can do so before the opponent can react with active defenses. Yet it will also give the opponent the opportunity to regain its passive defenses if it or its allies can strike the Thief.
Sabotage
The Thief can get so close to its opponent, it can steal items from it. Why wouldn’t a Thief be able to use that opportunity to sabotage the opponent? Sabotaging is Steal-based, bringing the Thief the potential to sabotage the opponent at vital times during combat.
Whenever a Thief successfully uses Steal on an opponent, that opponent gains the “Sabotaged” effect. This effect lasts for 5 seconds. While the “Sabotaged” effect is present, this opponent’s passive defenses will not activate. However, any passive defenses that are already active will remain active.
This will allow the Thief to avoid self-CCing itself by opening combat with Steal. It will also be able to keep the opponent from passively entering into immune/invulnerable states if it uses Steal at the correct moments, allowing the Thief to apply its full burst potential throughout combat.
Personally, I see passive defenses as one of the Thief’s main problems in today’s game… if not the most debilitating. They force every battle into one of attrition against the clock, and time is the worst enemy of the Thief.
If one of the previous suggestions were implemented, I believe it would allow a well-played Thief to take back the advantages of setting up proper ambushes and to force opponents to play actively based on skill instead of passively based on traits.
Again, this is all about giving the ability to counter PASSIVE defenses, not to counter ACTIVE defenses.