Guild Wars 2

Hi all, I recently just started getting into pvp. I’m at about 100 games played and I seem to be having a really hard time. I run the typical 2/6/0/0/6 d/p thief. My win rate is about 50%, and I feel like winning or losing is either if we have a bunker spec or if they have a bunker spec. It’s just completely random, and I feel like the match is decided before we even enter.

I’ve watched video after video, and I just can’t seem to win 1v1’s versus any class except really bad mesmers, and on the flip side, really good mesmers eat me for breakfast at 1200 range with condi’s and CC – along with rangers, as well.. Now, Sometimes, even losing 2v1s’. I know my job in a pvp match as a thief is to get de-caps, but every time I try to cap home or cap far, there is is either a turret engi or a guardian or a good warrior or someone standing on the point and I can’t beat them for anything or I am unable to cap anything because I can’t engage against any class.

The classes I struggle with the most are good mesmers at 1200 range with greatsword and condis, rangers at 1200 range with their burst, guardians, turret engis, a good d/d elementalist, and staff necros, and hammer warriors. (I know, pretty much every other class.)

So, I was wondering if there are any pointers you can give me about the thief class to help me engage points and give me the advantage in 1v1’s or deal with some of the afore mentioned specs. Again, I know my job isn’t 1v1, per say, but its pvp and there is going to come a time when I need to hold my own, and right now it’s just kind of a trainwreck.

Focus on making fights go +1 in favor of your team. Win the mid fight, help at home if it needs it. You’re only looking to decap far if it’s open. If they have a bunker on it, leave it. That means your team should be 5 v 4 and holding mid/home.

You need to be the swing guy. If they fight at mid, that’s where you want to be. Look to blow someone up to get a number advantage at the fight. If they send some to home, you should use your mobility to get there to help, end that, and get back to mid.

That’s if everyone is playing like they mean it of course. Your experience may vary unranked, hotjoin, and folks just trying to ace their dailys.

Don’t use 2/6/0/0/6 it’s for highly skilled players. If you want something like that I suggest you either go with 6/0/2/0/6 or 0/6/2/0/6 if it’s d/p of course. Without a reliable condition removal you’re a free kill against condi heavy specs like terrormancers. Oh and you can try out 6/0/2/0/6 with panic strike and quick venoms why? cause you’ll be taking devourer venom+ bassi venom both on 32s CD after that’s blown off and they’re below 50% that’s where panic strike kicks in. What’s with all the CCs? 1st for your team to lay the pain 2nd don’t have to waste so many initiatives catching them 3rd is overall control. I’ve been using this build for a while and I gotta tell you I don’t have much problem handling zerkers or celes only tanks. Remember dev venom,shadowstep,refuge and basi all of these or take something you like it doesn’t hurt to innovate. Last thing is try activating dev ven then use shadow shot once that lands ouchy for squishes. Oh and try to drop black powder in front of where they’re standing:) it’ll help mitigate some dmg.

Mastering Thief takes a considerable amount of time and now-a-days is even more difficult with the considerable amount of nerfs they have received over the years. I have 2000+ hours clocked in at thief and while I am confident fighting any class on any build I wouldn’t consider myself a master at the class.

First things first, having a 50% win rate is not bad by any means. The higher the amount of games you play the closer to 50% you are going to get, and the game is a team game despite some people treating it otherwise so naturally you can’t win every game because there are variables outside of your control.

Second, knowing how to fight each class comes with experience but knowing not when to fight is also really important. Take for example the bunker classes you mentioned. If you have fought them once and you have been handily dealt with its probably not in your best interest to go back. And while you are correct in your assessment that your role is to de-cap points there are many ways of going about it. If that bunker is simply going to sit on home and you can’t fight him you have free reign to provide support anywhere else on the map. And since you are playing one of the most mobile classes in the game if you force him to leave by putting pressure elsewhere you are free to cap that point. It may not be for very long but its enough to make the opposing team lose points and help your team pick up a few extra.

As for Specs and Builds, I don’t run a very normal thief build and I haven’t in a long time so I’m not really familiar with what is meta anymore and even less so how to fight with that particular spec. However, for D/P the best advice I can give is to abuse the hell out of your Blinding Powder. This ability easily puts most melee fighters at a huge disadvantage because of the way blind and the ability work. It also provides a nifty kiting mechanic if something goes wrong in a fight since Blinding Powder + Heartseeker = Stealth. As for ranged classes, you can always use the same combo to gain a little ground on your target while also remaining semi-untargeted and giving you a brief moment of pressure that may even make your opponent waste an evade. It also a good rule of thumb that ranged classes tend to be a little bit more glassy than their melee counterparts and if you get a good jump on them it can instill a little bit of panic resulting in a kill or a retreat.

Personally my own useful tip would be that there is no shame in running. SPvP specifically isn’t about killing people. Killing players is only the means to an end. The end being capturing points. However, it isn’t the only means to that end.

And of course most importantly, anything that I say here is just an opinion and isn’t necessarily right or wrong.

Best of luck to you on your continued endeavors as a Thief. Feel free to add me in game if you have any questions.

Your job as a thief is to use your mobility to +1 fights and decap points when the opportunity presents itself. You really shouldn’t be trying to 1v1 so much as a thief, especially if you’re not experienced at it. If you have to 1v1 on a point, only do so if you’re confident you can win fast. Against anyone you can’t burst down quickly enough, just leave, as they’ll have much more on-point presence than you. Don’t be afraid to run from a losing fight. kitten off and go elsewhere that you’re needed.

If you’re being kited by a mesmer with 1200 range, remember that you have tons of gap closers. It’s really easy to stay glued to a mesmer as a thief, that being kited should rarely be an issue.

If you’re really having trouble staying alive you could try 6/0/2/0/6, it gives more survivability with the condi clear in stealth along with a long undodgeable immob at the cost of some burst damage. It’s a bit more newbie friendly, but I’ll encourage you to play whatever you want.

If you’re struggling with condis, you may want to consider going 6/0/2/0/6. 2 in Shadow gives you condi removal while in stealth, and D/P has easy stealth access. Panic Strike is also amazing and your steal will inflict Weakness. Better to shave a little damage and be able to survive long enough to kill or disengage than to be watching your respawn timer. Disengage is one of thieves major advantages – about to lose the 1 on 1? Leave and either reset the fight or go help the main battle. Being concentrated on in the main fight? Pop out SB to flip away and use your squishy tush to peel some enemies. Should be able to keep ahead of them and then stealth to fully disengage. They don’t chase, and it lets you reset and then go back in.

As for fights, Metabattle goes into some good detail about how to use your thief and common build matchups, so I won’t repeat that. Specifically about the situations you spoke of:

Mesmers: You are the hard counter to mesmer. With stealths and blinds (as blinding the player affects the clones too) to screw up their clones, you can effectively go in for the kill. With Steal and D/P 3 there shouldn’t be any reason you’re kept at range, and the build change suggested (which is also on Metabattle) will help with condis.

Rangers: Power Ranger is the most common setup, and you really only have 2 concerns: Entangle and Signet of Stone. With the build change, just stealthing counters Entangled, and Signet of Stone is your call to just stealth and reset the fight if need be. SoS has a long cooldown, so he won’t be able to save himself from the next burst. With a blinding. Save your steal for when he rapid fires as that not only lets you get to him but also interrupts the move due to traits. Closing the gap instead with D/P 3 or SB 5 (unless you’re coming in stealthed) has the advantage of blinding, which likely negates the common reaction of their knockback.

Guardians: They have long cooldowns, so it really is just a game of baiting them out. You have disengages, so you can go in pressure the cooldowns, back out for a second and head back in. Be wary of retaliation.

Turret Engies: Just bait them out. SB can hit multiple turrets with auto and cluster and poison fields on the engi. If they come after you, work to keep the fight off their turrets. If you kill enough turrets, then engage as normal. Save a stunbreaker for their box drop and be ready to disengage and repeat the tactic. In general, though, an engi that is just going to turret camp is a person out of the fight – 5v4 on the other two points or rotate with the main group to the point, so don’t waste your time on them alone.

D/D Ele: Unfortunately a D/D ele of equal skill or better will probably kick your pants. Save your steal for the finish of their might stack rotation, try to dodge ride the lightning so it’s stuck on a long cooldown making it tough for them to stick to you and be most wary when they’re in fire attunement as that’s their main damage spec. Unfortunately wind is their rest attunement due to lightning whip being a strong auto that also is quick for their signet heals. You can cross your fingers and hope they are not that good – but they’re a 1v1 to avoid. S/D thief is the only thief build I think that can stand toe to toe due to the boon steals and large amount of evades, though more as an even fight rather than a counter.

Staff Necros: Depends if they’re a power build or a condi build. Heavy condi pressure is tough to deal with as even stealth condi removal can only handle so much, but power necros should be lunch for you. They have so little mobility that you can engage and disengage them at will, so if they ever catch the upper hand in a fight, just back off and reset. He Liches – just stealth and let it burn off. He Liches against your party? Steal and watch as the Jolly Green Giant gets CCed and squashed. Just avoid red circles and Necros will probably be your easiest fights.

Hammer Warriors: Bow is your bigger fear than hammer. Pindown and fire field are more likely to hurt you. Hammer is pretty highly telegraphed and not the highest damage (especially as they’re likely a bunker build with a hammer). Just interrupt their attacks with P4 while laying in some pressure with auto attack and dodging when needed. Once they balanced stance, steal the boons and then lay into them. Likely they’ll then pop endure pain – that’s where you back off and recover initiative to finish him off once endure is over. Hammer warriors are more annoying than a real fear, though their innate HP and armor makes all warriors a tougher fight.

As stated, though, if 1 on 1s are your weak point, stay with the main group and finish those targets. Practice 1v1s with some guildmates if you can.

Practice. Practice makes progress.