Post by lockejv on Aug 9, 2020 13:31:45 GMT -5
Just in case any EO members or anyone else is looking to level Thief, here is a guide for dagger progression! Thief can use other weapons as well such as Sword (D), H2H (E), Club (E), Archery (C-), Marksmanship (C+), Throwing (D), however I'm going to stick with the Thief's most proficient (A+) damage dealing weapon - the dagger.
Level 1-6:
LV 1, Bronze Knife +1, 5 DMG, 189 Delay. This is the best DPS dagger to start, however it should only take a few minutes outside a starter city to hit level 7, so any old dagger will do for this phase, especially if you have trusts.
Level 7-17:
LV 7, Beestinger, 4 DMG, 150 Delay, DEX +1, AGI +1. Love that 150 delay! The Beestinger drops from Stinging Sophie in North Gustaberg, and is a nice upgrade which will also increase your sneak attack damage and evasion ability with the stat bonuses. It's also great to use in your offhand when dual wielding, which you'll gain access to at level 20.
LV 13, Knife +1, 9 DMG, 189 Delay. The best DPS dagger during this phase is an HQ smithing synth which hits hard and has a nice low delay. Other notable daggers during this phase include the Spark Dagger which adds lightning damage with a battery equipped, and the Silence and Blind daggers. However, you can hit 18 these days in 10-20 minutes with bonuses, so your level 1 dagger should get you to 18 in no time with trusts.
Level 18-24:
LV 18, Baselard +1, 9 DMG, 181 Delay. This HQ synth gives you a slight upgrade to DPS from the Knife +1 with about 5% less delay, however it's quickly eclipsed at LV 20.
Note: At Level 20, Dual Wield becomes available for Thief with level 10 Ninja subjob, so you can equip two daggers! At level 40, Dual Wield becomes available with a level 20 Dancer subjob. Thief gains access to Dual Wield without a subjob at level 83.
LV 20, Mercenary's Knife, 11 DMG, 190 Delay, Accuracy+2. This dagger can be obtained from the AH or with Conquest Points if you're representing Windurst. A nice bump in damage and the accuracy bonus is helpful! At this point you can equip two daggers, so you can either grab two of these, or use a lower delay dagger on the offhand (like the Beestinger) to speed up your attack rate. The low delay (150) daggers used to exploit the "TP floor" and allow you to gain TP at a crazy rate, but that was "fixed" when daggers were buffed many years ago. At 23 you can get Mythril Dagger +1 and/or a Corrosive Dagger to increase your attack speed, however at LV 25 there are 4 vastly superior daggers available.
Level 25-33:
LV 25, Federation Knife, 13 DMG, 180 Delay, Acc +2, Att +5. Back in the day when going from 25-33 took many hours, two of these bad boys provided the best DPS and stat bonus options for a week or more of leveling. The Federation Knife is an HQ synth of the Mercenary's knife you've been using since level 20. Dual wielding two of these provides a significant accuracy and attack buff over your other options. These days you'll almost certainly spend more time tracking these down than any time you'll gain by having them, unless you're on an old school private server. However, it is a bad ass dagger.
Weapon Skill Alert! When your dagger skill hits 100 at level 33 (can potentially get it sooner with merits), Viper Bite becomes available. To quote Jemali's THF FAQ from 2003, "Viper Bite is THE weapon skill to use when combined with Sneak
and Trick attack until you get Dancing Edge". Viper Bite doubles your attack and is a two-hit strike that deals massive damage when combined with Sneak Attack. Sneak Attack adds your current DEX to your weapon damage, and with the attack bonus and job ability from Viper Bite that can't miss, "you will be doing damage that even warriors will envy". Combine Sneak with Trick Attack to also add your AGI to your weapon damage as well, and THF now has spike damage no other melee job can come close to. Viper Bite also poisons the target, and it's always cool on those rare occasions when the mob dies from Viper Poison - thanks to WildRose for pointing that out when it happened during our party in the Quicksands. Create a macro to swap in gear that gives you as much dexterity and AGI as possible and use it before every Sneak Attack -> Trick Attack -> Viper Bite. PM me if you want additional help with this technique! Also, shout out to Ionis for teaching me the technique to stack Sneak Attack -> Weapon Skills (Fast Blade) back in the day after Kevorkean called me out - "Locke, why the hell is Ionis doing so much more damage than you?"
Level 34-45
LV 34 Federation Kukri, DMG 15, Delay 182, Acc +2, Att +7 outside nations control. This is by far THF's best option for quite some time, until 46. However, the 15 damage here is only +2 damage from your level 25 dagger. Presumably this is due to THF getting massive damage with Viper Bite; your dagger upgrades between 25 and 46 are not much of an upgrade at all. Other jobs are treated much better, e.g. the Great Sword at lv 25 is 35 DMG, and at level 41 it bumps to 55 damage! THF +2 DMG, DRK +20 DMG, wtf! As for the attack bonus (outside nation's control), if you're Bastok, otherwise known as "Lastok", you always have that nice +7 attack bonus! Or +14 attack if using two!
LV 40 Marauder's Knife, DMG 15, Delay 195, DEX +2, AGI +2. This is the first piece of THF Artifact Armor, and it's a reward from the quest Tenshodo Showdown. It works well as an offhand because of the +4 damage bonus it provides to SATA, although you add some delay and lose some attack vs the Fed Kukri. So good luck stealing some Qadav Stew to earn the dagger! And if you need a Tenshodo Invite, I have one for sale (500 mil or trade for Kraken Club). PM me and I'll re-activate my account and get it to you.
Level 46-53 Finally some itemization; lots of ways to mix and match daggers after 50!
LV 46 Bone Knife +1, 18 DMG, 190 Delay, +5 Acc, +5 Att. Wielding two +1 bone knives the second you hit 46 was mandatory back in the day! +10 Acc and +10 Att on the highest damage daggers available was pretty nice to have at the time. Stat-wise, upgrading to these daggers was like equipping a Scorpion Harness!
LV 48 Hornetneedle, 16 DMG, 150 Delay, +1 DEX, +1 AGI. By far the best DPS dagger available at level 48 and easily the best offhand for even longer. That 150 delay is like having auto-haste! Drops from Death From Above in the Temple...good luck, you'll need it!
LV 50 Mercurial Kris, 8 DMG, 192 Delay, occasionally attacks 2-3 times. Attack distribution is one attack (30%), two attacks (50%), three attacks (20%). Gains about 10 TP per round making it the best TP gain dagger available to THF. Can also be used by many other jobs and is still a highly desired item. Tough to get (3% chance of being a reward when doing a Selbina pirate map quest). If you have it, might as well use it!
LV 50 Corsair's Knife, 21 DMG, 206 Delay, +10 attack. Nice bump in damage over main-handing a Bone Knife +1 at the expense of ACC and some delay. Combine with the Hornetneedle to make up for the delay! I remember saving up for quite some time for this dagger as it drops from a 24 hour NM in Zvahl Baileys.
LV 51 Lust Dagger, 20 DMG, 201 Delay, +7 AGI, -1 to all other stats. Good DPS for its level and a nice bump to DMG on Trick Attack with that +7 AGI.
Hornetneedle / Mercurial Kris might be the best combo here, followed by Corsair's / Hornetneedle into the 50's.
Part II coming soon!
Level 1-6:
LV 1, Bronze Knife +1, 5 DMG, 189 Delay. This is the best DPS dagger to start, however it should only take a few minutes outside a starter city to hit level 7, so any old dagger will do for this phase, especially if you have trusts.
Level 7-17:
LV 7, Beestinger, 4 DMG, 150 Delay, DEX +1, AGI +1. Love that 150 delay! The Beestinger drops from Stinging Sophie in North Gustaberg, and is a nice upgrade which will also increase your sneak attack damage and evasion ability with the stat bonuses. It's also great to use in your offhand when dual wielding, which you'll gain access to at level 20.
LV 13, Knife +1, 9 DMG, 189 Delay. The best DPS dagger during this phase is an HQ smithing synth which hits hard and has a nice low delay. Other notable daggers during this phase include the Spark Dagger which adds lightning damage with a battery equipped, and the Silence and Blind daggers. However, you can hit 18 these days in 10-20 minutes with bonuses, so your level 1 dagger should get you to 18 in no time with trusts.
Level 18-24:
LV 18, Baselard +1, 9 DMG, 181 Delay. This HQ synth gives you a slight upgrade to DPS from the Knife +1 with about 5% less delay, however it's quickly eclipsed at LV 20.
Note: At Level 20, Dual Wield becomes available for Thief with level 10 Ninja subjob, so you can equip two daggers! At level 40, Dual Wield becomes available with a level 20 Dancer subjob. Thief gains access to Dual Wield without a subjob at level 83.
LV 20, Mercenary's Knife, 11 DMG, 190 Delay, Accuracy+2. This dagger can be obtained from the AH or with Conquest Points if you're representing Windurst. A nice bump in damage and the accuracy bonus is helpful! At this point you can equip two daggers, so you can either grab two of these, or use a lower delay dagger on the offhand (like the Beestinger) to speed up your attack rate. The low delay (150) daggers used to exploit the "TP floor" and allow you to gain TP at a crazy rate, but that was "fixed" when daggers were buffed many years ago. At 23 you can get Mythril Dagger +1 and/or a Corrosive Dagger to increase your attack speed, however at LV 25 there are 4 vastly superior daggers available.
Level 25-33:
LV 25, Federation Knife, 13 DMG, 180 Delay, Acc +2, Att +5. Back in the day when going from 25-33 took many hours, two of these bad boys provided the best DPS and stat bonus options for a week or more of leveling. The Federation Knife is an HQ synth of the Mercenary's knife you've been using since level 20. Dual wielding two of these provides a significant accuracy and attack buff over your other options. These days you'll almost certainly spend more time tracking these down than any time you'll gain by having them, unless you're on an old school private server. However, it is a bad ass dagger.
Weapon Skill Alert! When your dagger skill hits 100 at level 33 (can potentially get it sooner with merits), Viper Bite becomes available. To quote Jemali's THF FAQ from 2003, "Viper Bite is THE weapon skill to use when combined with Sneak
and Trick attack until you get Dancing Edge". Viper Bite doubles your attack and is a two-hit strike that deals massive damage when combined with Sneak Attack. Sneak Attack adds your current DEX to your weapon damage, and with the attack bonus and job ability from Viper Bite that can't miss, "you will be doing damage that even warriors will envy". Combine Sneak with Trick Attack to also add your AGI to your weapon damage as well, and THF now has spike damage no other melee job can come close to. Viper Bite also poisons the target, and it's always cool on those rare occasions when the mob dies from Viper Poison - thanks to WildRose for pointing that out when it happened during our party in the Quicksands. Create a macro to swap in gear that gives you as much dexterity and AGI as possible and use it before every Sneak Attack -> Trick Attack -> Viper Bite. PM me if you want additional help with this technique! Also, shout out to Ionis for teaching me the technique to stack Sneak Attack -> Weapon Skills (Fast Blade) back in the day after Kevorkean called me out - "Locke, why the hell is Ionis doing so much more damage than you?"
Level 34-45
LV 34 Federation Kukri, DMG 15, Delay 182, Acc +2, Att +7 outside nations control. This is by far THF's best option for quite some time, until 46. However, the 15 damage here is only +2 damage from your level 25 dagger. Presumably this is due to THF getting massive damage with Viper Bite; your dagger upgrades between 25 and 46 are not much of an upgrade at all. Other jobs are treated much better, e.g. the Great Sword at lv 25 is 35 DMG, and at level 41 it bumps to 55 damage! THF +2 DMG, DRK +20 DMG, wtf! As for the attack bonus (outside nation's control), if you're Bastok, otherwise known as "Lastok", you always have that nice +7 attack bonus! Or +14 attack if using two!
LV 40 Marauder's Knife, DMG 15, Delay 195, DEX +2, AGI +2. This is the first piece of THF Artifact Armor, and it's a reward from the quest Tenshodo Showdown. It works well as an offhand because of the +4 damage bonus it provides to SATA, although you add some delay and lose some attack vs the Fed Kukri. So good luck stealing some Qadav Stew to earn the dagger! And if you need a Tenshodo Invite, I have one for sale (500 mil or trade for Kraken Club). PM me and I'll re-activate my account and get it to you.
Level 46-53 Finally some itemization; lots of ways to mix and match daggers after 50!
LV 46 Bone Knife +1, 18 DMG, 190 Delay, +5 Acc, +5 Att. Wielding two +1 bone knives the second you hit 46 was mandatory back in the day! +10 Acc and +10 Att on the highest damage daggers available was pretty nice to have at the time. Stat-wise, upgrading to these daggers was like equipping a Scorpion Harness!
LV 48 Hornetneedle, 16 DMG, 150 Delay, +1 DEX, +1 AGI. By far the best DPS dagger available at level 48 and easily the best offhand for even longer. That 150 delay is like having auto-haste! Drops from Death From Above in the Temple...good luck, you'll need it!
LV 50 Mercurial Kris, 8 DMG, 192 Delay, occasionally attacks 2-3 times. Attack distribution is one attack (30%), two attacks (50%), three attacks (20%). Gains about 10 TP per round making it the best TP gain dagger available to THF. Can also be used by many other jobs and is still a highly desired item. Tough to get (3% chance of being a reward when doing a Selbina pirate map quest). If you have it, might as well use it!
LV 50 Corsair's Knife, 21 DMG, 206 Delay, +10 attack. Nice bump in damage over main-handing a Bone Knife +1 at the expense of ACC and some delay. Combine with the Hornetneedle to make up for the delay! I remember saving up for quite some time for this dagger as it drops from a 24 hour NM in Zvahl Baileys.
LV 51 Lust Dagger, 20 DMG, 201 Delay, +7 AGI, -1 to all other stats. Good DPS for its level and a nice bump to DMG on Trick Attack with that +7 AGI.
Hornetneedle / Mercurial Kris might be the best combo here, followed by Corsair's / Hornetneedle into the 50's.
Part II coming soon!
