Ability

Enriching the overall gameplay are Abilities that Garrett gathers along the way. These useful and sometimes magical abilities complement the Weapons available during gameplay.

Most abilities are necessary to usual approaches, such as the Lock Picks for breaking into any building, though certain abilities are unimportant and can be done without, such as the Hammer Blessing which allows Garrett to kill Rust Mites.

Availability By Game[]

T1[]

At the beginning with Thief: The Dark Project and Thief Gold, necessary tools-of-the-trade like the Lock Picks and Light Gem were introduced.

Bold denotes abilities new to T1/TG.

• Lock Picks
• Compass and Light Gem

T2[]

In Thief II: The Metal Age other abilities were made available to the player, which allowed Garrett to perform super-human tasks like magnifying-vision with his Mechanical Eye, or remote-vision with a Scouting Orb.

Bold denotes abilities new to T2.

• Mechanical Eye
• Lock Picks
• Compass and Light Gem
• Flare
• Scouting Orb

TDS[]

In Thief: Deadly Shadows new thievery abilities were introduced, like scaling sheer surfaces with the Climbing Gloves. Also new were magical abilities, giving Garrett powers to do otherwise impossible things, like walking through walls using the Keeper Glyph passages, or destroying Gamall's Glyph Statues with the Glyph of Unbinding.

Bold denotes abilities new to TDS.

• Mechanical Eye
• Lock Picks
• Compass and Light Gem
• Climbing Gloves

Magical Abilities

• Keeper Glyph
• Pagan Blessing
• Hammer Blessing
• Glyph of Unbinding
• Telepathy (only reads the minds of the Enforcers)

Running/Walking/Creeping

Use the movement keys to move Garrett. The game is set on "auto-run", so if only using the movement keys, Garrett will run at top, noisy speed. Holding the Walk modifier key will slow Garrett down to a leisurely walk, sort of a halfway, and holding down the Creep modifier key will slow Garrett down even further, making his footfalls silent.

Passive[]

Basic movement and navigational abilities explained.

Crouching[]

Press the Crouch key to lower Garrett. Movement will decrease, thus Garretts footsteps will get quieter. In TDS, creeping and crouching will make Garrett completely silent regardless of floor type. This will create a smaller profile as well, making Garrett more invisible.

Leaning[]

Press the left and right lean keys to lean out. Use this to peek around corners. In TG and T2, it does not matter if Garrett leans into the light. But in TDS, the opposite is true.

Climbing/Mantling[]

Climbing ladders is a simple matter of moving into them. T2 gives the option to choose if Garrett wants to climb ladders by jumping on it, or by touching it. Movement is as simple as the up and down keys.

Mantling means to mount on top of a low barrier in front of Garrett. Jump into the barrier and continue to hold the jump key and push forward to scale it.

Wall Flattening[]

Press the Flatten key when standing and adjacent to a wall to press against it. Garrett will become significantly less visible, and in complete pitch black, hostiles can walk right into Garrett and not notice him.

Viewpoint[]

The default view for the all the games is first person. TDS has the option for a third person veiw.

Interaction[]

In TG and T2, Garrett can interact with objects that light up. In TDS, interactions are highlighted in blue. In all of the games, junk objects will appear in the middle of the screen. Garrett will slow down, and not be able to use other objects. It can either be thrown or dropped.

Trivia[]

The fan community has nick named this action as 'frobbing'.

Swimming[]

In TG and T2, Garrett can swim, and drown if he is not careful. Swimming is slower than running. Splashing around can alert hostiles to Garrett. While underwater, Garrett cannot use any attacks, but still can frob objects and use inventory items. Hostiles avoid water, but can fall in. If they do, they will immediately take damage, but they will be able to run at speed and attack normally. Because the hit box is the center of mass, they can drown at chest height water.

In TDS, Garrett cannot swim, and contact results in death.

Navigation
Games	Original	Thief: The Dark Project · Thief Gold ·  Thief II: The Metal Age ·  Thief: Deadly Shadows
	Reboot	Thief (reboot)
	Mobile	Thief: Deadly Shadows Mobile
Game Design	Game Play	Lighting · Sound · Abilities · Weapons · Loot · Approach
	Other	Storyline · Timeline · Cut scenes · Architecture