Thick As Thieves Devices Tier Listing: Finest Instruments for Ghost Runs

The gear that separates a clear heist from a catastrophe

Your loadout in Thick As Thieves decides all the pieces earlier than you’re taking a single step right into a guarded room. OtherSide Entertainment’s steampunk heist sport, set in 1910s Scotland, launched on May 20, 2026, and its AI has enamel. Guards with “Peripheral Memory” will examine an open door, sweep a complete sector, and spoil a run you spent 40 minutes establishing. Picking the improper devices is not simply inefficient, it is a assured reload. This information ranks each main software within the present meta, explains precisely why each lands the place it does, and reveals you the combos that flip a very good thief right into a ghost.

The 2026 patches modified how guards course of data. The “Peripheral Memory” system means a guard who spots an out-of-place door would not simply peek and transfer on, they lock down your entire sector. This single change made flashbang-style, panic-response devices considerably weaker and pushed the meta towards instruments that manipulate guards earlier than they’ve any cause to be suspicious.

Every gadget in Thick As Thieves interacts with three core AI methods: Acoustics, Luminosity, and Pathfinding. The greatest devices within the sport contact at the least two of these methods. The worst ones solely reply to a state of affairs that is already gone improper.

The “Ghost” archetype, zero kills, zero detections, has change into the benchmark for high-level play, particularly with Master Rank rewards tied to it. If a gadget requires you to be in the identical room as a guard to work, it is already working at a drawback in comparison with instruments that work by partitions or from elevation.

What’s the total gadget tier checklist?

S-tier devices: what makes them non-negotiable?

Sonic Distractor (Mk III)

The Mk III is the one strongest software within the sport proper now. The fundamental variations make noise; the Mk III creates a brief Pathing Node that forces the AI to completely recalculate its route. Time it appropriately and you’ll lock a guard right into a “Search Loop,” eradicating them from the board totally with none bodily contact.

Frequency modulation (unique to the Mk III) allows you to place guards at particular coordinates with 95% accuracy. In the Grand Bank heist, a well-placed distraction pulls the vault guard off his publish for a full 12 seconds, sufficient time to bypass the biometric scanner. The efficient radius is 15 meters by partitions, with a period of 8 to fifteen seconds relying on guard rank and a base cooldown of 45 seconds, reducible by perks.

At Tier 4, the Sonic Distractor positive factors a “Signal Bounce” characteristic that distracts two guards in separate rooms concurrently. No mixture of lower-tier gear replicates that.

Sonic Distractor Mk III upgrades

Shadow-Weave Cloak

Lighting in Thick As Thieves runs on a 0-to-100 visibility scale. The Shadow-Weave Cloak applies a flat -40 modifier to your luminosity stat. In dim lighting, that is sufficient to crouch-walk straight previous a guard with out the detection meter transferring. It would not make you invisible, it breaks the AI’s means to register you as a risk, which is a significant distinction. Use it for repositioning by areas you’d in any other case have to attend out.

Grapple-Hook (Advanced Pulley System)

Guard AI in Thick As Thieves not often seems above a 45-degree angle. The Grapple-Hook turns that limitation into your major journey route. Staying on rafters and excessive ledges bypasses roughly 80% of the sport’s patrol protection. The 2026 replace added “Silent Rappelling”, absolutely silent when you’ve got the Soft Landing ability outfitted, which reduces touchdown noise by 80% and prevents acoustic alerts when dropping behind guards.

A-tier devices: robust picks that fill out your loadout

Thermal Vision Goggles are the very best beginning gadget within the sport for one cause: data. Mapping guard rotations by partitions earlier than you progress a single step prevents the vast majority of unintentional detections. At Tier 2, the “Pulse Scan” improve allows you to see guard outlines by partitions for 3 seconds. Even at Tier 1 they’re well worth the slot, particularly in the course of the early marketing campaign.

Pneumatic Bolt Launcher is your silent, ranged fallback. When a patrol route would not provide you with a clear window, a non-lethal takedown from distance retains the run alive with out triggering alerts.

Smoke Bombs are extra nuanced than their B or C placement in some tier lists suggests. They break line of sight, cowl escapes, and allow silent takedowns contained in the cloud even with different guards close by. The xmodhub supply charges them C-tier for noise issues, whereas the tposegaming supply calls them indispensable for brand spanking new gamers. The trustworthy reply: they’re glorious restoration instruments and the very best beginning gadget for gamers nonetheless studying map layouts, however they do not carry the identical proactive energy as S-tier choices at excessive ranges.

EMP Device shines on any mission with cameras, turrets, or robotic enemies. In a setting the place early expertise and magic coexist, you may encounter digital safety extra usually because the marketing campaign progresses.

What devices must you keep away from utterly?

The Portable Drill is essentially the most deceptive software within the sport. It claims to crack any protected, however its noise output is 85 decibels. Guards can hear a footstep at 30 decibels. Using the drill in any room that is not utterly remoted is the equal of asserting your location over a loudspeaker. The Lockpick Kit is slower however will not finish your run.

Flashbangs look helpful however set off an instantaneous Sector Lockdown the second they detonate, even when no guard noticed you throw them. Reinforcements arrive no matter whether or not you have been noticed. In most video games, blinding an enemy buys time. In Thick As Thieves, it summons extra enemies.

The Remote Drone in its early variations has a 15-second battery life, generates noise, and continuously will get caught on the sport’s geometry. Stick to Thermal Goggles for scouting till you possibly can entry the Mk IV model.

How do gadget synergies work?

Thick As Thieves makes use of a physics-based interplay system, and the very best performs within the sport come from stacking instruments towards one another moderately than utilizing them in isolation.

The “Ghost Echo” combo pairs the Sonic Distractor with a Holographic Decoy. Fire the distractor behind a guard, and as they flip to analyze, they catch a glimpse of the decoy. The AI locks into “High Alert” centered on the decoy’s place, making it functionally blind to something exterior a 90-degree cone. You can stroll straight behind them and raise their grasp key.

The “Water-Electricity” interplay is a developer-intended edge case. Using an EMP Grenade or Shock Bolt on a moist flooring (the Sewers stage and Rainy Docks are the principle places) will increase the conductivity radius by 300%. A single bolt can take out a complete squad of armored guards with none deadly weapon in your loadout.

Smoke plus a Noise Emitter is the cleanest takedown setup accessible. Lure a guard to a set level with the emitter, drop a Smoke Bomb on that place, and dash in for a silent takedown contained in the cloud. Nearby guards will not register the contact even when they’re in the identical hall.

What’s the appropriate improve order in your assets?

Spreading assets throughout 5 devices to get each to Tier 2 is the most typical mistake within the sport. A single S-tier software at Tier 4 outperforms a full rack of Tier 2 gear as a result of the very best skills are locked behind full funding.

Based on the patch 4.2 economic system documented by xmodhub, essentially the most environment friendly improve path runs as follows:

• Phase 1: Thermal Vision Goggles to Tier 2, unlocks Pulse Scan, which supplies you 3-second wall outlines and covers early map consciousness totally
• Phase 2: Sonic Distractor to Tier 3, that is the most important single energy spike within the sport, changing a fundamental noise software into surgical AI manipulation
• Phase 3: Grapple-Hook with the Soft Landing perk, drops touchdown noise by 80%, enabling silent drops from rafters behind guards
• Phase 4: Shadow-Weave Cloak to max tier, maintain off till the Emperor’s Palace arc, the place luminosity modifiers within the remaining missions exceed what customary stealth handles

Thieves’ Marks (the uncommon endgame foreign money) are solely present in high-risk areas. Don’t spend them on beauty devices just like the Golden Cane, which gives zero tactical worth.

What’s the very best loadout for every mission kind?

Generalist builds get outperformed at excessive ranges. Matching your loadout to the particular map is what separates a clear run from a irritating one.

The Ghost construct is the gold customary for Master Rank rewards. The Infiltrator construct is essentially the most forgiving for gamers nonetheless studying patrol patterns, the Grapple-Hook alone removes a lot of the issue from verticality-heavy maps. The Saboteur construct requires essentially the most setup however handles massive guard clusters higher than both of the opposite two.

How do you deal with Hauntstables?

Hauntstables (the floating ghost guards) are sluggish and might move by partitions, which makes them disorienting on a primary encounter. The key’s monitoring their place earlier than you enter a guarded room, not after. Their wall-phasing means makes them harmful particularly while you’re already dedicated to a place surrounded by different hazards like lasers. None of the usual devices hard-counter them, so consciousness is the precise software right here.

Build your equipment, personal the heist

The devices you deliver right into a heist in Thick As Thieves aren’t equipment, they’re your whole technique. The Sonic Distractor (Mk III) and Shadow-Weave Cloak type the core of each severe Ghost loadout. The Grapple-Hook removes patrol protection that may in any other case be impassable. Everything else fills particular gaps relying on the mission. Ditch the Portable Drill and Flashbangs completely. Invest deep into one or two S-tier instruments moderately than spreading Thieves’ Marks skinny throughout all the pieces in your stock.

For extra technique throughout each facet of this sport, the Thick As Thieves guides assortment covers heist mechanics, guard patterns, and development intimately. If you are drawn to the stealth and heist components extra broadly, there is a full library of motion video games on GAMES.GG value exploring as soon as you have cleared the Emperor’s Palace.