CAUTION! | ||
This article is a personal guide. Information expressed in this guide is one player's opinion and may be more opinion than fact. Strategies and information contained herein may not work for everyone. No non-minor changes should be made without consulting the author. Changes or questions should be discussed on the talk page. |
About the Author
I've been playing FFXI since 2004 on Sylph. Thief was my first job to 75 (back when it was the cap, ha!), and Red Mage my second, and now I've added a few more jobs to the mix. I play Thief about half the time in endgame events, and it's by far the most kitted (kittened?) out job I have. 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 also cover subjobs, job abilities, and equipment setups. We won't cover anything about leveling THF.
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.
Dec 2011 Update Malinote! All updated! Time to get some new shinies!
The Role of a THF in Endgame
There are few reasons endgame LS's want a THF:
1. TH7
No, they don't want TH3, they want you to have Thief's Knife, Assassin's Armlets +2, and Raider's Poulaines +2. If you don't have TH7, don't expect to come THF to events. Sorry. I know these items are still very hard to get (well ok, the Knife used to be hard), but they're 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. 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. You may find yourself overtaking the tank's hate, even with frequent Trick Attacks on the tank, so make sure your evasion set is up to the challenge! You may even be the tank in some situations. Trick Attack is also wonderful for MPKing alliance members. Hey, wait a sec!
3. 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.
4. Pulling / Tanking / DD
Thieves make excellent pullers: we have the best evasion of any job, we have ranged weapons, and we have movement speed bonuses like Flee. Problem is, there are so few modern endgame events that require pulling that this is a low priority. We also make decent evasion tanks, but it's hard to hold hate against a dedicated melee DD or a NIN. If you are tanking, use Collaborator often on your squishy, enmity-grabbing teammates, like the BLM or the RNG, but if a fellow melee is tanking (especially if it's a PLD, NIN or a job /NIN) you should probably let them hold hate. You want to avoid Collaboratoring a melee and the monster wandering off to smack your BLM, or worse your healer.
Finally, we can deal damage, especially in Abyssea with buffs like Atma of the Razed Ruins, but that's not why we'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 1-3. 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 Abyssea) 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 Abyssea) 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.
Subjobs
NIN
You will use this almost exclusively. It has some nice things like sneak/invis and Dual Wield, but you're subbing this for the Utsusemi. Make sure you have both Ichi and Ni and you know how to cycle between the two for maximum shadow usage.
DNC
Soloing easier stuff where they don't hit hard enough to use shadows? Try /DNC. I haven't used this in any event setting ever, nor do I ever expect to. You actually get some really nice abilities but you still lack the survivability and TP-gaining speed of NIN, in exchange for buffs and debuffs a DNC main will be more efficient at applying.
RNG
For those situations when you shouldn't be meleeing, and you're not pulling (sure, /RNG is nice for when you pull, but it's terrible for after you pull). Think HNMs. Also great for farming with Wide Scan.
DRK
Like /WAR, but with Stun! Also has some nice damage boosting abilities. Don't expect to use this a lot either. If you do, be very careful when using Souleater and Dancing Edge or Evisceration, you'll probably lose 50% or more of your HP! At least now, in Abyssea, you get a TON of HP to play with for maximum Souleater goodness.
WAR
Sadly, I can't recommend this anymore. You get significant Attack Bonuses and a little Accuracy, but you lose 15% Subtle Blow, 15% Dual Wield (remember we get tier 1 natively), and Utsusemi. I'd say the Dual Wield bonus alone accounts for the loss in Attack and Accuracy, and Utsusemi is a life saver. If you really want to get yourself killed, you could still try DRK.
SAM
The only reason you would ever sub this is for Meditate. Unfortunately the Hasso / Seigan abilities won't work for you because THFs can't equip any useful two-handed weapons... but if you're fighting something where you can't gain TP easily but you need to be effective, /SAM can work. Don't use it in Abyssea though, just use a regain atma.
Job Abilities and Traits
Treasure Hunter
I think we've drilled it in by now that this is what makes THF a THF :p but unfortunately, no one knows what it does! There are tons of theories about what the effect actually means, but at least we now know how to apply it. Make sure your first hit on a monster uses all your TH gear, then pick and choose when you use it after. I actually recommend using Raider's Armlets +2 if you have it over Assassin's Armlets for SA / TA because of the increased likelihood of a TH increase.
Feint
Merit this, and merit it fully! It's fantastic for increasing damage output from everyone attacking the monster. Works best on things that are highly evasive, so bosses and super-nasties. With the 2-minute cooldown you can use this without worrying if the monster is the "right" one for it.
Sneak Attack and Trick Attack
You've had these for a long time, you better know how these work! The only thing in endgame is that they're much harder to pull off. No one's going to line up the monster perfectly for you, and hate control can be extremely unpredictable. Don't complain if you try to line up your SA / TA and it doesn't work because someone else stole hate at the last moment, it's going to happen all the time. Oh! And now it's quite important to separate these from each other and your weaponskills since they have a good chance of increasing TH.
Perfect Dodge
Your 2-hour! Yay! It's like Invincible, but doesn't stop ranged attacks and doesn't generate any hate. So what's it good for??? Pulling! Or, really, for sacrifice pulling. You can pull huge chunks of monsters, pop Flee, then when you're somewhere very far away from everyone else and the monsters have caught up to you Perfect Dodge for an extra thirty seconds before you die. Or not, if they cast magic. I've used this to great success in Salvage and Dynamis for getting people past large groups of nasties, or for (someone else) getting a single monster out of a very large and angry pack (which chases after me).
Steal / Aura Steal
Steal is your tried and true method for getting drops no one else can :p it's great for getting extra currency in Dynamis, or for more important reasons like in Sky. Put at least a single merit in Aura Steal to make it a Dispel on a five-minute cooldown, which is surprisingly useful and even works on some monsters immune to the spell. If you have the room and the inclination, you can invest some time and not a lot of gil to make a decent +Steal equipment set. Steal also makes for an excellent NM claim tool.
Despoil
Despoil possibly steals different items than Steal while applying a debuff. It also doesn't Aura Steal, yet it shares Steal's cooldown timer. I'm going to go with common sense here: Steal if you need to dispel, Despoil if you don't.
Flee
This and Perfect Dodge can make you survive anything for quite some time, for all those sac pulls where you need to die... but not immediately. Also great for pulls where your enemy moves faster than you can, or for just running to places super quickly. I actually keep my AF boots around for this JA, the extra 15 seconds is quite nice.
Mug
Great for NMs, HNMs and for Sky gods, useless for everything else. Enjoy your 1-2k every fifteen minutes? Also a pulling tool when you absolutely don't want to deal damage, or a secondary NM claim tool after Steal.
Hide
I don't get to use this nearly often enough, but it's nice for two things: dropping aggro from sight-only baddies (yes, even if you're right in front of them!) or for setting up Sneak Attack when you're not behind the monster. Unfortunately the "dropping aggro" bit almost never works in endgame, most NMs and high-level monsters see right through it.
Collaborator / Accomplice
Collaborator is the five-times-faster, half-as-powerful younger cousin of Accomplice. It's also the one you should use. Every minute throw a Collaborator on your nuke-happy BLM and they'll thank you, then nuke some more.
Triple Attack / Assassin's Charge
Every thief should merit Triple Attack to its maximum, for a base 10% chance. That's like having a free 20% haste! Sort of. You can also put merits into Assassin's Charge for a guaranteed Triple Attack, obviously to be used when you weaponskill, but no one's going to think poorly of you if you don't.
Ambush
Your last meritable ability, this gives you additional accuracy when attacking from behind. Sounds great, right! Well yes, but remember what I said about Sneak Attack? It'll be tough to always be behind a monster, and sometimes (like with wyrms) you will never be behind a monster. So, it's great when it's used, but also not used as often as you might think.
Dual Wield
Hey, starting at 83 we get Dual Wield now! It's only tier 1 though, so all it really means right now is you can sell your shield for those rare occassions you sub something not NIN or DNC.
Conspirator
More Accuracy and Subtle Blow! I don't think there's anything fancy to this, use it when it's up and preferably when the most party members are in range.
Bully
Gives a really high chance for the target to be intimidated, even if you're not the one tanking. It also has a nice side effect of allowing Sneak Attack to work at any angle, even from right in front! This is way easier than trying to use Hide for the same effect. Like Conspirator, use it as much as possible.
Merits
We mostly covered this in the previous section, but here's the breakdown:
Thief Specific Merits (Group 1):
- Triple Attack: take to cap. More attacks mean more hits mean more damage. This one's easy.
- Um... the rest is up to you. SA/TA cooldown reduction is useful for DD and potential TH procs, but it's hard to consistently make use of an extra 2-10 seconds. Flee cooldown is always useful.
Thief Specific Merits (Group 2):
- Feint: take to cap. You and your teammates will have 95% accuracy against most things already, but against highly evasive mobs it's an incredible debuff worth spamming.
- Aura Steal: put at least one merit in this for the Dispel. More at your discretion if you like getting random free buffs.
- Assassin's Charge: if you really like those big WS numbers, put a merit into here. More at your discretion if you can remember to watch the cooldown. Note that a guaranteed triple attack does not mean a guaranteed two extra hits...
- Ambush: if you don't have anywhere else to put your merits, might as well put them here :p nothing wrong with more accuracy! Even if you can't use it all the time.
Everything Else:
- Evasion and Dagger merits are fantastic if you don't have other jobs that need the merits.
- Critical Hit Rate merits are also fantastic; full-time mages might have other priorities but if you're a full-time mage, why are you reading this guide?
- I'd choose Strength merits over Dexterity merits, because THF is the only job that prioritizes DEX over STR, and because even for THF it's much easier to get +DEX gear than it is to get +STR gear, and you do want some STR.
- Exenterator: either merit 5/5 or don't bother (1/5 or 0/5). It won't outdamage Evisceration in Abyssea if you're using Razed Ruins (and you ARE using Razed Ruins, right?), but outside of Abyssea it's your best unstacked weaponskill if you merit it fully. I've only merited it 1/5 because outside of Abyssea, I don't particularly care about my damage, but someday it might be required for Voidwatch and that animation is sure pretty :p
Atma
Let's highlight the shiniest ones:
My favorite combination is Razed Ruins + Gnarled Horn + Apocalypse: +50 DEX, +50 AGI, +50% chance of crits, +30% crit damage, auto-RR3, 10% chance of instacast Utsusemi, and an insane amount of Triple Attack.
If you don't have Atma of the Apocalypse, go with RR + GH + Dark Depths for pretty much guaranteed crits, +70 AGI, and +50 DEX, which is arguably just as good! You can probably find other combinations for your own personal catnip fix :p but make sure you use Atma of the Razed Ruins! I mean, wowzacat! You want this one.
If you don't have any of the atmas listed here, get them (obviously!) but in the meantime look for DEX+, AGI+, Accuracy, or some form of extra attacks. STR+ isn't so useful as you would expect, since the benefit of STR to base damage has a cap (see fSTR) and we don't have STR-based weaponskills. If you have all your Abyssites of Furtherance your cruor buffs should give you a minimum of +40 STR which should be good enough. That doesn't mean Atma of the Voracious Violet is ineffective though, it has Regain and Double Attack - and the +50 STR certainly isn't bad. ^^
Atmacite
I have to be honest - I haven't gone to Voidwatch very often as THF (I go mostly as RDM). But based on my limited experience and the information over at BG, it looks pretty simple for a THF - you're there for dagger weaponskills; your TH doesn't really matter at all. Which means... don't expect to come THF to Voidwatch, because a DNC can do everything you can and more :( Sorry! But if you do manage to get into a VW run as THF, there are a couple nice atmacites (starting with the easiest ones to get, and listed stats are all if you fully upgrade the atmacite):
- Atmacite of Incursion: off Melancholic Moira, Bastok T3, and has DEX+15 and Attack+15. Costs 750K cruor to upgrade.
- Atmacite of Coercion: off Kaggen, Jeuno T3, and has Regain+3. Costs 1.25M cruor to upgrade.
- Atmacite of Skyblaze: off Ocythoe, Jeuno T6, and has DEX+10 and Accuracy+15. Costs 1.6M cruor to upgrade.
- Atmacite of the Valiant: off Ig-Alima, Jeuno T6, and has +15 to all stats and 5% haste! Costs a whopping 2.6M cruor to upgrade.
If you're lucky enough to have all of these and can equip two, then I'd go with Coercion and the Valiant for stats, lots of accuracy, and most importantly Regain. You need to cycle through WS's as fast as possible.
Equipment
(Level 75 /
80 /
85 /
90 /
95 Equipment Guides for reference)
malinote: some of the HQ gear, especially from Voidwatch, is painfully difficult/expensive to get. Replacements for pieces I consider to be unreasonable are listed at the bottom, unless said replacement is already listed as the baseline piece.
Yay, the best for last! What kind of equipment sets to THFs carry? For each set I'll include a baseline (maximum effectiveness for minimal time/effort/gil) and a higher quality set. Often times it's not really feasible to determine the "best" item for any set, so you'll have to find out what you like yourself! Prices are current as of January 2012, as a cross-server average from FFXIAH. Finally, some notes:
- Make sure you can swap in your TH pieces at any time with any of these sets. I tend to full-time these with monsters that die quickly.
- Skill > Equipment. Make sure you complete your roles as a THF!
- The more pink you wear, the less respect you will get from a significant portion of the endgame community. It is unfortunate, since the set isn't all that terrible, but do yourself a favor and try to replace it as soon as possible.
Evasion Set
Your most important set by far, and the one you should prioritize. This keeps you alive and allows you to pull! The emphasis here is evasion, evasion skill, and AGI, where 2 AGI is one evasion, and evasion and evasion skill are about the same. I actually use +movement speed boots for pulling, even though they have -evasion.
Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost | Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost |
Main Hand | DD dagger | N/A | Thokcha | Trial of the Magians | Body | Aurore Doublet | 5000 Cruor | Athos's Tabard | Botulus Rex |
Off Hand | anything | N/A | Thokcha | Trial of the Magians | Hands | Kacura Mittens | 30K | Kacura Mittens +1 | 1.8M |
Ranged | anything | N/A | Aliyat Chakram | Pil | Ring 1 | Emerald Ring | 15K | Alert Ring | Farruca Fly |
Ammo | anything | N/A | nothing | N/A | Ring 2 | Solemn Ring | 30K | Portus Annulet | Diabolos Mega-Boss, Dynamis - Tavnazia |
Head | Wivre Mask | 25K | Fugacity Beret | Veridical Conflux 3 (WoE) | Back | Blur Mantle | 15K | Boxer's Mantle | 75 Ancient Beastcoins |
Neck | Arctier's Torque | 8K | Torero Torque | Pantokrator | Waist | Survival Belt | 30K | Scouter's Rope | 250K |
Ear 1 | Dodge Earring | 10K | Novia Earring | Jailer of Love | Legs | Alcide's Subligar | 50K | Kacura Subligar +1 | 1.5M |
Ear 2 | Dodge Earring | 10K | Phrygian Earring | 100K | Feet | Aurore Gaiters | 3000 Cruor | Raider's Poulaines +2 | AF3 |
TOTAL:
Baseline: AGI +27, Evasion +57, Enemy Critical Hit Rate -2%, costs 225K
HQ: AGI +75, Evasion +145, Evasion Skill +15, Parrying Skill +15, Physical Damage Taken -1%, costs 3.6M+
Daggers
Hey, noticed how I put the evasion set first? That's for a reason ^^ Let's list some daggers! I highly recommend Trial of the Magians daggers, they're fantastic!
DD Daggers:
- Mandau / Vajra / Twashtar: You get the most damage in a dagger, but at an extreme price of time, effort, and gil. Great if you have it!
- Thokcha, DEX+11 Acc+16 or STR+11 Atk+22: These are your new best friends for DD.
- Thokcha, add'l effects: The two notable ones are "Weakens def.+16" (earth) and "Impairs evasion+16" (wind). Mini-Angon and mini-Feint daggers your party will love! Also by far the most painless daggers to make.
- Praxidikai: Comes in three flavors, all of which give you more attacks. The OA2-4 dagger is the easiest to build, although extremely tedious - it takes a whopping six thousand kills and 9 NMs to make! The other two are just as slow to make, in their own special ways.
- Triplus Dagger / Twilight Knife: all very useful offhand daggers, and not terribly difficult to get from Abyssea. Both (along with a Praxidikai) serve the same purpose: more dagger swings! We're not going to go mathcat here and figure out which one of these many options is the bestest, but you should feel happy with any of these.
- Oynos Knife / Verus Knife: i.e. "cheap high-level daggers on the AH". They're not bad at all, so you can use these until you get something better.
- Coruscanti / Asteria / Lux Pugio / Supernal Knife: good luck getting these! They're super low drop rates from Voidwatch. But the HQ ones are literally shiny!!
Specialty Daggers:
- Thief's Knife: You know why you have this :) Not a DD dagger. I tend to wear this 100% of the time in events, because generally mobs die too quickly to make a dagger swap feasible.
- Bartholomew's Knife: For the +steal, not too hard to get either. Not a DD dagger.
- Thokcha, AGI+11 Eva+22: These evasion daggers keep getting better!
TP Set
The goal is to get to 100+ TP as fast as possible. This means Haste, Dual Wield reduction, Triple Attack and Double Attack bonuses, and Accuracy everywhere else. The Aurore Doublet Set has some good baseline pieces. Try to get your fully upgraded AF3 before going some of the harder pieces on this list, that set is already pretty great! Use accuracy snackies like Squid Sushi or Marinara Pizza. Also, the Oneiros Ring requires 100+ MP, so consider MP merits for that (or use Rajas Ring or Demonry Ring instead).
Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost | Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost |
Main Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Body | Rapparee Harness | Quest | Raider's Vest +2 | AF3 |
Off Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Hands | Dusk Gloves | 5K | Nomkahpa Mittens | WoE #15 |
Ranged | none | N/A | Raider's Boomerang | Kutharei | Ring 1 | Woodsman Ring | 15K | Epona's Ring | Rani |
Ammo | Tiphia Sting | 10K | none | N/A | Ring 2 | Keen Ring | 12K | Oneiros Ring | Xuu Bhoqa the Enigma |
Head | Aurore Beret | 4000 Cruor | Raider's Bonnet +2 | AF3 | Back | Sharpeye Mantle | 5K | Atheling Mantle | Orthrus |
Neck | Spectacles | 35K | Portus Collar | Diabolos Mega-Boss, Dynamis - Tavnazia | Waist | Swift Belt | Fomor Codex | Twilight Belt | Shinryu |
Ear 1 | Coral Earring | 10K | Brutal Earring | 75 Ancient Beastcoins | Legs | Aurore Brais | 3000 Cruor | Raider's Culottes +2 | AF3 |
Ear 2 | Kemas Earring | 15K | Suppanomimi | Divine Might | Feet | Aurore Gaiters | 3000 Cruor | Assassin's Poulaines +2 | AF2+2 |
TOTAL:
Baseline: Haste +20%, STR +2, DEX +9, Accuracy +45, Attack +14, costs 110K
HQ: Haste +26%, Triple Attack +11%, Double Attack +19%, Dual Wield -8% delay, STR +5, DEX +24, Accuracy +21, Attack +20, Dagger Skill +5, Critical Hit Rate +4%, increases Triple Attack damage, Store TP +1, only costs time!
Weaponskill Sets
Yes, absolutely! A separate weaponskill, sneak attack, and trick attack set! Three different sets allows you to maximize the potential for each ability and use them separately from each other. You get more damage using SA and TA solo (yes, this means you will have to be able to WS without them) and you get more chances to apply the TH bonus. If you're really up for it, you can even have different sets for each weaponskill.
Your Best Weaponskills
- Exenterator is your newest merit WS. If fully merited, deals the most unstacked damage out of any of your WS's, unless you're in Abyssea in which case you use Evisceration. Four hits and uses AGI as its primary modifier, so I'd focus on AGI, then accuracy, STR, and attack.
- Evisceration is your Abyssea standard. Five hits, uses DEX, and most importantly, can score critical hits on each hit! If you have Atma of the Razed Ruins or other Critical Hit Rate / Critical Hit Damage bonuses, you should only use this, otherwise stick to Exenterator or Dancing Edge. Focus on DEX all the way! Accuracy and STR/attack are important too.
Situational Weaponskills
- Dancing Edge has finally gone by the wayside for Exenterator, but if you're not in Abyssea and you don't have fully merited Exenterator this is the one to use. Five hits, uses DEX and CHR as stats. You'll want to focus on DEX and accuracy here.
- Shark Bite makes light skillchains, but in the same way as Exenterator. Nowadays, you'll only use it to proc, it's not going to do fantastic damage.
- Mandalic Stab is a lot like Viper Bite: it has a multiplier to your damage, and it's worthless without SA or TA. Problem is, even with SA or TA it's not so great.
Special Weaponskills
Sadly, I don't know how these stack up against Exenterator or Evisceration, so you'll have to find that out for yourself! And let me know the results please!
- Mercy Stroke requires special shinies like a Mandau or a Clement Skean. It's our only STR based weaponskill, so stack STR and Attack.
- Rudra's Storm requires you to spend a lot of time doing Dagger Trials and camping NMs. If you have it, treat it like Mandalic Stab or Viper Bite: lots of DEX and Attack, and always use with SA or TA (preferably SA since it's so DEX intensive).
Evisceration
Now, thanks to Exenterator, we'll have TWO sets! This first one is the Evisceration set. It's good for Dancing Edge, Shark Bite, Mandalic Stab, and Rudra's Storm as well, although you will want to make small adjustments since none of those crit. Also, if you thought the TP set was hard to get... wait until you try this one :)
Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost | Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost |
Main Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Body | Dragon Harness | 10K | Toci's Harness | Pil |
Off Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Hands | Kacura Mittens | 25K | Raider's Armlets +2 | AF3 |
Ranged | none | N/A | Raider's Boomerang | Kutharei | Ring 1 | Jupiter's Ring | Quest | Zilant Ring | Yilbegan |
Ammo | Thew Bomblet | 10K | none | N/A | Ring 2 | Jupiter's Ring | Quest | Rajas Ring | CoP |
Head | Deceit Mask | 10K | Oneiros Helm | Arch Overlord Tombstone | Back | Nifty Mantle | 5K | Atheling Mantle | Orthrus |
Neck | Spike Necklace | 10K | Love Torque | Jailer of Love | Waist | Warwolf Belt | 15K | Cuchulain's Belt | Plucking Wings |
Ear 1 | Coral Earring | 10K | Brutal Earring | 75 Ancient Beastcoins | Legs | Tumbler Trunks | 70K | Hecatomb Subligar +1 | 800K + N. Legs |
Ear 2 | Coral Earring | 10K | Thunder Pearl | 300K | Feet | Kacura Leggings | 20K | Kacura Leggings +1 | 2M |
TOTAL:
Baseline: STR +14, DEX +52, Accuracy +5, Attack +55, costs 200K
HQ: STR +32, DEX +68, Increases Critical Hit Damage +3%, Critical Hit Rate +2%, Accuracy +28, Attack +68, Dagger Skill +7, Double Attack +8%, Triple Attack -3%, costs 3.1M+
Exenterator
Yup! This one's going to look pretty different.
Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost | Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost |
Main Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Body | Dragon Harness | 10K | Athos's Tabard | Botulus Rex |
Off Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Hands | Aurore Gloves | 3000 Cruor | Skadi's Bazubands | Salvage + 30K |
Ranged | none | N/A | Raider's Boomerang | Kutharei | Ring 1 | Solemn Ring | 35K | Stormsoul Ring | 1.1M |
Ammo | Thew Bomblet | 10K | none | N/A | Ring 2 | Breeze Ring | 60K | Stormsoul Ring | 1.1M |
Head | Deceit Mask | 10K | Cuauhtli Headpiece +1 | 3.5M | Back | Blithe Mantle | 10K | Atheling Mantle | Orthrus |
Neck | Arctier's Torque | 8K | Justiciar's Torque | 1.8M | Waist | Crudelis Belt | 10K | Crudelis Belt | 10K |
Ear 1 | Drone Earring | 10K | Brutal Earring | 75 Ancient Beastcoins | Legs | Rogue's Culottes | AF1 Coffer | Ambusher's Hose | Karkadann |
Ear 2 | Drone Earring | 10K | Auster's Pearl | 4M | Feet | Lithe Boots | 5K | Raider's Poulaines +2 | AF3 |
TOTAL:
Baseline: STR +11, DEX +18, AGI +58, Accuracy +5, Attack +18, Double Attack +2%, costs 180K
HQ: STR +21, DEX +22, AGI +75, Accuracy +10, Attack +45, Dagger Skill +6, Double Attack +8%, costs 11.5M+
Sneak Attack Set
Take your Evisceration set, and get rid of Accuracy for more DEX, STR and Attack! There's also a lively debate on the usefulness of -delay/haste items (such as Suppanomimi) and +Movement Speed items here. They aren't as potent as the Hecatomb Harness Set, but they increase the speed in which you land your sneak attack (for -delay/haste items) and increase the likelihood that you can actually aim it (movement speed items). Remember how I said no one's going to line up your sneak attack for you anymore? And that mobs are likely to turn when you least want them to? Well with +movement speed you can turn around (to avoid missing your sneak attack), run around to their new backside, and actually hit them for your spike damage much faster than if you, say, wore pieces from the Dusk Jerkin Set. At least that's the theory anyways... you'll have to decide what's best for you :p
Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost | Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost |
Main Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Body | Dragon Harness | 10K | Toci's Harness | Pil |
Off Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Hands | Kacura Mittens | 25K | Raider's Armlets +2 | AF3 |
Ranged | none | N/A | Raider's Boomerang | Kutharei | Ring 1 | Jupiter's Ring | Quest | Zilant Ring | Yilbegan |
Ammo | Thew Bomblet | 10K | none | N/A | Ring 2 | Jupiter's Ring | Quest | Rajas Ring | CoP |
Head | Deceit Mask | 10K | Oneiros Helm | Arch Overlord Tombstone | Back | Nifty Mantle | 5K | Nifty Mantle | 5K |
Neck | Spike Necklace | 10K | Love Torque | Jailer of Love | Waist | Warwolf Belt | 15K | Cuchulain's Belt | Plucking Wings |
Ear 1 | Coral Earring | 10K | Suppanomimi | Divine Might | Legs | Tumbler Trunks | 70K | Tumbler Trunks | 70K |
Ear 2 | Coral Earring | 10K | Thunder Pearl | 300K | Feet | Kacura Leggings | 20K | Kacura Leggings +1 | 2M |
TOTAL:
Baseline: STR +14, DEX +52, Attack +55, costs 200K
HQ: STR +32, DEX +69, Increases DEX modifier to Sneak Attack by 20%, Increases Critical Hit Damage +3%, Attack +53, Dagger Skill +7, Dual Wield -8% delay, costs 2.4M+
Trick Attack Set
This used to be a completely new set of equipment, but now it's basically your Exenterator set! Or, really, your Exenterator set is just taken from this.
Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost | Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost |
Main Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Body | Dragon Harness | 10K | Athos's Tabard | Botulus Rex |
Off Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Hands | Aurore Gloves | 3000 Cruor | Rogue's Armlets +1 | Limbus |
Ranged | none | N/A | Raider's Boomerang | Kutharei | Ring 1 | Solemn Ring | 35K | Stormsoul Ring | 1.1M |
Ammo | Thew Bomblet | 10K | none | N/A | Ring 2 | Breeze Ring | 60K | Stormsoul Ring | 1.1M |
Head | Bersail Cap | 40K | Ocelomeh Headpiece +1 | 7.5M | Back | Blithe Mantle | 10K | Atheling Mantle | Orthrus |
Neck | Arctier's Torque | 8K | Arctier's Torque | 8K | Waist | Crudelis Belt | 10K | Crudelis Belt | 10K |
Ear 1 | Drone Earring | 10K | Suppanomimi | Divine Might | Legs | Rogue's Culottes | AF1 Coffer | Ambusher's Hose | Karkadann |
Ear 2 | Drone Earring | 10K | Auster's Pearl | 4M | Feet | Lithe Boots | 5K | Raider's Poulaines +2 | AF3 |
TOTAL:
Baseline: STR +11, AGI +60, Attack +18, costs 210K
HQ: STR +5, AGI +84, Increases Critical Hit Damage +?%, Increase AGI modifier to Trick Attack by 15%, Attack +20, Dual Wield -8% delay, Haste +7%, costs 13.7M+
Ranged Set
Some might say you actually get two ranged sets, one for accuracy (landing status bolts) and one for DD (THF/RNG). I'd say the accuracy one is going to be used much much more; if you need a THF/RNG DD build you can take this build and add some +Ranged Attack, and switch to guns. Guns! For something completely different, THF/COR is now an option with Quick Draw, but now you're looking for AGI, ranged accuracy, Magic Accuracy, and MAB.
Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost | Slot | Baseline | Cost | HQ | Cost |
Main Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Body | Aurore Doublet | 5000 Cruor | Mextli Harness | Hahava |
Off Hand | DD dagger | N/A | DD dagger | N/A | Hands | Trigger Gloves | 5K | Alruna's Gloves | 200K |
Ranged | Thug's Zamburak | 10K | Ziska's Crossbow | 450K | Ring 1 | Arewe Ring | 45K | Arewe Ring +1 | 180K |
Ammo | none | N/A | none | N/A | Ring 2 | Arewe Ring | 45K | Arewe Ring +1 | 180K |
Head | Bersail Cap | 40K | Saika Hachimaki | Lacovie | Back | Libeccio Mantle | Brooder | Libeccio Mantle | Brooder |
Neck | Arctier's Torque | 8K | Arctier's Torque | 8K | Waist | Precise Belt | 50K | Buccaneer's Belt | 15K Therion Ichor |
Ear 1 | Drone Earring | 10K | Volley Earring | 10K | Legs | Aurore Brais | 3000 Cruor | Dusk Trousers | 30K |
Ear 2 | Drone Earring | 10K | Clearview Earring | Brulo | Feet | Lithe Boots | 5K | Praeda Sabatons | Balaur |
TOTAL:
Baseline: AGI +34, Ranged Accuracy +82, STR +4, Ranged Attack +18, costs 230K
HQ: AGI +15, Ranged Accuracy +129, STR +4, Ranged Attack +23, Marksmanship Skill +12, costs 1.1M+
Steal Set
There's no HQ here, there can be only one steal set!
Slot | Baseline | Cost | Slot | Baseline | Cost |
Main Hand | none | N/A | Body | none | N/A |
Off Hand | Bartholomew's Knife | Brigandish Blade ??? | Hands | Thief's Kote | 40K |
Ranged | none | N/A | Ring 1 | Rogue's Ring | 20K |
Ammo | none | N/A | Ring 2 | none | N/A |
Head | Rogue's Bonnet | AF | Back | none | N/A |
Neck | Rabbit Charm | 200K | Waist | Key Ring Belt | Bait and Switch |
Ear 1 | none | N/A | Legs | Assassin's Culottes | Dynamis - Beaucedine |
Ear 2 | none | N/A | Feet | Rogue's Poulaines | AF |
TOTAL:
Steal +15, Steal +18 when HP ≤ 75% and TP ≤ 100%, costs 260K
Utsusemi Set
There was a request for a pure Haste / Fast Cast set, but I decided to make it go poof! Want to make one? Take your TP set (which should have 20-26% haste!), swap out non-haste equipment for evasion equipment, and consider a few more pieces: Loquacious Earring, Magoraga Beads, and Homam Cosciales for Fast Cast. If that drops your haste too low, try Brego Gloves and Ballerines.
Substitutions
- NQ versions for pretty much any +1 item listed
- Alcide's Harness (evasion) or Loki's Kaftan (Exenterator WS, TA) for Athos's Tabard
- Loki's Kaftan for Toci's Harness
- Ungur Boomerang for Aliyat Chakram
- Loki's Kaftan or Skadi's Cuirie for Mextli Harness
Credits
Thanks to you all in LoA and HKS who helped me learn THF and gave me advice, and to Shamaya's LJ from whom I shamelessly stole a ton of ideas! Also, BG / FFXIAH for more equipment ideas and item statistics.