Ok first of all we have to discuss wether this is in a 5v5 conquest game we talk about with node activated, or are you by some chance having wvw in your mindset when we talk about 1v1s? Because these two things differs a lot.
Let’s talk conquest 5v5 1v1s
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3. D/P dash meta can kill thief, revenant, necro(also takes long if they kite) and ele(ele can take at least 30+ seconds and D/P dash isn’t a duelist build so it’s just a waste of a slot, then you can just replace the D/P thief for a better duelist if you want to play like this.
The only time I’ve said thief is weak has been when me and helseth jokes about it, I do not by any circumstances think thief is underpowered or weak – then you clearly have never been on my streams or understand any sort of sarcasm, what I have argued about is that if you nerf certain things eventually thief will fall out of meta because the role is so specific being a +1/decap role and can’t possibly take 2v2s/3v3s versus good players. So what I mean is, if you already have issues to +1 certain classes what happens if you further nerf damage? Yes, D/P dash will fall out of meta and you will be forced into different builds that can’t compete with other bruiser builds as good, so in the end it will fall out of a meta comp.
Lastly lets say you by any chance pick a random build and can counter 1 class in it with thief, like a full duelist build. Do you understand what happens in conquest then? You get outrotated. A good example by this would be ventari rev which is near unkillable in a 1v1, maybe it even is I haven’t seen the full power of it but played good enough I would assume so, but it has zero killing potential. What else does it struggle with? Mobility. It’s slow and doesn’t offer the same things in a teamfight as other classes, unblockable CC’s, ranged CC’s or damage. It’s good in a 1v1 scenario where you can decap/fullcap eventually with knocks but what happens if you just leave the class there? Same will happen if you invent some random trash thief build that can counter a specific target. Just the same as let’s say you roll staff thief only to counter the mesmer? Do you know what he does? Puts portal and outrotates you. What did you just achieve with building for staff then if you don’t get in the situation you are supposed to?
3. Also kills every other “non meta” burst spec except power ranger… Which “better” duelist would you pick and which spec’s dueling capabilities would outshine Thief’s mobility atm? Which spec except Scrapper can survive the Thief +1 atm? Nec/Rev(/non meta) attempting to +1 get shut down by Thief while being on their way or just outrun anyways. Shouldnt one of these two “options” be enough?
Doesnt all of this lead to a situation where its advantageous to just “bunker”/survive and wait for your Thief for the eventual kill instead of having killing-pressure yourself? And lastly dont you think that Thief in its current implementation is defining the meta to much by vastly outshining (and deleting) every other spec that could play a similiar role and forcing max bunker specs/playstyle?