Thief Weapon Skill Damage Guide by Malizia

Author's Note: While this is indeed a "guide", it is more an analysis of current knowledge found on the FFXIclopedia wiki rather than a list of personal opinions. I tried to keep personal opinions out of this guide. However, since this is supposed to be a fact-based guide, please use the user talk page instead of making edits, and list sources to explain the reason you wish to see a change. Thanks! 2nd Author's Note: if you hate math, read the Disclaimers, then skip to the "What does this mean?" section via the Table of Contents.

=Disclaimers=
 * These calculations cannot be taken too literally. For example, if increasing DEX by 1 increases damage by 5, and increasing STR by 1 increases damage by 2, this does not mean increasing DEX by 1 and STR by 1 increases damage by 7.  More interestingly, this also does not mean increasing DEX by 2 increases damage by 10.  The numbers will be close, but if you stretch them too far they will no longer be reliable.
 * If you quote these numbers, please do so in context, or link back to this page. These numbers, out of context, are meaningless and INCORRECT.
 * These numbers only work for the first hit of the weaponskill. Sneak Attack only adds the damage multiplier to the first hit, though Trick Attack applies to all hits.  Therefore, after the first hit, your damage will be equivalent attribute-wise to if you never used Sneak Attack.

=SATAWS Damage Analysis= This analysis relies on information taken from the Calculating Weapon Skill Damage page and its various links. Damage = WD * pDIF. WD = Weapon Damage and pDIF is dependent on the attack/defense ratio and the level difference. WD = floor((D + fSTR + WSC) * fTP) + AGI + DEX. D is the base damage listed on a weapon. fSTR is the STR/VIT difference function.
 * max: floor(D/9) + 8
 * min: - floor(D/9)
 * FSTR = (your STR - monster VIT + k)/4, where k ranges from 4 (STR >> VIT) to 13 (VIT >> STR).
 * Note the Blau Dolch has D = 26, and the Mandau has D = 39. This gives maximums of fSTR = 10 and 12, respectively.
 * Assuming STR >> VIT, this implies additional gains in STR will not affect fSTR for STR = VIT + 36 and STR = VIT + 44, respectively.
 * For an XP or higher level mob, this seems... unlikely to happen.

WSC is the weapon skill attribute modifier.
 * In general, WSC = floor(floor(A * A% + B * B%) * &alpha;),
 * where A and B are the weapon skill attributes multiplied by their corresponding percentages.
 * &alpha; = 0.83 at job levels 74 and 75.

fTP is the TP multiplier. At 100% TP, pDIF = c + 1.2 * (character Attack/monster Defense),
 * For Dancing Edge, WSC = floor(floor(0.3 * DEX + 0.4 * CHR) * &alpha;).
 * For Shark Bite, WSC = floor(floor(0.5 * DEX) * &alpha;).
 * For Evisceration, WSC = floor(floor(0.3 * DEX) * &alpha;).
 * Dancing Edge fTP = 1.1875.
 * Shark Bite fTP = 2.00.
 * Evisceration fTP = 1.00.
 * where c is based on the level difference between the character and the monster.


 * For the below calculations, I determine the marginal gain in damage if a single attribute is increased by one point. In other words, I calculate the increase in damage after increasing an attribute by 1, assuming everything else is kept constant.
 * I assume the character is level 75, and uses SATA with every weaponskill. Floors are ignored for the purpose of calculation. I assume every hit connects (making Accuracy irrelevant), even though this is often not the case for multi-hit weaponskills.
 * pDIF is taken to be constant, since calculating the change in pDIF due to changes in STR cause nightmarish complications, and assuming the monster Defense is 100 for a level 75 monster, an increase of STR by 1 would mean the pDIF increases by 0.6/100 = 0.006. Since monster Defense is significantly higher than 100, increases in STR create insignificantly small changes in pDIF and are thus ignored.
 * Critical Hits increase the pDIF by 1, up to a certain maximum pDIF. This does not affect calculations.
 * Calculating the marginal gain in damage due to an increase in Attack would be incomparable to the results below, since an increase in Attack only changes the pDIF (which is taken to be constant in the below calculations), and thus requires actual knowledge of D, fSTR, WSC, and monster Defense instead of just relative values. Note the below calculations never actually determine the actual numbers for those variables.

STR
D and WSC are constant. fSTR = STR/4 + a constant. fTP = 1.1875. pDIF is constant. Damage = (STR/4) * 1.1875 * pDIF + a constant = .296875 * pDIF * STR + some constant. An increase of 1 to STR equates to an increase of .296875 * pDIF in damage, or about 0.3 * pDIF.

DEX
D and fSTR are constant. WSC = 0.3 * DEX * 0.83 + a constant. fTP = 1.1875. pDIF is constant. Simplified, Damage = (0.3 * DEX * 0.83 * 1.1875 + DEX) * pDIF + some constant = 1.2956875 * pDIF * DEX + some constant. An increase of 1 to DEX equates to an increase of 1.2956875 * pDIF in damage, or about 1.3 * pDIF.

AGI
D, fSTR, and WSC are all constant. fTP = 1.1875, but is irrelevant since it is only multiplied by constant values. Damage = AGI * pDIF + a constant. An increase of 1 to AGI equates to an increase of 1 * pDIF in damage.

CHR
D and fSTR are constant. WSC = 0.4 * CHR * 0.83 + a constant. fTP = 1.1875. Damage = (0.4 * CHR * 0.83 * 1.1875) * pDIF + a constant = .39425 * pDIF + a constant. An increase of 1 to CHR equates to an increase of .39425 * pDIF in damage, or about 0.4 * pDIF. In summary, an increase of 1 DEX is equivalent to an increase of 1.3 AGI, 23/7 CHR, or 48/11 STR. In more whole numbers, an increase of 1 DEX is equivalent to about 4/3 AGI, 3 CHR, or 4.5 STR.

Shark Bite
The changes here are that WSC = 0.5 * DEX * 0.83 and fTP = 2.00.

STR
D and WSC are constant. fSTR = STR/4 + a constant. fTP = 2. pDIF is constant. Damage = (STR/4) * 2 * pDIF + a constant = .5 * pDIF * STR + some constant. An increase of 1 to STR equates to an increase of .5 * pDIF in damage, or (1/2) * pDIF.

DEX
D and fSTR are constant. WSC = 0.5 * DEX * 0.83. fTP = 2. pDIF is constant. Simplified, Damage = (0.5 * DEX * 0.83 * 2 + DEX) * pDIF + some constant = 1.83 * pDIF * DEX + some constant. An increase of 1 to DEX equates to an increase of 1.83 * pDIF in damage, or about (11/6) * pDIF.

AGI
D, fSTR, and WSC are all constant. fTP = 2, but is irrelevant since it is only multiplied by constant values. Damage = AGI * pDIF + a constant. An increase of 1 to AGI equates to an increase of 1 * pDIF in damage. In summary, an increase of 1 DEX is equivalent to an increase of 11/6 AGI or 11/3 STR. In more whole numbers, an increase of 1 DEX is equivalent to about 2 AGI or 4 STR.

Evisceration
The changes here are that WSC = 0.3 * DEX * 0.83 and fTP = 1.00. Since fTP is now the identity multiplier, we no longer need to consider it in these calculations.

STR
D and WSC are constant. fSTR = STR/4 + a constant. pDIF is constant. Damage = (STR/4) * pDIF + a constant = .25 * pDIF * STR + some constant. An increase of 1 to STR equates to an increase of .25 * pDIF in damage, or (1/4) * pDIF.

DEX
D and fSTR are constant. WSC = 0.3 * DEX * 0.83. pDIF is constant. Simplified, Damage = (0.3 * DEX + DEX) * pDIF + some constant = 1.249 * pDIF * DEX + some constant. An increase of 1 to DEX equates to an increase of 1.249 * pDIF in damage, or about (5/4) * pDIF.

AGI
D, fSTR, and WSC are all constant. Damage = AGI * pDIF + a constant. An increase of 1 to AGI equates to an increase of 1 * pDIF in damage. In summary, an increase of 1 DEX is equivalent to an increase of 5/4 AGI or 5 STR.

Adjustments for not SATA'ing
Dancing Edge Without Sneak Attack, 1 DEX is equivalent to 0.3 AGI, 3/4 CHR, or 1 STR. Shark Bite Without Sneak Attack, an increase of 1 DEX is equivalent to an increase of 5/6 AGI or 5/3 STR. Evisceration Without Sneak Attack, an increase of 1 DEX is equivalent to an increase of 1/4 AGI or 1 STR.
 * Without using Trick Attack, AGI does not factor into weaponskills.
 * Without using Sneak Attack, DEX only factors into weaponskill damage via the WSC, and of course accuracy.

=What does this mean?= These calculations are designed to help you determine appropriate equipment for maximizing weaponskill damage. However, the end analysis depends on how you use your weaponskills.
 * If you only use Sneak Attack with your weaponskills, ignore AGI. Stack DEX, and assume 1 DEX = 4 STR for equipment comparisons.
 * If you only use Trick Attack with your weaponskills, focus on AGI. If you primarily use Dancing Edge or Evisceration, 1 AGI = 4 DEX = 4 STR; if you primarily use Shark Bite 5 AGI = 6 DEX = 10 STR.
 * If you use both job abilities with your weaponskills, focus on DEX. 1 DEX = 5/4 to 2 AGI, and generally 1 DEX = 4 STR.

What if I'm not 75?

 * Viper Bite has the exact same WSC and fTP as Evisceration, so look at the numbers for Evisceration. The WSC is slightly more pronounced at earlier levels due to &alpha;, which means DEX is slightly more important than before.
 * Wasp Sting has no WSC, and an fTP of 1 (like Evisceration). The majority of the time you use Wasp Sting, you have no access to Trick Attack, so things are pretty simple: 1 DEX is equivalent to 4 STR.
 * Fast Blade and Combo have a 20% DEX and 20% STR WSC. Like with Wasp Sting, you won't be using Trick Attack much.  Here, 3 DEX = 8 STR.
 * If your level is between 60 and 75, the WSC is ever so slightly more pronounced due to &alpha;. Consider the attributes used in the WSC to be ever so slightly more important than at 75.  In other words, there's no real difference.

Which Weapon Skill does more damage?
I don't think there's enough documentation in FFXIclopedia to really analyze that. Because each weaponskill has its own WSC, fTP, and more importantly number of hits, you would not only need to plug in your own personal STR, DEX, AGI, and CHR numbers, but also know how accuracy affects each weaponskill and its damage. Also, remember TP changes the amount of damage dealt in significantly different ways for each weaponskill. Determining this is out of the scope of this guide.