New Thief

[Rph]

Hi just wanted to stop in and say hello to all the thieves. If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated. I'm completely new to this game, I just started yesterday and am loving it so far. So once again any thief advice, or any advice in general would be nice! THanks!

[Vandle]

Re: New Thief

Just Stick to it!
And keep your Sub Job lvl'd. You'll understand later on.

[Rph]

Re: New Thief

Just by browsing through these forums I think I have an idea of what you are hinting at heh.

[Tokitoki]

Re: New Thief

And use Sword or Hand-to-Hand to start. Preferably Sword if you dont have a subjob yet ;p

[Rph]

Re: New Thief

Yeah i picked up a Sparta at DMG 9 until i can a better sword. Dagger is at skill 21, evasion at 22, and my sword is at 18. I hit lvl 10 last night and the evasion bonus in conjunction with the legionnares mittens really increases the amount of mobs i can kill before down time. Cant wait for 15 =)

[Ryddr]

Re: New Thief

Sounds like you're off to an amazing start to say the least.

[Rph]

Re: New Thief

Thanks! So far i love being a thief even if I havent been able to do any theif abilities, minus steal and evade them.

[Narutard]

Re: New Thief

oohhh hohoho you're gonna love 15.

[Rph]

Re: New Thief

One more level... Hope to get it today, not sure what luck I'll have. I just finally reached the infamous Dunes. Maybe i can pull my last level there.

[Theyaden]

Re: New Thief

I sugest carrying both dagger and sword at least through 30th level so you have more skillchain options and try to keep both skills leveled. Haven't used hand to hand but my sub has been war. You'll have to decide on if you want War, Mnk, Nin, or Sam for the sub.
Samuri later is sometimes used for quicker TP build, but when I tried it I quickly abandoned it in favor of warrior do to having lower strength
Warrior for Berserk and occasionaly provoke to save the Mages when the tank is having trouble with hate management. I don't advise if it isn't neccesary since thieves don't take damage as well as other jobs
Ninja- Haven't personally tried yet, but in comparison to warrior gives lower strength and hitpoints, but higher agility and dex plus two weapon fighting
This should give a rough idea on the stat differences
http://www.datasync.com/~dsmith/FFXIStats/

[Rph]

Re: New Thief

I am actually going to do an odd sub job, Bard sounds best... But DRG sounds good too. Yet I hate missing mobs... like badly, so i just might go RNG. Trying to stay out of the norm heh.

[Dryhus]

Re: New Thief

I am actually going to do an odd sub job, Bard sounds best... But DRG sounds good too. Yet I hate missing mobs... like badly, so i just might go RNG. Trying to stay out of the norm heh.

Okay, there needs to be some clarification.

/WAR 1-23 and /NIN 24-75 are indeed subs that most people would call "cookie-cutter". However, they became that way because they were so effective that pretty much everyone started to use them.

/WAR 1-23 offers Provoke and Physical Defense Bonus. 24-75 it offers Berserk, Defender, Warcry, Double Attack, Attack Bonus, and (of course) Resist Virus I and II. It is a viable sub until endgame regardless of the fact that it is neglected by most THFs. You must understand, however, that it won't help you as a puller.

/NIN 1-23 offers Stealth, Dual Wield, and (sigh) Resist Bind. 24-75 it offers Subtle Blow, Resist Bind II, Dual Wield II...but also Utsusemi: Ichi, Utsusemi: Ni, and Tonko. Utsusemi makes this a good sub. Because THF has no attack bonus and has relatively low STR as well as an A- in Dagger, it's clear they can do very good damage without the typical stats that are stacked with DDs. This is largely because of the fact that a) Dagger gets some very good weapon skill mods; and b) SATA is basically like a "DEX_100%, AGI_100%" secondary mod on every SATA'ed hit. This being said, you don't need to rely on a /WAR do help your damage; you can sub NIN for extra protection, especially on the pull. A+ Evasion and shadows for hits you don't dodge makes you very difficult to hit. Also, Dual Wield II is like a perma-Haste, which is nice for your already quick daggers.


/MNK is viable in very early levels (Valkurm Dunes) because at that level Boost+SA+Combo is insane, and if you're going to be using your E-skilled Hand-to-hand, you at least want to be attacking quickly, and Martial Arts I at lv1 MNK helps quite a bit. Base H2H delay is 480; with Martial Arts I it drops to 400

/DRG is viable 20-24 because you get an early Attack Bonus trait before the other subs really offer you much.

/RNG used to be situational, but since the ranged attack adjustment its value has dropped.

/BRD is never viable.

Please understand that using a never-used subjob is not being creative for the most part. People have tried it and it's pretty much always failed. You're just walking in their ill-trodden footsteps. If you want to try it, by all means go ahead, but don't avert yourself from going THF/NIN just because most people do it. Again, it is the most used because it has proved to be the most effective.

[Ziero]

Re: New Thief

Drg is great 20-30+ even up to 50 iirc due to wyvern gear, the attack bonus and Jump. Nin is 'ok' pre 50 as the delay reduction(it's not haste as your TP per swing is lowered) on dual wield is minor and shadows really aren't needed most of the time, especially after 30. Though it's still the best solo sub. War is 'ok' pre 30, as just like nin, it doesn't start getting good abilities till later. Your first good /war ability is Berserk, which helps DoT greatly, then at 50 you get double attack which is always nice to have. Mnk is great 15-30/33ish as SA(ta)+Combo is a powerful combination, and with mnk it means you'll get the delay reduction on H2H. Sam isn't really useful until 60, and even then it's situational. Rng is great 1-15 as it gives you SharpShot and ranged Weapon skills. At 20 it gives you a nice acc/racc bonus on top of sharpshot, but the ws become useless past 15 as they don't work with SA. Brd, like Whm and probably Blu, is ok 1-24 for soloing but not much else.

Everything has been done before. Everything has been tested and retested and retested time and time again. The 'best' subs stick out clearly and compete with each other, while other subs fall flat far behind the good ones. If you are trying to be 'unique' by choosing an odd SJ, then you won't succeed as all 'unique' combinations have been done to death already. Also add in the fact that your Subjob acts more like a piece of gear that is to be changed depending on the situation as opposed to a character defining trait and you'll see that your sub won't help you become 'unique'.

The best way to stand out (in the good way), to be considered one of a kind, a rare player that people will enjoy being with is to play at your best. This means proper subs, proper gear(It doesn't all have to be HQ or super expensive, just proper), and proper knowledge of how your job works and how to make it work with others. Doing this will cause people to go 'I remember him, he kicked ass' when they think of you.

[tdh]

Re: New Thief

I Sub'd RNG up to Lv.15. I was trying to do anything I could contribute to the party's damage. Then Lv.15 and Sneak Attack Fast Blade tried it's best to get my killed! Either way I was having a ton of fun! Keep it up. Took me forever to actually get to Lv.15, I solo'd most of it because I felt like a EXP leech.

[Tokitoki]

Re: New Thief

If you want to look up subs you can go to the thread pinned at the top of the thief forums. Some of the RNG sub discussion is outdated, infact I havent even looked at that in forever, but there is discussion about BRD sub and DRG sub.