For The Shinies! A Guide For Thief

Great answer thanks! what bout chiner+1? Any use?

Chiner +1 any good for Rudras?

Maybe if you're fSTR capped, otherwise pretty sure Wanion's wins. But it should be a decent item for Dancing Edge or Evisceration at least.

I am about 0/20 or so on Wanion. Been switching between ele belt and cuchulain's. Anything better?

If you don't have Wanion Belt, than yeah Shadow Belt/Chiner's Belt +1 is probably your next best item.

I mostly solo on my THF, dynamis and other content. Could someone please post a good set that I should aim for? I've been reading through the sets trying to figure out what would be best for my circumstances.

Thanks ahead for any advice.

For solo on pre-Adoulin content: (1) you're not going to need extra acc, and (2) since you're without BRD buffs, you won't be capping delay reduction (i.e. DW is worth it where you can get it). Below set is a pretty good current goal for solo:

ItemSet 328587
Notes:
- Atoyac with OAT augment (OAT+anything, but ideally crit rate for THF DPS) is best offhand regardless of main. Mandau or Izhi for mainhand.
- Qaaxo hands are R15 path A.
- Quiahuiz legs are Haste/STR augments.
- TH gear is macroed in - I like to put my TH gear in my steps macro for /DNC, and just tag each mob with a step (I also have max TH in Aeolian Edge macro for AoE tagging).

Some gear alternatives by slot:
Head: If you don't have Felistris, Uk'uxkaj cap (Haste/STR augs) is good.

Body: Skadi+1 is excellent when not heavily buffed due to the DW+7%, and is ideal DoT-wise (you can even make money farming Salvage while building it - i.e. Arrapago II for Umbrage plans is a very profitable zone for alexandrite). But if you don't have it, Thaumas is good. ilevel options are fine too, statvomit+whatever offensive stats for killing stuff, and while you shouldn't NEED ilvl defense for pre-adoulin mobs it doesn't hurt to have to cure less.

Hands: If you don't have or want to make Qaaxo A, Pillager+1 are still very good (and you'd want em anyway for SA/TA)

Back: Canny Cape with high DW augment (from Incursion, appears DW can go up to DW+5%) is ideal, but not really common or easy to get at this point. Vellaunus+1's DW+2% is good stuff for really low buff (like solo Dyna/Salvage) content, but if you can't be bothered to get it, Atheling is still perfectly fine.

This is currently what I am sporting, and I have seen a lot of ppl wearing reforged Relic body so I got that in Dynamis last night and was thinking of upgrading it. Should I?

Current gear:

ItemSet 328607

Don't make fun of my Iota Ring... I have 4 more days until I can pick up Rajas. Dropped my Tamas.

As you can see there is a lot of gear that can and should be upgraded. I am just having a hard time picking what should come first. Thank you so much for help and tips about getting Dual wield gear. Switching in my earrings for Heartseeker/Dudgeon now.

Because I forgot about it since I don't like Skirmish (the event, or the awful augmenting process) and haven't bothered to +1 my own. But yes, good suggestion. Felistris obviously beats base Iuitl+1, but DA or Crit augments should push Iuitl over it.



Reforged relic body is indeed a good piece. I'd still use Skadi+1/Thaumas for old and relatively non-threatening content like Dyna, but Plunderer has a place (and is way more useful on harder stuff where you want an ilevel choice).

Other suggestions for your upgrades:
- Atoyac (WKR dagger from Foret de Hennetiel) should be a priority, get that as soon as you can.

- Pretty sure Thurandaut+1 hat will serve you well until you get some of the top options (Felistris, Iuitl+1, Uk Cap, Lithelimb), simple to get.

- You're probably getting no use out of acc on Pillager feet and Plunderer hands, might want to use an option with other DD stats (and macro in TH gear like hands to tag mobs for TH).

Okay I do have a Atoyac Dagger I got from WKR but I guess I didn't realize it's value. Should this dagger be main handed? Or is it used in ca hoots with Homestead Dagger or Sandung? When you mention macro in TH gear does this mean macroing in Sandung as well? Is losing TP worth that? Since you mentioned that you macro it in with your steps. Also, are you saying to move forward with the Relic body? Or to go with Skadi, I want to focus on w/e is better. I seldom use thf in adoulin content due to I have BST for reives/wkrs etc. and other jobs for endgame content. However, thf is definitely something I want to work on but if I can save body pages I wanna go with that option if Skadi is good.

Sorry for the questions and wall of txt.

Off-hand Atoyac, with Sandung main-hand. Augment it with Occasionally Attacks Twice, and for the other one, I personally recommend Crit Damage (overall parses better for me) or Crit Rate (still practical).

For body pieces, you have a few options, and depending how much gil and other resources you're willing to spend, you may want to shop around:
Relic body 119: Rather costly, but great enough in a lot of areas (crit rate and damage, high overall stats) to wear full time if you want. Best for Evisceration. I'm a fan.
Qaaxo Harness: Perhaps most expensive. B path augments are sorta like trading a little bit of Thaumas' offensive benefits for protection.
AF body 119: Less costly. Offers outstanding (best?) accuracy and overall very practical and worth considering.
Shneddick Tabard +1: Guess you already have this. Great accuracy. Kinda goofy looking though. Overall not bad, but it's really an intermediate piece if you're looking to get 119 armor.
Iuitl Harness/+1: Can be costly to get worthwhile augments but can be very practical for combining good offense and defense.
Skadi's Cuirie +1 Not costly per se, but requires a lot of Salvage. Offers little defense and no haste, but a nice boost to Dual Wield. Best used when against weaker enemies (such as Dynamis) where you don't have much (or any) haste. I love the look. I kinda think it's not worth meleeing in because if you have people with you, you'll likely have some form of Haste. If you don't have people with you, you're probably gonna want something more protective. Oh well.
Thaumas Coat: Offers multi-attacks but sorely lacking in protection. Like Skadi, better for weaker enemies, more so if you're receiving haste.

edit: I just reread like, the last few posts and realize I'm kinda late to the discussion, and I (or someone else) probably coulda answered your question more clearly. Whoops. I'll shut up now.

More or less agreed with Jeanpaul, with one comment:

I find Skadi+1 (and Thaumas in 2nd place) useful for Dyna or Salvage solo. I don't really find either event dangerous enough that the lack of ilevel defense hurts that much or requires too much TP wasted by curing with /DNC. For Dyna in particular, I'll often not be WSing instantly at 1000tp anyway (to avoid killing before getting off a couple steps for procs), so it's pretty simple when you have 1500+ TP to just toss a Waltz III and immediately WS - likely for a kill.

And obviously, if you're solo in Dyna/Salvage you aren't capping delay reduction so DW from Skadi+1 helps a lot, and you can cap haste without body these days (or at least hit 25% in stats, leaving some fraction under 1% to cap and DW+7 being better). Even with haste spell from a 2box or mage buddy, you won't cap reduction (need marches too), so DW is still good.

Thaumas is fine for the same kinds of situations as Skadi+1, but Skadi+1 does beat it DoT wise. And it's cool looking! And you can make it while farming Salvage solo! And it might get ilevel upgraded some day to be amazing! (I'm curious if that might coincide with the last login campaign providing Salvage 15/25/35 items...)

And yeah, I wouldn't usually use a non-ilvl body on current content just due to the massive defensive liability.

Take Capuchin's word for it, since I don't farm Dynamis. It's probable that against most of those enemies, you'll have capped evasion anyway. It occurred to me that yeah, you'd need at least a BRD or GEO with you to cap magic haste.

I do love to /lockstyle the full Skadi set, and I'm really hoping there's an ilvl upgrade in the works. I would expect that'd come after they upgrade Empyrean armor though. Salvage armor tends to have outstanding stats when it's compared to gear of the same level.

Yeah, in addition to the two still useful Skadi+1 pieces, I made Skadi head/hands/legs and 5/5 Usukane+1 set basically ONLY for that reason :) Though I'm kinda partial to 4/5 Skadi and Qiqirn Helm.

Hoping they eventually get upgraded, but even if they don't I'm perfectly satisfied for fashion purposes!

Well I did start farming Salvage to make Skadi body got the 25 piece today. There's a lot to learn about Salvage and it's great money that I didn't realize til after y'alls advice. So with that said, Capuchin, what is the other useful Skadi piece?

Feet. Aside from thief and ranger, you need that for +18% movement speed on the other jobs.

Oh I see. Thanks, I'll work on those too. Been farming Salvage on my BST cause linkshell said it would be easier. You guys think I would have more drops on THF? I don't recall if TH affects Alexandrite/gear pieces.

TH does affect drops. I found BST to be best for me in Salvage. The first floor sucks before you get ilvl unlocks but BST is faster than thief and you won't be killed by bad luck with Fulmination. Your mileage might vary, of course.

Yeah, BST probably is easier and a little faster, and the TH you can get is good enough. Plus, if you farm Archaic Gears floors those drop 1 Alex guaranteed anyway. True, TH can help with 2x drop, but the single is nice and consistent and 2x drop is rare even with TH.

THF can certainly do Salvage too, but you might have a better time learning the floors first on BST where there's more margin for error. Floors themselves don't tend to be much trouble, but the bosses can be tricky until you learn them. Arrapago II (Khimaira boss) is probably easiest and not really that threatening for THF with ilevel gear, the others are more challenging (can be fun to solo).

Salvage situations where THF is especially worthwhile:
- Salvage 1.0 for any armors that are affected by TH. That doesn't include 25/boss drops (those are simply 2 drops per boss totally random, TH doesn't change that) or any 100% drop pieces. But TH helps a lot on some of the annoying 35s.
- Focusing on Salvage 2.0 plans, as there are a very limited number per run and TH helps greatly on the non-guaranteed plan drops (i.e. NM that can drop 0 or 1 plan, or 1 guaranteed but 2 possible).

Good luck Salvaging. I see you have lots of 99 jobs, Skadi+1 Feet will be a nice prize for all who can wear them. Those are what got me into Salvage 2.0, and I stayed for the Alex farming.

Only zone I'd say really oughta be farmed on THF would be 75 Arrapago, due to cells drops not being guaranteed, and also because it helps with cotton purse drop rates from the qiqirn NMs (feels like 50%ish with TH). It's not uncommon to walk out with 6 cotton purses, with a max possible of 8 (2 cottons are guaranteed from other NMs).

I do like being THF for the other zones as well, since TH helps a ton with the 35 pieces.

I haven't dabbled into Salvage II yet, I am learning the works on BST I suppose. So for Salvage I THF might be better for drops than my BST? I guess I thought Salvage II would be hard and I would need more people but it sounds like that one is soloble too? Hmmm this is good news.

I'm interested in some numbers in regards to this question, honestly. Between 11% TA base+merits, +3% from boots, we're at 14% TA, add in 3% from belt we're at 17% TA getting 7% more damage vs 2% quad attack. Then if you have certain other pieces you might even be at 19-20% triple attack. Then you also get some more DEX just in case you're not at dDEX cap yet (which I'm not sure if we always have capped, but if not...that could be a big deal).

And of course the real reason for my interest...Chiner+1 is cheaper, lol.

Edit.

Varies by zone, really. In 75 Salvage, some cells/armor that aren't guaranteed, having TH will help. Silver Seas 75 has no pressing need for TH beyond 35 pieces, though honestly, the drop rates on 35 aren't entirely poopcrap like they used to be. With THF, you'll probably get all 35 pieces on your first kill. Also, gears in 75 Salvage can drop up to 3 alexandrites, though of course the total yield will still be less than 99 Salvage runs.

Most people will agree that for jobs like THF, MNK, BST, etc, Arrapago II is the easiest of the Salvage 99 zones, primarily because the Khimaira bosses are not very threatening beyond Fulmination (this zone also drops the most plans to upgrade Skadi armor). Zhayolm II is lame since you don't unlock armor/ranged until the 5th floor, leaving you highly vulnerable (especially when you actually fight to unlock them), though the Hydra bosses are easy. Bhaflau II is not bad, but the Cerberus bosses take significantly reduced damage if you don't deal any magic damage to them. Silver Seas II is kinda funky, I don't think people really like it primarily because you always have to fight enemies in groups, and the Dvergr bosses are a real threat to most jobs. If you want, I can give you more specific methods to farming whatever you happen to be after. Bear in mind that to upgrade Skadi body and feet, you will need to kill either the Cerberus or Hydra bosses, since they drop the 45 pieces.

In Salvage I&II on Bst you could be fighting by yourself on many floors just because you haven't unlocked the jug slot. iLVL allows pretty much anything to solo Salvage, but when you consider the lack of a pet (say a thf pet) on Bst, it kind of feels like you're doing it wrong.

Picked up a DW+5 (other stats meh) JSE cape from Incursion a couple days ago, and was curious how that + Wobbufet belt compare to Atheling and Patentia.

Well its obviously better unless you are in need of that attack, or the DW from both pieces.

Are you solo (or otherwise without heavy buffs: e.g. Haste + non-trust Marches)? DW back + Patentia will prob be best pair.

Are you getting party buffs? Swap our Patentia for Windbuffet/+1. Probably fine to keep Canny there though, it's pretty good in that situation even without augments just for the base Acc+10/TA+2%. Harder party stuff it's more likely that Acc matters, so Canny or Letalis are pretty solid choices anyway. And if you aren't hitting delay cap the DW is really helpful - even when you are getting buffs, if you aren't hasted and 2x Marched 100% of the time you'll get some benefit from it.

Yeah, the Canny Cape was already a great piece, so pretty much any augments on top of it will be worthwhile. From what I've seen, the best you can get is something in the neighborhood of +5 DEX, +5 AGI, +5 Dual Wield, +3 Crit. Damage, which I would just wear full time if I were so lucky.