So, from what I understand, one of the major issues with flanking strike is that it can be clunky with that whole 180 degree whirl followed by slow attacks. I mean it’s flanking strike right? Doesn’t that imply that you’d prefer to be behind your target every time you do it?
So:
What if instead of doing the whirl around your target, you did a short range shadowstep behind the target, and followed with your attacks. If you are not in melee range (130 is it?) then the shadowstep does not occur, so it can’t be repeatedly abused as a gap closer when you’d already got steal + infiltrator’s