1. #1
    Deleted

    Thief grievances in sPvP

    I returned to GW2 about a month ago after and extended hiatus and have gotten into it quite a bit.

    I play a Thief, and only a Thief and most thing remain unchanged compared to February, when I left.

    However after realizing that sPvP awarded laurels and playing it quite a bit I did notice a number of changes and ones I am having a hard-time adjusting to. Ironically they seem to have less to do with the Thief class itself and more to do with all the others.

    The thing is, I do fairly well in WvW. The "Revealed" debuff is only 3 seconds and due to more gear-options we can specialize more than in sPvP.

    But in sPvP I can't seem to take many classes 1v1 any more. It feels like everyone and their mother is playing some sort of semi-tankish build with high-protection uptime and an abundance of CC. Warriors especially all seem to be running some stun-heavy build combined with at least 2 immunity cooldowns.

    Rangers are similar as they all seem to have 4 stun-happy pets following them. Pets also have this annoying "feature" of eating backstabs due to seemingly random target choices. Select the Ranger as a target? Nevermind, attack the pet anyway. And then Rangers too all seem to be hopping around like mad with 60% Protection uptime.

    And then there's the abundance of splash-damage. Ranged options for Thieves are very limited and offer little utility. So melee has to be viable. Unfortunately due to the massive amount of random AoE damage flying around, be it Mesmer Illusions, Pets, arcing swings or just standard AoE, I can't seem to sustain myself longer than a few seconds.

    So TL;DR is that the following points are causing me grievance in sPvP:
    -Abundance of stuns
    -Everyone having a high Protection uptime
    -Constant splash-damage

    I have yet to find a build that can somehow deal with this. I have seen a number of Thieves run some sort of Sword + Dagger/Pistol "Evade-spam" build which basically has them evading near constantly. I'm not sure what the build exactly so maybe someone could link it.

  2. #2
    1. This is only warrior, other classes rely on conditions to CC (fear/immobilise/chill) with the exception of knockdowns (which are rare)
    2. This has been the case since October or November, thieves have a good way of dealing with "boon tanks" such as guardians, eles and rangers
    3. Not really an issue for thieves. Your objective is to roam and "snipe". This makes it impossible to get a lot of splash dmg if you play right.

    TLDR, don't use builds that are clearly outdated. There are 2main build ideas for thief atm p/d condition and s/d boon hate, you can probably find the builds in the thief forums here or on guru or on the official forums or on mistpedia.net

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Ok thanks, this Evade-spam build seems to be working better already.

  4. #4
    Banned Lazuli's Avatar
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    Starting out in melee isn't always the best option, especially if your target is full health. You gotta know when to close the gap. Thief isn't made to stay toe to toe with a target in close range. It's meant to get in, wtfpwn, and get out. S/D is a brainless build that will not improve your skill, it essentially plays itself but #yolo

    Enjoy condi meta.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Lazuli View Post
    Starting out in melee isn't always the best option, especially if your target is full health. You gotta know when to close the gap. Thief isn't made to stay toe to toe with a target in close range. It's meant to get in, wtfpwn, and get out. S/D is a brainless build that will not improve your skill, it essentially plays itself but #yolo

    Enjoy condi meta.
    And backstab isn't a brainless build because you need positioning? I would say s/d is easier to play and more forgiving but the only brainless build in this game is power phantasm spec mesmers and p/d theives.

  6. #6
    Merely a Setback PACOX's Avatar
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    Try S/D or D/P. D/D backstab is lackluster since CnD is easy to predict.

  7. #7
    Banned Lazuli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zito View Post
    And backstab isn't a brainless build because you need positioning? I would say s/d is easier to play and more forgiving but the only brainless build in this game is power phantasm spec mesmers and p/d theives.
    Not sure if sarcastic but that's exactly why BS isn't a brainless build.

    And yeah mesmer is garbage, it literally does play itself after you cast a few buttonz. #Esports

    I'm glad they aren't viable in current meta.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Lazuli View Post
    And yeah mesmer is garbage, it literally does play itself after you cast a few buttonz. #Esports
    I tried Power Phantasm Mesmer out of boredom the other day, met the very first opponent (D/D Ele wearing Valkyrie + Berserker gem), summoned the Berserker and one-rounded him with a Flame Sigil proc.

  9. #9
    Sword dagger sword dagger sword dagger hooo. Larcenous Strike is absolutely insane, it does everything. Need a protection or stability to go away? It does it. Need to do damage? It ain't too shabby there. Need to dodge? It's friendly and spammable.

    D/D's in kind of a weird place, it doesn't really have any advantage over S/D other than Backstab's damage, which you'd probably be better off with D/P for anyway.
    If you are particularly bold, you could use a Shiny Ditto. Do keep in mind though, this will infuriate your opponents due to Ditto's beauty. Please do not use Shiny Ditto. You have been warned.

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