LF tips on fighting s/d thief

A lot of people are starting to run s/d thief with great success, and I'm not sure how I should fight them nowadays since it's been so long. I play DH

Never stop moving. You want their Flanking Strike and Larcenous Strike to miss as much as possible, since they bypass the plethora of blocks that DH has. If you can afford it - standing on top of Dragon's Maw will allow you some leeway in terms of ranged damage and staying still for a few seconds. Dragon's Maw continues to lock someone in place even if they dodge the trap trigger, provided they stand in the area after the trigger.

I dont use dragons maw, but I will keep moving. thanks!

Try to use spots that give Thieves the "No Valid Path to Target." message, this prevents proper usage of the Sword #2 skill (Infiltrator's Strike). Infiltrators' Strike is a primary engage and disengage ability for Power, Condi and Hybrid S/D builds (for the latter two, it's also a big part of their burst potential).As a DH, learn not to rely on your Blocks for this fight, since the two skills on S/D #3 (Flanking Strike & Larcenous Strike) are both unblockable. Especially Larcenous Strike should be avoided, which can be difficult at times because it shares an animation with the third attack in the AA chain (Crippling Strike). Larcenous Strike is what really hurts a lot of builds in the current meta due to its high damage and attached boonsteal. The boonsteal from Larcenous Strike is also relatively unique in that it steals the complete stack of boons (e.g 12 might after your Empower from Staff 4 on Guard, rather than just 1 might). Your boonspam could really just strengthen the Thief, so keep that in mind at all times.And as always, try to keep up AoE pressure. Any kind of Thief struggles with AoE over some time.

So to recap. Use some clever kiting spots to stunt their use of Sword #2. Don't rely on your Blocks. Priority to avoid is Larcenous Strike (stabbing animation with Sword). Keep up as much AoE pressure as possible.

That's it for now... Best suggestion anyone can give is to just duel a friend who runs that build and keep practicing.

thank you! i appreciate the tips

@Vornollo.5182 said:Try to use spots that give Thieves the "No Valid Path to Target." message, this prevents proper usage of the Sword #2 skill (Infiltrator's Strike).wont that prevent DHs sword port and the meditation too?

Pressure the Infiltrators Return, this will limit their kiting ability and their disengage potential significantly, the IR location you can see the circle of graphics aren’t set to potato mode, bait out the Flanking/Larcenous Strikes before using your burst.

When it comes to s/d they are fairly weak to cc as their stunbreaks are limited to 2 skills on a 30 sec cd. Best time to cc them is right before flanking strike lands. There's a small vulnerability frame where you can hit them and because they are animation locked there's nothing they can do. While their boonsteal is dangerous and can buff them up, it's also important to maintain boons on yourself to stop them from getting the damage increase against boonless foes. It'll be the difference between you getting hit for 4k on crit and 6k on crit. Also with the reputation dh has, a lot of skills the thief will always try to dodge. Things like true shot, the spear, and test of faith will be big ones so anything you can do to get them to waste dodges on those will leave them open to follow up damage if you play it right. Stowing true shot is a big one and also ends up cutting off their vigor and regen which removes most of their sustain.

Because the 3 is unblockable most thieves will spam 3 when you block so they can damage you when they assume you will go ham on them or when they think you're assuming you are safe. Use that mentality to your advantage and bait their engagements with blocks then dodge or kite them so they blow their initiative and are open to counter burst and cc. (Reason I put this one in there is s/d 3 has a skill queue problem where if you hit it 2+ times really fast your character will use 3 that many times and if none of them hit they are just about out of initiative because flanking strike in expensive)

Like others said above me, positioning is important as once you take away the thief's ability to port to you or away from you, their steal, sword 2, and shadowstep skills are all useless and they will be easy pickings.

Last note: s/d is a much more sustained fight than d/p. They have an auto invuln at 50% hp that resets every 40 seconds. Slowly whittle them down to proc the invuln then burst them when you catch them out and finish them off quickly so they don't have time for the vigor and regen to tilt the fight to their favor.

Edit: Here's the build-http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAsYVl0MhSnYvTwwJw/EHwElOBCgdznGnRb0jiQ8JA-jpxHQBqY/BCeCAM4DAAAHBgrVGQZHCAA

Can someone link me to the s/d build thieves are using right now?

Look on Metabattle I'd say. It's cliché but it's true...It's got all the commonly used S/D builds on it (the PvP ones are generally also used in WvW with obvious differences in gear. Usage/playstyle stays the same). Power, Hybrid, Core, Deadeye, Daredevil... They're all essentially alike in how they work and how you counter them.

To MUDse:Yes it will. It's about making clever use of such spots though... You know, so you don't actually get yourself in a bad spot etc.