Flanking Strike

This article is about the dual wield skill. For the spear skill that previously had the same name, see Flanking Dive.

Dual Wield. Evade and stab your foe. — In-game description

Flanking Strike

Profession

Thief (skill list)

Weapon

Main hand sword
Off hand dagger

Type

Dual Wield

Sequence

 → 

Game link

API

13016

“

0.5½  4  

Flanking Strike

Dual Wield. Evade and stab your foe.

 Damage: 367 (1.0)^?

 Damage: 183 (0.5)^?

 Number of Targets: 3

 Evade: 0.5½ seconds

 Range: 130

 Unblockable

— In-game description

Related traits

Deadly Arts

• Dagger Training — Gain bonus power, which is increased when wielding a dagger.
• Deadly Ambition — Inflict poison when striking a foe with a dual wield attack. Gain increased condition damage. Applies poison once per attack use.

Acrobatics

• Feline Grace — Gain vigor upon successfully evading an attack.
• Guarded Initiation — Movement skills grant resistance.
• Swindler's Equilibrium — Gain power and additional power when while wielding a sword or underwater spear. Successfully evading an attack while wielding a sword or underwater spear recharges Steal.
• Assassin's Reward — Heal yourself whenever you use a skill that uses initiative. Heal yourself for each point of initiative spent.
• Upper Hand — Gain initiative when you dodge, and gain initiative and regeneration when you evade an attack. Evading can only trigger this trait once per interval.

Trickery

• Lead Attacks — Increases all damage dealt per initiative spent. Steal gains reduced recharge time.

Daredevil

• Escapist's Fortitude — Gain health when you successfully evade an attack. Remove a condition whenever you evade an attack.

Notes

Bug:

After a considerable amount of Flanking Strikes on a given target, your character will stop moving around said target and spin in place instead.

• Grants  Larcenous Strike for 5 seconds after successfully hitting a target.

Version history

For a detailed skill history, see here.

Patch	Changes
June 25, 2024	Increased the power coefficient from 0.8 to 1.0 in PvE only.
February 25, 2020	Competitive content update: (Competitive split) Reduced power coefficient from 0.8 to 0.5.
August 08, 2017	Path of Fire pre-patch: This attack is now unblockable.
June 23, 2015	Specialization update: All skills categorized as dual-wield have received a 5% damage increase. Movement-speed adjustments no longer affect the intended travel distance.
September 09, 2014	This skill now must successfully hit a target before giving the thief access to Larcenous Strike. Initiative cost has been increased to 4.
April 15, 2014	Updated the skill facts to show the bonus damage from Combined Training.
August 20, 2013	Removed a redundant damage fact.
April 30, 2013	Now evades and delivers one strike instead of delivering two attacks. Removed boon removal. Reduced initiative cost from 4 to 3. Now toggles for 5 seconds to a second skill, Larcenous Strike, if the attack hits an enemy. Improved reliability of flanking strike.
October 22, 2012	This skill's first attack is now unblockable.
August 28, 2012	Game release: Flanking Strike has been added to the game.