Thf Merits

what merits should a THF focus on, Im guessing full Triple Attack % but what rest?

Its kind of anyone's bag now a days. Used to be feint was absolutely needed in old Lv75 endgame, but the game hasn't been working that way anymore. Personally, I still haven't figured out where to put my thief merits simply because I don't know what will work best.

I'm leaning toward sneak attack recast and assassin's charge, but I'm still up in the air on what to pick for a fourth in the second category.

feint isn't that bad,it helps at evisceration hit rate.

One aura steal is nice
And has saved my *** with crap like stealing ice spikes

And abyssea is NOT the end all be all
Feint is still very much needed

idk ive had 5/5 Trick Attack/Triple Attack %/Feint/Aura Steal since lv75 tbh lol

Thanks for the input.

Unless you need Feint for Voidwalker NM's (I've not done them yet), then you shouldn't need Feint merits.

I had 5/5 Trick Attack, 5/5 Triple Attack, 5/5 Assassin's Charge, 5/5 Feint.

Changed that to 5/5 AC, 5/5 Aura Steal and so far I'm reasonably happy, though I'm considering making a mix between Feint and AC merits (mostly because I always forget AC is ready >_>) or possibly dropping AC completely for 5/5 Feint.

I did 5/5 Triple 5/5 SA 5/5 Feint 4/5 Ambush 1/5 Assassin's Charge. I like to use my AC as a repop timer

You're still not accuracy capped on everything in Abyssea unless you always use Stalwart's.

Triple att 5/5
Sneak att 5/5 (been since pre abby. thf wasnt much of a tank then)
feint 5/5
ambush 5/5 (might change this for aura steal)

No excuse not to go

Caregory1:
Triple Attack 5/5
other 5 whatever you want, im 5/5 Sneak attack cause that's how i roll.

Category2:
AuraSteal at least 1.
Feint 5/5.
other 4 do whatever you want. Assassin's charge is worth 3 merits (1 upgrade), no more.

I should mention, THF has been a capable blinktank since at least 2006 *if given the support a tank requires!*

My problem until recently has been convincing ANYONE to haste and heal me. THF tank just seems new, been no prob for a skilled blinktank for a long time.

nerco, rawr.

For group 1, I did full Triple Attack and full Trick Attack. Doing Trick Attack over Sneak Attack was a no-brainer for me. Can't Sneak when you're tanking and can Trick when you're not.

For group 2, I have full Feint because it's so good even those it's not needed in Abyssea. But there will be life after Abyssea. I also have one in Aura Steal, like many people. I got it for solo'ing and for having a non-Dark based dispel for Nyzul. If you don't do much of either of those, you could take a pass on it. The rest I dumped into Assassin's Charge even though I'm lukewarm on those types of active traits.

I did SA Recast, Triple Attack 5/5 each. For cat. 2 merits I did 4/5 Feint, 1/5 Aura Steal, 5/5 Assassin's Charge. I understand it's not exactly the best merit setup for a current-day Abyssea THF, but I have hopes it will become decent again post-abyssea once they start releasing new content again.

Whats the set up now for 99 thf merits? I went 5/5 Triple Attack and 5/5 Trick Attack for Group 1. 5/5 Feint so far for group 2 and not sure what i should do with the rest. Any thoughts?

Move Trick merits to Sneak and you're good. The final 5 Group 2 are pretty inconsequential. Assassin's Charge or Aura steal mostly.

Only for group 2 on abilities that are upgraded through recasts(like *** charge and feint on thf).
At least that's what they told us.

I'm psyched to see what *** Charge and Feint get as Bonuses...

inb4 *** Charge only gives 60% Chance to Triple with 1 Merit, Each merit adding 10% more for 100%

inb4 Feint only lowering Enemies Evasion by X amount instead of what it is now, and Merits just upgrade back to what it is now.

>___>

On a Serious note, Would be nice is ***-Charge merits increased Triple Attack Damage on the Charge'd hit.

Or it increased how many TAs fire off.

My opinion is that *** charge will increase TA damage for additional merits and Feint the duration of the debuff.

i did 5/5 aura steal 2/5 feint 1/5 AC 5/5 Tripple attack others i cant remember if i can remember right

I've had the same merits for a long time and am very happy with them.

Triple attack 5/5 - No Brainer.

Aura Steal 1/5 - Dispel is still 100% and the buffs you can actually steal either suck or don't last that long.

Assassin's Charge 4/5 - 5/5 would be great, but can't seem to dismiss the utility of Dispel that doesn't need MACC every 5 minutes.

Feint 5/5 - Don't listen to the haters. The merits aren't spent much better in other areas anyways, plus it helps a ton because it not only ensures that you hit, but it helps everyone meleeing. People undervalue elements that affect others. One of the best merit abilities ever.

Sneak attack 2/5 and Trick attack 3/5 - Seems odd, but here is my reasoning. Each have their uses, both do almost the same thing in terms of dmg, and also allow for decently even SATA timers, which if you have Rudra's (like me) you will absolutely love for 300% TP. You don't really lose anything with a 5/5 in one respectively, but to me, the ability to SATA more often, and the evenly split timers for TA proccing is the way to go. Trick Attack 3/5 because I do more with people than I do solo.

I'm probably going to do 4/5 Feint and 5/5 ***-Charge.

Seems like its more beneficial. I'm barely Alive/Paying attention enough to keep Feint on Full Time.

But I'm always riding ***-charge timer. >_> EPEEN

Nice thought. I went with SA now but this has its point.
Ok u can SA with with Hide and Bully if you tank so the above statement isnt all true but their recasts is 3 and 5 minutes.

Im just not sure if TA is such a good idea if ure trying to tank. Accomplice and Collaborator can only do so much. (And you might save it for the BLM or WHM, who overdo it)

Im not quite sure if ill stay with SA forever or just change it and toy around with TA.
Any thought why SA is better?

Well now we know how they changed merits and this is how I'm going:
1/5 Assassin's charge
5/5 Feint
4/5 Aura steal

But I don't think this setup it's gonna vary much for others as well.

Edit: I have Sneak for group 1 since I can use it in many more situations than Trick.

i will change mine to this aswell once Merit change for group 2 comes.. dont really need Acc on Assasins charge lol

I did 5/5 Trick Attack for the same reason as Krish at first, but when I started doing Dynamis, I switched to 5/5 SA merits. Proc, SA>Rudra, move to next mob. Not going to waste my partner's time so I can TA, he's better off leaving to pull more mobs. And if there's competition in the area, I often find myself fighting alone, and being able to kill fast after proc becomes even more vital. Although this situation doesn't actually mean I'm using SA merits to their fullest, depending on how (un)lucky procs are, I can guarantee I wouldn't be taking advantage of any Trick Attack merits in Dynamis.

And when I'm in Abyssea, no one to TA most of the time anyway (unless you're with a mage and they're okay with it), so both SA and TA merits get wasted for me.

There's a few other reasons I chose SA, but really if I was in a situation where I both a) have someone to comfortably TA and b) was concerned about getting the most out of both SA and TA (i.e. make that Sweet Tea drop plz), I'm probably not meleeing aside from SA/TA, and therefore not getting hate over the person I'm TA'ing.

Just my opinion. But if it weren't for so much Dynamis, I'd probably still have 5/5 Trick Attack merits anyway. It just all depends on for what and with whom you use your THF.

Although Aura Steal is said to have a very high success rate mine just keeps missing and missing.
Im sure some Steal+X items will help me.
Just wondering how much + it actually takes. What are u useing to make it stick?

I don't see a lot of people saying 5/5 Assassin's Charge. Wouldn't it be worth it since it increases chance of fourfold attack by 5% each time?

Edit - really should have checked the date.