Originally Posted by
SpankWustler
When a Warrior is the only thing hitting a thing with a thing, that Warrior can take full advantage of Retaliation for more damage.
When a Thief is the only thing hitting a thing with a thing, that Thief can not use Trick Attack at all and is limited by Bully recast for Sneak Attack.
He's not saying most of Warrior's damage comes from Retaliation, just that a one-melee situation super-duper heavily favors Warrior over Thief. More than almost any situation would favor almost any melee over Thief.
In a similar vein, I think Thief and one or two other competent melee leads to better Sneak Attack and Trick Attack results than most situations. The monster doesn't spin like a top and no one present is daft, dim, water-headed, malevolent, or malicious enough to move out of the way of Trick Attack.
Thief's performance is more at the mercy of outside factors and other players than most melee, even other "low attack" melee such as Beastmaster or Dancer.