How To Become a Succesful Thief

Although there may be better guides out there to specifically suite your needs, there are certain topics on which I feel a strong connection and would argue that perhaps I know at least a little bit about. Enough to write you a small How To on, well, How To be a better Thief. Both in practice, functionality and perhaps. A bit more simple and easier then both of those, is to tell you which gear is going to best suit your Rogue.

Now, some of things are going to be common knowledge, choices that have been generally accepted by the community at large. Others may perhaps be my own personal preference, but everything does have some type of rhyme or reason behind it.

Today, we're going to talk about gearing out your Level 75 Thief -- at a later date, perhaps, I'll go back and create a listing of gear for progression from early levels to later levels, but I'm going to assume that everyone's goal is to reach the level cap, even if you decide to smell flowers on the way.

Similar to when I made the mock post about how to pimp out your thief, I do believe to be the best you can be there are several different sets of gear you need to have. However, we're only going to go over the bare essentials for now and perhaps cover more of them at a later date.

Before we get into what equipment to best choose for your setup I like to make sure we're all on the same page as to what kinds of stats a Thief is going to want to look for. Your main stats are as follows; Dexterity, as it's a modifier for Sneak Attack, Dancing Edge, Evisceration and Shark Bite, as well as affects your accuracy and your critical hit rate; Agility, as it affects your Trick Attack; Strength, as it affects your damage and attacks on all levels. I'm personally of the opinion that Dexterity is always better then more Agility and that Sneak Attack will always out damage Trick Attack -- even with Rogue's Armlets +1 and with the most insane Agility Build, simply because your Dexterity works over time as a modifier for both Sneak Attack and your Weaponskills. Whereas with Agility and Trick Attack you'd need to make sacrifices and min\max between Agility and Dexterity. Also, for most of your career your going to want to eat Sole Sushi for the Accuracy (as well as the STR\DEX. Or Squid which has the same stats, but gives AGI instead of STR.), as you start to get more comfortable with your accuracy try switching to Marinara Pizza (which has Acc and Atk) but ideally, you should shoot for some type of meat. Red Curry is amazing for Atk, but also extremely expensive. With that out of the way, it's on with the show...

Choosing Main Hand Weapons and Off Hand Subs
There is of course, one general setup that any player knowledgeable in the ways of the Thief will tell you to use, but there are plenty of alternatives. Just keep in mind that most 'generally accepted' gear choices are such for a reason.

The Blau Dolch and the Sirocco Kukri, are going to be your best and most obtainable option for Main and Off Hand, respectively.

The Blau Dolch is very expensive, but has one of the highest damages and a very low delay as well as a hidden effect of Attack\Accuracy. The latent is active when your TP is below 100%, and because of the way Weaponskills work, this means it's also active during Weaponskills.

The Sirocco Kukri is about a 30% drop from the NM Kreutzet which is easily tanked by an Evasion Geared Ninja or Thief with decent support from a RDM or WHM. The main draw to the Sirocco Kukri is the 150 Delay, and the 100% Proc rate of the Wind Damage. It's not going to be amazing all the time, but on certain monsters it does do up to 10 damage each time.

However, if the Blau Dolch is out of your price range, or the Sirocco Kukri is out of your skill level other great alternatives are the Perseus' Harpe, Stylet, Misericorde (Or the +1).

If you can get your hands on it, however, outside of a Mythic or Relic Weapon, your best option for Main and Off Hand is going to be the X's Knife\Blau Dolch combo. This is going to take a significant amount of dedication and luck, though.

Some people may ask as to whether or not the Kraken Club or the Ridill would be a good off hand for Thief for TP gain. It's my opinion, that while both of these are very powerful pieces of gear they're really not as practical for Thief as they may be for other jobs. With the right gear and haste setup Thieves can attain a very fast rate of TP gain without the help of these two items. Unlike Samurai's, as an example, there isn't as big of a difference in our Weaponskills when we have over 100% TP. And since out biggest numbers are put out with the help of SA and TA, we have little use for using TP beyond those two Abilities. While, I'd never turn down a Ridill -- the only reason for that is that along with the 'Occasionally attacks two to three times' Ridill does have a decent base damage. The Kraken Club, however, for a Thief, would better serve as gil to get us better gear.

Top 5 Choices:
1. X's Knife
2. Blau Dolch
3. Perseus' Harpe
4. Sirocco Kukri
5. Stylet

Ranged And Ammo Slots
There are two aspects to Thief when choosing your Ranged\Ammo Slots. Partying and Soloing. Thief does have a decent skill in Marksmanship, and as such it gives us access to the ever popular Status Bolts. It's with these and a decent Ranged Accuracy Setup, that allows us to solo some monsters as good as we do. In a party setup, most monsters die to quick to worry about using Status bolts, not to mention we'll never be as good at it as mages are. So, I'd worry about using Ranged Weapons only when soloing or in extreme circumstances (Salvage, for example, is a great place to use Acid Bolts).

While I will be covering Soloing in a later post, some good Crossbows to watch out for are; Ziska's Crossbow and the Velocity Crossbow. Both of them have very, very low delay, and the Ziska's Crossbow has the most Ranged Accuracy availible on a Ranged Weapon.

In a party situation I recommend using Darts, or some other form of Ammo pulling device. This way you can macro in a Fire Bomblet for TP use and a Bomb Core, or Black Tathlum for Weaponskill. The first two being my own personal preference.

Top 5 Choices: (Crossbows excluded)
1. Fire Bomblet
2. Bomb Core
3. Black Tathlum

Head Slot
For TP Gain, you have several options; Optical Hat (Or even a Pahluwan Qalansuwa, a War Beret or the +1) is a good old fashion choice when you're just hitting the 70s and haven't got the merits or accuracy to make a solid haste setup yet. However, in the long run you're going to want to aim for a Walahra Turban, Denali Bonnet or Homam Zucchetto -- in that order. Though, really, it's a toss up between Denali and the Homam. I'd put the Skadi Visor in there somewhere as well, but with the Walahra Turban being better and infinitely more obtainable, there's not much reason too. Especially considering both the Denali and Homam would be a better choice.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Walahra Turban
2. Denali Bonnet
3. Homam Zucchetto
4. Skadi Visor
5. Optical Hat

As for your Trick Attack, a good solid piece that's easily obtainable is the Empress Hairpin, or the Dragon Cap. The Enkidu's Cap is also a solid piece of gear, but a bit harder to come by. I reccomend the Dragon Cap since it's got more Agility and a hit of Enmity. Keep in mind, my Trick Attack set is no where near where I'd like it to be, so there may be better options I'm not aware off so please feel free to let me know where I can improve on this particular aspect.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Dragon Cap
2. Enkidu's Cap
3. Empress Hairpin

As for your Weaponskill piece, I'm going to start with the best option and that's the Hecatomb Cap. Now, it does come HNMs and a lot of more casual endgame players just don't find themselves with the time to camp HNMs. However, the Neptunal Abjuration: Head is a very, very common drop and you'll often find that most HNM shells will part with it for a small fee (usually around 1 Million Gear) which is a very good price for a piece of gear you'll likely never replace. Next down the list is from the SCNM battle in La Vaule S, Gnadbhod's Helm, and your third best option and most easily obtained is the Assassin's Bonnet from Dynamis - Windurst. If you're just hitting 75 you're probably still wearing your Empress Hairpin, so get it replaced as quick as possible. Even the Skadi's Visor would be a better choice here, but again, based on the difficulty of Salvage you'll have better luck getting the Relic Hat or one of the previously mentioned.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Hecatomb Cap
2. Gnadbhod's Helm
3. Assassin's Bonnet
4. Skadi's Visor
5. Empress Hairpin

Necklaces and other jewelry
The obvious choice is the Love Torque, every Thieves wet dream, I know. But, it's also a drop from the highest tier Sea NM. So, while you're waiting, you should look into perhaps buying a Peacock Charm or camping a Peacock Amulet. Some of the less expensive\time intensive options are the Chivalrous Chain. Those are your best TP options.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Love Torque
2. Peacock Charm or Peacock Amulet
3. Chivalrous Chain

As for TA, look for something with Agility -- your best bet is going to be a Hope Torque, but good luck getting that for TA over a job that is going to utilize it a whole lot better.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Hope Torque

As for Weaponskills, your best option is going to be looking into the Weaponskill Sea Gorgets from the quest In The Name of Science, Dancing Edge and Shark Bite are the Breeze Gorget and Evisceration is the Shadow Gorget. Now, if you're a creationist and don't quite beleive in stuff like Gorgets or Science, then a Love Torque will work great as a Weaponskill piece too, other cheaper alternatives are the Kubira Bead Necklace or the Spike Necklace.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Breeze Gorget and Shadow Gorget
2. Love Torque
3. Kubira Bead Necklace
4. Spike Necklace

Equipping your Ears with rings
For your best options, you're going to need to have quite a bit of the Story content done, by this I mean Rise of the Zilart and Chain's of Promathia. Because your best option for TP comes from both -- Brutal Earring and the Suppanomimi. The Hollow Earring and Ethereal Earring are both good choices too, in that order. If you can't get any of these for TP, you can always go for something simple like Coral Earrings. It's unfortunate we don't get any real good accuracy earrings outside of these, but it's a curse most jobs have to deal with.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Suppanomimi
2. Brutal Earring
3. Hollow Earring
4. Ethereal Earring
5. Coral Earrings

For TA, get some Wing Earrings or Drone Earrings, they're both extremely cheap.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Drone Earrings
2. Wing Earrings

For Weaponskill, you have quite a few options. I opt to keep my Brutal Earring in since it's a 5% Double Attack rate and the chance of a double attack procing is very high. As for your other ear, look into one of these choices; Pixie Earring, Delta Earring, Melnina's Earring (Elvaan Only), Adroit Earring.

Now, I'll probably get a few people questioning my choice on the Delta Earring. But, since I never stack SA with TA anymore, you don't need Enmity for SA so it's not really a concern and since Charisma is a modifier for Dancing Edge, it's a win\win situation.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Delta Earring
2. Pixie Earring
3. Melnina's Earring
4. Adroit Earring

Body Armor
Alright, here is where things start to get fun for our gil purses! The best option all around is going to be the Skadi's Cuirie. It's got absolutely everything you will ever need. It's only downfall, is in a haste setup, it's not the best choice, but it's still an amazing addition even to that. I'd wear it over the Rapparee Harness any day of the week because you may not be hitting as often, but whats the point of swinging faster if you're not going to hit? However, the Rapparee Harness is still a very good piece, make sure you have the accuracy to back it up, because it really hurts loosing the +10 Accuracy you'd get from a piece like the Scorpion Harness (or the Pahluwan Khazagand) which is what you'll probably wear until you're at least using Marinara Pizza. Ideally, you'll want the Homam Corazza though, it has an insane amount of Accuracy and Triple Attack to boot. Another excellent option, which, I would put above the Skadi's Cuirie for TP gain is the newly added Mirke wardecors, put Accuracy +10 and Dual Wield +3% on that and you're in business. With /nin and a Suppanomimi you're looking at somewhere around 23% Dual Wield on top of whatever your haste setup is and of course your Triple Attack and Double Attack.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Mirke wardecors (with Accuracy\Dual Wield)
2. Homam Corazza
3. Skadi's Cuirie
4. Rapparee Harness
5. Scorpion Harness or Pahluwan Khazagand

For TA, your best piece is going to be Nyzul Isles Denali Jacket, however, Skadi's Cuirie is a close second and until both of those I'd stick with a Dragon Harness.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Denali Jacket
2. Skadi's Cuirie
3. Dragon Harness

Now, your options open up a bit more here for Weaponskill and as such we also get a chance to get very specific. At the very minimum, you should use Dragon Harness. However, if you get the option grab a c from Kirin's Neptunal Abjuration: Body and use that for Dancing Edge since it has Accuracy +10 on it. I'd personally, still use Dragon Harness for Shark Bite -- but what you should really be aiming for is the Skadi's Cuirie. A nice alternative to all three of these is using the Mirke wardecors with Attack +10 and Accuracy +10, it basically becomes a Skadi's Cuirie ver .5 at this point. If you can get your hands on an Enkidu's Harness, this might serve as an alternative as well, but being as it has no Dexterity, you're losing out on both Sneak Attack and Weaponskill modifiers.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Skadi's Cuirie
2. Mirke wardecors (with Accuracy and Attack)
3. Hecatomb Harness
4. Dragon Harness
5. Enkidu's Harness

Different gloves for different jobs
I'm going to start off with TA options -- there is really only one option for Trick Attack, get the Rogue's Armlets +1. With as good as these gloves are they get exponetially better the more Agility you stack since they increase the damage modifier by 15%. There are other gloves (Dragon Mittens or Skadi's Bazuabands) you can use until you get these, but you should at some point make sure to get these.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Rogue's Armlets +1
2. Dragon Mittens
3. Skadi's Bazuabands

For TP, you're absolute best piece of gear is going to be Homam Manopolas for the Haste and the Accuracy. Any melee will tell you the two best stats are Haste and Accuracy, but the only piece of gear that gives both of these is Homam and as such, it should be a top priority. An alternative and your second choice should be Dusk Gloves, they haven't got any accuracy but you can make up for this with food or in other slots. If you can't afford Dusk Gloves, find something with Accuracy, my suggestion would be Pahluwan Dastanas, War Gloves or the +1 version, or better yet, Enkidu's Mittens.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Homam Manopolas
2. Dusk Gloves
3. Enkidu's Mittens
4. War Gloves
5. Pahluwan Dastanas

As for Weaponskill, you'll want to aim for Hecatomb Mittens over all. Personally, I use Hecatomb Mittens for Shark Bite and Enkidu's Mittens for Dancing Edge and Evisceration. Overall, though, I think Hecatomb is your best choice. Skadi's Bazubands aren't bad, but they could use some Dexterity and since the previous two are easier to option it's a no brainer. If you're just hitting 75, Rogue's Armlets are alright to be wearing for now, but you should get them replaced as soon as you can as the other options are significantly better.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Hecatomb Mittens
2. Enkidu's Mittens
3. Skadi's Bazubands
4. Rogue's Armlets

Rings and Trinkets, but mostly Rings
There is a wide array of rings here, and most of them are pretty expensive, but all of them are entirely worth it. We'll start with TP; now, personally I've never used Accuracy rings on my Thief and I never really had a problem. But, nonetheless, for TP gain you're probably going to want to look into Sniper's Rings. Because Dexterity affects accuracy, you could technically main dexterity rings but you'll get more benefit out of straight accuracy. If you have Chains of Promathia done, the benefits of Rajas ring are great enough to keep that equiped at all times. The Ulthalam Ring is also a very, very good choice from the end of the Treasures of Aht Urghan expansion.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Sniper's Rings
2. Ulthalam Ring
3. Rajas ring

For TA get the most agility on your rings that you can. Emerald Ring is Cheap but good, Breeze Ring is the best.

Top 5 choices:
1. Breeze Ring
2. Emerald Ring

For Weaponskill you're going to want Rajas Ring all the time, if you're in the appropriate zone the Ulthalam's Ring as well -- otherwise, but a high Dexterity Ring beside your Rajas. Spinel Ring if you're being cheap and Thunder Ring if you have the gil.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Rajas Ring
2. Thunder Ring
3. Spinel Ring

Note: Since the introduction of the Augments system and A Crystilline Prophecy you can use the Ebon Key rewarded from completing the final mission to attain a random Level 74 Ring, such as the Spinel, or Emerald Ring. There have some reports of people receiving anywhere from +1-+3 of a particular stat on the ring. If it's random, which some beleive it is, then it's theoretically possible to get a Spinel Ring with +2 or 3 Dex, or Str even on it. So, if you have the means to obtain Ebon Keys on a regular basis it wouldn't be a detriment to do so.

Cloaks for your Daggers
There is unfortunately, no cloaks or capes out there with Haste and there are very little with Accuracy as well. If you're an avid assaulter then I would look into trying to attain the Aileron Mantle, better then that, however, since it doubles as the best Weaponskill piece is the Cuchulain's Mantle. Beyond those, the better back pieces don't give anything that directly attributes to faster TP gain, but are still well worth the money. In order from best to not the best they are; Forager's Mantle, Cerberus Mantle, Amemet Mantle +1.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Cuchulain's Mantle
2. Aileron Mantle
3. Forager's Mantle
4. Cerberus Mantle
5. Amemet Mantle +1

For Trick Attack you'll want to look into something along the lines of an Assassin's Cape or a Commander's Cape -- both of which are also going to double as our alternatives for Weaponskill when you can't afford Cuchulain's Mantle. Personally, I use the Assassin's Cape -- though, I suppose it's debatable if three STR would outweight one DEX. Since you're using SA and DE though, that 1 DEX is doing twice the work...so I would stick with an Assassin's Cape.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Cuchulain's Mantle
2. Assassin's Cape
3. Commander's Cape

Utility Belts
Starting with your TP options; your best choice if you have the time, dedication and luck is going to be the ever amazing Velocious Belt. If thats a bit out of your league, you cannot afford to pass up on the Swift Belt. Until you get a Swift Belt, however, you can use a Potent Belt just fine, or even the ever cheap Life Belt as a last resort.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Velocious Belt
2. Swift Belt
3. Potent Belt
4. Life Belt

For TA scoop up a Scouter's Rope as it will double in your Evasion Setup,

For Weaponskill, you have a bit of a judgement call to make here; both the Cuchulain's Belt and the Warwolf belt are very good choices. And one is only 5,000g compared to the nearly 1 Million gil price tag on the second. I use the Cuchulain's Belt myself sine it has one more Dexterity and 10 attack, whereas the Warwolf gives 5 STR, and thats only half the attack in the long run.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Cuchulain's Bel
2. Warwolf belt

Pants and Subligars
Yes, I know...Subligars, bleh...they're a nessicary evil the world of thieves though. We'll start with TP -- you're absolutely best option is going to be Skadi's Chausses. They have Accuracy, Haste and Store TP+7. They're simply beautiful. Just barely below them on the list you have Homam Cosciales for the same reasons, minus the Store TP. You should make getting either of these your number one priority. If you have the money to spend the Bravo's Subligar is a very good piece that has a tad bit of haste and is very low level -- until then, just put on something with accuracy. I use Pahluwan Seraweels, myself. In all honesty, Enkidu's Subligar is a good TP piece if you dont have haste and don't need accuracy because of the Store TP, but the things are just so damn ugly. It's up to you -- but get one of the first two mentioned.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Skadi's Chausses
2. Homam Cosciales
3. Bravo's Subligar
4. Enkidu's Subligar
5. Pahluwan Seraweels

For TA, nothing beats the good old Rogue's Culottes! I'm sure there is something better with more Agility, but +4 is still pretty good.

For Weaponskill you'll want to start off with Dragon Subligar since it's cheap and readily availible. As your options expand, you can hunt down Enkidu's Subligar, or aim for the big golden ring, the king of them all -- Hecatomb Subligar. Now, this is going to be a bit harder to buy from an HNM shell, so Einhjerar might be a good option if you don't have the time to dedicate to HNM camping.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Hecatomb Subligar
2. Enkidu's Subligar
3. Dragon Subligar

Boots, Shoes and Leggings
We're going to talk about WS first because I have a very important point to make: It is NOT ok to still be wearing your Leaping Boots or Bounding Boots at this point in the game. Especially when you have access to Dragon Leggings, at the very least. Pick up a pair of those. You want to aim for the Hecatomb Leggings -- but there are a few options on your way up; Pahluwan Crackows for example, Enkidu Leggings are great for TP and WS alike. Now, with that out of the way...

Top 5 Choices:
1. Hecatomb Leggings
2. Enkidu Leggings
3. Dragon Leggings
4. Pahluwan Crackows

For TA, you can probably use whatever your using for WS -- Dragon Leggings and Enkidu's Leggings both have some good AGI and Attack on them, Dragon even has some Enmity.

For Haste, and this will round out our TP Set and our guide -- you want to aim for Homam Gambieras. Enkidu's Leggings and Dusk Ledselsens will make a nice alterantive until you can get them though. If you can't manage anything with haste, Accuracy is your next best friend. Pahluwan Crackow have some, Skadi's Jambeaux have some, hell, even Cobra Leggings have some. Just find whatever has the most and make sure to keep working towards your Homam.

Top 5 Choices:
1. Homam Gambieras
2. Enkidu's Leggings
3. Pahluwan Crackow
4. Skadi's Jambeaux
5. Cobra Leggings

Conclusion
So, all in all, what you should've noticed is this -- For TP gain, get as much Haste as you can but make sure you have the Accuracy to back it up. Double and Triple Attack is amazing, so push that in where can to be more awesome.

For Weaponskills, focus as much as Dex as you can since it doubles on Sneak Attack and Weaponskills -- but make sure to include some Accuracy for Multi-hits.

Any questions, concerns or feel like I've left something out? Feel free to comment. Otherwise, enjoy or piss off. <3

Note:
The Top 5 Choices does not ALWAYS apply, you should chose what equipment is best for you based on the performance of your gear as one. As an example, If you're missing a lot even with Sushi, do not swap Scorpion Harness out for Rapparee Harness.

Updates:
5/4/2009 Added the "Top 5 Choices" to each section. Added Bravo's Subligar.