Guild Wars 2

Rather than asking if it’s a good idea to involve bookahs, you should ask whether you’d rather risk them or your own epidermis in potentially dangerous otherwordly explorations.

I for one say we send the bookahs.

You’re taking the skill out of context.

If you only look a the length of the stun, yes, it does seem a little bit weak. However, you’re forgetting that it only takes effect when you hit your foe, essentially making it an instant stun during your combo. Another thing you’re not taking into account is that a thief can do some VERY nasty damage very quickly when specced for it, which makes it an ideal skill for burst builds.

How is a skill ran by practically every bursty build supposed to be weak?

Agreed, it’s not really a good build, but personally I love it

Try going 30/30/0/0/10, take every damage increasing trait you can find and run 3 signets with the might on signet use trait. After that do the following combo and tell me your damage still isn’t good enough:

Cast Basilisk Venom. Pop all your signets, start casting Cloak and Dagger and steal before the animation finishes. Backstab. If you time it right, you’ve just hit your target with mug + C&D + back stab all within a single second.

If the target is still alive, do a couple of auto attacks or a heart seeker to finish.

Not really a serious build, but it’s fun :P

Alternatively you could take one of the above builds with sensible utilities and win 1v5s
* shrug *

Basilisk Venom seems just fine to me. Think of it a mesmer mantra – long cast time, but instant when it’s actually used.

It’s the perfect elite for a burst build, but on top of that it also works with less bursty specs thanks to rune of Lyssa. Compared to that I find thieves guild weak – it has way too long cooldown for me and it’s too easy to just aoe down the thieves.

As for Moa, while I agree it could use a nerf, it’s way weaker than a stun due to the fact you can still move and you have that additional evade on your disposal. It basically forces you to run, but it has hardly ever gotten me actually killed.

^I could be wrong, but I believe it does indeed count as a HP bar.

As for the macro claims, pulling off a complicated combo is easy enough with a little bit of practice. You need muscle memory for that, not a macro.

Rigel.3092:

If in WvW, you also die “lovely” and quickly, if not careful, given the build you have indicated is more a backline build than anything else. I prefer to be frontline, hence, I run a different build and my wells still dish out respectable damage (WoS doing 4K+).

True that, I’ve never been much of a zerg fighter, and I probably should’ve mentioned it.

I typically fight solo or with a couple of people at most, so there’s less random aoe going around. Even then it’s easy to get killed unless you know what you’re doing, so it’s definitely not a build for everyone.

Then again, I’ve done just fine the few times I’ve taken part in keep sieges etc, though when pushing it’s best you use DS 4 and keep away from front lines when you’re starting to take damage.

^This. Drop wells, pop Lich Form. Alternatively, drop wells, pop DS with Deathly Precision followed by 5 and 4. Either way, anything standing in the wells is dead by the time the wells expire. Immobilize also comes in handy here..

As for the builds, my favorite is a 30/10/0/0/30 zerker build. A bit glassy, but has some lovely aoe

I’l have to agree with the above comments, while it’s true most necromancers I’ve seen aren’t using DS properly, no matter how well you use it it will only take you so far.

That being said, a good rule of thumb is that if your Life Force bar is either full or empty all the time, you’re doing something wrong. Use it, but don’t waste it.

I’ve been running a 3 signet instagib build in WvW as a thief, and I guarantee there’s no way to 2 shot a necromancer with full health and DS. The build I’m running is about as glassy as it gets with no stunbreaks and traited for maximum damage, and the best it can do is perhaps 25k burst, but that’s the limit.

More often than not the initial burst isn’t even enough to take down the necromancer without DS, though it’s usually easy enough to finish them off afterward.

Besides, keep in mind the nature of that particular break through has not been further specified. It could mean anything from an experiment working as intented to an explosion followed by a golem uprising and an otherwordly invasion of tentacly things, like back when I researched possible alternates to expensive dyes..

Any result can be considered a success, so long as the implications are sufficiently interesting.

Definitely been there since the beta. Remmeber that happening on my necro before I started wearing a mask..

I’m more of a PvPer, but if it’s damage you want, 30/x/x/x/30 is the way to go. I usually put the last 10 point to Curses, but that’s just me.

Deathly Perception is just amazing..

Well, the more you know the better decisions you can make, so I vote for an extra bar.

I often take a quick look at health bars when not in combat to see the overall situation, and if the necromancer bar just stops moving when in DS I’ll assume he’s safe even if he’s actually eating a spike. Of course, an organized team would probably call out something like that, but if the health bars lying about the necromancer being in danger are a problem, then I can see the opposite causing confusion as well.

If I couldn’t just auto attack my way to freedom in the time it takes me to land a C&D, I might consider this a problem.

As it stands? Nope. Too many easy ways to deal with it for me to consider having one more a problem.

But that’s the trait we’re talking about there, not the skill itself. Still, I see what you mean, and that is indeed correct.

Minion AI has been complained about since the closed beta. One can always hope, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

swinsk.6410:

Thieves are the best solo/roamer in wvw.
Thieves are worst zvz in wvw.
Thieves are low tier in spvp, which is what this thread is about.

I agree that thieves aren’t the best ZvZ profession out there, but I disagree with them being the worst. We have spammable blast finishers and decent aoe, the only problem we really have is our fragile nature. But like you said, that’s not what this thread is about so let’s talk about sPvP.

The most competitive PvP we have at the moment is the Mist League, so by looking at the professions used we should get a general idea on the state of the said professions. I’ve only watched a handful of games, but in those games thieves were used just fine. I remember one game having two thieves on one side and two on the other, and most of the games I saw had a thief in it, usually more than one.

Feel free to correct me if you’ve watched more than I have, but based on that thieves are not in fact low tier.

Where do you get that idea from anyway? I see thieves wherever I look in PvP, whether we’re talking about WvW, hot joins or tPvP. Nothing I see indicates that thieves are doing particularly poorly, and based on my own experiences they’re fine as well.

What’s all this complaining about? What do you base it on?

ensoriki.5789:

Jon was on vacation? Makes sense seemed like he disappeared.

Oh and Jon can’t remember if you or chaplan but I remember the last beta event A Jon/john said Hunger Royale may return later on out though obviously needed polish for being made in quick haste.
Has anyone touched that since last august or is that a currently “too be decided” thing?

/offtopic.

Funny you would mention that, may I suggest you head to Labrinthine Cliffs and talk to Evon Gnashblade about Southsun Survival. You’re in for a pleasant surprise

Silly bookahs, a direct invasion would be highly cost inefficient. For all intents and purposes we already control you, so that would be nothing but a colossal waste of resources.

When you think about it, you’re doing exactly what we want you to. The dragons were deemed a threat due to their appetite for magical artifacts such as our cities, and now you’re busily beating them back. Instead of imposing direct taxation we provided you with a gate network that provides the same result – us getting rich in your expense -, and you’re thanking us for it.

You are even doing heavy lifting for us in our numerous efforts to utilize otherworldly resources from the mists. Who do you think built the portals that lead to the Mist War? Think about it, even our fractal research is directly funded by candidates of Lions Arch Captain council.

No, you needn’t worry about an army of golems charging through the gates. If we want something killed, we send you

Thieves are still capable of doing a nice burst, and all those small % buffs stack up pretty quickly. Dagger training and Flanking strikes are very important for burst builds.

Quick Pockets is also surprisingly strong in certain builds, a good example being a s/d+s/d flanking strikes spam build. Quick Pockets gives the extra initiative to make those builds possible.

What’s with me getting ninja’d every time I post something today? O.o

Travlane.5948:

8) Thief

What about those spammable blast finishers thieves have? Assuming there’s at least some degree of communication that’s pretty big deal in larger battles when combined with water or fire fields, to name a few.

Swinsk, aren’t you forgetting the recent Dhuumfire nerf? And the fact terror damage was nerfed even before that to compensate for Dhuumfire existing in the first place?

I’d say necromancers are still better off than before the changes simply because of the fact power builds are now somewhat viable, but I wouldn’t place them first anymore. Anyway, enough off topic..

Thieves aren’t the biggest tPvP profession at the moment, but based on the few mist league games I’ve seen they’re doing OK. I admit I’ve only watched a handful of games, but there have always been one of two thieves running around, so nothing to complain about there.

For tPvP D/P offers some nice survivability with all the blinds and stealths combined with huge single target damage and S/D boon steal builds make life difficult for boon reliant builds, while all the evasion makes them hard to catch.

Thieves also have arguably the best mobility in the game and even after all the nerfs their burst is nothing to sneeze at. Finally there’s the fact a stealth builds can take on an entire zerg in WvW without too much of a problem.

So what’s all this complaining about?

Are you talking about the traited version? Last time I checked Life Transfer simply keeps giving you life force even if you get kicked out of DS.

As for the original question, nope, don’t think so. Life Transfer gives you life force, which has nothing to do with life siphons (blood magic traits like vampiric etc).

Did I just get penta-ninja’d? Have I accidentally wandered into the thief forums again..? :P

I’ve never been much of a life steal user, but from what I’ve heard, they’re simply too weak to be worth taking. So it’s probably not worth it, though I’ve seen a level 11 do just fine dueling 80s. The moral of the story is that if you REALLY want to do life steals, go ahead. Just keep in mind a different build would probably make things a lot easier for you.

As for the sigils, usually sigils seem to share cooldowns (on swap and on crit ones do, for instance), but on kill sigils like bloodlust still work. With the heal on kill sigil it could go either way really, so I’d say your best bet is to test it yourself in the mists.

Above is exactly the reason I’d like to see changes to the ghost form. Dying late means not being able to do anything at all, and if the ghosts feel like it and happen to have sufficient revenge motes they can outright kill anyone they come across.

Harrashing, sure, but instantly killing someone from stealth? A ghost with 14 revenge motes can summon a karka and knock down the victim with a “nice trap”, and with no stunbreaks that’s a guaranteed kill if timed well. Not to mention the victim can’t see the ghost or the trap, so the only way to avoid it is to hide.

Alternatively if the player is low on rations and looking for more, alarm traps can wither away those supplies and once again there’s nothing the victim can do about it.

IMO that shouldn’t be how it works. Give them CC to make life difficult for the living, and perhaps give them skills that punish staying in the same place. Let them keep nice traps to slow their victims down, give them fear to push them off ledges, but don’t let ghosts directly kill the living. To compensate for the loss of damage, make revenge motes easier to gain later on in the game and you’ve just made life easier for both the living and the dead

The problem with ghost form IMO is that when you have the revenge motes you’re too powerful, when you don’t you can’t do anything.

Nerf the damage, add a revenge mote regen of some sort. Problem solved

I mean, it’s the ghosts that usually decide the winner of the game. I’d prefer them not having any form of damage but instead more access to cc (Fear? They’re ghosts..), but maybe that’s just me.

Well, if I’m completely honest, the gameplay or the editing definitely isn’t. Now let’s take a look at that build…

Seems decent. Not what I’d run, but that’s just a matter of personal preference. I prefer hidden killer over executioner when running dagger mainhand for instance, but both work.

Generally speaking when good thief videos are needed, someone links these: http://www.youtube.com/user/bemeric1/videos
Look for the outnumbered thief videos, and enjoy!

naphack.9346:

interrupt

Good point, I’m so used to running /d that I forgot it’s D/P we’re talking about.

CC is bad as a D/D thief, but you’ll always have a second C&D + all the utilities in case your first stealth attempt fails so getting interrupted is nowhere near as devastating as it is for a D/P thief. On top of that being forced to melee range to stealth and not having that constant blind available means you’ll usually end up taking slightly more damage than D/P, so the extra regen comes in handy.

I can see why you’d want those acrobatics traits now..

The Baws.5164:

Which one would you say is better or is it just personal preference?

Keep in mind that I’m not a mesmer player, but here goes:

First of all, before you start leveling anything for WvW, try both in sPvP. Thieves are weaker there (smaller amount of stat points available, can’t contest points while in stealth), but you’ll get a general feel on how both professions play. Just keep in mind your damage is a lot lower than it would be in WvW.

When it comes to WvW, mesmers are great in larger groups (bigger than two, anyway) due to their portals: hide one in a keep and it can portal an entire army inside. They are also great in small scale fights, since they are pretty hard to catch with all their clones, stealth, short range teleports, clones, invulnerabilities and, of course, their clones. They also do nice damage with their fast recharging mind wrack bursts and phantasms.

That being said, things change dramatically when you increase the enemy numbers. Unlike thieves, mesmers have only limited access to stealth, and their lack of mobility makes escape more difficult. Against a good thief the number of enemies doesn’t really matter, more enemies simply means more targets for cloak and dagger. Because of this, a good stealth build works in every situation from 1v1 to fighting a zerg, which simply isn’t possible as a mesmer.

I wish I could give you a more conclusive answer, but I simply don’t know mesmers well enough to do so. What I do know is that my thief has never let me down in any situation I’ve put it in, and I certainly haven’t been too careful. I’ve done everything from duels to 1v20s to single handedly wiping out every single arrowcart on the walls during a Stonemist siege (and I mean during it – our zerg was having trouble getting past them, so I sneaked in and started breaking them and their users, and I have to footage to prove it), and most of that wouldn’t have been possible with anything else. You never die as a thief unless you make a mistake.

Of course, there are things a mesmer can do that thief can’t, but IMO thieves have a way bigger list.

Then again, that’s just my opinion and I don’t really have anything objective to back it up with. Watch some videos, try both and see which you like the most. My advice is to go with a thief, but someone might disagree

… I wasn’t going to write a wall of text, I swear
Too much forums for me today, I suppose…

I’ve always liked occasionally just going all out burst and enjoying the numbers, so this and a few other similar videos inspired me to give rifle warriors a try in sPvP, and now I must go all the way from 2 to 80 again and somehow find the money for yet another armor with a set of scholars runes.

In the meanwhile, I want more of these

About that permastealth build, why only 20 in Shadow Arts? Regen on stealth and perma stealth combine a little too well for me to justify taking acrobatics instead.

(Is there supposed to be a message or something when your post gets too long? Mine just refuses to update when I try adding more stuff.. Blame the forums if I say the same thing twice! Copy-Paste time..)

Feel free to message me here or ingame if you have any guestions, though I’ll try to keep an eye on this thread as well. Also, in case one helper isn’t enough, TheMightyAltroll has an entire guild dedicated to helping new thieves here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/AotT-Art-of-the-Thief-Thieves-School/

EDIT: I forgot to mention slot skills:
For heal I’d avoid the signet, otherwise take what works best with the build.

For utilities it’s a matter of personal preference and highly build dependent (venom builds use obviously use venoms for instance), but generally speaking for a typical stealth build you want Shadow Step, and some of these: Blinding Powder, Shadow Refuge, Assasin’s Signet, Infiltrator’s Signet, Signet of Shadows (usually no more than one signet though, and often not even that), or Haste. I also hear some people take traps, but I’ve never used them so ask someone else.

In case just listing skills is too confusing, my personal preference is Shadow Step, Blinding Powder and Shadow Refuge, though some might find that too defensive and bring Assassin’s Signet or something for extra damage.

More offensive builds (= spike builds that aren’t quite as spiky as my beloved 3 signet instagib build.) often bring Haste and possibly some venoms (Most notably Skale Venom for vulnerability), though I’ve never been a huge fan of haste. It only really helps after the main burst anyway..

Speaking of these non signet burst builds really makes me want to do some build crafting…

As for the elite, anything works depending on the situation. Dagger storm is great defensive tool or an additional aoe option, thieves guild is always good and Basilisk Venom is great for bursting (Which you can also do with the x/30/30/x/x stealth build, it just won’t be an instant kill) and it combines well with things like Runes of Lyssa.

EDIT2: Having read all that, I didn’t mention how D/D burst works, which you should probably know. Even a non burst build can use it to deal a nice mini burst, and it might not be immediately obvious like everything else.

First put basilisk venom on if you have it. It prevents the target from moving making landing the backstab easier and stuns generally speaking combine well with spikes. Depending on the build pop any other preparations you have as well and do the spike:

Cloak and Dagger + Steal during C&D cast (instant teleport + damage if traited – the closer to the end of the cast, the better) + backstab. Auto attack or heart seeker to finish.

Ideally you’ll land C&D and steal nearly simultaneously while stunning and Backstab comes 1/4 of a second later, dealing total of 10-25k or so damage depending on build and luck.

In case you have signets, pop Assassin’s signet before spike and everything else if traited for might on signets. They’re instant cast, and signet of shadows can be used to break aegis before spiking.

1. Yes. Thieves shine in smaller settings, and duoing is no exception. Zerging is a little bit more difficult due to all the aoe, but it’s doable as well if you play smart.

2. We’ve been nerfed several times since launch, but a good thief can still fight a zerg alone (Search for youtube videos by Yishis) or spike someone down before they can react with a right build, so I’d say they are in a pretty good state. Still the kings of small scale WvW

3. A bad thief dies a horrible death, respawns and dies again. A good one won’t, he’s too busy fighting a 2v1 that started as a 5v1. Does that answer your question?

Thief survivability is all active survivability – the only way to survive a big hit is to avoid it. That means in good hands a glass cannon thief can be tougher to kill than a bunker guardian while doing 10k crits, but one mistake can get you killed.

4. x/30/30/x/x, berserker gear with some valkyrie or knight’s mixed in(I’m not an expert, so ask someone else. My gear is mostly zerker and far from optimal). Important traits are +2 initiative on stealth and regenerate health in stealth.

Weapons wise the most popular choice is dagger/pistol: blinding powder + heart seeker to stealth (at least 3xHS for permanent stealth), other than that just use blind, stealth and interrupts as needed to negate damage while doing as much as possible yourself. It’s very effective, though I’ve never liked it.

Dagger/dagger offers the best burst damage, but is slightly less defensive. You can get nearly permanent stealth with well timed cloak and daggers, but it does require melee range.

As a side note, in case you want some fun variety, it’s also possible to build a D/D spike build: something along the lines of 30/30/0/0/10 3 signet build with might on signets can still instagib people despite all the nerfs. Over all the loss of survivability isn’t worth it, but it’s a hilarious build.

Sword/Dagger is my personal favorite. With 30 in acrobatics you can build a Flanking strike spam build, but that aside S/D is one of the most versatile sets we have. Skill 1 does nice damage and cleaves, skill two is a teleport, an immobilize, a handy escape and a condition removal, skill 3 is evade, boon removal and nice damage, 4 is a cripple though often not worth the cost and Cloak and Dagger gives you easy access to stealth and the stealth skill is a daze. What else can you ask for?

I often run S/D with D/D in a x/30/30/x/x build; D/D gives me the burst, S/D gives me a shadowstep in case I’m too far for Cloak and Dagger when I must stealth as well as slightly more defensive 1v1 weapon and cleave in case someone I downed is getting revived.

When I need ranged weapon or additional shadowsteps (in that all out D/D burst build I mentioned, for instance) I bring short bow. Not much to say here, it’s a solid choice. 1 and 2 are nice aoe damage, 4+2 equals weakness, 3 is evade and 5 is a spammable shadowstep. I wouldn’t use SB as a primary weapon, but as a secondary weapon it’s great.

Finally, there are some weaponsets I haven’t mentioned yet due to lack of experience or viability.

Pistol/dagger (and to some extend dagger/dagger) is the king of condition builds. Pistol stealth skill does lots of bleeding, and dagger offhand gives plenty of stealth. However, I don’t have much experience with P/D, so you’ll have to ask someone else if you want to know more.

Pistol/Pistol can be used for spamming Unload. I wouldn’t advice that though, since you lack stealth and mobility and the damage isn’t really THAT great.

Sword/Pistol was nerfed pretty heavily, but I’ve seen some people use it to do a stunlock burst by spamming 3. That’s about all I know about that particular weapon set though..

Finally, there’s a special breed of builds I haven’t heard much from for a while called Venom Share builds. Thieves have skills called Venoms, and a trait that allows you to share the effects with allies. You need 30 in shadow arts for that, and when I last heard of these people used P/D or S/P for weapons.

I’m not sure how much these builds are used these days, since I haven’t kept an eye on P/D builds, but it’s an interesting possibility if you want to play support. You’ll need to ask someone else though…

I hope I didn’t miss anything important there..

5. Go to heart of the mist and look a the PvP Locker. You can preview more or less every armor skin in the game there (Are there any not in the locker? I know legendary weapons aren’t, so maybe something else is missing too, but at any rate, nearly everything is there.) Take your time looking at them and make sure to check the cultural armors further down as well!

6. I’ll just leave this thread here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Guide-to-Thief-Guides/first

EDIT: Bolded stuff to make things easier to find

Your build seems a bit funny, it isn’t glassy enough to really burst someone down, but doesn’t have the 30 Shadow Art points you want for a stealth build. Your best bet it probably a x/30/30/x/x build, but if it’s bursting you want..

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAoYVlUmKOHcy5E/5Ex2DfKUi6VAsaPoZLhJA-jEyAEEAiCIZBK5VEN2ibR0Y11YKXioa7dR0qBA-w

Use Basilisk, pop all your signets, Cloak and dagger + steal + backstab to burst.

Note that you’re about as glassy as you get, so in a fair fight you’ll be at a huge disadvantage and if you get jumped on there’s nothing you can do, but it is a fun build that lets you see big numbers

This might go against what the build is designed around, but have you considered dropping points somewhere to get Deathly Perception (30 in soul reaping)? That way you would actually get crits while in DS, which would be a massive damage boost especially with so many wells.

Basically, drop wells, enter DS and suddenly your wells have a decent chance to crit. I messed around with a carion build in hot joins a while ago and found out those high hitting life blasts can be handy.

I suppose it really comes down to how much survivability you really need. Where are you planning to use the build?

Lich Form is already ridiculously strong when used at the right moment (= when your enemies are busy fighting something else – by the time they swap targets you’ll have someone downed and hilarity ensues when everyone rushes to revive..), so better not buff it to avoid it getting nerfed.

Basically, the “Hit Me!” sign shouldn’t be an issue if you’re clever about it

Basically, you are asking for a fleshy melee death shroud?

…

Count me in.

The problem with necro roaming is the lack of mobility – there will be times when the enemy simply outnumbers you too heavily and there’s nothing you can do about it. Every other profession has at least some tool they can use to escape.

Of course, it’s still doable, you just have to think ahead and always be prepared in case twenty people suddenly show up.

Since when have stun-locking warriors been a problem? Fear them when you get stunned and try not to let them repeatedly stun you.

It’s still a horrible skill, but I one shot (Skills with multiple strikes still count as a single attack. Don’t question it.) a level 80 guardian in WvW with it yesterday

The story here is I was running an all out glass cannon thief build, a 30/30/0/0/10 3 signet all zerker build with every possible damage increasing trait, and decided it’s time I got at least one kill with the golem suit, so I modified the build a little bit for the purpose and went hunting.

None of the fights were arranged, I simply ran up to someone, popped golem and attacked. A lot of bookahs did the smart thing and ran away, some called their friends and some were simply too tanky for me to take down, but finally I ran into what seems like a glass cannon guardian, possibly using green gear. I hit close to 15k on a single skill (usually around 10-12k on random mobs) and down he went

Rerolling a necromancer might actually do the trick though, I always miss thief mobility when playing one.

A necromancer that looks genuinely scary and you’re complaining? :P

I’m using a 25/30/0/15/0 d/d 3 signet build, the most gimmicky build ever seen in Tyria. It can more or less instantly down someone, but has absolutely no defense other than those 15 acrobatics points and clever use of short bow. If someone gets caught by your combo, they die, but if someone sneezes at you it’s your turn to take a dirt nap.

I love it

Instead of trying to force elementalists be something they’re not, you could just use a power necromancer. A well burst necro is about as direct as you can get

Talking about Shroud Stomp, is it considered an exploit?

I mean, we’re obviously not supposed to be able to do that since you can’t start a stomp in DS and DS normally interrupts a stomp, so I’ve never bothered to learn it thinking it’s a bit like thieves glitching through walls with shadow steps. Then again, it seems a bit odd we can’t shroud stomp while every known form of invulnerability allows it, and DS isn’t even invulnerability.

You never showed any warrior damage, and the fights were so short all they really showed was burst DPS. It’s a nice video, but has nothing to do with proving thieves have better DPS than warriors.

I’ve seen some 30K crits from warrior rifle for instance (here’s one after a quick search: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_rXq2LYg0), but does that prove warriors have better DPS than thieves?

TL;DR: Get a thief and a warrior both using as high damage build as possible and make them attack something with enough health to last more than a few seconds (the longer the better in terms of accuracy) and time the attempts. Kill the target at least like five times with both professions, compare the average time it takes to kill the target and then we can agree on which profession has the better DPS, at least within the time window it takes to kill the target.

shizo.5698:

death nova + the summon minion mark from lich is funny

Whoa, never thought of that. How much damage does it do? :O

I’d avoid attacking the tankiest of the group first, of course, but other than that I wouldn’t really choose my targets based on professions. What matters more is where they are relative to the rest of the group.

Generally speaking you are more vulnerable when spiking, so rule number one is to stay away from the biggest clump of enemies. Even if you down someone you’re likely to take some damage while doing so and you’ll have a lot harder time finishing them once downed.

Next I’d think about where the enemy is going and where it thinks I am. Don’t attack someone in front of them, attack someone who’s lagging behind or straying away from the group. If you’re starting to take some damage, stealth and swap targets. It’s also handy to have multiple slightly damaged targets if your enemies are reviving each other, since you can first down one for them to nurse back to health while you down and finish your real target.

Basically, don’t tunnel vision and refuse to change targets if things go wrong.

I don’t play a guardian, so I’m not an expert there, but generally speaking if you want to actually kill the thief you have to spike them down quickly before they can escape. If you start winning the thief will just run away and reset the fight, so your best bet is to kill them before they can get away.

That’s where things get tricky for you though, your gear is too defensive. Odds are you won’t be able to spike them down, which means the best you can do is force them run. Builds like that works great in zergs, but I wouldn’t use one for dueling something as slippery as a thief.

TL;DR: Use a more offensive build or stick to groups