For The Shinies! A Guide For Thief

Yeah, that is what I was afraid of. The last form is pretty brutal. I remember someone saying they could use a trust and kill it with one light skillchain with Vajra before the nerf. Good chance that won't work now. Even if it does it's still pretty risky.

When I farmed PW for Scorias just a few months ago (yet, already after RS nerf etc.), the thing was still hitting us hard on his final form (except for the RUN or PLD).

I would strongly recommend not to attempt this NM solo. It's just not worth losing a pop and the potential x2 Scorias. Just bring a couple friends to survive through his AF and be done with it.

what if you are a pld?

Being a PLD will surely help you survive the AFs but, like Jean said, the real issue is having multiple adds swarming around nuking/enfeebling you. I can't say for sure our PLD or RUN (both skilled at their job) would've survived without some timely cures from the healer (they helped on separate occasions btw. Either job tanks fine on its own). Trusts are a no go on this, so you could really use someone standing out of range and tossing some backup magic at you.

As RUN I usually get him down to just above 75%, saving my TP for Aftermath, and then I pop One For All and then go nuts. Warding Circle helps me too. Even though with OFA up I'll take 0 damage from the Astral Flows/nukes, it does mean I need to finish him off in 45 seconds (though I can always use Sforzo). This is usually doable unless I'm having lag issues and can't quite see him cuz of the lamps causing him to relocate.

Either way, you'll likely want a THF for TH, a tanky person, and maybe a BRD or something for constant (re)raising if ***goes downhill.

Is there any chance that when you're proc'ing TH the value goes up by 2 from a single proc?

Wingcutter is ok, and a good choice if you need something to pull with, but otherwise stuff like Ginsen, Yetshila, Honed Tathlum, and Qirmiz Tathlum will provide better damage output.

TH procs only go up one at a time, on the first main hand hit, overwriting any other added effects.

Behold, the ultimate pulling throwing weapon, the albin bane!!!

If you're going to bring a mage to PW, you might as well go thf/sam.

Bully > Sekk > Meditate > Rudra> SA > Rudra will pretty much kill it before it gets any AFs off.

It's not a 100% certain win though. The 1st WS could still trigger an AF, meaning the avatars popping around you and potentially moving PW around, therefore blocking your 2nd WS. I'd play it safe, especially if my goal was to afterglow a weapon. Each failure would feel more severe in that case..

That's really a non-issue. PW is as foolproof as adl these days.

naaah. we don't even know how the guy and his friends play.

Even before the Astral Flow, the nukes and debuffs he and his lamps throw out are not negligible, especially not to a THF. You could very well lose your JAs to Paralyze. You'd also have to be very fast with your SA Rudra's if you intend to get it off before his Astral Flows.

Any thoughts of Blurred Knife +1 being used in any situation other than solo? Just got one made today went 1/1 so I'm real curious.

Also I love how we can swap augment paths anytime depending on situations. Shijo is real fun that way.

Blurred knife and +1 are both kinda mediocre for THF on anything other than soloing/weak stuff since it lacks the extra modifiers like DEX, crit/WS damage, etc. It does have the benefit of having a variety of jobs on it, though.

The blurred knifes will only be beneficial in dynamis in salvage really. The mutli hate rate is basically equivalent to what your TA rates should already be now and days, and the haste is only beneficial obviously in situations where you aren't capped haste, which atm, I think the only place you can't summon trusts for capped haste is dyna and salvage that matters. In group content, you should also be capped haste, but I guess if you don't trust your members to keep you capped that it could have potential there.

Basically though, is it worth the gil to get a knife for 2 events that are a joke without it?

I guess there is one other potential, and that is to use daggers in your pdt gear sets. It may be beneficial in these setups because a lot of DT gear you use will not have multi hit on it, and the daggers having what I would assume is roughly a 40% proc rate to occasionally attack twice on top of acc and pdt could potentially still give you decent numbers while mitigating a lot of damage.

Could a Blurred Knife +1 work well as an offhand for a Vajra build? Since you have OAT on both weapons and a fairly high delay combonation (440), is there enough Store TP gear for thief to make an X-hit build that is more reliable to self-sc with than a multi-hit build? I know Store TP is a viable build for BLU, but they have more flexibility with Job Traits, and i wasn't sure if it was feasible with THF. I don't have a Vajra or BK+1 so i can only theorize.

The issue is the amount of multi hit you already have should exceed the % chance for the OAT on it, and it is obviously better to Triple attack not just for TP generation, but thiefs extra TA damage they get.

It's so easy to get something like an entire set of taeon with TA on it and other random multi hit gear that I just don't see a reason to go out of your way to use a blurred knife +1, especially with knifes like taming sari sitting around with such incredible stat vomit on it. I mean just using 2 of those is 6% TA.

Well the idea behind it is that a Vajra + multi-attack build is less than optimal for this very reason.

Multiattacks are calculated before OAX, so it's always in your best interest to add more. OAT is beneficial, true enough, but with Blurred +1 you're giving up other stats that have a heavier impact on your overall damage. Basically, you're sacrificing a good portion of the WS damage for a small boost in WS frequency.

Vajra has an extreme advantage in the fact that AM3 is vastly better than OAT, and that you're also getting a massive boost to Mandalic/SA/TA damage.

Oh well, but at least blurred will be fun in salvage I guess. Since flee and haste can both proc, so it'll be fun.

Anyone else underwhelmed by the new items in the update?

I think THF got plenty to work on from the previous update still (Dampening Tam, why u not exist!?!).
Out of this update we get some minor improvements:

combatant's torque, takes a lot of work making one as you have to craft it out of the other 5 melee skill torques.

loricate collar +1, a minor upgrade to Twilight Torque, but still an upgrade.

reiki koshiobi, an interesting addition to DW sets with good accuracy and Stp in the mix.

reiki cloak, Highest Mdt back.

cacoethic ring +1, High acc ring that can be paired with the nq version for a whooping 21 acc in the ring slots (it could easily crash Ramuh ring prices)

cessance earring, bringing the Brutal Earring back in the scene for a combined 6 acc 8 DA, 4 Stp.

genmei earring, solid Pdt earring.

telos earring, all round good for max acc combo with Zennaroi.

antitail +1, 3 DA and a good pulling option.

Veteran player here. Comming back to the game which I left in 2012. I have been playing and reading the forums for just over 1 week and there is a lot of new stuff to take in.

Sooo many new events and gears sets. It is kind of overwhelming. Can you guys give me a few tips for proper thf gear to look out for? I don't want to put time into something for which there is a better alternative.

I came up with this for tp:
https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Skulker%27s_Attire_Set_%2B1
The upgraded Empyrean set seems like a no-brainer.

Now for TA and SA sets it gets more confusing (again too much stuff, which is also a good thing).

Pillager's armlets +1 (upgraded AF+1 hands) for TA seems obvious.
Skulker's Armlets +1 for SA.
Then add in Lustratio Armor Set and look for the biggest DEX, AGI, STR numbers for each slot? https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Lustratio_Armor_Set_%2B1

Am I on the right track? I don't want to go into (ear)rings, waist, belt just yet. Sorry if this is not the correct topic to ask my questions in.

I main hand and old 2010 Vajra right now. Which is not even upgraded to its final form :x I Still need to do a BCNM on difficult mode. Thank you for your answers.

The upgraded AF3 will give you a solid start, but there are better alternatives for each slot so you could even try force skip straight to better things. I suggest working on Seekers of Adoulin quests and gaining access to Alluvion Skirmish and Sinister Reign. They are pretty easy and fun events that can net you several best in slot pieces:

Taeon armor set from Alluvion gets very good stats once augmented, provided you get lucky with augments. It will serve you well on both TP and WS, depending on the paths you choose (you could very well save the Gil from upgrading af1 2 and 3 for this).

As for Sinister Reign, your main goals will be the following:

taming sari
dampening tam
lilitu headpiece
floral gauntlets
samnuha tights (unless you need more acc, these pants are best in slot for Tp)

In Escha Zi'Tah (which takes a quick storyline to access) you will want to get a rawhide vest. Also rawhide boots are pretty solid.

Lustratio is definitely a goal to set for top end WS, but you definitely have a lot to work ahead of you.
Welcome back and GL

Thanks for the tips Sheelay. Much appreciated.

I also noticed your item sets on your profile. They look interesting. Are those item sets up to date? Those can help me build my own sets.

They are somewhat up to date on my current progress, though they are not complete. Some were even just made to confront them with other ppl over this very topic.

To give you a few extra tips, I'd suggest joining a Unity faction (You will probably like Yoran-Oran or Apururu, as they are the best healer trusts) and working on Job Points along with Records of Eminence.

As you gain Unity Accolades you will be able to fight NMs for some very good drops. Having a Vajra will relieve you of the worry on which mainhand to look for. Just iLVL it and never look back. As for an offhand, you can look into getting some daggers and other drops off the Unity NMs fights (you'll want Taming Sari in the end), namely jute boots +1, grounded mantle +1cacoethic ring +1, kentarch belt +1, emet harness +1, ternion dagger +1.

If you hurry you can benefit from the limited time campaign giving trusts 50% more HP and some stat aliment resistance. Solo/Lowman fights are much safer right now.

I have a similar set to Sheelay's posted 1-2 pages prior. Wondering if any adjustments can be made.

ItemSet 317555

- I haven't had any luck with perfectly augmented Dampening Tam or Samnuha Tights
- Floral and Ta'lab are perfected
- Rawhide Path D
- Canny Cape DW+4 Crit DMG+1
- Taeon Boots ACC/ATK +15 TA+2 Crit DMG+2

I've recently acquired an Adhemar Bonnet/Jacket, would these fit in my set?

How much DW would I need to solo SC w/ just non-relic BRD's marches and haste?