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Updated: 7/26/07
Terms:
PT = Party
SA = Sneak Attack
TA = Trick Attack
WS = Weapon Skill
DoT = Damage Over Time
NM = Notorius Monster
HNM = Hyper? Notorius Monster (Harder NM? I don't know what the dang H stands for!)
AoE = Area of Effect
Basic Jobs:
Monk;
Good sub to use if you decide Hand-to-hand is your choice for your weapon before Viper Bite. The Martial Arts delay reductions aren't spectacular but they get the job done. The DoT suffers a bit compared to sword, but the spike damage with SA+Combo has the potential to be higher than SA+Fast Blade.
Warrior;
This should be the sub you choose if you are using a Sword pre-Viper Bite. It is also one of the two subs you will be using for anything higher up.
After 30 you gain Berserk which will increase both DoT and WS damage.
After 50 you gain Double Attack which again increases DoT and potential WS damage.
Stack these two abilities with Triple Attack at level 55 and you have a DoT monster (as far as Thieves go).
I generally use this sub for HNMs where I will be allowed to melee or will gain TP before the fight. The initial damage from a good SATAWS with Berserk and Warcry are nothing that can be simply shaken off.
White Mage;
Can be used for initial low-level experience (soloing only, using it in a PT at any level is not a good idea). It can also be used for questing, coffer hunting, etc where sneak and invisible are handy to have.
Black Mage;
Serves no real purpose in an experience PT situation. You could sub it for Warp if you are doing some traveling, but it is otherwise a useless sub.
Red Mage;
This would be used in a similar situation as WHM. It can be used for Sneak and Invisible but should not be used in a situation outside of that really.
Advanced Jobs:
Paladin;
Can be used for the initial soloing, much like White Mage. It has lower MP, but offers a smaller HP bonus compared to White Mage. Again, not party friendly.
Dark Knight;
This sub job can be used in various places. One of the main places someone may see this used is small HNM. If you are looking for higher WS numbers than /Warrior then you can stack on Souleater and do some damage.
This, however, does not make it a very practical PT sub. Last Resort is weaker and shorter than Berserk. Souleater takes your HP. You don't have enough MP or magic skill to do anything worthwhile either.
It would lose out in DoT to Ninja and Warrior sub jobs, and should really only be used for the random event where you feel like pushing up WS damage a bit.
Ninja;
This and Warrior are by far the most popular subs, but this one definitely has the majority of the Thief player base.
The ability to dual-wield daggers has always appealed to people. There is a small increase in attack speed (10%), but at the cost of less TP per hit.
Originally this sub was used with a high damage dagger in teh main hand and a fast/stat buffing dagger in the offhand to try to be as fast as posible. A while ago Square-Enix removed the "TP Floor" of 5% per hit which Thieves exploited so well. This decreased the speed that Thieves gained TP and people started looking at using two balanced damage daggers with a relatively low speed that gives respectable DoT.
Ninja is still a good sub to use and will in no way "gimp" your play. Utsusemi helps with damage mitigation while pulling and from some AoEs, Dual Wield gets enhanced again at 50Thief (25Ninja) to give a 15% delay reduction as well. It is in general the sub you will be using while pulling flee-speed or fast-moving mobs or in cases where the camp has monsters that do an AoE that your shadows could block. Otherwise I would suggest Warrior.
Ranger;
This was really coming along before the "Ranger nerf" way back, and then lost its flavor. When S-E decided to change the Ranged Accuracy and Attack penalties based on distance and level again recently this sub could be argued.
After level 20 subbing Ranger is a good plan. There is a natural accuracy bonus, much like Dragoon, that will effect both your melee and ranged attacks. When you are able to land Acid Bolts on the monster you are fighting it can only further help your party, though you don't have to be subbing Ranger to do this.
Once you hit 30 it would be better to sub Warrior, though, as the perks of this sub are outdone by Berserk.
Summoner;
Just no. That's all that needs to be said.
Samurai;
Recently there have been a few changes made to Samurai which gives them Hasso (an ability that gives a 10% delay reduction, accuracy bonus, and STR bonus) and Seigan (allows Third eye to anticipate multiple attacks or counter, and reduces the Third Eye timer from 1 minute to 30 seconds).
Unfortunately at the same time it didn't help Thief much. Hasso and Seigan can only be used when using a two-handed weapon, which Thief can use a grand total of 0 (useful, level-appropriate ones at least). It also increased the recast time of Third Eye to 1 minute from 30 Seconds unless Seigan is in use. The only thing that really helped Thief (arguably) is the lowering of the level that the trait Zanshin is learned. But again, Zanshin is just a Double Attack that can go off only when you miss, so not much going on there.
Meditate can still be used the same way. It still gives up to 60TP per use when subbed, but is not the most useful in PTs because there are not many more benefits that come with the job.
Can be used for HNM where you won't be meleeing or gaining TP beforehand.
Beastmaster;
Can be used as a sub to solo pretty well. The theory is (and I don't really know if it has been proven, sorry) that (Beastmaster job level + Main job level)/2= the level you can charm at. This would still need a good amount of CHR and probably a Light Staff if 51+ to pull off well. I have never actually tried it, but some people say it works well so go ahead and see for yourself, but only in a solo situation.
Bard;
Can be subbed in the dunes if you don't have anything else to sub or believe that the single song and inability to use instruments is worthwhile. Sword Madrigal is 12Bard I believe, which leaves you with pretty much just Minuet1 and Paeon.
Arguments for and against this sub have been posted in the following pages. If the sub interests you, read on.
Dragoon;
I have seen it used before. Jumps give you the ability to gain a bit more TP every few minutes. Jump is level 10 Dragoon, High Jump is level 35 Dragoon so the best time to use this would be between 20 and 30 Thief. After that the other jobs take over usefulness. There is an Accuracy Bonus trait at level 30 Dragoon, but I would not suggest subbing it that late into the game.
ToAU Advanced Jobs:
Blue Mage;
Again this would be a solo-type sub I believe. You have very little MP, a restriction on the spells you could use because you must equip them, and the damage from the spells would be significantly lower because it is based on Blue Magic skill. If you are afraid of killing yourself after a SAWS, Cocoon gives a large bonus to Defense, but again there are better subs out there.
Corsair;
Nothing to really add to the Thief job at all. At level 5 Corsair you gain access to Corsair's Roll which gives an experience points bonus to all PT members in range, but is also dependant on the number that you roll. I guess you could see this as a way to boost exp/hr in a less than stellar party, but it doesn't offer anything past that.
Puppetmaster;
This one may be a sensitive subject since a lot of people enjoy the Puppetmaster job, but others think it is totally useless.
First, you will need to equip your Automaton with different Attachments for it to gain any abilities. You have to activate these attachments using the Animator item, which menas you are not able to use any kind of ranged weapon. Already the Puppetmaster is not turning out to be a very good sub.
Many people have said that Puppetmaster sub could be used for skilling up weapons, but for Thieves, Ninja can do that just as well if not better. A Thief's evasion combined with the shadows from Utsusemi and status bolts make soloing easy so the Automaton does not have much of an advantage over a large MP pool with the correct attachments.
That is all I have for now at least. Any new feedback is apperciated.
Terms:
PT = Party
SA = Sneak Attack
TA = Trick Attack
WS = Weapon Skill
DoT = Damage Over Time
NM = Notorius Monster
HNM = Hyper? Notorius Monster (Harder NM? I don't know what the dang H stands for!)
AoE = Area of Effect
Basic Jobs:
Monk;
Good sub to use if you decide Hand-to-hand is your choice for your weapon before Viper Bite. The Martial Arts delay reductions aren't spectacular but they get the job done. The DoT suffers a bit compared to sword, but the spike damage with SA+Combo has the potential to be higher than SA+Fast Blade.
Warrior;
This should be the sub you choose if you are using a Sword pre-Viper Bite. It is also one of the two subs you will be using for anything higher up.
After 30 you gain Berserk which will increase both DoT and WS damage.
After 50 you gain Double Attack which again increases DoT and potential WS damage.
Stack these two abilities with Triple Attack at level 55 and you have a DoT monster (as far as Thieves go).
I generally use this sub for HNMs where I will be allowed to melee or will gain TP before the fight. The initial damage from a good SATAWS with Berserk and Warcry are nothing that can be simply shaken off.
White Mage;
Can be used for initial low-level experience (soloing only, using it in a PT at any level is not a good idea). It can also be used for questing, coffer hunting, etc where sneak and invisible are handy to have.
Black Mage;
Serves no real purpose in an experience PT situation. You could sub it for Warp if you are doing some traveling, but it is otherwise a useless sub.
Red Mage;
This would be used in a similar situation as WHM. It can be used for Sneak and Invisible but should not be used in a situation outside of that really.
Advanced Jobs:
Paladin;
Can be used for the initial soloing, much like White Mage. It has lower MP, but offers a smaller HP bonus compared to White Mage. Again, not party friendly.
Dark Knight;
This sub job can be used in various places. One of the main places someone may see this used is small HNM. If you are looking for higher WS numbers than /Warrior then you can stack on Souleater and do some damage.
This, however, does not make it a very practical PT sub. Last Resort is weaker and shorter than Berserk. Souleater takes your HP. You don't have enough MP or magic skill to do anything worthwhile either.
It would lose out in DoT to Ninja and Warrior sub jobs, and should really only be used for the random event where you feel like pushing up WS damage a bit.
Ninja;
This and Warrior are by far the most popular subs, but this one definitely has the majority of the Thief player base.
The ability to dual-wield daggers has always appealed to people. There is a small increase in attack speed (10%), but at the cost of less TP per hit.
Originally this sub was used with a high damage dagger in teh main hand and a fast/stat buffing dagger in the offhand to try to be as fast as posible. A while ago Square-Enix removed the "TP Floor" of 5% per hit which Thieves exploited so well. This decreased the speed that Thieves gained TP and people started looking at using two balanced damage daggers with a relatively low speed that gives respectable DoT.
Ninja is still a good sub to use and will in no way "gimp" your play. Utsusemi helps with damage mitigation while pulling and from some AoEs, Dual Wield gets enhanced again at 50Thief (25Ninja) to give a 15% delay reduction as well. It is in general the sub you will be using while pulling flee-speed or fast-moving mobs or in cases where the camp has monsters that do an AoE that your shadows could block. Otherwise I would suggest Warrior.
Ranger;
This was really coming along before the "Ranger nerf" way back, and then lost its flavor. When S-E decided to change the Ranged Accuracy and Attack penalties based on distance and level again recently this sub could be argued.
After level 20 subbing Ranger is a good plan. There is a natural accuracy bonus, much like Dragoon, that will effect both your melee and ranged attacks. When you are able to land Acid Bolts on the monster you are fighting it can only further help your party, though you don't have to be subbing Ranger to do this.
Once you hit 30 it would be better to sub Warrior, though, as the perks of this sub are outdone by Berserk.
Summoner;
Just no. That's all that needs to be said.
Samurai;
Recently there have been a few changes made to Samurai which gives them Hasso (an ability that gives a 10% delay reduction, accuracy bonus, and STR bonus) and Seigan (allows Third eye to anticipate multiple attacks or counter, and reduces the Third Eye timer from 1 minute to 30 seconds).
Unfortunately at the same time it didn't help Thief much. Hasso and Seigan can only be used when using a two-handed weapon, which Thief can use a grand total of 0 (useful, level-appropriate ones at least). It also increased the recast time of Third Eye to 1 minute from 30 Seconds unless Seigan is in use. The only thing that really helped Thief (arguably) is the lowering of the level that the trait Zanshin is learned. But again, Zanshin is just a Double Attack that can go off only when you miss, so not much going on there.
Meditate can still be used the same way. It still gives up to 60TP per use when subbed, but is not the most useful in PTs because there are not many more benefits that come with the job.
Can be used for HNM where you won't be meleeing or gaining TP beforehand.
Beastmaster;
Can be used as a sub to solo pretty well. The theory is (and I don't really know if it has been proven, sorry) that (Beastmaster job level + Main job level)/2= the level you can charm at. This would still need a good amount of CHR and probably a Light Staff if 51+ to pull off well. I have never actually tried it, but some people say it works well so go ahead and see for yourself, but only in a solo situation.
Bard;
Can be subbed in the dunes if you don't have anything else to sub or believe that the single song and inability to use instruments is worthwhile. Sword Madrigal is 12Bard I believe, which leaves you with pretty much just Minuet1 and Paeon.
Arguments for and against this sub have been posted in the following pages. If the sub interests you, read on.
Dragoon;
I have seen it used before. Jumps give you the ability to gain a bit more TP every few minutes. Jump is level 10 Dragoon, High Jump is level 35 Dragoon so the best time to use this would be between 20 and 30 Thief. After that the other jobs take over usefulness. There is an Accuracy Bonus trait at level 30 Dragoon, but I would not suggest subbing it that late into the game.
ToAU Advanced Jobs:
Blue Mage;
Again this would be a solo-type sub I believe. You have very little MP, a restriction on the spells you could use because you must equip them, and the damage from the spells would be significantly lower because it is based on Blue Magic skill. If you are afraid of killing yourself after a SAWS, Cocoon gives a large bonus to Defense, but again there are better subs out there.
Corsair;
Nothing to really add to the Thief job at all. At level 5 Corsair you gain access to Corsair's Roll which gives an experience points bonus to all PT members in range, but is also dependant on the number that you roll. I guess you could see this as a way to boost exp/hr in a less than stellar party, but it doesn't offer anything past that.
Puppetmaster;
This one may be a sensitive subject since a lot of people enjoy the Puppetmaster job, but others think it is totally useless.
First, you will need to equip your Automaton with different Attachments for it to gain any abilities. You have to activate these attachments using the Animator item, which menas you are not able to use any kind of ranged weapon. Already the Puppetmaster is not turning out to be a very good sub.
Many people have said that Puppetmaster sub could be used for skilling up weapons, but for Thieves, Ninja can do that just as well if not better. A Thief's evasion combined with the shadows from Utsusemi and status bolts make soloing easy so the Automaton does not have much of an advantage over a large MP pool with the correct attachments.
That is all I have for now at least. Any new feedback is apperciated.
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