We need rework on steal skills
I like stolen skills that create combo fields the best. Combo fields should be part of your play anyways, but this lets you access effects you otherwise would not.
Ranger for example creates a water field. This is nice because it gives regeneration, healing, and a condition clear mechanic.
Throw gunk is actually pretty useful if you use it as a combination field. Of course, Chaos Armor isn’t the best effect so that is what makes it more marginal compared to say the ranger stolen ability.
I wouldn’t make all stolen skills into combo fields, but I would change a few of the current stolen skills to enhance the potential for combinations and smart play.
I’d make the engineer stolen ability a lightning field or increase the size of the throw gunk field. I’d change the elementalist stolen ability to an ice field. I’d make the guardian stolen ability a fire field.
I agree that Ice Shard is useless. It was very good in a time where elementalists were hard countered by chilled, if it was applied just as they left water (where all their condi cleanse were except Cleansing Fire), but with the condi immunity they have now…
Throw Gunk has always been useless for power thieves. It’s good for cleaving on a condi thief. Chaos Armor was nerfed, so there’s that.
I don’t know why you don’t like Mace Head Crack. It’s a death sentence if used when the guardian used his stunbreaks already: 3s daze!
The rest of the skills are fine. HoT even brought one of the best ones, the revenant projectile that hits like a truck and inflicts slow.
Honestly, the only two that are really any good are the Thief Stealth, and Warrior Spin.
I don’t agree with you. Some other stolen items are really powerful – one might even argue it becomes borderline OP if you run Improvisation having access to two of the stolen items at once. If you have two of the following stolen items, use them in the fight, then steal to get another two, it becomes pretty ridiculous.
Consume Plasma: very strong , especially against the popular Condi mesmers since it also has resistance boon now.
Essence Sap: Ranged attack with a fast projectile that can hit upwards of 5K + slow condition.
Skull fear – Aoe fear that also procs big damage if traited with Pulmanory Impact.
Since most of us agree that Ice Shard is crap nowadays – I think it would be cool if we can steal this item off Ele/Tempest.
La Fantoma – Aurora Glade
(edited by godmoney.6025)
Essence Sap is very strong vs Revenant, the skull fear with draining sigil and pulmonary impact is amazing in outnumbered fights and the boons from Consume Plasma are very good all around. The ele one can be strong, but with shouts and trooper runes it’s easily outplayed now. Honestly the only one that really feels lacking for a power build is Throw Gunk, in a condi build it’s pretty kitten strong though.
Critical Kit, Thief.
Don’t follow me, unless you enjoy being chased by angry men with sticks.
Power Build Condi Build
Don’t follow me, unless you enjoy being chased by angry men with sticks.
Power Build Condi Build
(edited by Jugglemonkey.8741)
Throw Gunk isn’t great as thrown but I like it for combos and deliberate placement.
Kash
NSP
NSP
op swap classes seriously your a kitten thief its blatantly obvious here…
chill is great vs ele. and kitten no don’t give us a ranged skill to us
4s daze is kittening great… seriously and its melee attack with what 1/4 cast? so u get a 4s daze for the cost of an auto.. its game changing, in fact it’s what separates thieves who can rival guard (equal skill) 1v1 and those who cant.. plus you should be in melee anyways so not sure what to think why that would matter..
necro fear skill is great, it can be clutch to rupt resers, or just aoe fear in genera. long cast time? well no kitten its an aoe fear, maybe try not facetanking while u cast it and use idk.. Maybe class mechanic like stealth… or blind… or precast from outside range – shadowstep into…
tldr: go play scrapper, it doesn’t require thought on when/why to use a skill to preform mediocre.
omg I just saw emkelly’s suggestions.. plz just see tldr as well
Never engage an enemy more powerful then yourself. If engagement is inevitable, do so on your terms.
(edited by TheNickPrice.8457)
some thoughts of how to sue stolen skills properly there are more ways but im not going to get to situational here, u clearly just need some guidance.
steal from thief: free 3s stealth; versatile skill for either disengage, burst setup etc, just use that brain of yours you goose!
steal from necro: aoe fear; great skill, as you pointed out yourself yourself theres a little bit of a cast time so use that brain of yours an set it up! thieves have many many ways to set up skills.
steal from ranger: great if u need some condi cleanse! BUT also great skill for pvp as you cover a good portion of the point and can actually help support your team! just remember your stealth combo will overwrite so dont be a silly billy and, you guessed it use that brain of yours son!
steal from ele: chill is great vs ele, bunker ele at the moment doesn’t have a big condi cleanse skill but many small ones, so use your brain and combo the skill with a rotation that covers that chill! (even power thives have access to cover condis; blinds, poison, vuln, weakness its all good m8 just use your noodle!
steal from rev: seriously… just a great skill good damage, slow is great condi to have and the fact its a good damage but RANGED skill is perfect as a thief/v/rev fight requires mucho kiting, if I make one suggestion for using this it would be to… use that dam brain of yours kiddo!
steal from guard: seriously a 4s daze skill is killer! if you sue your head u can make the most of it and even kill a silly guard during that 4s phase! if you are unsure if he has an auto stunbreak give an ole quick head shot and say didly doo I got you! 4s stun and proceed to use your brain!
steal from Mesmer: ugh I love Mesmer’s for this, especially with deadly arts trait to use it twice! its so nice! best part is, not so much mucho brain cells for this one just enjoy the boons!
steal from warrior: AMAZING skill (hint for your brain: use it in a combo field!)
steal from engi: great for combo fields but I also rlly like reserving this skill for a downed enemy ! its delicious to just toss, use that handy dandy blinding powder on top, and cleave all them resers dead to! in your power build throw gunk ticks for an additional 400 or so and provides a higher dps condi field (compared to black powder) for you or your teammates to take advantage of!
either way, it all comes down to how you use em with that noodle of yours, but I assure you they are all great skills!
Never engage an enemy more powerful then yourself. If engagement is inevitable, do so on your terms.
(edited by TheNickPrice.8457)
Use throw gunk on a single down body. Makes for a harder res.
Pancakes
Thief
Thief
I use throw gunk all the time. The field could be a wee bit larger but it fine as a stolen skill.
In zerg battles throw it on downed enemies from range. Let the heavies in the zerg deal with finishing.
As to fear. You can completely turn a battle around with well times fear against a Necro.
The ranger stolen you are tied to that field to take advantage but it realy nice if the enemy choose to fight at melee.
One of the main attributes a thief has is all of those comb finishers that exist, from whirls to leaps to projectiles. Use them.
I agree with what NickPrice said. Some of the stolen items can be deceptively powerful.
I like to heartseeker through Throw Gunk in the thick of battle. Those random boons/conditions it triggers on attack can change the fight in the thief’s favour.
I’ve even downed other thieves by tossing 2 x throw gunk at my feet and waiting for them to steal onto me and then hit them with an immob or a stun.
La Fantoma – Aurora Glade
The Steal Skills need definetely some kind of overwork and should become alot more diversive per Class, so that you don’t get everytime exactly the same things when you steal from someone, because thats boring and super predictable and also doesn’t make sense to keep on stealing from an enemy each time exactly the same things which you have stolen from an enemy some seconds already before…
Alot of the Steal Skilsl are absolutely underpowered, boring or totally useless, while some others are in the hands of a skilled player very powerful and so useful, that you can easily outplay your enemies when used at the right moment, because thats the design behind the Steal Skilla to fight basically fire with fire using the skills of the enemy against themself.
However by design i thing the system makes a bad job and it should work more similar to the exact skills of the enemy to be used agaisnt them, not receivign just some various effects that mostly have nothign to do with any of the enemies skills.
Also when stealing from a foe, it gives you as a thief absolutely not currently the fealing, that you have weakened your enemy, that you really actually have taken somethign away from your enemy.
Steal needs to be improved, that if you get attacked by a Thief’s Steal, then this attack should randomly shut down one of the enemies Skill Slots for the amount of time until Steal has recharged nearly.
So if I steal as Thief from say a Warrior, a radnom Skill of the Warriors Skill Bar should get shut down for my enemy for say 15 seconds.
This way I have really weakened my enemy and it feels like I actually really have taken my enemy something away!!.
When I steal from an enemy as Thief, each Class should provide up to say 4 different outcomes about what I can steal from them with Elementalists beign the only Class due to their element attunements being able to slightly influence what the Thief can steal from them tactically when changign elements at the right time and thats why the number 4 plays a role in this concept. 4 Elements.
What should a Thief be able to steal from each Class and how should the Skilsl work:
Steal from an Elementalist
Fire Attunement = Fire Orb = Hold up a stolen Fire Orb to cause a random Fire Elementalist Spell against your Target
Air Attunement = Air Orb = Hold up a stolen Air Orb to cause a random Air Elementalist Spell against your Target
Water Attunement = Water Orb = Hold up a stolen Water Orb to cause a random Water Elementalist Spell against your Target
Earth Attunement = Earth Orb = Hold up a stolen Earth Orb to cause a random Earth Elementalist Spell against your Target
——
Steal from a Ranger/Pet
Mighty Branch = Slash your foe with a mighty unblockable branch, that will launch the foe away, converting also up to 2 Boons from the foe to you.
Healing Seed = Create an AoE Regeneration/Water Field that removes Conditions periodically
Exploding Venom Sack = Throw a Venom Sack that causes AoE Damage, and poisons and weakens foes that are affected by its range, while Allies/you receive random Utility Venom Effects
Throw Feathers = Throw a Bunch of Feathers, you and your nearby allies gain Stealth and Super Speed for 5 seconds
——
Steal from an Engineer
Throw Gunk = Throw some gunk at your Target Location, which causes periodically to targets inside random conditions and works for allies as periodic Chaos Armor to gain random Boons when being attacked
Elixier of Life = Drink a stolen Elixier, that makes you temporarely invincible and which reverts received damage into Healings meanwhile, while also restoring Endurance back to full.
Mace Crush = Attack a Target, cause Damage and interrupt the Target with a 3 second long Stun, while also causing massive Confusion (5 Stacks for 10s) when hitting the Target with it from behind, when attacked from any other side, it will cause instead a long lasting Weakness.
Rusty Pipe = Attack the Target with an unblockable Rusty Metal Pipe, causing Damage and some stacks of Torment, Poison and Vulnerability.
——
Steal from a Mesmer
Stolen Inspiration = Gain for a while all Boons
Time Sap = Deal Damage and Slow the Target
Stolen Shadow = Create a Clone of yourself that will attack your Target for 20s with exactly your Build and your Stats
Broken Mirror = Shatter all the Boons of your target and cause for every shattered Boon AoE Damage at the location of your Target, which will cause the Boons of nearby hit targets to shatter as well causing AoE Damage verywhere like an Echo Wave that bunces from from enemy to enemy further until there are no Boons anymore that could cause further reactive AoE Damages.
——
Steal from a Necromancer
Terrorize = Strike Terror to nearby Foes, letting them run away from you for 2 seconds while letting them suffer per second on Torment.
Manteau of Darkness = Gain Stealth for 5 seconds, while being surrounded by Shadows that work in these 5 seconds like a necromancer Shroud with a certain Health value that protects you from receiving Damage and getting affected by CC’s as you have also in that time unremovable Stability.
Bloody Ice Blades = Gain for 5 seconds the ability that all your attacks additionally leech life from your Targets, while your critical hits cause randomly Bleedings or Chill.
Voodo Puppet = Cause a Voodo Curse, that binds your soul to your target, so that if you die within a certain time the effect of this spell is active, your bonded target will die as well. When activated will you and your Target receive also Retaliation and Might.
——
Steal from a Thief
Bundle of Throwing Weapons = Gain randomly either a package of Throwing Knives or Throwing Stars with different Skills that replace your Skill Bar, until your amount of Throwing Weapons runs out
Smoke Grenades =Throw Smoke Grenades, that stealth you and your allies, causing a Smoke Cloud, that periodically blinds foes inside and which lets also projectile attacks automatically miss.
Deadly Venom = Grants you a 3 stacks of Deadly Venom, that is able to instantly kill enemies in the Downed State and which causes on living healthy targets per hit 2 Stacks of Confusion and steals Boons.
Sealed Scroll = A Skill which instantly recharges all your Healing/Utility/Elite Skills on Cooldown, while granting you Quickness and Super Speed for some time.
——
Steal from a Warrior
Whirling Axes = Rotate yourself quickly with your stolen axes to deal damage to all nearby foes while reflecting incoming projectiles back. Reflected projectiles will bounce also to up to 3 nearby enemies.
Club Shockwave Cause a Shockwave with a stolen Club, that damages all foes in line of sight knocking them down for 2 seconds.
Adrenaline Needle = Inject Adrenaline into yourself, you will receive for some time no damage, you gain Resistance and Might periodically and this Skill works as a Stun Breaker for you while you gain also some Health back.
Stolen Armor = Gain for some longer time Protection, while your attacks cause per hit in that time exclusively to the Warrior/Enemy Vulnerability.
——
Steal from a Guardian
Dishonouring = Steal and bash your target into daze for 3 seconds, was the target in addition a Guardian, then this attack will deactivate for a while also their Virtue Skills
Virtuosity = Gain an effect, that lets your critical attacks cause Burnings for some time, while receiving also Aegis when dealing critical hits)
Purificated Steel = A Buff Effect, that lets you remove Boons from targetsand loose lose Conditions with attacks, if the target either had more Boons than you or lesser Conditions than you.
Amulet of Faith = Break this Amulet and you can revive with it instantly up to 2 nearby downed allies and grant them Regeneration, Vigor and Protection.
——
Steal from a Revenant
Mist Essence = Shadow Step to your Target Location, causing at the location small AoE Slow and Blindness.
Reversal of Fortune = If the next incoming attack would down you whiel this skill is active, then the attack will be changed into an healing instead.
Mist Rift = Create a Rift in the Mist with a stolen Axe of a Revenant, that will cause damage to nearby foes and cause Torment to them.
Stolen Ancient Relic = Steal an Ancient Relic, that lets you cause a random Legendary Hero Skill from the Revenant Stance Utilities of either Glint, Ventari or the others
Thats how I think it would be alot better and far more interesting as a Steal Skill System, if Thieves would have
A: far more Skilll Varity based from who they steal from by increasign the number from 1 to 4 different skilsl you can receive per Class.
B: You actually really weaken your foe by randomly deactivatign one of the Skill Slots
C: You feel you actually really gained something from your Enemy that belonged originally to them to fight them Fire with Fire.
D: Some of the Skills would be with their by me added effects alot more in general useful and not only situationally mostly/probably.
Personally I like the idea behind sub classes ~ quoted from Chris Whiteside
In the current landscape every stolen ability, except perhaps Ice Shard Stab, is extremely useful.
You’re all insane, the steal skills are pretty balanced you just suck at using them.