Guild Wars 2

New to the lore of Guild Wars here. Thieves can shadowstep and go into stealth at will unlike other professions and I was wondering if there was any explanation for this. Do they have their own special kind of magic that they use? Or is it just an in game mechanic?

I think of it as more of a special talent, or even divine gift, than a magic per se, akin to superhuman abilities possessed by mythological or comic book heroes. Supernatural but not precisely magical.

Thieves have a very special sort of magic, and it involves a dagger in the back of the neck. We like to call it “backstabbing” but I’ve been assured by the Displaced Assassins Guild of Cantha that is too derogatory a word for it, and I need to find another name for it.

(It was most certainly not delivered with a promise to demonstrate this mystical technique on me so as to prove it is truly magical and wondrous.)

I have been assured it is most certainly magical in nature and not special training which can be understood and countered by knowledgeable people to the point where thieves can be dealt with once you know you have one around.

Stealth is not overpowered, and the last person who managed to make a successful argument to the contrary was found face-down in Lion’s Arch behind the Black Lion Trading Company’s headquarters.

So to reiterate, thieves and stealth are awesome, please be sure to tip your thief after a dungeon run and be kind enough not to tell them to empty their pockets of anything which may or may not have been acquired in semi-legal ways (the illegality of which can’t be proven in a court of law).

It’s something that’s never really been confirmed. Anet have always been rather vague when it comes to profession backgrounds. But I generally like to assume that things like stealth, Shadow Refuge, Trick shot etc. are magic. Perhaps from the Denial bloodstone like Mesmers.

Thieves use a sub-branch of the Denial School called “Shadow Arts.” It’s derived from Canthan practices.

maybe they do go invisible

Shevek.2691:

Thieves use a sub-branch of the Denial School called “Shadow Arts.” It’s derived from Canthan practices.

…and I was hoping it was something coming from superhuman discipline or something. Do you have a source where I could read more up on it?

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Thieves have a very special sort of magic, and it involves a dagger in the back of the neck. We like to call it “backstabbing” but I’ve been assured by the Displaced Assassins Guild of Cantha that is too derogatory a word for it, and I need to find another name for it….

Cool story, but it absolutely does nothing to answer the question.

Yup, their attacks come from the Denial BloodStone. Also in Guild Wars 1 the Assassin’s patron God/Goddess was Lyssa. They were also one of the other classes that was able to use Hexes. The Assassin would later become Thieves in Guild Wars 2! :O

Elm.8169:

Shevek.2691:

Thieves use a sub-branch of the Denial School called “Shadow Arts.” It’s derived from Canthan practices.

…and I was hoping it was something coming from superhuman discipline or something. Do you have a source where I could read more up on it?

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Thieves have a very special sort of magic, and it involves a dagger in the back of the neck. We like to call it “backstabbing” but I’ve been assured by the Displaced Assassins Guild of Cantha that is too derogatory a word for it, and I need to find another name for it….

Cool story, but it absolutely does nothing to answer the question.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/An_Empire_Divided

That has reference to shadow stepping; essentially, the Shadow Arts were a branch of Denial developed by assassins in Cantha that more than likely spread to the other races/non-Canthans through Canthan refugees. Though you could also possibly argue that the asura developed it on their own via experimentation.

You can see some of the similarities it shares with mesmerism—stealth and instant teleportation being the two big ones.

Elm.8169:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Thieves have a very special sort of magic, and it involves a dagger in the back of the neck. We like to call it “backstabbing” but I’ve been assured by the Displaced Assassins Guild of Cantha that is too derogatory a word for it, and I need to find another name for it….

Cool story, but it absolutely does nothing to answer the question.

I never saw an explicit mention of where some races learn their arts. Heck, it’s hard to find a note of where the classes learn their material . . . it’s not like Guild Wars 1 where there were institutions of training/learning present around the world. Your character just starts with a weapon and the knowledge of how to use its most basic function (and strangely, any other weapon type they pick up which their class can use).

Sylvari can be said to understand it from the Dream, where they are infused with basic knowledge. Charr definitely are said to learn their art of war while in the fahrar as cubs and their adult lives is honing the basics. Asura can be assumed to be taught all of it from a very young age.

But norn and humans aren’t shown being in training explicitly. Norn children are taught from shamans about the Spirits of the Wild and their place in the world . . . but not how to use magic. And humans get even less to suggest where they learn their stuff. Claypool has a militia training ground but your character already apparently knows everything they do.

Like necromancy, it probably varies with the race and maybe even with the individual style. so a human thief may have a divine gift they were born with that helps in their theivery or he/she may just have trained real hard. Charr would be made up of alot of theives who mostly just train hard. And asura may just use their tiny sneakiness but there is a good chance alot of asuran theives also implement some form of magiteck.

Tldr: Up to you, go nuts!

Shadowstepping is magic. According to GW1, human assassins follow Lyssa for this – just as mesmers follow her. So since thieves come from said assassins, it’s likely they have shared magic – presumed (the only profession who’s school of magic is confirmed is Elementalist, who use Destruction) to be the school of Denial. Mesmers in GW2 can also teleport and stealth, but they focus less on that stuff.

If I’m correct, thieves are both incredibly dexterous, agile fighters as well as masters of denial magic(the same kind that mesmers use, albeit in a different form).

It makes more sense to me this way. You aren’t so much skyrim sneaking as you are just imperceptible to your foes.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Shadowstepping is magic. According to GW1, human assassins follow Lyssa for this – just as mesmers follow her. So since thieves come from said assassins, it’s likely they have shared magic – presumed (the only profession who’s school of magic is confirmed is Elementalist, who use Destruction) to be the school of Denial. Mesmers in GW2 can also teleport and stealth, but they focus less on that stuff.

So it can be said that thieves do in fact use magic, presumably of course since that info isnt set in stone?

Thieves DO use magic. This is a fact. Shadow stepping is magic, and they use other spells too. They used more magic in GW1, however.

What’s questionable is what school they use.

I have no idea about Shadowstepping, I’ll leave that to Konig and Tobias. However, stealth absolutely is magic. I remember playing a personal story mission on my Ash Legion Necro Charr, and one of the Ash Legion NPCs said something like, “Don’t worry about those guards, we can get by them with my stealth magic.” So Thieves really do use magic to turn themselves invisible, it’s not just a gameplay mechanic to set up for a backstab.

ah i see now. thanks guys