Thief currently 100% countered by soulbeast

[lordhelmos.7623]

Currently a combination of the following Ranger Soulbeast traits 100% destroys any thief:

 

1.) Unstoppable Union (4 sec of unblockable attacks)

2.) Sic 'Em (Goodbye stealth, 40% damage boost)

3.) Longbow Rapidfire (Tracks with Stealth 1500m range, actually 1800m because of arrow arc)

 

Almost all meta rangers carry these skill combinations, which counters every single thief build in the game. A SB can 100% any thief from full health to zero in a single rapid fire from 1500m. Bolstered by the two above traits, rapidfire bypasses the thief's only two defenses -which are bandit's defense and stealth. At this point the only option the thief has is to double dodge roll or die -which puts the thief in almost an impossible fight against the SB because the hiltbash > maul > SB stomp combo is coming.

 

In testing the SB is also superior to deadeye in terms of range due to the extra range arrow arcs hit compared to rifle. At 1500 the bullet from the deadeye will stop, but at 1800 the arrow arcs from range longbow will allow the SB to hit the deadeye from outside the range of rifle shots -especially when elevated. One rapidfire (unblockable) will kill any deadeye caught in kneel.

 

I spent a ton of time in PVP arena looking for a way to counter this against a good SB that was camping the arena and lost every single fight with thief once he decided to pull his I win button. His response was "thief will always lose against ranger." And he was right, because when I swapped to my spellbreaker I absolutely destroyed him after a lengthy fight in which we each almost went down (which is how fights should be, prolonged and tactical).

 

I don't see how this is ok, to have no single option for counter play across two elite specs for one single combination of skills on one class. Simply bringing a longbow ranger to any fight with the above traits makes any thief 100% useless and arrow fodder.

 

[Dagger.2035]

It seems like a S/D thief would work against it. No stealth or blocks, just dodge.

[Alatar.7364]

> @"Dagger.2035" said:

> It seems like a S/D thief would work against it. No stealth or blocks, just dodge.

 

I think D/P 3th and 4th would come more in hand in this Scenario.

[MUDse.7623]

yup ranger is strong, but you still can kill em. try not to block/stealth rapidfire interrupt or dodge it. if the ranger is moving during cast you can cancel it by moving/teleporting/dodge through him aswell.

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

It's a hard fight against a ranger that knows what they're doing, that's for sure. A lot of what you point out is countered well by acro S/D rifle deadeye imo, I mostly play WvW so bear that in mind.

 

Mark with sleight of hand and bountiful theft stops rapid fire channel when anticipated well; the deadeye elite counters sic 'em and between that and kneel you have enough stealth then to wait out sic 'em and stone signet; withdraw and roll for ini along with agility signet and flanking strike means you have plenty of dodges to avoid rapid fire; running rifle means that after full malice you can also one hit if you time it right, and running sword means between sword 2 and shadowstep you can always get to melee range and can abuse line of sight; running acro gives you a mulligan in the evade trait and also swindler's equilibrium to reset mark which gives loads of quickness, just waiting for the ranger to swap to longbow, dodging knockback shot then going ham with autos and quickness will force them to be defensive still.

 

That all said, I'm assuming 1v1 here, if you get +1'd by a competent ranger it's not going to go well for you.

[Elxdark.9702]

s/d eats soulbeast

[Fat Disgrace.4275]

In wvw you get commander star soulbeasts with wildness and beast mastery lol. They don't hurt but annoying as he'll trying to kill with almost permea protection while I'm weakened and poisoned most of the time

[DeceiverX.8361]

S/D, S/P, D/D, Staff DrD, and anything on DE with Meld can survive a soulbeast. To be honest, Druid is usually scarier.

 

Ranger is very strong but it's not because of hard-counters.

 

D/P permastealth DrD and P/P might get soft-countered, but that's literally it.

[Turk.5460]

If you hit them first you can 100-0 them as well.

 

Mark/BQoBK/spam 3 or 2. Did they use Signet of Stone? Cool, it only lasts 3 seconds, you should probably hit that Shadow Meld that removes the reveal from the potential Sic Em, and also lasts as long as their damage immunity. Did their Signet of Stone passive go off? Neato! Use that second Shadow Meld that you've got there!

 

I'd hardly call this a "counter" with one profession being able to 100-0 another, when the other can do the same to the original just as well...

[Turk.5460]

> @"Fat Disgrace.4275" said:

> In wvw you get commander star soulbeasts with wildness and beast mastery lol. They don't hurt but annoying as he'll trying to kill with almost permea protection while I'm weakened and poisoned most of the time

 

If you are a S/D thief, then that means that *you* get that nifty perma protection. :)

[Bast.7253]

There is way too much stealth tracking anyway. I assume people are precasting things when they see the thief stealthing but it’s quite annoying stealthing as your only defense and then having something teleport, leap, or pew pew in your direction and having it hit you. At the very least it should break enemy targeting so pew pew rangers can’t just longbow 2 you repeatedly while you try and disengage.

[Swagger.1459]

> @"lordhelmos.7623" said:

> Currently a combination of the following Ranger Soulbeast traits 100% destroys any thief:

>

> 1.) Unstoppable Union (4 sec of unblockable attacks)

> 2.) Sic 'Em (Goodbye stealth, 40% damage boost)

> 3.) Longbow Rapidfire (Tracks with Stealth 1500m range, actually 1800m because of arrow arc)

>

> Almost all meta rangers carry these skill combinations, which counters every single thief build in the game. A SB can 100% any thief from full health to zero in a single rapid fire from 1500m. Bolstered by the two above traits, rapidfire bypasses the thief's only two defenses -which are bandit's defense and stealth. At this point the only option the thief has is to double dodge roll or die -which puts the thief in almost an impossible fight against the SB because the hiltbash > maul > SB stomp combo is coming.

>

> In testing the SB is also superior to deadeye in terms of range due to the extra range arrow arcs hit compared to rifle. At 1500 the bullet from the deadeye will stop, but at 1800 the arrow arcs from range longbow will allow the SB to hit the deadeye from outside the range of rifle shots -especially when elevated. One rapidfire (unblockable) will kill any deadeye caught in kneel.

>

> I spent a ton of time in PVP arena looking for a way to counter this against a good SB that was camping the arena and lost every single fight with thief once he decided to pull his I win button. His response was "thief will always lose against ranger." And he was right, because when I swapped to my spellbreaker I absolutely destroyed him after a lengthy fight in which we each almost went down (which is how fights should be, prolonged and tactical).

>

> I don't see how this is ok, to have no single option for counter play across two elite specs for one single combination of skills on one class. Simply bringing a longbow ranger to any fight with the above traits makes any thief 100% useless and arrow fodder.

>

 

A few things...

 

There are lots of stuff that’s unblockable https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unblockable

 

Get revealed? Run away or los until it’s gone... it’s not only ranger that has access to reveal either... https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Revealed

 

And it’s not like deadeye can’t remove reveal https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Meld

 

Dodging usually helps to avoid the long channel of rapid fire.

 

Thief has access to a lot of evade and mobility.

 

Try putting a lil toughness in your build.

 

Practice with different builds.

 

It’s entirely possible that the opponent was more skilled on ranger than you are on thief.

 

I would suggest to maybe think a lil bit more before saying stuff like “I win button”, and “which is how fights should be, prolonged and tactical” while running a thief... when the profession has build options for 1 shot and quick burst kills...

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s also be careful to point blame at 1 profession, when we can point to a ton of off putting designs from every profession...