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Initiative is a skill cost mechanic unique to the thief profession. It replaces recharge on the thief's weapon skills with a pool of twelve points which are spent when the skills are used and gradually returns over time. Using initiative the thief is able to tactically attack an opponent with their own chains and bursts of damage until they run out of the resource.

Thieves have a base of 12 initiative. Initiative is represented by twelve diamond-shaped indicators above the weapon skill slots. The initiative pool can be expanded up to 15 points through the primary trait line Trickery. Whenever a weapon skill is used, it will consume a certain number of initiative from the available pool. Initiative will replenish naturally at one point every second.

Skills which use initiative

Weapon	Equipped in	Skill	Initiative cost
Dagger	Main hand	Heartseeker
	Off hand	Dancing Dagger
		Cloak and Dagger
Pistol	Main hand	Bola Shot
	Off hand	Head Shot
		Black Powder
Sword	Main hand	Infiltrator's Strike
		Infiltrator's Return
Short bow	Both hands	Cluster Bomb   Detonate Cluster
		Disabling Shot
		Choking Gas
		Infiltrator's Arrow
Harpoon gun	Aquatic	Deluge
		Escape
		Disabling Shot
		Ink Shot
Spear	Aquatic	Flanking Strike
		Nine-Tailed Strike
		Tow Line
		Shadow Assault

Dual skills

Main weapon	Off-hand weapon	Skill	Initiative cost
Dagger	Dagger	Death Blossom
	Pistol	Shadow Shot
	None	Twisting Fangs
Pistol	Dagger	Shadow Strike
	Pistol	Unload
	None	Repeater
Sword	Dagger	Flanking Strike
	Pistol	Pistol Whip
	None	Stab

Related traits

Shadow Arts

•  Shadow's Rejuvenation — Gain initiative when you enter or exit stealth.

Acrobatics

•  Assassin's Reward — Heal yourself whenever you use a skill that uses initiative. Heal yourself for each point of initiative spent.
•  Upper Hand — Gain initiative when you dodge, and gain initiative and regeneration when you evade an attack. Evading can only trigger this trait once per interval.

Trickery

•  Kleptomaniac — Stealing gives you initiative.
•  Preparedness — Increases maximum initiative by 3. Gain increased expertise.
•  Lead Attacks — Increases all damage dealt per initiative spent. Steal gains reduced recharge time.
•  Quick Pockets — Gain initiative on swapping weapons while in combat.

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Profession mechanics

Guardian	Virtue
Revenant	Energy•Legend•Facet of Nature
Warrior	Adrenaline•Burst•Primal burst
Engineer	Tool belt
Ranger	Pet
Thief	Initiative•Steal
Elementalist	Attunement•Overload
Mesmer	Shatter
Necromancer	Death Shroud•Life force•Reaper's Shroud
	Italic font means the mechanic is only available to an elite specialization of that profession.
Related links	Profession•Skill type