Burglar Gameplay

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Gameplay

Burglars cycle through their Critical Hit Chain to deal damage to their enemies. They use Stealth to sneak up on enemies, and with  Combat Stealth, temporarily go invisible in the midst of fight to deal bonus damage and gain additional abilities. Burglars have exceptional crowd control capabilities in Yellow-line with skills such as  Startling Twist,  Riddle, and  Trip.

• Blue-line (Bleed Damage): Burglars specializing in the Gambler trait tree use Gambles and other bleeds to damage their enemies. Most of their damage is caused by  Damaging Gamble, and other bleeds from skills such as  Gambler's Advantage. Their damage is highly variable, as it's dependant on the dice rolls for their Gambles. Certain traits and skills allow the Burglar to 'load the dice' to receive more favorable rolls.  Even the Odds grants them a random bonus, forcing the Burglar to stay on their toes and quickly adapt to the odds.
• Red-line (Burst Damage): Burglars specializing in the Quiet Knife trait tree use  Combat Stealth to blink in and out of their enemies' field of vision, dealing bonus burst damage. The bulk of their damage is dealt by the combination of  Perforate and  Exposed Throat. Red-line Burglars hunt random procs on  Return Strike and  Well-placed Strike that let them deal additional damage.
• Yellow-line (Pure Support): Burglars specializing in the Mischief-maker trait tree use Tricks to debuff their enemies.  Trickster is their key skill, as it allows them to apply Tricks to multiple enemies at once, and protects the fellowship. Using  Reveal Weakness and  A Small Snag, they can increase the incoming damage of their enemy targets.  Clever Retort lets the Burglar build a unique skill to satisfy any fight requirement.

This class is more difficult to play, and is not recommended for newer players. They can be fairly weak at lower levels, and their damage is heavily linked to playing through the Critical Hit Chain. However, they are an invaluable class at endgame, with yellow-line Burglar providing important debuffs for fellowships and red-line Burglar dealing high damage.

Critical Hit Chain

Several Burglar skills are by default unavailable, and become available for use when the Burglar lands a critical hit. Landing a critical hit grants  Critical Response, which allows the use of first step Critical Chain skills (such as  Double-edged Strike). When one of these skills are used, the Critical Hit Chain is opened, allowing for temporary use of second step Critical Chain skills (such as  Flashing Blades). Several other skills and traits allow the Burglar to gain a Critical Response from other sources.

For more information, see Critical Response.

Stealth

Burglars have the ability to enter stealth. They can enter stealth out-of-combat, or in-combat via a subset of skills. Stealth lasts until a Burglar uses one of their abilities. Burglars lean into stealth usage, with skills such as  Cunning Attack and  Surprise Strike gaining additional damage and bonus effects while in stealth. Stealth is also required to initiate a Fellowship Maneuver with  Trip. Certain skills like  Trickster put the Burglar into an extended window of Stealth, where Stealth is not broken by using skills.

For more information, see Stealth.

Gambles

Gambles are unique to blue-line Burglars. When picking the Gambler specialization, a Burglar has access to three gamble effects with 6 tiers:

•  Damaging Gamble (red gamble): damage over time
•  Restorative Gamble (green gamble): heal over time
•  Scrapper's Gamble (blue gamble): buff

When a skill is used that applies a Gamble, an imaginary 6-sided die is rolled. Depending on the rolled value, the potency of the applied Gamble changes, with lower values granting weaker benefits and higher values granting stronger ones. Only one of each Gamble can be applied at once, and when a new Gamble is applied, it overwrites the roll of the previous one.

For more information, see Gambles.

Tricks

Tricks are unique to yellow-line Burglars. When picking the Mischief-maker specialization, a Burglar has access to two different trick effects:

•  Trick: Disable: reduces damage and increases attack duration of the enemy target
•  Trick: Enrage: increases incoming damage and disables most ranged attacks of the enemy target

Only one Trick can be active on a target at any time. If another trick is applied to the enemy, the effect is replaced for the new one. Trick-applying skills are single-target only, but they become AoE when used from Stealth.

For more information, see Tricks.