Guild Wars 2

I never play Structured PvP so this advice is only for WvW for a new thief. My advice is to use the Shortbow in WvW. The auto attack can hit three targets. It is not uncommon to critical hit three targets for a 1000+ damage each with the auto attack. The number 2 attack, cluster bomb, does real good damage on a mob from a tower wall. The number 3 and 5 attacks provide good mobility.

Until you are very good as a thief avoid jumping into the big melee with dagger, sword or pistol. A big melee is 5 or more on a side blasting each other. Why you may ask? If you are not used to it, it can be disheartening to discover how fast a thief can die. With stuns, dazes and pulls everywhere the thief can go down in 1-2 seconds.

My advice is to learn to skirmish to edge of the enemy force constantly raining arrows. If they close then use Withdraw or dodge or the number 3 Shortbow attack to retreat. If they are really after you then use the number 5 Shortbow attack to teleport away. If absolutely necessary use the Shadowstep utility power to get away. Between Withdraw, Roll for Initiative and Shadowstep powers and your basic Shortbow attacks you are hard to catch or kill. Trait Acrobatics for more dodges. Stealth is ok, but does not help much versus Area of Effect attacks.

When one of the enemy gets low on health or is away from the main group then switch to melee and attack. Finish him off and rejoin your main force.

You will rarely die this way and learn the ebb and flow of the WvW battles at the same time. When you start roaming by yourself you can develop your own style of combat with your favored weapons. Most thieves roam with dagger/pistol. But try them all. They all have their place on the field of combat.

Remember in WvW it is not necessary you kill them all by yourself. Just keep up the pressure and do not die yourself.

Hope that helps.

The Signet of Spite and Spectral Wall are both good ideas. Thanks for the help.

Just a side note, got jumped by a thief and ran him off. He did not die but had to retreat. He hit me by ambush, so I used Spectral Armor, then DS to Torment him. He cloaked and healed and then used Focus to chill him. He cloaked again and got away. But I think I have fighting chance now.

If I had used Signet of Spite I might have got him….

I play on FC and have had my clock cleaned more than once by ET. But like us you have to plan more to compensate for low numbers. If it is true the numbers are getting better on ET then stay on ET. Low level tiers have little to no skill lag and no load ques. They can be a lot of fun. But if you are discouraged by being “outmanned” all the time, then move to a mid tier server. Go where you have fun.

But I am not moving. I like the FC bunch. You will probably like the ET crowd too.

Thanks for the replies.

I confess my ignorance, how dies one use Spectral Wall in 1v1 fights? I thought it was a Zerg vs Zerg skill.

I should have said in the opening statement, it was the long stealth Dagger/Pistol Thieves I have the most trouble with.

I am not a new player but I am new to the Necromancer profession. I rarely survive attacks by Thieves in WvW combat. More correctly what is a good trait/equipment build to use to defend in small skirmish/ambush?

Several times I would be escorting Doylaks when a thief would attack by ambush and either kill the Doylak or me or both. Only once did I manage to stop the Thief out of several attacks. (It was rarely the same Thief.)

Any advice would appreciated.