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Theifing is the biggest rush in the game for me, as well as for most people that have tried it. If you feel bad about killing someone don't do it.

I've read a few guides and found they were lacking alot of information so I've tried to put together something a bit more complete and free of speculation. I'm not going to tell you everything, like exact trade routes, specifically where to hide, alternative methods of securing goods, etc. You need to try it yourself.

Supplies needed

Thief suit – there are 2 types, the 10k black suit, and the 1m black devil suit. Per Joymax there is no difference other than the look and the cost. They come in male and female, don’t forget to buy the correct gender. Can be purchased in thief town.

Bandit Den Return Scrolls – These are different than regular return scrolls. They take you to thief town. They also take approx 5 minutes to complete (you will get 3-4 thief spawns during that time). In addition you can move around and attack stuff while you wait. Make sure you have several as you may need to restart. They are purchased in thief town.

Transport – Some people like the horse as it’s agile, others prefer the camel as it holds more and has more HP. I use a camel. Bring a few. Buy them at the stable in any town.

Hunter Card – Yes hunter card, purchasable at the hunter guild merchant.

Transport Health Pills – 50-100 should be fine. Buy them at any stable, 3 sizes, the large do well on most transports, XL is great for Oxen.

Friends – Always have some around, while not necessary it sure helps. The higher level the better.

How to
There are a few ways to be a thief. Its tough at lower levels (below 30). Make sure you can kill any monsters in the area where you are as well as your spawns. Initially I would recommend getting a group of thieves together to swarm a multistar, or even easier, find loot on the ground and take it. When you are low level you will want to hide with your loot while your scroll activates. Lastly know when to say when. 4 stars is tough to handle solo, 5 nearly impossible, take just what you can handle.

Here is a typical scenario. I see a bunch of loot (5+ stacks on the ground). I quickly scan the area for hunters (or angry merchants). I buff up and put on my suit and summon my transport. Please note that you cannot summon a transport within 20 second of combat. So if you are in an aggro area kill all of the monsters first. Dismount your transport and start left clicking the goods. Once you have them right click your bandit den return scroll and move away (I’ll go into this more later).

Scenario #2. I see what I believe is a multistar. First I scope their gear. I ask myself can I take them? Do I have zerk (helpful but not necessary)? If yes then proceed.

Move away (out of sight), buff, suit up and summon a transport (that stupid 20 second rule applies to attacking anything including traders). If you wait to summon a transport an opportunistic thief or a friend of the guy you killed may suit up and grab some or all of the loot first (remember that hunter card). If their level is close to mine I wait until their thieves spawn then I attack. Hit the biggest threat first then move to the next target. If they are close to a teleport area take out their transport first. You have a choice, you can let their thieves kill the transport (saving arrange points) or you do it. I usually kill it as I want to get away fast. Kill their thieves last and then start grabbing loot. Now get away.

Note: You have a few choices here, kill the merchant or let them live. Usually they will attack you so your choice is made. However I also like to follow the rule “dead men tell no tales”. Kill them all, no rez, as they could follow you or lead hunters to you, thus spoiling your fun.

Getting away with the loot.
Ok now what? A lot of this answer depends on your attitude, level and number of friends with you. Before you even start thieving find some hiding spots. They are everywhere. They can range from a mountain, the water, a bush or tree, or even an out of the way grinding spot.

Take your booty, ACTIVATE YOUR SCROLL, and leave the area. Do not start moving in the direction you really want to go unless you are really confident or in a big hurry. Misdirection is key to not being found and killed. If possible have friends scout ahead and behind you. You can also have one distract a hunter that may be close by. Go to your favorite hiding spot and prepare to fight back the spawns (or any hunters/merchants that may come by).

As your scroll nears the last 30 – 45 seconds get on your transport. It has a lot of hp, so if you are attacked you may be able to survive better. If you have a 3 star or better it is advisable to have help. A double spawn with cold bladers will ruin your day. Also should you die your loot is hidden and you can go back. Some people will sit in the middle of the road waiting for other multistars so they can attack and fill their transport, this takes some guts, but can be effective. Once your scroll runs out, congratulations you are in thief town.

How to spot a multistar
One way is to stalk a trade and wait for thieves to spawn, if they get 2 it may be a 2 star, or a double spawn on a 1 star, the only way to tell is to watch for another or put on your suit.. Once you have your suit on you can double click a trader (or their transport). If you start attacking it’s a multistar, if you get a blue message about attacking a one star it’s a single. If you are stalking it is advisable to watch from behind, just out of sight of the trader, but keeping his transport in sight.

Thief Town
This is where you buy your thief suit, bandit den return scrolls and sell your loot. Loot is sold for face value (you weren’t really in this for the money were you?). Selling loot erases Trader exp. There are 2 main NPCs, one that sells thief gear and another that buys loot. The other notable thing is the transporter. Using it is free and it brings you to your respawn point. I recommend taking off your thief suit before you teleport as it resets the cooldown timer. So basically get there, sell your loot, terminate your transport, desuit and teleport.

To get there the first time go to the red light district in Jangan and speak with Gisaeng Yumi and she's around 6203, 993 on of the prostitutes who will offer to take you there for 2k.

Tips
Using any teleporter, or logging off will instantly reset your 10 minute cooldown for job suits. Use this to your advantage, especially if someone just took that load you killed for.

Friends in alternate job suits are nice to have. They kill the opportunistic thieves and get hunter exp for taking out your NPC spawns. If unsuited they can be ready for anything, like evening the odds if hunters appear or act as a general deterrent for hostility.

Hunters can kill you without penalty, you however get a penalty for killing them. This makes them more than a nuisance. If I find myself suited and a higher level hunter comes along (you really need to learn weapon and equipment levels by sight) I do not run away. Instead I’ll try to chat. Many times they won’t attack either because you could be pretending to be lower level, or there’s no sport in it. If you run, well that’s just fun for them. Worst case is they kill you and you lose a little exp and you lose the load.

Misc. questions/ comments
Can thieves spawn NPCs at will? Nope, it’s a random spawn just like traders.
If you die by hunter or merchant there is a chance to lose items (including what is equipped), its the same as if you died from a monster.
Taunting dead traders or hunters is bad form, many are already angry. Remember its a game and you are doing your job. Typically I am too focused to even read chat, let alone reply.

The down side – Arrange points
When you kill hunters merchants or transports you get arrange points. Should you get 3000+ arrange points you will become wanted. That means anyone wearing a hunter suit can see that you are wanted and will probably attack you. They do this because they get a bonus for killing you. In addition when you are killed you will have to pay a fine to the hunter guild NPC. The fine at level 40 is around 60k and goes up with levels. After you desuit you will not be able to do any job for 3 hours.

This will be a bit of a work in progress so please ask questions or make comments (correct me if I misspeak). I know the rules may change in future updates, I’ll modify when its solidified.

Very nice guide... Sticky UP!

One little thing; the name of the thread says Theif instead of thief.

GOOD WORK!

A little correction the normal thief suit is buy it at 20k not 10k

updated, thank you both.

I wish newb thieves would stop making guides.

Yea, very nice guide, should be stickied.

Ugh, this is great. By far the most helpful 'Thief Guide' I've come upon thus far.

I was thinking about making one, but ya beat me to it!

Well done.

Few suggestions:

"Getting away with the loot" - You should probabally mention how it takes decades for the scroll to activate! Does anyone have an exact time? It has to be around 8 minutes.

"Using any teleporter, or logging off will instantly reset your 15 minute cooldown for job suits."

Cooldown is 10 minutes.

Other than that good work!

nice guide there, i think we should merge ur guide and mines

modifications made, and thanks dom I'll remember that when you ask me to take out a hunter next time .

I think he meant others are nubs and urs is pro. I think he would have to be trippin on acid if he thought you were a nub. Very nice guide BTW.

No, I meant him. Mushrooms. Next time i'll put on the hunter suit and you can try to take me out

typical men

ya im about as noobish as u can get.... so ima ask a quick thing that u might put in.... umm... what is the thief town lol

dom hangs out on our guild's vent server so we talk alot..... he killed my level 27 alt the other day and now gets to talk smack about killing me. Can we keep the thread on topic please.

Thief town is the place you buy and sell thief items. Initially you have to talk to an NPC in the alley of the red light district in Jangan and pay ~ 3k to be teleported there (or just buy a suit and scrolls from someone who's been there). Later you will use bandit den return scrolls to get there.

good question, I should add that little bit.

Why would he do that? his guide covers everything your does except this one is much easier to read and much more detailed. Yours is as vague as the help's information

I seriously wouldn't recommend thieving alone until you either

a. Have a level 52+ buddy.

b. Have leet 'connections'.

c. Are level 52+.

30+ might have been fine when the cap was 60, but a majority of players have their resurrection spot set in either Donwhang or Hotan, and those players are between 20 and 70. So, when you're 30, you're still on the lower end.

Only troy i'm only 3x and managed to solo a 3*. But, you're right:
a) Having people like you, Kuro, Haku and Hellsharpt on my friends list is really reassuring.

b) Having a guild and union like I do also helps, especially since they're war mongers XD

err yeah but mine has some thieving tactics not just the basics

yeah i did 2 solo 3* in 1 day at like 22-24.troy is all thiefs. not to many hunters

i'd also like to add that black suit is 10k not 20k.... u may have gotten confused with the level required to use it (lvl. 20)

Excellent guide! Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for doing it.

My only questions are, since I haven't engaged people yet, is how do you coordinate your ALT key for initiating PVP?

Is it a matter of simply clicking your target pc once while holding ALT, then as long as they're selected, you attack as normal? Or do you need to hold down the ALT the whole time you attack?

Do you see the star value of a trader only when in a suit? Or can anyone see the stars?

Are the NPC theives' levels based on the caravan star rating? The trader level, or the level of players around them at time of spawn? or is it completely random?

I am just about 22 on my bow user and I'll wait till 24 when i get better gear/weapon before I even think of ganking some 1 or 2 star caravans.

Also, is it true that you can't attack a trader until a certain level?

I double click a target (avoids the whole offender thing). If it's one star I get a message saying so, if not the target takes damage. Its just like attacking a monster, once you start you don't stop until one of you is dead or you break off.

You only know if its multistar (because you can attack it) while wearing your suit.

the theives levels are based on the level of the trader they can be green to gold (though I've heard they can be red if its a 5*).

As a thief you can attack any multistar, hunter, or mountless trader regardless of level. High level hunters can be real asshats sometimes so use caution.

I thought that thief suits were 10k?..



Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for this. I was actually pulling my hair trying to find out what the hell to do next as I am now at lvl 21 and wanted to move around as either a thief or a hunter.

This has cleared up some things that I didn't know.

Stick stickety stick!

I've updated this with some changes that were made to pills and other info.

you could add how to get to thief town for the first time, like where it is an such, may help some

excellent catch, added.

Nice!!!!!!!!!!