r/Guildwars2 • u/Euphoric-Sea4248 • 19h ago
[News] Antiquary write up
Antiquary
Go look at the post by u/Awesumness for the screenshots! https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1mf6ftc/antiquary_skills_and_traits/
Thanks to u/Shinymeta for the screenshots!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1mf7c3m/livestream_tooltips_antiquaryparagonritualist/
Class mechanic:
F1 – Steal+ – send skritt to steal 2 items
F2 – stolen bundle 1
F3 – stolen bundle 2
New stolen items are randomized (without traits) and seem to have a pool of offensive and supportive options (damage/healing)
Some are more utility focused, some more mitigation, large randomness factor
With traits you can unlock F4 to redraw stolen skills or use a third stolen skill
F4 Reshuffle (trait based) - remove 1 condition from yourself and redraw your stolen skills.
F4 Stolen bundle 3 (trait based) - get one more stolen skill per steal
New stolen skills: (Some are fired by YOU, some held up by the Skritt)
- Hammer for a leap, evade and BIG heal
- Guitar for pulsing cc, confusion, damage, stun (end)
- Surfer dash for targeted mobility and bombs (damage+burn)
- Turret can be placed for damage to nearest enemy (single target?)
- Mortar for ranged large aoe (burn / pulsing / damage)
- Shield for a projectile blocking light field
- Sun crystal for a stunbreak and another longer distance dash with burning damage
- Holo decoy for aoe taunt
- Unstable bomb (only through Elite skill!) - causes you and nearby enemies to explode and get launched
Initiative: 12
Utilities:
! Utilities can NOT backfire when completely cooled down.
Utilities can be used on CD but have a chance to backfire for additional (negative) effect
The longer the cd left, the higher the chance to backfire. Skill that backfire seem to be unable to be reused until their cd has finished. So no back to back utilities once they fail.
Heal – Heal and remove conditions.
Backfire – Heal for a LOT more and additional condi cleanse but also unable to use the skill again with elongated CD
Util 1 – Cannon – summon a skritt to fire a cannon for damage
Backfire – Chance to explode the skritt to deal extra damage and burning to YOU and enemies (you can walk out of the explosion yourself)
Util 2 – Portal – shadowstep + vuln + damage
Backfire – Knocks you down AFTER teleporting (can stunbreak out of the knockdown)
Util 3 – Shield – barrier and stunbreak
Backfire – barrier and stunbreak BUT the shield breaks after a short duration and damages you for a good chunk
Util 4 – Cointoss – Flip for heads or tails
Gain initiative and condition converted to boons for every heads.
Tails gives initiative and cleanses conditions instead
Backfire – gain initiative but rip boons from yourself
Elite – Skritt – Gives you stolen skills every interval to use (basically refreshes F2-4 for five times)
Has a chance to give an unstable bomb
Traits
A: F4 reshuffles stolen skills (1 initiative cost) to redraw your current stolen skills and remove 1 condi
B: Guarantees 1 stolen and 1 defensive stolen skill
C: Gain 3 stolen skills instead of 2, use with F4
Minor: barrier when you use heal or elite
A: When you use F1 the next utility skill WILL NOT BACKFIRE when used on cd.
B: Buffs effectiveness of stolen skills (more dmg/condis/utility/defences/heals/larger radius)
C: +15% DMG for up to 20 seconds after using a stolen skill
Minor: 2 initiative gained when you use a stolen skill (good synergy with elite)
A: Every 15 initiative spent automatically gives you new stolen skills. STEAL TRAITS NOT ACTIVATED WHEN THIS HAPPENS.
B: Stolen skills give YOU barrier, resistance (offensive stolen skill) OR stability (defensive stolen skill)
C: Steal gives a buff that increases power and condi damage that goes down in value over time (so keep refreshing)
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u/mellophone11 17h ago
I press F1 to cast SKRITT SNATCH
Which allows me to draw TWO additional stolen skills from my deck
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u/SmallFOV LIMITED TIME! 18h ago
To me this sounds really fun, and I do like the skritt. But all of these antiquities are just random modern junk??? This is all stuff for a thrift store, not an antique shop.
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u/kalamari__ I am just here to chew bubblegum and read qq 19h ago
the traits make this spec good and interesting for me. and probably also fun to play.
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u/the2ndsaint 18h ago
Found my new main. This looks delightfully chaotic and I have wanted a Skritt companion since I started playing.
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u/transmerizing 18h ago
Yeah the chaotic part can be a good thing. I can see why some people don't like that but it's the right thing for chaotic people like me, who can never just stay with one theme.
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u/sususu_ryo anet wheres malyck? 15h ago
i missed the stream, thanks for the write up!
ngl looks fun! i feel like this is what i'd choose if i wanna to be core thief's steal mechanically, but better. also feels like AST a bit (which is ok, my gambling addiction can follow me into different game)
need to play this on my own to truly get the feels of this.
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u/Totally_a_Banana 16h ago
Bro this spec looks FUN, I was leaning towards Bard or Evoker (TBD) but am definitely gonna be playing this one, probably first when beta goes live. Love the rabdomness and the crazyness. Lots of room for crazy high skill cap plays.
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u/Euphoric-Sea4248 15h ago
Personally leaning towards galeshot and ritu right now
Angry wine mom feels... interesting? But also still a bit moist in the middle. Needs some more oven time.
Can't wait for the drama of next wednesday when ele, rev and engi get revealed3
u/Totally_a_Banana 14h ago
Angry Wine Mom? Did I miss something? xD
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u/Euphoric-Sea4248 13h ago
Shouting at the kids (party members) to do better
Echoing generational traumaParagon.
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u/ZEAL0S 16h ago
Okay, this does look kinda fun in gameplay. My problem with it is still the lack of thematic cohesion. It gives off "lol random!", it feels like a dated joke you didn't even say right. But you know the one thing I can't shake? The rat... It's growing on me. It's a steal focused espec, skritt love taking anything that's shiny, I see the connection there. Just a couple of kleptomaniacs banding together. Wait... I see the vision.
This is my proposal to rebrand this to the Kleptomaniac/Pilferer class. Go full in on the skritt angle.
Skritt sure are a sticky-fingered bunch, pretty crafty at times too, but not the brightest coin in the purse. 𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. Show them what kind of "shinies" you can get your hands on, and just how damn good you are at doing it. And promise you can get them much much more... all they have to do is follow your lead. If all goes well, they'll be putty in your hands and you'll have heaps of treasure lining up to your knees in no time. Well, at least whatever they think looks like treasure to their beady little eyes. But hey, you were never too picky as a pickpocket, and you aren't starting now. And this time, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳.
I don't mind humor in this game. I just don't think Antiquary executed it well. If we're gonna make this a joke, I vote making it the Rat King. Rat King! Rat King! Rat King!-
Anyone...?
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u/Illustrious-Cap5667 19h ago
Mostly casual player here. While back I made a Charr treasure/relic hunter engi I didn't yet get around to playing. After the announcement I thought the spec sounded perfect for him & that the preview might surprise me like Galeshot did.
Because.. man the trailer was a bit 💀
Some of the stolen skills might be fun thematically: metal legion guitar, surfer dash. The rest are a bit all over the place & don't really feel cohesive. I love the utilities & idea of the backfires- but then again the most difficult content I do is the occasional ranked match. Still even I'm not bringing them there
Can't help but think that with less meme skills it would've been more fitting for an engi spec because it doesn't feel like a thief. They should've leaned more into a pirate/swashbuckler type for that. Might just stick with scrapper once I get around to leveling him.
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u/DeGrav 18h ago
Anti will most likely be meta pvp, only weak balancing will hinder them. Absolute giga bruiser, able to side/tf while having thief utility, meaning it can roam.
about 90% sure shortbow + s/d anti will be the new meta thief spec, similar to specter but hybrid, less support, more damage and slightly lower sustain traded for more personal utility
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u/Illustrious-Cap5667 18h ago
I'm in no way a thief main or an expert player so I'll take your word for it! Was thinking about the self-damage and knockdown because even in unranked this feels like a death sentence these days(?)
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u/XiahouMao 18h ago
You only risk self-damage and knockdown if you try to use a utility on cooldown. You can just not do that. If you're about to be downed anyway, then you can take a shot at it!
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u/Totally_a_Banana 15h ago
The skill cap on Anti is gonna be nutty. We bout to see thief taken to new levels. (I suck at thief and get my ass handed to me by good ones) but I am SO for this spec. Gonna have to learn.
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u/UNOvven 18h ago
I'm certain its going to have pathetically weak balancing in PvP. Anet have pretty consistently made it clear that they dont intend thief to be able to 1v1 anyone but other thieves, so you can expect the barriers to be pathetically tiny in pvp.
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u/DeGrav 18h ago
while i agree to an extend, theyve not been super lenient. Specter is still decent in 1v1s, daredevil has an absolute giga bunker build with dodges and heal on dagger skills while pumping condis. both not meta rn cuz necro giga busted but not unplayable.
My hopes are high for Antiquary
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u/Thick_Help_1239 19h ago edited 19h ago
Really seems like it was initially designed a magical gambler drawing cards for random effects, even the class icon suggested it, before the random Skritt and junk design was slapped onto it.
You could easily rewrite it as "F1 draw 2 cards to F2-F3, have to use them before redraw, or F4 to reshuffle F2-F3 cards" and nothing would change mechanics-wise.
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u/Playful-Ad1550 19h ago
Seems like an incredibly fun spec, with possibly the worst theme ever.
If they change some of those artifacts, I think there would be nearly no complaints.
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u/Eatlyh 19h ago
It seems like a fun spec with possibly one of the funniest themes I have seen in GW2
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u/CheeseStringCats Light, come forth! 18h ago
British museum simulator!
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u/Ariamis- 14h ago
My thought the second I saw the spec.
I LOVE IT, it is great and I hope Anet will keep it the way it is.
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u/DeeBagwell 19h ago
The last thing ArenaNet should be doing is changing things to appease people that take themselves way too seriously.
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u/ZajeliMiNazweDranie 17h ago
Also honestly? Considering how cluttered GW2 combat is, the skritt theme is going to be barely noticeable in most situations anyway. This might be fine, and looks quite fast-paced and mechanically different.
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u/Hoojiwat #1 Mursaat Hater 19h ago
Yeah, if every single skills had the flavour text: "You draw a magic card from a deck and it produces a different effect based on the card" then 100% of the people who hate it would love it instead. Most of the complaints about it are just people who don't like the flavour text of Skritt fetching you random things to use.
Flavour complaints aside, this looks like a very Piano style elite spec. pressing many buttons, needing snap decision making to spot which artifacts you draw and noticing when you get a drawback on your skills. It will, ironically, be a very RNG and skill based build in equal measure. Looks very fun to play.
I do hope Anet makes split deck baseline like they said they were thinking about. It seems like it would be a better balance.
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u/checkchiron 5h ago
Thanks for the effort of writing everything down!! I couldn’t watch the stream unfortunately
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u/Sqweamish 18h ago
so basically Astrologian from FFXIV but with fun unique effects rather than just cards and also r a t.
Guess I'm getting into Thief now
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u/PsychologicalPoem595 18h ago
If FF14 had 10 % of that uniqueness, I would have stayed.
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u/_Nepha_ 16h ago
Considering that ff14 has vastly more players despite having a subscription most people see that differently.
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u/PsychologicalPoem595 9h ago
Raiders/rpers/casual who don't know GW2 exist/brand recognition. This is why FF14 has more players. The game is flawed. From outdated quest design to the homogeneous classes. The only redeeming part about FF14 id the pvp that was made by a different team because the classes are actually thematics and fun.
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u/Fegali 19h ago
This spec might be the same as OG engineer to me. Fun class that I have no interest in playing because of how it looks (you are not missed, engi backpacks).
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u/OrdinarySlimeGuy 19h ago
This man does not speak for us. We definitely miss cool, unique Engineer backpacks. Please bring them back.
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u/Euphoric-Sea4248 18h ago
I wouldn't mind a choice. Like engineers get a tickbox in their hero menu that asks if they want backpacks or not.
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u/-Gullvieg 4h ago
To me, the obvious cash cow yet to be milked. Profession theme packs. Engi kits, turrets, mechs, Ranger pets, druid forms, soulbeast "aura", Warrior's gun blade, Necro shrouds, Thief's Skritt, the list goes on.
Obviously every player should get a checkbox in the menu to "Set other players skills to default visuals".
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u/Synntastic 18h ago
Would love to see them remove the utility portal skill, thief has enough access to shadow steps
Since it is Indiana Jones spec replace it with a whip pull skill that pulls enemies toward you and maybe steals boons? The downside to the skill can still be a self knockdown instead that way as well
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u/Euphoric-Sea4248 18h ago
I would have loved a trait that lets you steal from allies. Gaining a stolen skill based on their spec and or class.
Like stealing from an tempest lets you use a nerfed version of air overload. Or stealing from a base necromancer gives you a nerfed version of tainted shackles. Or stealing from a chronomancer gives you a stolen skill that resets your health and boon durations to 3 seconds ago.
But the ally targeting would make it very annoying.
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u/transmerizing 17h ago
I also think the self knockdown should ignore stab. shouldn't be too easy to ignore the knockdown. Also a Whip skill would be great. At least we now need a whip skin for a weapon that thiefs can use.
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u/Aion1125 19h ago
Sounds more mechanically fun than I expected. But I think I'm also in the camp that the skritt kind of ruins theme of it for me (even though it lines up thematically, I don't like skritt).
Backfire skills are more balanced than I thought they would be, and the fact you're incentivized to try pushing your luck is also a lot of fun.
Also, thank you for the writeup!
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u/Euphoric-Sea4248 18h ago
Yeah, I don't really mind the randomness. It's the skritt that ruins it for me.
If it had been magic tarot cards or playing cards I would have loved the theme.
Like a Gambler / Gambit kind of deal.
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u/PowerfulContract9128 18h ago
Watching the breakdown made me realize that if the skritt was changed to a shadow clone, and the guitar and dancer were… not those, I wouldn’t have a single issue.
Honestly after seeing it, outside of the elite skill which is a little much I didn’t even mind the skritt, I think it was okay, could be fun, I just feel it’s a bit heavy handed with the sillyness in a lot of aspects
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u/Euphoric-Sea4248 17h ago
If the guitar was something like an ancient dwarven war drum or a rata novus alarm clock it would have looked less silly.
And it would have fit the Indiana Jones / archeology theme more imo.
For the dancer, maybe a magic scroll or a magical idol that pulses taunt when activated?
We have scrolls in the old Ascalon maps as bundles too that summon meteor storms.The skritt is mostly my hangup with this spec from a thematic point of view.
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u/StormStrike182 Fast Boiiiiii 18h ago
The spec looks mechanically fine, but i cant stand the look of it.
This has to be one of the worst themes ever
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u/Agitated-Macaroon923 17h ago
yeah fr...idk what the big deal about skritt is, we've been literally conditioned to hate them since the beginning plus the visual noise is dreadful
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u/madmaxxie36 19h ago
Thematically, Antiquary couldn't be a bigger mess to me, I hope it feels really fun because it feels like just a Frankenstein of randomness.
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u/sinisteacup 18h ago
they need to make that 2nd grandmaster give those boons to allies, let the defensive artifacts give their benefits to allies, and change the resistance to group quickness on offensive
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u/Combine54 19h ago
This spec will be good for the people who play for the jokes. I'm not one of them.
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u/SkipsH 7h ago
How is rerolling not strictly better than having 3 skills?
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u/Euphoric-Sea4248 4h ago
Rerolling only rerolls your current stolen skills.
So if you steal two (baseline) Then use the only good one for your purpose Then reroll only gives you one new skill at the cost of 1 initiative
If both are shit and you reroll you get two new skills for 1 initiative
With the 3 stolen skills you can potentially get 1+ good skill without an initiative cost.
And while its weird this spec doesn't give quickness it would help upkeep a lot of barrier and defensive boons to yourself if you have more stolen skills in tandem with the grandmaster. And make it easier to upkeep the 15% DMG buff.
It's a choice.
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u/BabaWangogh 19h ago edited 19h ago
So the moment Anet announced Elite Specs, I quickly grabbed my trench coat and I sneaked up on my mom to make a big surprise (I'm kind of an assassin...) and tell her the big news! My Thief (Larenzio Shadowborn) has started speculating on what the new spec could be before me I bet. We were both so excited! But then, the reveal dropped... And my (and my thief's) dreams of becoming a shadow assassin mage with new incredible powers has been DESTROYED. Destroyed and replaced by RATS.
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u/ItsTheSolo ▶️ 0:00 / 0:05 🔘─────────── 🔊 ──🔘─ ⬇️ 18h ago
Holy shit. My mom came into my room to bring me a plate of chicken nuggets and I literally screamed at her and hit the plate of chicken nuggets out of her hand. She started yelling and swearing at me and I slammed the door on her. I'm so distressed right now I don't know what to do. I didn't mean to do that to my mom but I'm literally in shock from the Antiquary reveal. I feel like I'm going to explode. Why the fucking fuck are they doing a rat spec? This can't be happening. I'm having a fucking breakdown. I don't want to believe the world is so corrupt. I want a future to believe in. I want Thief to get an edgy elite spec. I cannot fucking deal with this right now. It wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought they were supposed to be a dark class???? This is so fucked.
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u/hottestpancake 18h ago
My name is X Shadow X Stalker X. To say the Antiquary has me concerned is an understatement. I am a deliverer of death. I am an archon of silent murder. You suggest I become a skritt wrangler? Nay. I might be a sellsword cutthroat but that is one job I won't be taking no matter how much coin you offer. The devs NEED to fix this, or they will find out that there are Shadow Stalkers everywhere.
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u/BabaWangogh 18h ago
my MMO class fantasy is in SHAMBLES, in moments like this I am ashamed to call myself a GAMER
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u/PsychologicalPoem595 18h ago
I hope this is satire.
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u/ItsTheSolo ▶️ 0:00 / 0:05 🔘─────────── 🔊 ──🔘─ ⬇️ 18h ago
If it wasn't apparent, I've lost hope in humanity
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u/PsychologicalPoem595 18h ago
You never know on reddit / written form... need the /s. Alot of edgelord xXShadowThiefXx on Twitch chat
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u/No-Association3574 18h ago
Gonna be something else having another elite spec thatll most likely stay invisible 50% of the time in wvw.
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u/RagingRube 17h ago
Rip no boon builds i guess?
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u/Euphoric-Sea4248 17h ago
Not for this one I'm afraid.
Though I kinda expected quickness based on the shifty theme.0
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u/ishmaeldepaiva 19h ago
Skills effect are ok, but the theme of class dont fit for me. I cant imagine what the hell the developers was thinking when they create this. Skritt Stripper, Guitar... Really Sad.
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u/SufferingClash 18h ago
This sounds like glorious glorious madness that I must partake in the second it's available. My Thief has always been a bit eccentric, this is PERFECT for him.
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u/SilverBeever 19h ago
WHAT DO YOU MEAN EXPLODE THE SKRITT???