New to the thief world, well kinda, any advice?

[Logandor]

Okay cool, thank you everyone ^.^ I plan to use thf for not just the ls but for seal hunting, soloing, farming, and helping others with various quests or item drops too.

[Khajit]

You can just get skillups on the fortilaces in castle Z in the past for dagger after leeching to a halfwayish decent lv so the skillups thing isnt really that bad even if it does involve getting the weakest weapon you can and engaging before going to bed.

[Karbuncle]

Hi everyone, I figured I would ask some vet. Thfs for the best advice on how to party as a thf sense I've only solo'd thief to 30. I don't want to aby burn the job at all because I want to have my weapon skill capped at 75 so I can go in and be of help. ^.^

I wish this website had a PM System i could teach you to be the best THF Everest. But since it doesn't I'll do my best with what i can remember off the top of my head.

First off, You'll want to have /NIN, /WAR, /DNC available to you as a sub job. /WAR will likely not be used unless THF comes across Dual Wield III/IV in future updates, but its nice to have it on call.

Secondly! Macro Swaps. You absolutely want macros swaps to be a good THF. Bad THFs dont use macros, good THFs use Macros! As "Basics" you'll want:
a TP Set.
a SA Set.
a TA Set.
an EVA Set.
and your TH Set.

Thats the basics of THFs, theres obviously more such as Hybrid DD/EVA, SATA Sets, etc. And specific WS sets. (Such as Full-DEX For most, a Mix of CritDMG+/etc for Evisc, STR for Mercy) but i won't go into those.

Now, As for your TP Set. This is the one of the biggest debates right now. Most people prefer 4/5THF+2 (usually Head through legs) and a different feet armor like Ballerines or Homam to cap haste. I prefer 5/5+2 but The math is out and its likely inferior, so i won't suggest the same.

However, as i know every new 90THF won't fall face-first into THF+2 Set. This is a Basic TP Set i suggest picking up once you hit level ~75-80:

W.Turban
R.Harness
Dusk Gloves
Aurore Brais
Aurore Feet (I don't mention Homam cause im going for cheaper AH items, Dusk+1 is also out cause of that)
Swift/Speed/Twilight/Goading (Some form of Haste Belt above 4%)
Teircal necklace(If you can afford it)

That above will give you a fair deal of haste in your TP Set up. The rest is up to you, for rings i suggesr Rajas/Keen or Rajas/thatacc/eva/sb ring. Since Epona's might be out of your reach. Earrings Brutal/Suppa never goes wrong. Back i'd suggest Foragers/Cerb+1/atheling. (In order from worst > best). But its up to you.

As far as Skills you want to cap, Dagger/EVA for sure, Try to cap Parry even though its mostly worthless. Also, though less useful, Keep things like Sword/Marks/Archery capped if possible, You'll rarely ever use them in useful situations, But its nice to have them on hand.


Now, as far as Weapons go, Despite what other people will have you Believe THF is a DD, and THF Can and will Tank well too. You're not some gimp DNC Hybrid who should sit around TP-wh*ring and spamming gimp-Level Sambas all day.

You want Daggers to boost your DPS, As if you're invited to a party, They'll want you as a DD, not a Gimper-Dancer. Keep some support weapons on hand for when you may want to use them, But as far as a Selection of Daggers i'd Recommend...

Twilight Knife
Triplus Dagger
Kila+2 (DEX or STR path, STR better)
Auric Dagger
Rapidus Sax

the above weapons are your best bet. the OaT2-4x Magian Weapon isn't awful but the DPS/TP Gain on the 2-3x Weapon wasn't very favorable as opposed to other weapons, the 2-4x might be. I won't comment further as I'm unsure.

That being out of the way, You want to above all focus on Weapons that maintain your steady DPS. My current build is Twilight/Triplus, and i love it. but another wonderful build would be the Kila+2/triplus, or Triplus/auric. Something to that akin. High Damage-Low Delay weaponry. Rapidus/Auric are probably the easiest to obtain, So you should aim for those as a Middle-Ground, and get your Kila+2 in time. I highly suggest only the above combination of weapons.


As for Partying, Your main job early on will likely be DD/Hate-Control, and occasionally pulling. You want to utilize SA to the best of your abilities, Stack it with a WS when you can, Use it freely when you cant. Most low-level parties might even set up a Skillchain with you closing! It was good fun back in the day. Anyway, At level 35(was it?) you get Trick Attack(or 30...?), At that point most parties will inlist a "First Voke" System where some nameless WAR or something Vokes while you SA/TA the true tank. Good for damage too. Your goal for the most part in parties will be getting into the grove of what each party wants from you (DD, Hate control, Pulling) And preforming that to your best ability.

Also, At lower levels, Pre-Viper bite, You're better off using Swords in parties, SA/Fast Blade can be quite devastating, its better if you have Sword merits, but SA/FB falls behind about level 34(?) when you get Viper Bite, So you're already too close to bother if you don't have Sword capped right now.

Later on in THFs life, especially inside abyssea, You become an Excellent tank. Super-high EVA, Good Kill-speed, Etc.I usually spend most/all my time in Abyssea now as a THF-Tank low-manning with friends :3, its quite fun. So try to get used to tanking the best you can as you level up, cause unless you're in a LS as the token TH-wh*re, You're likely going to be getting a lot of your gear low-man, Which is where knowing how to tank really helps. On THF its pretty basic... with Capped EVA you can tank most mobs in a TP Set, but its good to have your EVA set on hand. Its fun, and you'll learn more on that later on.

Secondarily, You might also be the Token TH Thief in your Linkshell, In which case your job will be mostly getting the highest level TH possible while not dying! SA / TA is great for this. Do your best to DD, get TH up, And kick butt, like any other DD.

Goodluck.

[Arcon]

What Karby said, although THF doesn't get many special daggers (or other gear) pre 70. I would recommend to stack up on DEX, as much as possible, and low delay daggers. Mithra's native DEX will help at those levels, there's also some nice and cheap DEX gear you can wear for a long time.

Statistically speaking, you'll do East Ronfaure [S] parties the most, which basically entail what Karby said: you pull, random melee vokes while you position yourself behind the tank and SATAWS him. Viper Bite at level 34 makes for incredible damage (up to 500+ at Colibris) and will keep hate on the tank for most/all of the fight. However, as was mentioned before, prepare for some frustration if you play with people who can't coordinate their movements. If they do however, it's a great party experience and will make levelling THF fun until 70+.

For gear, as I said, stack up as much DEX as possible. Haste you won't get before 50 (Rapparee Harness, Swift Belt, Bravo's Subligar), and since you'll be synced to < 40 for most of the time, you don't really need to focus on it for now. After 55 you may get Wajaom Woodlands parties, during which Haste gear will show better, but can focus on it then. Fulltiming in DEX gear is probably your best solution, since it also gives Accuracy, which comes in very handy at those levels. Also remember that Peacock Charm is a lot cheaper these days, and 10 Accuracy will help you quite a bit to TP in. If you can't get one, Spike Necklace will do just fine. As for daggers, Federation Kukris are probably the best to have for a long time (as I said, synced), Kingdom Knives will do very good too.

You won't really need to get acid bolts on, it's very rare to proc the additional effect on Colibris for some reason. Just get a low delay Crossbow to pull with, otherwise it can be quite a pain. Although you won't get much lower than 288 at early levels (Bastokan/Republic Crossbow is excellent).

After 50, your playstyle will change a bit. You'll need to start macroing gear, you should switch out DEX pieces for Haste and basic Accuracy (Rapparee Harness is excellent, Bravo's Subligar and Swift Belt as well), Spectacles if you didn't get a Peacock Charm, and other things. For SATA you should macro in all your DEX again, or AGI if you can be bothered with seperate SA/TAs. Although after Lv60 you will want to change Viper Bite to Dancing Edge, and SATADE on a tank, which will be enough hate for the major part of the fight. Also remember the Chicken Knife.

Those will basically be your THF ways until 70+. Then your gear will change a lot, there will be more Haste pieces available, and easier to get by as well. But for that you can refer to Karby's post, he covered most of it there. If you wanna excel at everything 90+ you will need lots of different sets. Haste set, different WS sets, Ranged Accuracy sets, Critical hit rate/damage, Evasion, hybrid Evasion/Haste, MDT, PDT, and situational items for every JA.

I would recommend to level THF the traditional way, it has nothing to do with skills, as was said before, THF's most important skills are very easy to skill up. It just shows how to play the job, and is one of the most fun things to level. I absolutely hate EXPing, but this was really fun, I enjoyed it all the way to 70+ and can only recommend it.

[Logandor]

okay cool ^.^ now I can hardly wait for the game to be back up on the 25th to go out there and level thf. Thank you very much and if any one is on carby server don't hesitate to come and team up with me or p.m. ^.^

[Karbuncle]

On the subject of Acid Bolts on Colibri.

Defense Down is a wind-based Debuff. (Wind Vs Earth, earth is akin to VIT, so Weakening Defense would be akin to wind, since wind > Earth. In the same Vain Sonic Boom (Attack down) is water based, since water > Fire, Fire is Attack related, etc. I hope that makes sense.

Also for more fun~

Attack down Debuff is Water Based
Evasion down Debuff is Ice based
Defense down Debuff is Wind Based
Accuracy down Debuff is Earth based

Its hard to explain properly but In your next MMM party/Bat party, put up bar-water on the Tri-bats, You'll notice people resisting Sonic Boom :3