MapleStory/Thief/Builds

Assassins and Luk Bandits
First, get Str and Int to 4/4. Everything not in Dex, goes in Luk.


 * Level 10: Dex 25
 * Level 15: Dex 30
 * Level 20: Dex 40
 * Level 25: Dex 50
 * Level 30: Dex 60
 * Level 35: Dex 70
 * Level 40: Dex 80
 * Level 50: Dex 90
 * Level 60: Dex 100
 * Level 70: Dex 110
 * Level 80: Dex 120
 * Level 90: Dex 130

The basic stat build for Assassins and LUK bandits goes like this:

LUK values are an estimate, according to a 4 STR & 4 INT starting roll

STR Bandit build
However, STR Bandits have an slightly different build:

1st Job
Classic Bandit build

There are two builds for bandits, one for starters with no money from other accounts, and one for "funded" characters, meaning that they have mesos to invest for a stronger/better character.

Why the 1 point of Double Stab so early? Simple; You got a full mana bar! You might as well use it!

Nimble Body helps you avoid better at lower levels (further turning down your pot cost), and you won't have enough money to spam Double Stab at lower levels anyway. Only put 3 points into Disorder (the prerequisite for Dark Sight) and put 18 points into Dark Sight. This is for two reasons: first, while disorder may seem nice at lower levels, it works on a "flat rate" of -20 weapon defense and attack against the monster you're fighting. Against a higher-level monster that already has defense and attack levels in the hundreds, -20 will hardly be noticeable, let alone useful. Also, using Dark Sight adds a penalty to your speed, which not only slows you down but cancels any effect from the Haste skill you get in second job. If you get level 18 Dark Sight while in first job, you will be able to put two points into it later for maximum (level 20) Dark Sight -- which has no speed penalty! Now you can zip through hordes of monsters unscratched, and still with your wonderful Haste. Also, you will gain a 4th job skill that depends on Dark Sight for damage. The longer you charge it up, the stronger it gets. If you have to wait for the move to charge up, why not get Dark Sight to level 20 so that you can move at full ability and charge it up.


 * Wealthy Variation: Those who have lots of money can get 20 Double Stab at lower levels, and just spam mana pots like no tomorrow. 14 MP for an average of about 120 damage isn't exactly cheap, but hey, you're wealthy, and rolling in mana pots, you don't care. See above for arguments between Disorder and Dark Sight. Then you get Nimble Body. Levels 24-30 are the same.

Banditsin Build

2nd Job

 * Dagger Mastery (19)
 * Savage Blow (30)
 * Dagger Booster (5)
 * Haste (20)
 * Endure (20)
 * Dagger Booster (15)
 * Dark Sight (1st job skill) (20) +(2)
 * 10 for whatever (Steal)

A variation of this build is to max Savage Blow first, then Mastery and 5 booster. Let's compare the damage of two level 40 bandits with 130 LUK, 80 DEX, 5 STR, and a 52 attack dagger, one using 15% mastery max Savage Blow, one using 60% mastery double stab:

60% mastery Double Stab: Min damage 455, Max damage 746, Average Damage 601, MP cost 16, Damage/MP efficiency: 37.5 dmg/MP

15% Mastery Savage Blow: Min damage 370, Max Damage 1377.6, Average Damage 874, MP Cost 27, Damage/MP efficiency: 32.4 dmg/MP

You can see from here that if you max Mastery First, your damage will be below those who max Savage Blow first. However, your damage will also be quite stable, and your damage/MP efficiency is higher. Savage Blow first will net you bigger damage, but slightly inferiority in damage/MP efficiency and attack speed. Which one to max first, Mastery or Savage Blow, is up to you, although I'd suggest poorer players to max Mastery First.

Steal can also be an important asset to keeping yourself wealthy. Lvl 10 Steal has a 21% chance of taking something. Not so good? Sacrifice some points from Endure, Haste or Booster. Lvl 15 Steal has a 25% chance of taking something. That means every 4 steals, on average, you get something, and you still apply damage. I would recommend 2 points in dark sight (If you're putting it up, not Disorder) and 10 in steal. lvl 15 steal isn't much better than lvl 10 steal, and you can just keep trying and trying and trying to steal. You can only steal one thing, it's great for the "Kill these things a lot and find this for this person" quests where you don't want to kill them if it takes to long. And you might find something good (like scrolls)

For players who are funded a good build would be to put much less in endure and put much more into steal. Most funded players usually can burn pots like none other and still have cash to keep buying more, so for players like this it is not necessary to use endure since you will rarely ever be waiting for your health to recharge on a ladder anyway. If steal is maxed out there is a 60% steal rate which means more than half the time you use steal you get an item and still will have a 100% damage rate. Even for players who are not as rich this works because you can get rare items using steal such as a set of ilbis or a high level weapon.

1st Job
There are two builds for assassins, one for starters with no money from other accounts, and one for people who already have a reasonable amount of money from other accounts.

Keen Eyes is a must-max. You MUST have range to train efficiently. 10 points in lucky seven helps you to be able to kill things left and right in pig beach (which is actually pretty profitable), and you max Lucky Seven at level 25, at a point where you can train on green mushrooms. Disorder is nearly useless for assassins since it forces you to go melee.

Why the 1 point of Lucky Sevens so early? Simple; You got a full mana bar! You might as well use it!


 * Wealthy Build variation: Max Lucky Seven after Keen Eyes but before Nimble Body. Then, buy lots and lots of blue potions and spam Lucky Seven. This will allow you to train on tougher monsters, although you probably won't be able to 1 hit green mushrooms efficiently at that level without good stars. This is not recommended unless you're rich enough to have good attack gloves, as well as kumbis/icicles.


 * In-the-middle alternative: Get Lucky Seven to around 10 before maxing Nimble Body, after Keen Eyes. You can 1HKO pigs and 2HKO ribbon pigs consistently with L7 at level 17, which isn't too hard on your money. Good if you want to level fast without spending a lot of mesos.

2nd Job

 * Claw Mastery (5)
 * Claw Booster (5)
 * Critical Throw (30) [MAX]
 * Haste (20) [MAX]
 * Claw Mastery (15)
 * Endure (3)
 * Drain (30) [MAX]
 * Claw Booster (10)
 * Endure/Claw Booster (12)

The above build will give you lots of power, as well as a fast attacking speed, so your attacks will do more damage (and let you train fast).

This gives you high haste while you have some crit. Recommended for dexless sins.
 * Claw Mastery (3)
 * Haste +2 per Level
 * Critical Throw +1 per level until haste is maxed and then +3 per level
 * Claw Mastery (Max)
 * Claw Booster (Max)
 * Endure, you can choose to max this out or
 * Drain (27)


 * Claw Mastery (3)
 * Critical Throw (10~15)
 * Haste (10)
 * Critical Throw (30) [MAX]
 * Claw Booster (5)
 * Haste (20) [MAX]
 * Claw Mastery (15)
 * Endure (3)
 * Drain (30) [MAX]
 * Claw Booster (10)
 * Endure/Claw Booster/Claw Mastery (until you have no SP left)

The above build will give you a fast movement speed, so that you can move around (and train) more quickly.


 * Haste (20) [MAX]
 * Claw Mastery (5)
 * Claw Booster (6) [stays for 1 min]
 * Critical Throw (30) [MAX]
 * Claw Mastery (20) [MAX]
 * Endure (3)
 * Drain (30) [MAX]
 * Claw Booster (18)

With the above build you can get every skill to a reasonable amount so you have them all early. This is good for people who want to be able to whip anything out by level 45.

Here is a build for anyone who does Carnival PQ till upper 40's:
 * Haste(12)
 * Claw Mastery(6)
 * Booster(12)
 * Critical Throw (30) [MAX]
 * +1 haste, +2 booster/+2 haste, +1 booster until both are maxed (16)
 * Endure(3)
 * Drain (24)
 * Claw Mastery (24) [MAX]

This build works because if you Carnival PQ until your upper 40's, your damage won't need to be on par with everyone else at that stage. Your party will also love you for the Haste, and this + a cleric ensures almost constant wins. Your Maple Coins, if traded in for Gepharts and NPC'd, will make you enough money. No money needs to be spent on pots, because they are already given. By the time you are 50, you will have: 2 min of Haste and Booster, 6 mastery, and Max Crit, which is pretty much what everyone else has + booster (if you want to max Haste and only 5 booster or vice versa that is fine also.) From then on, you get Booster and Drain before Mastery because Mastery has no effect on lucky seven-but it does on Triple Throw, which is why we max it RIGHT before hermit. In essence, the argument for this goes: HP regen from mobs>200 extra stars. This will make your life MUCH easier because then you have good attacking skills in the beginning, rather than the standard build. Minor Variations on this build are fine as long as they come out the same at key points, like level 50, level 57, and level 70(no duh!).

Here is the standard build for the assassin; 9 out of 10 assassins follow it.


 * 30- 1 Mastery
 * 31- 2 Mastery 1 Critical
 * 32- 3 Critical
 * 33- 3 Critical
 * 34- 3 Critical
 * 35- 3 Critical
 * 36- 3 Critical
 * 37- 3 Critical
 * 38- 3 Critical
 * 39- 3 Critical
 * 40- 3 Critical
 * 41- 2 Critical (MAX) 1 Haste
 * 42- 3 Haste
 * 43- 3 Haste
 * 44- 3 Haste
 * 45- 3 Haste
 * 46- 3 Haste
 * 47- 3 Haste
 * 48- 1 Haste (MAX) 2 Claw Mastery
 * 49- 3 Mastery
 * 50- 3 Mastery
 * 51- 3 Mastery
 * 52- 3 Mastery
 * 53- 3 Mastery (MAX)
 * 54- 3 Claw Booster
 * 55- 3 Claw Booster
 * 56- 3 Claw Booster
 * 57- 3 Claw Booster
 * 58- 3 Claw Booster
 * 59- 3 Claw Booster
 * 60- 2 Claw Booster (MAX) 1 Endure
 * 61- 2 Endure 1 Drain
 * 62- 3 Drain
 * 63- 3 Drain
 * 64- 3 Drain
 * 65- 3 Drain
 * 66- 3 Drain
 * 67- 3 Drain
 * 68- 3 Drain
 * 69- 3 Drain
 * 70- 3 Drain (28)

SO, after those long 40 levels...
 * MAX Mastery
 * MAX Critical Throw
 * MAX Haste
 * MAX Booster
 * 28 Drain
 * 3 Endure

Endure isn't needed since it only increases amounts of HP you will obtain every 10 seconds. Critical is Needed as soon as possible, since it will increase your damage. Haste is also needed too, since you need to move very fast. Mastery is needed for your amount of stars, since you always need to have plenty of them. Booster is needed, since it will increase your speed of your claw and the faster, the better. Drain isn't really needed, but still good for you, since it gives you plenty of HP when you attack the monster.

Endure or Booster?
Now, most people will think Booster is better than Endure. But is it really so?

Mathematically, more Endure will save you more money on MP Pots, albeit on a pretty slight scale. First of all, let's remember that Booster's effectiveness is not affected by the skill level, which affects the HP/MP cost and duration only. HP cost is a non-issue with Drain, so let's focus on the MP Cost.


 * Level 3 Endure, Level 18 Booster: Booster's duration is 180 seconds, cost 12 MP, and in 180 seconds you will recover 108 MP. The amount of MP gain per 10 seconds is 5.1 MP/10 seconds.
 * Level 10 Endure, Level 11 Booster: Booster's duration is 110 seconds, cost 19 MP, and in 110 seconds you will recover 143 MP. The amount of MP gain per 10 seconds is 11.3 MP/10 seconds.
 * Level 15 Endure, Level 6 Booster: Booster's duration is 60 seconds, cost 24 MP, and in 60 seconds you will recover 108 MP. The amount of MP gain per 10 seconds is 14 MP/10 seconds.
 * Level 16 Endure, Level 5 Booster: Booster's duration is 50 seconds, cost 25 MP, and in 50 seconds you will recover 95 MP. The amount of MP gain per 10 seconds is 14 MP/10 seconds.

As you can see from above, with more points in Endure and less points in Booster, the amount of MP you gain per 10 seconds is mathematically superior (until you have less than 5 points in Booster). However, frequent stops to do "booster" makes people nervous and feels like a waste of 'time'. Since 5 points in Booster and 16 points in Endure really has the same effectiveness as 6 points in Booster and 15 points in Endure, it is preferred to do have a max of 15 Endure so that you can keep 6 Booster.

Of course, with higher booster, you'll be able to train faster for a longer period of time without having to re-enable booster. The mesos you earn can be used to buy mana potions, to offset the lower recovery rate of endure. Monsters that are level 35 and above are easily killed by level 40+ thief and even faster with booster. Also, it is generally good practice to have MP pots with you anyway, especially if you don't have time to wait somewhere for endure to recover your MP.

Regardless of your choice, keep in mind you need at least 3 points in Endure to unlock Drain.

Anti-Builds
These are a collection of builds that look great on paper but don't work in practice.

Dexless Thief
If you have been playing for a while, know how to make mesos and find the best training spots for your character, then try to do this type of character:

Thief with 25 dex and only add LUK Dexless thieves are actually a very successful build in practice. The only problem is that they require massive amounts of funding. Luck actually increases accuracy by a small amount, so having large amounts of luck can make up for the accuracy gained from dex. Accuracy can also be picked up from equipment, like 10% helmet Defense and 10% overall luck. As a Dexless thief, either bandit or assassin, though the assassin build is more successful, the equipments available for use are highly limited. Dexless Thieves often wear the level 30 Sauna robe or level 20 Bath towel, because they have 10 slots that can be scrolled for luck and require no dex and has bonus accuracy which makes up for the lack of dex. There are very few weapons that can be used. The typical Dexless assassin will use a Maple Claw, level 35, for sometime, before upgrading to the Maple Kandayo, a level 43 claw and the Musashi Claw (called Shinobi Bracer in GMS), a level 55 claw. The most powerful claw in several versions is the Maple Skanda, and a good one will go for several hundred million mesos. These are often EXTREMELY expensive since they only dropped for a short time around the Anniversary event. In TaiwanMS, there are also level 70 Maple Weapons, including what is called the "True Maple Claw". With this claw, a dexless Hermit can overpower a normal dex one until very high levels. In other versions, like MapleSEA, there are additional claws with no dex requirements.
 * Dexless assassins can be much stronger than their regular counterparts, however this is only if the significant amount of funding that is required can be obtained (at least 100 mil). Otherwise, it will be far weaker. This build is only for players who know a lot about their character and the way that the game works.

Sindit Build
A Sindit is a build where you start as a sin and by the time you reach second job change into a bandit. This build is considered quite useful since you act as both a bandit and an assassin and it is certainly helpful in pq stages where keen eyes or eye of the amazon is required. Basically your first job build should be a normal pre-assassin build until level 30. If you've got a good funding source of stars as a pre-sin (preferably tobis or stronger) then you're gonna train faster than an average pre-dit.

Thief Build (to be merged)
In becoming a bandit, you will get 61 skill points (1 at lvl 10, and 3 at each level up until level 30). To have a rich character, your skills are best distributed as follows:


 * LVL 10: 1 Nimble Body (1)
 * LVL 11: 3 Nimble Body (4)
 * LVL 12: 3 Nimble Body (7)
 * LVL 13: 3 Nimble Body (10)
 * LVL 14: 3 Nimble Body (13)
 * LVL 15: 3 Nimble Body (16)
 * LVL 16: 3 Nimble Body (19)
 * LVL 17: 1 Nimble Body (20, Maxed); 2 Double Stab (2)
 * LVL 18: 3 Double Stab (5)
 * LVL 19: 3 Double Stab (8)
 * LVL 20: 2 Double Stab (10);1 Saved SP (1)
 * LVL 21: 3 Saved SP (4)
 * LVL 22: 3 Saved SP (7)
 * LVL 23: 10 Double Stab (20, Maxed)
 * LVL 24: 3 Disorder (3)
 * LVL 25: 3 Dark Sight (3)
 * LVL 26: 3 Dark Sight (6)
 * LVL 27: 3 Dark Sight (9)
 * LVL 28: 3 Dark Sight (12)
 * LVL 29: 3 Dark Sight (15)
 * LVL 30: 3 Dark Sight (18)

The reason that this setup makes you rich is that Nimble Body increases your avoidability by 20 at only level 17. This means that slimes will do either 1 or 0 damage to you, eliminating the need for potions as you fight slimes. They drop a fair amount of money each, which builds up to a healthy amount of money resting in your inventory by the time Double Stab costs 14 Mana. Since Double Stab begins to cost 14 Mana instead of 7 Mana once it is level 11, it is best to save skill points until you can level Double Stab all the way to 20, rather than have the inefficient use of 80% damage per strike costing double the mana that 75% damage per strike costs. After maxing Double Stab, you can either get Disorder or Dark Sight. Since Double stab is used until the mid 30's of levels, where it is replaced by Savage Blow, Disorder is relatively useless except to deter monsters from attacking. The three levels required to gain levels in Dark Sight is sufficient to accomplish this task, so Dark Sight is the better choice to level to 18. After leveling to 30, you become a bandit and need the following skills:

Please note that skills no longer double the mp usage at a certain lvl. It might not be a bad idea taking a peek at the skills page to check how much mp you want to use. Double stab is a great slime killer because you're damage is unstable in these low levels. Make sure you max nimble body before double stab tho.


 * LVL 30: 1 Dagger Mastery (1)
 * LVL 31: 3 Dagger Mastery (4)
 * LVL 32: 3 Dagger Mastery (7)
 * LVL 33: 3 Dagger Mastery (10)
 * LVL 34: 3 Dagger Mastery (13)
 * LVL 35: 3 Dagger Mastery (16)
 * LVL 36: 3 Dagger Mastery (19)
 * LVL 37: 3 Savage Blow (3)
 * LVL 38: 3 Savage Blow (6)
 * LVL 39: 3 Savage Blow (9)
 * LVL 40: 3 Savage Blow (12)
 * LVL 41: 3 Savage Blow (15)
 * LVL 42: 3 Savage Blow (18)
 * LVL 43: 3 Savage Blow (21)
 * LVL 44: 3 Savage Blow (24)
 * LVL 45: 3 Savage Blow (27)
 * LVL 46: 3 Savage Blow (30, Maxed)
 * LVL 47: 3 Dagger Booster (3)
 * LVL 48: 2 Dagger Booster (5); 1 Haste (1)
 * LVL 49: 3 Haste (4)
 * LVL 50: 3 Haste (7)
 * LVL 51: 3 Haste (10)
 * LVL 52: 3 Haste (13)
 * LVL 53: 3 Haste (16)
 * LVL 54: 3 Haste (19)
 * LVL 55: 1 Haste (20, Maxed); 1 Endure (1); 1 Dagger Booster (6)
 * LVL 56: 3 Dagger Booster (9)
 * LVL 57: 3 Dagger Booster (12)
 * LVL 58: 3 Dagger Booster (15)
 * LVL 59: 3 Dagger Booster (18)
 * LVL 60: 3 Dagger Booster (20, Maxed); 1 Endure (2)
 * LVL 61: 3 Endure (5)
 * LVL 62: 3 Endure (8)
 * LVL 63: 3 Endure (11)
 * LVL 64: 3 Endure (14)
 * LVL 65: 3 Endure (17)
 * LVL 66: 3 Endure (20, Maxed)
 * LVL 67: 1 Dagger Mastery (20, Maxed); 2 Dark Sight (20, Maxed)
 * LVL 68: 3 Disorder (6)
 * LVL 69: 3 Disorder (9)
 * LVL 70: 3 Disorder (12)

Another skill build for bandits is as follows:


 * LVL 30: 1 Dagger Mastery
 * LVL 31: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 32: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 33: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 34: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 35: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 36: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 37: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 38: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 39: 3 Savage Blow
 * LVL 40: 3 Savage Blow (Maxed)
 * LVL 41: 3 Dagger Mastery
 * LVL 42: 3 Dagger Mastery
 * LVL 43: 3 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 44: 2 Dagger Mastery ; 1 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 45: 2 Dagger Mastery ; 1 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 46: 2 Dagger Mastery ; 1 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 47: 2 Dagger Mastery ; 1 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 48: 2 Dagger Mastery ; 1 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 49: 2 Dagger Mastery ; 1 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 50: 1 Dagger Mastery (Maxed) ; 2 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 51: 3 Haste
 * LVL 52: 3 Haste
 * LVL 53: 3 Haste
 * LVL 54: 3 Haste
 * LVL 55: 3 Haste
 * LVL 56: 3 Haste
 * LVL 57: 2 Haste (Maxed); 1 Endure
 * LVL 58: 3 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 59: 3 Dagger Booster
 * LVL 60: 3 Dagger Booster (Maxed)
 * LVL 61 - 70: Ok, at this point you can choose to add the remaining points to either endure or steal...

Leveling abilities is simple for a thief until about level 50. When first rolling your character, you do not look for high numbers. Instead, you want 4 STR and 4 INT. If you are going to become a STR bandit, then you only need 4 INT and need not worry about any of the other statistics. However, since a luck bandit is more powerful, the statistics required for a STR bandit will not be detailed. Assuming you have 4 STR and 4 INT, at level 10 you should have exactly 25 DEX and 37 LUK. LUK plays a larger role in determining damage than DEX or STR, so it gains all the extra AP you gain after the minimum requirements to wear the thief equipment at each level. The requirements, until level 40, for DEX is to have it being twice your level. The levels 12, 17, 22,27, etc that have a LUK dagger for them also require a level up in DEX 5. In essence, after level 10, at every second and fifth level, you should raise DEX 5. Every other level, LUK should be raised by 5. Therefore, the stat increases should look as follows:


 * LVL 10: DEX 25, LUK 37
 * LVL 11: DEX 25, LUK 42
 * LVL 12: DEX 25, LUK 47
 * LVL 13: DEX 25, LUK 52
 * LVL 14: DEX 25, LUK 57
 * LVL 15: DEX 30, LUK 57
 * LVL 16: DEX 30, LUK 62
 * LVL 17: DEX 35, LUK 62
 * LVL 18: DEX 35, LUK 67

...etc.

By level 40, you should have 80 DEX and 132 LUK. At this point, you need only increase your DEX by five at every seventh and tenth level. Therefore, at level 47, 50, 57, 60, 67, and 70; your DEX should increase by 5. At every other level, LUK should be increased by 5. If this is followed through, at level 70 you should have 110 DEX and 247 LUK.

The reason that DEX is kept to the bare minimum is that it plays a much smaller role in determining damage than LUK for a thief. The formula to find maximum damage is

(LUK * 0.9 + (DEX + STR) * 0.25) / 25 * Weapon Atk.

Minimum damage is found using a slightly different formula that involves mastery.

(LUK * 3.24 * Mastery + DEX + STR) / 100 * Weapon Atk.

Assuming you are a Claw Rogue or LUK Dagger Rogue, STR is not needed for your equipment. It can be kept at 4 with INT, which plays no role whatsoever in determining damage. DEX does play a very small role in finding damage, and is needed for equipment, so is slightly useful. It is LUK that makes a thieves damage higher, however.