For The Shinies! A Guide For Thief

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May I ask why Elanid belt isn't better than Crudelis for Exen? If I'm reading it right, Elanid has 2 more agi, and the same amount of str, vs crudelis?

Because MND is a vital stat in Exenterator, of course!

It's actually because Elanid Belt is new, and I forgot to write it down in some sets. Thanks for pointing that out!

I seem to remember that in an SE post on the official forums they confirmed that TH gear had a much better effect if fulltimed, much although I'd like for this not to be true. Am I wrong?

Wanion belt for SA+WS.

Augmented Heca Hands for TA+WS.

It does have a much better effect, since it lowers the difference between your TH and the monster's TH.

However, the reason I recommend you don't fulltime TH gear in many situations is because you're trading TH bonuses for damage. You'll have to find a compromise based on your situation: do you just apply TH once at the beginning of the fight and never expect it to go up after? Do you use your TH gear with sneak and trick attacks? Do you full time it? All of these are different points on the scale of TH vs. damage, and all of these are potentially optimal for your situation.

I recently started playing THF and I am around level 40~ish. I want to try and avoid leveling up in Abyssea, usually I do GoV to 60 and then Campaign my jobs up most the the remaining way.

Up to the point I am at now I have found Markmanship to be extremely useful, be it sleeping adds, lowering defense, or stealing HP with bolts. I notice in all your gearsets you have the boomerang. Is there much use for marksmanship at the higher levels for THF, or is this something that once I get up there I will no longer be making use of?

Yes, but only for solo work. Your ranged accuracy won't be high enough to be useful in endgame events, and this guide is with endgame in mind. For solo work, there is some really nice ranged accuracy gear you can pick up by level 99, and you will find it is quite possible to keep using status bolts. HP drain is not going to get you a lot of mileage though, since I don't think it scales very well to high levels.

I assume you're referring to Mercy Stroke. Wanion Belt is already listed as an alternative. If you (or someone else) can link me to math suggesting Wanion Belt reigns supreme, I will swap the two.

For Heca Hands, I totally didn't notice the Crit Dmg bonus for the augment, and that is a good suggestion.

Solo ta goal set 8 agi set earrings, use for exent also, 6 agi neck also for exent depending on if attk needed. Aife mantle in both solo ta and solo sa goal sets over nifty or w/e. Mdt set is overkill im sure you realise with shell4-5 etc.



More of a better goal mdt set imo, some mobs instant cast, this is the sort of build you would tank ssrII mb in when ur cursed or if you got magic def down on, once back to full hp uncursed then back to normal tp build. Swap in mermans earrings if no shell5 from whm and you need 25.5%.



Goal evis set imo. Rudra storm goal could be better possibly with love torque and jupiter pearls. As well as a TA Rudra set.

Cant think of anything else right now to add or correct.

Oh black/darkness earrings in pdt set and ASA -4% pdt legs.

Oh also any good thf should own a frenzy sallet, no excuses.

Your solo ta goal set should have athos not saio.

Hybrid eva tp set.

The first half of this title made me think we were talking about Firefly :(

Octant is free!!!

And yeah just get an octant instead, very low delay.

That's a downgrade considering the purpose of bolts on THF is to land their effects and nothing more (the TP gain is an offset for the time spent firing the bolt). Lower delay and extra ranged accuracy serves this purpose. 4MND and 20RATK do not.

Solo ta goal set should also have af3+2 feet just noticed. TBH most of the time you are using ta solo on thf isnt just for dmg its often to level up th too so feet for this reason also, I often swap the hands to af2+2 sometimes too.

I didn't find any good information on PDT/MDT sets, so I was expecting there to be some issues. Thanks for the help!
With gear that good, when would you be using Evisceration? I would expect someone with that gear level to either have 5/5 Exenterator or an empy/relic. It's not that the set is bad, it's that I don't know the place for Evisceration for endgame players.
Solo TA: athos > tessera, agreed.
8 AGI set rings is a good idea, considering how hard the Auster's Pearls are to find.
Aife's Mantle, hm, 20 attack is a lot, but so is 6 AGI... I'll put Atheling as alternative.
Raider's Poulaines +2, yeah, that should have been there too. Must have copied it from my Exenterator set.
Exent: Will list Houyi's as an alternative. You don't think Brutal Earring will beat out the AGI earring set?

Solo SA: Aife's Mantle? One dex vs. 9 attack? I'm skeptical.
PDT: Yeah, I couldn't search for those pieces :( thanks for the pointers.
Rudra: Love Torque I can see. Earrings, I will list those as alternatives.

Think it was mathed at the time that 8 agi set earrings + anguinus >> crudelis + ghille+1 + brutal. So all ive done since is added elanid and muled anguinus. I have two exent builds atm but dont really use the 2nd one much...



Only difference in the 2nd build is skadi hand+1 losing like 3 agi for 12-14? attk forgot, and justiciar, so just swapping those 2 pieces if attk is an issue. Not saying this necessarily correct just what im using.

As for when do I use evis, usually when helping friends in abys but evis should also outperform exent not just in abys but depending on buffs in zergs too and vw.

Say for example qilin this exent build vs my posted evs build above except with oce head+1 athos body/feet which was my old evis build comparing those 2 builds evis will outperform exent. food ycb atmacites coersion/valiant/eminence? I think forgot my 3rd. This was without rogue's roll.

(downgrade options to this build include oce/+1, denali body, nq skadi hands, ambusher hose, af3+2 feet as well as the mentioned anguinus belt.)

Aife is more mutli purpose imo with both the agi and dex, as well as the acc which helps on blu spells. Good to carry this as well as zaffre on blu.

Dont forget to suggest frenzy sallet around where the mdt set/ information is posted ya.

This isn't a particularly vital addition, but it is worth noting that augmented Assassin's Bonnet +2 allows Aura steal to take 2 effects instead of 1.

Nothing else is worth the inv space.

This is just for the sleep break, right? I'm not missing some special other use it has?

Besides sleep break and death warp no. But in vw if you're say thf/war in the dd party all with fanatics up and sleepga hits and you know theres a chance the curaga will be slow, frenzy sallet >> mist is pretty useful and usually faster even when the whm is on the ball. Also useful in other events thf/dnc, imps sleepga various floors ssr a quick equip of the sallet follwed by aoe waltz cure is nice, arrapago remnants floor 2 for a thf soloing alex frenzy sallet is pretty much a must for this qiqirn. Nightmare sheep or torpid glare on goblin TE statue etc.

Could potentially help in parses for the jobs listed on it too moreso than pieces which cost much more.

Additional to my posted mdt set, could use gardyloo trousers, but thaumas arent too bad if mdt is capped other slots you're getting 6% haste and the 40hp.

As far as mdt set goes goal 1 is to cap mdt then from there either try to cap haste which is what I personally suggest or ignore all haste and cram in as much mdb as possible. I would keep twilight for thf or bbelt in for monk any day over resolute, and on both jobs I honestly just recommend capping mdt then capping haste too if possible. You've got -2 mdt anwig vs 7% haste, gardyloo trousers vs 40hp and 6% haste, and lore gear vs sigyn feet. Just not worth carrying mdb imo for head, feet, waist and to lesser extend legs.

This is what I've been using for MDT, gives me 26% which is enough to cap MDT w/ single target Shell V. Only upgrade I can think of for it would be replacing the Minerva's Ring w/ a Defending Ring and replacing a -2% MDT piece w/ an MDB piece.

EDIT: I use Lore over Merman's since it has the same MDT and I can use it on COR, RDM, and WHM as well. (inventory -1)

Not at a computer right now, but just a couple notes:

1. Khepri Bonnet and Jacket and Thundersoul for Rudra's, and possibly Khepri Kecks too, but I never compared it to Athos before. TA Rudra's where?

2. More often than not, a second Vulcan's pearl on Mercy, and unless perfect augments on Hecatomb, Khepri Bonnet for SA. Khepri Kecks > Abatteur. And, as I believe someone mentioned, Wanion > Prosilio on SA. Unless perfect augments on Hecatomb Cap, Thaumas Hat for TA, followed closely by Nemetona.

3. Completely left out Pugiunculus, which is often the best offhand after 99 Twash.

4. Might want to mention that STR Thochka is usually better offhand than 90 Twash unless you tend towards lower end content (i.e. capping fStr and attack).

5. I've not seen any results that make me consider Skadi Chausses +1 for TP. However, Khepri Kecks are better than Thaumas unless you need accuracy.

6. SA and TA sets should not neglect multi-attack and haste gear. Sure, the single attack may do more damage, but it is not worth the overall loss of dps. Off the top of my head, I'd use Skadi's Head +1 or Oce+1, Epona's and Brutal for both sets, possibly Twilight depending on haste levels. To generate ideal sets on DPS, don't focus on damage but round damage (or whatever the second field is on dps spreadsheet, can't remember off the top of my head). Also worth mentioning that since there is no reason to use either of these solo outside of trying to stack TH, you may want to equip Assassin's Armlets +2 and Raider's Poulaines +2 in both sets as well (if you're forsaking WS damage for TH, another 100 damage isn't going to hurt).

7. Use is limited, but may want to include evasion and evasion hybrid sets.

8. Regen set. May seem trivial, but especially in places like Salvage and Dynamis, it will save you time/mp/TP.

9. Although I think you should include an ideal Evis, I'd suggest recommending gear based on Abyssea buffs. You may want to also include a normal Evis and an unstacked Mercy set for those who may not have the space to merit Exen. Unstacked Mercy can come within a good 100-200 of Exen sets and could also theoretically be worth using for aftermath.

10. For Your low end TP set, Nom Mittens followed by Raider's Armlets +2 should be better than Dusk. Athos Boots are also worth suggesting.

Also, damn you beat me to it ;3 Serves me right for taking so long writing up a guide. I think there are a few things you are missing that I can send you when I get back to my computer Sunday, but all I can think of right now is explanation of THF's role in Legion, because I've seen so many THFs mess this up and it can cause a lot of wasted time.