Maybe you're new to Streets of Rogue and came fresh off the Soldier train, dished out death and decided to try Thief and proceeded to get eviscerated. Maybe you're not too skilled with fast paced run and gun or combat in general and wanted to take a smoother path. Or maybe you just like Thief like me and want to see others enjoy scratching that itch as well. Whatever your reason, this guide will help brush up your skills in thievery and theft.

Let's meet our Thief for this guide.


Quite dashing. Let's look at their stats.



Endurance: 1/4
This Thief is squishy. 80 HP. Can't take too many hits.



Speed: 4/4
Holy smokes can this Thief run. Boasting the highest speed in the game (not counting Courier), there are no problems you can't run away from. Except bullets.



Melee: 2/4
The odds aren't exactly on your side in a scrap. Especially with only 80 HP.



Firearms: 2/4
Not awful, but not good. Any gun is a good gun, but you won't be doing too great with them.


"Stand behind your victim and use this to steal from their pocket, like the sticky bandit you are."

Sneak up behind someone and right click to yoink whatever they've got in their pocket. Easy to learn, tricky to use. Use this ability to your advantage to grab mission items, keys and safe combinations to save your items. The problem isn't grabbing the loot; It's not getting caught.







A few tips for pulling off the snatch and grab:

-Understand the vision of NPCs. This will come up a few times. All NPCs have a cone of vision in front of them, somewhat similar to security cameras. You could practically be shoulder to shoulder with them and they won't see you. Stay behind them and snag the goods. Nobody's gonna let some mook in front of them rifle through their pockets.

-Who's watching? Just because they didn't watch you pickpocket them doesn't mean everybody else didn't. A Blahd isn't going to just watch you pickpocket his friend. A Slavemaster won't approve of you robbing his products. And of course, law enforcement is really going to hate that.

-Pick your marks. Certain NPCs have possible bonus loot on top of the usual money you can rob. Hacking Tools from Hackers, Drugs from Drug Dealers, Hard Hats from Workers, etc. Don't forget to swipe twice if you get an item to grab their money too. Oh, and be sure you have the inventory space before you try.

-Knock knock. Pesky target has their back against the wall? Use your fist to smack a wall and they'll turn to check it out. For this reason, I highly recommend NOT getting the [Secret Vandalizer] trait. Sometimes, it's good to be noticed.

Next up, let's go over the special somethings that will enhance your already amazing abilities.

"Purchase tools from Thieves at discounted prices. Thieves will not steal from you."

Your tools are your bread and butter, and we'll go into plenty of detail later. However, tools can run out. Due to your [Suspicious] trait, you can't exactly ask your local Shopkeeper for some Safe Busters, and the Loadout-O-Matic can get costly. Thankfully, your fellow Thieves are eager to help you keep the looting up. For a price. A DISCOUNTED price. Talk to every Thief you see and see what's on sale. You might get a new Crowbar, more Box charges or even a Body Swapper, which you don't start with. If you're a fan of using tools or unsure enough of your capabilities and use them a bunch to get your work done, this perk is great at keeping your stock full. Upgrade it to [Honor Among Thieves +] at an Augmentation Booth to get an even deeper discount.

Nobody likes being robbed by a Thief. I'm sure it's happened to you. You're heading off to your objective and suddenly a Thief comes along and swipes your Kill Healthenizer. You're not gonna let that stand, but you're only Speed 2/4, so he's outta there unless you hunt him down over the next 2 minutes. With [Honor Among Thieves], you can trust Thieves to not take your loot. Nobody said you can't take theirs, though...


"Business owners want you to leave."

Alas, as noble as your mission is, there will always be those that don't see it that way. Due to this trait, any business (besides Drug Dealers) won't enjoy your presence for any reason. Shopkeepers will chase you out and even refuse to sell to you from their stands. Bouncers will not take kindly to your stylish outfit and refuse to let you in to the buildings they guard.
NOTE: If a vendor is offering you a bonus mission, you CAN buy from them.












There is more to it than just that. Anyone behind their counter will run over to you to yell at your face for a few seconds for you to get the hell out of their building. We can use this. If you need to snatch a safe combination or get inside undetected, know that the instant you leave a building is when the owner will turn around and go right back where they were standing. Using your high speed, simply leave and come back in and follow them undetected.












This is a guide on how to be a great Thief. Due to this, I am obligated to tell you, to RECOMMEND you to get to an Augmentation Booth and remove/swap this trait. And why wouldn't you? You can buy from Shopkeepers again! You can enter clubs and malls! That's wonderful!
But where's the fun in that? There's no greater thrill than cutting a Bartender's window, hiding from his camera and quietly cracking his safe while he has no idea this is happening only a few pixels away before you make off with his goods. [Suspicious] makes the Thief feel like a Thief. It adds that flavorful challenge since without this trait, you're pretty much no different from any other character busting into places for their loot. It's like removing [Jugularious] from a Vampire. The point was to be a blood-sucking Vampire and now you don't even have to do that!

In conclusion: Go ahead and remove or swap [Suspicious], but practice your stealth when you can. It'll benefit more than just your Thief games in the long run.








"Enemies have more difficulty aiming at you."

Exactly what it says on the tin. Should things go horribly wrong during your exploits, this trait debuffs the accuracy of projectiles from your enemies by 2 points.
Not only is this great for ensuring the shots don't hit, but with your pursuer's shots likely to go haywire, there's plenty of chance for them to end up accidentally hitting someone else, and they certainly won't like that. If you can, make your escape by a crowd to entice the wrath of the populace. They'll likely distract your would-be killer and ensure a cleaner getaway. Upgrade to [Slippery Target +] for an even higher enemy debuff.

Now that we know our stock traits, we should know what else we can do to enhance our run's chances. With every level-up, you'll be getting some new traits. Here's a few that I feel are very helpful or unhelpful for Thief runs.




"Distance at which people can see you is reduced."

This might be shocking to hear, but being harder to see might make your evil deeds a bit easier to pull off. With this trait, you can sneak around vendors and pickpocket in riskier situations. Not to mention this will help evade the guard's eye when messing around inside hideouts as well. Upgrade to [Blends in Nicely +] to increase this stealthiness even further.

"Thieving tools may not break after usage."

Absolutely, positively essential. "Thieving tools" are assigned to Lockpicks, Safe Busters, Body Swappers, Wall Bypassers and Window Cutters. After one use, it's gone. With this trait, these 5 tools will have a 40% chance to not be used up upon activation. This greatly helps if you're low on cash or are trying to save up on it. This works ESPECIALLY well when upgraded to [Intrusion Artist +], increasing the chance to 80%. Due to the sheer odds combined with the usefulness of the tools, I recommend obtaining and upgrading this trait as soon as possible. I've had more than one run of being down to my last Wall Bypasser and this trait stretching it out to 8 uses before it was finally drained.

"Your "(Doing Something)..." bar fills much more quickly."

This one is just okay. Very dependent on a lot of factors. On paper it sounds really good. This will speed up your lockpicking, safe busting, window cutting and anything else that requires a few seconds. However, throughout my runs I've noticed that in a lot of situations where I'd need to pick a lock or crack a safe, I'm already being a sneaky Thief, hiding from the cameras, guard patrol memorized or simply being out of sight from wandering cops or store owners or doing this from the safety of my Box, leaving me with plenty of time to get the job done. If you think you need it to make your run go a little faster, a little smoother or simply had no better choice available, I support your decision to choose [Nimble Fingers]. However, if something better comes up, prioritize choosing other traits over this one.

"Hitting objects and walls doesn't make any noise."

An excellent lesson in how stealth isn't always the best option. With this trait, you can stay a little more hidden with your attacks not causing noise from walls, but if you're at the point where you're in a fight, your opponent will definitely not be keeping quiet anyways. It COULD be used to quietly bust open crates with mission items. I GUESS. But what do you think your Crowbar is for? Not only that, but this severely causes a problem when you're looking to distract someone in order to pickpocket them. Skip this one.

"People won't notice when your "Doing something" bar is filling, unless you are enslaving or arresting."

This one is an interesting case. The Streets of Rogue Wiki, unfortunately hosted by Fandom, claims this:

Originally posted by Streets of Rogue Wiki:

It is extremely important to understand that NPC will still become Hostile if they see you begin an action they don't like. For example, a Cop will become Hostile if they see you BEGINNING to hack something but will not become Hostile if the only see your Operating Bar filling AS you are hacking.

However, I felt this wasn't right. And so with the help of a Window Cutter, I decided to put this to the test, equipping [Sneaky Fingers] and knocking on a hideout's window, and began cutting it while a Cop and a Goon were both staring at me. Neither of them reacted to it.









Thanks for nothing, Fandom. Anyways, you can consider this trait on the same tier as Nimble Fingers. If you just look around and make sure nobody's watching while you do your misdeeds, you don't need this trait at all. But if you want that extra bit of "just in case" protection, go ahead and take it.

"Teleport anytime regardless of location unless you are in immediate danger."

The first trait here listed for convenience rather than necessity. With this trait, the second part of "Get in, Get out" is cleared. Let's say you use two Wall Bypassers to sneak into a lab and nab the mission objective. What's next? Use two more to get out? Try your luck/time sneaking out past the patrols? Or perhaps, simply teleport out. This trait is great during disasters as well, allowing you to make your way around despite any police lockdown or zombie invasion. If you happen to be out of tools by the time you get to Mayor Village, this can also help you get past the security check.

"All map markers are filled at the beginning of levels."

This trait is quite convenient, but not truly needed for any run. You'll be exploring the map anyways, but having this trait does let you immediately see where every single chest/safe to loot will be. If you're the type to plan ahead, this trait can assist in formulating a plan. Perhaps you want to go for the chests in small homes to get the easy ones out of the way first, or maybe you just really want to clean this floor out. This will also assist with finding all the machines in case you've got to offload your loot or upgrade your traits.

"When you trespass in buildings, owners who would normally become Hostile will instead become Annoyed."

As hard as you or I try, sometimes things go wrong. That's the name of the game. The art of Plan B is the core of survival in Streets of Rogue. More often than not, when looking to save resources or trying your luck or practicing your skills, you end up getting caught on your way out and have to fight or flee. However, do you? When perusing through the halls of hideouts and restricted back rooms of stores, these grounds would normally make goons and shopkeepers shoot on sight. With [Wrong Building], you've bought yourself 17 seconds of safety to get out of there. Sneak in and steal the loot and then waltz out in front of them and leave while they can only waggle their finger at you. Just don't rob them, walk through any lasers or push any buttons while they're yelling at you. They'll turn hostile.

"People do not become angry when you steal their property. Does not work when you pickpocket someone."

Ehhhh. This trait's a little poor. While yes, you can steal right in front of their face, this implies that there's loot somewhere out in the open where they're only annoyed at you at worst. These sort of situations boil down to resident houses/gorilla caves, science labs (with no Bouncer) or military camps. If you wanted to just run into their building without a care in the world, grab the loot in front of them and leave, you'd need [Wrong Building] as well just to pull off this unstealthy, anti-Thief stunt. Those two traits combined will lead to situations like this.





















Or.......maybe you just do this. With a little practice or route planning, you can save yourself the trait.

"People don't notice when you pickpocket their friends."

A special case exclusively when leveling up as the Thief. This trait allows you to pickpocket factions in front of fellow members. For example, Blahds will not care if you snatch another Blahd's cash right in front of them. In my testing, I found that this also works on law enforcement if you rob law enforcement. Then I found out that they won't care if you pickpocket ANYONE anymore, including the Mayor. As long as the person being robbed doesn't notice you, you're golden with this trait. Does this trait make your looting infinitely easier and less stealthy? Yup. Does it add much entertainment? Absolutely.

The rest is up to you. These traits are all directly linked to the CORE Thief build. Inevitably, you'll either not roll these traits or get them and be left with a level up trait or two to spare. Whenever this happens, you have the power to shape the run in the way that makes you the most comfortable or efficient. Maybe you want to blast the wall next to the safe with a Grenade with [Blaster Master] to easily infiltrate any hideout or bank vault. Maybe you want to take [I'm Outtie] to stack with your high Thief speed for MAXIMUM ZOOM. Maybe you want to make your run worse and more exhausting by equipping [Big Bullets]. Who am I to dictate your hybrid run? I'm here to guide you on the purest path of the Thief. Any variations that make you have more fun or fits your playstyle better is okay with me.

Every Thief comes with a starter kit for dubious ransacking. Specifically:

- 1 Crowbar
- 3 Lockpicks
- 3 Safe Busters
- 3 Window Cutters
- 5 Wall Bypassers
- Box

We'll go over each of these in that order and how they help you.



The Crowbar is a handy tool with 200 durability that not only functions as a melee weapon, but a Lockpick as well. If the owner of the key to a door is in too dangerous a spot or you're short on time, you can use this handy tool on any locked door to open it right up for the price of 30 durability. It's not silent, but then again, neither is the Lockpick, surprisingly. At least it's quieter than busting down the door or blowing it up. Not only that, but a Crowbar is the best tool for opening up a crate containing a mission objective without alerting everyone in range that you're currently breaking apart a wooden box. While you can use this as a melee weapon, it's recommended that you save the durability for opening up doors and crates instead, so use that Baseball Bat or Police Baton you've been holding onto instead, if you simply must fight. As a note: Unfortunately, [Durabilitacious] does not reduce the durability spent in order to unlock doors, so keep that in mind.























As stated with the Crowbar, these tools are a nice stackable kit of magic keys for any locked door you may come across. As always, using the actual key is always recommended when it comes to locked doors, but that's not always an option. Be sure to unlock doors and safes using a nearby computer, if you're able to safely. When all else fails or is too much of a hassle, pick 'em open. It's often a question of whether to spend your cash on Lockpicks, or a new Crowbar? Let's think on this. Using Industrial 1 as an example, a Thief will sell you a single-use Lockpick for $15 or a 200 durability Crowbar that acts like 7 Lockpicks for $31. Sounds like an easy choice. However, keep in mind that if you have [Intrusion Artist +], a few Lockpicks could easily carry you far without a refill.


The Safe Buster is a tool that, what else, busts safes. Similar to the Lockpick conundrum, use one of these bad boys when getting the combination to the safe is out of your sticky reach. Otherwise, keep in mind that many NPCs with a safe, such as a bank clerk, often carry both the key to the saferoom as well as the combination on their person, so pickpocket the hell out of 'em to be sure. Trash cans can sometimes hold these tools as well. Not much else to say. Solid item, does what it says it will.


A pretty handy tool that often comes head to head with the Wall Bypasser when it comes to situations. Generally, if a break-in is involved, if there's a window available to gain access, I prefer to use a Window Cutter to make a way in. It's good to have an extra escape route. Not only that, but if you plan to go out the way you came in, you'd end up using two Wall Bypassers or run though a possibly disadvantageous guarded door otherwise. You'll often find buildings with a safe in a solitary room with a window. They're useful all the way down, as even in Uptown, should you get caught by the wrong Cop Bot, you'll be happy to know that Deportation Centers and Confiscation Centers have a nice window out of sight for you to save a few bullets or a few bucks. Not only that, but the entrance to Mayor Village also has a room with a window, provided you can sneak in.


An extremely useful tool. One of your best if not THE best for infiltration, useful for any character. Simply kiss any average wall and press a button and you're on the other side. The only thing keeping it from being broken is the fact that it has limited uses. If only there was a trait you could get called [Intrusion Artist +] that could stretch this out. With these, you can get into any building with ease. You could warp right into a locked room and crack the safe and leave without anyone ever knowing, skipping the long routes other classes have to slog through. Being chased by an angry mob or got caught by a hideout's guards? With one push, you could make the cleanest getaway while they all scramble for the exits to try and chase you. Even lockdowns aren't able to stop you, as you can give any pursuing Cops the slip behind their own defenses, leaving them unable to do anything but give up. Try to keep at least one of these in your pockets if you want the easiest sneak-in to Mayor Village around.


These are not a part of the stock Thief kit, but are considered thieving tools, so it'd be best to learn about them here. Body Swappers allow you to switch places with anybody, provided they're not stuck in a locked room. When you switch places, the person you switched with with be struck with *Dizzy* for 7 seconds before hurrying back to where they were. This tool helps greatly in a few situations, such as switching places with a guard that's in a loot room or annoyingly guarding a critical path. You could also use this tool to forcibly bring the Mayor somewhere more private or sneak past the entrance to his village.







And that's every single item that the Thief comes with! We didn't miss a single one. Nope. Nothing. However, we may have to talk a little about a certain thing near and dear to us all...

I love the box, and if you're gonna be a good Thief, you're gonna love it too. The box is the ultimate stealth device for getting around and getting things done. The shroud of anonymity is an amazing tool that'll get you through all sorts of situations. Getting chased and can't find any good loops? One corner and a box is all you need. Out in a hideout and there's a bunch of cameras? You could be right in sight of one and put the box on and it'll leave you alone. A weapon security check blocking an entrance? Worried about Cannibals, Zombies or Cop-Bots? Buddy, don't even worry about it. This puppy's got you covered. Literally.



With the box over your noggin, if anyone has never seen you before, you're good to cruise right by them. Electronics are the exception. You can always walk right by Cop-Bots in a box even if caught before, provided you complied with them so far. (Hackers should take note with that, seeing how full of Cop-Bots their Big Quest is...) Cameras can also be fooled multiple times.
Zombie invasions putting a damper on your run? This baby can fool so many corpses.
Bounty on your head? Nobody knows it's you in that box.





Even gods can bleed, however.
Unfortunately, there is a flaw when it comes to the magnificent box.


That's right. YOU can let the almighty box down. For this box comes with three charges. Three opportunities for you to let it down. With the box equipped, if you blunder and let it take damage or let a malicious NPC put their filthy mitts on your perfect box, you will lose a charge and be revealed. This is defined by any Hostile or Annoyed NPC, or any at all when you're currently trespassing. If you let the box down enough and lose all charges, it will be offended and leave your inventory until you buy another as penance.

How can you appease the box and keep it close throughout your adventures? Listen close.

-Be smart with it. The people you are trying to avoid (in buildings where you are undesired), should never see that box move. Memorize their patrols, don't walk on their patrol path, keep an eye on your surroundings and DON'T MOVE when they're looking your way. Feel free to move when you're out of their sight, but once they know your trick, they won't fall for it again.

-While in hideouts, watch out for traps. A single trap is enough for a crusher to slam you into the wall and take 30 HP as well as a box charge.

-If you're caught and you've gotta fight or flight, take off the box. Don't let a bullet force it off of you.

-Know that when under a camera's gaze, picking a lock or cracking/looting a safe, etc, even when in a box, will cause it to chirp once FOR SOME REASON. I don't like how this happens and it sucks. Keep it in mind. I like to imagine that the camera detects your arm reaching out of the box to push that button.

TIP: NPCs investigating/searching before they've seen you will not notice or care about you in the box if you are outside their building. Even when moving. Use this to your advantage when infiltrating private neighborhoods in Uptown.

TIP: Jumping in/out of a body of water will automatically put the box away. Be aware.

TIP: Firing/swinging a weapon will automatically put the box away.


Bushes are like diet boxes. Immobile but useful in their own ways. If hiding from searching/chasing NPCs, you can hide in a bush behind a corner, similar to the box, and if they don't know you're in it, they'll walk right through you.
Beware: Cannibals have been known to hide in bushes in an attempt to reverse-engineer your precious box-stealth technology. If you slide by, even in a box, they'll be aggro'd and attack. If you've got a ranged weapon and notice a shaking bush, fire at them and then teleport away anywhere before it hits them. They'll emerge out of the bush and walk around, now able to be fooled by your mobile box stealth.
Sneakiness belongs to the THIEF. You make sure it stays that way.

Now that we're set up like a Thief, it's time to get our feet wet and start thinking like a Thief. Here's a random factory we've gotta loot as an example. The first step to any good heist is to case the joint first.


-The building is split into two sections with a door each.
-There's an air filtration system connected to this place.
-There's a camera and turret in a pathway we need to take to reach the goods.
-There's an overclocked generator in a room with a second person.
-The loot is protected by an exploding laser.
-There's a few traps to look out for, but no pressure plates.
-The computer is in an unguarded area, apart from a single crusher.


There's a few ways to go through this. The easiest would be to simply use two Wall Bypassers, since there's no way the unarmed Goon is willing to run through an explosive laser just to get to you. Crack the safe and Wall Bypass out. But that costs a few resources we can save. Let's think smarter.

Step 1: Head into the unguarded area, avoid the fire and crusher and BREAK the computer. Why break it? Breaking a computer will turn EVERYTHING off. Security, door locks, traps, fires, including the safe lock. They'll hear the sound for sure, but the path for them to take to reach you is so tedious, you'll be long gone by the time they can check.

Step 2: Once they've returned to their posts, waltz in, avoid the patrolling guard's vision, grab the unlocked safe's loot and walk out without anyone noticing you. Done!


Or maybe you could:

-Ignore Step 1, use your BOX to avoid the camera's gaze, follow behind the guard and then use a melee weapon to smack him directly into the explosive laser, finish him off, and grab the loot while the other worker is unable to leave the locked room to assist.

-Use Step 1, but pay a nearby Slum Dweller to cause a ruckus, enticing the Goon to go out and look while you've got no worries on grabbing the loot and leaving.


-Ignore Step 1, loot the trash cans around and find something to use, such as a Syringe you find and use the air filtration system to flush everyone out in an emergency evacuation. They can test the results for you. For me, it was invisibility, which made making it out even easier.



This is the beauty of Streets of Rogue. Depending on your run, your options are infinite. Or limited. Maybe you picked up [Graceful] and you can move past that laser no problem. Maybe you picked up a Body Swapper to hop over in a flash. Maybe you looted a Tranquilizer Gun last floor and wanna test it. Maybe you picked up a Wrench to take care of the laser. Maybe you're playing multiplayer and some sucker died for you.
What I'm saying is that while there are ways to perform this perfectly sneaky, it's by no means the only way to be clever with a robbery. It's the superior way, but still.

Be the best sneaky sneaker you can be. No building is the same, and as long as you use your head and properly think up a plan, it'll get easier and easier with practice. The plans will come together naturally.
Every building has a weakness. For this one, the Goon is making a counter-clockwise patrol while the Scientists are standing still. No items needed. Just follow the Goon and nab the loot. However, keep in mind that this building's walls are made of glass, and for more complicated structures, the wrong people may be able to see you from a place you didn't expect.

There will be times you'll feel nervous, but that's part of the thrill.

Nothing is impossible. Just take your time and think. You have all the time in the world, provided there's no disaster going on. You have so many options and choices. When you're learning, you'll put your tools to work. Because that's what they're for. Don't be dead with tools and ideas you could have utilized.
With enough practice, you'll be able to use stealth and tools together. All I needed was the Box for this. You can pull this place off too, with practice.
If you do your job well enough, nobody will know you were there at all.

Work hard, try harder. And with patience, you're gonna get it done.

Oh yeaaaaah. We gotta do that, don't we? That's kinda the whole reason we're here. That and the imposter syndrome we've overcome. Surely when you're at this point, you've done a good job and have made it to the elusive Mayor Village with your Big Quest complete. I'm proud of you. Depending on how your run went, you've got plenty of options on how to get in here as a Thief, other than surrendering your weapons, of course. The Crowbar is FOREVER.

-You've looted and sold your way to fame and fortunes, and can simply pay off the Bouncers with $300.
-You've got 2 Window Cutters and a dream.
-You've got a bunch of precious Wall Bypassers and only need to spare 1.
-You've got a trait such as [Teleport-Happy] that lets you skip it altogether.
-You've stopped caring about this guide the second you completed your Big Quest and have abandoned all self-worth, stealth and common decency and will blast your way in. Shame on you!


With the Mayor located, you're left with plenty of ways to rob them, as their entourage of Supercops are likely to keep you from getting close. Even without the Thief, you've got a few natural ways to get that hat in your hands.

-Murder the Mayor yourself and all their Supercops like some movie badass.
-Win via election from all those people glad that you robbed them.
-Obtain a Mayor Visitor's Badge and get close enough to ask for/steal the hat.
-Break into his vault and obtain the Record of Evidence and play it at some turntables so the whole village will kill the Mayor FOR you.
-Get creative.






How about a bit of the BOX?

Or some Body Swapper action?






Or perhaps it's time to ball.






Just remember that the Clerk at Town Hall isn't likely to talk to you with that [Suspicious] hanging over your head, but we can still get the things we need.


No matter how you do it, you'll pull it off, I'm sure. You've gotten this far already. Once you've got that hat, bolt your way to the podium and win the game.







My traits at the end of this game.







By the way, I didn't remove [Suspicious] ;)

Sure! As you play, you pick up a few things. Even a few things in this guide I learned while writing it. There's always more to learn. Here's some miscellaneous tips.

-17 seconds. If an annoyed Shopkeeper or Bartender or Clerk or whoever are currently yelling at you to "Get out of here!", know that you've got 17 seconds until they, and their Goons become hostile towards you. Leaving and re-entering the building does NOT reset this timer.

-Just because you're banned from storefronts doesn't mean you need to stay out of them. Sometimes there's a machine like the Sell-O-Matic inside and you've gotta offload your loot. If the Shopkeeper is busy and doesn't notice you came in, feel free to sell your loot until they notice. Even if they do notice you, time is slowed while you're in a menu, so get your work done and leave.

-If you're relatively healthy and don't have extra loot lying around, consider saving your loot until the next floor to sell. Their sell prices will increase per floor. Who knows? Maybe you'll find a use before that.

-Don't forget you can hire a Hacker or use a Hacking Tool on the Sell-O-Matic to increase the selling price of your loot.

-If you're a WIMP or paranoid, you can always pay off the Cops to look the other way if you want peace of mind while breaking the law. This resets every floor.

-Keep in mind that every machine is useful. Loadout-O-Matics can provide you with tools if you ran out and can't find another Thief. Clone Machines can also provide you with Thieves to buy from, as well as clone any particularly good items you have with all that extra money you'll be earning. If you've got a ton of Lockpicks and Safe Busters and cash by the time you reach Mayor Village, consider storing your new Safe Cracking Tool and Skeleton Key in an ATM for other classes to use.

-Rob everyone early on. EVERYONE. Even if you looted your mandatory two chests or so for the floor, you should still strive to nab as much as you can. It's only gonna get harder to the higher up you go, so make sure to get the loot while it's easy. Plus, you can get some extra XP for "Stole A Lot".

-Uptown has a distinctive lack of Thieves running around, except for the occasional one in a Deportation Center. Make sure you've got enough gear with you before you head to Uptown.

-Run. Never forget you can run. Managed to sneak behind a Shopkeeper but got caught unlocking the door? Run away, reset them, come back and sneak in. You can try again. Don't be afraid to try again.

-If you want to keep your weak hands clean and have someone to neutralize, consider hiring them into a fight they can't win, like directly into an enemy hideout. If they're currently trying to kill you after you tried to threaten them, let them get close enough to accidentally hurt another NPC, who will happily murder them for you. Speaking of threatening, the weapon equipped in your hands can alter your odds when it comes to that, as well as having followers.

-I said this earlier, but remember that using a computer allows you to unlock doors and safes. BREAKING a computer triggers an alarm, but will do all of the above, but also turn off all traps, conveyor belts and cameras. Can't get to the computer? Consider shutting down the nearby power box. Hiring a Hacker to mess with the computer gives you extra options, such as activating crushers and gas.

-Technically this is a Thief tip. If you're playing as another class and a Thief starts making the moves on you to rob you, you can quick-teleport away to save a swing or a bullet. Also works on Vampires!

-Even without any reliable corners or BOX, you can use your speed to make them lose sight of you long enough to give up the hunt. There's plenty of random walls out there, so give 'em the ol' razzle-dazzle.


-I'll add any more tips that I can think of.





And with that, the ultimate Thief Guide comes to a close. Use this knowledge and keep it close. If you have questions or feel something was missing, feel free to let me know. I might just update this guide with new info if I find it necessary. Thanks for reading this through. The power of stealth is an indispensable tool that will get you through more runs than just the Thief. More games than just Streets of Rogue. Practice, have patience and pull it off. You got this.

If you're still reading this, know that the next part is simply some behind the scenes talk. No need to read on if you're just here for the Thief info.


There was a video on YouTube that advertised an upcoming guide for Thief in Streets of Rogue. I left a nice long comment giving a nice chunk of why I believed the Thief was an essential class to learn to succeed at Streets of Rogue. When the Thief guide video came out, almost nothing that was in my comment ended up in the video. I was more than disappointed, so I thought, "If they don't wanna go all the way, then I will". And so I told myself that I would devote time to putting my knowledge into something people can use.


This is very true! I have hope that in Streets of Rogue 2, a lot of things that are in my guide can still be used and utilized there. I hope things can be expanded as well. Can you imagine being able to disguise with a tool to look like a faction member to get into places you shouldn't? Or pulling off a huge heist with some big artifact that you have to lug out in one piece? I hope Streets of Rogue 2 makes the Thief experience even better.


Easily about three weeks. At first, I thought that this would be a quick 2 day project, but recording footage, ignoring any workarounds to be able to post big HD pictures, creating gifs and pngs for just about every situation ended up using up a lot more time than I thought. Of course, I wanted to be sure I wasn't giving out any false information, so everything I wrote, I tested out personally just to confirm it was true. The actual writing was the easiest part. I love to write for both fun and profit. In the end, I think I wrote enough to warrant a guide.


I do! Thief is my favorite in Streets of Rogue, and I just love stealth games in general. I'm not a part of the Streets of Rogue Discord server or Reddit or anything. I just really like Thief and how he plays. I believe that the Thief is the best for learning how much deeper Streets of Rogue can get. For the new player, they likely started off guns blazing and bat swinging. When you play Thief, everything gets flipped on its head.
You learn more about the AI. You learn the tactical approach to a problem. You notice Goon patrols, cones of sight, responses to different stimuli. You learn the difference between Annoyed and Hostile. You learn what crosses the line into an attack, and what it takes for them to lose you in a chase.
Thief teaches you the importance of items. With your kit unsuited for combat, you find yourself cutting windows and cracking safes right under their noses.
You learn the importance of machines in a run. Selling loot, upgrading and removing traits, cloning yourself and items.
Thief's speed and other brittle stats shows off how not every encounter needs to be a fight to the death. The chase can show a lot too, like how fellow Cops or Gangsters will join in on the chase if they notice the right circumstances, and just how far someone is willing to run before they give up on you.
Lastly, the Thief is just fun. When you snatch that Hard Hat off a Worker, the key off a Goon, the Hard Drive off a Scientist, you're practicing for swiping the hat off the Mayor. Checking your surroundings when you pickpocket, cracking a safe when the camera's looking the other way, and thinking of a plan when everything goes wrong, it's just so much fun. And I hope that with this guide, at least one other person can be a greater Thief and find fun in the ways I do too.
If this guide helped you at all, I hope you'll drop a comment and let me know.