Wiki Classes Thief

Thief

A hidden class for veteran rogues, built around backstabs from concealment, poisons, traps and taking things that are not yours.

The Thief is what a Rogue becomes when it stops being a skirmisher and starts being a professional. The combat kit narrows and sharpens around one idea, which is hitting something that has not seen you coming, and the utility half of the class widens enormously: locks, pockets, containers, traps, poisons, disguises, con jobs and outright theft. Where a Rogue has a broad toolbox, a Thief has a very good set of picks and a very sharp knife.

It is a hidden class. It does not appear in the remort listing, and you cannot pick it at creation. To join, you must have taken a Rogue to level 100 and still be a Rogue when you go looking for the guild. Reaching 100 is what records the class as completed on your account, and unlike the open promoted classes there is no way around it here, since a hidden class checks that you currently are the prerequisite class as well. The Thieves Guild has an entrance in Aurin and a second way in through the city sewers, and unlike the Rogue guild it does not take walk-ins, so a guildmaster has to grant you admittance or induct you directly before join thief will do anything. Be ready for what happens next: joining resets you to level 1 with no experience and wipes your old class skills, so a finished Rogue starts the whole climb again as a Thief.

Push that Thief to 100 in turn and it counts towards the Assassin, but the prerequisite on its own is not enough. The Assassin also asks that your account has earned at least five remort points, and a finished Rogue is worth one while a finished Thief is worth two, so a rogue-then-thief account sits at three and is turned away. You will need other classes taken to 100 as well. The points are a running account total and are never spent, so unlocking the Assassin does not consume them.

Resources#

Thieves spend SP, the middle pool on score, and nothing else. A dash in the tables below means the skill costs no SP at all, which covers most of the passives and a fair number of the cheap utility skills. Set Trap is the one variable cost in the class and runs from 50 SP for a tripwire up to 190 SP for an explosive.

Passives are equipped, not simply learned. You hold two at a time and swap them with passives, and the level on a passive row is the level at which passives equip will accept it.

The class also carries a physical pouch, shared with the Rogue and managed by the Thief Supplies skill at level 4. Trade tools and poison vials both live in it, and a skill with an empty slot behind it simply fails. Type supplies to see what you have and restock at a Rogue Supplies counter with list and buy. Carry caps rise with level. Unlike the Rogue there is no passive that raises them further.

Pouch item	Feeds
Garrote wire	Garrote
Leather gag	Gag
Disguise kit	Disguise
Smoke bomb	Smoke Bomb
Blinding flash	Blinding Flash
Throwing dagger	Thrown attacks
Poison vials	Poison

Thieves wear leather. Plate, mail and cloth are all closed to you, though uncategorised gear carries no class restriction and is worn by anyone.

Heat and Luck#

Almost every fallible thing a Thief does runs through the same pair of rolls: one for whether the attempt works, and then, only if it failed, a second for whether anyone saw you do it. Luck is the largest of the stat terms in the success roll and the dominant term in the caught roll, which is why it is the Thief's master stat.

Working the same victim over and over stacks heat on them, up to five points. Each point costs you twelve points of success chance and adds eight to the chance of being seen, and one point sheds every thirty seconds, twice as fast once you are carrying Cold Trail from level 20. Getting caught marks you for a minute: while that mark is up shadow refuses to hide you, though Sneak, Skulk and Shadowmeld all keep working.

Talent Trees#

Stealth#

Concealment and silent movement, and the branch that makes everything else work. Sneak and Shadow get you into position, Detect Hidden shows you who else is playing the same game, Skulk handles noisy ground, and Cold Trail and Nightcraft are the passives that make the whole trade quieter. At the top the tree becomes an offensive line in its own right with Hobble and Shadowstep.

Subterfuge#

Larceny, tools and social manipulation, and the biggest branch by a wide margin. Lockpicking, trap finding and disarming, pickpocketing and outright theft, poison application, disguises, fast talk, bribery, threats and eavesdropping all live here. If you are wondering where the Thief's reputation comes from, it is this tree.

Skirmish#

Melee burst and dirty combat. Backstab is the first skill you learn and remains the centre of the class, with Blindside, Shiv and Shank filling in around it and Quietus Strike closing fights at the top end. Evasion and Blind Fighting are the defensive entries, and Dagger Mastery at 90 makes the obvious weapon choice the correct one.

Dirty Fighting at 54 is unusual: rather than a command of its own it unlocks a whole combat stance, switched on with style dirty. The style and the skill share the same level 54 gate, and both are thief only.

Precision#

Kidney Shot is the single entry here, a crippling strike that buys you a moment of stillness, and Garrote comes across from the Rogue line into the same tree.

Trickery#

A single skill borrowed from the Rogue line. Swindle lets you talk a merchant or NPC out of small valuables on a chance roll.

Poisons#

One passive. Venomed Edge stretches every dose you apply across half again as many strikes.

Guile#

One passive. Silver Tongue makes your fasttalk and your threats land noticeably more often.

Skills#

Passive rows show the level at which passives equip will accept them.

Stealth#

Level	Skill	Type	Cost	Cooldown	Effect
3	Sneak	Utility	-	180s	Move silently and undetected by sound until you attack.
6	Detect Hidden	Utility	5 SP	30s	Reveal hidden or sneaking figures in the room.
15	Quick Escape	Utility	5 SP	120s	Leave combat instantly for a safe nearby room.
18	Shadow	Utility	-	300s	Slip into shadow and stay invisible until you attack.
20	Cold Trail	Passive	-	-	Heat from your thievery fades twice as fast.
40	Hobble	Combat	55 SP	120s	From shadow, spend ten seconds binding another player's ankles. The next time they try to move they crash down for 8 seconds and their stamina empties. Players only.
43	Skulk	Utility	5 SP	60s	Move at half pace but in total silence.
53	Scout	Utility	5 SP	20s	Reveal who is in adjacent rooms without entering them.
58	Shadowstep	Utility	5 SP	120s	Short range step to behind a marked target.
70	Nightcraft	Passive	-	-	Backstab and skulk surer, and shadow and eavesdrop last twice as long.

Assassinate belongs to the Assassin, not the Thief, and no Thief can use it at any level.

Subterfuge#

Level	Skill	Type	Cost	Cooldown	Effect
2	Peek	Utility	-	30s	Look into an adjacent room or a container without opening it.
4	Thief Supplies	Utility	-	-	List, inspect and refill your carried kit.
7	Detect Traps	Utility	-	15s	Reveal whether the current room holds traps.
8	Filch	Utility	20 SP	-	Lift a small item from a target without being noticed.
11	Slip	Utility	-	20s	Pass an item to someone in the room, or set it down on the floor, without anyone seeing it happen.
12	Palm	Utility	-	20s	Lift a small item from an NPC's visible carry.
14	Fasttalk	Utility	5 SP	30s	Bluff or smooth-talk an NPC into going along with you.
16	Lockpick	Utility	5 SP	15s	Pick a lock on a skill check against its difficulty.
17	Poison	Utility	55 SP	5s	Coat your weapon so the next hits add poison damage.
19	Detect Trap	Utility	10 SP	30s	Inspect one specific spot for a hidden trap.
20	Assess	Utility	55 SP	10s	Reveal a target's health, current ability and recent intent.
21	Attention	Utility	5 SP	90s	Sharpen your hearing so any tell sent to or by someone in your room is leaked to you, for 30 seconds rising to 90 at level 100.
22	Set Trap	Utility	20 SP	-	Lay one of five mechanical traps. Tripwire opens at 30, then snare at 40, flash at 50, bear trap at 60 and explosive at 70. They cost no pouch supplies.
23	Lookout	Utility	5 SP	30s	Post a guild apprentice in this room. They stay out of sight and report to you whenever someone passes. Two at low level, up to twenty at 100.
24	Mug	Combat	10 SP	600s	Attack with a chance to take coin on the hit.
26	Mark	Utility	-	45s	Lock onto a scouted target so you can shadowstep onto it, or read what a target in the room is carrying.
28	Pilfer	Utility	-	30s	Take small items from a container without opening it noisily.
30	Disarm	Utility	55 SP	30s	Disarm a found trap on a check against its level.
31	Blinding Flash	Utility	15 SP	240s	Blind everything in a small radius.
32	Disguise	Utility	5 SP	300s	Pass as an ordinary traveller until you attack.
35	Eavesdrop	Utility	20 SP	60s	Listen to an adjacent room for one to ten minutes depending on your skill.
37	Slit Purse	Utility	5 SP	60s	Cut a purse open for a better haul than Mug.
41	Swagger	Utility	15 SP	90s	Talk your way out of a fight. Each foe in the room rolls separately against your level and charisma to lose interest.
42	Gag	Utility	40 SP	120s	Consumes a leather gag. On a roll against the target's level and dexterity, gags them for 30 to 120 seconds.
44	Threaten	Utility	5 SP	60s	Guild scouts deliver a note you write to a target anywhere in the world, anonymously if your sleight roll holds.
46	Study Foe	Utility	-	-	Analyse a foe for 10% more damage against it for 60 seconds.
47	Steal	Utility	55 SP	300s	Take an item straight off a target on a skill check.
48	Smoke Bomb	Utility	5 SP	60s	Area concealment that breaks line of sight.
49	Bribe	Utility	-	60s	Pay a non-hostile NPC at least 5 silver per level of the target to go for a walk for a minute. A failed roll leaves it holding the coin and suspicious of you for 5 minutes.
54	Footpad	Utility	5 SP	-	Summon a footpad who follows you, fights, carries loot, fences goods and banks your coin. One at a time, and he stays until dismissed.

Skirmish#

Level	Skill	Type	Cost	Cooldown	Effect
1	Backstab	Combat	5 SP	-	Strike from stealth or from behind at a critical damage multiplier. Only works before the fight starts, on something still untouched.
5	Blindside	Combat	5 SP	6s	Hit from the flank for bonus damage and a brief stagger.
9	Evasion	Combat	15 SP	-	A toggle lasting five minutes at low level and ten at 100. While it is up, roughly four hits in five are partly slipped, for 30 to 40 percent less damage.
10	Shiv	Combat	10 SP	10s	Quick piercing strike that opens a bleed.
27	Feint	Combat	10 SP	15s	Fake an attack to open a hole in the target's defence.
29	Shank	Combat	55 SP	30s	Hidden blade strike, worth more against an unaware target.
36	Dirty Trick	Combat	55 SP	20s	Improvised debris to the face for a brief blind and a damage penalty.
38	Smoke Cut	Combat	55 SP	45s	Snap a smoke pellet at your feet and cut from the haze. It makes its own cover, so no smoke bomb is needed.
50	Opportunist	Passive	-	-	20% more damage against stunned, rooted, downed or blinded foes.
54	Dirty Fighting	Utility	-	-	Unlocks the dirty combat stance, switched on with `style dirty`.
55	Quietus Strike	Combat	55 SP	600s	A two-phase in-combat finisher that stuns and roots the target for 6 seconds.
60	Blind Fighting	Passive	-	-	See through smoke and blinding effects.
80	Executioner	Passive	-	-	Backstab, shiv, shank, quietus, garrote and the assassin's stroke all strike 15% deeper.
90	Dagger Mastery	Passive	-	-	While dual wielding two daggers, every blow lands harder.

Precision#

Level	Skill	Type	Cost	Cooldown	Effect
1	Garrote	Combat	5 SP	60s	Carried over from the Rogue line. An opener only, and it costs a garrote wire: you strangle for three to six rounds of blunt damage while neither of you can strike, and it breaks if either of you leaves the room.
13	Kidney Shot	Combat	10 SP	15s	A crippling strike that stuns for 2 seconds, 3 from level 50.

Trickery#

Level	Skill	Type	Cost	Cooldown	Effect
25	Swindle	Utility	-	300s	Con a merchant or NPC out of small valuables on a chance roll.

Poisons#

Level	Skill	Type	Cost	Cooldown	Effect
30	Venomed Edge	Passive	-	-	Applied poisons carry half again as many charges.

Guile#

Level	Skill	Type	Cost	Cooldown	Effect
40	Silver Tongue	Passive	-	-	Fasttalk and threaten succeed noticeably more often.

Playing a Thief#

You arrive at level 1 with a hundred levels of rogue experience and one skill, Backstab, which is the entire class in miniature. It costs 5 SP, it has no cooldown, and it only works before the fight starts, on something still untouched. Everything else you learn is either a way of getting into position for it, a way of stopping the target from getting away afterwards, or a way of making money without fighting at all.

The early climb is fast because so much of it is cheap and useful straight away. Peek at 2 means you never walk blind into a room again. Sneak at 3 gets you the Backstab opener properly. Thief Supplies at 4 is the one to actually read, since half the class runs out of that pouch and running dry mid-fight is a self-inflicted wound. Blindside at 5 gives you a second opener for when you are already in melee and cannot get behind anything. By the low twenties you have Lockpick and Shadow and the class starts paying for itself.

The core loop, once assembled, is short: Sneak or Shadow into the room, Poison your blade if the fight is going to last, Backstab, then Blindside and Shiv while the target is still working out what happened. Mark at 26 lets you commit to a scouted target so you can shadowstep onto it. Quick Escape at 15 is your way out of a losing fight; Slip is for passing an item to an ally or ditching one unseen, not for disengaging.

The class configuration defines three level 60 masteries for the Thief, Poison Mastery, Trap Mastery and Burglary, but no command or trainer in the game currently assigns one, so no character can hold a mastery today.

Do not neglect the non-combat half. Lockpick, Pilfer, Steal, Slit Purse, Palm, Filch and Swindle all generate income with no risk of a corpse run, and Fasttalk, Bribe and Disguise open doors that other classes have to fight through. Detect Traps and Disarm make you the person who walks in front of the party, which is a job worth having. A thief who only backstabs is playing about half the class.

In a group you are single target damage and a specialist. Open on the dangerous target from concealment, keep Study Foe up on anything that will take a while, and take the boss apart from behind. Hobble only works on other players, so it is a duelling tool rather than a group one. You cannot tank and you cannot heal, and with leather armour and no self sustain you will die quickly if you are the one being hit. Late on, Mark and Shadowstep turn the stealth tree into a proper opening, and Quietus Strike at 55 is the in-combat finisher.