Should I stay as a thief or go for ma ?

Btw I'm new to this game so I was thinking if which is better, a Thief with a, hmmm.. lets say, 60/60 Thief or a 60/60 MA? and why... thank you!

olitajayfrench wrote:

Should I stay as a thief or go for ma ? Btw I'm new to this game so I was thinking if which is better, a Thief with a, hmmm.. lets say, 60/60 Thief or a 60/60 MA? and why... thank you!

Depends what you want to do. Thief is good at PvP in terms of evasion, stealth, and quick bursting with little setup. If MA is given a short amount of time to buff up, it becomes a huge offensive threat that has the ability to fly around the battlefield with its charge attack.

In PvE, MA is undoubtedly the #1 damage dealer in the long run among physical classes, though Thief does have a higher tendency to avoid unpleasant AoE damage and debuffs from bosses.

Thank you for answering buddy, I'm really confused right now, I know MA is bruiser type of character and Thief is good for stabbing enemies. Well is it stupid to play as a thief forever? you know, lets say 50/50 thief?? is it better than a 50/50 MA?

olitajayfrench wrote:

Thank you for answering buddy, I'm really confused right now, I know MA is bruiser type of character and Thief is good for stabbing enemies. Well is it stupid to play as a thief forever? you know, lets say 50/50 thief?? is it better than a 50/50 MA?

Why not do them both? Your class level catches up to character level fast enough so that you can afford to level multiple classes as you play. MA requires a bit of startup time to reach its max momentum, but hits so insanely hard and fast in a single target that it's honestly pretty scary. Thief can pull out reasonably high damage out of nowhere and react to pop threats . . . though it's usually the threat hiding till your opponent lets his or her guard down to focus on another enemy.

If we're talking about PvP terms, Thief is a class centred on a <<Mega-f*cking tactic mind>> that could beat you without good Daggers in... 0,5 sec's.

Martial Artist is a good tank if we're talking about his Deffense Buff. And a good damager, too. But I see this class like a... slow-attacker guy compared to the evasive Thief. I'm 46/45, and normally I don't get hit.

Roigle wrote:

If we're talking about PvP terms, Thief is a class centred on a <<Mega-f*cking tactic mind>> that could beat you without good Daggers in... 0,5 sec's. Martial Artist is a good tank if we're talking about his Deffense Buff. And a good damager, too. But I see this class like a... slow-attacker guy compared to the evasive Thief. I'm 46/45, and normally I don't get hit.

MA IMO, should be in any party that has a lot of p-dps (although m-dps is more prevalent). This is due to suppress (100% crit dmg debuff). They gain insane amounts of attack and attack speed with charge and can take a hit when under defenders strength (I believe I hit 70% defense at lvl 70).

I would rank a geared MA near the top if not top p-dps class with its valuable Supress debuff and overall damage potential, especially when awakened dagger is on its off hand though awakened katana Samurai would probably outdamage MA at this point (though if we exclude awakened weapons, MA is probably naturally the better 1vs1 damage). I haven't done a side by side comparison yet but Im funding my couple to awaken the katana I gave her.

FYI, I use collapsing blow glyph which gives -20 physical resistance debuff when stacked. It's a bit confusing since I was under the impression you must be under attack for the effect to happen (similar to Thief's Heartless glyph) but it's not as it stacks while you attack with Collapsing Blow active on the mob. This is the better PvE gylph in my opinion for damage since there's no charge glyph. Im gonna try out a run with both my couple being a Sammy and myself as MA.

That's -40 physical resistance (20 from collapsing blow glyph 20 from protrusion), 100% p-crit dmg, -X defense and -10 elemental resistance (possible 20 if we both use heaven fire/fire soul ring between us which will give -20% defense as well) just between us.

Edit
The above is actually a pet peeve of mine. I dont understand why un-geared p-dps dont mix and match to fit their party's needs. Becoming a thief or Samurai (for the reasons above) would've been far more helpful, with thief's Ambush and samurai's debuffs.

i think in PvP MA is better than thief but in PvE thief is better. Thief can kill faster than MA

From experience, my MA outdamages my thief. Thieves have higher base attack speed but MA can also gain just as much base as well.

On normal mobs, it seems thieves kill faster due to the 2x proc, triple hit moves, etc.

On bosses, however, MA is the far superior class. Suppress increases the crit dmg modifier to a max of 4.0 for all physical dps (this is a huge bonus). Second, collapsing blow glyph gives -20 debuff which is useful on bulky targets. Lastly, charge is an extremely nice offensive buff that easily raises end-game MA to 55k-60k (depending on what off weapon you use) p-attack by itself with godly amounts of attack speed. Defender's strength isnt too shabby as it gives MAs tank like stats for the other 30 seconds.

Which is why I went on a tirade about different classes being together in a party , to mix up the effects both classes delivers.

If we're talking ideal gear, MA outdamages Thief with no special conditions. Thief is a bit less buff reliant, but has a plethora of buffs nontheless. Samurai outdamages both in AoE, but may or may not matched MA or Thief for single target due to needing chains of buffs or procs to match MA level Atk Speed, though if built right can do it well (probably by sacrificing some AoE potential damage).

MA and Thief top Samurai for PvP because both can use shields viably, greatly increasing their bulk. MA has a charge and stun, while Thief has two types of stealth to hide and escape from foes. Samurai as a class has nothing that effectively deals with ranged foes, so it relies on the foe being A) incapacitated by an ally B) distracted in some way C) ignorant of the fact that a 2-hit wonderclass is coming to get them. Otherwise, Samurai is easily kited.

katashi65 wrote:

If we're talking ideal gear, MA outdamages Thief with no special conditions. Thief is a bit less buff reliant, but has a plethora of buffs nontheless. Samurai outdamages both in AoE, but may or may not matched MA or Thief for single target due to needing chains of buffs or procs to match MA level Atk Speed, though if built right can do it well (probably by sacrificing some AoE potential damage). MA and Thief top Samurai for PvP because both can use shields viably, greatly increasing their bulk. MA has a charge and stun, while Thief has two types of stealth to hide and escape from foes. Samurai as a class has nothing that effectively deals with ranged foes, so it relies on the foe being A) incapacitated by an ally B) distracted in some way C) ignorant of the fact that a 2-hit wonderclass is coming to get them. Otherwise, Samurai is easily kited.

True true, until you consider 3v3 10v10 gw tw etc where samurai has a cleric or other purifier, then most ranged classes are just candy to a kid. Dunno how often i tell a single cleric to make sure they purify me( no heal, just purfity) and rangers illus etc just melt away. Samurai as well as being the premier damage dealer in pve also has its place in PvP.

An example is 10v10. when my Mrs is on my team we win. They attack me, she removes debuffs, they die. They attack her, I kill them before the kill her. An example of symbiosis, such as BD/bard share. With a supporting healers a samurai is a killing machine in pvp and such a samurai wil have high move spd to ensure they get close fast