Guild Wars 2

I was testing Arcane Thievery last night, and I thought I saw a case where I triggered the skill and the icon just flashed (kind of like you see when you get a client disconnect)

I will test more tonight, but I was wondering about a few specific rules that our experts here may just know off the top of your head.

- Do you need to face the target?
- What happens if the target dodges?
- What happens if you have blind on you as a condition?
- What happens if the target has Aegis on? (AT is supposed to be unblockable)
- Is the cast time really 1/4 sec? It feels a little longer
- Any other criteria besides obvious things like being in range that really affect the skill?

Thx for the help!

-Target is able to dodge the cast
-Blind will cause you to miss with Arcane Thievery
-Arcane Thievery will hit through Aegis (More realistically steal the Aegis)
-Not sure about the exact cast time, perhaps the animation last longer but the cast goes off at 1/4 sec
-Must have an enemy Targeted. Skill does not autotarget and will put Arcane Thievery on full cooldown.
-(Edit: As pointed out by posted you no longer have to be facing your target, skill will hit regardless. Fixed in a recent patch)

A: Arcane Thievery does not rule.

1) The skill will misfire when you need it the most
2) If it doesn’t misfire you’ll probably be “out of range” anyways
3) If you’re within range it won’t take the boon(s) you wanted

Those are my rules at least.

Pretty much what other people said, you need to have a target, be facing them, etc. But I have to disagree with people saying AT is bad. Traited to have increased range and reduced CD, I honestly love this skill, run with it all the time (WvW only though).

Just follow the rules and you will ruin peoples day all the time, especially runners in wvw. They pop swiftness to escape, nope time to die. Warrior pops his signet for three cool boons to come go WWF on you, hey thanks for the boons time to die. Some elementalist thinks they are cool with phat stacks of might, hey thanks for those time to die.

I honestly love this skill. Learn to use it right and you won’t be sorry.

You need to have the camera face the target at the moment you activate the skill. Your char does not have to be turned and you do not need to face the target (with camera or char), when the skill resolves. It can still get obstructed, though.

I like to use it for stealing boons vs warriors, power rangers etc. For condi removal, it’s too unreliable and you probable are better off with Mantra.

Clownmug.8357:

3) If you’re within range it won’t take the boon(s) you wanted

Loled at this. So true. Somewhat ANET change the boon priority and put Stability to be the last one to be stolen.

Also ANET finally fixed Far reaching Manip after 1month delay. No more 40s AT with this trait. Sad…

Thanks for all the great answers.

It feels like AT should be really powerful, but every time I try to use it, I feel like I can’t quite get the value that should be there.

I’ll keep experimenting, but if there are any other tips on using it, I’d be happy to hear them. I’m trying to use it as my only condi removal (in addition to having the option for boon stealing).

Ah ok that explains it. I forgot to mention something extremely important, and I’m sure this is why 90% of the people who don’t like AT don’t like it:

Do not rely on this skill for condition removal!

When I run it I basically only use it as a boon steal, and any conditions that happen to get transferred are a bonus. If I happen to be in a 1v1 with a condi heavy class, sure when the time is right I’ll throw some conditions back on them. It can be used like that, but it will lead to sadness and frustration if you rely on it for condition clears at all, like seriously at all. Run with some other condition clear and don’t even think of AT as a backup.

AT is in no way a defensive skill, don’t try to use it that way and you won’t hate it. It is an offensive boon stealing skill that you can sometimes use to offensively transfer conditions to a target. When I used to use it a long time ago I thought of it as a condi clear and hated it and stopped using it, like everyone else. After the feature patch when there were a lot more people stacking might I started using it again to steal all the might and started to love the skill.

I run with treated mantra of recovery and mender’s purity for my condition clear, and AT for stealing boons. Basically don’t think of AT as any kind of defense, only offense. If you do then it works great.

For its surprisingly long cooldown, it should be made to just work whatever direction you or the camera are facing.

Either that or reduce the base cooldown to at most 30 seconds.

It definitely needs a lower CD.

u dont have to face target in my experience, i manage to get it off while running away from ppl

Wyrden.4713:

u dont have to face target in my experience, i manage to get it off while running away from ppl

Same for me

Also I agree with MSFone. I run with MoR for condi clear and AT as a boon stealer. It’s a killer!

You don’t have to face the target anymore?

I tested it, it’s true. This is good news!

They must have changed this at some point (maybe this patch?), because I remember you had to face your enemies to make it work. Otherwise it just went on cooldown doing nothing.

You haven’t had to face the target since before dec 15 patch, when I used to run it.

I tested some more last night, and definitely could cause it to work when facing away from the opponent.

I’m trying to record more testing of the skill. There’s still times where I try to use it and I don’t get the result I’m expecting. But it’s always in the middle of a chaotic WvW fight, and I’m sure some of the time I’m just missing something.