Thief

"We are with you friend, only lead the way."

―Thieves' greeting to Ezio

The Thieves are one of the three factions of Assassin's Creed II helping the main character Ezio (the other two being the Courtesans and the Mercenaries).

Led by Antonio, its main hideout is located in the commercial district of Venice. The guild is more an organization similar to the Mafia, rather than just a bunch of robbers. They don't target innocent citizens, and defy the local corrupted nobility. In Florence, the thieves are led by La Volpe (The Fox in English).

The thieves can help Ezio by distracting the guards, luring them for him, but this ability can be only used once, and once you use it the thieves are not in your service any more. On rooftops though the lure command is switched by the fight command so they fight the guard instead of stealing from them. They are lightly armed, carrying only a Short Blade, and have very light armor. However, Thieves can follow Ezio in his acrobatic moves though they will not follow him up high towers such as view points or make far leaps if they find another route no matter how lengthy it may be. They are surprisingly effective in combat, easily dodging or blocking enemy blows and returning them. A group of four Thieves can take on eight Medici Guardsmen and not even get scratched. Their only vulnerability in combat are the Brutes and Seekers. To get them to fight for you, get into a fight with the guards while having a group of Thieves following you. You can hire another group of Thieves and make it eight, though only one group will follow you around when the fight is over.

Be careful, however, that the thieves can easily fall into water and die (as they can't swim). So if you have thieves following you, avoid jumping across canals from the roof. This happens easily in Venice. Also remember that Thieves can be just as easily killed via normal acrobatics.

Trivia

• During the mission "Cleaning House" Ezio has to hunt down and kill three traitor thieves in Venice, strangely, unlike the other thieves, the three traitors use swords instead of daggers.

• Like the guards, they are generally better equipped in Venice then they are in Florence.

• 
  Some thieves of Venice.
• Ezio followed by some thieves.
  Ezio followed by some thieves.
• Ezio ordering thieves to create a diversion.
  Ezio ordering thieves to create a diversion.
• Ezio fighting Guards with Thieves
  Ezio fighting Guards with Thieves