Guild Wars 2

Hello there!

I have been playing since pre release as a thief, thought I mastered the way of the thief, through assassinations, sneak attacks and ways to bring down my enemies in a multitude of indirect ways. However, in the past 3 WvW roams I have gone into, I have been absolutely slaughtered, with only being able to pull out about 3 kills for 10 deaths. I cant figure it out what I am doing wrong, mainly and most likely because of my frustration of how I used to be great at this. But its time to ask for some advice. My build I have used for awhile, but would love some tips on it.

Berserker Glass Cannon Build for PvP/WvW-
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAoY8YlUm6O3ey5E/JFx2jdmTeyVwo+HAb/hrC-jkxA0oBRn8KiGbhrIas6aMlLRUtBvIa1A-w

Blindness PvE/ Some WvW Build-
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoaVlUmiP3ey5E/JFy2jdKn4JuCJl/BHs/wVB-w

Basically, I was always the killer, the tackler, the one who could kill so quickly before you could turn your head and now i dont know what to do.

I use Sword/Dagger to beat all the bunker/boon builds and steal the boons, and D/D for everyone else. Would love some help.

Thanks.

Lief Ronin

People in WvW have gotten a little wiser as of late. instead of going full glass you see more hybrids and bunkers. Instead of going full glasscannon, you might wanna get survivability down pat first. Thieves have been nerfed almost every patch due to the large amounts of scrubby bandwagoners crying over backstabs. As of now everyone is going d/p for the blinding powder > Heartseeker to stealth combo. It’s pretty effective.

knight.4379:

Basically, I was always the killer, the tackler, the one who could kill so quickly before you could turn your head and now i dont know what to do.

Now you actually need to engage your enemies in a fight instead of killing them before having a chance to react. Aim for a better survivability through mixing Soldier/Knights gear (30%+ damage reduction) and think about how you are going to counter the increasing popular condition builds (Hint; you can reduce condition duration at the expense of some damage). Once you’ve got the build for your playing style, learn about the enemy rotations and make use of Vigor, dodge and evade skills to migate burst. At this point, you should have no trouble if you know the enemy classes.

As Zacchary said, I’ve noticed also an improving on people dealing with thieves, as they have learn how to counter the cheesy backstab combos and now more people knows what to do when they encounter a thief. Now I’m getting a lot more of CC on me as soon as I engage, and then get a lot of hits until I’m able to escape. So I guess the glasscannon way is getting old and it is time to use some points in toug/vit.

The problem is the build that you’re running and the weapon set, it’s no where near “glass cannon” as you so call it; and utilities suck. Change those and with your “master” skills you’ll do better.

Yep, times are changing.

Here’s however a vid from Yishis that shows off how to play good
with D/D these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKzHTFfi3mk
And his build (from description)
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/thief/?7.0|8.1g.h14.8.1g.h2|5.1g.h4|1p.71j.1p.71j.1p.71j.1p.71j.1p.71j.1p.71j|3s.d17.2s.d14.2t.d14.2s.d14.1g.67.2s.d14|0.u36c.u56b.a1.0|40.2|57.5a.5b.5c.0|e

If you consider trying something else, you might wanna try his D/P setup which is a much more tankier alternative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcTKt47ixk

If you want easy mode, try out P/D, not even bothering putting links since
there are plenty “good” thieves with P/D if you search on youtube :p

It sounds like you left the game before culling was fixed. If you’re a returning player, thieves have been nerfed quite hard in various ways. Bursting a target is much harder to accomplish, taking more than one pass nowadays.

op: Used to be Pro, But is it time to go home?

my answer is YES
3 kills on 10 deaths is a very good ratio !

S/D is useless in wvw.

Use dagger/pistol as your main weaponset and d/d as your initial burst.

Roll for the ini? lols.

Shadowstep, Shadowrefuge, Basi Venom, the 3rd utility is up in the air but I usually switch between assassin signet and signet of shadows.

Your first build is a joke right?

You should be running X/30/30/X/X in wvw. I personally like the 0/30/30/10/0 with the movement speed in stealth. Mobility is king in wvw.

S/D is an absolute counter to alot of Bunker build Guards and Boon built Eles and mesmers. I think its pretty good substitute up against those match ups.

Your build seems a bit funny, it isn’t glassy enough to really burst someone down, but doesn’t have the 30 Shadow Art points you want for a stealth build. Your best bet it probably a x/30/30/x/x build, but if it’s bursting you want..

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoYVlUmKOHcy5E/5Ex2DfKUi6VAsaPoZLhJA-jEyAEEAiCIZBK5VEN2ibR0Y11YKXioa7dR0qBA-w

Use Basilisk, pop all your signets, Cloak and dagger + steal + backstab to burst.

Note that you’re about as glassy as you get, so in a fair fight you’ll be at a huge disadvantage and if you get jumped on there’s nothing you can do, but it is a fun build that lets you see big numbers

At this point, all eight of my 80s, are designed for the sole purpose of killing thieves.

Thieves in GW2 are the most stupidly OP stealth class that has ever been designed, and most people have accepted, that giving up everything else for the sake of killing a thief is worth it.

^ Wow, really, you have that much trouble? Thieves are highly predictable.

I usually build my toons to counter condition classes (e.g. necro) as that’s much harder to deal with.

Ezeriel.9574:

At this point, all eight of my 80s, are designed for the sole purpose of killing thieves.

Thieves in GW2 are the most stupidly OP stealth class that has ever been designed, and most people have accepted, that giving up everything else for the sake of killing a thief is worth it.

I hear you. Thieves predominantly predefine all builds for GW2 pvp arenas. If you’re not building to survive the presence of thieves, you’re far outside the meta. It’s never long before players redefine themselves around the thief class.

swinsk.6410:

S/D is useless in wvw.

Use dagger/pistol as your main weaponset and d/d as your initial burst.

Roll for the ini? lols.

Shadowstep, Shadowrefuge, Basi Venom, the 3rd utility is up in the air but I usually switch between assassin signet and signet of shadows.

Your first build is a joke right?

You should be running X/30/30/X/X in wvw. I personally like the 0/30/30/10/0 with the movement speed in stealth. Mobility is king in wvw.

S/d is useless in wvw realy? While you using that p/d crap, killing rats and rabbits, S/d jump into the group of enemies and do massive aoe damage with sword. Then go out and repeat. p/d is a useless. And one question you are p/d pet of self-proclaimed “guru” Travln, and also “very good thief”? Am i right? Yes i am right)

^they nerfed sword #2, so you can’t break stunk to escape, making it useless.

Your better off stealthing in and popping daggerstorm

I spec my mesmer specifically to counter thieves, so it’s no surprise that others do this too. I would never even consider bringing my guardian to WvW because of thieves. With my mesmer, I spec a pure phantasm build and feel confident I can deal with whoever comes at me even out of nowhere.

The reason why you’re having trouble is that people now build to kill thieves. It doesn’t matter that they don’t contribute to the team etc. People care far more about not dying 1v1 than about abstract goals like capturing towers or defending them.

SD isn’t as bad off as it sounds, sword 2 is still an instant cast, so it will teleport you away when you’re stunned, yes the stun duration persists but generally speaking you’re still in a better spot.

If you like SD keep playing SD, if you want to use another set go for that too.

If you’re using SD DD, might go for SD DP, similar style, but people have gotten way better at denying you your cloak and dagger, so DP helps give you access to backstab, and also goes well with the Daze/Blind theme of Sword.

S/D can make Guard and Ele match ups a lot easier, also, when running D/P as main, I think the 2nd weaponset is a toss up on what you prefer since it’s all you’ll really need to kill or get away (EDIT: having D/P (most of the time) is all you need I meant, 3am here, SORRY! xD).

Ghostwolf.9863:

Here’s however a vid from Yishis that shows off how to play good
with D/D these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKzHTFfi3mk

I suggest trying to play more like this ^
While gearing like this:

wish.1027:

Balanced Builds mainly built for WvW:
Ascended:
Wish’s Mug, 10/30/30/0/0
with accurate corrected precision

Wish’s Fall, 0/30/30/10/0
with accurate corrected precision

It will give you a ridiculous ability to survive and still maintains a lot of damage.
Information and math behind gear choices can be found here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Post-Your-Build-Thread/page/3#post2426220

A proper speced Guardian can survive most thieves. Only a few honed thieves can remotely take a Guardian solo. My Guardian doesnt have problems surviving, but I am build to take the conditions and burst, since my guardian isnt a solo roamer, but when getting back to my group. no worries here about thieves. Any Pistol or Dagger makes me laugh.

full zerk p/p unload wins the day. Because people, having battled mostly with other thief builds, fail to understand how to avoid it’s rather weak and simple damage.

Ichishi.9613:

full zerk p/p unload wins the day. Because people, having battled mostly with other thief builds, fail to understand how to avoid it’s rather weak and simple damage.

This is true of anything different. The first time you see something random you havent seen before it will be very hard to play against, unless it dies in 10 seconds.

i personally believe there is 3 issues that have changed this. people have gotten wiser/experienced….they have gotten stronger thru the buffs anet gives them on patches and thief is always progressively worse/nerfed.

to put it in an easier way of understanding. its like thief having an overall rating of 9 in 1v1 and lets say necro a 6. they nerfed thief a lil and necro buff a lil so now thief is 7.5 in 1 v 1 and necro is 8. these numbers are not real but just an example of how the swing is happening. the only buff thieves REALLY got makes any difference is larcenous strike / f s combo…….other than that each patch is hurt us. we still have options but i wouldnt be able to comfortably say we are assassination specialists anymore…..and since we are not great in groups…or atleast everyone would fill our spot much better. not sure if u should hang it out. wait til the next big patch to decide. i have a feeling thief might be getting some love his way.

i play p/d…..my style is more s/d or d/d but those just dont really work well in wvw with the goals i have in mind so im stuck with p/d. try stay strong and optimistic.