Thief

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

―Thieves' greeting to Ezio

The Thieves were one of the three factions helping Ezio, the other two being the Courtesans and the Mercenaries.

Led by Antonio, their main hideout was located in the commercial district of Venice. The guild wasn't just a bunch of robbers; they didn't target innocent citizens, and instead defied the local, corrupted, nobility. In Florence and Rome, the thieves were led by La Volpe.

Application

The thieves could help Ezio by distracting the guards, and luring them away; however, this ability could be only used once for a single group of thieves. Once he used it they were no longer in his service. On rooftops they fought instead of lured. Engaging in a fight while a group of thieves was following Ezio, automatically prompted them to assist him. He could also hire a second group to help at this point, though only one group would follow him around when the fight was over.

He had to be careful when free running, however, for the thieves could easily fall into water and die (as they couldn't swim). Thus, if he had thieves following him, he avoided jumping across canals from the roof, particularly in Venice. Also, he remembered that thieves could be just as easily be killed by falling while performing normal acrobatics (sometimes they were killed by other thieves if they were in the way).

File:Assassin-s-creed-ii-playstation-3-ps3-026.jpg

Ezio followed by his Thieves.

In Rome, hired thieves acted much as they did in the previous cities. However, once Ezio reached rank 5 in the Thieves Guild Challenges, they began pickpocketing money for Ezio as they followed him through the streets of Rome. In order to aid Ezio, La Volpe based the local Thieves Guild in an inn called La Volpe Addormentata ("The Sleeping Fox"). The inn acted as both a hideout for the thieves, as well as a place where civilians and guards could gamble, though the thieves made sure that the guards never won. At the back of the bar lay La Volpe's office, which contained a board where he listed the top five thieves based on their actions. Ezio later decided to join this competition, and was thus given the Thieves Guild Challenges. There Ezio could talk with La Volpe to obtain several Thief Missions across Rome. Doing these missions helped the thieves to beat their rivals, the Cento Occhi.

Combat

File:Assassins-creed-2-e3-oxcgn-31.jpg

Thieves fighting guards.

Thieves were lightly armed, carrying only a short blade, and wearing very light armor. This allowed them to follow Ezio in many of his acrobatic moves. They only used swords in some quests throughout the games. They did not, however, follow him up very high towers (such as view points) or make far leaps, if they were able to find another route, no matter how lengthy it may be. They were surprisingly effective in combat, easily dodging or blocking enemy blows, and returning them. A group of four thieves could take on eight Medici Guardsmen and suffer very little damage. Their only vulnerability in combat were Brutes and Seekers.

Known Thieves

Florence/Rome

• La Volpe
• Claudio
• Trimalchio

Venice

• Antonio de Magianis
• Ugo
• Rosa
• Franco

Achievement

The achievement/trophy "Steal Home" can be awarded by winning a race against any thief.

Icon	Name	How to obtain	Points	Trophy
	Steal Home	Win a race against thieves!	10	Bronze

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 use swords instead of daggers.
• Like guards, thieves are generally better equipped in Venice than they are in Florence.
• You can kill thieves by using your sword or dagger to throw them from rooftops.
• Like the Mercenaries, the Thieves in Brotherhood are a lot more powerful than in Assassin's Creed II.
• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, one of the thieves working for La Volpe is a traitor that gives information about the Assassins to the Borgia family. He is the only unique Thief, wearing an eyepatch.
• During one of Machiavelli's missions in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the thief that was assigned to intercept the letter from a Borgia Courier uses a sword instead of a dagger.
• The boy in the mission "Human Cargo" is dressed like a thief.
• The mission "Everything Must Go" is the only time you can kill thieves, but only the ones on rooftops.
• In Assassin's Creed II, the thief AI is not that smart, sometimes making a thief push another one of a building into sea, only to follow Ezio.
• In Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, sometimes thieves will run away from ezio and attack a random civilian with their fists.

Gallery

• 
  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.
• La Volpe talking to one of his Thieves.
  La Volpe talking to one of his Thieves.

Known Thieves

• 
  La Volpe
• Antonio de Magianis
  Antonio de Magianis
• Rosa
  Rosa
• Ugo
  Ugo
• Claudio
  Claudio
• 
  Trimalchio(left)