Guild Wars 2

I was running some sPvP today solo, and everything was going along swimmingly until one Thief joined. I run a sword/warhorn healing shout bleed build, so normally 1v1 I come out on top or give a good go at least.

This thief was jumping around in every direction every 3-4 seconds, and stealthing that often as well for a few seconds at a time. It was nigh impossible to land a hit on hit, let alone catch him. His damage wasn’t very high, but every single time I ran into him he wore me down and never seemed to drop under 50% himself. I tried switching up my strategy, but nothing seemed to work. Obviously he was a high skilled player as well.

Anyways, Could anyone link me to a build that he would likely be using (Dagger/???), and maybe some tips on how to combat against it? Is it just an insane 1v1 build I should avoid? Also, what is the ability that allows him to leap all over the place and stealth so frequently?

Cheers!

*Just a side note, I have no problems being beaten 1v1 and this isn’t a whining post, just looking for how I was getting stomped so thoroughly.

The skills you describe are leaping death blossom (overhead leap that evades attacks, strikes 3 times and applies bleeds) and Cloak and Dagger, he strikes you and it stealths him. Condition removals and any interrupts to prevent the restealth is all I can really advise for you.

Sounds like me to be honest lol, what server are you on?

It’s probably something similar to this, I made it to wear bunkers down. D/D is my damage and S/D is for boon removal Build
Perma regen and extra regen while in stealth, 50% endurance on weapon swap for frequent extra dodges and 30% crit lightning for extra burst on MH. Runes in armor are dwayna for extra regen & healing.

Forgot to add, shadowstep and roll for initiative pretty much guarantee I don’t get caught in an immob or stun.

Perhaps it was a D/P stealth – healing – blinding build,very good for 1×1. Although this build doesn’t hit that hard, it can kill you in a long fight. And your bleedings will do nothing against it, i’m afraid…
Btw, Blinding Power + HS for stealth.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fYEQNAoaVlUmiP3eS6E+5EC3DmypaKPFO4Y1pgr0KA;ToAgzCtouxcj4G7Nubk3MCZ6A

This is the fully defensive spec. I suspect he was running a crit / healing variation.
@Edit: Like the post above mine, from Rukia.

dank.3680:

The skills you describe are leaping death blossom (overhead leap that evades attacks, strikes 3 times and applies bleeds) and Cloak and Dagger, he strikes you and it stealths him. Condition removals and any interrupts to prevent the restealth is all I can really advise for you.

Depending on what he was seeing with “jumping around” he might’ve also been seeing Heartseeker or even Infiltrator’s Strike (with S/D). The lower damage and the thief staying at >50 % HP along with the heavy stealth means he was probably deep into the Shadow Arts tree.

More than anything, your most effective counter is going to be reading your opponent’s movements and attacking them while in stealth. Not just randomspamming AEs, actually tracking and hitting them while stealthed. The important thing to remember about all these “get benefits from stealth” traits is that the encourage staying stealth. If you’re not doing anything to threaten the thief while they’re stealthed, all those benefits are awesome freebies. If you’re hunting the thief then you’re turning their stealth into a liability by forcing them to choose between keeping those fancy benefits while stealthed and having actual combat uptime against you.

Many people see, say, a 30 second fight in which the thief was stealthed for 20 seconds as unfair, but in actuality that thief is sacrificing two-thirds of their actual viable uptime for hitting you while there’s absolutely no downside to you at least spamming auto attacks for that time period. Exploit the heck out of that weakness.

I’m on Sanctum of Rall. It was roughly an hour ago, the Thiefs name was like Sabo Paublo or something like that.

Cheers for the builds and quick replies, think its just a bad match up of rock, paper, scissors for me.

Thelen.6325:

Cheers for the builds and quick replies, think its just a bad match up of rock, paper, scissors for me.

Neat thing is that countering a build like this isn’t so much in some kind of rock/paper/scissors stat determination that is pretty much made before you engage, but all about reading stealth. The best thing you can do, instead of tinkering with your build, is figure out how to read stealth better.

Ah, it wasn’t me then. All I can tell you is never stop autoattacking when they stealth. That will pretty much negate the regen that comes from it, good players will still hit me almost the entire time I’m in stealth whether they know it or not -_-;; 2 handers still hurt.

Yeah, I definately need a lot of practice catching stealth. I’ll probably end up rolling a thief later this week so I can get a tad more perspective.

I have a build very similar, and against a guard that has condition removal, fights will go on, even with elite skills cooling down ready to use again until someone makes a mistake. Me and a bunker guard had a duel for about 10 mins, I used my elite skill 2 or 3 times. In the end, he made a mistake and i took the stomp

Its the bunker thief, no damage, but cant be killed easily. Lots of bleeds

If you dont have condition removal this build will win

5/0/30/30/5 is my setup with Carrion Armour/Jewels
Runes = 2xAfflicted, 2xCenteur 2xKrait

You need utility that gives init (roll for init)
Lots of stealth skills
And you need to take assassin reward (heal for spending init) and the traits that regen health&init in stealth

Its a kind of trinity build where you manage stealth,init and healing to keep a perma heal/stealth effect

spend init to heal (Death Blossom which dodges also and stacks bleeds)
stealth to regen init
heal whilst in stealth
spend init to heal (Death Blossom which dodges also and stacks bleeds)
stealth to regen init
heal whilst in stealth
spend init to heal (Death Blossom which dodges also and stacks bleeds)
stealth to regen init
heal whilst in stealth

From the low damage.part, if he was spinning while jumping, it sounds like he was using a bleed/condition build.