Guild Wars 2

Thank you for all the help so far.

1) Is the item purely random that you get or do different mobs/classes tend to proc some more frequently? Are some rare and some common to get? If so, what do I need to know?

2) Debating only going 20 in critical strikes to add 10 to trickery for improvements to steal. Seems a 1500 steal opener would be quite exceptional.

3) How important do you find mug to be with shadow arts already regening you? What do you “give up” on a classic backstab 0/30/30/0/10 build for it?

4) Do you typically open with steal?

5) How often do you actually use the bundle? How easy is it for you to identify that small icon (takes time, you scroll over it, etc.)?

6) If you have a 1500 teleport steal, can you steal against someone on a keep wall and “ninja” get in?

7) What other clever uses do you have for stealing?

1) From mobs its usually random with a set steal pool, you’ll never get a whirling axe from a jaguar, but you could get hair, tooth stab, maybe even throw gunk. However ambient mobs have a high chance for a tuft of hair, avian creatures have a good chance for throw feathers, which has the same effect as tuft of hair.. Aetherblades, even in Edge of the Mists, have a high chance of giving you Drink when you steal, which gives 3 seconds of invulnerability.
As for other professions:
Elementalist: ice shard stab
Thief: tuft of hair
Guardian: Mace head crack
Warrior: Whirling Axe
Engineer: Throw gunk
Mesmer: Consume plasma
Necromancer: Fear
Ranger: healing seed

2)It would be exceptional but if you want to do that, Id rather you go more into Trickery than just for a steal range increase. But if this is just for PvE than by all means. Most thieves go full into CS since that is where our damage comes from so taking away from that may hinder you.

3)The two popular sister builds are 10/30/30/0/0| 0/30/30/10/0/0
The first one gives a bit more power and adds a mug, the latter is slightly less powerful but offers a bit more health and acrobatics. So if you don’t have mug don’t worry, a lot of us play without it and do just fine, even putting that 10 into trickery won’t hurt you, it’s just most put it into either DA or ACro

4)Yes, Start a CnD and before it finishes, use steal for an instant tele attack. Coupled with basilisk venom, it gives a nice opener or a mid fight retaliation. Be careful, if you steal while stealthed and you have mug traited, it will reveal you. Note, infiltrators signet does the same effect, you just won’t get a bundle since it is not steal, but on the flip side it’s a stun break.

5)It depends on the situation. Most class bundles are actually very useful for the class you stole it from, i.e. let’syou stealth longer than the thief, let’s guardians susceptible by locking out their skill usage, can reflect a warriors kill shot, can greatly reduce elementalist combat by chilling them putting even attunements non slow CD, can give you spare time to strip a necromancer out of deathshroud, can give you added overall strength to combat a mesmer, can let you burst heal is you steal from a ranger and shed condis. Exception in engineer, it isn’t all that useful and can still reveal you. heartseeking through the gunk gives you chaos armor though. Blasting it gives area Chaos armor and projectiles and whirls dispense confusion, but to be honest, that doesn’t help much. As for whether we know or not, it’s a matter of practice and memorization. Steal enough things over time and you have innate knowledge of what they do and when to use them.

6) That depends. You can only shadowstep or blink up to an area if the game believes that the target area is within that running distance. If I see a platform I want to shadowstep to that’s above me or any form of terrain and the game believes that running to the platform is within the 1200 range, then I can shadowstep to it. If the game calculates that the running distance is beyond 1200, I will blink right below the platform and would have wasted a utility. Same with stealing, if the target is withing the 1500 distance, you will steal up to him, but up a keep wall? No, it wouldn’t happen because it’s a keep wall.

7) Stealing can be used to get away. Target a mob and steal to pull yourself away. Here is a very cool trick. Moves like Ice shard stab and mace headcrack can be hard to land sometimes. But if you have these bundles and know your steal is off CD, you can double tap steal quickly to start the bundle casting then steal to the person to hit them with the bundle and take another bundle, possibly hitting them again. Another use is for thief stomping, when the thief is about to port away, get steal ready, as soon as they blink, steal to them to finish the stomp. Once again, Infiltrators Sigent has the same effect. Shadowstep can be an alternative too, I’ve even counter counter stomped elementalists with it. Steal , while I think should be a stunbreak, is a pseudo stunbreak. You can still steal when CC’d so if someone CC’s you and your quick enough to target something off the side, you can steal to dodge the incoming punishment.