New Thief Elite - The Specter

[Artyport.2084]

I think we should complain about these animations. I like the concept but the scepter animations and sounds are terrible 

[Neveric.6824]

I feel scammed. It's necro shroud with (or even without) extra steps.

[AikijinX.6258]

1 hour ago, nopoet.2960 said:

Deceptor

Can’t wait to unveil my  Dis reSPECTER build 

Edited October 19, 2021 by AikijinX.6258

[Graeaw.6329]

Just now, AikijinX.6258 said:

Can’t wait to unveil my  Dis respecter build 

If you are giving barriers, you are a healer too, right? so like Dr. Dis respect?

[AikijinX.6258]

1 minute ago, Graeaw.6329 said:

If you are giving barriers, you are a healer too, right? so like Dr. Dis respect?

Dr. Dis respect indeed haha

[GewRoo.4172]

I was always under the impression that a thief with a support spec will be the king of side nodes. Not enough information to elaborate on this one so far. I am curious to see what we will face in a couple of weeks. 

[Brycar.2651]

BAMF!

[Ausar.9542]

I noticed the Scepter seem to be Melee leaning mid range.

 

It has a Teleport Skill

 

The Shroud has a gravity well like skill. 

 

Also take note of the Jar that the Specter puts down on the ground when in Shadow Shroud and giving its ally a barrier. I wonder if that Jar is a mechanic

[Felices Bladewing.3914]

3 hours ago, SeTect.5918 said:

But what are the thief basic colours?
Deadeye has a red/orange theme
Daredevil has a grey theme with some blue on physical and staff skills.

Overall Thief has a dark theme and that dark violet fits pretty well on that tbh. Imo its better than making everything black.

Since Daredevil and Deadeye are also not fully using thiefs classic colours, its fine for me that Specter also doesnt. And the theme is dark anyway like thief is overall.

yeah i was relating to the grey and really dark redish tone of the abilities icons, maybe the violet fits but than imo it should be more focused around the dark variants but some skills are just too "flashy"

[AikijinX.6258]

5 minutes ago, Ausar.9542 said:

I noticed the Scepter seem to be Melee leaning mid range.

 

It has a Teleport Skill

 

The Shroud has a gravity well like skill. 

 

Also take note of the Jar that the Specter puts down on the ground when in Shadow Shroud and giving its ally a barrier. I wonder if that Jar is a mechanic

I thought it was a delectable cake. But if it’s some type of magic gadget. Prepare for All the inSPECTER gadget game play builds.

[Xenesis.6389]

So wait.. players are complaining hard about necros lately... so you decide to give thieves shroud too..... lmao.

Ok well I like necros so this seems interesting at least.

[Aeolus.3615]

9 minutes ago, Xenesis.6389 said:

So wait.. players are complaining hard about necros lately... so you decide to give thieves shroud too..... lmao.

Ok well I like necros so this seems interesting at least.

Think i  listened to "they give protective shroud to allies" so if a thief is supporting a necro does that makes it shroudception?

 

I loved the singularity skill  animation.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Aeolus.3615

[Xenesis.6389]

Just now, Aeolus.3615 said:

Think i  listened to "they give protective shroud to allies" so if a thief is supporting a necro does that makes it shroudception?

 

Thief protective shroud to Scourge with herald of sorrow trait while in their sandstorm shroud.

[Xaylin.1860]

3 minutes ago, Ausar.9542 said:

I noticed the Scepter seem to be Melee leaning mid range.

 

It has a Teleport Skill

 

The Shroud has a gravity well like skill. 

 

Also take note of the Jar that the Specter puts down on the ground when in Shadow Shroud and giving its ally a barrier. I wonder if that Jar is a mechanic

I'm not sure wether that's a correct assessment of Scepter but at least since the Harbinger trailer we know that the presentation can be somewhat misleading. Considering there is a projectile, Scepter is probably more (mid)range than melee. To me, it also looks like that the gravity skill is on Scepter, especially since it is mentioned in the narration at this point.

 

The "powder keg" also caught my eye. To be honest, it broke my immersion a bit because it came out of nowhere. I'm curious what the story behind this is. Could also just be a placeholder.

 

My purple Sylvari Thief appreciates the color story of the Specter. By the way, in German it's called "Phantom".

[Aeolus.3615]

5 minutes ago, Xenesis.6389 said:

 

Thief protective shroud to Scourge with herald of sorrow trait while in their sandstorm shroud.

Add  a Jalis rev for more 50% damage reducer :)  Armored Shroudception.

Wonder  if its another type of barrier , if they wil stack or if targets in shroud barrier cant  gain barrier and  vice versa.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Aeolus.3615

[Aeolus.3615]

6 minutes ago, Xaylin.1860 said:

The "powder keg" also caught my eye. To be honest, it broke my immersion a bit because it came out of nowhere. I'm curious what the story behind this is. Could also just be a placeholder.

Under the Specter?

Tough that  was a  heavy weight, some  mechanic defining the gravity pull strength???

INC nerf gravity!

 

(Edit: omg double  post of shame)

Edited October 19, 2021 by Aeolus.3615

[Tubalz.9831]

5 hours ago, Tubalz.9831 said:

Wow such a cleaver thought process here.  ANET flipped one letter in the name and weapon (Specter/Scepter) and stolen another skill set from yet another class.  I guess the thief lives up to it's name again.   Looking forward to seeing what this one plays like.  

Well judging by the "Confused" reactions, I guess I should clarify my previous post...

In 2019 (via an update), One of the new skills on Thief,  was the ability to generate a portal ( a magic skill that was only available to the Mesmer class at that time.)  Since the thief were not and still are not considered a magic class, it was very unusual for them to get portal.  Not a problem, just an observation.  Now with this new Elite for the Thief, it appears that they now are getting a trait (Shadow Shroud,  similar to Scourge's Shroud) from another magic class (the Necro) again not a problem, just another observation.  I think ANET wanted to combine the classes and officially slot the thief in with the magic wielding classes,  so that the Thief will be not only DPS, but some support as well.  From My observation of the Trailer, I figured that the F1 most likely initiates the "Shadow Shroud" and the F2 most likely applies the Barrier.  Assuming that the Barrier will last as long as the Shadow Shroud remains.  This leaves the question of how does the Shroud feed, I figure it will consume initiative.    Lets just hope that they too are not going to have to rely on elixirs to use skills in the Shadow form.  🙂

The Scepter would be a good choice for thief if is is Condi based and needed some range.  Just my humble opinion, Thanks for the time..

Edited October 19, 2021 by Tubalz.9831

[Zoser.7245]

The scepter is a melee weapon as its autoattack is melee, but it could have some ranged skill, maybe at least one of the dual-wield ones depending the off-hand weapon if it still use that mechanic, like when paired with the pistol as we can watch in the video.  The tether feature is obviously ranged.

How much appealing and effective it could be is the question.  It seems to have support capabilities but not sure how effective those could be.  We will discover it soon and if it can be an offensive support or if it sacrifices the thief's offensive mechanics to gain that ability to support allies, even being an altruist in its style of play sacrificing initiative, health or some new resource to support its allies. 🙄

Edited October 19, 2021 by Zoser.7245

[Tubalz.9831]

4 minutes ago, Zoser.7245 said:

The scepter is a melee weapon as its autoattack is melee, but it could have some ranged skill, maybe at least one of the dual-wield ones depending the off-hand weapon if it still use that mechanics, like when paired with the pistol as we can watch in the video.  The tether feature is obviously ranged.

How much appealing and effective it could be is the question.  It seems to have support capabilities but not sure how effective those could be.  We will discover it soon and if it can be an offensive support or if it sacrifices the thief's offensive mechanics to gain that ability to support allies, even being an altruist in his style of play sacrificing initiative, health or some new resource to support its allies. 🙄

I agree with the scepter looking like mostly Melee , yet since I main Ele and the scepter is mid-range for most abilities for that class.  Thieves have needed a decent mid-ranged weapon for some time.  maybe Anet will slot this weapon as more mid-ranged use.  Hopefully they will not have to drop much in the way of damage for support, also.  The Tempest, can provide decent damage and support, so there is hope ...  I hope the question results in a good outcome, when you asked "How much appealing and effective could it be"

[Blade Kuroda.1795]

15 minutes ago, Tubalz.9831 said:

Well judging by the "Confused" reactions, I guess I should clarify my previous post...

The thief's Elite Spec from POF was Deadeye.  One of the new skills on deadeye,  was the ability to generate a portal ( a magic skill that was only available to the Mesmer class at that time.)  Since the thief were not and still are not considered a magic class, it was very unusual for them to get portal.  Not a problem, just an observation.  Now with this new Elite for the Thief, it appears that they now are getting a trait (Shadow Shroud,  similar to Scourge's Shroud) from another magic class (the Necro) again not a problem, just another observation.  I think ANET wanted to combine the classes and officially slot the thief in with the magic wielding classes,  so that the Thief will be not only DPS, but some support as well.  From My observation of the Trailer, I figured that the F1 most likely initiates the "Shadow Shroud" and the F2 most likely applies the Barrier.  Assuming that the Barrier will last as long as the Shadow Shroud remains.  This leaves the question of how does the Shroud feed, I figure it will consume initiative.    Lets just hope that they too are not going to have to rely on elixirs to use skills in the Shadow form.  🙂

The Scepter would be a good choice for thief if is is Condi based and needed some range.  Just my humble opinion, Thanks for the time..

Minor thing but the shadow portal isn't a deadeye skill. It's core thief. It's one of the preparation skills that replaced traps. Another being seal area, which creates that big shadow bubble when triggered.

That said, deadeye did pick up more 'magic' skills since the skill type is literally called a cantrip.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Blade Kuroda.1795

[hatozeni.5721]

Interesting..... but it still doesn't come close to DeadEye.

And it looks like a mixed spec of melee and ranged. I never liked that kind of gameplay.
The shadow form is cool...but not as cool as a Reaper.

And can anyone tell me why the spec symbol is a Tengu mask?

And let's get serious... compare this trailer to the reaper trailer. They didn't even have to say anything. The hype has climbed Everest...

 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by hatozeni.5721

[Tubalz.9831]

17 minutes ago, Blade Kuroda.1795 said:

Minor thing but the shadow portal isn't a deadeye skill. It's core thief. It's one of the preparation skills that replaced traps. Another being seal area, which creates that big shadow bubble when triggered.

Was it one of the skill changes after?  It has been some time..at least a few years since shadow portal has been introduced.  I appreciate your clarification. Either way I hope that the point got across correctly.   Maybe Anet is trying to get the Thief back into  Raids, Fractals etc..   ( I will go back and correct it, POF was 2017 and the Skill change was in 2019)

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Tubalz.9831

[Jijimuge.4675]

I was just watching MightyTeapot's youtube video about the Spectre, and he mentions a couple of interesting things that I don't think have been mentioned in this thread so far.

Firstly, at 0:34, he identifies the quickness animation on the norn npc near the Spectre i.e. roughly at the same time the barrier is activating.

Secondly, the bombs that we see dropped (Xaylin.1860 mentioned the "powder keg") are probably just from the the Spectre having Runes of the Citadel equipped.

[Geoff Fey.1035]

3 minutes ago, Tubalz.9831 said:

Maybe Anet is trying to get the Thief back into  Raids, Fractals etc..

Thieves and Warriors both got pushed into weird corners with Raids and Fractals.

Fractal-Thief: Condi Deadeye/Daredevil I believe is meta, but if you're not running with a Condi group then it drops off.

Fractal-Warrior: Due to the "Exposed" changes doesn't bring enough damage so most meta/PUGs completely forgo banners, meaning Warriors are almost wholly left out in the cold. Berserker Power can do dps okay, but it's not the same as yester-year.

Raid-Thief: Condi/Boonshare Builds and I believe Power Rifle have niche situations where they excel, but my understanding (limited) is that Thieves are low on the meta rankings?

Raid-Warrior: Bannerslave, still good for various comps (condi/power)

Deadeye & Daredevil are mostly power focused (staff + rifle) with enough leeway that you can customize it towards condition. Even if Specter is condi focused there'll probably be enough leeway to go Power+Support with certain setups.

[Asum.4960]

33 minutes ago, Tubalz.9831 said:

Well judging by the "Confused" reactions, I guess I should clarify my previous post...

The thief's Elite Spec from POF was Deadeye.  One of the new skills on deadeye,  was the ability to generate a portal ( a magic skill that was only available to the Mesmer class at that time.)  Since the thief were not and still are not considered a magic class, it was very unusual for them to get portal.  Not a problem, just an observation.  Now with this new Elite for the Thief, it appears that they now are getting a trait (Shadow Shroud,  similar to Scourge's Shroud) from another magic class (the Necro) again not a problem, just another observation.  I think ANET wanted to combine the classes and officially slot the thief in with the magic wielding classes,  so that the Thief will be not only DPS, but some support as well.  From My observation of the Trailer, I figured that the F1 most likely initiates the "Shadow Shroud" and the F2 most likely applies the Barrier.  Assuming that the Barrier will last as long as the Shadow Shroud remains.  This leaves the question of how does the Shroud feed, I figure it will consume initiative.    Lets just hope that they too are not going to have to rely on elixirs to use skills in the Shadow form.  🙂

The Scepter would be a good choice for thief if is is Condi based and needed some range.  Just my humble opinion, Thanks for the time..

Thief always had light magic themes with Shadow Steps, Stealth and Signets, so I don't see that being a break in theme. 

Especially coming from GW1 and the Assassin Thief filled in for, I'm glad we are finally getting more of those Shadow Magic elements covered in GW2 as well. 

 

And yes, Shadow Portal is a Thief Core skill - which again is on Theme with the Shadow Magic that's always been a part of Thief.