MapleStory 2 Thief build - guide to the most difficult class in MS2

MapleStory 2, following the pattern of other MMORPG genre representatives, offers multiple character classes to pick. You can choose one of the ten characters represented by both genders – Priest, Knight, Heavy Gunner, Soul Binder, Berserker, Wizard, Thief, Assassin. Runeblade, and Archer. The Thief will capture the attention of these players, who are willing to engage in close-quarters combat, but also value mobility.

Let's look deep into the shadows to discover MapleStory2 Thief build and guide, which is a part of our comprehensive MapleStory 2 Classes guide.

MapleStory 2 Classes guide >>>

Thief overview

By the first look, Thief may seem like the most selfish character of them all. It appears that he's only interested in gathering riches of the world for himself. But there's enough good in him to take a swing at saving the same world for once. 

Beware – Thief is the most difficult class to master in the whole MapleStory2. That's why only highly skilled players are capable of taking full advantage of Thief's dual-wielding and poison-based fighting abilities. But if you are ready to put the necessary effort into it, you can take control of the best DPS character in the whole game.

Role: Melee, DPS

Weapon: Daggers

Attributes: Toxic

Main Stats: Luck and Dexterity

Difficulty to play: 5/5

Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Great mobility

- Great in PVP style gameplay

- Very high DPS potential – in the hands of a highly-skilled player, Thief can be the best DPS in the whole MS2

- Has the ability to pump up allies attack speed.

Cons:

- Hardest class to master in the game

- Good DPS can be provided only by highly skilled players

- Hard to find parties willing to allow Thief into their ranks

- Squishy.

Now we will examine the Thief's skills, on which we are going to base our build. At the very beginning, you will have an opportunity to level up such skills as Double Slash, Mind Stealer, Poison Edge, and Spirit Thief. Thanks to them, you will be able to modify Thief to your gameplay likings and desires.

Thief skills

- The percentages in the brackets are the upgrade range of the skill, usually from rank 1 to 10.

- "Active" and "Passive" next to skill names determine whether they have to be activated manually in case of active skills or are always in effect in the case of passive skills.

- Level in captions informs at which level skill first becomes available to use.

Offensive skills:

Double Slash (active) - Quickly stab enemies with your daggers, dealing 31% - 49% damage 2 times up to 3 enemies within 3 m in front of you. Has a 7% - 16% for 5 sec when the attack lands. When Cunning is active, and some additional skills are enhanced, movement speed increases by 30%. The damage of each attack depends on the weapon held in each hand.

Mind Stealer (active) - Nimbly move 4.5 m forward, dealing 40% damage up to 3 enemies standing in your way and absorbing their energy in order to restore 10 spirit per target.

Poison Edge (active) - Swing your poison coated daggers to deal 68% - 104% poison damage up to 5 enemies within 3 m in front of you. Keep pressing the Skill key to trigger a 5 hit combo. The last hit deals (72% 0 126%) poison damage and moves you 3 m in the direction of your choosing.

Base: With active Cunning, this skill is empowered. It consumes 10 spirit.

Expanded: Your daggers poison the enemy for an additional 11% - 20% poison damage every second for 13 sec on each hit of this skill. It stacks up to 5 times. This skill deactivates Cunning. It consumes 10 spirit.

Somersault Kick (active) (Level 10) - Your character performs a somersault kick to deal 238% - 382% damage. It can target a maximum of 5 enemies in 3 m range in front of you.

Base: Breaks the opponents' stances and slows them by 30% - 45%. It reduces their jump power by 30% - 45% on top of that. Activating Cunning empowers this skill.

Expanded: Stuns enemies for 1 second. Cancels Cunning when activated. When the skill is active, it grants you immunity to knockback.

Poison Vial (active) (Level 16) - Thief throws a vial of poison at the closest enemy within 7.5 m in front of him, dealing (45% - 72%) poison damage. Upon impact, the vial is shattered, releasing a toxic liquid that can poison a maximum of 5 enemies within 3 m radius and deals ( 35% - 62%) poison damage every second for 10 seconds. It consumes 15 spirit.

Vicious Cuts (active) (Level 22) - Swiftly stab with your daggers, dealing 35% - 62% damage 5 times up to 3 enemies within 3m in front of you. When Cunning is activated, this skill is enhanced. The amount of damage dealt with every attack is affected by the weapon held in each hand. It consumes 28 spirit.

Blade Dance (active) (Level 28) - Spin with your daggers, dealing 42% - 69% then 42% - 69% and finally 56% - 83% damage up to 8 enemies within 3 meters.

Base: With Cunning activated, this skill is enhanced. It consumes 26 spirit.

Expanded: Your spin makes enemies dizzy, giving you 81% - 99% chance to evade their attacks for 1 second. This skill cancels Cunning. It consumes 26 spirit.

Surprise Attack (active) (Level 31) - Targets afflicted with Poison Edge or Poison Vial will take additional (313% - 520%) poison damage for each, and the poison will be removed. Activated Cunning empowers this skill.

Base: Stab three enemies within 3 m in front of you dealing 101% - 164% damage.

Expanded: Spinning attack utilizing your daggers deals 101% - 164% damage to 8 enemies within 3 m range.

Support skills:

Spirit Thief (passive) - Steal from the enemy. When successful, every landed hit restores 4 spirit.

Mind Breaker (passive) (Level 13) - Empowers Mind Stealer, increasing the number of targets to 5 and skill's damage by (50% - 500%).

Cunning Tactics (active) (Level 19) - Recover 20 – 35 spirit points and activate Cunning for 5 seconds. While Cunning is active, your movement speed is increased by 30%, and some skills are empowered.

Quick Step (active) (Level 25) - Quickly move back 3 m and recover 1 – 19 spirit. It consumes 40 stamina.

Haste (active) (Level 34) - Mimic the wind with your movement. For 60 seconds, 4 spirit is consumed in 0.5-second intervals to increase your attack speed and movement speed by 13% - 22% and physical attack by (8% - 17%).

Retaliation (passive) (Level 37) - Dodge an incoming attack and position yourself for a counterattack, which restores 12 – 30 spirit. It increases physical and magic attacks by 4.5% - 18% and increases evasion by 6 – 15 for 12 seconds. This effect has a 1-second delay before you can reactivate it.

Ruthless Guile (passive) (Level 40) - Prey on your enemy's weaknesses to deal 2% - 11% additional poison damage to targets affected by Poison Blow or Poison Vial.

Deft Combatant (passive) (Level 43) - Extensive training has hardened your body, increasing the damage dealt by Vicious Cuts and Somersault Kick by 1% - 19%.

Mesoguard Plus (active) (Level 46) - Thief creates a meso fueled shield. If Cunning is activated, the skill costs no mesos, but Cunning is deactivated.

Base: Spend 777 mesos to create a shield that lasts for 4 seconds. It reduces damage taken by (26% - 80%)

Expanded: Create a meso fueled shield centered around your weapon that lasts for 12 seconds. It increases physical attack by (11% - 39%) and reduces damage taken by 2.6% - 8%.

The priority of statistics on items

Accuracy – Increases the success rate of attacks.

Boss damage - One of the most important stats, since it increases your damage unleashed on bosses.

Physical attack – Increases the damage dealt by physical attacks.

Physical Piercing - Ignores a portion of the enemy's physical

Piercing – Your main priority in choosing your gear. It offers the most damage in general.

Thief builds

Every player willing to play as a Thief class character must be aware that it is the most challenging class to master in the whole game. In comparison to other classes, the Thief will not make good use of key macros. So a different approach is required.

Thief Mind Breaker, Vicious Cuts Build

This build offers the highest DPS and is well suited both for leveling your character and end game content. It's based on doing damage instantly, rather than DoT.

The whole concept of this build is based on Cunning Tactics skill, which upgrades Vicious Cuts skill to the point of dealing twice as much damage. Both Somersault Kick and Mind Stealer Skills are used as SP regenerators.

Gameplay

Use the Haste buff, then swing Poison Edge, use Cunning Tactics and stab an enemy with Vicious Cuts. In case of running out of SP, use Somersault Kick and Double Slash to regenerate it and go back to using Vicious Cuts when your SP are restored.

Thief Poison DoT Build

This MS2 Thief build is centered around the Poison mechanics. You poison your target and watch their HP drop down to 0 while you avoid attacks. On the negative side of things, it makes you more vulnerable to enemy attacks.

Gameplay

Rotation of skills for this builds looks like this: Cunning Tactics → Poison Edge → Poison Vial, and when it's running out, use Surprise Attack.

Summary

That's it in terms of a build for MapleStory 2 Thief. We hope that the guide had helped you to understand the role, positioning, gameplay, and overall characteristic of the most difficult class in MS2. Now, that you have read it, it's time to hop in onto the servers, and poison them enemies to the death!

In the breaks between slashing opponents, killing them slowly with DoT's, and somersault kicking, be sure to check out our other stuff, we've prepared for MapleStory 2 Fans, especially the ultimate MapleStory 2 class guide.