For The Shinies! A Guide For Thief

My AE experimentation on gears has yielded lackluster results as well, although the combined damage in total dealt to everything at once is likely higher in number than a single-target WS, I’d prefer to hit one thing at a time much harder and kill it so that there’s one less thing attacking me lol

On a secondary note, and my purpose for visiting this thread today: is there anyone that’s proficient in gearswap that would be willing to help me troubleshoot an issue I’m having? Stacked WS (and Feint) equipment are kind of getting locked in as my TP sets on occasion forcing me to reload… it’s not the end of the world, but sometimes it happens a lot, and sometimes it doesn’t, but it makes me not want to stack my weapon skills and on THF that’s sad…

I've toyed with Aeolian Edge cleaving after the update and yeah I find its not worth the hassle.
7+ gears can all still get lucky and simultaneously hit you for nontrivial damage on rare occasion.
Also getting railcannon'd to red/yellow hp by multiple gears because you were cheeky and decided to train an entire floor of gears and let them get tp isn't really worth it.
Makes for amusing train pics though.

tldr: for serious farming better to still just kill them one at a time with a better ws, and save AE for sparks/aby cleaving.

I think gears are strong to wind.

I see so it's not just me. It was just some people stroking their epeen :p

If you're using a GS based on my includes, I just fixed a problem a couple days ago relating to that. It had to do with the code that kept gear from getting swapped out while SATA was up if you took another action (Samba, ranged attack, etc), because SATA was still technically present when you performed the weaponskill.

Anyway, update to the latest thf.lua and it should be fixed.

It also changes the behavior for tagging mobs to not count steps and flourishes, since I got pretty clear evidence that those don't count for tagging mobs with TH.

Wat

I've been doing Dynamis wrong for years, then. ;_;

Mote - I'm curious how that conclusion was reached. I have been tagging dynamis mobs with boxstep, violent flourish and bully for a while and I never see a TH proc less than 8 unless I proc on the very first hit I do. I do not use those gears in any other set that I have.

I suppose I really should sit down and do a proper test (I usually only think about it while I'm in the middle of a Dynamis or Salvage run), but I've found that if I only use a Step on an otherwise unclaimed (but agro'd) mob, then engage it without putting on TH gear (as is explicitly controlled in my lua code), if I ever get a TH proc it's always TH4.

Note that this has been uncertain in my mind for a very long time, but I'd always put it off to user error before. Only with my latest lua revisions have I gotten to where I'm really sure about when TH gear is and is not used relative to mobs I may or may not have proc'd.

I'm not as sure on Violent Flourish, but since it's in the same action category as steps (which is a separate category from things like Provoke), I assumed it was likely to have the same issue, so just pulled both of them out.

The code change is mostly about removing an uncertainty when engaging or switching to such mobs. If it can be properly shown that such actions -do- apply the proper TH level then I'll have to look into what other scenarios can lead to no TH being applied.

Hahaha! Figured it out. Was the result of a colossal yet trivial blunder in my gearswap files. That is, it was never properly equipping TH gear on steps because of a misnamed set. I feel rather foolish. At least the new debugging code I added helped me find it.

Ignore what I said earlier. Also, I'll be re-enabling that portion of the tagging code that includes steps and flourishes.

derp

Thanks Mote. I was worried I had gone crazy.

On another note, my Curing Waltz III? I only get 398 per waltz. I see other people say they have significantly more. What am I missing? Buremte Gloves don't seem to affect waltz potency, thf can't use Roundel Earring.

Asklepian ring?

Lightsday + korin obi! =P

Your text to link here...

It can be done. You need an incredible amount of CHR, not just from gear, but from atma as well. I did this trial at the wyverns in Abyssea Altepa but it could be done on any of the mobs really, so long as you get enough to hit you.

Edit: "Quote" 282 chr using my set and those atma. Cures for 506 HP.

You need high CHR atmas and be willing to spend money on the equipment. Also I didn't use any Obi + Lightsday combination. I tried it initially in Neo Nyzul but it was really slow and it didn't spike up enough to make it worthwhile. Abyssea is the way to go.

Did someone happen to run some tests with Vajra since the WS update ?

I'm working on making a mythic right now and I might make Vajra for the lol and thf completion.

If you want to make Vajra go for it, it is just as good if not better than the other dagger options in my opinion post-update. I don't have any math on it but I feel my Vajra is much better than it was pre-update. I have been using it over mandau. Rudra's Storm with it is sick. Mandalic Stab is not a bad solo weapon skill now also. Busting out 18k-21k Rudras with SATA is pretty fun with this.

I'm bringing Rudra's back into the rotation since it's clearly destroying Mercy Stroke at high TP, and I was wondering if my present set is missing anything obvious?

(Sneak Attack build; add pillager's armlets +1 for Trick Attack)
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I was thinking Epona's ring in exchange for the Rajas, and swapping the Atheling for a cavaros mantle at a glance... Some DEX earrings are likely better too, but I'm not sure if they'd be noticeably better in the sense that it would be worth -2 inventory space for a WS I'd pretty much only use every so often when I find myself at 300 TP.

EDIT: I just noticed this was my 300th post! Milestones \o/ :P

Additional EDIT: I've made adjustments to my build since making this post.

Head: Pillager's +1
Earring1: 4 dex > 3 dex = Tati > Ghillie+1 = Bladeborn = Brutal (att earrings assume you're not at capped attack)
Earring2: Moonshade (or 4 dex if you're over 2800 TP, or 3 dex if you're over 2900 TP)
Hands: Pillager's+1
Rings: Keep Rajas/Thundersoul; Epona's is significantly weaker
Back: Kayapa Cape/Cavaros Mantle
Belt: Wanion = Artful+1 > Artful = Cuchulain > Ele.Belt

As far as Aeolean Edge stuff, what I posted a while ago, and what works for me, in 4 specific spots, on 1 floor.

When you're fighting the ramparts to get them to pop the 7 Tri-gears, (I) end up sitting on 300% tp, so it's novel to pull all 7 and 300% Edge em for the 21k+ total damage, it's just amusing.

If you 2box em it's more efficient but no one should be doing that anymore, so yeah, it's just neat to start the fight like that, and then kill them one by one if that's what works for you. If you're edging them all then yeah, you can get railcannon'd x7 and possibly die... though, that's never happened, it's certainly possible if you're not used to fighting all 7 at once.

Pillager's Armlets +1 even in SA? I have them in there for TA, but using AF3 for SA atm... I have the chapters for a 119 head, but not for the 109, so I'll have to work on that at some point. I'll grab my Cavaros off mule and swap in a Wanion; do you think love torque would be good for neck, or just stick with the ele gorget? My moonshade is a refresh one, but I might redo it for as little as I'm on mage jobs these days; TP bonus and attack still the way to go? It's been forever since I've looked at the potential augments for that earring.

Indeed.

Raider's +2 hands give a 20% boost to the SA dex portion of the damage equation. Assuming 250 dex (including the hands), that's +50 dex. Pillager's +1 have 35 dex on them, 27 more dex than Raider's, so in reality the Raider+2 hands are only giving you (relatively speaking) +23 dex to the SA dex portion. Further, Pillager's +27 dex also contributes to the WSC portion of base damage, which is then multiplied by fTP, so has a *much* larger value than the SA dex portion since the dex that SA contributes is not multiplied by fTP .

The +crit damage and extra 3 str is just extra bonus on top of that, and should also easily outdo the +15 att on the Raider's hands.



They're about the same; either is fine.


Absolutely. TP Bonus Moonshade on Rudra's is massive. At lower TPs, it's about as much extra damage as hands or body (as in, not wearing anything in one of those slots vs wearing best-in-slot) -- about +1000 damage from the earring alone. At higher TPs it's not quite as relatively powerful, but will likely still be your 3rd most significant gear source of damage for the weaponskill.

Small heads up for anyone using my thf lua -- Just fixed an issue that prevented it from handling the TH tagging properly when you were also using Battlemod, along with a problem unequipping TH gear when you were in SATA mode (plus a couple other minor fixes). Please update when you can.

Hello all!
I just got back recently from a break and have been doing a lot of catchups, there are a lot of things in SoA that I still don't understand and would require a lot of money so I figure I might start by rebuilding my THF first for money

Took me 2 weeks but I finally got out of the eminent set and this is my current standing:

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I would like to know what are some of the immediate upgrade I can get from this point on, I am working on Feli mask right now, and not a lot of people on my server would do AAs in my time frame(and no money for Delve item!), also since I don't have that much gil to spare, I haven't upgraded the Quiahuiz trousers and the Qaaxo yet, and when I do, what path should I go for??

You've already got a really decent set, anything you add will only be small increases.

You want Plunderer's poulines +1 though, for sure. While not ideal, tping in plunderer hands is ok, pillager's better though. Changing the earrings to the DW set, or suppa/brutal.

If you're not going the skadi body route, you want pillager legs too.

Already said you know about the hat, could change rajas to an oneiros but meh.

Will do on the legs! have the DW set ready, but I have heard many different stories about the 2 pairs of earrings so I went with gut instinct :/

Skadi body > Thaumas noted

Oneiros... I should probably get it, need all the accuracy I can get my hands on :3



Thank you!!

Edit: what path should I take Qaaxo up to?

Not so fast, you still need 12% from gear to cap attack speed under double march. That means Patentia sash and Dudgeon/Heartseeker earrings and use an ammo. Or you can go back to Supp/Brutal and keep the boomerang.

And you really shouldn't go the Skadi body route unless you plan to never fight anything in Adoulin. Pillager+1 when you need acc, Plunderer+1 when you don't.

And you don't really need to get any Qaaxo unless you're rich.

Go kill Hurkan and put some str or dex on your cap.

And gearing thf well isn't going to help you increase your bank account all that much. Dyna's still probably the best money you can make and mobs in there die pretty quick even with ah gear.

Ok, I think I'm almost done regearing THF (except for a DT set), but kind of going slowly on that since I wanna try to get started a WHM a bit as well.

Pretty happy with this atm for fodder, I swap in One-Eyed for anything not Dynamis.

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I swap to this set for anything high enough that fodder won't work.[ie: High-Tier Mission Battlefields and SK orbs). Upgrades I still want for it would be a dauntless mantle and an ej necklace +1.

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Use this for Evisceration, Uk'uxkaj cap is augmented with 8 DEX & 2% Haste. I was using the nefarious collar, when I tried out shadow gorget I didn't really notice much of a damage difference, so I figured I'll stay with the gorget for the extra acc all around. Only upgrade I would think I would want for this is a tati earring +1.

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Using this for Rudra's Storm under SA only. Only upgrade I think I want for this would be a Jupiter's pearl.

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Mercy Stroke here is only used under TA. I think the only thing I would want for this set is a metalsinger belt.

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And Aeolian Edge, magical WS's are kind of new to me, I did a little playing around with mods/MAB/Magic Damage at 3000 TP and came up with this. I think the only upgrades I could get for this would be a pair of Khepri wristbands for the +6 MAB augment and a Demon's Ring with +3 MAB from Abyssea-Tahrongi. I tried a few tests at 3000 TP with thunder belt vs aquiline belt and the Thunder Belt won by like single digits. I think if we get anything +4 MAB or up in the future though Thunder Belt with be trumped.

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Looking for info to see if there is anything I could have left out/forgot about.