Shadowstep

Shadowstep is a basic passive ability that replaces a cat's standard movement action with a short-range teleport. Instead of walking tile by tile, the cat slips through shadows and reappears at the destination, completely ignoring walls, gaps, hazardous terrain, and enemy lines in between. The teleport range is determined by the cat's Speed stat, so faster cats can Shadowstep further. This makes it one of the most powerful mobility tools in the game, turning any position on the battlefield into a potential destination regardless of what stands in the way.

Shadowstep is most commonly associated with the Thief class through the ZIP! passive, which replaces the Thief's movement action with Shadowstep permanently. The upgraded version of ZIP! grants an extra movement action per turn, allowing the Thief to teleport twice and enabling devastating hit-and-run tactics: Shadowstep into backstab range, execute a target with Assassinate, then Shadowstep back out to safety. This pairs naturally with the Thief's +4 Speed (highest in the game), giving them enormous teleport range. Shadow (teleport behind a target) and Stalk (delayed teleport behind any unit within 20 tiles) further extend the Thief's positioning toolkit, turning the entire battlefield into a web of possible attack angles.

The key synergies revolve around backstab mechanics. Backstabber (passive) makes all backstabs crit, Shank makes adjacent backstabs hit multiple times, and Assassinate deals 10 damage with shield-piercing and guaranteed crits from behind. Shadowstep is the enabler that makes this entire burst combo reliable by removing terrain as a barrier to positioning. The Swift Looter passive adds another layer: collecting coins refreshes the movement action, so a Thief with upgraded ZIP! and Swift Looter can chain multiple Shadowsteps per turn by picking up coins along the way. Defensively, Shadowstep is equally important for glass-cannon Thieves (who suffer from -1 Constitution) because it lets them escape after committing to a kill without getting blocked by obstacles or enemies.

Check out our complete Thief class guide for full build strategies.