Guild Wars 2

I just hit level 80 on my Asura Thief over the weekend. It’s been a great experience but I realized I have no idea what 2nd ability I’m going to get when I steal (F1).

Is there a way to tell what ability will come up? Is it based on the current initiative I’ve got?

Sorry, i’m noob. And yes, if you’re wondering I do use P/P as my main. But please don’t hate or flame me. I’m just having fun and that’s why I play games.

Thanks!

It’s based on the profession you are attacking. I think each has two options. So if you know your enemy you can at least be prepared for one of two abilities. Then you have to decide how to best use it on the fly.

It’s just bonus really, steal without the added bonus ability is amazing as is.

Thanks for the response Stiv! Much appreciated! Can you go into a little more depth about what steal is? That confuses me as well. It’s just shadowstepping me to the target correct? I’m not actually “stealing” anything…

am i?

Again, sorry, I’m a nubbins…..I should L2Read more b4 i sit down and play a game for 100hours.

The ability in PvP is based on the class you are Stealing from. It’s reliable, meaning every Warrior will give you the Axe, etc. The best way is to mouse over the item while you have it – you can hold the item indefinitely (except from map changes) and use it only when the time is right. Warrior Axe, for example, is great against fellow Thieves, because of it’s evade and AOE. So don’t use it on the Warrior, use it later on against someone else.

Just mouse over the icon to find out what it does. I realize I need to go through and re-read them for the intricacies, even though I now know what they all do.

And no, you’re not stealing anything, just getting an environmental weapon from using the ability. The Steal ability does shadowstep you to the target and thus getting some item. There’s no other function to that part of the Steal ability. But note, you can use Steal while mid-channeling of something else, so for example, that Warrior Axe? You can use it, and when the guy is running away, you can Steal to shadowstep onto him again, dealing more damage. It’s very fun.

No you don’t steal anything on your enemies end. It just Shadowsteps to the target (and does whatever else you Trait for it) and then you get an ability in it’s place to use whenever you want. The cooldown for Steal ticks down even if you don’t use your “stolen” ability. What I do to learn is just not use the stolen ability, wait for the fight to be over, then hover over it and read the tooltip. Then try to memorize that icon. After a while you will know “This one stealths me”, “This one is a short range snare”, “This is adds a condition at close range”. Once you start to get it down, it’s a really fun ability.

IC. So it’s more of a PvP utility. I use it all the time in PvE but never really understood it’s randomness. I guess I just need to figure out my target’s profession class and make the connection w/ the ability it gives. That should help me out although as it stands now, it’s like a surprise every time which is cool in its own right

Even in pve. a steal on everyhing has a chance to generate 1 of two skills.
The item generated is based off what stole from. It could be a tuff of hair from a wolf or warg, aoe fear from a necromancer, aoe poison from a spider, feathers from a moA. Its something you need to experience and learn. additionally each humaniod type of race has a profession (warrior, mesmer, ect) tied to them. So if you see a mob using mesmery style magic, steal from them and theres a high chance you’ll get a item that will give you every buff in the game.

To recap,
press f1 – shadowstep and steal from target
Press f1 – use stolen item.

The ability’s cd still ticks when you have your stolen item there.

Have fun

PvE there are a ton of different items you can steal. For PvP you can steal:

Warrior: AoE Dmg Attack
Thief: Extra Stealth + Blind
Engineer: Throw a lil bomb that leaves a puddle that debuffs and allows you to use combo to get chaos buff.
Mesmer : 10seconds all stats
Guardian: Mace attack that stuns
Ranger: Regen Heal
Necro: AoE Fear
Elementalist: Chill attack

Also I just posted a video of some thief pvp in linksville.
WvWvW Solo Thief. I will make another soon with commentary to explain what I do an when etc. Could benefit a new player.