THF The Guide

CAUTION!

This article is only a guide. Information expressed in a guide is usually more opinion than fact and should be taken as such. Guides are written by players, based upon their experiences, successes and mistakes, and are meant to aid other players. However, there may be differing opinions than those expressed in a guide. Strategies and information in guides may not work for everyone.

THF Guide

This guide is meant for people looking to get into the THF job and want a starting point on how to play the job while leveling

This is by no means an optimization guide, and is mean to give you an idea on your role in the group and proper party/group role/function

What is your role as a THF?

Contrary to popular belief Thief is a Support job. Your job in the party is the manage Enmity, set up the flow of the fight, supply loot assistance, and set up skill chains and magic bursts.

"But THF does such big damage!" Yes, yes it does, but we use that damage to trick the mob into thinking someone else is dealing it. This is one of the ways our Enmity management is done.

Separates the Desired and the Undesired

THF is one of the most played jobs on Horizon and because of that, there are A LOT of people who give THFs a bad name. When there is a good THF in the party your leveling experience is quite amazing. When there is a bad THF in the party things slow down, draw out and get messy, really quickly. When considering a THF people usually have to think, Are the Melee's going to cooperate so the THF can do their thing? Does this THF know how to pull off the job? Do we have the right comp? More times than not, the answer to these questions is No, and it's just easier for them to find a different player to fill their party. How can you keep this from being you? Here's how...

Step 1:Marksmenship

This is a skill you need to keep as maxed as you can during the leveling process. Not Archery, Not Throwing. Why? When soloing, or running content you status bolts are your lifeblood. That sleep bolt won't help you set up solo Sneak Attacks or save you from aggro, if it doesn't land. Those Bloody Bolts won't heal you if you miss. And most importantly you aren't going to get the defense down from your Acid Bolts to speed up the kill if you miss. The greatest thing about your Status Bolts is that you can swap them out without losing TP

Step 2:Proper use of Sneak/Trick Attack

The most common mistake that THFs make is to save these for when they have TP for a weaponskill. You need to be using these on cooldown. Just make sure you communicate with your party member who's trying to set up skill chains with you when your timer is up. (If you are close to getting TP for a Weapon Skill it's appropriate to save your timer for the Weapon Skill).

Most times you will have your cooldown back in time to use them on the skill chain. Not only that it helps you generate TP as these attacks, when executed properly guarantee not only hits, but crits. The cool thing about these abilities is that you can never waste the cooldown. They stay active for 1 minute, and have a 1 minute cooldown, so if you don't attack in that time, you just use it again. From levels 30-50 you want to be using these together 90% of the time.

After you get Assassinate at lvl 50, you start every fight, pull the mob >>> get behind the tank >>> Trick Attack (Auto Attack or Weapon Skill) >>> go behind the mob >>> Sneak Attack (Auto Attack or Weapon Skill).

Step 3:Subjob Ninja

After level 24 there is no other subjob appropriate for you to use while leveling. By subbing Ninja and using Shadows you ease the tension per fight and allow the party to flow more fluidly. The more MP the healers have to spend saving you when you pull threat, or get hit coming back from a pull, the more down time you have in the group. The more down time you have the less experience per hour you make, the more miserable everyone there become.

Step 4:Weapon Choice

It's daggers. The change Horizon made to daggers made them more than a viable option at the early levels to need to have to use other option.

EXP Parties

10-15

Unless you are in a lvl10 sync Easy Prey burn, or are in a group with friends I would advise against partying at these levels. You offer almost nothing to the group due to bad job design. If you are in a group though be the party's puller. If you want to make up for the lack of damage you do at these levels focus more on weaving crossbow shots in between your autos to help generate more TP so that you can set up skill chains for your group.

15-30

You now have Sneak Attack and are a functional party member. You should be the one closing the skill chains for your group now with a Sneak Attacked Weapon Skill. Before level 24 hope to kill the mob with said closed skill chain as you will pull threat and it'll be very hard for anyone to pull it back off you.

30-50

You get Trick Attack here, so groups will more than likely set up a "First Voke" situation in so that you can Sneak Attack Trick Attack (Auto Attack or Weapon Skill) onto the main tank, otherwise business as usual

50-75

The big change here is the trait Assassinate. Now you can start separating your Trick Attacks and Sneak Attacks. Your groups no longer need a "First Voke" setup either.

Subjobs

Ninja

This is your go to default subjob. Dual Wield offers bonus stats and faster TP generation. Utsusemi keeps you alive. In exp parties this is the most optimal subjob post lvl 24 as it keeps the party moving. You will be ripping threat onto yourself and you aren't a tanky job. This will keep it so that you don't die, or take a lot of damage before the mob dies, so the healer doesn't have to waste resources on you. It also helps you from taking damage pulling the mob back to the group.

Beastmaster

A decent option for when you want Wide Scan and a ranged claiming option. <Not for ExP Parties>

Redmage

This is a decent option for soloing. Blink, Stoneskin, Sneak, Invisible, En-Spells, emergency heals, all provide QoL when soloing. <Not for ExP Parties>

Disclaimer For Pre 30 Characters

Warrior or Monk are both fine for a subjob until you unlock Ninja. But once you are 30 and can unlock the job, stop, and go unlock it.

Gear

I'm not really going to go over gear in this guide as it's not really the scope of what the guide is trying to cover. The one thing I will say about the gear, is please make sure you keep up to date on your gear. Weapons are a big one, if not biggest upgrade. Because of this, I'll go through some important milestones here.

Level 1

Onion Dagger : They buffed it on this server, this dagger will last you a while, to lvl 20 at the latest

Level 7

Beestinger : This is an upgrade, nice if you have it, not a deal breaker if you don't.

Level 13

Knife(+1) : This is latest you want to take the mileage on your Onion Dagger if you are doing traditional Exp Parties.

Level 20

Mercenary's Knife : Your first major upgrade, this knife is going to give you great mileage

Level 25

Windurstian/Federation Knife : It's a better Mercenary's Knife, again not a deal breaker but it is better.

Parrying Knife : If you enjoy soloing a pair of these knives will give you great survivablity.

Level 34

Windurstian/Federation Kukri : Upgrade of the knife if you are usually outside of areas you control. Not a deal breaker though.

Level 46

Bone Knife(+1) : Easily the biggest upgrade to date. These daggers are a must have once you get to lvl 46. I highly recommend saving up for the +1s if you can.

Level 68

Harpe/Hoplites Harpe : This is your first big damage dagger, no required while leveling though.

Level 70

Thief's Knife : You need to get this for a more important item, so you might as well get it. It's an offhand dagger only.

Level 72

Blau Dolch : This dagger is insane.
Latent Effect: Triggered By: TP < 1000 Effect is also present during Weapon Skills.
Hidden Effect: When Latent Effect is active: Accuracy+5 Attack+16
Nearly the highest damage dagger in the game, but when you take in effect the Latent/Hidden Effect, it's easily the strongest. This is a Must Have!