For The Shinies! A Guide For Thief

Why lust legs for mercy stroke?

Lustratio legs offer the highest DEX available to the leg slot, along with more Attack, STR and DA if you pick A Path. The set bonus from +1 is a nice boon as well, provided you can dish out that much money. However, thinking about it again, there are probably better combinations, for stacked WS at least.

You could probably swap out body and legs and go for abnoba kaftan and a pair of Acc/Atk, TA and WSD augmented taeon tights (which are far less expensive and much more easy to acquire) and get better results. I lack the math to back it up though. I am fairly confident over the remaining gear, which also has alternatives and side grades, especially over Yetshila and the rings.

Quick question, what mobs do you guys target for solo CP farming? Preferably in Escha as I still have a lot more kills to cap out that HP/MP vorseal.

Frogs/Mosquitos in Reisenjima, near #2, using Mollifier. Getting free sacks and stones from the random Ascended NM is cool but can and will often kill the CP chain. Otherwise I do Raaz/Mosquitos just above frog camp. Unless there is competition you can easily keep the chain going there as well. For THF I used August, King of Hearts, Ulmia/Joachim, Shantotto II and Yoran-Oran.

Useful info, I had been curious about trust choices, I would use my mule on her RDM as I already capped her WHM JPs so she basically covers the roles of the RDM + WHM trusts.

I can't actually use a particular unity leader as I purposely stay in the bottom ranked Unity for the CP bonus, for example my trust combo when doing PLD JPs was:

Me, Mule, Joachim, Qultada, Kupofried + another.

As PLD I was actually using this toad/mosquito camp but pulling absolutely everything and A edge burning them so I used Sakura as my 6th for the regen, useful when pulling.

What is the purpose of the tank trust? I don't have August but can obviously use Amchuchu, is it as a TA target?

Yea, TA and SA WS target. The freedom to roam around mobs while trust tank gets all the hate is quite useful for Thf (even moreso if you are killing stuff that can link and/or not using Mollifier)

If you already have a mule covering for WHM and RDM I'd definitely slap in Qultada for the occasional COR roll and the Chaos/Fighter rolls. I don't think Kupofriend is all too useful when attempting to chain CP, at least while we are under the CP chain event. Assuring chain doesn't break will grant you a much higher bonus to CP than his static 10%, so I would swap him out and favor another useful trust, either a melee with good SC properties or a nuker to MB off SCs.

Right now I'm working on COR JPs and I have to say it's even more fun than THF was. August, King, Qultada (totaling 4 rolls full-time) Shantotto II and Yoran (Kupipi would probably work just as good). Toss a Regain roll in the mix and Shantotto II will SC and MB so much she will truly earn that mad look they gave her XD

The logic is why choose to replace lust hands/feet with herc but keep the 1 sLot with no str as lust

Herculean Hands and Feet are pretty amazing to begin with, and the chance of augmenting WS DMG +5% and stats such as STR Acc Attk makes them incredible. Herculean Legs, however, albeit possessing high STR and the same possible augments as the rest, have no DEX at all and far less outstanding stats to begin with. The reason I picked Lustratio+1 legs was the huge DEX stat and WS dmg +4% from wearing 2 pieces of Lustratio+1.

samnuha tights might be better, with incredibly high STR and higher DEX than most leg options. I don't have a Mandau though and I don't think I'd use Mercy Stroke very much if I did.

Personally, I think soloing for CP isn't the best use of my time when I get way more with a group. I know that's not an option for everyone, but if you can reach out and find someone, you'll be much better off for it. Like Sheelay, I go to Reisenjima #2's frog pond, and I usually team up with my brother or a friend on BLU, and they'll cleave the Mosquitoes and Faazes. Though I have fewer trusts to use (relying on King of Hearts, Ulmia, and if there's room, August), it's much better CP as the BLU will quickly rack up kills as I keep the chain consistently going. My Mandalics are strong enough to kill anything with SA, or to melee down to 50-60%ish and then WS.

But mercy stroke is an str ws & at the same time you're saying to use lust body +1 which has 0dex

Looking at stats merged for stacked WS, in a comparison between Lustratio+1 body/legs and, say, Abnoba Kaftan and fully augmented Samnuha Tights, you get:

STR +57 DEX +35 Accuracy +40 Attack +78 DA +6% WSDmg +4%

STR +73 DEX +54 Accuracy +37 Attack +22 DA +3% TA +3% Crit Hit Dmg +5%

So yeah, Abnoba and Samnuha do look like the better combination. I'm going to edit the Stacked MS set on the previous page to reflect this change.

Hello guys, and merry xmas to you all! Is there an updated spreadsheet somewhere in the internet?

Something I have been wondering but isn't explicitly stated on BGwiki or ffxiclopdia, when using feint with the relic pants do you need to have them on when you hit the mob or just when you use the ability?

Iric you need to be wearing them when you hit the mob.

Ah yeah I was wondering that because in the Kinematics thf lua it handles stuff with knowing when feint is up or not like with SA/TA. Only there isn't a buff set defined for feint, just a precast, so it doesn't keep your pants on.

Eabani Earring + Suppanomimi should beat out Dudgeon + Heartseeker combo which gives 7%. Eabani + Suppanomimi gives 9% total. Also, Maxed out Dampening Tam still beats everything.

Anyway, I had some questions about Thief TP set.

Does Windbuffet belt +1 still beat out everything?
Does Adhemar Jacket NQ/HQ beat out Herculean Vest?
Does Aeonic Dagger beat out Taming Sari in the setup: Vajra in main / Taming Sari in offhand?
Oneiros Ring vs Petrov Ring vs Rajas Ring for TP?

About Thief Rudra's set, does anyone have an updated set for Reisenjima?

I made a THF TP set for Dec 2015 update. There are probably some better pieces but this is what I have gathered. I don't know why it won't let me put Blurred Knife +1 in offhand...

ItemSet 340841

Herculean augments Acc+40 Att+40 and Triple Attack+4 recommended. And yes, I've gotten Acc+38 Att+40 and Triple Attack+2 on Boots before so I know it is pretty close to being possible.

Adhemar Wristbands +1 with Type A augment (DEX+12 AGI+12 Accuracy+20) are a very strong alternative to Herculean Hands and pair nicely with Jacket +1.

Reiki Yotai is an alternative to Windbuffet Belt +1. I'm not sure which is truly better though.

dw +18-23 depending on cape, +15-30 with yotai belt.. odd amounts to settle on what situation is this for?

With 550 gift and capped magic haste the body alone will cap you out. With only Haste2 +31 will cap you out with 550 gift.

So Ive been trying to doing high end content such as Sinister Reign, Delve, and Vagary. But I've been terribly struggling with doing this with my THF. I've been told that my average accuracy of 950 isn't good and needs to be higher. But I've bumped it this high to the point now my attack power is starting to suffer.

I do use Sublime Sushi to boost it up, but I'm wondering what gear setup would help me be more effective in fight, as I've also been told my average accuracy should be 1100 WITHOUT buffs. O_o

What weapons/armour do you use? Without SR wins you won't have Taming Sari, so I'd imagine you'd need at a minimum, the Shark Delve dagger with a solid off-hand like Jugo +1.

As for armour, do you have abjuration gear? Best TP sets will be a combination of SR, Abj and Escha armour, Escha armour particularly should be achievable, if not, Alluvion Skirmish armour.

As for lower attack power, that shouldn't matter too much, the bulk of THF damage output will come from stacked Rudra's, where you don't need accuracy because when stacked it can't miss, it's incredibly accurate even unstacked which is what makes it very useful.

If you post what you currently use we may be able to better critique your sets.

I wouldn't recommend Jugo for high end events. It has no extra accuracy beyond the dagger skill. Anything offering more accuracy on top of the 242 skill will benefit both hands.

As Tidis said, Rawhide would be a very good solution to bump your accuracy, at least until you get better gear and can then change augment paths to something more beneficial. Vest, hands and feet can get some good accuracy bumps.

You could also look into cacoethic ring +1, grounded mantle +1 and NQ for other good and free bumps.

Fair point about Jugo, I don't really use THF in high end content so never really got a high accuracy off hand.

I think another important question for Sollex would regard the party setup for SR and alike The presence or lack of adequate support will definitely affect the strength of melee setups.

Weapon 1: Sandung
Weapon 2: Ipetam (Augment: Delay-7%, Accuracy+5, Dbl Atk+2
Ammo: Honed tathlum

Head: Taeon chapeau (Augment: STR+2 DEX+2, Accuracy+9, Haste+2%)
Body: Pillager's Vest+1
Hands: Plunderer's Armlet+1
Legs: Taeon tights: (Augment: HP+23, Accuracy+17,Crit hit rate+3%
Feet: Taeon boots: (Augment: STR+3 DEX+3, Accuracy+12, Dual Wield+3)

Neck: Erudition necklace
Earring 1: Mouflon ring
Earrig 2:Epona's ring
Back: Canny cape (Augment: DEX+1, AGI+3, Dual Wield+4)
Waist: Dynamic belt

There are several upgrades that can be made here. You would definitely benefit from looking into Escha, Delve, Unity Concord, and Vagary. Even Abyssea could provide you with some quick replacements, if you happen to have the right NM pops.

Going by the list, either enhance Ipetam or replace it along with Sandung for something like izhiikoh (Delve) and Odium (Vagary).

The ammo is fine as it is, although you may also find Ginsen useful. It drops from the iLVL version of the Tenzen fight.

Armor wise, you should really work on getting Vagary wins to unlock iLVL 119 AF3 armor. The headpiece should probably be your first objective. Body can be a useful Acc piece. You could always buy a foppish tunica and prioritize less costly upgrades on that matter. However, you will want to look into rawhide vest and abnoba kaftan for TP and WS. They are very good pieces that will last you a long while.

For the hands slot, you could get rawhide gloves and enhance them through Nolan along with the boots. They can all get accuracy augments that are much easier to get compared to the randomness involved in augmenting Alluvion gear.

On the legs slot, I suggest getting plunderer's culottes +1. They are very valuable for Feint. Keep working on those Taeon Tights. They could last you a bit with the right augments.

Feet wise, if you get STR/DEX, Acc and DW+5 augments (all fairly common if you can afford to spend a mil or 2) on Taeon feet you will be fine.

For the neck, although Erudition is a very sexy neckpiece, you may want to grab subtlety spectacles off Ferrodon, another T1 Escha NM.

Waist slot could easily be upgraded with an anguinus belt from Abyssea (you could probably ask some friends for a pop they aren't using) or olseni belt from Incursion.
Also kentarch belt +1 and NQ are very good options.

Earring wise, you can start by combining steelflash earring and heartseeker earring from Delve (no set bonus, but +16 acc total!)or work on zennaroi earring and/or cessance earring

So who thinks Mercy Stroke with an upped Mandau will still be weaker than current Vajra+Rudra/Mandalic Stab.

Unless they buff Mercy Stroke a ton it won't even compare. Isn't Mercy at half the fTP of Rudra's at 2k?

Kind of a stupid question. Weapons being upgraded has ZERO affect on Weaponskills. (unless the weaponskill gets another 10% boost or something).

What you meant to say was:

Will Mandau be worth using again, regardless of Mercy Stroke?

And that answer is probably. If it has a 130 Base damage, yeah, going back to using it anywhere maintaining aftermath is wasteful.

Weapons being upgraded does have an effect on WSs, though...

Higher base damage will always help.