Guild Wars 2

Well Met!

I was wondering if the community would be willing to help me compile a general list of tricks and tips for the thief profession using the different weapon sets/utilities.

I find thief has so much to offer for such things as show by Phantaram.

Even the tiny and incredibly obvious tricks would be appreciated as I am still new to this profession.

Here are those that I am aware of.

Dagger/Dagger
- Activating Smoke Screen and then using the rotation of Hearthseeker in combination with Backstap does the most amount of damage possible.

Sword/Dagger

Sword/Pistol
- Pistol Whip while having Signet of Malice basically heals your entire health bar.

Pistol/Pistol

Shortbow
- Spamming Cluster Bomb while aiming around yourself becomes a powerful AOE attack. Which also works well with Signet of Malice

Depending on the reception of this thread, i’ll try to keep it updated as frequently as possible

Thanks in advance,

Here’s a couple beginner’s tricks;

D/D:
CnD → Steal → Backstab

D/P:
Black Powder → heartseeker → backstab

All of my comments will relate to the S/P weapon set which I still main despite the many nerfs ;(
Steal from a warrior→Black Powder→Whirling Axe skill→AOE Blinding Projectiles
Also works with Smoke Screen→Daggerstorm
(Very useful combined with Signet of Malice for lots of healing and blinds.)
Precast Pistolwhip→infiltrators signet or Steal or even Shadowstep if you can aim it right.
(Make sure to teleport at the exact moment Pistolwhip starts the attack and stun, don’t worry with enough practice it will be easy.)
Sword 2→Pistolwhip→Teleport out
But the best tip of all for S/P is use Pistolwhip for evades combined with Acrobatics Feline Grace. Don’t spam it for damage instead use it defensively. I’ve even made this build work with a Soldier’s Amulet. People don’t expect a tanky thief lol. But yeah S/P has gotten alot of nerfs. It used to be a noob destroying machine and I would dominate entire 8v8 or 10v10 customs. I do alot of hotjoin and experiment with builds. So I’d recommend you do the same to master thief

Heres a trick for you, s/d 3 spam around your enemy until you do a 360, then pull out your sb and cluster bomb 420 no scope him. Legit stuff

ricky.2679:

But the best tip of all for S/P is use Pistolwhip for evades combined with Acrobatics Feline Grace. Don’t spam it for damage instead use it defensively.

This is so true. I’ve played thief almost exclusively and only recently got in to S/P like for-realsies. The moment it clicked for me to punish people for over aggression or just to anticipate incoming damage and Pistol Whip defensively got me completely hooked on the weapon set.

That, and the whirlwind blind vs warriors is so great. Speaking of which, I started having a whole new level of fun using x/P skills and combos that are more about the blinds than the stealths.

Not to discourage this thread or shut it down….

Pretty sure there has ban a couple threads already that talk about thief tricks and tips… might be worthwhile compiling them into one thread and sticky’ing…

Awesome! I’ll be adding these up by end of day

Keep it up guys!

Zero Day.2594:

Not to discourage this thread or shut it down….

Pretty sure there has ban a couple threads already that talk about thief tricks and tips… might be worthwhile compiling them into one thread and sticky’ing…

Can you link me to the thread? I’ll just combine both!

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Here’s a couple beginner’s tricks;

D/D:
CnD -> Steal -> Backstap

D/P:
Black Powder -> heartseeker -> backstap

Fixed it for you

For instance:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Guide-Book-of-Shadows-The-Thief-Handbook/first#post4273857

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Thief-Tricks-and-Tips/first (has a youtube video)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Thief-s-Trickbook/first

Since the search function sucks on these forums….: (copy+paste into address bar, the redirection seems wonky o.O)

https://www.google.ca/search?q=site%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fforum-en.guildwars2.com%2Fforum%2Fprofessions%2Fthief+tips+and+tricks&safe=off&biw=1920&bih=971&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A2014-08-31%2Ccd_max%3A2015-03-24&tbm=#safe=off&q=site:https:%2F%2Fforum-en.guildwars2.com%2Fforum%2Fprofessions%2Fthief+tricks

or Google:

“site:https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief tricks”

you can replace “tricks” with w/e you’re looking for. Without the quotes of course…

the “site:<website>” limits the results to only that website, so you can search through sites that don’t have a search function, or their search function is very kittenty.

Remove your mini-pet when you’re pvp’ing. They’re always visible so the enemy can tell where you are, even when you’re stealthed

Res ally, steal on the enemy trying to stomp to interrupt while ressing.

Stomp enemy, steal on resser to interrupt while stomping. Well timed the downed will think they are about to get up and won’t mist/port.

Delay a cap on a point you decapped a bit, then leave. Drop Infiltrator’s Return on the way. Port back from behind an obstruction (wall/fence on Forest, wall/rocks on Legacy) where they think you’re going to join a team fight. Decap them before they realise what you’ve done or can get back.

Stand over the downed enemy and infiltrator’s arrow away. Press interact immediately to start stomping. Port back with steal or signet to land the stomp.

Vs. opponents that dodge almost randomly/face roll evade like condi ranger where landing your steal isn’t just succeed or fail but live or die to those conditions, use steal after landing immobilise from infiltrator’s strike.

Press flanking strike right after an enemy S/D thief does so yours hits and their’s gets evaded.

Withdraw + weapon swap to cancel the roll. Good for keeping yourself in range when you want to swap weapons anyway but not go defensive, and for healing inside shadow refuge.

Pre-cast flanking strike on the buildings on Khylo to turn it over to larcenous strike.

Use withdraw to escape immobilise even if you don’t need the heal. It could save you more health that it can give back.

About face + withdraw for covering ground quickly / gap closing.

Dancing dagger on the enemy trebuchet when a D/P thief or mesmer goes into stealth.

Jump+infiltrator’s strike to make infiltrator’s return not port you back.

Heartseeker/cluster bomb in throw gunk. This one isn’t really a tip or trick but a lot of thieves don’t do it.

Dancing dagger in throw gunk can stack quite a bit of confusion.

Dancing dagger inside shadow refuge if you’re S/D trying to fight on point in 1v2 holding a cap for backup. Lots of life steals.

Target+steal quickly (+agility signet to cleanse blind if blinded) when surprise jumped by another thief.

Don’t think just press steal or infiltrator’s signet when focusing a thief or mesmer and they dissapear but you still have them targeted and are in the stronger position.

Stealth in the open where an enemy player sitting on a point can see you to force them to stay on that point for a bit longer.

Always always always be aware of where the enemy squishies are. Both for survival (they don’t surprise you) and so you can gank them before they gank your allies.

Vs. downed guardians and engis that have their #3 skill soon, cloak and dagger, swap to shortbow and blind them with infiltrator’s arrow so the knockback misses. You can also use infiltrator’s arrow to blind them while an ally stomps, but it requires very good timing.

Vs. downed elementalist, stealth, count to ~3, then start the stomp. If you’re lucky you’ll stomp them immediately after they exit vapour form.

Vs. downed mesmer, stealth, count to 2-3, then start the stomp. If you’re fortunate they’ll reappear close enough to you that your stomp will finish them.

Odyssey.2613:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Here’s a couple beginner’s tricks;

D/D:
CnD -> Steal -> Backstap

D/P:
Black Powder -> heartseeker -> backstap

Fixed it for you

Baby steps. That’s too advanced for a lot of players.

Choking gas from shortbow #4 skill also heals for each tick when using signet of malice.

Use inf strike then steal fast and u can land an immobilize while out of range for inf strike.

When using the stolen skill “throw gunk” cast dancing dagger, or sb #3 skill or any other projectile finisher through it for confusion stacks, also works with other ethereal fields,: note if fighting a turret engi it will give 2 stacks if it bounces between him and his thumper turret which can = dead engi.

use steal and pistol #5 to teleport to a downed body then cast stomp for a faster route to prep for a stomp.

Use Shortbow #5 to teleport onto a downed foe for a blind stomp that an ally might be starting ( or yourself if he is healing up as you teleport to them) for another type of blind stomp. (also blind people ressing the downed enemy so they cant try to stop the stomp via some cc)

Ask for the team to call targets so u can inf into the fight from a bit away and have a safe place to run away to when using inf return on sword #2.

Use shadowstep and inf strike to set up teleport jukes. some is to bait the enemy to chase you after u then place a inf strike and then run off for a while and turn to them as if you are to attack them then teleport behind them usually they will assume you stealthed away or teleported onto a higher ledge and not behind them. ( always look back to see if they are waiting for you at your return location before taking the port back.)

If you have the look behind you camera keybinded, you can use the cluster bomb and poison field to shoot behind you as the enemy follows you.

With the stolen skill healing seed (stolen from rangers) use shadow refuge , then drop the seed when closer to the end of refuge and shot a cluster bomb into the unrefuged part of the healing water area for a higher healing burst while waiting in refuge. If using daggers you can spam Dagger #2 in the water field and steal gain health and deal damage.

Poison fields are unblockable for when someone is blocking and will rip off agies.

If someone is using a projectile blocking/ reflect skill aim for the poison field to land just before it would be effected by the skill and it will deal damage and still be a poison field.

Teleports can now be used to teleport onto the keep ledges so use them in down state to try to get away from mele damage if possible. as well as to escape a nasty fight you cant win.

Downstate 3, if popped before you ressed by a teammate, will grant you stealth when ressed.

Use infiltrators strike to immobilize more than one enemy to trap them in a aoe skill. ( great for team fights, or if using caltrops.

If fighting a longbow warrior, you can reflect his burst longbow skill and turn it into your own fire field instead of his and most warriors will stand it in liek an idiot thinking its theirs and even blow their might stacking combo

If using dagger off-hand use dancing dagger just before you used steal and cloak and dagger for a slightly higher burst setup. It will also cripple them and possibly allow for a easier stealth attack skill to be landed.

Oh yea im not sure if this still works but if you time cnd right with a dodge jump you can land a evasive cnd for free stealth =P

D/P- When stealthed use shadowshot and right as the blind hits use #1 to get a ranged backstab with blind.
S/D- When you have a target jump and use #2 at the same time to port forward and cancel the backport so you can chase like crazy.
Withdraw- You can activate the heal and swap weapons to still get the heal, evades, and whatever else you have on it without having to roll the full way (especially helpful when in a shadow refuge or in a place with a good amount of cliffs).
Shortbow- We have some really awesome port spots, learning some of the newer ones especially in legacy can make you unkillable as nobody will be able to catch you to burst as long as you’re paying attention. Also makes for some really nice ganking options as you can come out of nowhere to burst down a foe and then retreat to the same spot.
Skills- Port chains can be some of the strongest openings on the thief especially if running panic strike dp or acro sd (also allows for some really cool boss steals and counter bursts.
Counter bursting- Thief is one of the few classes that can effectively counter burst as a way of defending itself due to the traited steal from trickery and mug in DA traitline. (i.e. someone opens on you and you steal and aa then blind and go for a backstab on dp effectively putting you enemy on the defensive instead of you) Thief has the overall skillset that allows it to accomplish an effective counter burst that can easily turn any battle in your favor if you can time it right (same principle as a normal burst but instead it’s used as a defensive measure to relieve yourself of the pressure you are under and give you some breathing room instead of just going full defensive. Though keep in mind it needs to be timed perfectly or else you pretty much screw yourself over)