Thief: Guide to Playing the Job

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Job Overview
Specializing in covert actions, Thieves aim for the perfect opportunity to attack from behind. By usage of their signature abilities Sneak Attack and Trick Attack, Thieves are able to inflict massive amounts of damage without the enemy's notice. In a party, Thieves are expected to control the party's hate levels and trick enemies into thinking that the party's tank is the primary threat.

Thieves also have many tools at their disposal to get out of sticky situations in the game. Not only do they possess the highest evasion rating in the game, but they also have abilities such as Flee and Hide, which allow them to brave even the most perilous areas without fear of death. Additional abilities such as Steal, Gilfinder, and Treasure Hunter make Thief the optimal choice for acquiring gil and items. Thieves also have the unique ability to pick Treasure Chests and Treasure Coffers without the use of real keys.
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Strengths

 * Sneak Attack is an explosively powerful ability when used behind an enemy.
 * Trick Attack keeps aggro on the tank and keeps the Thief from getting attacked.
 * Access to the most powerful Dagger weaponskills.
 * Gilfinder and Treasure Hunter abilities allow Thieves to acquire money more easily than other jobs.
 * Able to open treasure chests and coffers without spending time finding real keys.
 * Able to escape from almost any situation with super high evasion, flee, and hide.
 * Master of the Distortion skillchain.

Weaknesses

 * Must compete with other melee characters for party slots, leading to slow invites.
 * Requires more skill and party cooperation than other jobs to be effective.
 * Other than Sneak Attack and Trick Attack, attacks are generally weaker than other Damage Dealers'.
 * Levelling Solo from 6-10 is more difficult than other jobs, due to lack of Offense and Defense.
 * Hard to get party invites until 15, as only use is puller.

Stats That Should Be Obtained
Dexterity also has a direct impact on a character's accuracy stat. For every two points of DEX a character has, his/her accuracy is raised by one point. It is also used if you have a Bow and Arrow and you have a certain type of arrows, like Wind Arrows, Fire Arrows, etc. If you have Int will fireing at a enemy with a Elemental Arrow, it will do more dammage. If you do have these types of arrows, it is a good idea to have a Ranged Attack macro for when you pull or whatever that lets you equip your Int gear before you Ranged Attack it. Though it is not recomended you can do it if you want if you use those types of arrows and want to do a little extra dammage. You should also equip all your Int+ gear if your going to pick a lock and want the best result. It is also said that Int helps the Job Ability "Steal". If you have a lot of Int+ gear and stand behind the Mob you wish to Steal from (standing behind it improves the rate that you will Steal from it) you will have a good chance at stealing from it. But if your after a very important thing, like Stealing a Thief Testimony, you can have a Bard to come with you and play some Int+ spells on you for the best results. Probably the most overlooked part of the job is the use of status bolts with Marksmanship. Starting at level 15, it is very important to keep marksmanship skill current so you can land acid bolts on mobs. Acid bolt effects, when they land, will lower the defense of the mob and dispel any defense boost buff that the mob did. They are very important against pugils or crawlers you will face between now through the 30s as the spells Dispel and Magic Finale are not available. Starting at 20, you will get Sleep Bolts, which can briefly help in crowd control (the effect lasts shorter than sleep but they can buy some time as the Sleep spell itself has a long cooldown time), and at 25 you will gain Bloody Bolts that can help in keeping yourself alive. At some point of time, you should make every effort into investing in Ranged Accuracy+ gear that you can.
 * Agility - Agi does a lot of things for Thief. One of the big things it does is powers Trick Attack (Job ability obtained at level 30) It also improves your evasion, shield, parry, and ranged accuracy stats. It's good if you have your Pulling macro that equips all of your Agi+ gear before you Ranged Attack it. It will help for the best results of you actually hiting the monster you are pulling and it will give you extra Evasion as you run back to your party. For every two points of Agility a character has, these stats are raised by one point.
 * Dexterity - Dex also does quite a few things, one of the most important thing is that it powers Sneak Attack (Job ability obtained at level 15) It is said that each point of Dexterity raises critical hit rate by 0.1%.
 * Strength - Strength isn't really needed until you are 66+ (this is when you get the weapon skill Sharkbite) Like how Dex powers Sneak Attack, and Agi powers Trick Attack, Strength powers Sharkbite. With more strength it will do more damage. Strength can also raise your Attack, which is good, because Thief doesn't hit very hard and it is nice if it can hit a little harder with a Dagger. It is also said that Strength raises your Ranged Attack, so gaining Strength and Agility for Ranger isn't such a bad idea. Every two points of Strength raises your characters Attack and Ranged Attack by 1 point.
 * Intelligence - Int is not really for much. The only thing it is used for for Thief is when you are picking Chests and/or Coffers with your set of tools. The more Int you have, the better success rate you have for succeding and opening your desired chest/coffer/door (some locked doors can be opened with Thief's set of tools, but not all).

Race Selection

 * Starting Stats


 * Mithra -
 * Mithra enjoys a significant lead in dexterity over other races as well as a marginally higher agility, making it the ideal choice for a Thief; this is because the Sneak Attack damage is influenced most directly by the DEX stat and the Trick Attack is influenced most directly by the AGI stat. The low strength, and subsequently low damage per hit, can make early levels frustrating, but the stronger Sneak Attack makes up for it.


 * Hume -
 * As with most jobs, Hume is the closest in stats to Mithra. Naturally, a Hume would be second choice for a thief.  They have slightly higher strength, but lower dexterity and agility.  Hume is not a bad choice.


 * Galka -
 * Good strength, and matches Hume in dexterity, though lower in agility. It is about as well balanced as Hume for playing Thief, with the best survivability at low levels due to their high HP.


 * Tarutaru -
 * Same dexterity as Hume, better agility, but the worst strength of all races. Tarutaru makes a workable Thief, but it suffers from low damage physical attacks like the Mithra, but don't have the high dexterity to make up for it.  The agility helps, but the low HP can be worrisome when pulling or using Sneak Attack at low levels.


 * Elvaan -
 * Lowest dexterity and agility in relation to other races. Elvaan, however, has the highest strength, and can produce the highest non SA or TA damage.

Exp Points Parties
The most common subs used in XP parties, and the reasons for using them.


 * Warrior -
 * Often the sub job selected for those who have not yet unlocked any advanced jobs, warrior is one of the more common subjobs for thief. This subjob offers boosts to strength, along with a number of useful job abilities and traits.
 * Berserk is gained at 30, Double Attack at 50, Attack Bonus at 60, and finally Warcry at 70. With each of these increasing the attacking power of a thief, warrior is by far the most damaging sub available to a thief.


 * Ninja -
 * The second of the common sub jobs for thief, this sub offers nothing before level 20, little before level 24, and is questionable right up until level 50.
 * At level 20 you gain the ability to Dual Wield. This has a number of benefits. A thief can choose to wield two different types of weapons (commonly dagger and sword) in order to retain the devastating dagger weapon skills such as Viper Bite whilst having the extra damage over time granted by the secondary weapon. The offhand weapon can also be used to grant stat bonuses, commonly to dexterity and agility. Weapons like the Mithran Scimitar and, in the late 40s, the Marauder's Knife fill this role well. Finally the offhand weapon can be one with a very low delay, such as the Hornetneedle, allowing the thief to gain TP very rapidly. Dual Wield II is granted at level 50, speeding up the rate of attacks even more.


 * Also of note with concern to Dual Wield for a Thf/Nin, be aware of the update to the "TP Floor" which lowers the min. TP gained per hit for weapons below 200 delay. This can, inturn, increase the required melee hits to attain 100%+ TP oft leaving you with only 96-99%TP as compaired to a once constant 100%TP.


 * It should also be noted, that the biggest advantage to Dual Wield for Thief after gaining Triple Attack trait, is that every normal melee attack, (one per normal main-hand, and one off-hand), have the chance of landing a Triple Attack hit. Essentially allowing up to 6 melee hits per round of normal attacks, which you will often times see roll right up to the next melee swings!


 * This TP gain, cushioned with good Haste gear, 150-190 delay daggers, and the Haste spell, can put a Thief in an almost "Hundred Fists" attack state at all times, which when paired with Subtle Blow (Also granted by /Nin), makes thief not only the fastest TP -> WS DoT'ers when best equiped, but the safest DD'er when compairing Monster TP gain to the monster's damage recieved.


 * Utsusemi: Ichi is gained at level 24 and makes a wonderful addition to a thief's bag of tricks. Thieves are commonly used as the puller in parties, and the ability to negate three attacks makes this job much less stressful. Utsusemi: Ni also becomes available at level 74, giving another three shadows with which to avoid attacks. With A+ rated evasion and both the utsusemi ninjutsu, thief becomes one of the best soloing classes in the game.


 * Overall, a thief with a ninja sub will not put up the same big numbers as one with a warrior sub, but has a much larger bag of tricks.


 * Monk -
 * A monk sub can be very beneficial to a thief, especially before a thief gets Viper Bite. When used with Sneak Attack, Combo can be extremely devastating at lower levels, despite an E rating in Hand-to-Hand. This sub also offers the job abilities Boost at level 10 and Focus at 50, increasing a thief's attack and accuracy respectively. Dodge, gained at level 30, can also be used effectively with a thief's already impressive evasion to help with pulling.
 * Somewhat more situational and less versatile than either a warrior or ninja sub, a monk sub certainly has its time and place to be used with great effectiveness.


 * Ranger -
 * Whilst a thief's ranged attack skills are not very high ranked (C- in archery and C+ in marksmanship), they are none-the-less extremely useful. A ranger sub capitalizes on this fact, and can actually be even more damaging than a warrior sub in certain level ranges.
 * Until a thief gets Sneak Attack at level 15, they lack any way to do any serious damage to a mob. By subbing ranger, a thief can used ranged attacks to greatly increase their damage output in the low levels.
 * A ranger sub also compliments a thief's common role as puller in a party. Wide Scan can be of use in certain circumstances, although it must be used correctly. Alertness can also make the difference between aggro and strolling right past a mob or potential link.
 * Access to ranged weapon skills is gained from a ranger sub, although in parties a thief should generally be using their dagger weapon skills. Sharpshot allows a thief to exploit the high TP gain per attack of ranged attacks, and the Accuracy Bonus traits gained at levels 20 and 60 also help increase a thief's TP gain nicely.
 * Another sub that works very well at low levels, and can be used very effictively even after that point.

Other Sub Job Uses for Thief
This is a great choice for coffer farming in sound aggro areas. Being able to cast Sneak and Deodorize on yourself instead of relying on potions makes for a better profit margin. Also a good for when you are doing AF1 coffers since you can use thief's tools and such to open coffers.
 * White Mage -

Quite honestly everyone should level black mage for use as a sub for warping purposes. Level this sub so you can make runs to areas and return quickly to your homepoint without having to waste CP or gil on warp scrolls and cudgels.
 * Black Mage -

This is mainly for HNM,Gods and Dynamis. The ability to skillchain on demand with Meditate is the most important use of this as a sub job. When using skillchains on HNM and the like you will generally be helping stack some hate onto the tanks.
 * Samurai -

This is mainly for HNM, Gods, and Dynamis. Stun is main reason for subbing DRK. This will allow you to help out in the stun order on some tougher HNMs. Last Resort and Souleater will give you a nice damage spike that you can again stack onto the tank. Leveling SAM and DRK will improve your versitlity in your linkshell and give you something to do besides waiting to get in just for Treasure Hunter.
 * Dark Knight -