Thief Elite Speculation

[DrakoBlade.1759]

I have recently looked at the classes as a whole in a different light, as I took a break from the game and only recently returned a couple months ago really. Thief was my main, and I am still enjoying thief and with the "new" build system they have a am setting up a second build for thief as well. So, lets first get into what I think the thief needs in a new specialization, and then get into the different potentials they could run with it. So first of all, similar to a Warrior and an Elementalist, the class mechanics and the general idea revolves around the weapon skills. What I mean by this is for the Elementalist, the class mechanic is simply there to bring more depth to the weapon skills, with some exceptions in the utilities and well Warrior is self explanatory in this as well. For thief, it's the same between how initiative works, the 3 skill, how simple the f1 is, and how invis gives Thiefs a different 1 skill thief is very much a weapon class. One of the more unique mechanics thief's hold(at least in flavor text) is the ability to shadow step, which that in addition to other things leads to Thief's mobility. Thief by itself has very little natural sustain except for maybe some pseudo-lifesteal or selfish-condition cleanse, but these are so little that it's mostly to compensate for them being one of the lowest base health.

 

This all explains why Daredevil was actually a really good elite Spec for thief, they doubled down on the mobility side of the class, and brought in more ways they can cc their foes, effectively increasing their comparable mobility to those said foes as well. All the main ways thieves find defense, the Daredevil just amplifies. Deadeye is also another really good elite spec, because it further specialized the thief into the stealth aspects(with the full malice 1 skill), and the raw damage from the boon production in via the utilization of their f1 ability, and bringing more depth to that. Obviously with no question, you can build either Daredevil or Deadeye in ways outside of damage "support"(not by gw2 standards but other games, due to how they can increase the damage of their allies) and Evasion Tank. From a pure design perspective though, that is what Daredevil and Deadeye bring to the table. However, the weapons they give do not take advantage of the 3 skill or the initiative mechanic. This is a great opportunity for them to make the next elite spec to enhance those further, making it that the next weapon should be either a primary or an offhand. So the evolved class mechanic should revolve around the 3 skill in some way, and it should change or evolve the Initiative mechanic, while the weapon has to be either an Offhand or a Mainhand Weapon(or both like how spellbreaker got warrior 2 daggers).

 

We do not need any utilities that increase their own mobility, due to having just in base thief Deception and Trick skills, but we also have acrobatics and daredevil specializations exist for the passives. They have in a way beaten the dead horse of mobility when it comes to thief. Plus if they go too far into the mobility side of thief, they could very well invalidate much of what Daredevil brings. Unfortunately, the same could also be said for the invisibility side of thief with deception and some preparation utilities, shadow arts and deadeye. So, what hasn't been touched on yet? Well the obvious answer is the venom skills as far as existing utilities are concerned, we have one base specialization that used to be what enhanced them, but that part of it was then put into the actual function of the utility itself, and Venom skills also deal with condition damage, life steal, and cc. So one could say that potentially, specialization wise for thief, if they repeat the same cycle as the last two specs, they could make a class that has things similar to either deadly arts or trickery(for the initiate stuff mentioned earlier). However utility wise, the Daredevil utilities and the Deadeye utilities borrow or "steal" from another class. If I were to propose possibilities, then I would say either Glamours from Mesmer, Consecration from Guardian, Spirits from Rangers,  and Spectral(purely because of the whole initiative thing before) or Wells from Necromancers. The reason why I didn't add Warrior or Elementalist is that at this point in time I can't think of a precedent when one class took from the same class twice, which is why unlike other players I rule out Stances. However, one can tell sort of what I am thinking of already probably, a more Condi and/or Supportive shadow magic focused Thief. The biggest problem I see with this, is the potential conflict from the Scourge Necromancer though. Due to this last point, I think if it is a Condi *and* Supportive Spec, it would have to lean more into the condi and produce better support options than Deadeye, but not tread too much on Scourge's territory. Which is why *if* this is gonna produce any kind of defensive support, I do not think it will be from anything involving barriers. Rather it might be more from the mitigation of damage, like aegis, other forms of blocking, stability, resistance, evasion, blinds, and the like. For a new offensive boon they can produce, I like the idea of alacrity since they can already give themselves quickness from Deadeye.

 

There is still the potential that for the first time on Thief, we get a whole new type of utility like Rage from Warrior, Exceed from Engineer, or Punishment from Necromancer. In this case though, this would get into more flimsy territory as it would be completely new and hard to figure out before hand how it might work, so I won't make any conclusions on that. But, this leads my final conclusion to be a Condi and/or Support Specialization, that has an evolved class mechanic revolving around the initiative mechanic and the 3 skill, using a Mainhand and/or Offhand weapon,  and with some kind of AoE(probably ground target and/or around the player) or initiative related Utility(like Spectral). For combo fields I could see if it leans more into the supportive side, they could do either Dark, Light, or Smoke, while if they lean more into the Condition Damage side they could bring Dark, Poison, or Ethereal fields in from their utilities, either way I do see more Dark Fields coming out of this(but an alternative is maybe one light or smoke field and one poison or ethereal field). Let me know what anyone else thinks, and if you have any rebuttals or if you want to expand on my own thoughts.

[Salvatore.3749]

Like you, I just got back to playing GW2 a month ago. I played elementalist and revenant for a bit, but went right back to Thief. I played daredevil, couldn't get into deadeye (but haven't tried it yet), and then started playing core Thief. A little about my story with Guild Wars and GW 2. I love pvp. I liked the story line, but pvp was my thing. I got back to pvp and I have been using off-meta builds with thief and its fun. 

As for the new specialization, you're right, we have a mobility specialization and a stealth killer specialization. I think the next logical step would be to give Thief great sword with utility skills that allow for more combos and aoe damage. Thief already has several range weapons, mostly small weapons, and staff isn't all that great on DD, but rifle is superior on DE. In keeping with this logic of past specializations, it would likely be another 2 handed weapon that deals high damage, and provides aoe and combo fields. However, I think shadowing stepping will be a big part of the specialization since we have two of the three characteristics of Thief represented in the other specializations. 

 

We have mobility and stealth. All we are missing is shadow stepping. The other utilities for the other two specializations are physical/melee and ranged.  

[Vornollo.5182]

I still want a proper Bruiser-style Elite Spec. Sword Off-Hand because another two-handed weapon on an Elite Spec is a cop-out.

Seen so many asking for greatsword and such... Looks cool, but I'd take an off-hand Sword for thematics as well as gameplay options.

As for utilities... Stances could work. Could be made to fit quite well, playing off of how the Tempest Stances vary massively from Warrior ones and such. Seems to fit better thematically than consecrations or spirits for example.

Leaning more into the Shadow Magic side could also be an option, could be interesting with an off-hand focus.

 

But yeah. Proper Duelist bruiser-style with some team-support outside of group-stealth is something that Thief misses, but got to sacrifice stealth and a bit of mobility to make it balanced. Daredevil can to some extent fill this role, with Staff and/or S/D or S/P sets, but it you're really pushing it against other professions filling a similar role.

[Salvatore.3749]

4 minutes ago, Vornollo.5182 said:

I still want a proper Bruiser-style Elite Spec. Sword Off-Hand because another two-handed weapon on an Elite Spec is a cop-out. 

 

4 minutes ago, Vornollo.5182 said:

Proper Duelist bruiser-style with some team-support outside of group-stealth is something that Thief misses, but got to sacrifice stealth and a bit of mobility to make it balanced. Daredevil can to some extent fill this role, with Staff and/or S/D or S/P sets, but it you're really pushing it against other professions filling a similar role.

I thought about sword offhand, but revenant already has S/S and the ability to "shadow step", and the revenant has "stances" that are channeled. My concern with sword off-hand would make a new thief specialization a downgraded version of the core revenant. Plus, there would then be D/S sets which could be a little finicky considering the playstyle of S/D. Would D/S include counters instead of the evasion? If so, rev does that already. Giving D/S more evasion would be duplicative since D/D in thief already has mobility and can evade mid-fight. While, the gameplay mechanics may be weird, it could work, but it may needed to include very powerful utility skills. 

 

From a practical standpoint, ANET is definitely known for keeping some consistency during releases. They typically keep a practical approach to weapons on new specializations by providing the specializations with weapons that other classes have. They typically use a utility skill type that the other professions have and give it to the specialization (like shouts from warriors to tempest), but they normally don't provide a core utility skill that is unique to one profession to the new profession (like Guardian Symbols) there are some exceptions, but I don't see that often. For example, let's say spear, trident, and harpoon gun can be used on land in the release. It's doubtful that you will ever see a thief wielding a trident on land versus harpoon gun or spear because that would be out of left-field, but a trident wielding Ele would make sense.

 

I am not saying that it is not possible, but given their history, they keep some degree of consistency and add a different core profession spin on to the new specialization's utility skill. 

[Vornollo.5182]

8 minutes ago, Salvatore.3749 said:

snip

I'm fine with any off-hand, really.

Sword makes most thematic sense, that's all.

Thief is the original dual-skill class but it's been neglected with the previous Elite Specs, I think it's a real shame not to utilize one of the mechanics that makes Thief so special. Daredevil leans into the mobility, Deadeye into the stealth. A bruiser/duelist type leaning into counters and flipovers of dual skills and the likes (fits the Cantha/Assassin theme to have chained abilities, for that matter) seems far more interesting and interactive than anything else we've seen up to now.

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Vornollo.5182
Readability.

[DrakoBlade.1759]

9 hours ago, Vornollo.5182 said:

 

As for utilities... Stances could work. Could be made to fit quite well, playing off of how the Tempest Stances vary massively from Warrior ones and such. Seems to fit better thematically than consecrations or spirits for example.

Leaning more into the Shadow Magic side could also be an option, could be interesting with an off-hand focus.

Thinking about it I actually see two problems with Thieves picking up stances, the first I sort of already mentioned with the whole Thieves already have physical skills, so to take from Warrior again just doesn't make sense. The other though, is actually because of just how many classes got stances, we got the Elementalist and Ranger both in the last xpac. I don't know if your talking overloads or shouts, for the Tempest because the Weaver is the one with it, but that is besides the point. We also have venoms too, so that is technically a third reason I guess, as they do work to some extent similar to stances albeit slightly different, as it's more an on-hit proc than a purely passive bonus for the duration. 

 

9 hours ago, Salvatore.3749 said:

I thought about sword offhand, but revenant already has S/S and the ability to "shadow step", and the revenant has "stances" that are channeled. My concern with sword off-hand would make a new thief specialization a downgraded version of the core revenant. Plus, there would then be D/S sets which could be a little finicky considering the playstyle of S/D. Would D/S include counters instead of the evasion? If so, rev does that already. Giving D/S more evasion would be duplicative since D/D in thief already has mobility and can evade mid-fight. While, the gameplay mechanics may be weird, it could work, but it may needed to include very powerful utility skills. 

For about 90% of this I do agree, the other 10% is mostly about the fact that they tend to get really creative with their weapon implementation, look no further than Rev Hammer, Ele Daggers, Daredevil and Rev Bo Staff(instead of mage staff), and Mesmer Greatsword. But, I see what you mean, since due to Swindler's Equilibrium in the Acrobatics Specialization, they would to some extent have to be some kind of Power/Evasion weapon(in offhand), unless they rework that trait. 

 

9 hours ago, Vornollo.5182 said:

Thief is the original dual-skill class but it's been neglected with the previous Elite Specs, I think it's a real shame not to utilize one of the mechanics that makes Thief so special. Daredevil leans into the mobility, Deadeye into the stealth. A bruiser/duelist type leaning into counters and flipovers of dual skills and the likes (fits the Cantha/Assassin theme to have chained abilities, for that matter) seems far more interesting and interactive than anything else we've seen up to now.

I really want to see them do something with it as well, especially when looking at how they did it with Weaver. If they went with some kind of bruiser though, there would need to be one big thing there, more vitality scaling or just sustain in general. If they did this, plus the evasion thats already in the base thief's kit, the Bunker meta would resurface in PvP(if it even went away while I was gone from the game, and I haven't gone back into PvP much yet) instead of Chronos in HoTs or early Scourge in PoF, it would be the Thief. I am just not sure they want to repeat this weakness again. Which would be interesting if my previous thoughts end up coming to be, because if we get some kind of "shield" support like say Scholar from FFXIV, with the gw2 landscape I could see someone attempt to make a tank build out of that. 

 

 

 

[DrakoBlade.1759]

Idk why, but I completely skipped over this comment as I was looking back through it, and I want to touch on it too.

12 hours ago, Salvatore.3749 said:

As for the new specialization, you're right, we have a mobility specialization and a stealth killer specialization. I think the next logical step would be to give Thief great sword with utility skills that allow for more combos and aoe damage. Thief already has several range weapons, mostly small weapons, and staff isn't all that great on DD, but rifle is superior on DE. In keeping with this logic of past specializations, it would likely be another 2 handed weapon that deals high damage, and provides aoe and combo fields. However, I think shadowing stepping will be a big part of the specialization since we have two of the three characteristics of Thief represented in the other specializations. 

I had actually thought about Greatsword awhile ago, you might even be able to see it in my old history on the forums. While they might give thieves another two-handed again, based on track record, I have since changed my mind and thought some kind of one handed weapon would be better for the thief, so it can take advantage of the Dual Skill(3 Slot). Outside of that, the whole AOE, Combo Fields, and high damage then this could still be done if the thing we get acts in a mage-like way, no matter the actual weapon they use to achieve it. In fact, I would find it funny if they use a weapon that's typically a martial one, to make a mage weapon(like Axe on Necro or Daggers on Ele for example), since they did the same with Staff but reversed in HoT's. And, the AOE could be something that applies conditions like Plaguelands on Necro(effectively fulfilling that need in a thief). 

Edited July 7, 2021 by DrakoBlade.1759

[Vornollo.5182]

8 hours ago, DrakoBlade.1759 said:

Snip.

Ah yes, meant Weaver regarding stances.

It really depends on how it's all implemented, between all professions using stances, they all have their own bit of flavor.

Ideally, I'd have an Elite Specialization would really lean heavily into the Dual Skill and in the chaining of different abilities. Using the Utility (like a stance), almost more like Attunements on an Ele, where it changes the way you use your weapon skills between offensive and defensive styles and skillchains, even taking evades/blocks (or parries, could be interesting with off-hand swords etc.). Opening a highly adaptable playstyle, focused on the use of weapon skills to parry, counter, taunt and essentially control the flow of combat. Where a bad decision would get you killed pretty quickly to drive home a risk vs reward playstyle, or where you'd make sure to hurriedly start kiting or moving away once you notice you're getting outnumbered.

Had to look up that FFXIV Scholar, which I think already leans too much into a supportive-type character, but would definitely be an intriguing take for a Thief, hah.

I'd sooner use the LotRO's Warden for counters or GW1's Assassin as reference. Functional by themselves, able to help an ally in dire need with a little of almost incidental support, but really focused on themselves. Building up a chain of weapon skills, parry/block/evades to unlock stronger attacks or defenses, depending on the sort of chain leading up to it etc.

High reaction based stuff, tough to pin down provided a skilled player with the right awareness is on it, but gets slaughtered the instant they loose their focus etc.

 

I just don't see the GW2 Thief in any sort of fitting setting where it'd be this big magic caster or dealing a lot of AoE and stuff.

Their class identity lends itself much more to a more solitary setting.

That said... I definitely see a lot of potential for an Arcane Trickster sort of Thief Elite Specialization too and would surely enjoy it no matter how it fits thematically. I prefer good gameplay over a suitable "class identity".

[Salvatore.3749]

17 hours ago, DrakoBlade.1759 said:

 

 

If they went with some kind of bruiser though, there would need to be one big thing there, more vitality scaling or just sustain in general.

 

 

 

That right there is why I don't see a bruiser type class coming in. Giving thieves more vitality or even more sustain would make them insanely overpowered, and it could lead to a future nerf right after launch.  
 

Plus, considering there is not many combo fields and combo finisher type utilities on thief right now, I can see it being more of a combo-damage dealing-support specialization. 

Edited July 7, 2021 by Salvatore.3749
Readability and addition

[DrakoBlade.1759]

8 hours ago, Vornollo.5182 said:

Had to look up that FFXIV Scholar, which I think already leans too much into a supportive-type character, but would definitely be an intriguing take for a Thief, hah.

Yeah, I was mostly bringing it up in the type of support this elite spec could bring if it had supporty elements, just so it doesn't step on the toes of other supports in gw2. Also the thing to keep in mind about the whole FFXIV environment, their supports are a lot more like our's where yes they give help to the team, but they also are meant to deal a ton of damage as well, every class is at least a damage class secondary(if not primary). That is besides the point though, as the type of support Scholar typically does is the whole mitigation of damage, rather than helping people sustain and recover. Best way to explain it in gw2 terms, it's if a a Support were to continually focus on giving blocking, stability, resistance, evasion, blinds, aegis, and the like.

8 hours ago, Vornollo.5182 said:

It really depends on how it's all implemented, between all professions using stances, they all have their own bit of flavor.

Ideally, I'd have an Elite Specialization would really lean heavily into the Dual Skill and in the chaining of different abilities. Using the Utility (like a stance), almost more like Attunements on an Ele, where it changes the way you use your weapon skills between offensive and defensive styles and skillchains, even taking evades/blocks (or parries, could be interesting with off-hand swords etc.). Opening a highly adaptable playstyle, focused on the use of weapon skills to parry, counter, taunt and essentially control the flow of combat. Where a bad decision would get you killed pretty quickly to drive home a risk vs reward playstyle, or where you'd make sure to hurriedly start kiting or moving away once you notice you're getting outnumbered.

This is good and all, but I think if we want some kind of arcane trickster, then the Glamour skills could actually be awesome here. Mesmer also borrowed from the Thief with Mirage, this could be a chance for Thief to borrow from them. While if you are wanting something more combo related, then the whole initiative idea before could also be a thing and Spectral skills from Necro could be a nice touch. Due to how Spectral Skills work, it could directly interact with some evolution of the Initiative Bar, and allow for more use of the weapon skills in some way, similar to how Rage skills extend berserker state for Warrior. While the Spirits, Consecrations, and Wells I mentioned before being mostly other ways one could get out boons and/or condition damage in a broader sense, that was my thoughts before anyway. 

 

[Salvatore.3749]

5 minutes ago, DrakoBlade.1759 said:

then the Glamour skills could actually be awesome here. Mesmer also borrowed from the Thief with Mirage, this could be a chance for Thief to borrow from them. 

 

 

This is where I think the next step is. If they want to pay homage to ninja mythology/pop culture or homage to the assassin of guild wars 1, I think something like glamours, or even wells, could be a viable option for combo fields. Maybe even utilities that provide distortion to the thief and allies for a couple seconds. 

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

what they could do is Stealth no longer applies stealth, but instead gives a NEW grandmaster trait SHADOW FORM which reduces all strike and condition damage when applied by a GREAT amount(has to be very powerful as far as guild wars 1)...but with the trait we can give stealth to allies which turns into Shadowform...all shadow arts traits could apply this and...with this being said all shadow arts traits that benefit stealth could benefit Shadowform.  regeneration, revive speed...the whole nine yards. 

 

how many smoke fields and blasts do we have?!...yeah i can see this being a great work around

Well, with Shadowform, how do you access stealth attacks...well, itll still flip in shadowform but harder to land the Shadow Attacks because they can see you comin..ya know?

[DrakoBlade.1759]

3 hours ago, Lithril Ashwalker.6230 said:

what they could do is Stealth no longer applies stealth, but instead gives a NEW grandmaster trait SHADOW FORM which reduces all strike and condition damage when applied by a GREAT amount(has to be very powerful as far as guild wars 1)...but with the trait we can give stealth to allies which turns into Shadowform...all shadow arts traits could apply this and...with this being said all shadow arts traits that benefit stealth could benefit Shadowform.  regeneration, revive speed...the whole nine yards. 

 

how many smoke fields and blasts do we have?!...yeah i can see this being a great work around

Well, with Shadowform, how do you access stealth attacks...well, itll still flip in shadowform but harder to land the Shadow Attacks because they can see you comin..ya know?

If we were to just run with your idea, something like this shadow form could potentially be an interesting twist. It would create an interesting support for sure, possibly too strong though depending on what they do with the Elite Spec tied to it. I see what you mean though, we might not need more smoke fields lol. Although, if you look at Ranger with Poison, Revenant with Dark, and Mesmer with Ethereal, I wouldn't mind like 1 or 2 more Smoke Fields on Thief. As far as the stealth thing, they could just remove the stealth 1 while in shadow form and change to an upgraded 3(similar to the malice stealth attack). If they did something like this though, they would probably have to give us an f2 tied to the initiative, the con to this though is that it might make make it too similar to a Necro. To differentiate, you would have to have a very different type of utility than spectral, and instead more like the whole Glamour skills, Spirits(from Ranger), or Consecrations. They would also have to be careful not to change the class too much, which is why initiative, the steal, the 3 skill, and such would need to be evolution(and not completely something else) or intact(in the case of the steal), as they risk this too much if they do. Plus another way to differentiate would be the cosmetic effects, it might have to be that redish/black color of a lot of the Deadeye's kit. 

 

In fact, I even came up with a similar idea apparently 3yrs ago, I went back into an old post I made, and this who shadow form thing happened to be inside it. I just happen to see it just now, looking through my own old posts xD. You and myself from 3 yrs ago might agree on a ton of things about this topic...

Edited July 8, 2021 by DrakoBlade.1759
Expansion on Reply

[serow.6524]

I wish for a support/healing spec. They could call it the Kabuki Dancer or something. Spec gimmick could be a variation of Guardian's virtues that emphasises/requires movement.

[Knuckle Joe.7408]

thief already has very strong long range, mid range and close range dps specs, so I think they're going with perhaps support/hybrid this time

Since it's Cantha, I'd lile to see some kind of ninja-ish spec with channeled elemental jutsu spells that support the party, with the usual characteristics of each element, like fire=damage, water=healing, air=critical, vuln, stuns, speed and earth=protection.

get rid of steal and palce the jutsu skills in f1 thru f4.

Give scepter off-hand and a very long channeled jutsu ult that gives massive support to the team, like giving boons, special effects or increasing stats/damage with each hit. ninja limit break from FF14 comes to mind. cannot be used until all other jutsu f4 effects have been achieved, think of perfect weave ult from weaver.

traitline heavily affects jutsu skills, like perhaps boosting effects, giving additional effects/boons, quickness upon completing a jutsu, etc.

Basically ele attunement-swapping style but support oriented
 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Knuckle Joe.7408

[Downstate.4697]

I want a steal skill that aoe and supports allies. That is all

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

2 hours ago, FrownyClown.8402 said:

I want a steal skill that aoe and supports allies. That is all

A vampiric life/boonsteal spec could be fun for thief then, thinking of it in that way.

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

11 hours ago, Jugglemonkey.8741 said:

A vampiric life/boonsteal spec could be fun for thief then, thinking of it in that way.

peripheral vision was a deadeye trait on its release but was removed god knows why

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

2 hours ago, Lithril Ashwalker.6230 said:

peripheral vision was a deadeye trait on its release but was removed god knows why

Yeah, I remember it. There was also that other one that stunned on the next hit after a stolen skill or mark was used. I forget which. They were fun traits. 

[The Boz.2038]

Come to think of it, the popular-in-fantasy spellthief/arcane trickster blend of dagger stabby magic casty archetype seems woefully underrepresented in this game. Perhaps a focus offhand, some cantrips, maybe? Adding a bit of support to the class?

[Zacchary.6183]

5 hours ago, Jugglemonkey.8741 said:

Yeah, I remember it. There was also that other one that stunned on the next hit after a stolen skill or mark was used. I forget which. They were fun traits. 

I miss the original Malicious Restoration where it ate up your malice and healed and cured a condition for every point. That was like an 11k+ burst heal :(

[reddie.5861]

Greatsword and hit harder then rangers Maul 🙂
anything else is gonna make me sad 😞
 

[Salvatore.3749]

On 7/9/2021 at 12:21 PM, The Boz.2038 said:

Come to think of it, the popular-in-fantasy spellthief/arcane trickster blend of dagger stabby magic casty archetype seems woefully underrepresented in this game. Perhaps a focus offhand, some cantrips, maybe? Adding a bit of support to the class?

 

I think Mesmer will definitely get that boost. Give Mesmer dagger/dagger and we will likely see that. 

[nopoet.2960]

I'd like focus as an offhand but it would morph into different weapons based on what you steal.  So it could be a shadow axe, sword, cub etc.  You would get a bunch of new dual skills because it it could also become a shadow dagger and pistol too.  The unmodified focus skills would lean into the deception aspect of the thief.  It would be a weird thief/mesmer/engineer hybrid thing but it could be fun.   

[Bunny.9834]

I'm really hoping this will be an Assassin. 

You now only get one dodge. 

• F1 is no longer steal. It's now Aura of Displacement which is a long range port. Your F2 skill becomes the "return". 
• You get off-hand sword: power based weapon. 
• Utilities: Stances - "Way of the ___ "