How to take on a thief in ballista?

[Lmnop]

First and foremost, Sleepga 2 will eliminate his shadows. All -ga spells dispel shadows and take full effect.

Also, I'm not sure what StarvingArtist meant about his comment of attack speed single wield vs dual wield. But just to make sure, I want to clarify that a thf single-wielding has a higher chance of interrupting spellcasting than dual wielding. This is because he's swinging every 160ish delay (whatever typical dagger delay is) vs the 300+ delay of dual wielding daggers. This is, in fact, why I did many ballistas as war/nin with axe/shield instead of dual axes.

Also, in Spider-Dan's example, you use the /rdm benefits just to get started. Once you've started laying into the blm, you no longer need mp.

Assuming he goes thf/nin though and whatnot, one thing you must be aware of is the very high chance that you won't have the first word in the fight. There is a very high chance he will have Sneak Attack up, and be invisible. Last I knew, you could actually target invisible peeps in ballista, so just tab around all the time to try to lessen the chances of him sneaking up on you. As has been mentioned, sneak attack ignores shadows and if he lands that, you'll be at a disadvantage. If he has marksmanship leveled, he'll prolly try to follow up with a sleep bolt after wearing away your shadows with dagger swings. Stun will be very handy for giving you some breathing space -- mostly when he's right on top of you, it gives you a sec to cast a longer spell at him.

I would stay away from DoT spells 'til you're sure you have the situation under control. And yes, Silence is your friend.

[Mog]

I might be winging it in terms of defense. Couldn't find any phalanx rings on the AH, but I will be able to borrow the earth staff for a short time.

If he does silence me, however, the best thing to do is quarry and pray for echo drops.

[Akashimo]

One of the things i've try to do with thf against mages, and seen thf do against me is for hit and runs along with bolting spam. Acid bolts, Sleep bolt, bloody for hp. Also thf/nin does have int, so he'd could resist some of the spells or them not sticking as well interms of blm's. Don't forget /nin gives him resist bind so bind won't be as effective. Like what has been said, thf will go for a full attack. Likewise ice spikes would be a good bet, most gear besides af have doesn't ice resistance. So in elemental nukes to concern, Fire based will hurt alot .... speaking from experiance there too ._. Lastly Spam stun when shadows are down espically if he goes for /sprint or Flee. hehe, have fun and if you need a practive to test anything i'm willing to risk my thf to taru nukage ._.() lol

[Eohmer]

Mog, if you can make a video from this, do so! I'd be so interested in watching! :D

[Mog]

The pressure! lol. I'd love to make a video. What program should I use? I don't know a thing about making videos.

[Eohmer]

I think Fraps works. I don't know. I don't make videos myself. lol

[Spinnthrift]

On the defense side of Blm...

Bat Earrings are your friend.

Use two and a Blind Potion on yourself.

[Matera]

Excellent points here.

I oughta say, though, that if the fight didn't really matter:

- Find him, back off, ES and Invis.
- Sneak up to him.
- Flare his fucking ass.
- Follow up with Drain then Stun.
- Then Sleep.

Then FINISH HIM.

But also, another weird strategy:

- DOT the living hell out of him.
- Frost, Drown, Rasp, Bio II.
- Then leave him for a while. Gravity would be excellent here, but unfortunately it doesn't work like that.


And a strategy I would actually use:

- Stoneskin, Blink, Aquaveil, Ice Spikes.
- Invis.
- Find him.
- Diaga if he's /NIN.
- Stun and Silence.
- ES+Sleep II, debuff with Paralyze, Slow, and whatever else.
- Wait until Stun's back up (Or almost) and then hit him with a strong nuke.
- Stun and Drain.
- Sleep him again.

That oughta get you started. At thing, I think you could just Freeze him nd be done with it.

Good luck!

[Spider-Dan]

As 57Thf/28Rdm, he would have access to Diaga (12MP) and Blink (20MP), but would be looking at a MP pool no more than 100MP total without food/gear. Blink has a long cast time and can be dispelled just as easily by another -ga. Without MP recovery, at best he could do Diaga > Blink 3-4 times.

-ga shouldn't be a problem... there's no reason for you to get a -ga off on him if he drinks a pot, pretty much period. If BLM has stoneskin up, stun -ga with a sleep bolt. If BLM doesn't (and BLM drank a poison pot) then wail on him with dagger.

If both are playing the distance > sleep > attack method, the Thf is going to run out of MP eventually and will have no Blink defense against future Sleep/Stun spells. The Blm still has Cures to recover HP if he can retreat back.

Well, cures aren't a problem for THF... bloody bolts take care of that easily (and those can't be silenced). Sleep shouldn't be a problem, ever.

Let me reiterate something, since it seems to have been unnoticed:

There is NO reason for a THF to /NIN in a solo fight vs. BLM.

You get virtually nothing of value from it. You would even be better off subbing WAR and Provoking; that would at least prevent the BLM from buffing or curing himself.

[wolfjorg]

little short bit of info. didnt see if it was posted already or not. Poisonaga will go through his shadows and, take them out.

[nanatsu]

Excellent points here.

I oughta say, though, that if the fight didn't really matter:

- Find him, back off, ES and Invis.
- Sneak up to him.
- Flare his fucking ass.
- Follow up with Drain then Stun.
- Then Sleep.

Wouldn't anyone paying attention see that the blm was casting Flare and just run away?. Not so hard to avoid that. It comes up in the chat log.

[Mog]

well....I just recently found out my brother is quitting the game, so no match.

I'm kind of bummed out. This is really the only way he have contact besides the phone. ;;