Exenterator/Evisceration/Rudra'sStorm.

I really want to know what's better for Abyssea/VWNM/Dynamis/Legion.

For Legion I'd like to know how reliable is Feint to alter a WS set, before and after its usage, since sometimes you'll need to choice which NM to feint in a brava'd/zerg scenario w/o all other buffs.

Well for starters I'll do the whole depends on the situation awnser...
But for the any situation senario abyssea as a Thief you MUST and I repeat MUST be using Razed Ruin, Sanguine Scythe, and Apocolype (This should be the base staple inside Abyssea). Inside Abyssea clearly Eviseration only under those conditions. Dynamis I would lean towards Exenterator unstacked and Rudra's Storm stacked. VWNM again would be the same as dynamis but now you have Atmicites that can alter the conditions so again this becomes situational based on that.

Fient starts at 50% down to evasion and decreases over time. So altering a weapon skill set I personally wouldnt do unless your spamming check to the mob over 30 seconds.

Hope this info helps anyone feel free to add or correct if I missed something.

where does mercy fit into this equation?

Abys = rudra(probably)/evis, vwnm = mercy/evis, dynamis/salvage/gov solo = mercy/exent, legion = mercy/evis.

Evis should beat exent in vw or legion, not just abyssea.

Inside Abyssea, Evis unstacked, Rudras stacked. You should probably use RR/GH/Apoc. RR/SS/Apoc maybe on lower tier stuff.

In dynamis and legion - Rudras stacked, Exen unstacked.

Exen will probably beat Evis in voidwatch, maybe equal or more/less depending on buffs and your gearsets for each. Again, Rudras stacked.

I'm not sure if I'd build a ws set specifically for when feint is up. Also, if you're locking your buffs like you should be, you should be using feint whenever it's up and locking it. That way, you can at least usually feint 2/3 mobs in a wave, and sometimes the third depending how long stuff takes to die.

would someone please explain this stacked/unstacked thing to me?

Using TA or SA before the weaponskill.

Why do so many people advocate Apoc/GH/RR? Last I checked the DPS spreadsheets GH/RR/SS should win inside Aby.

As a taru i like SS over GH, i'd say difference between them is minimal and the extra hp is godly for nasty moves. Also mercy inside aby is good, somewhere between 5k-7k on nm's stacked.

is it better to use both to stack or use sa or ta singularly and laryer them for frequency.

TA works on its own with someone in front of you (level 60+ obviously) and SA works only from behind. But now with Bully you can SA from any direction.
Splitting them up would be beneficial due to the rapid TP gain thief has, provided that you have someone to TA off of.

Ashandarei is correct, i dual box in abby an obscene amount(either NIN+WHM or THF+WHM) and kill any NM far quicker RR GH, SS than with apoc(i almost NEVER use apoc in fact). And as was stated, thf gets so much triple attack on its own it's incredibly easy to hit that 8hit cap for WS.

Apoc/GH/RR ends up beating out GH/RR/SS because of teh increase in weaponskill frequency. There is no reason to use apoc/RR/SS unless you desperately need the hp.

Personally stacking is preference. I personally find it better to split them into 2 ws.

Never bothered with the math on this one, just used /clock and a sticky note whenever i killed an NM more than 30 times and split kills between RR, GH, SS, and apoc instead of SS. more than 3 quarters of the kill times were fastest under RR, GH, SS. And SS is crit dmg +30%, cap supposedly being +100% as of may 2011. And not to be rude in any way but simplification any damage calculations involving level 99 jobs and the math of ffxi are completely useless.

It's highest DPS assuming Evisc spam.

This is dependent on your assumption of critical hit rate before atmas and critical pdif, but on most content GH beats out SS.

For Monk, SS was mathed to be better than GH at level 90. The increase in levels have only favored SS. Unless you're using Exenterator, the results will be similar for THF.

Math was done on allakhazam website. Don't have time to get the link now but I can get it later if you still want to argue that GH is better.

*edit* This was assuming the other 2 atmas are Apoc and RR. Going without these 2 atmas would be dumb, especially for THF with relic feet.

I'm not really sure what you're trying to say. It doesn't take much crit for SS to beat GH, around 62%, and I have 83%. SS should win by around 5% across the board. gl eyeballing that

that's kinda what i figured, but never certain without info from people more knowledgeable about the jobs. thanks guys.

You seem to be the one eyeballing, you need at least 28% critical hit rate+ in gear alone to achieve 83% crit hit rate without gnarled horn.

It probably doesn't count for a huge amount since Thf is likely to be evasion capping most aby content, but the counter-rate from GH also increases damage output while reducing damage taken and the agility gain would help in situations where TA is being used.

I don't post here to engage in e-thug ***, I said "gl eyeballing that" in reference to the fact that none of us will be able to successfully eyeball a 5% difference.

And yeah, I mixed the numbers between two tests, sorry about that. SS starts over taking GH when you have 38% crit and my crit rate in non-aby-optimized gear with SS/RR/Apoc is 63%.

RR/GH/SS is the best DD setup, but if you must have Apoc you'd drop GH.

You're factoring in the counter damage, right?