For The Shinies! A Guide For Thief

thank you it was the wording "adding too your base dmg" that confused me i was thinking of weapons dmmg aka D

STR is 1.53 base damage? Did I get something wrong? I thought fTP for Mercy Stroke is 3, and the WSC is 60% STR.

The alpha correction.

Yours is better but I already mentioned the waist and head a few pages back and xux has also been mentioned here and there, bendis and that sash are indeed both nice.

Ah! Thank you, I completely forgot. I updated the guide notes to account for that. I also added a link to Mindi's evasion hybrid set.

If u dont have kephri and abbatteur, what should u use for SA mercy? Thaumas vs Athos vs Whirlwind

Always used Thaumas but im lazy to do maths etc

On my spreadsheet against Pil, I get Thaumas (3750), Whirlwind Dirs (3734), and Athos (3726). So, Thaumas by a bit. That doesn't really surprise me considering Thaumas has big chunks of STR and attack.

If you go for a harder target (Ig-Alima), same general results. If you're attack and STR capped, Athos is going to beat out Thaumas / Whirlwind.

Plans to update the goal haste set to one I posted...

ItemSet 297558

Have this set still winning across most content. Love Torque does increase total DPS in haste set in some situations over Nef collar, using atheling mantle. for those who may not enjoy always taking the extra 5% damage.

EDIT: not sure but no matter how I toss other pieces in and out not getting Skadi+ patentia sash any longer winning over thuran head and twilight belt. If anyone else has been playing with XML let me know if you are finding better overall results.

Eva sets:
I still find shadow mantle to be very useful as it "Annuls damage 6% of the time". as well as Nusku's Sash are 2 pieces I use in my hybrid set as it gives 5% DW SB and a little Eva boost fulfilling 3 things in one to get tp'd on a little less still keep up dot with 5% DW and of course +5 eva.

Also for those who may not have a defending ring, Stormsoul, Heed, and Dumak rings are ok options. and of course the preferred 6% aug ring from abyssea KH.

So, I have 40 pages ready for Skadi head, should I get 5 more and do hands instead?

ItemSet 288735

Dis is what im using atm

Waiting on that new augumentable dagger offhand

At this time I would probably do hands first.

Anyone on Fenrir crafting khepri? after I finish my last 3 marrows for 99 Relic I am thinking I might take my luck on sponsoring a Higher lv crafter providing mats + tips to try and craft the body and legs for me. /tell if you think we can work something out TY. Also interested in Bismarck, Morta, and of course Maquette Abdhaljs-Legion if anyone is interested in making groups with me. TY

Last time I checked, hands were the largest single-piece upgrade available for THF from the Skadi set. They should probably be everyone's first skadi piece, before Sigyn feet too. But I checked before the SoA stuff existed, so that may shake up the optimal acquisition order.

Using the set you have with slight modifications to it I have a different outcome.

ItemSet 298801

I was using the google drive xmls idk if that's the standard everyone is using but when using the Thf.xml vs the Thf2.xml only difference is the belt. In thf.xml the belt was patenia was winning over twilight and vice versa in Thf2.xml.

If im using wrong xml for parsing or im doing something wrong would gladly appreciate knowing so.

Those are significant modifications.

DC dyna : 12/12 Str/Dex Mithra Yellow curry no outside buffs, 95Man/90thaw /Dnc Haste samba.

Set I have up 168 melee DPS, the set you posted 156. Also the mod set has a higher cycle time per WS.

Ya im not sure if im doing this right who knows. Which xml version are you using?

Redownloaded the xmls and seems like your set is working better minus rancor mantle will pull ahead but u take extra dmg etc. I must of had something corrupted or mistyped in old file.

I was and still am getting Otomis' set as the best set for harder content. I have skadi's visor, patentia, etc. winning for fodder and for me personally on Dyna DC (rcb, hume, 99 mandau) but it's close enough that I'd just shoot for Thurandaut if you don't feel like farming an extra 40 plans in salvage for the visor.

@Otomis: Thurand head et maybe winning for u cause of the extra fSTR gained since u have 95 Mandau with lower dmg? did u try to parse it with 99 Mandau?

Id like to clear this so I know if I should get hands +1 1st, pages waiting.

hands for sure

with mandau 99/str tokcha (i use daggers i have when comparing sets for me) i get same results like otomis and decimus, beside that i use rancor neck. Old skadi+1 head+ sash winning on fodder-ish stuff, twilight+tarudant on higher stuff.

I still do not see Thurandaut Chapeau coming ahead unless you get 4 fSTR from the 13 STR (which you can somewhat equate to a 25% chance, although I hate saying it like that) or your accuracy is uncapped, which is generally a scenario for an alternate build altogether unless you want to set up several accuracy sets for varying targets. Considering the type of content a THF is DDing in, I would default to Skadi+1/Patentia. But like I've said before, I wouldn't judge someone using any of the alternatives, as they all tend to be very close and "tightly" situational. Personally, I've set head piece to a variable in my XML because I feel so uncertain about it in everything I do. Perhaps I'd like to add belt to that list too.

But regardless, Suji is right. Skadi+1 Hands>Sigyn Feet>Skadi+1 Head should be priority for your Umbrage papers.

Might want to note somewhere in the guide where to find Motenten's spreadsheets (if it's there already, then I'm blind), and the difference between THF and THF2. THF (and please someone correct me if I'm wrong) automatically saves TP for SA and TA after one normal WS. This is why sometimes in high haste situations, setting SA and TA to none will actually increase your DPS--because you may be doing one SA WS at the cost of 1.5 or two unstacked WS in that time.

THF2 allows you to compare not holding TP (using your unstacked WS when you hit 100% TP if your SA/TA timers are not immediately up) to holding TP for up to a maximum time limit that you can manually submit, although this time limit is not actually used unless it allows you to WS within that time. For example, if I set it to 10 seconds, and by the time I have 100% TP, SA is at 15 seconds, it will go ahead and Exen at 100%, not 10 seconds after I hit 100%. Alternatively, if you set max time limit to something higher than is necessary, "Hold Time" on row 39 will tell you how long it is actually holding for.

It is interesting to note that a good rule of thumb is simply to not hold, especially with haste and/or marches.

Because of the differences between the spreadsheets, THF2 will show greater results for multi-attack and store TP gear, and needless to say, should be more accurate than the first spreadsheet (personally, I just stick to THF2 now). I've not gone down the list of all such gear to take another look at, but it certainly is worth noting that Pugiunculus will beat 99 Twashtar when fSTR is on the higher end, even when getting up to 11% crit rate from the DEX. In fact, the only time I notice Twashtar gaining a real advantage is when you need accuracy (on top of gaining crit rate).

On another note, a full round of Vajra99/Twash99 with fulltime AM3 (basically, assuming you started with AM3 active and always time 300% Mandalic perfectly) on Qilin (voidwatch+stalwarts, haste, double march, 5% samba): 331.300 vs 365.825 for Mandau99/Twash99. Even free AM3 forever, DPS is still only 345.673. I don't think, even theoretically, Vajra can outdamage Mandau, as stated in OP, although SA Mandalic itself can produce nice numbers.

Strangely, the urge to make one is there.

Also, who else loves looking at spreadsheets all day and writing tl;dr posts instead of getting work done?!

Edit: Also, Leisilonu also jumbles up the "best offhand" order a bit. Looking quickly down the list, crit+0-5% DMG+10-14 augments are sometimes better or worse in various situations, maybe I'll make another post about that later.

I have Sigyn Feet already, got those when I was getting Umbrage plans on side of Bloodshed (my main), so ill get Hands +1 tmr then ill go for head I guess.
Ok Thanks Flippy :)

Aye I actually do the sheet with both I am close to 99 mandau now will need 2 more marrows, farming when I have time for the gils. I also use off hand Str dagger unless fodder then I use 90 twashtar as the dot seems to pull ahead and I crit a lot. but on most everything DC + have that set winning using 99 mandau with Str dagger.

What do you use for an AE set in those few times where you might use it to AE cleave or AE brew?

MAB > INT/DEX

I always use Aeolian Edge to aoe TH the gears in salvage :o

lol, I do the same.

Okies some new gear for Thf looks nice.

Whirlpool Mask:
DEF:72 DEX+20 AGI+20 Accuracy+25 Attack+25 "Subtle Blow"+4 Haste+7%
MNK / THF / RNG / NIN / BLU / COR / PUP / DNC / RUN

Asperity Necklace:
Attack+8 "Store TP"+3 "Double Attack"+2%
All Jobs

Pya'ekue Belt (+1):
DEF:14(15) Haste+9%(10%)
WAR / RDM / THF / PLD / DRK / BST / BRD / RNG / SAM / NIN / DRG / BLU / COR / DNC / RUN

Vespid Mantle:
DEF:20 Attack+35 Weapon Skill Accuracy+10
WAR / MNK / RDM / THF / PLD / DRK / BST / BRD / RNG / SAM / NIN / DRG / BLU / COR / DNC / RUN

Couple earrings offering 7% Dbl. attack(bladeborn + steelflash) and unknown DW(dudgeon + heartseeker) seem interesting but not sure for Thf they can out do brutal and suppa.

Tati Earring(+1):
Accuracy+5(+6) Attack+15(+16) Evasion-7(-8)
All Jobs

Manibozho Brais:
DEF:51 STR+12 DEX+12 Attack+15 Evasion+10 Haste+6%
MNK / THF / RNG / NIN / BLU / COR / PUP / DNC / RUN

Nahtirah Trousers:
DEF:80 AGI+20 Ranged Attack+30 Evasion+20 Enhances "Snapshot" effect
MNK / THF / RNG / NIN / BLU / COR / PUP / DNC / RUN

Manibozho Boots:
DEF:32 MP+45 Attack+12 "Double Attack"+2% Haste+4%
MNK / THF / RNG / NIN / BLU / COR / PUP / DNC / RUN

Aphotic Kukri:
DMG:91 Delay:200 STR+6 Accuracy+18 Evasion+10

Izhiikoh:
DMG:108 Delay:200 DEX+15 Accuracy+29 Attack+25 "Triple Attack"+2%
THF / BRD / DNC

Honed Tathlum:
Accuracy+15
All Jobs

RIP Khepri is all I have to say for now.

I'm sitting on 40 plans and just turned in my Skadi legs last night before I went to bed, optimal TP gear set sure does change quick >_>. Should I hold off on upgrading legs since the goal set (Otomis' posted set) now only requires Bazubands +1 (only piece I have so far) since I'd probably only be using it for BST now? I could make Visor +1 instead if it's still the best option (according to this guide).

'nice' is quite the understatement.

I like how wars and drks can still reso with the new great sword, but now we're stuck with exenterator until they up rem weapons.