Guild Wars 2

Thieves are GREAT at roaming and doing small group stuff, but in zergs all I seem to ever do is:

- Be a glassy blast finisher bot
- Tag everything b/c lets face it — Dagger storm + SB = Tag tons of stuff
- Spike/stomp stragglers

My thief is allergic to PTV gear … all glass all the time bros. (for the most part anyway)

What do you guys do in zergs?

play another class.

the same thing every1 does in a zerg: run around and autoattack

Sometimes when I roll with a zerg I scout for the commander, keeping an eye out for incoming red dots and just trying to be around for the tower cap, etc.

I don’t really call that zerging — its more roaming @ a radius around the commander…

Swap to SB

Spam 1

Swap to S/P

Black Powder on downed

Spam 1

Repeat

Aside from more specific scenarios, which involves CCs and buffs that the Thief does have, I mostly do the following:

When the commander is good and know how to push, going in with the small group that actually follows him, with dagger storm activated, can win a zerg fight. You deal massive damage to everything around you, get stability to keep going and protects the stacked group from projectiles. I’m not a tank, but my build and tricks ensures me to stay alive through most zerg fights, even when we are losing and I’m going head-on, Thieves are amazing at escaping even when every ally has died.

When the dagger storm ends, I switch to SB and spam 2 (breaking the projectile to apply more bleeds). This isn’t a secret to anyone, it’s just about your timing, position and the build you have (not full zerk pls.), I do make a difference on zerg fights.

Two options:

- Switch to SB, spam 1 to tag, use 2 on crowds/ fields and 4 on anyone downed, or
- Switch to an alt

I switch to my guardian or staff elementalist now, unless I only expect to be zerging a short while. The other classes simply add a lot more to the group’s chance to win. They also collect more bags.

That said, thieves are not useless in zergs. The short range is rough, but a spammable ranged blast finisher can definitely matter.

P/P is very effective for massive (T1) fights. With Withdraw/Roll/Shadowstep, you can’t easily be focused, and being mostly berserker (with range), can instead easily down anyone you target.

I would not recommend SB — it’s very slow, and blast-finishers are very ineffective for fast-paced fights (which most are).

I also wouldn’t recommend being too close to the main “zerg”, because that will be the focal point of the enemy. It’s much more effective circling the outskirts of the enemy, and downing (not finishing) target after target (good rallies for allies). With mobility and range, it accomplishes what the bulk of your forces cannot (when stacked).

If you’re a melee thief…. tread extra carefully?

Viking Jorun.5413:

Swap to SB

Spam 1

Swap to S/P

Black Powder on downed

Spam 1

Repeat

lolz people don’t use finisher in a zerg they just auto attack them to death xD

the spam 1 part is pretty accurate tho

I switch to my SB and just spam blast finishers into AOEs. I stay close to the light armors and act like a bodyguard. If someone gets close, I switch to my main weapon set to take them down.

Other than that, not much.

I roam on my mesmer now, but when i did play my thief I mainly roamed and would join the zerg if i saw a big fight coming up. My usual routine for zerg fights, shadowstep directly to the middle or slightly behind the enemy zerg (that way i’m behind the front line where most of the damage is at) and dagger storm. Once that runs out or my health is low i shadow return and heal up. Then short bow auto and cluster bomb and poison. If i’m with a zerg attacking a keep, smc, etc. I usually hang out around the broken outer walls ambushing or stall players as they run back to defend. Once the door drops run back to the zerg for the lord loot and wxp.

Use that mobility to your advantage, especially if you use Sword mainhand.
Signet of Malice, and Sigil’s like Restoration and Stamina for example; for the heals and extra evades.
Switch to Shortbow to blast Waterfields and for those active heals from SoM.
Use PVT Armor and Trinkets, or a mix with Crit and Toughness/Vitality.

I run my warrior for zerging. Thieves are just good at blast finishers for boons.

Least my warrior has a few second of immunities to mess with the Zerg. Thief is dead if he gets too close.

Anet hates thieves. Proof = dec 10 patch

When im going on a raid with a zerg,I ususally spec with deadly arts 2nd minor trait that posion inflict weakness and spam 4 before zerg clashes and use reaper of grenth elite skill toapply chill and posion and thus weakness to anyone i get close to
and ofc Blast finisher bot.
that weakness is great and somtimes i spot a half life guard or a warrior or a necro which are basically the most dmging proffesions in zergs and just tagging them all the time untill they downed.

I like to chill behind enemy lines and troll rangers because most of them cant fight back due to being a sucky class.

I’ll either:

1) Stay with d/d and pick off classes at the edges, it’s high risk but good fun.
2) Spam shortbow poison and cluster bomb.
3) My current favourite – throw my scorpion wire and pull some poor soul into my teammates, or off the wall. Just seeing them fly through the air is so gratifying.

I enjoy being on my thief in zergs than on my warrior. Warrior was a bit to – leap in, spam styles, leap out. Thief is so fragile you have to play far more carefully, which makes it more fun.

I have been pretty successful with the Acrobatics heavy S/D spec in WvW. The in and out play style combined with the cleaving ability of the sword seemed to work pretty well. Of course I am sure this probably wont be viable if Infiltrators return is nerfed.

^^I use a similar build, but I think we’ll have to wait and see.
It might just be the case that we’ll need to be more careful.

I like to pick casters and up-levels in the back. They all feel like they’re safe there, so why not give them a lesson? If I want a ton of loot bags I’ll just use shortbow and dagger storm. Sometimes I try to assassinate the commander – a zerg with no commander is usually a bunch of headless chickens :p

Join a group of 4 other Thieves using zerker gear and swap to Signet of Malice and Dagger Storm. Stealth to the back of the enemy zerg and then watch them all drop while being immortal unless a skilled Necromancer trolls you.

Depends on how much loot I want. I usually grab basi venom and the immo venom and go for their backline. I try to take the squishest looking targets first (hit them without the venom and then with depending on how hurt they get). That or zerg dive in stealth and posin field them everywhere with shortbow 4 (it wont take you out of stealth ;D) if I can I try doing that in key positions.