What is a thief's role in sPvP?

I have very little experience with thief, and it is probably my least played class. Also, I am making this post not to say thief isn't viable, but to state how I think it is weak in the meta and I want to be told why I am wrong. With that said, I have a few things to say with thief. Thief isn't substantially weaker after the endurance nerf (which made absolutely no sense to me), but they are weaker due to PoF in general. Along with revenant and ele (can be debated but I see no meta role with weaver...), thief received a useless PoF elite spec. This means that their class is balanced to fit into HoT as far as I know. The meta that came along with PoF introduced everything that ailed thief in HoT. HoT for thief was great because the only thing they couldn't do was +1 druids and scrappers. Now, they can't +1 druid, scrapper, spellbreaker, firebrand, scourge (if the scourge is offensive), or mirage (due to stunbreak dodge and stealth with lots of blinks and gap openers, as well as insane condition pressure). They cannot rush far anymore due to the lack of moa from mirages using jaunt, they can't go home due to wasted potential and they cannot team fight at mid due to the spam. Thief is a bad option in comps due to PoF specs having high mobility and high sustain. In the most recent Jebro UGO tourney in the finals, the team with the thief lost even though the players were roughly similar in skill, and they lost hard. One of the commentators even commented on how the thief had no real role in the game at one point. Even in ranked, you see thief a lot less and classes that don't even mimic the role filling the spot due to the shifted meta.

Thief role is to abuse his insane mobility, decap enemies and +1 fights in most cases, so his team can snowball and wooo-hooo.Quaggan would suggest to watch some Sindrener or any other good Thief.

The role will depend on the build. However, the best thief builds are roamers (S/D or D/P). The role is generally this:

If the far point is open, you use your superior mobility to get there quickly and decap (almost never fully cap), then go somewhere else and help out.*

If far point is not open, you'll want to look for a small fight (1 v 1 or 2 v 2) and jump on a lower health enemy for a quick burst (this is called a +1). As soon as the enemy is downed or the outcome of the fight is decided (enemy will definitely lose if you leave or your ally is screwed and sticking around does no good), then you will leave and rotate somewhere else.

For large fights, a S/D thief can dip in for a good bit of help, but a D/P will often do better by sticking to the outside and interrupting enemies at critical moments. Most of the time, you'll want to leave a big fight as soon as there's a good rotation opportunity (a +1 or decap).

Generally, you want to avoid most 1 v 1s, since 1 v 1s are slow and the longer you're stuck in a fight, the more likely an enemy will +1 that fight and wipe your squishy ass.

Basically, use your mobility to decap empty fights and make fair fights unfair. You should be finishing fights, not starting them.

• The only times to really ever fully cap far are when 1) you're winning by such a large margin and will hold home/mid, 2) the enemy team is so bad at rotations that they'll likely let far stay capped for a while before going back to it, 3) your team is completely wiped at home/mid and there's nowhere else to go. In the first 2 cases, you're likely going to win no matter what anyways and in the third case, you're likely going to lose anyways.

Hell you mean you can't +1 proceeds to name all professions.

Thief can easily show up and while not guaranteeing a kill can definitely guarantee that enemy is forced to retreat, and his team full caps.

Btw, a Scourge alone on side points is Thief candy, however that movement from a scourge - virtually never going to happen.

Your role is to rek nerds ofc

Your roll is to reroll scourge xD

Daredevil: decap/cap, +1 and mechanicsDeadeye: to snipe Scourges and +1. Even decap if the team lack Spellbreaker.

To gank inexperienced but honorable players so they can make posts on forums asking to delete thief, duhh.

A thief is a skilled assassin that can win any meta build 1v1 with the other person being of equal skill. If the enemy is not paying attention he can sneak up and back stab for great damage. Its basically risk vs reward and ..... oh I forgot what game forum I was in.. I was thinking about nearly EVERY ROGUE THIEF ASSASSIN CLASS EXCEPT FOR GUILD WARS 2

Thief is a mobile escape artist decap and +1

@Cobrakon.3108 said:A thief is a skilled assassin that can win any meta build 1v1 with the other person being of equal skill. If the enemy is not paying attention he can sneak up and back stab for great damage. Its basically risk vs reward and ..... oh I forgot what game forum I was in.. I was thinking about nearly EVERY ROGUE THIEF ASSASSIN CLASS EXCEPT FOR GUILD WARS 2

Thief is a mobile escape artist decap and +1

Are you trying to say, Backstab can't crit for 14k? Quaggan is surprised.

@Morwath.9817 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:A thief is a skilled assassin that can win any meta build 1v1 with the other person being of equal skill. If the enemy is not paying attention he can sneak up and back stab for great damage. Its basically risk vs reward and ..... oh I forgot what game forum I was in.. I was thinking about nearly EVERY ROGUE THIEF ASSASSIN CLASS EXCEPT FOR GUILD WARS 2

Thief is a mobile escape artist decap and +1

When all stars align (aka vulnerability/might from teammates) + thief runs kamikaze build - yes bs can crit 14k.

@Cynz.9437 said:

@Morwath.9817 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:A thief is a skilled assassin that can win any meta build 1v1 with the other person being of equal skill. If the enemy is not paying attention he can sneak up and back stab for great damage. Its basically risk vs reward and ..... oh I forgot what game forum I was in.. I was thinking about nearly EVERY ROGUE THIEF ASSASSIN CLASS EXCEPT FOR GUILD WARS 2

Thief is a mobile escape artist decap and +1

Quaggan doubts Thief with weakness can crit for 14k.

'One of the commentators even commented on how the thief had no real role in the game at one point. Even in ranked, you see thief a lot less and classes that don't even mimic the role filling the spot due to the shifted meta'

Not at one point, still evident t'll this day

You be the judge-

'Thieves are expert in the shadow arts. They utilize stealth and shadow stepping to surprise and to get close to their target. They're deadly in one-on-one combat using their agility, acrobatic fighting style, and the ability to steal to overcome their enemies. They have an affinity for setting traps and using venom. As an adventurer profession, thieves wear medium armor'

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Thief

Ask yourself, is this the thief we are dealing with today?

@Morwath.9817 said:

@Cynz.9437 said:

@Morwath.9817 said:

@Cobrakon.3108 said:A thief is a skilled assassin that can win any meta build 1v1 with the other person being of equal skill. If the enemy is not paying attention he can sneak up and back stab for great damage. Its basically risk vs reward and ..... oh I forgot what game forum I was in.. I was thinking about nearly EVERY ROGUE THIEF ASSASSIN CLASS EXCEPT FOR GUILD WARS 2

Thief is a mobile escape artist decap and +1

eeek, meant vulnerability.

@Burnfall.9573 said:'One of the commentators even commented on how the thief had no real role in the game at one point. Even in ranked, you see thief a lot less and classes that don't even mimic the role filling the spot due to the shifted meta'

Tower defense meta: kill spellbreaker at close and help your at far, kill scourge and firebrand at mid and replace them with yours.

@Morwath.9817 said:Thief role is to abuse his insane mobility, decap enemies and +1 fights in most cases, so his team can snowball and wooo-hooo.Quaggan would suggest to watch some Sindrener or any other good Thief.

This about sums it up

the whole mechanic of steal is designed to fuck one guy over. use it to secure kills on low targets. Can only do this if your team is in a position to pressure people. Go to the right places where kills are possible or create those situations by threatening to decap then outnumbering.

I thought a thief’s role was to kitten talk on the forums about how they are the weakest most nerfed class since day 1.

Nah too easy but thought I’d throw it on the pile for chuckles anyway.

@Chaith.8256 said:Btw, a Scourge alone on side points is Thief candy, however that movement from a scourge - virtually never going to happen.

I very often have a necro on my team who just roams or sits home in plat 2/3... I don't know why getting scourges and firebrands to sit next to each other is so fucking hard in soloq.

In this situation as a thief, you don't even need to go kill the necro either. Just let him be useless, snowball a teamfight or get a decap and snowball the necro after to stagger respawns. If you're team has necro advantage mid, chances are they will win mid so I'd probably poke their necro then. I haven't played any D/P thief this patch but a ton of S/D marauder and it works really well. Double steal + double Skull Fear is brutal. You never have to be next to them long enough for them to apply enough pressure on you because of Infil strike.

@eksn.7264 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:Btw, a Scourge alone on side points is Thief candy, however that movement from a scourge - virtually never going to happen.

With multiple Scourges or no Firebrand it can happen.. If not, I still wouldn't really be surprised if someone in plat didn't know where to go

...? why can't you +1 a warrior..just wait for full counter and you can one combo half his HP away.....

@eksn.7264 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:Btw, a Scourge alone on side points is Thief candy, however that movement from a scourge - virtually never going to happen.

...and the corpses of allies litter the roads off point.

I got tired of herding cats, so I don’t queue as my FB much anymore.

@Burnfall.9573 said:'Thieves are expert in the shadow arts. They utilize stealth and shadow stepping to surprise and to get close to their target. They're deadly in one-on-one combat using their agility, acrobatic fighting style, and the ability to steal to overcome their enemies. They have an affinity for setting traps and using venom. As an adventurer profession, thieves wear medium armor'

Ask yourself, is this the thief we are dealing with today?I mean, it's true. We do wear medium armor.

@Dahkeus.8243 said:

@eksn.7264 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:Btw, a Scourge alone on side points is Thief candy, however that movement from a scourge - virtually never going to happen.

Its like that playing any form of support...

I went a Magi staff Tempest, won all team fights but spent all game following our scourge to mid, to far, to home, back to far as he followed one of our thieves around.... other allies was 2 thief and a mes.

The problem with thief currently is that although it has mobility, it just isn't fast enough.

The power creep of mobility from other classes has caught up to that of the daredevil, while the combat ability of the daredevil has just gone down.

D/P Thief straight up needs buffs.

There isn't any reason to run daredevil over a solid Spellbreaker/GS warrior. They both can fulfill the same role, while the spellbreaker/GS warrior has far superior output in actual combat without having to pussyfoot everywhere.

Thief spends all initiative, endurance, and utilites to run to an unguarded point. Proceeds to decap. Druid sees this, uses staff 3, gets there in time to prevent decap.

Thief can't do anything to druid, needs to run away and die.

Warrior uses GS 3 and 5 to run to node, all other stills are still available. Proceeds to decap. Druid sees this, uses staff 3, tries to fight spellbreaker and dies.