Endgame Thief Guide by Malizia

=About the Author= I've been playing FFXI since 2004 on Sylph. Thief was my first job to 75, and Red Mage my second. I play both jobs with about equal time in endgame events. I will be the first to admit that there are certain activities I have never done (many HNM, Sea/Limbus, Einherjar) so I have asked fellow LS mates for input on those activities. I am by no means the "ultimate" thief but I still have a lot to share! =About the Guide= There was a big gap in the FFXIclopedia guides about what THF does in endgame, and I decided to fill that. We'll be covering the various endgame activities and how THF is used in them in a general sense. We'll also cover subjobs, job abilities, and equipment setups. Finally, please do not edit the guide. If you have fascinating insight into endgame THF, that's great! Write about it in the discussion page or message me directly. I'll update the guide with your feedback. =The Role of a THF in Endgame= There are few reasons endgame LS's want a THF: 1. TH4 No, they don't want TH2, they want you to have your Thief's Knife (which thank goodness is around 100K, back before it was a force pop it went for 15M+... but now this means you must have it) and your Assassin's Armlets. If you don't have TH4, don't expect to come THF to events. Sorry. I know Assassin's Armlets take time to get (took me a year!) but it's a necessary evil. The more cynical of us would say this is the only reason THFs are in endgame. It's not true, the reasons below are important too, but this really is the #1 for a reason. 2. Feint A meritable JA that significantly reduces an enemy's evasion. It starts on a 10-minute cooldown, and if merited fully will only have a 2-minute cooldown. Merit it fully, no exceptions! No matter what you do, a 2-minute Feint cooldown will always be helpful. 3. Hate Control You get Collaborator and Accomplice at 65. Collaborator your squishies (mages) or, really, anyone who doesn't want hate (everyone but the tank) whenever the timer is up. Your LS will either love you for it, or expect you to do it and yell at you if you don't. I suppose you could overtake a tank's enmity and start tanking yourself, but it's never happened to me, and anyways THFs are great at losing enmity with Hide and Utsusemi. 4. Pulling Thieves have the best evasion of any job, we have ranged weapons, and we have movement speed bonuses like Flee. Therefore, we're the standard choice for pulling a dangerous monster from far away and bringing it to a camp without getting hit. If you're ever called on to pull, make sure you're /NIN, you have Utsusemi tools, and you equip +evasion gear. "Hey Malicat, what happened to DD? Thieves deal damage too!" Yes, you do, but that's not why you're invited to endgame events. If you want to be the bestest of the bestest of all the THFs in FFXI, first make sure you are fully covered by points 1-4. Done? Then go ahead and get better at damage dealing. LS's love a THF that can do all of the above and deal damage, but they don't care for thieves that deal great damage but can't do anything else. Plenty of other jobs can do that, us thieves have to be better. I have gone to plenty of events (like Dynamis) where my damage output is utterly irrelevant, or even detrimental because I'll give monsters TP. I have also gone to plenty of events (like Salvage) where every extra bit of damage counts. Thieves need to be extra aware of what the event requires out of them, because it's going to change case by case.

Dynamis
Pulling, TH. Stones. Bosses.

Limbus
???

Sea
???

HNM
??? and Wyrms.

Sky
Pulling, TH. Getting around.

Salvage
TH, getting around. DD. Debuff bolts.

Einherjar
???

Solo / Small Groups / NMs
Survival.

Merit Parties
DD. =Subjobs=

SAM
=Job Abilities and Traits=

Ambush
=Merits= =Equipment=