Disclaimer : I can¡®t say anything here is anything =except= opinion, because I¡®m not able to look at the source code for FFXI, but a lot of things I¡®m going to say come about as close as it¡®s gonna get to fact(Or so I¡®d like to think).
That being said - I will not be covering THF Post-Shark Bite yet, nor will I cover them in situations like Dynamis, HNM, etc - as I have yet to get there and do that enough to feel that I have any room to comment on it =P
Sidenote : A lot of the stuff I say here you can probably find by digging through a bunch of the links Tink has posted, or backpages on the forums, or whatever... But I -hate- digging through links/pages of forums =P and I¡®m putting a lot of this down from personal experience anyway =P
Specific Thief Job Abilities :
Gilfinder - Increases the amount of gil dropped by enemies, yay ^^
Steal - Steal an item (If applicable) from an enemy. The -only- way to improve your steal through equipment, is by wearing +steal gear.
Sneak Attack - Huge increase in damage on a "Critical Hit" - Stack this with a non-elemental WS for nice damage. Called Fuiuchi in Japanese. Must be "Behind" the monster
Trick Attack - Sizable increase in damage on a "Critical Hit", though not as obvious/large as Sneak Attack; Stack this with a non-elemental Ws for nice damage. Called Damauchi in Japanese. Must be behind a player in your PT or Alliance. This does not work on mobs, pets, or other players in a "call for help" situation.
Mug - Take some gil from a monster. This is almost worthless unless you use it on NMs, in which case you can land a fair bit of gil ^^
Hide - This ability is beyond sexy. It turns you invisible, and can potential drop aggro if a monster hates you. If the monster tracks by sight, this will drop aggro 100%. If it tracks by scent, a deodorize before using hide will do the trick. If it tracks by sound, you are out luck. One important thing to know is that if an HNM has true sight (Yagudo NMs by King) and they aggro you, Hide will still drop aggro. However if you stand there too long (after their cool down time) they will reaggro, (boo for true sight).
Assassinate - New ability as of the December 9th patch that causes Trick attack to do respectable damage (roughly equivalent to sneak attack) without being forced to use it in fuidama. This ability does not activate if you are both behind the monster, and behind another player. For more information look below.
New info on Hide per ThfHeart:
Quote:
Vryali, just noticed this part about hide. If you get far enough away, it will no longer track you. Mining in Gusgen mines i¡®ve run into foul meat which aggro sound. A simple flee + hide got rid of aggro completely.
NOTE : The combination of Sneak Attack & Trick Attack is called Fuidama in Japanese - Non-Japanese players may refer to it as Sneak/Trick, SAnTA, SATA - it¡®s all the same thing. When I started everyone called it fuidama, so that¡®s just what I call it =P Non-THF can get away with splitting up Sneak & Trick and still doing ok dmg - splitting Sneak & Trick as a THf is a poor idea. The dmg is very low, and if Trick misses you will set -zero- hate. Even if Trick misses when combined with Sneak Attack (The dmg is abnormally low) it will still set hate. Always always always combine these whenever possible.
For more information on Sneak/Trick/Weaponskills - Refer to Leechman¡®s post (It¡®s one of the stickies at the top of the forum). It¡®s much more detailed than anything I could go into here.
This post (By Leechman) is useful for both THF & /THF - as it dictates strategy as well as has a listing of what WS you can use Fuidama with.
That link is here.
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Concerning Assassinate
At LV 60 THF now gets an ability called assassinate, making it so that a THF can break up sneak & trick without losing a gross amount of damage and risking Trick attack missing (as it often does when used from 30-59 without sneak). This gives a THF many advantages where we were sorely lacking in the endgame prior:
- Additional hate control - you can now tack an extra 200-300 damage onto the tank in the middle of a fight without the monster needing to look at another player.
- Supreme Emergency use - Prior to this - if you were trying to have the fuidama partner rip hate off the tank so you could hit with both sneak & trick, and they failed, your damage went to absolute garbage. With assassinate there is a significant drop in damage, but you can still hit respectable numbers (again without the monster changing its target or altering hate balances).
- The ability to do more damage by splitting fuidama up into sneak & trick - I personally almost never do this while xping, but on HNMs or things with lots of HP/where you aren¡®t getting lots of TP, this can be priceless. By equipping AGL/Attack gear for Trick, and DEx/Attack gear for Sneak, your damage output goes up -significantly- higher than if you had stacked the two. Seperating the two in normal XP I get an increase of probably 50-100 damage, a respectable number. I almost never use fuidama/sneak/trick without a ws though - and breaking them up for a WS -greatly- reduces your overall damage (at my lvl by anywhere from 200 to about 800 damage [Light/Dark renkei])
All in all, this is an -incrediable- ability, and I advise you to play around with it once you ding 60 to see which works best for you, as your gear, playstyle, and general outlook may differ from mine, you may find completely different uses/trends in which you use this ability.
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Concerning Race :
Mithra - You are the best race for THF - there are no ifs, ands, or buts. People that say they outdamaged/outplayed a Mithra THF would have done even better had they been a Mithra. There is no room for debate on this, Mithra makes the best THF. This isn¡®t however to say, that the other races are "bad" thieves.
Altered the below section a bit, but take it as you will ^^
Hume - Your stats are good for the job (as they are for any) but Mithra is still where the partys at. Nothing exceptional here. One thing to note is that Hume RSE1 Hands, and RSE2 feet, are excellent additions to a THFs repitoire.
Tarutaru - Your AGL is higher than that of a Hume, so your stats are also good (and I¡®m pretty sure dex stays even), though your str is pretty small. This isn¡®t a huge problem though; the large problem with being a Tarutaru THF is your HP. In higher LV PTs the THF is almost always the puller, and a Tarutaru THF isn¡®t meant for taking the hits that sometimes are tied with pulling. This shouldn¡®t be a reason to not play a Tarutaru THf, though, just a point to take into consideration.
Galka - Also not a bad choice, pretty good stats and the HP/Vit can be really nice on the occasional pull when something goes wrong. In addition to this if you¡®re THF/WAR you can take a few hits and not even sweat it (in the case of say, a link, you can voke the link so it doesn¡®t go after say, a mage).
Elvaan - Elvaan, due to their high strength, have higher/good dps as far as a normal dagger swing goes, but their fuidama damage takes a bit hit due to an incrediably low dex & agl score. RSE1 helps good deal for an Elvaan THF, but starts to taper off in usefullness post AF (Though your strength helps a lot with Dancing Edge damage, later).
On my server, I honestly see mostly Mithra & Elvaan THF (Post-37) - next on popularity would be Hume, and Tarutaru/Galka rank way at bottom. Any race really can play a THF, and knowing how to play your job matters a lot more than which race you pick - but at creation time, if your heart is set on the THF job, Mithra would be the choice to make. Other than that, whatever works.
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Your job in various level ranges :
1-14
Let me start off by saying the following:
{I¡®m Sorry}.
We all had to get through it though, for what it¡®s worth; this is probably the worst time you¡®re going to have with THF. Invites are slow, because you have little worth to a PT (normally) before LV15. Weak melee attacks, combined with weak weaponskills, don¡®t give you anything special to work with pre-15. Having a SJ available is a great asset with this, and by doing something like THF/RNG with Bow/Arrows, you can actually manage to deal respectable damage pre-sneak.
For the most part, just grit your teeth and get through it, two of my friends recently just straight soloed their THF to 15, rather than try to Look for PT in Valkurm Dunes, and that¡®s always an option ^^;
At 15, life gets better.
15-29
Suddenly, you¡®re able to do damage; not only can you suddenly do damage, you can stack it with certain weaponskills to do massive damage, and considerate actual skillchain damage. This can actually be a large problem; the amount of damage you¡®re doing, in a quick hit, gets you a lot of hate. If you combine it with a weaponskill quasi-early in the fight, you¡®re going to be tanking more than a few hits. By the time you make to the Kazham LVs (24ish), if you are ending a skillchain with Sneak Attack + WS - your dmg is pretty solid, so solid in fact that it can, and probably will, get you killed at one point or another. For more information on this, check out some of the posts in the "After Sneak but Before Trick" section of Tink¡®s link page.
Good weapons to consider using during this period, are either THF/MNK using Hand-to-Hand, or THF/whatever using Sword. You may also continue to use THF/RNG, though this is far less common (and more expensive) but at this point in the game, is -very- damaging.
30-32
You¡®ve learned Trick Attack - {Congratulations!} - followed quickly by an {I¡®m Sorry}. Understanding your job is -very important- espicially pertaining to Trick Attack; odds are high that people in this level range may not be familiar with THF gameplay above LV30, and you will need to explain it when you start joining parties (If they aren¡®t/don¡®t). The whole "Let the non-tank voke first" thing will surprise people who know nothing about this, and convincing them to lineup... Well... It can be tedious ^^;
If you¡®re not sure about how to do this, or think you might need help explaining how to use Fuidama (Sneak/Trick) in a PT, let me point you back to Leechman¡®s Thread.
At this point, you are probably still using Sword/Hand-to-Hand, but keeping Dagger leveled throughout your career pays off at your next level. This "small period" isn¡®t really very important, as it¡®s only a few levels, but it¡®s still worth mentioning.
33-59
You¡®ve learned Viper Bite - you¡®ve probably gotten to see the completely insane damage it does when ending a renkei, and it¡®s stacked with Fuidama; peoples eyes have popped out of their sockets when you do 60-75% of a mobs HP in a few seconds. This will slowly fade away, but for a long time viper bite is your bread and butter, and its important that you know how to use it properly.
Viper Bite is useless without Sneak/Trick - it¡®s damage is -very- low, fuidama kicks on this weaponskill to make it into the powerhouse that it is when used properly. "But with great power, comes great responsibility" (Sorry, I had to).
At this point, you are easily capable of killing people in your PT. By improperly performing fuidama, performing it at the wrong time, or on the wrong person, you can cause horrible things to happen in your PT. Your job in the earlier stage of this is great overall damage, with a focus on setting hate; in my case if I set hate at the start of a fight, and then renkeied mid-fight, it normally put the mob so close to death it didn¡®t matter if hate went crazy. Depending on what job/race your trick partner is, you -must- learn how much hate is balanced in the PT, and what you can do to make things flow as smoothly as possible, hatewise.
A lot of learning/making it through this stage is trial & error, and just you getting a "feel", ideally, for how things balance out in the PT you¡®re in. If you¡®re ever in serious doubt about whether or not you should fuidama onto the person in front of you (Maybe an exceptionally good dark on a not so hot ninja tank), playing it safe will probably work better than just trying to maximize your own personally damage output.
Up until LV60, you are the only job capable of making almost any party member take hate & hits, don¡®t let the fact you¡®re doing great damage overshadow the fact that the dmg you do, is a lot of hate on -another- party member.
It was my personal experience, that during this stage, doing whatever I could to max out my dex/agl was the most helpful, since VB is so weak on its own.
60-65
Not only has it been harder to hit things, if you¡®re xping off things like Peryton and Torama, they have high evasion anyway. To top all of this off, you¡®re new baby is Dancing Edge, which doesn¡®t have good accuracy to boot. Up until this point, I didn¡®t see a need, or a point in things that gave +acc. Using Dancing Edge (and in this particular level range) you will need more +acc gear to do decent damage, and I found, at this point, that +atk gear showed a lot more than it did the last time I tried it (I was unimpressed with Spike Earrings @ LV55, but when I tried them again @61, I fell in love with +attack).
I bought 2 snipers at this point, and that leveled the playing field very effectivly for me, thuogh another alternative many have brought up is things like aiming bracelets, spectacles/peacock charm, scorp harness (yay for all the uber rich gear ~.~/). But actual gameplay as a THF at this point isn¡®t very different, it just becomes neccessary to make changes in your gear to be as effective (at least in my case) as I was pre-dancing edge (Changes being from dex/agl to acc/attack).
66-71
Nov 7th I started 10k into 65, and now I¡®m 10k to 68 ^^ - @ LV 66 you get Shark Bite, and suddenly life is very, very, very sweet. Shark Bite is Fragmentation, and creates a Light Skillchain after following Fusion; Fusion weaponskills at this LV are Wheeling Thrust(DRG) Mistral Axe(WAR) & Heavy Shot/Arching Arrow (RNG) [that you really have to be concerned with]. I have played with both WAR & RNG, and getting Light is the same feeling you get when you get Viper Bite - you become a god again. I have tried switching between all dex/attack gear & accuracy gear, but on IT/IT++ I found I was missing the second hit a little too often for my taste. I ended up focusing on ACC and found that my dmg was more consistently higher (again on IT++) though this differs from all the opinions of THFs I have heard of my LV. The only reason I can give to explain this is because (possibly) most people XP on low IT high VT mobs mainly, while I was doing Bibiki Gobs(Weak to Light) or Tormentors(Weak to Dark) for 200-220 a kill unchained. When we did Boyahda Tree Crawlers(Weak to Dark), it was empty, Bibiki & Den of Rancor were packed, I didn¡®t notice any problems landing the second hit of Shark Bite using stat gear over accuracy gear (Belt & Rings). So far I have yet to fight a mob that I felt I would be better off using Dancing Edge on, as my Light is hardly ever full resisted, and a fair portion of the time, even on IT++, It will do full damage. Spinning Attack(MNK)>Blade: Jin(NIN)>Shark Bite(THF) hit twice in the same chain for 1.1k Shark Bite and 1500+ Light, nearly one shotting mobs for chain 2/3s of up to 280 XP.
Sum of the story - Keep the attack earrings, and swap out rings/belt for +stat or +acc to taste, keep in mind that landing the second hit in Shark Bite is very, very important; Shark Bite as a single hit does (for Hume Male, +19 STR +17 DEX +16 AGL, I think.. DMG23 Dagger main, garuda offhand), 600ish dmg, both hits do 800-900, and Triple Attack kicking with a double hit does 1000-1200 damage.
71-75
Well, I suppose I feel lofty writing this, but I¡®m an ¡®end game¡® thief now - in the full emotear revelry of camping my Thief Knife. Being a THF changes again in this level range, and there¡®s a couple of interesting things to point out.
THF gets Evisceration - which is under Gravitation, traditionally the category for opening Darkness, and is very, very lame. The damage on Evisceration is anything but Stellar, though you can now PT with DRKs and do Evisceration > Cross Reaper on golems in sky for nice damage - the fact you can hide on golems makes this espicially nice.
THF is a hindrince in speed chains - our bread and butter has a one minute timer, and is best stacked with a WS. THF has no access to real speed chain PTs, we get the short end of the stick on this. I love THF, don¡®t get me wrong, but if you can¡®t acknowledge the inherent weaknesses in a job you¡®d be a fool. Since many PTs, espicially above 73, are based on just high chains, there¡®s some very important tips I¡®d like to share. If you disgaree with these it¡®s fine, but this is the only way I know of to get chains past 7 with a THF in PT on Weapons in sky. These are biased tips since I¡®m a THF/NIN, but if you¡®re not a THF/NIN at this point in the game, I¡®m sure you know enough about your job combo to find a way to adapt yourself and fit into these PTs.
[ Decorative Weapons ]
Two notable camps - I know of 4... 5 if you count zoning in and out between chains
Supports 1 PT - Zone into sky, go north to the palace, go right and zone in on the east side, go right, hop on the teleporter, chain 6 on one side and then move to the other. If you¡®re ballsy (I¡®ve never done this successfully as a THF) stop on chain 3 or 4 of the first run and switch sides to stagger your xp for chain 7/8s. You can¡®t consistently do 7/8/9 at this camp, but it¡®s fun to do occasionally
Supports 2 PTs, 3 is the absolute most that cna be here - Zone into sky, go north to the palace, zone into the palace, go right, hop on the teleporter. I think this plants you in a room with 3 passages, pick one to camp. You can use the weapons in the middle of the room to chain betwen passages (Putting your upper limit to chain up around 20ish, I think) but I¡®ve never gotten past 11. This would be -very- difficult to do as a THF (so much that I don¡®t even try) but you could go balls down and possibly pull it off, it¡®d be really cool to see at the very least.
- Fuidama is only to be used in renkei, you need to be pulling as soon as you get 75-80%TP - My TP gear is +43 accuracy, I think, and I eat green curry/bison steak. If you pull the mob with 75-80% TP you should ready to renkei in time to catch the chain - we just get TP that fast (as thieves).
- You need a ¡®haste gear¡® macro and to be kept hasted constantly - kind of a pain, but you¡®re trying to compensate for design flaws on Squeenix¡®s part. Haste alone lowers the recast to 52 seconds, I think, gear gets me to upper-mid 40s. The /recast command will not properly display when you can use fuidama next under these conditions, by the by
- Chain 5 (on weapons) should have 2 mobs pulled, one will be slept.
- You¡®ll need to open chain 6 with a renkei as fast as possible, I only PT with SAM & RNG for my other DD (LS m8s jobs) so their TP is almost always a non-issue. Depending on other jobs the mob may die in renkei, or it may live (normally). If it doesn¡®t die, stay until you get TP up to 40% or so and flee to get the next mob, solo the next mob within voke range of the tank to finish building TP and not deal with waking a slept mob.
There¡®s a few camps in sky where you can chain weapons upwards of 30ish if you¡®re crazy, but the highest I¡®ve gotten as a THF is 7. I¡®m only 73 (74 if you count the fact I got to use Ni a few times
) but I don¡®t expect that to change, since the limiting factor is fuidama.
[ Golems ]
Zone into sky, take a right before the tunnel where Despot pops (Where robots line the sides of it). Activate the teleporter and teleport to the next island. Hug the water and run straight until you get to the end of the island. go up the stairs and activate the teleporter. Teleport and run until you go to the stairs leading down. Go down the stairs and zone into RuAvitau. Go right, turn left at both thunder elemental rooms, turn left up the stairs, take the telepad. After you zone there¡®s another telepad within sight, hop on this. This telepad will disperse you throughout a passage - head east to J-5 and hop on this telepad. This telepad will scatter you throughout a robot infested place, but luckily nothing here aggros (except faust, who aggro sight, does not true sight). Have everyone migrate to the far NE corner where a closed door and a telepad are. Use tonko/prism and get behind faust (Far SW corner) - there¡®s a green thingi, I think it¡®s a monument, but I¡®m not sure. Hit this, reinvis, and then head to the NE corner and teleport. Congrats, you¡®re now at the golem camp that took me for.damn.ever to find.
Golems are sexy and THF rock the casbah on them. The only problem here is that there¡®s only room for one PT, and quite often PT Leaders communicate with the PT there to figure out when they will be leaving (IE - this camp has a waiting list). Chain 5 is really easy (and nice, at least as a 73 THF) Chain 6 is a little harder to do, but possible. Note that if you chain beyond 6 they don¡®t repop fast enough - when we would chain 6 (rarely) we¡®d be waiting on pops, this was at 73. Pulling for chain 5 as the goal here is generally a pretty decent idea, it keeps the fights steady even if your exp isn¡®t as high as if you were getting 6s, and I personally prefer the steady fighting/pulling over chain 6/failing to get a 7 ToT and then having downtime between my pulls ; ; Strong to light, but you can do Sidewinder > Dancing > Ku for pretty hot dmg/mbs to make things go really fast.
In a PT with all 73s (minus a 72 WHM & 71 BLM) we were getting 7.5k-8k/hr here - NIN RNG THF BLM WHM BRD. This is IMO the best camp you can go to at this level, not to mention Raxa drops a bunch (3 in a 3hr xp pt).
Uleguarnandasdffd Range (The icy place with the HNM Dragon
I really liked xping here - and there¡®s a wonderful link with information on it here. Anywho - the gil drops here are pretty nice, there¡®s never hardly any competition, and it¡®s a really nice change of pace (Beat your tank over the head until he buys 2-3 stacks of holy water). You can chain to 6/7 easily here and there¡®s enough mobs to keep pulling indefinitly. Read that link for more info if you¡®re interested.
This section will probably be updated quasi-soon, since I just typed it out really fast and it¡®s sloppy looking, but I don¡®t have time tonight/this week, I¡®m very, very, busy in work/school.
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Concerning Subjob :
Before I start, let me state that I have tested all of these. If I have not tested these, I explicitly state that. Testing on almost all jobs was done both at lower levels, and 60+, on normal mobs you¡®d xp on (If that¡®s even applicable).
NIN & WAR - The Bread & Butter Subs
These are your tried and true subs - Both have their pros and cons - and most people will decide which they like by playstyle. I personally did not like warrior sub; I tried it at LV56 or 57, and again at LV63; neither time did I feel the extra damage from berserk outweighted, what I saw, as a huge loss in TP; after seeing the dmg increase in Dancing Edge with Berserk, you can color me unimpressed.
I won¡®t discuss these here though, they¡®ve been beaten to death. I¡®ve stolen a link from Tink¡®s sticked thread and you can/should just decide for yourself ^^ That link is here.
MNK
This sub has been the topic of a few debates, and is one that I actually used to LV with when I was LV49 to LV54 (I also used NIN sub, but I had many PTs where I used /MNK). THF/MNK is, in my opinion, an amazing job combo at certain level ranges or in certain situations; THF/MNK from LV11 to LV33 is certainly no joke, though at 33 it loses some potence due to the fact you won¡®t be using H2H weapons anymore. At LV49 a THF/MNK can use Raging Fists, which is no joke at all. With decent gear a THF/MNK keeps up with THF/NIN on dmg in this level range (Boost, Focus: both very good) this held true (for me) even when we fought Crabs (weak traditionally to distorion).
For those that scoff at this idea, I did this while my static DRG ran a parser. He said the damage difference between my subjobs was minimal to the point of being irrelavant. I ended up going back to Dagger only when started killing Mandys in Boyahda in the mid 50¡®s for some reason... Ah! Because my dagger skill was low and I got a kidney dagger, which I fell in love with.
I have not tried this subjob with dagger/shield, though I feel it has potential, and will probably be trying it very soon. I will post more on this when I try it as a THF/MNK using Dagger/Shield. I also intend to try fighting Bones as THF/MNK using H2H with a MNK friend of mine. I will also post how that goes.
RNG
This was the job I picked as my sub so I wouldn¡®t be completely useless until LV15, it worked great. I personally stopped using this SJ after that (Went to MNK using H2H), however my friend Arizma continued using this sub, and said it was by the far the best SJ for THF (in her opinion) until she parked @LV40. Other people report this SJ working great until Lv50, but past that it¡®s been cast into doubt. At higher LVs a THFs ability to hit things with a ranged attack goes down dramatically (The appeal of using THF/RNG at earlier levels). I recently skilled up on THF to max our my archery (It wasn¡®t totally capped) and plan on trying this SJ again at post 60s LVs very soon (2 latent accuracy bonuses plus sharpshot/barrage using macroed rang acc gear). Based off how important acc is by itself, not to mention a "possible" Barrage (Diet Meditate) could prove pretty good. I¡®ll update this after I¡®ve tried it.
PLD - Not going to waste my time discussing this : Do not do it.
WHM - BLM - SMN - RDM
BADThese subjobs (mage jobs) should not be considered for LVup PTs - they just don¡®t hack it. Your mp is too low to be an effective backup healer, your nukes as BLM as halved in potential effectivness (making them useless), & RDM/SMN have similar stories.
Having WHM or RDM LVed to 25 is very helpful in any number of situations, for Sneak & Invisible. While you can just carry around Silent Oils/Prism Powder, this can get expensive if you¡®re doing something like hunting for coffers, or any number of other situations I can¡®t think up atm
Ninja sub will give you Tonko, or RNG sub later gives Camoflauge (which combined with hide, is a fairly effective Ghetto Invis), but neither give you sneak. Just something to keep in mind.
GOOD
These can be -great- to have leveled as conditional subjobs:
BLM : Great for farming easy stuff, you can -ga or Warp when you¡®re done.
WHM : Great for helping out friends, or doing easy stuff that being able to throw a cure of two will help a lot with.
RDM : See WHM
SMN : When you have Fenrir you can walk around with Fenrir summoned and look kewl. Having Fenrir out as THF/SMN gives you mad sex appeal, but does little that¡®s actually useful.
BRD - BST
BAD These don¡®t really have a place at a THF¡®s side. THF charisma is horrid, and these, for the most part, aren¡®t good SJ anyway. The various "killer effects" from BST are not as good as effects from other SJs, and if you¡®re singing songs you aren¡®t gaining TP, as well as the fact you are losing out on the benefits of a better sub.
GOOD
Again, you can construe these as being useful for situational subjobs...
BST : Can charm weak mobs and farm as if you were a lower level BST (IE taking no damage). I personally haven¡®t done this, nor do I ever plan on doing it, but there are some who have and liked it.
BRD : Can be good in skill up PTs, or possibly sub 30 if you A) don¡®t have a BRD and B) Think the slight help it can offer (such as acc+ songs) would be worth the loss of a more useful (to you) subjob.
I¡®m just going to copy/paste what Altairs typed below - I have no experience with doing this, but it sounds solid enough:
Quote:
Extra Note: Outside of EXP PT situations, /BST is actually very good. If you load yourself on CHR equipment, you can charm DC to EM mobs as your main thief (yes, you can charm creatures at your level and below with the right equipment). This has many uses in itself:
Solo EXP: Mind you, not as good as a real BST, but getting an extra 80-100EXP solo at high levels never hurts.
Farming: It¡®s main use, I must say, is farming(2 ppl killing stuff for the benefit of one).
NM Camping: Treasure Hunter II + Widescan + Flee + Charm = Very competitive solo NM camper(I get hammered so many times for this combo at NM camps...till I take the NM 2/3s of the time)
Personal Skill Up Sessions: Have your EM monster take on a DC and start skilling up. You¡®re still get some EXP by the end, plus get some major skillups.
DRK
Your spells are nearly useless, but the ATK boost doesn¡®t hurt, and this isn¡®t a poor sub to use up to LV30. From 30-60 Warrior sub beats out this sub in every way possible. @LV60 You get Souleater, which will make you do nice damage for one WS every 6 mins, but is overall a poor subjob; by taking this subjob you lose out all the nice things many other subjobs can offer. This subjob is a decent one up until Lv30, though.
DRG
Having Jump as well as the ATK+ from a DRG sub is great @ Lv20, but that¡®s all you get from this sub until 60, when you get an ACC+ from it as well. This is one of the few jobs I do not have leveled/have not tried, but it¡®s definitly not as gimp as say PLD sub (Which I¡®m not going to discuss, it¡®s pointless, period). I have been -told- that Fuidama stacks with Jump, but I have never taken the time to confirm this. It just occured to me that if it did, this might not be a -horrible- sub, but I suppose I¡®ll just have to Lv it & find out. I¡®ll post more on this later.
While Fuidama & Jump do stack the damage increase (if there is anyNote : Was confirmed you can stack Fuidama w/Jump in a post below - It would be interesting to see if this does anything extra helpful on hate sets... Again I¡®ll be able to post more on this when I have DRG lvled =P
SAM
This is a sub you -can- use up until about 30, and some people choose to use this as their main sub... But for the most part this is a poor decision. It is generally accepted (with good reason) that any job / sam before 60 is a poor choice. This is a good SJ if you have problems building TP as a THF 60+ in xp pts, but if you have decent gear (snipers, life belt) this sub generally gives less TP than WAR or NIN subs. Great for a conditional sub, but if your gear is above the bar, it will hurt you more than help you.
Note : I have personally not done THF/SAM - I was in the process of leveling SAM when a friend who was trying the same thing told me how useless he thought it was (in comparison with other subs [NIN/WAR]. I tend to agree with him, and stopped LVing my SAM sub.
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Concerning Macros :
These are my macros, I guess this is pretty conceited of me, but I figure my macros pretty much cover everything.
NOTE: These are my macros for THF/NIN - I¡®d hope a THF/WAR had slightly different macros XD
CTRL+1 - RA
/equip Ring1 "Scorpion Ring +1"
/equip Ring2 "Scorpion Ring +1"
/ra <t>
/wait 6
/equip Ring1 "Sniper¡®s Ring"
/equip Ring2 "sniper¡®s Ring"
I have my archery lvled and I try my best to make sure when I fire an arrow, I have as good a chance of hitting as I can, thus the gear equips before my /ra (ranged attack)
CTRL+2 - Utsusemi
/ma "Utsusemi: Ichi" <me>
/party ~(._(-.-)_.)~
Short, quasi-cute macro, I have on rare occasions with long pulls stopped midpull to recast Utusemi, and letting them know this, I imagine, was helpful o.o
CTRL+3 - Steal
/equip Hands "Rogue¡®s Armlets"
/equip Feet "Rogue¡®s Poulaines"
/equip Head "Rogue¡®s Bonnet"
/ja "Steal" <t>
/wait 2
/echo * * * Hit your gear macro * * *
If you have +steal equipment you can wear, put it on before you try to steal, it¡®s the only thing that can really help you. Just don¡®t forget to put better gear back on (if applicable) after you¡®re done
CTRL+4 - Fuidama
/equip Ring1 "Fluorite Ring"
/equip Ring2 "Fluorite Ring"
/ja "Trick Attack" <me>
/wait 1
/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>
/party ¡® Fuidama ¡®
If you¡®re using snipers/archers/ranged accuracry rings, make sure you change back to your fuidama gear for the dmg bonus. I don¡®t swap as much gear out for this as some I¡®ve heard of, so I just put it all in one macro.
CTRL+5 - WS
/ja "Trick Attack" <me>
/wait 1
/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>
/wait 1
/ws "Dancing Edge" <t>
Some people prefer to use /wait 2 instead of /wait 1 - because if you¡®re really unlucky with your timing it will hang when trying to fire the second ability. If you use /wait 2, you run the risk of swinging between Sneak/Trick, though. Tailor it to your taste.
CTRL+6/7 - Nothing
CTRL+8 - Pull
/party <t> > {Party} | {Ready!} <call20>
This is just my notice I¡®m actually pulling, after this i hit my ranged attack macro.
CTRL+9 - Found
/party <t> <pos> {Found it} <call21>
Found something weird? Another player have a strange name? Or just wanna let your PT know you found the next thing to pull and want to make sure your party members are ready/ok with it. I use this macro a lot.
CTRL+0 - Stats
/party ¡® 2: {Dancing Edge} <tp> <call20> ¡®
Tailor it to taste, but make sure you are clear that the % displayed is your current TP.
ALT+1 - Target
/target <bt>
If I lose my target for some reason, or someone else pulls, I like being able to quickly select it back.
ALT+2 - RUtsu
/recast "Utsusemi: Ichi"
Sometimes knowing when you can recast your shadows is very important, hence, the recast macro that I don¡®t use too often.
ALT+3 - Gear
/equip Ring1 "Sniper¡®s Ring"
/equip Ring2 "Sniper¡®s Ring"
/equip Head "Emperor¡®s Hairpin"
/equip Hands "Custom M Gloves"
/equip Feet "Marine M Boots"
This macro is very important (to me at least), and it serves multiple purposes (again, for me XD). If I¡®m not sure which set of gear I¡®m wearing, this pretty well is a catch all to put me in my "Melee" gear, or if I just need to switch back. The other purpose this macro serves, is in the case of something going wrong (I hit my WS macro instead of fuidama macro and I have TP), I slam this macro as fast as I can to interupt my ws going off. Having an "interupt" macro I¡®ve found to be very useful, but it¡®s normal mundane use of equiping whatever gear you normally have, back, is nice unto itself.
ALT+4 - RFui
/recast "Trick Attack"
/recast "Sneak Attack"
This is the most imporant thing (post 30) for you to monitor. Fuidama is what allows you to choose where hate lies in combat, and sometimes reporting "@20", followed by a TP report, can be very helpful. Generally that is accepted as meaning "@20 seconds until Fuidama is ready, I¡®ll be good to skillchain then" or whatnot.
ALT+5 - Flee
/equip Feet "Rogue¡®s Poulaines"
/ja "Flee" <me>
/party Responsibility?! {Run away}!
/wait 1
/equip Feet "Marine M Boots"
ALT+6 - not used
ALT+7 - Ready
/party {Ready to start skillchain!}<call19>
As a THF - your ws is almost always stacked with fuidama - having a macro that lets your partner know what your TP is, is important, and so is letting them know when your TP & Fuidama are both ready to be used.
ALT+8 - Coffer
/item "Skeleton Key" <t>
/em whistles innocently.
This... picks.... my coffers XD... the /item command is the quickest way (pending the chest/coffer is targeted) that I know of to begin my picking. The /em part is there just because... Well I like it =P
ALT+9 - PD
/party Don¡®t fukin¡® touch me.
/ja "Perfect Dodge" <me>
/wait 30
/echo * * * Green Thief is about to die! * * *
THF 2hr can come in handy, and has for me, a lot. If you are THF/WAR and get a link, you can provoke the link and Dodge it for 30 seconds. If you are pulling and a link mob moves in your way, you can hit your dodge macro, and wait on the link to move again (Ideally). General panic macros are always nice, regardless.
ALT+0 - Not used
I think my macros have pretty much everything covered you¡®d want to macro as a THF, and that was the easiest way I could figure to show THF macro examples. Please note that later in your THF career, macros for gear become -very- important ^^
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Concerning Trick Partners & Fuidama :
The normal life of a THF 30+ is you pull the mob, a Trick partner provokes it, the tank lines up, and you hit the tank with Fuidama (which turns the monster). The tank then vokes, and for the remainder of the fight (If you are going to pop fuidama) you pop it on the trick partner. The exception for this, is on Ninja tanks. Depending on the Nin tank (and your trick partner), you may be having the trick partner voke, so that you only fuidama on the ninja.
DRK - This is probably the trickiest trick partner to work with - of all the melee types you can pick, DRK is the one you want taking as little hate as possible (because they don¡®t take hits well). In addition to this, while other partners (MNK, WAR, SAM, etc), may be able to survive a bit if you have to hit them with Fuidama + WS - a DRK doesn¡®t have as good a chance. In the situation where a DRK is your trick partner a normal safe way to do things, is to Fuidama on them normally, but if you are going to do a renkei, have the DRK steal hate before they go. The normal way I see this done is the DRK uses provoke, if this doesn¡®t steal hate, they use Last Resort, if this doesn¡®t steal hate, they use Souleater. If the DRK still doesn¡®t have hate, they normally wait a hit or two (if possible) and then use their WS... The odds of this not pulling hate off the tank is slim to none, but if it fails to pull off hate, just hit the tank anyway. Your WS should set hate right back on the tank so that the DRK a hit or two, easily fixed by a Regen & Drain. Just so you know, DRK normally -hate- being your trick biotch, so be prepared for them to not be so happy about all this. But this works great, and Younjin, a good DRK on my server, was the one who taught me how best to play my THF with a DRK as the trick partner ^^
WAR - Great trick partners - They have good defense and can take a hit, and if they are WAR/NIN they can do it without taking any damage. If a warrior is my trick partner I¡®m generally not very concerned, at all, with nailing them with Fuidama+WS if need be, they¡®re a very survivable (intended to be a tank) job, and it shows.
MNK - Also good trick parnters, but you will not normally play with MNKs much until LV60 (They cannot start Distortion until then). Their high HP means they can take a few hits and not really sweat it, and if things go really astray, at least 50+, Defender+ MNK = Live long time, no big shakes here.
SAM - Great Trick Partners - they are always ready to WS when you are (If they¡®re worth their salt) - Normally you can just fuidama/fuidama+ws on them without any concern, they have pretty high defense and excellent HP. Above LV60 this changes a bit if your tank is a nin, and normally the sam just pulls hate off with voke/ws (their gear has a lot of +enmity) and you hit the nin. If your tank is a PLD (or even a war) just play normally.
DRG - You love DRGs, they are your best buddies. Playing "MPK the Dragoon" is an excellent way to pass the time. The DRGs unique ability to shed hate means you can really put hate on them with almost no worries. This is -slightly- less true before 50 (When all they have is High Jump to get rid of hate), but after 50, just blast as much hate on them as you please, and if its too much (Fuidama+WS) they can just Super Jump the hate right off.
RNG - RNG make great "Trick Buddies" in the fact that they can rip hate off pretty much any tank 55+ without any problems, at all. If the RNG is the person who has to setup trick (Sample PT : NIN THF RNG BLM RDM BRD), at least in my PTs, the RNG has normally pulled (so they are assured to have hate. Then just Fuidama on the tank par normal. In the sample pt setup I have listed, Sidewinder will almost always rip hate off the NIN, if it doesn¡®t they aren¡®t using enuogh gil =P, in which case you¡®d just fuidama it right back onto the NIN. I have never hit a RNG with Fuidama midfight, just let the RNG do his extra DD and save your fuidama for when you WS. Your extra 300-500 dmg isn¡®t worth the RNG dying cuz you gave him too much hate.
RDM - This is atypical, to say the least, but I¡®ve done it and it works fine. RDM has -tons- of stuff to keep them alive/well. Blink/Stoneskin/Phalanx are no joke, and they can just layer them on top of each other (or at least Stoneskin/Blink) for the duration of the period of they have hate. This is not a trick partner you -ever- want to build a PT around, but the way it worked for me was I pulled, RDM cast their strongest nuke (or sleep spell followed by nuke) and then I hit the tank. In that particular PT i felt confident hitting the RDM with Fuidama whenever it was up, but this is obviously something you¡®d want to tailor to the specific party setup you¡®re working with.
Each PT may have its little quirks, but if your Trick Partner is a MNK/SAM/WAR - which it normally is, life is pretty normal. It¡®s just when you work with non-standard partners things get fun/weird =)
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Concerning Food / Armor :
*Updated*
There are two types of food you will want to consider as a THF: Attack/Damage Food, and Accuracy/Dex Food; these break down into meats, or fish, pretty much. In my -opinion- the type of food you will want to eat is -completely- dependant on the following factors:
- Your LV compared to the mobs you¡®re fighting - IT++ or speed chaining VTs would/should make a difference in food choice.
- The types of mobs you¡®re fighting - Crawlers are normally fairly easy to hit, Beetles are a pain, and crabs just suck due to their high defense.
- Your gear, and how much gil you¡®ve put into various equipment sets.
First, starting with attack/damage foods - prior to the patch on December 9th, 2004 -there was only one type of food that was really ever worth eating for 99.9% of melee - Meat Mithkabobs or the HQ version Meat Chiefkabob; the patch changed things up a -lot- and in my opinion for the better. Listed first are the attack foods, and what ranges of attack they are best forThere was a poorly worded and low rated post a little below that said, basically, "What food do I use!". I read a bunch on this earlier and saw this thread as it was posted, found the good reply in it, and the following information from the thread linked in it :
Base ATK- Cooking LV - Food to eat
001-051 - Cooking 06 - Grilled Hare
051-111 - Cooking 77 - Navarin
112-180 - Cooking 29 - Dhalmel Steak
or
112-180 - Cooking 95 - Rice Dumpling
181-272 - Cooking 38 - Mithkabobs
or
181-272 - Cooking 72 - Boiled Cockatrice
273-307 - Cooking 87 - Coeurl Sautee
307-375 - Cooking 85 - green Curry
376-XXX - Cooking 65 - Bison Steak
To the best of my knowledge, that is accurate; if anyone has contradictory information please let me know ^^;
I have never eaten any other food than this on a regular basis; I tried Sole Sushi and was very unimpressed, though it should be taken into consideration that my LV when this stuff happened is 70ish, and I have access to -tons- of accuracy gear (Cheap JSE, Optical, Snipers, Lifebelt, etc). Accuracy foods I can see having -great- purpose for those who either 1) Don¡®t have the money to afford what are now the outrageous price on sniper rings (700k now, I bought mine for 200k a piece...) or items like the Scorpion Harness (I still don¡®t have one, though we¡®re planning ot BCNM it soon >.<Anywho> Whatever) aren¡®t covered. The reason for this is it honestly doesn¡®t really matter, buy whatever armor is new for your LV until something comes up that helps a pertinent stat.
In general, you will upgrade using the following "sets" unless a piece of gear highlighted/listed below fills one of those spots.
LV 1 - 6 - Race Gear, Bronze Gear, or Naked.
Lv 7 - 9 - Leather Armor
LV 10-15 - Country Armor (Conquest Point gear) or Brass Armor
LV 16-20 - Lizard or Bone armor - I hate how Lizard looks, so I used bone.
Lv 21-29 - Beetle Gear
****** Updated ******
Due to the adding of assassination and the potential for breaking up Trick & Sneak, some people (myself included) now carry both agl & dex enhancing rings, to use depending on situation. I have a -dex- macro, -agl- macro, and a fuidama macro that is a catch all and equips one of each ring. This is my -PERSONAL- preference and shows my feelings on the dex/agl argument (In my tests [much easier to do with assassination showing more accurate damage displays) agl/dex and sneak/trick came out being around equal. Make up your mind on what you want to do, but I wanted to mention that as an option.
Post LV 30 - you have many options for various stat gear at relativly inexpensive prices for more or less every slot, and since THF isn¡®t a job that should be taking many hits, it¡®s not much of a problem after 30 if you¡®re using items with very poor defense.
Do keep in mind however, that pre-Trick Attack(Below 29) you will probably be taking hits, and keeping what pieces of gear that aren¡®t good stat enhancers, up to date, is helpful both to you and your party.
Feet
LV 7 - Leaping Boots{Link} - +3 DEX/AGL
LV 20- Strider Boots{Link} - Movement Speed %+ - +2 AGL - Very helpful for pulling.
LV 24- Winged Boots{Link} - Has more defense and a higher LV, nothing really special about them.
LV 29- Race Specific Shoes - Check with your specific race - but next level you are about to get Trick Attack (So both DEX & AGL are important).
Lv 30- Noct Gaiters(+1){Link} - +1 DEX (or +2 DEX for the HQ version).
LV 60- Rogue¡®s Poulaines{Link} - +3 DEX/Enhances Flee. Many people who have leaping boots sell them to pay for other gear, and instead use these.
LV 62- Race Specific Shoes Version 2 This item is specifically plugged for Hume RSE2(Race Specific Equipment Version 2) which is +3STR/DEX +2AGL - and is what I traded my leaping boots in for. Just something you should consider depending on race.
LV 73- Assassin¡®s Poulaines{Link} - +1 to Triple Attack - I¡®ve not heard good things about this, but I¡®m waiting in line for my turn to win the high lot and find out for myself
LV 73- Hecatomb Leggings[linkhttp://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.ht...5227]{Link}[/link] - Macro this, like all the other hecatomb gear -after you have hit your fuidama macro, for a beautiful damage increase.
Legs
LV 21- Garrison hose{Link} - +1 STR/DEX
LV 25- Bastokan (Republic) Subligar{Link} - +3 Attack/Ranged Attack (+5 for Republic) - Beware, Male models in subligar may cause discomfort T_T/
LV 30- Noct Brais(+1){Link} - +1 DEX/Ranged Accuracy (+2 for the HQ, I think)
LV 31- Race Specific Pants - Again, check with your specific race. Elvaan specifically I believe have good RSE1 Pants.
LV 56- Rogue¡®s Culotte{Link} - +4 AGL, +1 Steal - Plus they look awesome.
LV 62- Tiger (Feral) Trousers{Link} - +4 Attack (+5 on HQ)
LV 70- War Brais +1{Link} - Superb replacement for the AF Pants if you¡®re tired of the green, +5 agl for HQ, +4 for NQ.
LV 72- Dusk Trousers{Link} - If you can afford them, awesome, just macro them out when you¡®re pulling
LV 73- Hecatomb Subligar{Link} - Same as other cursed gear... Nice after /ja is used.
Hands
LV 10- Royal Footman¡®s Gloves{Link} / Legionnaire¡®s Mittens{Link} - +3 Attack - obtainable by most with conquest points, cheap otherwise.
LV 14- Battle Gloves{Link} - +3 Accuracy - can be worn from 14 to AF, or even post AF if you feel you need it.
LV 27- Race Specific Gloves - Something you need to check with your specific race - as a Hume I still wear my Lv27 RSE gloves post AF. So these are a possible gear change option.
LV 51- Aiming Bangles{Link} - +6 Accuracy, -18 Attack - Potentially good if you¡®re having problems with accuracy, or landing hits on Dancing Edge; I used these for gaining TP until I got to War Gloves @LV70.
LV 54- Rogue¡®s Armlets{Link} - +3 DEX & +1 Steal - overall good hand gear, and it¡®s free to boot.
LV 62- Race Specific Gloves Version 2 - For Hume, these are not specifically very impressive, for Elvaan they give +4 DEx. Something to consider if you¡®re looking for stat boosting gear for this slot, sticking with AF isn¡®t a bad option, though, or using some +accuracy hand gear.
LV 66- Merman¡®s Mittens{Link} - +3 DEX (Same as AF) with a str tacked on, nice for most races as fuidama gear.
LV 70- Tarasque Mitts{Link} - +10 Attack (12 on HQ) - great for the slot.
LV 70- War Gloves{Link} - Amazing for both solo play, and connecting hits.
LV 73- Hecatomb Mittens{Link} - Same as all other hecatomb gear, amazing after you¡®ve already used the /ja with a timer.
Body
LV 30- Mercenary Captain¡®s Doublet{Link} - +1 DEX/AGL - nice fairly inexpensive piece.
Lv 45- Brigandine{Link} - +2 DEX/VIT - this is a nice upgrade for the extra dex point, as well as defense.
LV 45- Brigandine+1{Link} - +1 to all stats, +3 to DEx/VIT - mentioned seperatly because this piece¡®s HQ version is very, very nice.
LV 50- Rapparee Harness{Link} - The haste on this piece is beautiful, something you¡®d want to macro in when you use job abilities to lower their recast timer.
LV 57- Scorpion Harness{Link} - The thing crafted from a dream, lots of gil, and a crystal. +10 Accuracy (Right before you get Dancing Edge) & +10 Evasion. If you can afford this, more power to you.
LV 58- Rogue¡®s Vest {Link} - +3 STR - not very good for PT Play, but high defense makes it a passable solo piece.
LV 59- Black Cotehardie{Link} - +3 STR/AGL +2 DEX - very very nice, and considering the LV, not terribly expensive. The 25 HP to MP also is nice if you are subbing mage for something like a coffer hunt, or farming.
LV 67- Assault Jerkin{Link} - +18 Attack & +3 Accuracy - good stuff, but it¡®s rare/ex off Ose, who isn¡®t fun to kill as a THF. If you can¡®t afford a Scorp Harness and are able to normally land most of your hits on DE, this is the best body piece you can get for it.
LV 69- Blue Cotehardie{Link} - +1 more than the stats on Black Cotehardie - this is an endgame piece, and survey says: you need it.
LV 73- Hecatomb Harness{Link} - Same deal as the rest of the cursed set.
LV 74- Narashima¡®s Vest[linkhttp://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.ht...4630]{Link}[/link] - Great cheap alternative to a scorp harness or an assault jerkin.
Head
LV 24- Emperor¡®s Hairpin{Link} - +3 DEX/AGL, +10 Evasion - another of those "Legendary Items" for THF. This item isn¡®t very common on THFs, as far as I¡®ve noticed, until the mid to late 40¡®s, after TH2 and increased ability to farm/camp for gil. I personally got mine @LV38, and didn¡®t feel gimped for not having it until then.
LV 30- Mercenary Captain¡®s Headgear{Link} - +1 STR/DEX - excellent piece of headgear for those that can¡®t afford an emp pin.
LV 44- Corsair¡®s Hat +1{Link} - The +1 verison of this hat is +2 DEX, and a good upgrade from your mercenary headgear.
LV 54- Rogue¡®s Bonnet{Link} - This does nothing really useful in a party situation, but by this point you probably should have your emp hairpin knocked out anyway.
In case you don¡®t have an emp pin by this point, sticking with the Corsair¡®s +1 is still your best bet. It is worth your time (and was sometime shortly after TH2) to take the time out to get the emp pin either by camping, or good old fashioned farming, or however it is you make your gil. There aren¡®t many options for decent headgear otherwise until Optical at LV70.
LV 70- Optical Hat{Link} - The best you¡®re going to get for Accuracy, I XPed off Million Eyes and it was wonderful @66, would have been better at 65. Make sure you bring a RDM and you rip these eyes things apart. Another endgame piece.
LV 70- War Beret{Link} - A nice, cheap alternative to trying to get an optical if it¡®s your first time to 70 and you don¡®t have higher lvl friends/LS to help you out.
LV 73- Hecatomb Cap{Link} - Same as the other cursed gear - they don¡®t have a link to the Non-HQ on this site, so this links to the +1.
Waist
This particular slot, is fairly clear cut; up until 30 you pretty much just wear whatever belt has nice defense/hp/whatever, and then at 30 you can choose to do one of two things.
1) Use a Mercenary Captain¡®s Belt{Link}
2) Go THF/NIN & use the Sarashi{Link}.
The Sarashi didn¡®t exist for me until I was already well into loving my life belt, and without more +acc gear (Peacock Charm, Spectles, Sniper¡®s +1, or a guranteed BRD in PT) I can¡®t see wearing this belt past 48, that said.
LV42 - Swordbelt{Link} - +10 Attack - good for using while building TP for extra damage regardless, but not a neccessity.
LV48 - Life Belt{Link} - +10 Accuracy - this belt is amazingly helpful. The price isn¡®t too terrible, but you can probably wait until the mid 50¡®s to buy this and still be ok.
Lv50 - Royal Knight¡®s Belt{Link} - +2 to all stats, excellent to keep for fuidama regardless of if you use it for your WS or not.
LV70 - RSE Belts - Depending on your job, you may find these more helpful than the Royal Knights Belt for stats.
LV71 - Warwolf Belt{Link} - This thing is god (and was just recently introduced, for me :3) Currently nothing better than swapping between this, or a life belt depending on what you¡®re doing.
Back
LV 24- Nomad¡®s Mantle(+1){Link} - Staple THF backpackpiece for a long time, +1 AGL and +3 Evasion (one more of each on the HQ version).
LV 55- Nation Mantles - +2 to various stats, the Bastokan one is +2 DEX/VIT, and is probably the nicest for THF, if you choose to get one of these.
LV 61- Amemit Mantle{Link} - This item is amazing, +10 Attack/Ranged Attack and +1 STR - if at all possible, or if you can stand to farm for it, get the +1 version, 5 more attack and an extra strength is a great increase for a +1 item.
Fingers
LV 1 - Nation Rings (Rank 3 Conquest Item) - If you them, great! If not, nothing great until 14.
LV 40- Sniper¡®s Ring{Link} - +5 Accuracy, good stuff - I didn¡®t find it required until LV60, though. Nice before then for TP.
***** I removed the majority of this and talk about it higher in the document.*****
Earring
LV 16- Bone Earring (+1){Link} - +1 (+2 for HQ) Attack, lose some evasion.
LV 21- Beetle Earring (+1){Link} - Upgrade of beetle - +2 (+3 for HQ) Attack - minus 2 evasion.
LV 30- Subjob Earrings - Depending on your SJ these might be of interest. If you are /nin, and can afford a Genin Earring, good stuff. If you¡®re an odd combo (THF/DRK, THF/DRG) others may work, too.
LV 35 - Wing[Drone] Earrings{Link} - If you¡®re using a SJ earring, you may not want two, but these are going to be in your inventory a long, long, long time. Invest in the HQ if possible.
LV 52 - Accuracy Earrings{Link} - For those on the quest for "more accuracy" - here¡®s one of your babies. Very expensive, but +2 Accuracy, for this slot, is pretty hot.
LV 55 - Fang(Spike) Earrings{Link} - +4 (+5 for HQ) Attack, though do not use these when pulling things like Raptors/Peryton ^^; Gear Macros are our friend
LV 60 - Minuet Earring{Link} - Great earring, awesome with a BRD" - Or some such, I can¡®t really say it better. I use this and Suppanomi @endgame 99% of the time.
LV 63 - Coral (Merman¡®s) Earring{Link} - +5 (+6 for HQ) Attack. Good stuff.
LV 67 - Androit Earring {Link} - Diet Pixie Earring :3 I swear endgame earrings are all a matter of preference for THF
LV 70 - Pixie Earring {Link} - Your prize for TH whoring on King Behemoth, congrats ^^
LV 72 - Suppanomi{Link} - Pure beauty if you¡®re a THF/NIN, Divine Might = fun >.>;;;
Neck
LV 7 - Feather Collar +1[/green]{Link} - If you¡®re going to depend on any type of ranged damage, this is a good pick. If you don¡®t plan on ranged dmg, don¡®t bother.
LV 7 - Rabbit Charm{Link} - +1 to Steal (Only neck item to do this), +1 DEx/AGL - It¡®s ideal! It¡®s also rather pricey for a LV7 item =P
LV 21- Fang (Spike) Necklace{Link} - This is a cheap item, get the HQ version unless you are -SUPER- broke =P +3 STR/DEX is good stuff.
LV 33- Peacock Charm{Link} - Um... Well I listed it here, if you can afford it, great! +10 Accuracy means you¡®re going to build TP much faster ^^; so pricey ^^;
LV 59- Spectacles{Link} - Much more realistic than a Peacock Charm, on my server these run around 1.5 mil. Also around this LV, accuracy (For THF) becomes much more important.
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Weapons :
+1 Versions of all "Shortbows"(The bows THF can use) are +3 Ranged Accuracy, +1 Versions of all "Crossbows" add varying amounts of +Ranged Attack
Bow/Archery
LV 1 - Shortbow{Link}
LV 7 - Selfbow{Link}
LV 10- Freesword¡®s Bow{Link}
LV 15- Windurstan (Federation) Bow{Link} - the non HQ of this bow looks HQ (White border) but only gives +2 Ranged Accuracry. The +1 gives +3 Ranged Accuracy.
LV 20- Platoon Bow{Link} -
LV 24- Wrapped bow{Link}
LV 36- Composite Bow{Link}
LV 38- Speed Bow{Link} - Delay on this is 324 - Great for skillups, pulling quickly (with a bow) or what have you. For DoT also a nice choice.
LV 50- Kaman{Link}
LV 55- Lightning Bow(+1){Link} - +2 DEX (+3 for HQ) and +3 Ranged ACC - a possible endgame piece because of the +2/3 DEX.
Lv 58- Rapid Bow {Link} - No reason to bother with this, really. Stick with the lightning bow.
LV 73- Rune Bow {Link} - Probably goes without saying, but one thing you do not want is -enmity =P even if your SJ or RSE gives enough mp to keep the latent kicking, you don¡®t want this bow.
Throwing (Multi-Use only)
LV 6 - Coarse Boomerang{Link} - First throwing item you can use, pricey compared to the one 8 levels later.
LV 14- Boomerang{Link} - Very cheap boomerang, but can¡®t use it until a good deal later than a coarse boomerang.
LV 33- Long Boomerang{Link} - +2 AGI - a great ranged weapon for almost all Thieves.
Lv 43- Combat Caster¡®s Boomerang +1(+2){Link} - +4 (+5 for HQ) Accuracy Boomerang as long as your nation doesn¡®t control the region, can be a -great- choice.
LV 55- Comet Tail{Link} - +20 Ranged Attack, +10 Ranged Accuracy, if you¡®re really feeling the whole throwing thing, knock yourself out. Very pricey, but great for bragging rights.
LV 60- Light Boomerang{Link} - Not worth using, stick with a Lightning Bow+1 (This is 4x the price anyway, on my server).
Gun/Crossbow [Marksmanship] Crossbows are amazing for solo play as a THF due to status bolts
CBW - LV 10- Legionnaire¡®s Crossbow - First item THF can use to LV Marksmanship Skill.
CBW - LV 12- Crossbow (+1)[link=http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.ht...=283]{Link} - Slight upgrade damagewise from the Lv10 one.
CBW - LV 25- Power Crossbow{Link} - +1 AGL on this crossbow, not a bad item to hold onto if you¡®re just using Debuff Bolts for debuffing.
CBW - LV 60- Heavy Crossbow{Link} - Crossbows before this aren¡®t really worth much (Outside of the LV25 one, really), because they¡®re just debuff toys (Can¡®t use Damaging bolts). If you¡®re still hitting ok at this point, switching to this can keep you from hitting zeros on upcoming mobs.
CBW - LV 62- Velocity Bow(+1){Link} - +1 AGL, a debatedly useful stat, but I¡®m currently saving for the +1 version of this (1.5mil on my server T_T) for the +2 AGL. Nice stat bonus, and the ability to use debuff bolts is supreme.
CBW - LV 71- Ziska¡®s Crossbow{Link} - +8 Ranged Acc for helping land debuff bolts can be invaluable - but the price on this can be rather steep.
GUN - LV15- Bandit¡®s Gun{Link} - Good for lookin¡® pimp, that¡®s about all.
GUN - LV27- Pirate¡®s Gun(+1){Link} - If you get the +1 Version of this, you get +5 Ranged Acc, and this item is the "Most accurate" gun a THF can use.
GUN - LV30- Military Gun{Link} - This is the "Highest LV" Gun a THF can use for a long, long time ~.~
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If you¡®re poor/don¡®t care, just use a simple throwing weapon to pull. Keep in mind that using Crossbows is -very- helpful for any solo type activity you can do (Sleep Bolts, Bloody Bolts, etc.) - and if you can afford it/actually hit in a PT situation, the debuff bolts (Acid specifically) can do great things for the PT you¡®re exping in.
As far as using a Gun, if you can afford it and get the gear for it, a Pirate¡®s Gun+1 & Bullets is no joke, but being a "Gun THF" would change around your role in a PT a good deal, as I see it (This is something I did not do, though I can see it working for certain level ranges, specifically mid 20s until ).
My personal preference is (Keep in mind this is in the latter part of the game) Lightning Bow+1 & Demon Arrows (for the chance of debuff sticking, plus a little damage, and the +3 DEX on Fuidama). I know of at least 2 people that have changed to the "Crappy Nation" (Bastok on my server) so that they can use the +4/+5 Accuracy Boomerang as long as your nation ¡®isn¡®t in control¡®. This is also a very effective/cheap choice, pending your country doesn¡®t own the region, at least. I would -love- to get a Velocity Bow+1 so I can use more status bolts(and not feel as bad about giving up 3 dex :O), but I can¡®t afford it quite yet ><; The debuff bolts (If you can land) are amazing (as I found out talking/camping next to a PT with another THF this past weekend).
Melee Weapons
Before LV33, it is -not- in your best interest to use a dagger as your "Primary Party Weapon", damage using a dagger is not very high, and it espically pales in usefullness next to either Combo or Fast Blade for damage. You should always keep your dagger level near cap, though, because when you hit LV33 you¡®re going to switch to dagger main (if its capped) and probably never go back to another wpn. One way to ensure dagger stays up to date is to make sure when you ding, to switch to your dagger, and max it, before switching back.
Daggers :
LV 7 - Beestinger{Link} - +1 DEX/AGL and crazy low delay. Great for capping out your dagger skill.
LV 7 - Blind Knife (+1){Link}
LV 13- Knife (+1){Link} - Just a little upgrade damage wise.
LV 20- Mercenary¡®s Knife{Link} Decurion¡®s Dagger{Link} - These can be pricey, and depend on conquest standings, but are good daggers to switch off to.
LV 20- Poison Dagger (+1){Link}
LV 28- Archer¡®s Knife{Link} - Ideal if you want to do the THF/RNG thing, or just like doing status debuff bolts (or whatnot).
LV 30- Mercenary Captain¡®s Kukri{Link} Royal Squire¡®s Dagger{Link} - When you hit 33, you¡®ll want a nice dagger to gawk at your first Viper Bite =)
LV 34- Acid Kukri(Corrosive Kukri){Link} - Acid/Corrosive Weapons are awesome, and kick a fair bit. Since you¡®re going to be main dagger from now on, this is a great investment until AF.
LV 40- Marauder¡®s Knife{Link} - Your AF1, it¡®s very nice =D
LV 42- Calveley¡®s Dagger{Link} - Good offhand wpn, though I wouldn¡®t use it over AF1. I would rather have a Combat Caster Scimitar than this for offhand, though (if you have sword leveled up & are using nin sub ).
LV 46- Bone Knife +1{Link} - Don¡®t settle for the non-HQ. The +1 version is not much more expensive, and well worth it.
LV 48- Hornetneedle{Link} - The drop (Bee Larvae) to spawn the NM for this item sucks (Read the thread) but its -great- for an offhand dagger (THF/NIN).
LV 50- Corsair¡®s Knife{Link} - Very popular main dagger until LV59.
LV 51- Lust Dagger{Link} - Good damage, adds noticably to your fuidama. On my server it¡®s much cheaper than Corsair¡®s, too.
LV 56- Kidney Dagger{Link} - +5% Critical Hits - I loved this thing, as much as THF Criticals anyway, this was great. This would be geared toward THF/NIN as an offhand weapon.
LV 58- Chicken Knife{Link} - Additional Effect : Flee - kicks when fighting Tough & Higher Monsters - It kicks a -lot-
1-75 leveling spots : General Discussion
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