Guild Wars 2

I’ll first admit that right now, I’m pretty lost when it comes to GW2 as I’ve leveled a Mesmer and a D/D Ele which I now no longer find any fun in playing. I loved the quick action of the Ele and the escape skills but that’s clearly been changed to the point that even a Guardian can run me down now. /sigh

As for the Thief, I’ve always been impressed with your class though somewhat intimidated about playing one. I have very little knowledge on your abilities other than you’re hard as hell to kill in a1v1.

My question is though, how well do you all hold up against Warriors and Guardians while roaming WvW? Also, when compared to the Ele, how good are you abilities in escaping a bad situation?

I also have a level 35 Guardian and a level 18 Warrior that I had been toying around with but, like I said, I’m very confused as to what class to play. Generally, I really go for the “in your face” quick-paced action class but so far, I’ve not had much luck in finding the right fit.

Generally warriors are one of the easier classes to face as a thief. Most of their killing blows, such as Eviscerate, Kill Shot and Bull’s Charge, have really obvious animations and are easy to avoid. As a thief, you have plenty of chances to stealth, dodge and blind your opponent, depending how you’re specced. The whirling axe you can steal from warrior is also an asset, as it deals nice dmg. If the unlikely occurence that warrior manages to CC you, you should always have shadow step, or at least one stun breaker, with you. You should also keep an eye out for Endure Pain, as he will be immune to direct damage while it is active; Stick to your conditions, and avoid anything he throws at you w/ shortbow 3, blind or stealth.

Guardians are a little trickier, as they have crazy passive regen, heals and constant retaliation, which hit thieves really hard. No doubt guardians are one of the hardest class for thief to fight face-to-face, but they’re definitely beatable. I have found it easiest to handle both guardians and warriors using the D/P specs, as you’ll get near infinite access to blind and stealth. Also, the new Lacerating’s Strike in the S/D weapon set is reall good against guardians, as it can effectively steal their boons non-stop. Starting off with the bow to wear down the guardian, and spike when he’s near half his hp is also a good strategy. The shortbow 3 really comes in handy, as you’ll be able to dodge pretty much all the punches that hit hard. Oh, and always blow off aegis before attempting to spike.

When it comes to disengaging, thief is superior. Shadow step has a nice 1200 range, and it becomes shadow return, allowing you to step back if needed. Shadow Refuge nets you a nice 12 seconds of stealth. Shortbow’s Infiltrator’s Arrow is a nice spammable spell, allowing you to move faster and sometimes take short cuts off the ledges and sort.

I’m probably a noob if you ask any pros but I’m a d/p s/d thief with a sb in my inv. Bunkers used to be near impossible for me to kill unless they sucked. But since the update I feel like a bigger troll than a mesmer. "Oh? You haz boons for me? How sweet! " I take some boons, go to d/p for some damage and blinds, rinse and repeat till they are dead. Note: I’m not a glass cannon, so it can take me a few times sometimes.

P.s. As for escaping, I usually can, but stealth doesn’t always work as some players get lucky with my location, or blast me out of stealth lol

As I said. I’m not a pro, so take it as you will. I win some I lose some.

Ritt,

That really helps! I hate the idea of leveling yet, another character but the way I see it, if I’m not having fun, then really, what’s the point of even playing?

As a D/P thief the black powder blind is your friend in melee, however with Guardians and Warriors in particular I find they get rather confused when I switch to shortbow and surprise shot/basilisk them in place while I 4/2/3 them with the blast finisher wearing them down then switch to D/P to heartseek them at 40% health. Probably most of my damage out put is done with the Shortbow as a total and players seem to kindof look at me funny (if their toons could).

It’s pretty easy to kill them, to be honest. The hardest classes to kill are eles and engis (thought I still have to fight an engi after the confusion nerf).

you will not kill an Pro tanky warrior /guardian in 1 vs 1, no matter how good you are or what build you use
against warrior (axe /shield ) //greatsword) – you cannot trade blow for blow with warior since he got 3100 -3200 defence and over 20k hp, and he got same critical chance /damage / p attack like you.
The only chance is to harass him with CnD and land backstabs while he cast HB, but that won’t bring him down. Axe can kill you in less then 3 seconds with 3 autoatacks + shieldbash /eviscerate.
Against guardian, if he got an sword /focus you have low chances already. Sword will blind you every 10 seconds no matter if he target you or not , focus will provide him regen /3 blocks / another blind.
However against guardian shortbow is viable specialy if they use hammer /greatsword.

IMO, time spent on killing classes that often run bunker builds, like the Guardian, is time best spent killing cows and taking supply camps.

Scout out your opponent’s build with a single attack. If he looks hard to kill just run away and look for a better opportunity later. That said, if it’s the thrill of the hunt you’re after – don’t necessarily blow all your best tools immediately. People are wary of thieves and will often take a defensive cooldown to use when you try and burst. If they do use it – don’t worry too much. If you feel you are losing, pull back and when you get a breather try again. At worst, you’re really aggravating, at best, he slips up and you get a kill.

If they’re playing a tanky spec, and they’re good at it, then you can’t really kill them. Perhaps with some lucky crits and mistakes on their part, but it’s very difficult to get enough damage in to kill them before they heal through it. You can build your thief to stay in the fight with them, but this will just turn into a similar situation as a bunker vs bunker where neither has the damage to overcome the other’s healing.

If they’re playing builds that are more damage oriented then you can certainly kill them, but it still isn’t easy. Their inherent armour and self healing/ high hp pool means even the glassy builds can take a good amount of damage before they go down. As said already, just use your evade, stealth and blinds to avoid damage while dealing your own at the opportune times. You have less health and armour while also having to deal more damage to them if you want to kill them, so you really have to use these abilities to your advantage.