First, you have the best ranged defense options: Wall of Reflection, S..
Wall of Reflection is awesome. I use it to “cut the cake”. In sPvP if I’m being double teamed by range fighters I would drop the Wall and move back and forth into the wall to kit the ranged playings. Its fun watching them struggle to get a shot on me while I twittle them down. (basically I try to make them fight me on my terms instead of chasing them).
In PvE if I’m fighting mobs with ranged and Melee i would drop the wall between the melee and ranged and kill the melee first.
In general Kitting is not an issue for me in spvp because I play bunker guardian. So normally there’s big target on my back. Between my wall of reflection, shield #5, and greatsword #5 ranged doesn’t bother me.
Arena Net stated that profession elites are suppose to be better than racial elites of the same type. This is to prevent people from being forced to chose a race based off of the profession they want to pay. Since Thief’s guild combos very well with share venom builds I would assume that it’s better than Hounds of Balthazar and Mistfire wolfs (for those with the digital deluxe edition).
I personally use thief’s guild for both pvp and pve.
BTW since your using s/p. Cycling in skill 5 “black powder” will help (too bad you can’t use your combo field with it). Also you have an extra utility skill, “blinding powder” will also help. (shadow refuge is better once you unlock it).
In a more extreme case you can try subbing your pistol with a dagger so you can drop in and out of stealth.
Remember to stay mobile and on your enemy’s flank and rear. Melee ranged foes and use your ranged attack against melee foes. Use Steal to quickly close the ground on a ranged target and remember you can use many of your movement skills (like your leaping strike) to get out of combat as well as into.
As a Thief your greatest weapon in melee is your mobility, make sure to use it.
Totally agree with Jack of Tears. When playing with D/D, D/P, S/D or S/P, I’m constantly circle strafing. When the mod emotes a big attack I dodge. For single target this works perfectly (even on bosses).
For multi mods I use a combination of caltrops(the skill or the trait or both), (if your off hand is a dagger) stealth, to circle the large mod so I can hit which ever is in range. If your off hand is a pistol you can just skill 5 and stand there while the mod is blind.
Would PP (sneak attack) combined with shadow refuge still do less damage than a short bow?
I like attacking from range so I tried p/d, short bow and pp. I’m not much of a min maxer so I just stick with pp because its fun. At the same time maybe i should revisit the short bow….
