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A Thief's Build & Guide (One Tamriel)
Quelhallow
✭✭
Hello!
Do I have a build for you! It's super fun and, with the new sets out now, you will be zooming around picking pockets and finding chests and troves in no time at all. This build is focused on looting and pickpocketing, requiring little to no combat prowess, so if you're looking for a guide on how to do X amount of damage in X amount of time, this is not the guide for you.
Race
Your career as a thief is, hopefully, centered around laying low and making gold, importing/exporting, and perhaps dabbling in politics. As an Imperial, you are a natural diplomat and earn 1% more gold. You're also Tamriel's middle child and are well-schooled in pitting the Dominion against the Pact while certain valuables go missing in the heated debate. You also have the health and stamina to survive any... reciprocation to your actions. As a Khajiit, however, you are stealthier and pick pockets easier, but most inns will suddenly have no rooms available when you walk into town. Your tail will be tugged in the wrong way a time or two, as no one really trusts your gypsy ways, but if you don't mind the constant stares and muttered 'another ones,' you will find profit as the stealthiest race of Tamriel.
Class
Nightblades make the best thieves. You will spend less time in combat, allowing you to bypass sticky situations to access chests and troves deep inside a delve.
Essential Skills
You will need three active skills to be a great thief.
Mundus Stone
The Steed. It gives 5% run speed for when we need to get out of Dodge quickly. Trust me, I've been to Dodge City. Too many cows.
Crafting Skills
Alchemy all the way. You will need to use a lot of potions to be a master thief. You will also, unfortunately, be required to slip something in someone's drink when they are not looking in order to get what you want. And finally, your excess materials can be sold at a guild trader for increasing amounts of gold. Alchemy materials (and potions/poisons) are always in demand!
Gear
It is certainly nice to have all your gear be divines. That extra run speed really pays off in the end. Unfortunately, the gear I have in mind for you requires a lot of time to farm. There's alternative gear (some crafted) that are nice placeholders until you get the desired pieces. Here's a fun little link to all the sets.
Jailbreaker (5 piece) & Skooma Smuggler (5 piece)
For stamina users, your torso five piece (chest, legs, belt, boots, gloves) will be the Jailbreaker set, and your jewelry + two weapon slots will be Skooma Smuggler. Vice a versa for magicka users.
Jailbreaker gives you max stamina, stamina recovery, and most importantly: minor expedition at all times (10% movement speed). This set is one of the three sets that drop in the Banished Cells dungeon. It is a somewhat difficult grind, but a lot of people in your group might be willing to simply give you pieces in exchange for the more coveted sanctuary set gear.
Skooma Smuggler, an overland set found in Reapers March (chests, delve bosses, world bosses and dolmens), gives you max magicka, magicka recovery, spell damage and, last but not least, major expedition for 30 seconds after drinking a potion (30% movement speed).
These two sets, when using a potion, give you 40% movement speed on top of the 122% stealth speed (established earlier) and 5-7% run speed boost from your mundus stone. If need be, you can move quickly. Very quickly.
Iceheart (2 piece)
I am, unfortunately, aware that we must get our hands dirty from time to time and fight people for the treasure we seek. Sometimes our hands are cold and fumble at locks or in pants and we are caught red, or shall I say blue, handed. Iceheart is especially nice because it provides us with a modest shield that does AOE damage while it lasts and can proc every 6 seconds.
The two-piece helm/shoulders, however, can be virtually any set. Try them out, some of them are just fun to use. (Tremorscale, Pirate Skeleton, Stormfist)
Non-Vet Gear (crafted)
One of the best starter sets for non-vet thieves is the Night's Silence set. Virtually anyone who has dabbled in crafting can make you this set, as it requires two traits. You, as well, can make it with a few weeks of crafting research. This set's 5-piece bonus removes the movement speed penalty. I would say get it crafted in medium armor (with training traits) and put points into the Improved Sneak passive as soon as possible.
Champion Points
For maximum profits, I have put 75 points into the Lover for Master Gatherer and Plentiful Harvest as well as 75 points into the Shadow for the Treasure Hunter passive. Any other point allocation is up to you. I'd recommend stamina/magicka recovery and reduction depending on which stat you have decided to use.
How to Pickpocket
The actual pickpocketing process is easy enough to understand. You can only pickpocket from a crouched position and when the percent (ie: 60%)is presented to you on the NPC, this is the success rate you'll have in picking the pocket. Wait long enough and the percent will turn green and improve for a space of time (ie: 60% to 80%) and that's when you nab your items. Always be wary of people walking around you, as you might have to wait for a few green lights until the coast is clear.
When you first start to pickpocket, expect to get caught. A lot. One of the ways to minimize the risk to your hard-earned gold that will be seized from you by a guard who either catches and kills you or convinces you to pay him/her, is to deposit your gold into the bank so it can't be touched. The easiest way to do this before going on a pickpocketing spree is to have the banking companion with you. If you don't have access to one, you will need to fence all your stolen items and deposit gold in the bank by entering into a thieves den from outside the city limits.
How to Lockpick
If you have played Skyrim, you might be confused by the system in place here. Fortunately, a few video guides have come out since then that instructs you how to pick these bad boys with relative ease. What I recommend, especially after getting all points into the Locksmith passive, is to force locks on any chests below the Advanced rank and to force locks on ALL lockboxes you might find in guild halls, town centers and inns.
On chests that are Advanced and above (ie: master) - take your time, but not too much time, to pick this lock. The reason is that you want to be sure to get it in one go and claim the items inside for yourself, some of them which are prized overland set pieces. If you fail to force the lock or pick the lock in time you will have to wait a few seconds to re-pick these locks and that is when our nemesis, The Treasure Chest Ninja Goblin of Doom, pops out of the woodwork and steals the chest right in front of your eyes.
On lockboxes around NPCs, you will want to force the lock and pilfer its insides before the pacing NPC turns back in your direction. Turning on auto-loot stolen items in the settings menu helps expedite this process. Also, you can blade-of-woe NPCs without getting a bounty (unless you are seen by someone else) and then loot the lockbox.
Legerdemain
You will want to focus skill points into this skill tree as soon as possible, hitting up Light Fingers and Trafficker, which improve your pickpocketing skills and allow you to fence more items per day. Expect to invest every skill point you can into this tree. I leveled this tree up quite quickly by selling max items to the Fence every day. It doesn't matter what you sell. Each thing is worth 1 interaction. So, in the early days of my career, I'd plunder the docks of Davon's watch, looting crates and boxes for stolen garlic and potatoes, and fencing them. After a few weeks of doing this, you will be at level 20 Legerdemain.
Understanding Bounty
When a citizen witnesses your crime, you will have a bounty on your head, and town guards will stop you and ask you to give back those items you stole AND ask you to pay the bounty fee. If your bounty is high enough, NPCs will turn to attack you and guards will kill you on sight. Unless you go on a killing spree and rack up millions of gold of a bounty, there are two ways you can handle your bounty. One way, the most economical, is to simply wait for your paperwork to be lost at the city jail. Your bounty will decrease in time, even when you are offline. Perks in the Thieves Guild skill line help reduce the time quite a bit. The second way is to either pay a guard or a fence and your slate will be cleared. If you choose to pay a guard, any stolen items in your inventory will be taken away. So if you must, pay a fence. And make sure you have all four points into the Kickback passive.
If you are stopped by a guard and do not want to pay your bounty, simply refuse in the dialogue. Keep in mind that your bounty will be increased after this interaction AND the town guard will try to kill you as you run away.
Cutting and Running
If you choose to flee the guards, always have an escape route in mind. You will be stunned and pulled back by some of them. These things don't hurt you, they just hinder you. What will kill you are the guard's heavy attacks and stealth flares. The best way I have found to escape a guard is to wait for him/her to initiate a heavy attack, block it (thereby dazing the guard) and sprinting away. Having well-fitted gear is an excellent choice for the thief who plans on being caught a lot and refusing to pay - one of the achievements of a thief. Also, keep in mind, while the guard who is chasing you can see you even through stealth, other guards cannot. So use cloak wisely. You will be one-shot if you cloak and the guard chasing you throws a flare in your direction.
Thieve's Guild & Dark Brotherhood DLCs
Both of these DLCs have made it much easier for us thieves. If you do not want to take the time to pickpocket an NPC, and you have less qualms about shedding blood, you can simply use Blade of Woe and acquire all their possessions in a single go. You do run the risk of someone seeing you, even with all the passives, but generally both of these skill trees should be maxed to make better profits.
Thanks for reading. If any of you other thieves have advice you want to share, feel free to do so.
Do I have a build for you! It's super fun and, with the new sets out now, you will be zooming around picking pockets and finding chests and troves in no time at all. This build is focused on looting and pickpocketing, requiring little to no combat prowess, so if you're looking for a guide on how to do X amount of damage in X amount of time, this is not the guide for you.
THE BUILD
Race
Your career as a thief is, hopefully, centered around laying low and making gold, importing/exporting, and perhaps dabbling in politics. As an Imperial, you are a natural diplomat and earn 1% more gold. You're also Tamriel's middle child and are well-schooled in pitting the Dominion against the Pact while certain valuables go missing in the heated debate. You also have the health and stamina to survive any... reciprocation to your actions. As a Khajiit, however, you are stealthier and pick pockets easier, but most inns will suddenly have no rooms available when you walk into town. Your tail will be tugged in the wrong way a time or two, as no one really trusts your gypsy ways, but if you don't mind the constant stares and muttered 'another ones,' you will find profit as the stealthiest race of Tamriel.
Class
Nightblades make the best thieves. You will spend less time in combat, allowing you to bypass sticky situations to access chests and troves deep inside a delve.
Essential Skills
You will need three active skills to be a great thief.
1: Concealed Weapon. This skill allows you to move 22% faster in stealth.
2: Cloak. Dark Cloak or Shadowy disguise morph is up to you, but you will need to enter stealth quickly and make your escape. Also, it's really handy when sneaking past guards.
3: Vampirism. As we are creatures of the night in trade, so it shall be in (un)life. Rank 9 passive allows you to move about in stealth unhindered and you are able to enter a stealthy crouch 50% faster at night.
With these three skills, we are currently at 122% stealth movement speed.2: Cloak. Dark Cloak or Shadowy disguise morph is up to you, but you will need to enter stealth quickly and make your escape. Also, it's really handy when sneaking past guards.
3: Vampirism. As we are creatures of the night in trade, so it shall be in (un)life. Rank 9 passive allows you to move about in stealth unhindered and you are able to enter a stealthy crouch 50% faster at night.
Mundus Stone
The Steed. It gives 5% run speed for when we need to get out of Dodge quickly. Trust me, I've been to Dodge City. Too many cows.
Crafting Skills
Alchemy all the way. You will need to use a lot of potions to be a master thief. You will also, unfortunately, be required to slip something in someone's drink when they are not looking in order to get what you want. And finally, your excess materials can be sold at a guild trader for increasing amounts of gold. Alchemy materials (and potions/poisons) are always in demand!
Gear
It is certainly nice to have all your gear be divines. That extra run speed really pays off in the end. Unfortunately, the gear I have in mind for you requires a lot of time to farm. There's alternative gear (some crafted) that are nice placeholders until you get the desired pieces. Here's a fun little link to all the sets.
Jailbreaker (5 piece) & Skooma Smuggler (5 piece)
For stamina users, your torso five piece (chest, legs, belt, boots, gloves) will be the Jailbreaker set, and your jewelry + two weapon slots will be Skooma Smuggler. Vice a versa for magicka users.
Jailbreaker gives you max stamina, stamina recovery, and most importantly: minor expedition at all times (10% movement speed). This set is one of the three sets that drop in the Banished Cells dungeon. It is a somewhat difficult grind, but a lot of people in your group might be willing to simply give you pieces in exchange for the more coveted sanctuary set gear.
Skooma Smuggler, an overland set found in Reapers March (chests, delve bosses, world bosses and dolmens), gives you max magicka, magicka recovery, spell damage and, last but not least, major expedition for 30 seconds after drinking a potion (30% movement speed).
These two sets, when using a potion, give you 40% movement speed on top of the 122% stealth speed (established earlier) and 5-7% run speed boost from your mundus stone. If need be, you can move quickly. Very quickly.
Iceheart (2 piece)
I am, unfortunately, aware that we must get our hands dirty from time to time and fight people for the treasure we seek. Sometimes our hands are cold and fumble at locks or in pants and we are caught red, or shall I say blue, handed. Iceheart is especially nice because it provides us with a modest shield that does AOE damage while it lasts and can proc every 6 seconds.
The two-piece helm/shoulders, however, can be virtually any set. Try them out, some of them are just fun to use. (Tremorscale, Pirate Skeleton, Stormfist)
Non-Vet Gear (crafted)
One of the best starter sets for non-vet thieves is the Night's Silence set. Virtually anyone who has dabbled in crafting can make you this set, as it requires two traits. You, as well, can make it with a few weeks of crafting research. This set's 5-piece bonus removes the movement speed penalty. I would say get it crafted in medium armor (with training traits) and put points into the Improved Sneak passive as soon as possible.
Champion Points
For maximum profits, I have put 75 points into the Lover for Master Gatherer and Plentiful Harvest as well as 75 points into the Shadow for the Treasure Hunter passive. Any other point allocation is up to you. I'd recommend stamina/magicka recovery and reduction depending on which stat you have decided to use.
THE GUIDE
How to Pickpocket
The actual pickpocketing process is easy enough to understand. You can only pickpocket from a crouched position and when the percent (ie: 60%)is presented to you on the NPC, this is the success rate you'll have in picking the pocket. Wait long enough and the percent will turn green and improve for a space of time (ie: 60% to 80%) and that's when you nab your items. Always be wary of people walking around you, as you might have to wait for a few green lights until the coast is clear.
When you first start to pickpocket, expect to get caught. A lot. One of the ways to minimize the risk to your hard-earned gold that will be seized from you by a guard who either catches and kills you or convinces you to pay him/her, is to deposit your gold into the bank so it can't be touched. The easiest way to do this before going on a pickpocketing spree is to have the banking companion with you. If you don't have access to one, you will need to fence all your stolen items and deposit gold in the bank by entering into a thieves den from outside the city limits.
How to Lockpick
If you have played Skyrim, you might be confused by the system in place here. Fortunately, a few video guides have come out since then that instructs you how to pick these bad boys with relative ease. What I recommend, especially after getting all points into the Locksmith passive, is to force locks on any chests below the Advanced rank and to force locks on ALL lockboxes you might find in guild halls, town centers and inns.
On chests that are Advanced and above (ie: master) - take your time, but not too much time, to pick this lock. The reason is that you want to be sure to get it in one go and claim the items inside for yourself, some of them which are prized overland set pieces. If you fail to force the lock or pick the lock in time you will have to wait a few seconds to re-pick these locks and that is when our nemesis, The Treasure Chest Ninja Goblin of Doom, pops out of the woodwork and steals the chest right in front of your eyes.
On lockboxes around NPCs, you will want to force the lock and pilfer its insides before the pacing NPC turns back in your direction. Turning on auto-loot stolen items in the settings menu helps expedite this process. Also, you can blade-of-woe NPCs without getting a bounty (unless you are seen by someone else) and then loot the lockbox.
Legerdemain
You will want to focus skill points into this skill tree as soon as possible, hitting up Light Fingers and Trafficker, which improve your pickpocketing skills and allow you to fence more items per day. Expect to invest every skill point you can into this tree. I leveled this tree up quite quickly by selling max items to the Fence every day. It doesn't matter what you sell. Each thing is worth 1 interaction. So, in the early days of my career, I'd plunder the docks of Davon's watch, looting crates and boxes for stolen garlic and potatoes, and fencing them. After a few weeks of doing this, you will be at level 20 Legerdemain.
Understanding Bounty
When a citizen witnesses your crime, you will have a bounty on your head, and town guards will stop you and ask you to give back those items you stole AND ask you to pay the bounty fee. If your bounty is high enough, NPCs will turn to attack you and guards will kill you on sight. Unless you go on a killing spree and rack up millions of gold of a bounty, there are two ways you can handle your bounty. One way, the most economical, is to simply wait for your paperwork to be lost at the city jail. Your bounty will decrease in time, even when you are offline. Perks in the Thieves Guild skill line help reduce the time quite a bit. The second way is to either pay a guard or a fence and your slate will be cleared. If you choose to pay a guard, any stolen items in your inventory will be taken away. So if you must, pay a fence. And make sure you have all four points into the Kickback passive.
If you are stopped by a guard and do not want to pay your bounty, simply refuse in the dialogue. Keep in mind that your bounty will be increased after this interaction AND the town guard will try to kill you as you run away.
Cutting and Running
If you choose to flee the guards, always have an escape route in mind. You will be stunned and pulled back by some of them. These things don't hurt you, they just hinder you. What will kill you are the guard's heavy attacks and stealth flares. The best way I have found to escape a guard is to wait for him/her to initiate a heavy attack, block it (thereby dazing the guard) and sprinting away. Having well-fitted gear is an excellent choice for the thief who plans on being caught a lot and refusing to pay - one of the achievements of a thief. Also, keep in mind, while the guard who is chasing you can see you even through stealth, other guards cannot. So use cloak wisely. You will be one-shot if you cloak and the guard chasing you throws a flare in your direction.
Thieve's Guild & Dark Brotherhood DLCs
Both of these DLCs have made it much easier for us thieves. If you do not want to take the time to pickpocket an NPC, and you have less qualms about shedding blood, you can simply use Blade of Woe and acquire all their possessions in a single go. You do run the risk of someone seeing you, even with all the passives, but generally both of these skill trees should be maxed to make better profits.
Thanks for reading. If any of you other thieves have advice you want to share, feel free to do so.
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