how about Thief job.
- Be annoying
- stick to ele and mes. your job is them. at least put pressure on them.
- Disengage the fight to cap other point or help other if need. Only you can choose when to fight.
- You cant hold point.
- Shadow Refuge rez is always nice.
- Stomp fast. You are born to stomp every class except ele.
Don’t stomp in teamfights. It will kill you and that job is better off for a more tanky spec that has access to stab. Instead u should provide poison on the dead body and ether put pressure on the dead body, or pressure on other enemies in the area as they will be trying to provide pressure on the downed body as well. If you’re D/P, pop a black powder on the downed body and let your teammate stomp – but the main priority is to apply poison on the downed body and cleave via shortbow or pressure the other enemies in the area.
You need to know the matchups in the game and be able to assist via +1 fights that your team is having trouble with.
Decapping is a very important role for a thief as they have the least amount of opportunity cost to do so. Don’t try and fight 1v1’s against home defenders if you don’t have the experience with them. Usually the fight will last way too long and your team will suffer in other areas of the map for it. Worst case scenario, you will die which is very bad. A simple decap (not full cap) can work wonders to help snowball or stop the hemorrhaging of points.
These are only the basics though for general tactics. Just keep in mind the the thief thrives best when no one is paying attention to them.
Play ether a 2/6/0/0/6 D/P shortbow thief or a 2/0/0/6/6 S/D shortbow thief. S/D is more focused on sustain damage and zoning critical people out of a point. Where D/P is more focused on bursting critical targets down.
While the shortbow is useful that statement is not true. I’ve had games where I had my main melee weapon and then shortbow in the other slot, but I rarely switch to shortbow because it wasn’t worth the lack of DPS. Before you say “You’re playing thief wrong!” no, I’m just adapting to situations that don’t always call for a shortbow. If there are team mates in the fight (especially if they are struggling) I will focus on DPSing down the enemy as quickly as possible to prevent my allies from taking any more damage and to cap the point as soon as possible. (note: my role is damage/roaming so this won’t apply to all thieves and isn’t what you should always be doing, I’m just using it as an example)
The usefulness of your shortbow depends entirely on your build, your team mates and your enemies. Now say I was with a burst ele or another thief and we were fighting against a regen warrior, then I might use shortbow for the poison. But that is not always the case, so how can you say a thief without a shortbow is a waste?
I’m only here because sometimes I just like to watch things burn.
While the shortbow is useful that statement is not true. I’ve had games where I had my main melee weapon and then shortbow in the other slot, but I rarely switch to shortbow because it wasn’t worth the lack of DPS. Before you say “You’re playing thief wrong!” no, I’m just adapting to situations that don’t always call for a shortbow. If there are team mates in the fight (especially if they are struggling) I will focus on DPSing down the enemy as quickly as possible to prevent my allies from taking any more damage and to cap the point as soon as possible. (note: my role is damage/roaming so this won’t apply to all thieves and isn’t what you should always be doing, I’m just using it as an example)
The usefulness of your shortbow depends entirely on your build, your team mates and your enemies. Now say I was with a burst ele or another thief and we were fighting against a regen warrior, then I might use shortbow for the poison. But that is not always the case, so how can you say a thief without a shortbow is a waste?
Because the main role of a thief is getting quickly around the map, +1ing fights. You don’t take a thief for the uber insane DPS, because you could just take a fresh air ele or a shatter mesmer. You take them for the absolute insane mobility offered mostly through shortbow. You can’t do that without infiltrators arrow. On top of that, without shortbow in crazy, random AoE mid fights, youre contributing absolutely nothing since to melee would mean instant death
While the shortbow is useful that statement is not true. I’ve had games where I had my main melee weapon and then shortbow in the other slot, but I rarely switch to shortbow because it wasn’t worth the lack of DPS. Before you say “You’re playing thief wrong!” no, I’m just adapting to situations that don’t always call for a shortbow. If there are team mates in the fight (especially if they are struggling) I will focus on DPSing down the enemy as quickly as possible to prevent my allies from taking any more damage and to cap the point as soon as possible. (note: my role is damage/roaming so this won’t apply to all thieves and isn’t what you should always be doing, I’m just using it as an example)
The usefulness of your shortbow depends entirely on your build, your team mates and your enemies. Now say I was with a burst ele or another thief and we were fighting against a regen warrior, then I might use shortbow for the poison. But that is not always the case, so how can you say a thief without a shortbow is a waste?
Because the main role of a thief is getting quickly around the map, +1ing fights. You can’t do that without infiltrators arrow. On top of that, without shortbow in crazy, random AoE mid fights, youre contributing absolutely nothing since to melee would mean instant death
Most maps are not that large, I often find myself using the occasional heartseeker (don’t want to drain my initiative too much before the fight also another reason I don’t always use shortbow and walk instead) to move and using shadowstep for a little bonus because half of the time when I disengage I’m in combat and I’d rather be able to use my dagger again as quickly as possible. I normally don’t have a problem with AoE because I dodge and/or move out of the way. My problem is when I get focused, usually single target attacks (Mesmers! shakes fist).
And as I said, shortbow is good but not having it doesn’t mean you are a waste. My point is not to say don’t take shortbow but to explain what you can do while not using shortbow.
I’m only here because sometimes I just like to watch things burn.
While the shortbow is useful that statement is not true. I’ve had games where I had my main melee weapon and then shortbow in the other slot, but I rarely switch to shortbow because it wasn’t worth the lack of DPS. Before you say “You’re playing thief wrong!” no, I’m just adapting to situations that don’t always call for a shortbow. If there are team mates in the fight (especially if they are struggling) I will focus on DPSing down the enemy as quickly as possible to prevent my allies from taking any more damage and to cap the point as soon as possible. (note: my role is damage/roaming so this won’t apply to all thieves and isn’t what you should always be doing, I’m just using it as an example)
The usefulness of your shortbow depends entirely on your build, your team mates and your enemies. Now say I was with a burst ele or another thief and we were fighting against a regen warrior, then I might use shortbow for the poison. But that is not always the case, so how can you say a thief without a shortbow is a waste?
Because the main role of a thief is getting quickly around the map, +1ing fights. You can’t do that without infiltrators arrow. On top of that, without shortbow in crazy, random AoE mid fights, youre contributing absolutely nothing since to melee would mean instant death
Most maps are not that large, I often find myself using the occasional heartseeker (don’t want to drain my initiative too much before the fight) to move and using shadowstep for a little bonus because half of the time when I disengage I’m in combat and I’d rather be able to use my dagger again as quickly as possible. I normally don’t have a problem with AoE because I dodge and/or move out of the way. My problem is when I get focused, usually single target attacks (Mesmers! shakes fist).
And as I said, shortbow is good but not having it doesn’t mean you are a waste. My point is not to say don’t take shortbow but to explain what you can do while not using shortbow.
Im not arguing HS over infil arrow. (Not every thief uses dp either, sd crit fulfills the same role with some strengths over dp) Theyre both relatively the same on flat ground. But infil arrow gives insane mobility across the Z-axis, something only 2 other professions can even do, and with hefty cooldowns. You can’t “dodge or move out of the way” of random AoE and dmg flying around. I know you know the types of team fights im talking about. The ones where you can’t even move or be at risk of getting CCed/loaded with condis and then focused to death. You’re just being stubborn. Thieves need shortbow to be successful in mid to high tier pvp. Otherwise there is absolutely NO point taking a thief over another zerker, like ele or mes
While the shortbow is useful that statement is not true. I’ve had games where I had my main melee weapon and then shortbow in the other slot, but I rarely switch to shortbow because it wasn’t worth the lack of DPS. Before you say “You’re playing thief wrong!” no, I’m just adapting to situations that don’t always call for a shortbow. If there are team mates in the fight (especially if they are struggling) I will focus on DPSing down the enemy as quickly as possible to prevent my allies from taking any more damage and to cap the point as soon as possible. (note: my role is damage/roaming so this won’t apply to all thieves and isn’t what you should always be doing, I’m just using it as an example)
The usefulness of your shortbow depends entirely on your build, your team mates and your enemies. Now say I was with a burst ele or another thief and we were fighting against a regen warrior, then I might use shortbow for the poison. But that is not always the case, so how can you say a thief without a shortbow is a waste?
Because the main role of a thief is getting quickly around the map, +1ing fights. You can’t do that without infiltrators arrow. On top of that, without shortbow in crazy, random AoE mid fights, youre contributing absolutely nothing since to melee would mean instant death
Most maps are not that large, I often find myself using the occasional heartseeker (don’t want to drain my initiative too much before the fight) to move and using shadowstep for a little bonus because half of the time when I disengage I’m in combat and I’d rather be able to use my dagger again as quickly as possible. I normally don’t have a problem with AoE because I dodge and/or move out of the way. My problem is when I get focused, usually single target attacks (Mesmers! shakes fist).
And as I said, shortbow is good but not having it doesn’t mean you are a waste. My point is not to say don’t take shortbow but to explain what you can do while not using shortbow.
Im not arguing HS over infil arrow. Theyre both relatively the same on flat ground. But infil arrow gives insane mobility across the Z-axis, something only 2 other professions can even do, and with hefty cooldowns. You can’t “dodge or move out of the way” of random AoE and dmg flying around. You’re just being stubborn. Thieves need shortbow to be successful in mid to high tier pvp.
There’s only a few maps in which that is really needed and I do use shortbow for that.. but that’s it. Trying not to get too attached because it feels like an exploit to me.. only a matter of time before they fix it. As far as AoE goes most animations are obvious enough, avoid them and any big red circles you see. It might take time to learn them for new thieves so that can be a problem. As far as single target damage? Like I said, that is difficult but you can still dodge it if it’s not too overwhelming. S/D has evades so if you time it right you can avoid them. D/D while traited gives you stealth with a blind, and D/P or S/P (if you really want to be adventurous) has an AoE blind that can work if your enemies are boxed in. Again, I repeat, shortbow is good but a shortbow less thief is not a waste. Yes, shortbow is very helpful and can turn the fight in higher level PvP but not having it does not mean you are 100% useless.
I feel as I have deviated too far from the original topic so this will be my last post here. I hope I was able to help someone by posting this at least.
I’m only here because sometimes I just like to watch things burn.
Most AoE is easy to dodge when you’re 1v1ing someone, sure, but a standard mid fight will usually have so much random crap flying around the point that it’s impossible to dodge everything. Engi turrets and grenades, necro wells, hambow fire and earthshaker, lines of warding, fire rings, meteor showers, etc etc. Going into a fight like that and doing any meaningful damage is suicide, which is where SB is useful.
You dont have to step on others face to be useful, you know. :/
You’re right. I apologize. It came off too harshly.
Hey its ok. to be honest you post is useful to me.
you gave me an idea about poisoning down ppl (to reduce heal effective) that I never use.
(I only have 1 poison from trait: poison on steal and I dont have any condi dmg)
