Guild Wars 2

If you are using melee weapons regardless of the build, I realized fighting against GOOD thieves is nearly impossible, all those blinds are really hard to get rid off and instant dazes just make it harder.

I mean you can cleanse but you know how thieves are, they can just reapply it again.

Another problem i have is when they 2v1 you with a mesmer.

Any tips?

Since you mention melee weapons, I suppose you don’t run a longbow, so probably equip something like a GS with X/Shield, with marauder/berserker gear? In other words, something fragile but with high burst potential?

With such a setup, against a good thief, the fight usually becomes a mind game. You have two condition invulnerabilities which you can use: the superior Berserker Stance, and to a lesser extent the (debuffable) Resistance from the Healing Signet. So basically, you want to bait the opponent’s burst, pop one of the two invuls, possibly with stability (if the thief has already used Steal), and counter with your own burst. Naturally, a good thief will try to bait you in using these invuls (and Endure Pain as well), kiting while they’re up, and attacking once they’re gone. Thus timing is quite important in such fights.

Aside from your invulnerabilities, you can (must) take advantage of fast weapon rotations, leveraging Fast Hands, to regularly cleanse conditions with Brawler’s Recovery. Many combos involve swapping weapons, so you’ll naturally remove the blind, provided it’s not covered with other conditions.You may also ignore the blind when you have skills which hit many times (so only the first hit will miss), e.g. Whirlwind or Hundred Blades.

Fighting a mesmer and a thief together is… well, difficult, if not impossible. Fighting a mesmer alone is already difficult, because the class is a natural kiter, the greatest counter to a warrior. Unless the mesmer has poor skills, focus the thief first, because a good burst can down him instantly. If the two opponents are synchronized though, then you don’t really stand a chance. Staying alive is always the better option, so if possible don’t engage such fights.

EDIT: I didn’t mention it, but you must also make sure you know how blind is applied by the opponent (black powder, traited shatters, projectile finishers…), so as to react / anticipate accordingly.

I tend to bait thieves in close for a snare/cc and burst, and I use Berserker Stance to deny their blinds when I’m doing that.

It usually involves playing the warrior like a sword thief… staying mobile, hit and run, etc. If you’re tweaked out for max damage, those hits really punish a glass thief, who must ultimately close to you or they’ll lose. They have enough tells to let you know when that’s going to happen, so be prepared with a dodge, Whirlwind Attack, Shield 5, or Endure Pain in that order of preference when the burst comes.

I’ve ended thieves on their first close, but I usually string it out to their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th so they get a bit reckless and so I can see if there’s anything unusual to their style. When you’re ready and they close, pop Berserkers’ and Frenzy, and then burst them. I find a quickened Arcing Slice and Whirlwind is often enough to kill them outright from full, and you can usually catch them with it. Whirlwind and Arcing Slice (and Reckless Dodge!) are also excellent skills to use when they’re in Shadow Refuge.

Also note that your weapon reaches farther than the radius of Black Powder. Back out of the circle and start swinging. They won’t be able to stand in it (most won’t try anyway), and you won’t suffer too much from the initial blind. You can also Whirlwind through a blind field without getting blinded, at least on most of your hits.

Note that I’m doing this pretty much exclusively in wvw, in duels or in the field, and it’s generally worked well even against very good thieves. Since the last patch when Shield got buffed, and even since the June 23 patch, I kind of feel like warriors are favoured to win in a straight fight against a glass thief. I’m also all zerk, all the time.

Against a thief and a mesmer at the same time, they’d have to be pretty bad or careless for me to beat them. The burst is way too high, and your target can simply evade while the other one kills you (assuming they don’t just catch you with a Basilisk and then coordinated burst).

EDIT: Haha, should have read Elegie’s reply before writing mine. Yeah, it’s a mind game to some extent.

Thanks for the advises guys, What weirds me out because I just realized, Blinds are given easily to classes.

Mesmers have a lot of blinds now.
Ele has blinds now too.
Thief,..go figure.

Going melee on warrior is very hard in 5v5 if these classes are present.

From a player that mains Thief and Mesmer, what Sticker has said is pretty much it, you will mostly find blinds mainly from 2 specs for Thief D/P and S/P, granted any Thief can have blinds do to traits and utilities.
Thieves are very vulnerable to any damage, they are like wet paper bags if caught outside of the initial burst.

Only counters are to anticipate the blinds and pop you condi cleanses when needed. The best is to bait then pressure with CC to limit use of blinds in the first place.

With Mesmers it’s a little trickier but same concept bait the initial Burst and dodge the initial Burst, since all Mesmer blinds are tied to CD through shatters and they have daze/ stun on shatter the blind is a little less spammy, they are bit harder to deal with than Thief due to better survivability and being one of the best 1v1 classes currently.

If you are against both l well I say find another piece of real estate away from them.

And the reason these 2 have so much blind and stealth is all thematics and fluff. Which all fits also its from the initial concept from the classes being masters of misdirection and stealth.

The only thing you can do is use Hydromancy sigil to clear the blind on swap and also take brawlers recovery.

Or sigil of Generosity, which gives the condi back to them

With sigil of generosity you have to hit them to give the condi back and if you are blinded you can hit anything. Use hydromancy to clear the blind on swap because it always hits the ground.

Are you using Lemongrass/Leek Soup and/or Hoelbrak/Melandru Runes?

I notice condition duration are rounded to every quarter of a second but it works the same with a negative factor.

example: Cloaked and Shadow
If its PvP this is pretty much unless as the minimal time you’ll have blindness is 3.75s with Melandru Runes.
In WvW, if you have Lemongrass and Melandru and if they dont have any condition duration bonuses you’ll have blindness for 1.25s which is very avoidable to wait it out.