Exclusive for Gamer.ru "Thief in Disciples 3"

Nothing entices a person quite like the opportunity to deceive another, to subtly take advantage of someone else's benefits and glory, to strike from behind, to use a filthy trick, and to win at any cost.

Yes, within each of us, even the most innocent and pure, live these dark desires, and those who give these desires free rein become the absolute masters of their fate. Thieves—these are the ones of whom legends and myths are told. The most unknown is the greatest. And only in children's scary stories do we reach the names of the true heroes hiding in the shadows. That's who we will talk about now.

Thieves in the Disciples series are special heroes. In the first two parts, they were somewhat kept on a leash, not allowed to unleash their potential, fearing to lose control over them. Just remember the plot of the thief Nif Ord of the undead in the campaign - Servants of Darkness. All they were allowed to do were their initial and only special abilities, which expanded when playing as a lord—the Guild Head. A common lord thief could do little: steal an item from a shop or a spell from a library, send a spy into the enemy's camp, challenge an enemy hero to a duel, poison a squad with some chance of success, or, with even lesser luck, try to secretly dump poison into the enemy's town well. The Guild Head allowed thieves to incite riots in enemy towns, confuse the enemy's troop formations, steal gold and items directly from other heroes—basically, they misbehaved significantly. Nonetheless, the thief remained weak, vulnerable, incapable of bringing anyone along with them for protection, and most importantly—they did not gain experience and did not level up.

"H-how... how could this be?" - many fans of the game lamented. And now it has happened: In the third part of the Disciples series, the thief is a full-fledged hero.

And at last, after many months of guesses and assumptions, we reveal the secrets of thieves in Disciples 3: Renaissance.

So, the thief is now an equal leader to others, although to allow them, one must invest a bit in building the guild, but these most unobtrusive of followers are not renowned for that. Be amazed and astounded—they can now bring along units just like other leaders: initially three units and a maximum of up to seven. Are you rubbing your hands in anticipation of unequal duels with the lone leaders of the enemy?

But alas: in duels, the thief and the enemy squad hero always face off 1 on 1.

The ability to bring troops along means protecting the thief, delivering them to the necessary point. But the thief is not just cannon fodder on the battlefield; they are an initiative, agile, skilled fighter: they strike first, very often land critical hits, and frequently dodge attacks, although their HP is not as high as that of other melee warriors. The former abilities of thieves have, of course, remained: the thief can steal, or they might not, they can challenge an enemy hero 1 on 1, and of course, poison, yes, yes, and let's not forget the debauchery of the city's sewage system. However, not all at once and not equally as before, and this deserves further clarification.

Now, like all other heroes, they level up, increase their attributes, and learn new skills.

The thief, like other heroes in Disciples 3, has their own skill grid (skillgrid), gradually, level by level, allowing them to learn very effective techniques. For example, the Empire thief hero can learn a special poison that lowers all parameters of all enemy squad units, sneaking up on them on the global map, or a useful battle skill, "Blind Teleportation," which instantly transports the thief to a random point on the arena.

And here’s the main thing—all abilities: stealing, challenging to a duel, poisoning must first be unlocked on the skill board, and many of them are located at different edges of the board. So the choice is as follows: focus on leveling up one thief, a jack-of-all-trades at level 10-15, or have several thieves at levels four to five.

And how splendid their outfits look! Like other heroes, each faction's thief has three sets, which can be worn as a complete set or mixed, everything looks perfect, but this must be seen in person; even magnificent screenshots fail to convey the style and elegance of masters of shadowy arts.

These are the unique and irreplaceable weavers of their destiny, and at the same time humble followers of their gods. Now having gained their true strength, the thieves of Disciples 3 will obey you, their lord, guiding them by divine will. Let us follow as humble servants of theirs, that through our actions we may glorify and not disappoint our gods. We shall humbly await the release of Disciples 3, licking our lips and stifling the growling of our stomachs, for the reward will truly be divine.

P.S. Thank you to the .dat collective for the provided materials and information.

For unclear reasons, I could not upload screenshots in the native resolution of 1680x1050; I compressed them by 30%, and due to the rush, some things are still missing. But since I promised today, I will keep my promise, and when possible, I will refine it to perfection.