Guild Wars 2

looking for advices
i got enough defence to survive 1 combo ( i am not glass cannon built)
how ever this seems to last forever , unless 1 of the thieves do an mistake, we can perma stealth vs eachother
so how can i win other thief. mostly i managed to drop 80% Hp of pro thieves with dagger storm after he run away.

As condition thief, apply enough dmg till he uses hide in shadows. After that use spider venom and a condition burst and you have basicly won. Most crit/power thiefs have no real way to remove conditions…. other builds have but seriously, how many thiefs dont use a crit/power/backstab build?

Try to use a stunbreaker on their first burst, if they use basilisk venom. After they kittened up they are dead meat.

Use alot of cripples. Melee Power/Crit thiefs are basicly useless when you toss them a cripple. They often have no means to remove it and besides steal they have no working gapcloser while crippled.

It can also be useful to predict their movement and do a blind cnd. I sometimes manage it to use it on a thief who tried to sneak up on me… but its rather risky as you need to use half your init for it.

If they stealth and you arent, shortbow and disable shot/clusterbomb could help to avoid damage. All in all disable shot is pretty nice to avoid melee dmg.

In the end everything comes down to the build of you and him. There are traits which work against the cripple, there are traits which work against conditions, but if you take them you suffer some damage.
It also depends on the weaponsets which you and he have.

Panacea.4927:

As condition thief, apply enough dmg till he uses hide in shadows. After that use spider venom and a condition burst and you have basicly won. Most crit/power thiefs have no real way to remove conditions…. other builds have but seriously, how many thiefs dont use a crit/power/backstab build?

Try to use a stunbreaker on their first burst, if they use basilisk venom. After they kittened up they are dead meat.

Use alot of cripples. Melee Power/Crit thiefs are basicly useless when you toss them a cripple. They often have no means to remove it and besides steal they have no working gapcloser while crippled.

It can also be useful to predict their movement and do a blind cnd. I sometimes manage it to use it on a thief who tried to sneak up on me… but its rather risky as you need to use half your init for it.

If they stealth and you arent, shortbow and disable shot/clusterbomb could help to avoid damage. All in all disable shot is pretty nice to avoid melee dmg.

In the end everything comes down to the build of you and him. There are traits which work against the cripple, there are traits which work against conditions, but if you take them you suffer some damage.
It also depends on the weaponsets which you and he have.

I’m happy that my build works against everything you just said. Tons of gap-closers, easy condition removal, lots of ways to cripple you in return, and good damage (thought with a high ramp-up).

But yeah, what you said will wreck a glass cannon.

infiltrator strike for the win heheheh (against condition type + a gap closer + a free immobilization utility)

Infiltrator strike will only remove one condition if you return with it and in the end you pay 5 init for it. Its mainly usefull for breaking stuns or removing just one conditions… but who the hell applies only bleed and not other conditions anyway?

@Dacromir
So does mine, but the 5% of all thiefs who run a build which tries to conter most things arent worth to mention when you look at the 95% of all thiefs who think they are awesome with their totally useless glasscannon instagib build.

How to counter Backstab?
Keep IS up at all times. Let him land (or if you can dodge it) CnD Steal combo and use SR to disengage and remove stun. Let him pop out of stealth, then land whatever combo you have (for S/D, it’s CnD-Steal-Tactical Strike-Autoattack). It’s really easy beating anything short of a bunker build with S/D.

A lot of factors could be considered in a TvT. Sometimes a bad elite like hounds of balthazar can be amazing in a 1v1; sometimes one thief is on CD and the other just happens to catch that; sometimes during healing animation the other thief pop a scorpion wire and that’s gg.

Here are some tips that I found that might be useful to you. Generally I feel S/D & S/P are much better against D&D in a TvT.

Whoever opens the fight in a TvT has the definite upper hand. if you can land a backstab/daze then most likely they have to go into stealth. As soon as the other thief go into stealth, switch to shortbow and aim down, start firing cluster bombs at your feet. They are already at a HP disadvantage so if they want to trade damage for damage then it’s all good. Same situation when the other thief pops shadow refuge — go inside the field and spam shortbow #2. If you are going up knowingly against a thief just use SF offensively — get a long stealth and a free start on your opponent. If you are losing then don’t be afraid to bail towards your opponent — same idea with the Sword #2 mechanic, lead one way shadowstep back the other.

If you play WvW, use your surroundings. A traited free jump off a hill slope gives stealth; a CnD on a white mob doesn’t count towards combat and gives stealth. Random roadside animals are excellent for stealth/ stealing something off before fight. Countless times I led people into mobs, pop stealth and watch them fight.

Be always on the move, CnD and Hearseeker misses a lot while the target is running. Take advantage of the camera angle, and set a good keybind for your back camera as well.

Rayya.2591:

looking for advices
i got enough defence to survive 1 combo ( i am not glass cannon built)
how ever this seems to last forever , unless 1 of the thieves do an mistake, we can perma stealth vs eachother
so how can i win other thief. mostly i managed to drop 80% Hp of pro thieves with dagger storm after he run away.

Didn’t see anyone else mention it but I will.

Never, I repeat, never use Dagger Storm against a melee class. The biggest perk of this Elite skill is that we can reflect projectiles. You do not guard against melee attacks.

When I’m playing my Thief and I see another thief start using Dagger Storm, I’ll get right up in his face and smash him for the easy kill.

So don’t use Dagger Storm against another Thief, it may just be me hunting you.

He’s right, don’t even think about touching Dagger Storm against a melee. The only reason people will not approach is the fear/intimidation factor of it. Not many people realise how easy it is to just waltz up to the Thief mid-DS and smash his face in. I do it all the time Thief vs. Thief.

Another thing I like to do TvT is hit C+D and use Thieves Guild while in stealth. Some idiotic opponents have actually tried going all-out and bursting the spawned Thieves and I’ve gotten free kills out of it.

devourer venom, dagger storm, dancing dagger

Basically the goal is to keep him from being mobile. You’re a thief too, so he can’t run as easily.

Rayya.2591:

unless 1 of the thieves do an mistake, we can perma stealth vs eachother

Cool? You’re a thief, you know where the enemy thief is likely to go during stealth, swing your weapon in that direction. Sword is particularly effective at this, hitting a wide swath of space while also crippling the stealthed thief. Dropping caltrops is another good option.

Most of the time when I fight thieves we stick to eachother throughout stealth because both of us know how to work through it effectively. Thieves are, on average, much better at dealing with it because they use it themselvs.

Condition vs Glass can be discussed.
Everything else kittenfights. Last refuge and Instinctual Response kitten tier trait. Thief need Aegis on these traits.

Dagger Storm is strong against melee once they’ve burnt their initiative or blown their snare/root cooldowns. While you are vulnerable to melee attacks, it does spam cripple on your foes while you can move at full speed, so if they don’t have a way to hold you in place they’ll just be meekly limping after you the full duration.

You can’t just push it on spec and expect it to work though.

Ensign.2189:

Dagger Storm is strong against melee once they’ve burnt their initiative or blown their snare/root cooldowns.

I’d agree to this with the sole caveat of thieves. Thieves just have too many gap closers and can match dagger storm’s cripple output, making kiting them out of melee range a losing proposition.

Dagger Storm is strong against melee once they’ve burnt their initiative or blown their snare/root cooldowns. While you are vulnerable to melee attacks, it does spam cripple on your foes while you can move at full speed, so if they don’t have a way to hold you in place they’ll just be meekly limping after you the full duration.

Yeah, I frequently use DS against melee enemies. However, the moment they manage to get into melee range, I dodge to cancel it. That way, you get several seconds of high damage and cripple, and then 5+ more seconds of stability. Not the best, but still a solid skill. Worth carrying for its power against groups and ranged enemies.