MapleStory/Thief

Thieves are a semi popular class. They have their likenesses with archers and warriors. They excel at killing enemies quickly, and thus gain lots of mesos in the process. The downside is that the Thief class demands precision when allocating stats, as they can be screwed up very easily.
 * Maximum level: 250

There are three types of Adventurer Thieves: Night Lords, Shadowers, and Blade Masters (Dual Blades). Note, Dual Blades have their own character creation button. Assassins are far ranged attackers. They are quite Meso efficient and have good damage potential, but cost more than bandits. Bandits are quick melee attackers and are quite powerful among the 2nd jobs. They aren't as Meso efficient as Assassins and do not have the benefit of ranged attack but make up for it in much greater raw power (after around level 90, there is no way that any assassin can catch up with Bandits' damage), although dagger scrolls have a potential to cost quite a bit.


 * Pros:
 * All three thieves get good mobility skills such as Haste and Flash Jump. Dual Blades have those as well as Flying Assaulter, Tornado Spin, and Bloody Storm as attacks.
 * They have high avoidability. In fact, Dual Blades potentially have the best avoid out of all three thieves. The only thing keeping them from being completely invincible is the newly added 90% cap to avoiding attacks.
 * All of them are good at bossing at 4th job.
 * Cons:
 * Average HP and MP, killed easily by monsters at high levels.
 * Very unstable damage until mastery in 2nd job, like most jobs.
 * Good stars can be pricey.

If you are new to MapleStory or starting on a new server, you should consider skipping armor every five or so levels. Thief items are pricey, so save for future armor.
 * Equipment

Dual Blade's Backstory
The Dark Lord. It’s an unfortunate name, for it brings up images of evil and fear. Yet the one who bears that title does so not because he is evil, but because he spends so much time in the dark, battling against the things that would bring Maple World down. It’s a high and lonely destiny, one borne well by all those who have carried the title.

The former Dark Lord was a great man who spent his life fighting against the forces of darkness. As all Dark Lords must, he had carefully groomed possible successors. His two greatest students were a young man named Jin and his own daughter, who is known to us now only as Lady Syl. Both were excellent students, people of great strength and moral character and he cherished and loved both of them. In turn, Lady Syl and Jin revered their teacher and developed a great affection for each other. Times were happy as they all trained and worked together.

The trouble began with an urgent request from Tristan, the Dark Lord’s friend. It seemed that Balrog had been resurrected and was destroying Victoria Island. The Dark Lord immediately headed out to help but when he arrived in Sleepywood, his friend Tristan was nowhere to be found. He eventually tracked down Balrog and faced him in mortal combat. Alas, Balrog is a foe not so easily beaten for his evil is not merely physical, but spiritual as well. The Dark Lord lost his focus for a split second and allowed Balrog’s evil to slip past his shields – and he lost his soul. The Dark Lord had become one of the very monsters he had spent his life defeating and began attacking Kerning City.

Jin, who had followed his master against his wishes, witnessed everything. In despair and agony, he tried to appeal to the thing that was his former master, trying to get it to remember the man of virtue and honor he once was. Alas, it was no use! Jin knew what he would have to do, what his true master would have wanted and he defeated the monster that wore his master’s beloved face. Tears stinging his eyes, Jin carried the body back home to bury him in honor and succeed him as Dark Lord.

As it happened, Balrog claimed two victims that day. Lady Syl, her mind and soul shattered by the loss of her beloved father, blamed Jin for not protecting him. In time she came to believe that Jin had even engineered her father’s death in order to take his position as Dark Lord. Nothing Jin could say or do could convince her that she was mistaken, that he would have given anything to save her father’s life and that he never wanted to become Dark Lord in this way. It did not work. Lady Syl’s heart grew cold and bitter, hating the man she had loved with a cold fury that was like a wall of ice between them.

The last time they saw one another, Jin made one last entreaty to Lady Syl, begging her to remember her father’s honor and greatness and the love they had once shared. Lady Syl merely promised him that when the end came, his death would rival her father’s in pain and anguish.

Now there is a secret war raging in the heart of Kerning City. Lady Syl and her Dual Blades continue her struggle against the Dark Lord from an unknown location simply known as the ‘Secret Garden.’ Her new organization is growing in strength and more and more skillful Rogues are disappearing. The Dark Lord knows that Lady Syl is getting ready to make her move, though he does not yet know what that move will be.

Meanwhile, a man named Ryden in a back alley of Kerning City begins talking to travelers here and there, making an interesting offer.

At the Secret Garden, Lady Syl takes care of her plants, gathers her forces and nurses her ever-growing rage and bitterness towards the Dark Lord.

Yet in the silence of her empty heart, a tiny ember of something she’d long thought extinguished remains. Whether it can burst into flame before she and the Dark Lord destroy one another, no one knows. (Credits go to Nexon.net)

Beginner

 * After creating a new character and starting as a Beginner, do all the quests in Maple Island and level up to the required level to make your job advancement.
 * For Dual Blade, do all the quests in the Secret Practice Place given to you by Ryden, Shiba, and talk to Lady Syl at level 10 to advance.

Originally, when new characters were made, players had to randomly generate the starting AP of their character. This required knowledge of the stats used by the desired class, as well as patience, to achieve the optimal stats.
 * Beginner AP

Now when you begin the game as a Beginner, your AP will automatically be placed into certain stats, and when you make the job advancement your character's AP will be set to the minimum stats to become that class. Any additional AP will be available for you to apply.

You now have two choices if you want to become a Bandit. Otherwise, you should be DEXless.
 * Planning your Thief
 * 1) Become a STR bandit having LUK and STR (not recommended as it is weaker in higher levels. Plus, you should be able to get enough STR to wear a Dragon Khanjar solely via equips. There are also very few STR daggers in the higher levels.
 * 2) Be DEXless (highly recommended).

Dagger Rogue (Pre-Bandits)
LUK bandits have more LUK than STR bandits, because STR Bandits have to have several points into STR to equip their weapons. Since they have more LUK, LUK Bandits typically do more damage than STR Bandits, due to LUK having much more substantial effect in their damage equation. However, LUK daggers generally cost a bit more than STR Daggers. The two also even out at levels 80 and 120, when they can acquire Khanjars and Dragon Khanjars, which have 7 and 15 attack clean, respectively.

The first few STR daggers have a speed of "faster" compared to most LUK dagger's speed of "fast." However this distinction is very minor as the only difference between "faster" and "fast" daggers is that without Dagger Booster, "faster" daggers perform normal swings faster. With Dagger Booster, there is no difference between a "fast" and "faster" dagger. They have the exact same speed properties for normal attacks and skills, due to the speed cap.

LUK daggers also seem to be far more common, and this greatly helps when it comes to that all important time of having to re-equip. Overall, most people say going the way of LUK is a more rewarding path in the long run.

Dagger Rogue (Pre-Dual Blade)
It is recommended to be full-LUK on a Dual Blade. They will not benefit from adding points into STR due to not being able to wear Shields, being able to only equip Kataras in their Shield Slot.

Playing a Dual Blade can be expensive due to the fact that several of their pre-4th job skills require Mastery Books, which can be pretty pricey. A good dagger can be expensive too. While you may have a lot of STR from equipment, there are very few high level STR daggers.

Claw Rogue (Pre-Assassin)
Thieves that use claws are called "Assassins" (the second job title, also known as "'sins"), and are long ranged attackers.

It should be noted once more that Assassins can be very expensive. Tremendous amounts of Mesos are required to maintain a strong Assassin. The price of certain stars, such as Balanced Fury and the ones crafted by the Smithing profession, can be daunting. Sins do not have the MP regeneration of a mage, and as such burn MP Potions constantly. Assassins are a very common class on GMS (Global MapleStory), and prices for their equipment are inflated.
 * Equipment

However, money concerns are not unique to Assassins. Archers depend primarily on Double Shot. Magicians equipment is sometimes as much or more than Assassins, though Sins must cover the cost of stars. Furthermore, it could be argued that Bandits cost far more to maintain than Assassins. They both spend a lot of money on potions due to lacking an HP recovery skill.
 * Funding

Tip: To save money as an assassin, especially in the earlier levels, recharge your stars more often instead of buying new stacks. To do this, go to the pots shop and click on the use tab on your side of the window. Next to the stars there will be an orange button with 'Rech.' on it. Simply click this button and you will have a full stack of stars again. The price to recharge is right next to the price to sell them. You can either do that, or purchase cheaper stars, since quality is not always better than quantity.

First Job Advancement
When you reach level 10, head to Kerning City. Find the fusion jazz bar above JM From tha Streetz, and head to the basement to find Dark Lord. Speak with him and become a Rogue. After doing so, speak with him again to get the "How to Survive" quest. You'll now have a direction to go, and some new equipment to help you level. Dark Lord will have given you both a Beginner Thief's Wrist Guard (claw weapon that throws stars) and a Beginner Thief's short sword (a dagger). Both items are Thief only and unable to be traded.
 * See Training locations for where to power level.

Now that you've become a Rogue, your skill choices are very important, so be careful. First you want to pick your offensive skill, so you probably want to test out the two weapons to get a feel for them. Claws can launch stars from a distance or up close. Although the short sword acts the same as before, your damage will be increased significantly. For both weapons, imagine them attacking twice as fast (or faster in the future) with the help of one of the skills you can invest in (Double Stab or Lucky Seven). If you are still doing the Kerning City quest chain, which you started with the "How to Survive", you should have some more thief gear to equip.

First job+ Advancement(Dual Blade)

 * Note, if you aren't a Dual Blade, skip this section.
 * When you reach level 20, Lady Syl will contact you via lightbulb. Head to Lady Syl's Room to talk to her. She will tell you to head into the Marble Room. Attack the tables with the glass marbles using normal attacks. The table will break and the glass marble will drop. Pick up the marble and double click it (it's in your use inventory.) Repeat until you get a Mirror of Insight, and once you receive it, head back to Lady Syl. You will become a Blade Recruit.

Second Job Advancement
Go see Dark Lord in Kerning City at Level 30. He will say that you look much stronger and ready for 2nd job, and will bring you to a secret area, where you have to defeat Swamp Monsters and collect 30 Dark Marbles. They don't give any experience or drops except the Dark Marble. Once you are done, climb back up and exit the map through the portal. Take the 30 Dark Marbles back to Dark Lord and he will ask you to choose between 2 jobs, Bandit or Assassin. If you are a Dual Blade, you will talk to Lady Syl instead. Instead of Swamp Monsters, Lady Syl will send you to defeat Shadow Blade Lords for the Dark Marbles. Contrary to the Swamp Monsters, these do give experience. Once you finish, you will become a Blade Acolyte.
 * See Training locations for where to power level.

Second job+ Advancement(Dual Blades)

 * Note, if you aren't a Dual Blade, skip this section.
 * The 2nd job+ advancement is simple. Once you hit level 45, Lady Syl will contact you via lightbulb again. Head to her, and she will tell you to slay 99 Ice Drakes. Head back to Lady Syl, and you will become a Blade Specialist.

Third Job Advancement
Once you are level 60, go to El Nath, and head to the house on the big hill (Chief Residence). Head to Arec, and talk with him. After a chat, head to Sharp Cliff I. Go inside the crystal portal at the bottom of the map. Double click on the Holy Stone at the bottom. Head inside, fight the Dark Lord's evil side, and head out with the Black Charm that it drops. Head back to Arec and give him this item, and voila, you are third job! Note: Dual Blades have the same advancement.
 * See Training locations for where to power level.

Fourth Job Advancement
Congratulations on hitting 100! Once you hit level 100, Arec the 3rd job instructor will contact you via lightbulb. After starting the quest, head to Leafre and talk to Hellin in The Forest of the Priest. You will then get a quest to obtain two special items for the fourth job instructor to advance. You will have to kill Manon and Griffey to get the two items, but thankfully, they're special versions of the bosses, which you will find instantly upon entering their respective boss map. Note, they don't drop any of the items the real versions do. After hunting down these monsters and obtaining the two items, go talk to Hellin. She will advance you to fourth job, give you the skill book for Maple Warrior 10, and give you 4 SP and 5 AP.
 * See Training locations for where to power level.