Guild Wars 2

i don’t know how to deal with it

2k range, no cast time
i can only hope to predict it

i save my shadowstep to run and come back after it’s done but
i keep getting volleyed on the way back
there are only so many dodges i have

i’m guessing nobody knows how to counter it?

I am a ranger (also have an 80 thief), and I sometimes use sick em. Some options I can think of are run and LoS or stun the ranger. Seems to be what most thieves do to me when (or if) I use sick em and it works well for them.

Also what is your weapon setup?

i play every thief build
but have most trouble with d/p against sick em

i’ve yet to run into a ranger with s/d

I don’t play s/d on thief but from what I know, use a gap closer to get into steal range then go in for the kill (If you don’t have the daze on steal trait use basilisk venom maybe?).

Pets are very clunky so you should have a decent window of opportunity where you only need to worry about the ranger and not his pet.

I am by no means an expert, but I hope it helps!

*Edited for poor keyboard skills and poor reading skills

I use D/D & S/D so when a ranger uses sic em, I switch to sword if not in S/D already and kill the ranger. Most don’t expect a thief play aggressive with reveal on so they panic. S/D has teleport and its dmg isn’t dependent on stealth.

Sic em becomes a problem if the ranger knows when to use it. Only a noob ranger pops reveal at the very first sight of thief, the smart ones wait and watch you play for a bit. So in my case, I use steal/shadowstep and when I switch to D/D, and suddenly reveal on = dead if I can’t break LoS.

I found sic em the worst on condi rangers since they usually use it to prevent me from cleansing condis. When condi bombed, those 6s are enough to down me from full HP even if I try to cleanse with shadowstep/sword 2.

OP, tell us what build you use so you get some relevant advice.

From having played both Ranger and Thief extensively, Line of Sight is key.
Either they’ll have to get close (_which will usually allready take a few seconds _) or they wait/run off. Whatever the situation, they’re wasting time and 6 seconds isn’t very long.
I’d also advice you to simply learn surviving without Stealth. You can use mobility in a defensive manner aswell. Especially in WvW situations where there’s plenty of objects and height differences for you to work with.
Also, don’t forget about Dagger Storm if Rangers (wether they run Sic ‘em or not) are a problem. You can use it in several ways because of the fact that it’s a whirl finisher (Drop Shadow Refuge and whirl in it for LifeSteal, drop a smoke field for stacks of blinds…) Just be creative with whatever setup you’re running.

Vornollo.5182:

From having played both Ranger and Thief extensively, Line of Sight is key.
Either they’ll have to get close (_which will usually allready take a few seconds _) or they wait/run off. Whatever the situation, they’re wasting time and 6 seconds isn’t very long.
I’d also advice you to simply learn surviving without Stealth. You can use mobility in a defensive manner aswell. Especially in WvW situations where there’s plenty of objects and height differences for you to work with.
Also, don’t forget about Dagger Storm if Rangers (wether they run Sic ‘em or not) are a problem. You can use it in several ways because of the fact that it’s a whirl finisher (Drop Shadow Refuge and whirl in it for LifeSteal, drop a smoke field for stacks of blinds…) Just be creative with whatever setup you’re running.

Some weapon sets’ mobility depends on leaps not teleports, try to stay mobile with dagger mainhand if you have cripple/immob on and bunch of other condis to cover it up.

Not saying sic em is op, to me it seems like a waste of utility when I play a ranger. What I don’t like that it counters dps for dagger mainhand sets and condi removal.

daggerstorm will probably save your life. If multiple enemies are present, your gonna have to try to run and use LOS to your advantage because most likely your a squishy teef. Unless your a condi thief…your basically a tank!

Shortbow or dagger storm till it falls off.

Vornollo.5182:

I’d also advice you to simply learn surviving without Stealth.

So much this. 6 seconds is really short, you should try running stealthless for awhile so that you don’t panic when you get revealed.

If the ranger uses sic ‘em at max range you can just run away, he can’t hit you at that distance or keep up. If you get revealed closer than you should port to him to make his ranged weapons useless. If he switches to melee you can drop black powder and fight him or kite around until reveal wears off.

If he is condi just swap to bow and run whether he has reveal or not, you probably won’t win that fight 1v1.

Short bow 5 your self away till it runs out. that’s how i deal with it >.>

Jayden Ennok.3687:

Vornollo.5182:

From having played both Ranger and Thief extensively, Line of Sight is key.
Either they’ll have to get close (_which will usually allready take a few seconds _) or they wait/run off. Whatever the situation, they’re wasting time and 6 seconds isn’t very long.
I’d also advice you to simply learn surviving without Stealth. You can use mobility in a defensive manner aswell. Especially in WvW situations where there’s plenty of objects and height differences for you to work with.
Also, don’t forget about Dagger Storm if Rangers (wether they run Sic ‘em or not) are a problem. You can use it in several ways because of the fact that it’s a whirl finisher (Drop Shadow Refuge and whirl in it for LifeSteal, drop a smoke field for stacks of blinds…) Just be creative with whatever setup you’re running.

Some weapon sets’ mobility depends on leaps not teleports, try to stay mobile with dagger mainhand if you have cripple/immob on and bunch of other condis to cover it up.

Not saying sic em is op, to me it seems like a waste of utility when I play a ranger. What I don’t like that it counters dps for dagger mainhand sets and condi removal.

Dagger main hand is potentially incredibly mobile, provided you don’t target anyone/anything.

It’s a trade-off between maintainig presure, or surviving to get them down a few seconds later… I know which one I pick.

6s of revealed on a 32s CD? thats max btw most rangers would run it on a 40s CD because no one really traits into shout master, if they did they dont worry about the Pew Pew they dont have a Longbow..

If you are squishy enough to be killed in that 6s then you are zerker enough to kill the ranger basically in one shot when the 6s are over. But a thief can’t evade damage for 6s! Heaven forbid.

Lets take Meta.. if you are s/d just spam sword 3, shadowstep to him with sword 2, even better if you have basilisk venom up.. D/p BP works, Daggerstorm on both if you run it over venom. you hsould not have any problems evading a ranger for 6s

I generally play S/D or S/P stealthless so I have plenty of evades. Obv being stealthless means I always need to worry about mitigating damage without stealth.

vs Ranger in general, I find it way way way better to interrupt their barrage rather than dodge through it. With that said. When revealed try:

D/P: Shadow Shot and Black Powder and Headshot
S/D: Flanking Strike
S/P: Pistol Whip and Black Powder and Headshot
SB: Disabling Shot or point blank Infiltrator’s Arrow then move behind them
P/P: Black Powder, combo through smoke fields, Head shot
P/D: Die
D/D: Death Blossom then die

Also infil sig, steal, infil strike, forward withdraw/rfi, shadowstep closer to them to lessen damage. Or Smoke Screen. Scorp Wire can help too, tho the cast time hurts you, same with Tripwire. Sig of Agil dodge spam is also an option. As is good ol’ Dagger Storm. Oh, I also keep whirlwind axe from warriors more than I used to, esp in large fights, save it for that special occasion.

This all assumed 1v1 or small group. If vs a large group just GTFO. If you can’t gtfo change your build so you can, or suffer the consequences.

The only problem with sic em is that when it shows as debuff on your bar you can’t tell how long it lasts. You can’t tell the difference between revealed from sic em or from your own stealthing…

Sic em revealed needs to be a color coded debuff so we know by looking that we need to dodge instead of stealth.

Often I’ve got hit by sic em just after coming out of stealth. With no animation or knowing from the ranger my only option is to mouse over my debuff and check the time. Just not possible with the speed of combat in this game…

Devs just don’t care about thief…

swinsk.6410:

The only problem with sic em is that when it shows as debuff on your bar you can’t tell how long it lasts. You can’t tell the difference between revealed from sic em or from your own stealthing…

Sic em revealed needs to be a color coded debuff so we know by looking that we need to dodge instead of stealth.

Often I’ve got hit by sic em just after coming out of stealth. With no animation or knowing from the ranger my only option is to mouse over my debuff and check the time. Just not possible with the speed of combat in this game…

Devs just don’t care about thief…

i’m still in awe that they nerfed thieves without compensation
when they made steal unable to crit, they gave healing instead.
there was a trade off, but now adays all the nerfs they did, no compensation was added.
i know what you mean about their unreasonable hatred for thieves lol.

it’s like none of the devs are efficient at thieves and they just keep nerfing them
until they manage to beat us

I don’t play wvw anymore and if it weren’t for hot joins I would have quit this game long ago. Simply because thief has the most rediculous and illogical nerfs in the game.

4s reveal in spvp only.
Steal healing/no crit
Classes with abilities that negate 2/3 of our builds.
Dumb traits like equilibrium and such.

Prob could go on. A net just doesn’t understand thieves…

swinsk.6410:

I don’t play wvw anymore and if it weren’t for hot joins I would have quit this game long ago. Simply because thief has the most rediculous and illogical nerfs in the game.

4s reveal in spvp only.
Steal healing/no crit
Classes with abilities that negate 2/3 of our builds.
Dumb traits like equilibrium and such.

Prob could go on. A net just doesn’t understand thieves…

You could say that about every class in the game beside maybee guardians and warriors

darres.8203:

it’s like none of the devs are efficient at thieves and they just keep nerfing them
until they manage to beat us

Sadly, they can hardly nerf the class enough to make everyone stop playing them. It’s just the style I like best, even if I can only tickle people to death, I’ll find a way!

It might even be that the harder they make the skill vs reward ratio the more reward we’ll feel when we do win that 1vs1 or x-vs-x..

They will never beat us!

Puz.8529:

darres.8203:

it’s like none of the devs are efficient at thieves and they just keep nerfing them
until they manage to beat us

Sadly, they can hardly nerf the class enough to make everyone stop playing them. It’s just the style I like best, even if I can only tickle people to death, I’ll find a way!

It might even be that the harder they make the skill vs reward ratio the more reward we’ll feel when we do win that 1vs1 or x-vs-x..

They will never beat us!

You realize that thieves still have the best reward/risk ratio of all zerker builds?

Puz.8529:

darres.8203:

it’s like none of the devs are efficient at thieves and they just keep nerfing them
until they manage to beat us

Sadly, they can hardly nerf the class enough to make everyone stop playing them. It’s just the style I like best, even if I can only tickle people to death, I’ll find a way!

It might even be that the harder they make the skill vs reward ratio the more reward we’ll feel when we do win that 1vs1 or x-vs-x..

They will never beat us!

You realize that thieves still have the best reward/risk ratio of all zerker builds?
Thieves just suffer right now because the meta is all bunker/celestial etc… and a thief cant win, from a strategic tpvp perspective, against builds that outlast a thief cooldown/initiative wise like bunker engis or cele D/D eles

Mayama.1854:

Puz.8529:

darres.8203:

it’s like none of the devs are efficient at thieves and they just keep nerfing them
until they manage to beat us

Sadly, they can hardly nerf the class enough to make everyone stop playing them. It’s just the style I like best, even if I can only tickle people to death, I’ll find a way!

It might even be that the harder they make the skill vs reward ratio the more reward we’ll feel when we do win that 1vs1 or x-vs-x..

They will never beat us!

You realize that thieves still have the best reward/risk ratio of all zerker builds?
Thieves just suffer right now because the meta is all bunker/celestial etc… and a thief cant win, from a strategic tpvp perspective, against builds that outlast a thief cooldown/initiative wise like bunker engis or cele D/D eles

nah, rangers have taken over
only thieves and gs war are capable of catching them
buuuut like how i started this post, with sick em, thieves can’t deal with rangers if they manage to kite until initiative run out

What in particular about Sic ‘Em is giving you trouble? It doesn’t change the game plan. You should not be running away from a longbow ranger unless you can quickly break line of sight – rangers are very, very good at killing fleeing targets in an open field, particularly squishy thieves.

If an opponent uses Sic ‘Em I’d ignore it and kill them. Plan A – to use steal to interrupt Rapid Fire and then kill the ranger in melee – does not change. If you’re in melee range and they don’t swap off of longbow, congratulations, you have probably won – longbow auto is terrible in melee range. If they switch to greatsword, you have a perfectly winnable melee duel, even without stealth. On S/D you just play the dodge game; on D/P you Head Shot their Maul and otherwise dance around while keeping them blinded.

Stealth against a ranger is mostly about getting the initial engagement without burning valuable cooldowns (Steal / Signet) and waiting out Signet of Stone on D/P (sword builds will ideally just Infiltrator’s Return away while waiting it out). The ‘trap’ would be popping SoS and Sic ‘Em at the same time against a D/P thief; you’d want to hold your Shadow Step to break LoS against that, then return once it wears off.

@ensign
thank you for the tips
i was actually doing what you said that but disengaging with d/p was a little diffcult

and for everyone else…i have found my own method of countering sick em

ready?
.
.
drum roll…
I made a ranger
they deal the same if not more dmg than thief and if u just traverse between 2 points
it really makes up for the lack of decap/mobility
I have joined the darkside…
now i’m ganna go cry buff ranger under their section lol
;)

darres.8203:

@ensign
thank you for the tips
i was actually doing what you said that but disengaging with d/p was a little diffcult

and for everyone else…i have found my own method of countering sick em

ready?
.
.
drum roll…
I made a ranger
they deal the same if not more dmg than thief and if u just traverse between 2 points
it really makes up for the lack of decap/mobility
I have joined the darkside…
now i’m ganna go cry buff ranger under their section lol
;)

Correction — Thieves is the darkside. Rangers is the dorkside.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

darres.8203:

@ensign
thank you for the tips
i was actually doing what you said that but disengaging with d/p was a little diffcult

and for everyone else…i have found my own method of countering sick em

ready?
.
.
drum roll…
I made a ranger
they deal the same if not more dmg than thief and if u just traverse between 2 points
it really makes up for the lack of decap/mobility
I have joined the darkside…
now i’m ganna go cry buff ranger under their section lol
;)

Correction — Thieves is the darkside. Rangers is the dorkside.

not so dark with them sic’em around
;)

darres.8203:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

darres.8203:

@ensign
thank you for the tips
i was actually doing what you said that but disengaging with d/p was a little diffcult

and for everyone else…i have found my own method of countering sick em

ready?
.
.
drum roll…
I made a ranger
they deal the same if not more dmg than thief and if u just traverse between 2 points
it really makes up for the lack of decap/mobility
I have joined the darkside…
now i’m ganna go cry buff ranger under their section lol
;)

Correction — Thieves is the darkside. Rangers is the dorkside.

not so dark with them sic’em around
;)

Sic’em is one of those moment in horror movies where the protagonist is searching in the dark and flashed a light to the face of death…then they die.

15 characters….

swinsk.6410:

15 characters….

We’re still hoping for the candies to come out…