$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $ $ $ $ $ $$$$$$ $$ $$ $$$$$$ $$$$$$ $$$$$$ $ $ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $ $ $$ $$$$$$ $$ $$$$ $$$$ $ $ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $ $ $$ $$ $$ $$$$$$ $$$$$$ $$ $ $ $ $ $$$$$$ $$$ $$$$ $ $ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $ $ $$$$ $$$$$ $$ $$ $ $ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $ $ $$ $$ $$ $$$$$$ $ $ $ $ $ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Table of Contents (I) Introduction (II) Race (III) Job abilities (IV) Job traits (V) Weapons skills (VI) Leveling Guide (VII) Equipment (i) AF1 (VIII)Strategies (i) Party Formation (ii) Thief’s role in a party after level 15 (iii) Thief’s role in a party after level 30 (iv) Job Combinations (v) Sneak Attack and Trick Attack (IX) Macros (X) Additional Resources (XI) Special thanks (XII) Final words (XIII) Disclaimer (I) Introduction: This is a FAQ made specifically for Thief in the game Final Fantasy XI. Playing a thief has its upsides and downsides. It is a long journey that will be rewarded at the higher levels. Be prepared for rejections from parties at level 14 and under. The thief class is not meant to be at front line such as Warriors. Their purpose in a party is to control hate, which determines whom the monster will attack. This FAQ will not answer general questions about Final Fantasy XI, rather it is a specific guide to becoming a good thief. Version 1.0 No changes Version 1.1 Corrected spelling mistakes Corrected Yokodama terms Additional links added Additional information on sub jobs added Additional information on mug added ASCII Logo added Version 1.2 Minor Updates Version 1.3 Minor Updates Version 1.4 Fuidama vs Yokodama updated AF1 Added Monk strategy updated Ninja strategy updated Useful macros updated (II) Race: The most important stats that allow a thief to do the most damage is DEX. Therefore, most players tend to choose Mithras to be thieves because they rank the highest for dexterity. However, DEX is not the only factor that makes a thief a good thief. While Mithras have the highest DEX, they lack in STR and VIT. Most would argue that STR is not important because thieves rely on DEX to deal damage, while others would argue that VIT is not important neither because thieves are not meant to take hits anyways. HP wise, Hume will get more than Mithra, which can make all the difference in the world when you’re in a long battle. There are many occasions when 30hp could mean life or death even at levels such as 30 when you have a max of 500+. Below are the stats to all races with thief as their main job and no sub job. It is also important to consider Race Specific Equipments, which have different stats for different races. For example, the hume gloves add 3 to DEX. Personally I would prefer a Mithra to be a thief. Thanks to this calculator, which can be found at this site: http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~nhart/charstat1.html The bottom line is this, Mithras will make the best thief, however if you plan to pursue other jobs such as Warrior or Samurai, Humes are the most well rounded race out of all 5. (III) Job Abilities: Active Abilities are job skills that must be activated to work. Active abilities: Level 1: Perfect Dodge Duration: 30seconds Cool down time: 2 hours Macro: /ja “Perfect Dodge” The thief’s two-hour ability is a particularly selfish one. When used, you are able to dodge all physical attacks for 30 seconds. This does not however include magic attacks. Perfect Dodge is very useful when you are low on HP and your healers are out of MP to heal you. It is even more useful when you combine Perfect Dodge with Provoke. This way, the monster will attack you and you would not get hit for thirty seconds. Thirty seconds may not sound like it is a lot, however, in a battle situation, 30 seconds is a matter of winning and losing. It will provide an opportunity for your healer to rest and for warriors a break from taking hits. Level 5: Steal Duration: Instant Cool down time: 5:00 Macro: /ja “Steal” Steal is the classic ability from all previous Final Fantasy game that makes the job class thief unique. This ability allows you to steal from an enemy. You do not have to be engaged in battle to steal from an enemy. However, once you steal from an enemy, they will begin to attack you. Level 15: Sneak Attack Duration: Instant Cool down time: 1:00 Macro: /ja “Sneak Attack” Sneak attack is the most useful ability out of all of the abilities that a thief will get. When used, you must stand behind the monster and not in front. If it successfully connects, you will dp a critical damage that can range anywhere from 4 to 10 times what a normal attack will do. This job skill is very useful when combined with weapon skills. Level 25: Flee Duration: 30 seconds Cool down time: 5:00 Macro: /ja “Flee” Flee is a very simple ability. Flee allows the user to run at speed of up to a chocobo. It is self only and therefore the party does not benefit from this ability. Level 30: Trick Attack Duration: Instant Cool down time: 1:00 Macro: /ja “Trick Attack” Trick attack is the second most useful ability that a thief will get. To use properly, you must stand behind a party member and attack from there. Trick attack will work even if the monster is facing the party member that you stand behind. If it successfully connects, you will do damage that is generally 2 to 3 times the damage of what you would normally hit. This job skill is also very useful when combined with weapon skills. Trick attack marks the pinnacle of thieves. At level 30, you will be doing damage that even warriors will envy. Trick attack when combined with Sneak attack is the backbone for dealing damage for thieves. Simply stand behind a party member when the monster is not looking, and activate Sneak attack and Trick attack. More on this will be explained later. Level 35: Mug Duration: Instant Cool down time: 20:00 Macro: /ja “Mug” Level 45: Hide Duration: Random Cool down time: 5:00 Macro: /ja "Hide" Hide resets the hate that the monster has on you. If you miss trick attack, it is a good idea to use Hide so that the monster won't attack you. Gil steal is pretty straightforward; it allows you to steal gil from a monster. Mug does not work if the monster does not drop gil at the end of battles. (IV) Job Traits: Passive abilities are abilities that you do not need to activate and are always “on”. Level 5: Gil Finder A passive skill that multiplies the amount of gil dropped after defeating a monster Level 10: Evasion Bonus A passive skill that adds to your evasion skills. This does not however add numbers to your combat skills under “Evasion”. It is simply there. Level 15: Treasure Hunter A passive skill that increases the chance of item drops by monsters. Level 20: Gravity Resist A passive skill that contributes to resisting spells that weights you down. Level 30: Evasion Bonus II Additional evasion bonus. Level 45: Treasure Hunter II Additional item drops. Level 50: Evasion Bonus III Additional evasion bonus. Level 55: Triple Attack A passive skill that allows you to attack three times sometimes. (V) Weapon Skills: There are three major weapons that a thief must master during their course of leveling. Those three weapons are Daggers, Swords, and Hand to Hand. The reason why it is important to rotate those weapons is because weapons skills are capped at each level. When it is blue, it means that it is capped and therefore it’s a good idea to use another weapon to level that particular skill up. While thieves are more proficient at daggers, swords and hand to hand can be very useful at the very beginning. Out of all the early weapon skills that a thief will get, Combo (hand to hand), and Fast Blade (sword), are the only ones that stack with Sneak attack and Trick attack. When used with Sneak or Trick attack, they will add onto the damage that the weapon skill will already do. Combo and Sneak Attack alone are capable of dealing heavy damage. The biggest draw back however is that thieves are very slow with hand-to-hand combat. Elemental weapon skills, such as Gust slash will not stack with Sneak or Trick attack. Daggers Level 10: Wasp Sting Macro: /ws “Wasp Sting” Add poison to your next attack. Note: This weapon skill will stack with Sneak and Trick attack, however it does not add additional damage. Level 40: Gust Slash Macro: /ws “Gust Slash” Adds wind damage to your next attack. Level 75: Shadowstitch Macro: /ws “Shadowstitch” Adds the possibility of binding the target. Level 100: Viper Bite Macro: /ws “Viper Bite” Add poison damage to your next attack and doubles your normal damage. Note: This is the weapon skill that a thief will get at level 33 and not one level sooner. Viper Bite is THE weapon skill to use when combined with Sneak and Trick attack until you get Dancing Edge. Level 125: Cyclone Macro: /ws "Cyclone" Adds wind damage to your next attack Level 150: Energy Steal Macro: /ws "Energy Steal" Steals MP on you next attack Level 175: Energy Drain Macro: /ws "Energy Drain" Steals MP on your next attack Level 200: Dancing Edge Macro: /ws "Dancing Edge" Multiplies your next attack by five times. (VI) Leveling Guide: I started out in Bastok and therefore I can only vouch for places in Gustaberg. Level 1-5: You can pretty much solo and monster out there. Do not attempt to take on Quadavs however. Level 6-10 Get yourself into a party of 3-4 with a white mage and level in Fumaroles in South Gustaberg. Kill any goblins, crabs, or bees you might find there. Level 11-13 Goto the Konstacht Highlands and kill lizards there. A full party is recommended to chain Hill Lizards there. Level 13-15 Early Valkrum is an excellent place. Get into a good full party and kill goblins there. Stay away from Goblin Leechers and you should get anywhere from 80-160exp there. You will find that these are the best experience you will get in a long time. Level 14-15 Siren’s beach or any other beach in Valkrum and kill Snippers there. Snippers have veryy high defense especially when they activate stoneskin. It is recommended that you got with a black mage that can cast Fire. An alternate place to go should be the Shakrami Maze around Windurst and kill Maze Makers there. Level 16-20 Stay in Valkrum til you’re about level 20 killing anything from Ghouls, Demsflies, and Goblins. Hopefully you will get all of the sub job items while you are leveling. Level 21-23 Head on over to Qufim to do your chocobo quest and kill monsters there. At low level 20s, you want to stick with worms just outside of Jeuno. You can also goto the lake in Quifm and chain worms there. However, it is a good idea to vacate the area because powerful monsters spawn there at night. Level 24-27 Head on over to the Tower and pull clippers there. Quifm is actually a pretty good place to level, once worms are no longer a threat to you, try chaining clippers. They should be dealt with like any other crabs. Black mages help tremendously. Level 26-28 Still staying at the tower, but kill Pugils instead of Clippers. Level 28-30 Here you have a choice of going to either Rolanberry or Battalia Downs. Rolanberry is a bit harder compared to Battlia. When leveling in Battalia, pull goblins into the caves which zones to Necropolis. Level 30-34 There are three places to level at this point. Chaining Knight crabs in Jugner is very effective. Or you can go to Beaduax and kill Garnet, Zircon, or Silver Quadavs there. Davoi is also another good place to level, however Orcs tend to be a bit tougher than Quadavs. Level 34-40 There are two good places to level, one is Crawler’s nest in Rolanberry, or Necropolis in Battalia. Both are good in their own ways. (VII) Equipment: As discussed before, the three weapons that a thief should master are Daggers, Swords, and Hand to Hand. Sub weapons are not really important; you can either use a bow or a boomerang. The following are SUGGESTED equipment for thieves. Remember that any equipment that adds to DEX will help a Sneak and Trick attack do more damage. Daggers: Onion Dagger Brass Dagger Knife Decurion Dagger Mercenary Captain’s Kurki Thief AF Dagger Sword: Sapara Scrimitar Small Sword Kaiser Sword Decurion Sword Hand-to-Hand: Cesti Shield: Any old shield will do except Shell Shields Neck: Fang Necklace Spike Necklace Tiger Stole Head: Compound Eye Mercenary Captain Headgear Earrings: Silver/Mythril earrings Bone earrings Armor: Royal Footman or Legionnaire Armor Greater Doublet Mercenary Captain Doublet Gloves: Royal Footman or Legionnaire glove Hume RSE glove Rings: Bastok Ring Amethyst Ring Back: Rabbit Mantle Traveler’s Mantle Waist: Lizard Belt Mercenary Captain Belt Legs: Any old pair of pants will do Boots: Note: Most people argue that Leaping Boots are over rated, however, it adds 3 to DEX at level 7. I personally would take 3 to DEX over 2 to defense. Leaping Boots (i) AF1: The Artifact dagger for the job thief is very easy to get. Talk to Nanaa Mihgo in Wind Woods and she'll give you a quest to go talk to the Tenshodo Boss in Jeuno. The Tenshodo boss will then tell you to recruit a retired thief in Selbina. You can find him by talking to the lady at the counter of the Selbina Hotel. To prove that you are a worthy thief, he'll ask you to steal a bowl of Quadav Soup which can be stolen from Garnet Quadavs in Beaduax. Once you have the item, simply talk to the lady again, and go back to the Tenshodo HQ in Jeuno to claim your knife. *You need to do the Tenshodo quest to gain acess to the HQ. The Tenshodo HQ is located in Lower Jeuno in a hotel called the "Neptune Spire". Talk to the lady at the coutner and press down until you get a blank option. She'll give you a letter which needs to be approved by the Bastok branch of the Tenshodo. Once you have the letter approved, you'll recieve a Tenshodo invite. When you have your Tenshodo invite, trade it to the lady at the counter in Jeuno and she'll make you a Tenshodo member. (VIII) Strategies: (i) Party formations The biggest problem with playing as a thief is that no one will want to invite you until you are level 15. Therefore, you should start your own parties. Why would anyone invite a thief who cannot do as much damage as a warrior, and cannot provoke to protect the mages? Until you get sneak attack, most people will pick a warrior over you. Speaking only of the basic jobs, this is a GUIDELINE (as in not set in stone) to how you should form a party: The FIRST and foremost class you want are White mages. It doesn't matter if you're a warrior, thief, monk, red mage, black mage; you always want to have a white mage in your party. The second person you are going want is a warrior. Again, it doesn't matter if you're a: Warrior (because provoke last 10 seconds and 30 sec cool down time) A thief (you need provoke to sneak attack) A monk (monks can't provoke like warriors can) A red mage, or black mage (they need a warrior so they can cast too) The third person you're want in your party will be either a black mage or a warrior The forth person you're going to need is either: another warrior, a red mage, another thief or another black mage. Black mages can use Area of Effect spells and they do excellent artillery damages just like a thief can. The biggest problem with Black mages and Thieves are that it is not a good idea to have more than two in a party of 6 because they need the special protection that only 2 Warriors can provide with provoking. Depending on if you have 2 warriors or already, a Red mage would fit here if you can't find a black mage or you prefer a secondary healer. Black mages can already cast all the spells that red mages at this point. Red Mages are also good for debuffing the monsters. The fifth person you are going to want is either a monk, or a Red mage. Pick a Monk if you want another person that can deal damage, which does make things quicker, or a Red Mage if you want a secondary healer. Keep in mind that this is only a basic framework and therefore it is not set in stone. This framework is meant to set the mindset that when forming a party. With that said, a level 14 and below thief’s role in a party is to try and hit as hard as warriors. The difference in earlier levels between the attack of a warrior and a thief is very small. However, a warrior above level 10 will leave thieves in the dust because they will be able to use two-handed swords. The good news about being a thief is that if your party is in trouble, you do not have any obligation, or the ability to provoke off mages. Therefore, you can just bail out of a battle and run for it. The bad news about a thief however, is that you will always live in a warrior’s shadow until level 15. From level 1 to 14, you’re going to want to build up your sword and hand-to-hand skills more than daggers. Daggers aren’t too important at this point, however, it is still a god idea to build dagger skill up because daggers are much more powerful than swords or hand-to-hand after level 33. (ii) Thief’s role in a party after level 15: After level 15, most thieves will want to use sword or hand to hand. The reason to use hand to hand and swords is simple, their weapon skill stacks with Sneak attack. Combo and Sneak attack are much more powerful than Combo and Boost. The biggest problem is that if you do not have a monk sub job to get the passive ability Martial arts, your attacks will be very slow. A decurion dagger can attack 3 to 4 times before you can hit once with knuckles. Another option is to stick with a dagger, and use Gust Slash and Sneak attack separately. The decurion dagger is a very good dagger at level 20 because it has very low delay time. An alternative to using a decurion dagger is Small Sword, it adds 2 to DEX and you can combine the weapon skill of a sword, Fast Blade, with Sneak attack. After level 18 when you have completed the sub job quest, you can choose which jobs to sub in for your thief. Try to set up your skillchain so that you are last, it will give you more time for your Sneak attack timer to reset and it will let you do level 2 skillchains which cannot be followed with another weapon skill (yet). (iii) Thief’s role in a party after level 30: After level 33, all thieves should be using daggers. At this point, if your dagger skills are maxed, you will receive the weapon skill Viper Bite at level 33. This is THE weapon skill to use as a thief, anything else you would compromise your thieving ability. After getting trick attack, most people like to combine Sneak attack with Trick attack. More will be discussed in the Sneak and Trick section since it is the main reason why people want thieves in their party. Level 30 marks the pinnacle of a thief’s journey. When you get a chance to combine Sneak/Trick attack with the weapon skill Viper Bite, you will do more damage than any basic job. When used right, it is even more powerful than black magic. Essentially, a thief’s job in a party at this point is to do massive damage to keep the hate on the tank. With a Paladin as the main tank in your party, you will only need one tank. The rest of the party can be white mages and black mages casting all the high level spells for all the monster cares, because the hate will almost always stay on the Paladin. (iv) Jobs Combinations: Warrior: Warrior is a personal favorite of mine. Having provoke will make you that much more appealing to others when you need a party. At the lower levels, about level 25 or so, monsters will not hit very hard which means you can play your thief as a warrior and provoke all you want. That does not mean that you should be the tank because provoke will take away your chance to Sneak attack. Provoke is definitely not a good idea after you get trick attack. By subbing the warrior job, you can move up to the front lines more and run with the warriors in terms of protecting the mages. Having provoke is very handy for emergencies when the mages are getting hammered on and the warriors still have a cool down timer on theirs. Having provoke is a great bonus from subbing a warrior since you only need level 10 to get the ability provoke. Monk: The abilities that monks have are not particularly useful to Thieves. In a combat situation, provoke is much more useful than Boost. Even though the passive ability Martial Arts helps lower the attack intervals for hand to hand, it is not recommended that you sub this job at higher levels. At level 30 thief, you’ll get the level 15 HP bonus from your sub job, however at that point, thieves are hardly touched during battle because Trick attack transfers all the hate you the tank anyways. So really the only helpful ability is boost and I personally would have provoke just in case I need to provoke in an emergency situation. One strategy with monks is that since boost stacks after each time you use it, you can pump up your attack while your mages are resting. It is possible to double your attack with enough boosts. When the mages are ready, simply use Sneak attack on a monster and run back to your party. Another strategy that is very useful is this. Prior to level 30,subbing monk will allow you to boost your attack. Instead of attacking the monster right away, use boost until it it your turn to skillchain. This way, you get all the power from boost, and Sneak Attack. I remember doing 223 damage on an incredibly tough Land Worm in Quifm, followed by 130 damage from Fusion. Basically, you want to time it to account for engaging time. 1. Boost til its your turn. 2. When the person before you do theirs, press attack and engage. 3. Use Sneak Attack right away, and while you're doing your Sneak Attack motion, press your Weapon Skill macro. *note: Hand to Hand is very good for damaging Skeletons. When subbing Monk, the best skillchain to use is Fusion, which can be done with Red Lotus Blade or Burning Blade, followed by Combo. Because the damage of Fusion is linked to how much damage you do with Sneak Attack and Combo, it is possible to have Fusion do as much damage as your weapon skill. Red Mage, White Mage, Black Mage: If you’re casting magic instead of attacking to get TP, then you’re wasting your time. However it is a different story if you are soloing. However, if you plan on doing a lot of treasure and coffer hunting, subbing a white mage for sneak/invis/deo is probably a good idea. Advance job combinations: The way that jobs are structured, generally speaking, Basic jobs are better suited for sub jobs and Advance jobs are generally better suited to be a main job. Summoner: The problem with having Summoner as a sub is that summons continuously drains MP from you. Being a thief as a main job, you don’t have a lot of MP to begin with. Therefore, your summons would not last very long. Ranger: While Rangers are arguably the most powerful damage dealer, they do not make very good sub jobs. Rangers rely heavily on agility to connect their ranged attacks. Thieves do not enough agility to be a good enough ranger. Ranger’s best damage comes from their weapon skill “Sidewinder”. If you were spending TP on Sidewinder rather than Viper Bite or perhaps Dancing Edge, you would be competing for TP between yourself. However, to be fair, Rangers make a pretty good sub job. If you are going on Notorious monster hunting, wide scan helps, although people usually know exactly where to camp. If you manage to get a hold of the level 27 gun sold in Norg that can be equipped for THF/RNG/NIN, you can equip that and get TP and do good damage at the same time. The first problem is that bullets can be very expensive to buy. The second problem is that until you get that gun, you cannot level your marksmanship because there aren’t any crossbows for thieves. Beast Master: The job Beast Master does not make a very good sub job because you cannot tame monster higher than the level of your Beast Master when subbed. Therefore, if you’re fighting level 30 monsters, you cannot use a level 15 Beast Master sub job to tame the monsters around you. Dark Knight: There is really one job skill that is useful with a Dark Knight sub. Last Resort boost your attack up for 30seconds. Last Resort is inferior to Berserk because Berserk last 3 minutes. However, the only time you would use Last Resort or Berserk is to boost your Sneak + Trick attack. So it does not need to be long than 30 seconds. With a warrior sub, you also get provoke. However that is not to say that Dark Knights is completely useless. One special ability that Dark Knights have is the Black Magic Drain. Although ideally thieves are nevertouched by the monsters, there are some occasions where they do. Therefore, drain could come in handy, especially when mages do not have to spend MP healing you. Paladin: Paladins are for those who want to tank. Since thieves are not tankers, subbing Paladin is pointless. Dragoon: Since subbed jobs will not have their ultimate, also known as two hours, subbing dragoon will lose its biggest asset, which is the ability to summon a Dragon to fight by your side. Samurai: Samurai would make a very interesting sub job for thieves, especially because they can gain TP very quickly. Most often you will notice that you can do one or two Sneak and Trick without enough TP to do a weapon skill. While you need a level 60 thief to gain the job ability Meditation from the Samurai job, you get a passive ability at level 10 that adds more TP to each attack you make. Ninja: Thief/Ninjas are also a very popular job combo. Other than dual wield, there is nothing that ninjas can contribute actively to the Thief job. Dual wield is only good if you equip another weapon that will boost your stats. Small sword for example adds 2 to dex. However, I personally like warrior sub because you can use berserk and warcry before using Sneak and Trick attack. You can also use ninjutsu to debuff the monster's elemental resistance before you skillchain. Bard: Bards generally make bad subs because you cannot equip instruments unless you are a Bard main. However, in terms of support, it does come in handy. (v) Sneak and Trick Attack: There are two ways to carry about Sneak and Trick Attack: Fuidama*: (Back Attack) You -> Your sneak buddy -> Monster -> <- Provoker The arrows “->” indicates which way a person is facing. There are two rules to pulling off this version of Fuidama. The first rule is that the monster must not be facing you (the same rule as Sneak attack). And the second rule is that you must be behind a party member (the same rule as Trick attack). *note that the japanese term for this position is called "Fuidama". If you’re fighting a non argo monster, then what you want to do is the following: 1. Use boost or berserk 2. Have your sneak buddy get behind the monster 3. Lock onto your sneak buddy by pressing the H button, this way, you’re guaranteed to be on the same line as your sneak button 4. Unlock your sneak buddy and press cancel 5. Press F8 on your keyboard to target the monster 6. Hit your attack button and then press your Sneak and Trick attack Macro right away 7. If you’re using Viper bite or a weapon skill, then hit the weapon skill Macro during the Trick attack animation. (Assuming Trick attack is Macroed after Sneak attack) 8. Sit back and watch the damage come in. If you have two thieves in your party, then it is a good idea to use this following formation: You -> Your sneak buddy -> Monster -> <- Sneak buddy #2 <- Thief #2 After you do your Fuidama, the monster will face your tank, that’s when thief #2 do the same thing that you did. The main reason to use Fuidama is to control hate. Theoretically, with Fuidama, the tank will never have to use provoke again*. Controlling hate is the best way to protect the mages from being hammered on. So basically, the role of thieves in a party after level 30 is to control hate, and do massive damage. *Depending on your party, the tank might have to provoke just for the sake of safety. Hate varies from person to person depending on how much healing or damage they are doing. In a party where there are two thieves to do Fuidama, it is hard for a white mage to get hate even with Divine seal and cure III. The role of your sneak buddy is to stand still and to stand as close to the monster as possible. The best sneak buddies are generally tanks than can skill chain off your Viper Bite. ----------------------- Yokodama: (Side attack) ----------------------- ********************************************************** Yokodama does not work due to the December 9th, 2003 patch ********************************************************** $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Sneak Attack will only work from behind and not from the side $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ There is yet another way to do Sneak and Trick Attack. The methods mentioned above require you to have two tanks, and not have the monster face you. The following method is the proper method used by thieves in a party who only have one tanks. The most important thing to keep in mind using this method is this: lock onto your tank from the side and slow step away from him in a straight line. It is also important for the tank to stand as close to the monster as possible. Essentially you will be standing at a 90 to 110 degree angle from your tank. Monster< > Tank or Monster< > Tank | / You You 1. Use your Trick/Sneak attack Macro 2. Use your Targeting Macro and select your tank 3. Stand facing either his left hand or right hand side 4. Take about 4-6 steps back 5. Engage the monster. (If you’re too far from the monster, it will say out of range. In that case, use your targeting Macro again. Move in slowly with your tank locked on. 6. After you hit it, it is safe to say that the monster will not move around because of the hate that you have transferred to your tank. The best thing about Yokodama is that you will never, ever get hit if you do it right. This is a big plus compared to a Tarutaru Black Mage casting black magic for example. It is safe to say that Tarutaru mages rip easier than wax paper. Therefore, being able to deal massive damage without being attack definitely distinguishes you from any other jobs. (IX) Useful Macros: Sneak + Trick Attack: /ja “Sneak Attack” /wait 2 /ja “Trick Attack Sneak attack plus weapon skill: Note: This is good for sneaking up on a monster and using the weapon skill of your choice right away without attacking it first and using Sneak attack before your weapon skill is ready. /ja “Sneak Attack” /wait 2 /ws “Weapon Skill” Targeting Macro: /target Provoke/Flee: /ja “Flee” /wait 2 /ja “Provoke” Boost: /ja "Boost" /wait 15 /ja "Boost" /wait 15 /echo Boost again (X) Additional resources: http://www.ffxionline.com http://www.gamefaqs.com http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~nhart/charstat1.html http://studentweb.stcloudstate.edu/smro9901/index.htm http://www.shadow-dragons.com/ http://www.mylinuxisp.com/~blkhrtll/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=24 http://www.jonnyram.com/ffxi_rag/ http://davidbowie.dyndns.tv/eriwilde/ffxi/guilds/index.html http://www.manakun.com/hari/ http://www.ffcompendium.com/~Skylark/ff11/ff11.htm http://www.ffodyssey.com/users/bishop/ (XI) Special thanks to all the players that helped me during the game: Berry – Thanks for the best LS ever. Beowulf – Your death from Eagle Eye will be remembered, thanks for taking one for the team. Carter- Thanks for letting me join your party for M9. Cirehdehs – Thanks for showing me the dynamics of a full party and saving my butt in Palborough mines, and in the Valkrum dunes. Leveling down twice for the team, what a great white mage. Cyanic – Thanks for saving my butt many times with Benediction during the skull hunts. Coolpal, Chapel, Democracy, Hinata, Kuameru, Pern, Persephone, Superguy, Terranova - Always fun to party with you guys. Broot, Elmont, Narue, Tihoa, Tomoe – My thieving buddies, thanks for all your support. Gafgarion – Thanks for teaching me how to Macro job abilities and skill chains. Icemage – Thanks for running with us for mission 9. Kittycat - Thanks for noting that Fuidama is from behind, that mug doesn't work on monster without gil, that dual wield is good for boosting stats, that rangers sub with wide scan is useful as well, that white mage sub means easier time with treasure/coffer hunting with sneak and invis, that provoke is needed AT times for a paladin, although I argue that it's situational. Rhys, Rooks – Thanks for helping me out with mission 10. Utada – Thanks for cheering my up in my darkest hour. Vargai - Thanks for the raise in Quifm and the useful links. And to Square-Enix for making the most time consuming game ever. (XII) Final Words: Once a thief, always a thief. This is Jemali logging out for the last time. (XIII) Disclaimer: This FAQ is considered to be intellectual property and therefore is Copyrighted by me, Jeremy Wu. You may use this guide for your personal purposes. You may not however, sell, reproduce, transmit, this FAQ through any type of medium. This FAQ is not public property, and therefore you must ask permission to reproduce it in a commercial manner if you choose to do so. You may contact me at Hell_spawn66@hotmail.com. Please state in your email whether or not your site requires paid membership to access my FAQ. The game Final Fantasy XI is copyrighted by Squre-Enix and therefore the job abilities, job traits, weapon skills, locations, equipment, race, and jobs belong to them.