[Empedocles]

I've done this ENM as Paladin so I'm familiar with the general battle, but looking to do it as Thief and wondering if anyone here has personal experience of doing it, and a couple of questions if there is.

Here's my current gear, I'm Lv.57 at the moment and going to do it at 60, so Lv.60 gear recommendations are fine.

Corsair's Knife / Hornetneedle (Have Chicken Knife)
Thug's Zamburak (Marksmanship not capped, going to cap before attempt)
Various status bolts
Empress Hairpin
Spike Necklace (Have Spectacles)
Dodge Earring / Dodge Earring
Scorpion Harness
Sniper's Ring / Sniper's Ring
Nomad's Mantle
Life Belt
Rogue's Culotte
Bounding Boots

I also have Rapparee Harness, Bravo's Subligar and Quick Belt (No Swift ;_; my attmepts to get runs together fail) but generally only use those if I'm getting full-time haste, which I won't get in this fight.

So question time;

1. What's the basic strategy?

2. Is my equipment acceptable or do I need certain pieces?

[LadyKiKi]

I went in 60 with no preparation (for fun, no food/meds)) expecting to win and was amazed at how difficult it was.

First, the automaton has high evasion, so you need sushi. Blood Bolts DO work. I forgotten that my enemy would also be a THF (I done it too many times on my other jobs) so I didn't expect its evasion to be high.

I don't think there's much strategy to it, just go in with an Evasion setup and take it down, blood bolt yourself for HP and bring in 10 or so Hi Potions. I did evade a fair amount with "half" evasion setup (I went in with quite random gear).

I haven't been in there for a while for now since my THF was 60 (5~ weeks ago) but I forgotten what knives I've used. Otherwise, my rings were Rajas/ToAU-Melee Ring. Bat Cape. Scorpion Harness, Empress Hairpin, Strider Boots, Survival Belt, no earrings...

Regardless, you can get unlucky and it might weaponskill you at the worst moments. General rule is that for every job on this ENM if it lands a multi-hit weaponskill roll you're "quite" screwed.

PS. I also went in with a blink band.

[Empedocles]

Well I got a good skill up party today and managed to skill Marksmanship all the way to 240 so that's that settled forever for Thief, and I also managed to skill Dagger as a side thing to 200, and put a couple of merits into it as I had 3 merit points lying around.

Ladykiki, did Sleep Bolts for Sleep -> run behind SA Dancing Edge work on the Fantocci?

Oh I also forgot hand equip, using Custom M Gloves at the moment but I think I'll use Jaridah hands for the trio of +acc +racc +eva.

Do you think Jaridah legs would be better than Rogue's Culotte due to the +racc & +eva or would the +10 Shield Skill trump it?

Edit: I also plan on getting an Elusive Earring and using Vision Earring with it, or do you think I'd be better off with another +eva earring in that slot?

[Armando]

I haven't done this fight but here's a little tip to avoid WS: stay in 1st person view, don't lock on, run backwards in a circle.

If you run back in first person view, you run full speed but continue to attack/parry. Because you're running away at full speed, you'll run out of range if it readies a TP move that isn't long range. This holds true even if you run away normally, but if you don't do it in 1st person view then you won't be able to fight while you run.

Try it on a normal mob to see what I mean. Shadows are the easiest to test with since they can only use Dimensional Death (running won't work against things like breath attacks or AoEs, only WS-range attacks.) Obviously you have to stop whenever you need to cast or shoot, but it's better than staying put when you're otherwise idle.

Also, a Cermet Knife +1 will serve you better than Hornetneedle. It's all about DPS.

[LadyKiKi]

I haven't tried Sleep Bolt. While soloing, when I got towards level 60 I found myself using sleep bolts less and less (for my type of soloing, this is my preference, not saying you shouldn't use sleep bolts) so I didn't have any on me.

[711rocks]

i entered this by mistake wearing on gear that i had on that was 60 or less
it was mainly acc stuff life belt, snipers, sh+1, pcc, etc with a hornetneedle as the only weapon
the fight was easy but pray for some luckier rolls

[Empedocles]

Originally Posted by Armando

I haven't done this fight but here's a little tip to avoid WS: stay in 1st person view, don't lock on, run backwards in a circle.

I'll try practice this sometime, see if I can pull it off.

Originally Posted by Armando

Also, a Cermet Knife +1 will serve you better than Hornetneedle. It's all about DPS.

I'm thinking of using Chicken Knife, the equip in the OP is more for reference, as I'm currently 57 and crying at the lack of invites . I might have to go full-time Campaign battle as I now don't need combat skill.

Just looked at the Master Shield which is reasonbly cheap and +10 Shield skill, thinking of using that with Rogue's Culotte (another +10shield skill) and merits which means I'll have a good ~28 skill higher than normal cap.

[Armando]

I'm thinking of using Chicken Knife, the equip in the OP is more for reference, as I'm currently 57 and crying at the lack of invites . I might have to go full-time Campaign battle as I now don't need combat skill.

Yeah, I meant Chicken Knife/Cermet Knife +1 instead of Chicken Knife/Hornetneedle. If you're going to single wield, then yeah, Chicken Knife.

Just looked at the Master Shield which is reasonbly cheap and +10 Shield skill, thinking of using that with Rogue's Culotte (another +10shield skill) and merits which means I'll have a good ~28 skill higher than normal cap.

Sounds like a plan. Just don't do something silly like using a Spiked Buckler or something. If you're looking for damage reduction then Size 1 is as sucky as it gets.

[Ziero]

You can't use your subjob in this fight, hence why he needs the shield.

I've tried this fight a few times on thf and War. In the end, it's all luck. Because no matter how close you are to a win...one bad roll and you're screwed.

[Empedocles]

Well I beat it yesterday, it was totally easy but I believe I lucked out a bit.

Gear was..

Darksteel Kukri +1 (Liked the 2 base dmg over Chicken Knife)
Master Shield
Thug's Zambuark
Blind, Bloody & Acid Bolts (Didn't bother to do the sleep bolt trick)
Empress Hairpin
Spectacles
Elusive Earring
Vision Earring
Scorpion Harness
Jaridah Gloves
Sniper's Ring x2
Thunderer's Mantle
Precise Belt, Life Belt for Dancing Edge
Rogue's Culotte
Bounding Boots

I used Ambrosia as food because the Abjuration drops in the BCNM that drops Elusive (Celery).

Twice the Moblin healed me, Twice the Moblin gave the puppet 300 TP which it used as Wasp Sting and Shadowstitch (lol).

No meds, just fired a few Bloody Bolts as my HP dropped. No worries..... and no Assassin's Ring so I guess I'll try again when I can.

[Ayrlie]

my gear

hornetneedle
spartan hopolon
blink band/empress hairpin
scorpion harness
jaridiah hands, legs
bounding boots
dodge earrings x2
peacock charm
snipers rings x2
heavy crossbow +1
bloody, blind, acid bolts

used squid sushi+1 as food and brought in a I.wing at the start so I could start with an dancing edge.

I think its a good setup, its just I been so unlucky with the rolls.