What weapon is best for thief

[711rocks]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

It's easy to keep sword, dagger, and h2h capped as you level to 33. Didn't anyone else switch? D: Gives you some versatility too if you have a good pt that can do SCs in the 20s. After ToAU now I wouldn't be at all surprised though if the jungles now have a bunch of 28mnk/14nins trying to TP burn with their hax combos and one-inch punches.

Edit: and don't give me bs about no acc either, I did that back in the day when the only food people ate were kabobs or pies. Not to mention ffxi has added better gear since back then.

[Armando]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

I've leveled both ways with 4 Thf characters now, and always, has Thf/Mnk outperformed Thf/War for Dmg, TP, and SA-Weaponskill. I've done it on Mithra, Hume, Galka and Mithra and results always came out the same that Thf/Mnk allowed me to do more for my pt than /war.

I generally don't recycle posts, but this is the reason why H2H isn't that good.

Let's see, at Level 18 your options, within reasonable availability, are...

Baselard:
DMG: 08 | Delay: 186 | DMG/sec: 2.58
HQ version not considered due to rarity.

Flame Sword:
DMG: 16 | Delay: 218 | DMG/sec: 4.40
Attack -8, Accuracy -8 compared to daggers.

H2H base DMG (@46 skill): 8
H2H Delay @MA1: 400
Republic Knuckles:
DMG: 14 | Delay: 476 | DMG/sec (per hand): 3.53
Attack -8, Accuracy -9 compared to daggers (+stats already taken into account.)

The winner is Flame Sword. -8 Acc/Atk can be painful, but not only does it boast stronger WS than daggers, it has 171% the Baselard's DMG/sec. There's just no way that +8 Acc/Attack can make up for 71% more damage over time on the Flame Sword. H2H wins in WS damage, but the fact that Flame Sword has 125% more DMG/sec makes me question its ability to come out on top for overall damage. Still, if you need Fusion, it's an option. Without Martial Arts, your Delay shoots up to 480+76, rendering your DMG/sec ridiculously low.

You won't see a new, better, purchasable sword 'til Gladius/Gladiator at 27, which only has 4.47/4.58 DMG/sec. On the other hand (no pun intended...ok, just a bit) H2H doesn't see too much improvement during that level stretch, either. Daggers are still seriously trailing behind in DMG/sec 'til 24, but then pick up significantly at 25 with Federation Knife (DMG/sec 4.22, Acc+2, Attack+5.) Add on +25% damage from hitting piercing-weak mandies, and you're golden.

Personally, I'd say THF/WAR or /MNK with a Flame Sword would be best from 18-19, THF/RNG or THF/NIN with Flame Swords from 20-24, and THF/RNG or THF/NIN with Federation Knives from 25-29. At 30, as you all know, Berserk becomes available on /WAR.

[Spider-Dan]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

I think the main argument for H2H is that Combo is stronger than Fast Blade. This is true, but ignores the fact that at low-mid levels THF's normal hits can still be pretty respectable (especially on non-crabs), and skill caps favor sword or dagger - you'll hit with more normal swings, doing more damage and gaining more TP, so more of your Sneak Attacks will be combined with a WS.

The skill difference between sword and H2H is pretty insignificant. For example, at LV15, the ATK/ACC bonuses on a pair of Kingdom Cesti put H2H above sword (given that there is no viable sword at the same level with ATK or ACC bonuses).

I know the common attitude of disdain towards low-level /NIN, but in the case of THF, it's worth considering. You can mainhand a sword for decent SA+WS and offhand a dagger for improved TP gain (plus bonuses, in the case of something like Fed. Knife).

[John Doe III]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

Inless your gear is pretty horrible, then lower level TP gaining isn't so much of something to worry about constantly anyways. You will either hit or miss. Thief/monk while using H2H is by far the best choice to 33 depending on what you are fighting and what the renkei is.

[Yosena]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

Even though everyone says daggers suck, with my 29 thf I can't help but keep preferring them. The natural 10 atk/acc that I have at this level from skill alone, and the +2 daggers available at level 25, and that a lot of groups fight mandragora-type monsters makes dagger look really good. Yeah, SA + fast blade can do distortion, but a 100% TP SA + fast blade usually does about as much damage as a non-weapon skill dagger SA (on piercing-weak monsters). Gust slash seems to do pretty decent damage by itself too, and my TP goes up a lot faster with a dagger- less misses, and less hits for 0. Trying to use a sword and trying to chain with a class using their primary weapon can really suck especially on high IT.

[Malacite]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

Dagger and Crossbow (Acid Bolts)

[hongman]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

I vote Sword till ViperBite lvls.... Sneak Attack + Fast Blade is pretty much consistent with good Damage over time.

H2H...I would avoid, especially a new player who may not have the Gil for the slightly "better gear", and the higher up you go, the more noticeable it will be, as THF has E if I remember right in H2H.

[DakAttack]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

At around 25 Daggers are fine. You should be able to SA Shadowbind for as much as Fast Blade.

[Malacite]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

Okay, I'll explain my choices a little better;


You'll want to keep dagger capped at every level since it will be your main weapon from 33 and on. That said, you should also use a sword. While Sneak Attack + Combo will do higher damage than SA + Fast Blade, sword will gain TP faster and do more damage over all because of the difference in skill ratings.

Armando tested this to death in a previous thread and it was found that sword does win out in the end despite lower potential WS damage. Keep in mind that for SA Combo to beat out Fast Blade all 3 hits need to land, which can be difficult given THF's E (the lowest possible) rank in Hand to Hand. (Sword is D)

Personally I found eating meat and using dagger from lv 1 on was just fine since THF has an A- rank in dagger and therefor much more accuracy and attack than with say a sword. Gust Slash usually does decent damage on it's own and so I just used Sneak Attack by itself (I actually found that using fast blade and sneak attack separately rather than together did more damage over all)


Keep marksmanship handy too. You'll have to level another job like WAR or RNG to keep it capped until you can use it though, since the first bolts THF can use (and the most useful) are acid bolts at level 16. Since the job has no way to actually skill up marksmanship until then (unless you want to use a gun and those really crappy bullets) you'll need WAR or RNG to keep it capped until you can use them on THF.

You only have a C+ rating in marksmanship on THF, but it's usually enough (especially with sushi) to land those bolts for -12.5% defense. This is *very* helpful by the way, especially against mobs like crab that use defense up moves (the acid bolt replaces their defense up with the def down so it's a great pre-dispel tool!)

[Armando]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

(I actually found that using fast blade and sneak attack separately rather than together did more damage over all)

This shouldn't be so; the way the damage formulas work, SAWS + Normal hit is slightly stronger than WS + SA Normal hit.

[Razoul]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

I always figured that DW Mithran Scimitar for the +6 Dex was the best bet till viper bite.

[Malacite]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

This shouldn't be so; the way the damage formulas work, SAWS + Normal hit is slightly stronger than WS + SA Normal hit.

Well that's how it always worked for me at least. But then I'm am Elvaan with LOLDEX so who knows.

[711rocks]

Re: What weapon is best for thief

Keep marksmanship handy too. You'll have to level another job like WAR or RNG to keep it capped until you can use it though, since the first bolts THF can use (and the most useful) are acid bolts at level 16. Since the job has no way to actually skill up marksmanship until then (unless you want to use a gun and those really crappy bullets) you'll need WAR or RNG to keep it capped until you can use them on THF.
You only have a C+ rating in marksmanship on THF, but it's usually enough (especially with sushi) to land those bolts for -12.5% defense. This is *very* helpful by the way, especially against mobs like crab that use defense up moves (the acid bolt replaces their defense up with the def down so it's a great pre-dispel tool!)

Blind bolts level 10
Shoot them for extra damage/TP, with a blinding effect for an added bonus.
Actually, you'll probably be a straight-up enfeebler with that because level 15 blms only nukenukenukenukedie
and will never enfeeble the mob.