THF 29 to 37

[Verve]

Okay Ranger is about to sit pretty at 37 later tonight (well hopefully, Just need a few more members), and just have to finish THF off so then I have all the subs for SAM (WAR, RNG, THF and NIN)

In two minds at the moment, follow suit with most other people and sub /NIN or go with what I know /WAR? Which one would you advise?

Also looking gear wise

Main:
Off:
Ranged: Light Crossbow+1 (Making sure I hit)
Ammo: Acid Bolts
Head: Empress Hairpin
Neck: Spike Necklace
Body:
Hands: Battle Gloves or Kingdom Gloves
Legs: Pub Sub
Feet: AGI+1 ones (0/5 on LL)
Back: Nomads
Earring: Beetle+1 x2
Finger: STR x2, Ven@34 (TP), DEX x2 (SA);
Waist: Merc Captain@30

Can anyone give any advice on the /WAR or /NIN argument and give me any gear help. Also Most THF's I see go SATA no matter what the set up! Is there any advantage/disadvantage in splitting the two up?

It will be greatly appreciated! Oh I'm a Mithran so please take this into account.

[SephYuyX]

Really need to give it this much thought when itll take 2 days to get to 37? Either way.. I dont support anyone subbing nin untill 50 unless you desperately must use it. I suggest using a sword and shield till you get VB, and then going dagger/shield. As far as splitting the two up, at that lvl it doesnt really matter, but you really dont wanna use TA on anyone but a PLD. SATA is good if you can do it on a PLD with a 2nd provoker, otherwise if the tank needs hate, use SA with a normal hit from the back and do TA behind the tank on a WS. Sacrifice extra dmg to secure hate, up to you.

Really doesnt matter anyway, dont most SJ PTs have PLs now a days?

[Denchet]

When you get to level 30 use /war. Berserk is an incredible ability, and there is no reason you should need /nin in this level range. You arent gonna pull hate off the tank, and you are pulling slow mobs (bats, beetles, crawlers), thus no need for utsusemi.

dont split SATA until 60+. sneak attack by itself is decent, but trick attack by itself before you get assassin at 60THF is garbage.

Mainhand one of those acc+ daggers you can use at level 30, eat meat dishes, wear mrc cpt body. what shield you use is irrelevant, all of them are useless until strike shield.

Wear the battle gloves, dex rings(venerer when you can), and republic sub for TP build. Macro in mrc cpt gloves and noct +1 legs for SATA.

Lastly, use a sword from 30-33, then switch to dagger once you can use Viper bite. If you have to you can skill up dagger on your sam.

[Valrath]

I think /war would be better. You get zerk at 30 to help your weak dagger swings hit for decent damage. Only downside is that SATA + VB will hit or be near the att cap since VB doubles your att, meaning zerk will be overkill. Shdows aren't needed for pulling unless you suck at it. If you pull from near max range, you'll almost never get hit. No one xps on raptors 30-37, so mob speed isn't an issue.

For daggers, I went w/ w/e had the highest base damage and best stats, til I switched to acid something, kurki, I think. My marksmenship skill sucked so I could never land acid bolts. If you can land acid bolts, then skip that dagger and look for high damage/acc daggers.

For rings, there are 2 that offer an enchantment bonus of +2acc/racc and +5att/ratt. Each has 50 charges, lasts 30 mins, reuse is 30 mins, but ust be kept equipped and you cannot zone. They're kinda nice, but -3 dex during SATA may suck a bit. IMO, the loss on SATA is negated by the boost during normal melee swings.

I went with battle gloves for hand slot. +3 att is a little meh compared to +3 acc, esp if you want to use rice dumplings. For body, I went with that windy lvl 30 piece, Merc Doublet or something like that.

edit: If your server is like mine, everyone's IQ seems to drop when they level lowbie jobs. Getting thf 30-37 after not touching it for 2 years was painful. I had people actually move out of the way to avoid being SATA'd. Fucking JP n00bs. I had to killshot or end up tanking, thus I resorted to doing /nin a lot so I wouldn't die. Gah, I hate fucking dickheads. Nin to 37 was just as painful.

[Ichthyos]

At 30, /WAR for zerk hands down. At that level, Dual Wield only gives you a 10% delay reduction and you don't have any really special weapons for the offhand slot anyway.

Merc. Captain's Doublet is standard for body. Shikaree Rings (they're only ex, not rare) are nice at 30, if you don't mind killing some Stroper Chymes. Upgrade to Jaeger Ring at 35. Garrison Hose is nice for SATA but you probably won't notice a difference. You're also better off wearing RSE feet than AGI+1 feet. Noct+1 legs/feet are good for SA/WS.

As far as weapons go, if you're eating sushi you can use whatever high damage sword you can find, until you level into Viper Bite.

At that level you're not going to be getting TP much faster than once a minute anyway, so just go ahead and combine SA, TA, and WS.

[Verve]

Cheers for the quick advice, I've always preferred /WAR.

I wish every party had a PL, most of the time its people going to zones too early that is the problem. Either go with meat

With weapon going Centurion's Sword -> Federation Knife and eating something like Dhalmel Steak or Meat Mithkabob.

[Ichthyos]

While using a sword (and if you want bolts to land) you should probably eat sole sushi... but if you aren't having acc problems then by all means eat meat.

[fantasticdan]

I subbed drg 30-37, with all 3 of the wyvern latent items. SATA jump works great alternate SATA VB/Fast blade. I also used a sword untill VB, thou in retrospect, if you are fighting mandragoras(didn't know they were weak to anything back than) or something else weak to piercing, you should stick to dagger.

I think /rng would also be viable at that range, to help you land bolts(macro in gun belt also maybe), and just increase accuracy overall.

Oh, and rice dumplings for sure for food.

[Allundaria]

Late to the party, but reiterating what the other posters said: /WAR, sword until Viper Bite for SA Fast Blade, accuracy gear when possible to make up for the A- vs. D skill gap, acid bolts.

SA/TA Fast Blade is significantly more powerful than any dagger WS until Viper Bite. Up until Centurion Sword at level 30, SA Combo with claws is also very viable as well.

That being said, even at these low levels the difference between your crappy dagger's A- skill and sword's D skill level is significant. At level 32 (the last level you should be using sword) its a 12 skill point difference. The only accuracy gear you really have access to are Archer/Shikaree rings at level 30 and maybe an Optical Earring or enchantment gear if you're so inclined, so sushi is pretty helpful in covering this gap for your main weapon as well as helping you land those critical...

Acid bolts. Yes yes yes. With sushi and Noct gear these will land very well and are crucial to speeding up kills. They are especially important if your party ventures out without a BRD or RDM and is fighting a mob with an annoying defense up move like Altepa or Garlaige beetles, as the defense down from the acid bolts will nullify their boosts.

At level 33 you get your primo WS Viper Bite, and you can equip a Peacock Charm which essentially is like wearing sushi on your neck. You can definitely switch to meat/dumplings here with no major impact to your melee and ranged accuracy.

[Septimus]

I did /NIN when I leveled up THF. At those levels I just don't trust parties enough to keep me alive- shadows, capped evasion and parry, and bloody bolts helped me survive many battles.

[theo]

I did /NIN when I leveled up THF. At those levels I just don't trust parties enough to keep me alive- shadows, capped evasion and parry, and bloody bolts helped me survive many battles.

I agree, I went /NIN and I wouldn't change it if I were to do it again. Especially on those long pulls, I'd rather have shadows to keep me alive when I'm exping with mages that I've never met nor trust.

I also went dagger main + sword offhand, mostly because there are some really nice swords at those levels, and also because I have a few sword merits.

[Tulun]

I'd sub war... sub nin seems too safe, and just gimps your attack rating. Thief shouldn't be taking hate anyway, and pulling and avoiding being hit by the mobs you're fighting shouldn't be a problem ^^

[Shadida]

Also, since you dont get Viper Bite til 33, you can try two different WSs for SATA:

Dagger main hand: Use Shadowstitch. You'll be surprised at the damage you can turn out with this WS from levels 30-33.

Sword main hand: Obviously Fast Blade. It's comparable with Shadowstitch but Viper Bite wins big over both.

edit:

Knuckles: Combo is good too, but I would not recommend using Knuckles unless you have a MNK subjob ready for the Martial Arts traits.

Also don't forget to use Acid Bolts! You're failing at THF if you don't!

[Verve]

Well while most of my gear is waiting to Sell I'm off skilling up my marksmanship.

Thanks for all the advice but think I'll be going /WAR and will be going with Fed Knife till 37 if possible!

Cheers All!

[Baha]

34 Fed kukri is nice too, shouldn't be too expensive normally.

[Eder]

I did go with /NIN when 30-37, low level party is about how long u can survive in the area to level up and get the hell outta there , for example you pullng in GC u sometime have to go deep in to pull Bats or links even, w/o shadows + cockblocked by lags/whatever otw back will hurt ur HP.

meh, i guess by the time this is posted you prolly got lv37 already lol.

Low lvl DD food, Rice Dumpling ftw!

[cassiraa]

Rice Dumplings own all parties Pre-50.

/NIN is fine on THF until 50, in my opinion. At 50 Double Attack wins my favor and I say switch to /WAR.

Zerk is strong, but Viper Bite doubles your Attack rating for your next hit, so if you've got 150 attack, your WS will be at 300 Attack [a boat ton at lv30] With Zerk, you might actually hit attk cap on your WS around lv30, or it might not even be necessary.

[Verve]

29 to 37 in two days! Appears that no one plays on Garuda!!! Unfortunately I work so only get to play a couple of hours a night and with being in the UK I have to normally wait till 9ish for a party!!

Anyway thanks for all the help and hope I get this over and done with as quickly as possible so the I can get back to my SAM