Thief

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Thief
Tier 1 Class
Human Thief Large.png
Class traits
Class trait: STABBER STABBER
Deals an extra 30% damage to enemies with full health
Class trait: HOARDER HOARDER
+33% more items on dungeon map
Class trait: SURVIVOR SURVIVOR
All Item: Health Potion Health Potions and Item: Mana Potion Mana Potions restore both health AND mana
Suggested Races
Class: Thief Halfling Thief, Class: Thief Gnome Thief
Class Challenges
Thief Bronze ChallengeThief Bronze Challenge The Dark Project

Thief Silver ChallengeThief Silver Challenge The Metal Age

Thief Gold ChallengeThief Gold Challenge Deadly Shadows

Unlocking
Building: Thief Den Level 1 Criminal Den

The Thief is a 2-bit trickster put into a 32-bit job and doesn't have any particularly heroic abilities. Of course, given the level of resourcefulness and adaptability that any good criminal possesses, who really needs heroism?

What's he about?

Class trait: STABBER STABBER: - Helps you munch on popcorn. Also, it's a one-shot damage boost which scales with level.


Class trait: HOARDER HOARDER: - This is the most complex and impactful ability, and impossible to evaluate without a bit of experience.

Normally there are 3 of each booster and 3 of each potion in a dungeon run. This ability ups that count to 4. The effect of the potions and additional attack and health booster scale with your level, in an impactful way. The fact that it turns the number of attack boosters from odd to even can alone mean an extra 10 damage, which is quite something.

The mana booster doesn't scale with levels as well as the other stuff, but it happens to change the math for any Pisorf spamming approach. The default total mana almost anyone who picks up all the mana boosters has is 13, and the Pisorf spammer wants to have 16 (4 casts of Pisorf). The thief has 14, and bumping this to 16 happens to be significantly easier than going from 13 to 16, almost trivial in comparison. This makes Thieves exceptionally good at spamming Pisorf.

This trait DOES APPLY for extra gold, shops, and glyphs. If your Bazaar is level 3, you will normally encounter 8 shops, so thieves encounter 10 shops. There are 10 gold piles, so thieves get 13 gold piles. There are 5 glyphs, so thieves get 6 glyphs. If you prepare extra glyphs, thieves get EIGHT GLYPHS instead. This trait does not apply on apothecaries, so you encounter the normal 3 apothecaries even if you prepare extra.


Class trait: SURVIVOR SURVIVOR: - Health and Mana potions restore an additional +20% to the "other" attribute. This not only makes the potions stronger, but potions in general scale with level and stat boosts, and you get 1 more of each stat booster from Hoarder anyway.


So what the thief is about, at the most basic level, is getting your stats up and getting your level up to make use of all his abilities. Stabber helps you level up and ding while you fight stuff higher level than you, all the extra stat boosts make your stats bigger, and the final barrage of potions helps your spike the boss or bossess down with both glyphs and melee.

Races

What the Thief is looking for in a race is help leveling up in order to cash in on all the bonuses. Goblin, Orc, Halfling, and Elf each play into this dynamic. Humans, Dwarves, and Gnomes, who themselves offer benefits once leveled up, won't necessarily struggle, but won't necessarily handle as smoothly.

Goblin

More than anything else, the Thief benefits from levels. Besides levels, he likes stat boosts - health and mana ones, in order to cash in on his potions. This happens to play perfectly into what the average goblin wants to do - boosts stats and ding. Since the goblin generally needs fewer kills to get high level (as he can pad the XP bar with glyph conversions when needed), this leaves more popcorn around to be munched up with Stabber, too.

Class: Thief Goblin Thief is one of those ideal combiantions where the race perfectly answers the demands of the class. It is a very frequent PQI combination which means it will often be suggested by the game for clearing out Vicious Dungeons. Learning to use them once you have the goblin friendly gods unlocked can result in a lot of kingdom gold in your pocket.

Halfling

The obvious benefit of the Class: Thief Halfling Thief is that his CP bonus provides a lot of potions which play in nicely with plenty of the thief abilities. Ways to boost health are somewhat plentiful in the game, and this can make health potions quite effective at lower levels, which any thief will appreciate as it eases leveling up. Or you can level up by other means and hoard all the potions for the boss fight, but that's putting all your eggs in the payoff basket, which can then make the buildup part needlessly difficult or slow in less forgiving dungeons. Other Thieves are well advised to hoard their potions, Halflings can afford to blow a bunch to get ahead.

It is a very easy to play and forgiving combination. Also, the Class: Thief Halfling Thief is the basis of the so-called "Dorcling". With the Trisword and the Achemist Scroll along with all the little boosts from being the Thief, it can feel like youre playing a Dwarf, and Orc and Halfling at the same time. Try it out when you unlock the necessary junk!

Gnome

The Class: Thief Gnome Thief is not as similar to his Halfling counterpart as one would think. The Thief class abilities scale with levels, and the mana potions the Gnome provides also scale with levels, but are much more sharply tilted toward the late game than healing potions. So in a sense these guys are all payoff and no buildup, which means you will have to build them up using whatever you can prep or find laying around the map. This does get easier the more game features you unlock.

The thing to keep in mind is that Gnomes love a large mana pool, and that isn't related to your level, just to whether you've found enough ways to boost it. The thief adds various bits of handy boosts to the dungeon, and picking them up requires exploration anyway. So what'll happen is that you'll be likely to overexplore, but it'll pay off because you'll probably be quite able to ding and refill like mad once you've got your stuff.

Take into account the very relevant extra mana booster which the thief gets, and the ease with which he can take his mana pool up to 16. This is the magic number for Pisorff use, and Pisorff users don't mind overexploring, but do care about refills making the Class: Thief Gnome Thief quite excellent at it, especially for a non-orc. The additional benefit of being a Thief can really kick in for a Pisorff spamming Gnome, as getting small bits of health back from drinking the load of mana potions easily adds melee hits to the glyph barrage, or alternatively eases up munching difficult popcorn.

Orc

The Class: Thief Orc Thief has two things going for him. The first is that his CP bonus makes him very strong early on in a run, helping to level up. It also synergizes with Class trait: STABBER STABBER for popcorn munching. Thieves appreciate this a lot.

The second thing is that the ease of dinging (Orc), the ease of refilling (Thief), and especially the extra mana booster from Class trait: HOARDER HOARDER makes the Class: Thief Orc Thief one of the easiest to roll out and effortlessly powerful Pisorff spammers in the game. Also one of the most powerful combinations in the game, period. With the right, rather light, prep setup he can be used to easily pick up badges in Vicious dungeons.

Elf

The Class: Thief Elf Thief is a bit of a mixed bag. Being an Elf means you don't have to explore much, or invest anything particular, in order to have spellcasting power. The Thief generally wants to explore more than the Elf needs to explore. Also, a Thief likes to use glyphs as tools to level up, and an Elf is likely to convert most glyphs to get a large enough mana pool to beat stuff using one or two glyphs.

However, the Elf has a very easy time getting a workable 12-18 point mana pool, and then just using that to level up, that it ends up working out easily. So it's a lot like playing an Orc, except more relaxed. You use your mana pool to kill some higher level stuff, then the Stabber bonus helps you munch popcorn to ding while fighting even higher level stuff, and eventually you just end up having explored everything, picked up all the goodies, and potion spiking the boss using everything you've got.

Which glyph you go for is entirely optional, Firebal, Pissorf, Halpmeh, doesn't really matter. Also, an Elf has an extra easy time suplementing damage glyphs with ones that provide first strike. Preping a cheap leveling tool, anything for a bit of early edge, and with a small bit of practice you shouldn't have much trouble anywhere.

Dwarf

The Class: Thief Dwarf Thief is one of those combinations where both sides are payoff and there's no proper buildup to it. Thieves get deadly late, after they've explored and leveled up, and dwarves get deadly late after they've explored, leveled up, and converted stuff. Except if you convert stuff, which means glyphs, there is hardly anything for you to level up with. And if you overexplore, there's nothing but dings to refill with.

Class: Thief Dwarf Thief are still decent Pisorff users, and the god which provides the glyph also provides exploration opportunity and damage boosts which they really like. If you start out with Binlor, just wait until you're done with him before picking up permanent resistance. Alternatively, prep some mana and Burndayraz and use that to level up with Mystera - spam a glyph for her piety while you explore for junk to help you level up.

But do prep a leveling tool. If you manage to level up while conserving your potions and popcorn, once you pop the glyphs for big health you'll be able to ding it to hit stuff over and over.

Human

The Class: Thief Human Thief is a combination where both the class and the race really shine in the late game, but don't do that much for you early on in a run. The human bonus means that the Thief will eventually hit rather hard. Since the conversion bonus doesn't do that much for you early on, you're not in much of a rush to convert glyphs. Use them, and anything you can think of, to level up.

Most of the time you'll be looking to use both your bars, but it might pay off to invest into being able to land your big hits once your level is high enough that the bonus kicks in. A bit of health, damage resistance or keeping a first strike glyph around is probably a good idea. As far as damage glyphs go, Halpmeh, Cydstep and Fireball, along with slow of first strike are nice for you.

You most likely want to start with a god that helps you fight early like Earthmother. The god you're looking to end up in is probably God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki, as his God boon: Reflexes Reflexes let you get your naturally big melee hits in.

Strategy & Gods

The strategy for Thieves varies from race to race, as has been outlined in broad terms above. Gods and particular items have been left out of it on purpose. You can take a thief in multiple directions, but in general it boils down to this:

- If your race can help you level up, and Goblin, Halfling, Orc and Elf can do it easily, go for more early stat boosts and refills for your late game. Getting an early health boost will help each of those help you level (even the elf, go figure, because he's got the mana covered).

- If your race adds to the late game payoff, like Gnome, Human or Dwarf does, make sure you prep to get to that late game and capitalize on it. Items, glyphs, gods and preps will have to take you through the early levels of a more difficult run.

Pick your gods depending on what you need - Health boosting, leveling gods like Jehora Jeheyu, Earthmother and even Glowing Guardian (if you're saving potions for the boss) can give you an early edge before you swap out. For a late game, popcorn munching choice Tikki Tooki can ussually work out great. Any dedicated Pisorff spammer has to start in Binlor, and it's quite possible to take Binlor all the way to the end.

Also, a thing to note, is that a purely spellcasting Thief, a Goblin, Elf or Gnome, can easily prep Tikki Tooki and get away with it. Takes a bit of practice, though.

The Thief class is general-purpose enough that the choice of god and mode of worship will depend on your race's default affinities more than your thievery.

Notable Preps and Items

- Standard leveling junk is recommended on anyone (Fine Sword, Pendant of Health...).

- Trisword or the Alchemist Scroll open up shennanigan potential with both potion guys.

- Standard Pisorff kit can work with anyone, but works best with Orcs (Binlor Altar, Extra Mana, Crystal Ball).

- Alternatively, Magnet: Fireball + something to boost mana for a strong early hybrid approach.