Steal

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Disambig icon.png This article is about the core Thief profession mechanic. For the Deadeye profession mechanic, see Deadeye's Mark. For the Specter profession mechanic, see Siphon.

Steal.png

Steal

Profession
Thief icon small.png Thief (skill list)
Slot
Profession mechanic
Weapon slot filled tango.pngWeapon slot empty tango.png
Movement
Shadowstep
Game link

API
13014, 13109
25 Recharge time  
Steal

Shadowstep to your foe and steal from them.

Range.png Range: 1,200

— In-game description

Stealing is a mechanic unique to the thief profession and the elite specialization Daredevil. By using the steal skill (F1 on the Mechanic Bar), the character will shadow step to the enemy and steal an item from them. Stealing has no activation time and may be performed during other actions without interrupting the action, and can even be used while disabled. After an item has been stolen, it will be "pocketed" and will be stored in the F2 skill until used.

Each enemy in the game has a small pool of possible items to steal. For example, a character may steal an egg from a moa and use it as a healing item, or steal feathers from it and use them to blind enemies and stealth themselves. Instead of a randomized pool of abilities, Raid Bosses and specific enemies in these encounters each have a special, powerful ability that can be stolen from a list of four options that can only be found in Raids. In PvP the stolen items are profession-specific, for example the thief can get a Whirling Axe from a warrior. Players don't lose items stolen from them; the thief just gains access to the associated stolen skill.

Most items that can be stolen can be found as bundles, and usually function in the same way. These ground items can interfere with stolen items, especially if the stolen item and the ground item are the same. Usually, the stolen skill will be lost if the bundle is used, and vice versa.

Benefits from and recharge of stealing don't require the steal to be successful. Using Steal without a target in range will disable the skill for the full recharge time and award any associated bonuses for stealing. Similarly, using Steal on inanimate objects will incur the full recharge time without awarding an item, but the bonuses will be activated, and the Mug trait will damage the target.

Stolen skills[edit]

Primary article: Stolen skill

Related traits[edit]

Deadly Arts Deadly Arts

Shadow Arts Shadow Arts

Acrobatics Acrobatics

Trickery Trickery

Daredevil Daredevil

Notes[edit]

  • Appears in the first profession mechanic slot if no elite specialization is equipped, or if no minor adept for an elite specialization is trained.
  • If you Steal before using up your current Stolen skill, you will lose the unused Stolen skill.
    • If, however, you're partway through casting your current Stolen skill when you use Steal, you won't gain a new one.
  • The ability to steal is unlocked at character level 5.

Version history[edit]

For a detailed skill history, see here.

Patch Changes
February 14, 2023
  • Steal is no longer replaced by Swipe when the daredevil specialization is equipped.
  • (Undocumented) Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
April 14, 2020
  • Fixed a bug that could leave stolen items with 0 ammo in the F2 slot.
October 01, 2019
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the shadowstep to fail in rare situations.
April 23, 2019
  • Physical Supremacy: This trait now causes Steal to become Swipe, which reduces the range from 1,200 to 600 and makes the attack unblockable.
December 02, 2015
  • Removed this ability's target requirement.
  • This skill will no longer attempt to fire (and go on cooldown) on enemies outside of its maximum distance.
June 23, 2015 Specialization update:
  • This ability has now been split between F1 and F2.
  • The steal button remains at its default F1 position, whereas stolen items are now located in the F2 slot.
  • Stealing while the F2 slot is filled will overwrite the currently existing stolen item if the slot already has an item in it.
  • Steal has had its base range increased from 900 to 1200.
  • Steal recharge has been reduced from 35 seconds to 30 seconds.
March 16, 2015
  • This skill will no longer activate if a valid path to the target cannot be found.
September 10, 2014
  • Fixed an issue in which thieves were unable to hit with this ability while using a movement skill.
July 01, 2014
  • Fixed a bug that caused players to occasionally steal an item from targets they could not reach by shadowstepping.
April 15, 2014
  • Fixed a bug in which this skill would be obstructed after shadowstepping to the target if there was an obstacle between the thief and the target upon activation.
June 25, 2013
  • Reduced the recharge to 35 seconds.
March 26, 2013
  • No longer initiates autoattacks.
August 28, 2012 Game release:
  • Steal has been added to the game.

Trivia[edit]

  • At one point during early development, stealing would force a bundle in the character's hands. This was accompanied by a trait which allowed the thief to "pocket" the stolen item, which later evolved into the stealing system as it functions today.