Thief: Guide to Weapons and Armor

category:guides
==Notice==
This guide is based on opinions of the original author, Andres, and me. He made the base (Top comments and gear to 37), whereas I have made the suggestions up to 50. Refer to Thief: Guide to Playing the Job for more information on THF. 
-Falk
==Main Weapons==
Due to the nature of Daggers, at low levels, their low DMG rating and relatively weak Weapon Skills make them poor options for soloing and early partying. Also, since the first Dagger Weapon Skill that really works well with Sneak Attack and/or Trick Attack is Viper Bite, many Thieves will use either Hand-to-Hand or Sword weapons at earlier levels. Both Fast Blade and Combo stack fully powered with Sneak Attack, and at early levels, the lower skill rank has a lesser effect on weapon skill.
===Dagger===
Since many Daggers come with beneficial effects, Ninja is the most common sub in order to Dual Wield two daggers. Warrior may be used before level 20. However, WAR may become a viable sub 30+ for Berserk, but /NIN is still very common. Due to the general weakness of daggers and poor WS's until Viper Bite, and no dagger WS is effective for Sneak Attack until Viper Bite, it is recommended to avoid daggers until 20 at the earliest, preferably 33. (Though Wasp Sting and Shadowstitch both still work on SA). 
:lvl 1 Bronze Knife
:lvl 7 Beestinger or Blind Dagger
:lvl 9 Brass Dagger
:lvl 12 Dagger, Silence Dagger, or Spark Dagger
:lvl 20 Decurion's Dagger and/or Mercenary's Knife
:lvl 23 Corrosive Dagger (optional)
:lvl 25 2x Federation Knife or Windurstian Knife
:lvl 28 2x Archer's Knife (Nice to use to build TP with a Crossbow.)
:lvl 30 2x Mercenary Captain's Kukri or Royal Squire's Dagger.
:lvl 34 2x Windurstian Kukri/Federation Kukri or San d'Orian Dagger/Kingdom Dagger.
:lvl 40 Marauder's Knife (AF1), Corrosive Baselard.
::Marauder's Knife has lower DPS than Federation Kukri or Corrosive Baselard, but has nice DEX/AGI bonuses.
:lvl 42 Calveley's Dagger. Again, lower DPS than earlier daggers, but has DEX+3.
:lvl 46 Bone Knife +1 if you are missing a lot, do x2, otherwise calv/this is good for now, personal preferance here.
:lvl 48 Hornetneedle dropped from Death from Above, if you have high level friends or a high level job get this, replace calv with this if you can.
:lvl 50 Corsair's Knife x2 if you don't have Hornetneedle.
:lvl 50 Mercurial Kris Excellent offhand dagger for the level, if you have it.
:lvl 58 Chicken Knife Good damage and low delay with Additional Effect: Flee.
:lvl 59 Darksteel Kukri or its plus one, not too pricy. 
:lvl 62 Cermet Kukri or plus one, same as darksteel, not pricy. Chicken Knife Complements this well.
:lvl 65 Garuda's Dagger if you want, I would keep 2x Cermet Kukri though. Garuda can be soloed by a 74 /nin really easy.
:lvl 68 Hoplites Harpe and Harpe, if you can't afford Harpe, offhand Cermet or Garuda's.
:lvl 69 Sirocco Kukri Blau Dolch, and the last 2 relic upgrades are the only better Off-hand daggers in the game.
:lvl 70 Magnet Knife, switch out the Hopilite's or the Garuda's/Kukri.
:lvl 70 Behemoth Knife +1. NQ is not better than Harpe or Magnet Knife.
:lvl 70 Thief's Knife DMG:28 Delay:194 Treasure Hunter+1 Very useful for Farming/HNM/NM.
:lvl 71 Stylet Slightly better than Behemoth knife +1.
:lvl 72 Adder Jambiya +1 | Amir Jambiya | Jambiya +1 | Adder Jambiya 
::Best to worst in descending order. Each is marginally greater than Stylet.
:lvl 72 Ermine's Tail It's no Blau Dolch, but it's free and it's quite good. Drop rate is also infinitely better than Blau - you can make a run every day as opposed to once a week for Blau / X's.
:lvl 72 X's Knife ENM (Requiem of Sin) drop. Only the Blau Dolch is better at this point. Perseus is a good substitute as well.
:lvl 72 Blau Dolch Greatest main hand weapon besides the final relic upgrades. This also makes a great off-hand dagger as the latent effect still triggers from that hand. Useless when subbing Dancer, however.
::Latent Effect: DMG 33 -Triggers when TP is less than 100% (includes weaponskill).
:::Hidden Effect: While the latent effect is active, a hidden effect of Accuracy +5 and Attack +16 is also active. 
:lvl 73 Perseus's Harpe good substitute for Blau Dolch in main hand, will work fine off handing if you have Blau Dolch or Sirocco Kukri. Makes for a good combination with Blau Dolch as the off-hand as well.
:lvl 74 Azoth Possibly the best weapon for subbing Dancer. High damage and delay means high Samba potency. Plus, the Agility, Accuracy, and Evasion help for everything.
:lvl 75 Batardeau Second to final relic upgrade. In Dynamis Weapon skill: Mercy Stroke. Main hand if you have it.
:lvl 75 Mandau Final relic upgrade. Weapon skill: Mercy Stroke. A Thief's dream. Best main hand weapon.
:lvl 75 Vajra Thief's floor 100 full Mythic Weapon.
===Sword===
Swords are the recommended choice of the levels of 15~30, due to their higher DMG rating, more powerful 1st weapon skill, and relatively same attacking speed of a dagger. Fast Blade is also the first effective WS to make use of Sneak Attack.
:lvl 13 Scimitar
:lvl 18 Fire Sword, Flame Sword, Iron Sword, or Iron Sword +1
:lvl 19 Small Sword (often used as an offhand weapon for a long time due to +DEX, with one of lvl 18 swords as mainhand)
:lvl 24 Nadrs (Rare/Ex, dropped by Cargo Crab Colin. Good 'til lvl 33, best 'til lvl 28.) 
:lvl 27 Gladius (Often skipped for Mithran Scimitar)
:lvl 28 Mithran Scimitar (Note: Often expensive, usually dual wielded, nice bonus to DEX however)
:lvl 30 Centurion's Sword (Note: debatable if better/worse than Mithran Scimitar)
Past 33 when you get Viper Bite, swords start to lack. Stick with daggers 33+.
===Hand to Hand===
Hand to Hand weapons receive less skill than Swords for a Thief. However, with a Monk subjob, they provide a decent amount of damage and speed. Combo is likely the strongest Weapon Skill until Viper Bite, but in exchange a THF must lose some of its Accuracy and Attack offered by Swords. Although this is slightly compensated for in many Hand to Hand weapons. Hand to Hand is the weapon of choice for levels 1-15, when you should be switching to sword for Sneak Attack.
:lvl 1 Cesti/Cesti +1
:lvl 5 Bronze Knuckles/Bronze Knuckles +1
:lvl 9 Brass Knuckles/Bronze Knuckles +1
:lvl 10 Legionnaire's Knuckles
:lvl 15 Bastokan Knuckles/Republic Knuckles
At this point it would be advised to switch to swords for use of Sneak Attack with Fast Blade, as Combo only receives the SA bonus to the first hit, not the subsequent two hits.
It has been observed that despite this, SA Combo might deal slightly more damage then SA Fast Blade (160 vs 140 in Yhoator on Mandies with the exact same gear otherwise). Experience may vary.
==Ranged Weapons==
Thief have a wide variety of ranged weapons available to them, and since THF are likely one of the best classes for pulling, this is a good thing. The typical/cheapest pulling device for a Thief are a Boomerang, due to its unlimited uses and a boomerang with +AGI for THF. However, Marksmanship is also a potentially useful thing for a Thief to use, a well placed Acid Bolt at the beginning of a fight is one great way to improve damage output. Ranged weapons are also another great way to help gain TP.
Another benefit of a THF pulling is for SATA. As the puller, a THF has control of when the monster arrives at camp. If timed well, a THF can land 2 SATA's within the span of a few seconds, instead of only one.
===Bow===
In the Soloing levels, a well placed bow and arrow shot can destroy near half of an enemy's HP. At party levels, it can place a decent damage first hit on the enemy. Also, the longer delay allows a THF to stop the shot easier if something occurs to the party.
:lvl 1 Shortbow
:lvl 7 Self Bow
:lvl 15 Windurstian Bow
:lvl 24 Wrapped Bow
:lvl 30 Hamayumi (best bow a THF can use till Lv70, made for Promys; but it's an NM drop from Promyvion - Vahzl)
:lvl 36 Composite Bow
:lvl 55 Lightning Bow or its +1 will keep you forever if you want to use bows.
===Arrow===
:lvl 1 Wooden Arrow
:lvl 7 Bone Arrow
:lvl 14 Iron Arrow or 15 Fang Arrow
:lvl 17 Beetle Arrow
:lvl 19 Poison Arrow
:lvl 24 Silver Arrow
:lvl 29 Horn Arrow
:lvl 35 Sleep Arrow
===Crossbow===
Unlike a bow and arrow, the first Crossbow is not available to a THF until the soloing levels are traditionally over. However, unlike a Bow + Arrow, a crossbow has status bolts that can weaken a enemy before it arrives at camp when used to pull or damage.
:lvl 10 Legionnaire's Crossbow
:lvl 12 Crossbow
:lvl 25 Power Crossbow (+1 AGI, keep this for TA if you're pulling with crossbow)
:lvl 40 Thug's Zamburak (Nice for the AGI+ and Ranged Acc+)
:lvl 50 Arbalest +1 (If you use ranged attack a lot, the extra damage will be noticeable)
:lvl 63 Velocity Bow Real cheap, but optional. A nice upgrade from Thug's IMO.
:lvl 71 Ziska's Crossbow Very low delay and ranged accuracy +8.
:lvl 73 Perdu Crossbow Latent: Ranged Acc +5 and Ranged ATK+18. And it's free once you got Second Lieutenant.
:lvl 74 Staurobow, +4 AGI a great piece for TA
===Bolts===
:lvl 10 Blind Bolt
:lvl 15 Acid Bolt (Very useful bolt, lowers DEF of enemy. One DEF Down effect normally lasts the entire battle, so switching Bolts is a good idea because of the price of these.)
:lvl 20 Sleep Bolt (Extremely useful for soloing. Able to use Sneak Attack in the middle of a solo fight.)
:lvl 25 Venom Bolt (Extremely Cheap bolts, Low Delay, High Damage. Nice to build TP with)
:lvl 25 Bloody Bolt (Paired with the other bolts, allows a THF to be able to solo a T+. Blind to help keep shadows up if subbing NIN. Bloody Bolt to gain HP when you take damage. Sleep Bolt for when you need to recast Utsusemi.
===Throwing Weapons===
Most popular pulling tools due to the shortest time in delay, and infinite use. There are +DEX and +AGI throwing weapons, and a +ACC throwing weapon, leaving a few good choices for a THF for this weapon even when not pulling. Keep in mind though, Changing a Ranged Weapon will also Reset your TP.
:lvl 6 Coarse Boomerang
:lvl 14 Boomerang
:lvl 15 Rogetsurin (This has +1 AGI, but low damage)
:lvl 19 Flame Boomerang
:lvl 24 Wingedge
:lvl 28 Chakram
:lvl 33 Long Boomerang (This has +2 AGI, best ranged for SATA use for a while)
:lvl 54 Smart Grenade if you're not pulling, a good ATT piece. WARNING: Unlike Bomb Core / Fire Bomblet, this item IS throwable.
:lvl 63 Bomb Core again if you're not pulling, and upgrade from Smart Grenade. You can use Darts when pulling if you have this (or Smart Grenade) without losing your TP.
:lvl 70 Ungur Boomerang (Dropped from Ungur. Difficult to get, but the best for the end-game THF due to its very low delay and +8 eva)
:lvl 70 Fire Bomblet +6 acc is great if your using meat, but 6 less ATT than Bomb Core
==Armor==
A Thief will generally want to have two sets of gear: one set focusing on Accuracy and Attack for normal melee attacks/TP gain, and another set focusing on DEX and AGI for SATA. Optionally, they can carry a third set of gear for ranged accuracy if they want to land status bolts consistently. A Thief after level 30 doesn't usually need to worry about defense, as they will be able to transfer almost all enmity gained onto another person of the party. However, during the levels of 15-29, Thieves can generate a large amount of hate from damage from Sneak Attack alone, and usually must incorporate some defense gear (Although at level 24, Utsusemi from a Ninja sub is usually sufficient). Equipment change macros are common for Thief, because a lot of gear that has +DEX or +AGI, often is poor in other stats for melee such as STR, Accuracy, and Attack.
To use only a single +DEX and +AGI set of gear for THF is not advised. A daggers low DMG rating makes a hit of 0 on a high defense IT monster very possible. 0 Damage equates to 0 TP, and Weapon Skills play an important role for THF.
===Head===
:lvl 1 Bronze Cap
:lvl 7 Leather Bandana
:lvl 9 Compound Eye Circlet (due to THF's high Evasion, many keep this over higher DEF gear under the hope of avoiding more attacks as a result. It is also a very nice piece for soloing in the 10-15 range)
:lvl 10 Royal Footman's Bandana or Sol Cap
:lvl 16 Bone Mask or lvl 17 Lizard Helm
:lvl 20 Trader's Chapeau
:lvl 21 Beetle Mask
:lvl 24 Emperor Hairpin or Empress Hairpin, Empress drops from Valkurm Emperor (Emperor is VERY expensive, you can live without it or it's RA/EX version, but I will recommend hunting VE occasionally after 45 and you get TH2. Save yourself a headache and go THF/RNG.)
:lvl 30 Mercenary Captain's Headgear or Noct Beret +1
:lvl 41 Voyager Sallet (The only piece I can think of that competes with the lvl 24 Hairpin. Use for Attack set.)
:lvl 43 Walkure Mask (good for TP gain if you don't have a Voyager Sallet)
:lvl 50 Crow Beret, for soloing without Empress/Emperor.
:lvl 54 Rogue's Bonnet, lol. I didn't get it in a hurry, you should get it around 70 if you want to steal from Maat though. I never used it though.
:lvl 59 Zeal Cap, probably easier to get than a Patroclus's Helm. If you end up HQing the synth, it's better, too.
:lvl 60 Patroclus's Helm, if you are going for a haste build
:lvl 68 Cobra Cap Good for building TP on ranged if you have enough accuracy.
:lvl 70 Optical Hat The melee staple head piece. Good for exp, excellent for soloing.
:lvl 71 Assassin's Bonnet +5 DEX for SA is nice. Just swap it in. Upgrade to the +1 if you can.
:lvl 72 Panther Mask Decent defense, high Charisma, and a small haste boost. A well-rounded piece for any Thief subbing Dancer. Also gives a resistance to paralysis.
:lvl 73 Hecatomb Cap Best Weaponskill Head item, Great amount of Str 
:lvl 75 Denali Bonnet Haste+4% which is only 1% fewer than Walahra Turban, with extra AGI+4, Evasion+3, Atk+3.
:lvl 75 Walahra Turban Used in conjunction with accuracy gear or food, is a strong TP gain piece.
===Body===
:lvl 1 Starting RSE, Aketon, or Bronze Harness 
:lvl 7 Leather Vest
:lvl 10 Legionnaire's Harness or lvl 11 Brass Harness
:lvl 16 Bone Harness or Lizard Jerkin
:lvl 18 Garrison Tunica (Relatively expensive, but only piece that offers any +DEX for a while. Up to person)
:lvl 21 Beetle Harness
:lvl 30 Mercenary Captain's Doublet for TP and SATA, Noct Doublet +1 for RA.
:lvl 33 Consider RSE for DD set. None have enough +DEX/AGI to warrant macroing in for SATA
:lvl 40 Iron Musketeer's Gambison is good to macro in for RA.
:lvl 45 Brigandine Armor, replaces that old Merc. Captain Doublet.
:lvl 50 Crow Jupon for soloing purposes.
:lvl 50 Rapparee Harness better than AF body with Haste+4%. Great TP gain piece to 75.
:lvl 55 Jaridah Peti Better than AF once again, also has nice buffs for a nice price.
:lvl 57 Scorpion Harness/+1 (Acc/Eva +10, or +12 for each with HQ. A solid TP piece until endgame, usable for multihit, non-SATA WS as well.)
:::(Rapparee Harness is more useful to TP in when you do not need the Acc/Eva.)
:lvl 58 Rogue's Vest, another crap piece. Macro it in for Hide or don't get it at all. Yet again may want it for Maat though.
:lvl 59 Black Cotehardie, macro in for SATA if you have SH or Rap, otherwise use full time.
:lvl 67 Assault Jerkin, A weapon skill macro-in piece, but rather more suited to non SATA weapon skills.
:lvl 69 Blue Cotehardie, Another, better SATA weapon skill macro-in piece.
:lvl 71 Antares Harness, Accuracy, evasion, 8 DEX and 8 AGI is the second best SATA piece out there and a very good TP piece. It's currently extremely hard to acquire though.
:lvl 73 Hecatomb Harness Very good for Dancing Edge Damage, Given what setup you have
:lvl 73 Dragon Harness, Used to be the best SATA weapon skill macro-in piece, outranked by Antares Harness, and it is fairly costly.
:lvl 75 Denali Jacket, Paired with Rogue's Armlets +1 gives a fair amount of AGI (10) and only 1 less attack than Dragon Harness.
:lvl 75 Homam Corazza, Very good TP piece if you can afford the haste loss by not using Rapparee Harness.
:lvl 75 Skadi's Cuirie, Best Weaponskill Body, costs roughly 12 million, depending on server, along with 3 r/e salvage drops ranging from common to very rare.
:lvl 75 Mirke Wardecors With the proper augments its almost in the same league of Antares Harness, and practically free, ACP reward
===Hands===
:lvl 1 starting RSE or Bronze Mittens
:lvl 7 Leather Gloves
:lvl 10 Legionnaire's Mittens or Royal Footman's Gloves
:lvl 14 Battle Gloves (best gloves for Attack for quite a long time due to +ACC, decent Defense, and Evasion)
:lvl 27 Hume, Taru, and Elvaan have viable RSE. Hume may desire to wear full time, Elvaan should macro in for SATA, and Taru should use in Melee, macroing in +DEX/AGI for SATA when possible
:lvl 30 Mercenary Captain's Gloves (macro in for SATA), Noct Gloves +1 for RA.
:lvl 34 Windurstian Gloves/Federation Gloves
:lvl 38 Mage's Cuffs (Macro in for SATA)
:lvl 50 Crow Bracers, for soloing.
:lvl 52 Rogue's Armlets, use for SA if you aren't Hume. A nice Steal bonus too. =)
:lvl 55 Jaridah Bazubands Nice piece of equipment, adds nice defense, better than AF gives Accuracy and an overall nice upgrade.
:lvl 62 Wood Gauntlets or Wood Gloves are great for SA/SATA with 4 dex if you are elvaan but are kind of pricy, especialy for the male version (seriously waaaaay more ; ;).
:lvl 65 Finesse Gloves Finally, a decent upgrade from Battle Gloves. (Jaridah hands are hardly an upgrade)
:lvl 65 Fencing Bracers Good for soloing / if you're at the accuracy cap. Main alternatives (+3acc from Battle/Jaridah) aren't great. Expensive.
:lvl 68 Cobra Mittens Store TP, Accuracy, and less Enmity. Great for acquiring TP.
:lvl 70 War Gloves/+1, a standard piece for soloing and TP gain alike.
:lvl 70 Tarasque Mitts or Tarasque Mitts +1, a good SATA weapon skill macro-in piece. It is worth mentioning that Charisma is the main modifier for Dancing Edge, so this may be suited for other weaponskills.
:lvl 70 Alkyoneus's Bracelets or Pallas's Bracelets (lvl 60), suitable for non SATA weapon skills.
:lvl 72 Dusk Gloves, expensive but a very good TP piece.
:lvl 73 Hecatomb Mittens Perfect for WS gear.
:lvl 74 Rogue's Armlets +1, Best Trick Attack hands.
:lvl 75 Homam Manopolas, like Dusk Gloves but trades 5 attack for 4 accuracy. Your choice.
===Legs===
:Lvl 1 - Starting RSE or Bronze Subligar 
:Lvl 7 - Leather Trousers
:Lvl 16 - Bone Subligar or lvl 17 Lizard Trousers
:Lvl 21 - Beetle Subligar (for DEF) or Garrison Hose (Good gear for TP and SATA, but pricy)
:Lvl 25 - Republic Subligar (for TP, macro in Hose for SATA if you get these)
:Lvl 30 - Noct Brais +1 (macro in for SATA and RA)
:Lvl 31 - Elvaan have perfect RSE to macro into SATA, Galka is debatable.
:Lvl 47 - Bravo's Subligar, a piece of haste plus gear, though the price for +2% haste is undesirable.
:Lvl 56 - Rogue's Culottes, worthless for TP; use Bravo's Subligar or even Republic Subligar., this is a pure AGI swap. Do NOT TP in these. Adds +Steal for a Steal set.
:Lvl 61 - Tabin Hose +1, upgrade SATA piece from Noct Brais +1
:Lvl 63 - Feral Trousers Awesome piece of kit, nice upgrade from the Republic Subligar and offers nice defense. Note: if you are planning on getting these, start camping them in advance, depending on the server, they may be quite hard to come by.
:Lvl 68 - Cobra Unit Subligar Store TP, Accuracy, and less Enmity. Great for acquiring TP.
:Lvl 72 - Dusk Trousers, the best source of attack on legs, except for the Hecatomb Subligar. The price makes it quite exclusive though.
:Lvl 72 - Enkidu's Subligar, basically almost like wearing another Rajas for pants. from ZNMs. similar to Dragon Subligar, but better, and free if you get Zeni yourself rather then buy the pictures you need.
:Lvl 72 - Pahluwan Seraweels, good TP pants for ACC and higher normal damage.
:Lvl 73 - Dragon Subligar, Macro in for WS setup.
:Lvl 73 - Hecatomb Subligar, Excellent legs for WS and SA.
:Lvl 74 - Oily Trousers, Best SATA piece to date.
:Lvl 75 - Homam Cosciales, amazing TP legs.
===Feet===
:lvl 1 starting RSE or Bronze Leggings
:lvl 7 Leather Highboots or
::Leaping Boots/Bounding Boots dropped from Leaping Lizzy (Extremely powerful THF footwear. However, it is very expensive or a fairly annoying NM hunt. A level 15(TH1) THF can solo the NM, but as the boots are highly sought after, claiming the NM is a challenge. I recommend getting these at 45 if you still don't have them).
:lvl 16 Bone Leggings +1 or lvl 17 Lizard Ledelsens
:lvl 20 Royal Footman's Clogs
:lvl 20 Trotter Boots/Strider Boots - Hard to get/expensive but movement speed boost is very useful. In addition to being a nice luxury it can be used to kite and will more than likely save your life quite a few of times.
:lvl 21 Beetle Leggings +1
:lvl 24 Winged Boots (same as Leaping/Bounding, but with more DEF. Don't get them unless you already have them, the DEF+ isn't worth the extra amount of gil you spend.)
:lvl 29 Almost all RSE has a use.
:: Hume, Elvaan, and Galka: Macro in for SATA, if you do not have Leaping/Bounding/Winged
:: Mithra and Taru: Use in Melee, macro in +AGI after TA, or Leaping/Bounding/Winged
:lvl 30 Noct Gaiters +1 get the plus one, will last until Jaridah/AF if you don't have Leaping/Bounding.
:lvl 55 Jaridah Nails or the HQ Akinji Nails. Useful for those without Leaping/Bounding. Could be useful for your RA set.
:lvl 59 Tabin Boots +1 get the plus one, +3 acc/eva is the best TP piece for your feet for a while.
:lvl 60 Rogue's Poulaines, use these if you don't have Leaping/Bounding. Only a small upgrade from Noct +1 though. However, the thing I mainly like about these is the Flee bonus. Put them in a flee macro and enjoy 15 more seconds of running faster then everyone.
:lvl 62 Wood M Ledelsens or Wood F Ledelsens if you are an Elvaan are great for a Seperate TA build (though prepare to pay more if you are a guy ; ;).
:lvl 63 Feral Ledelsens If you can't find Tabin Boots +1 in stock (the NQ are worthless), this is a decent alternative. Most likely, +4atk > +1acc from Jaridah Nails (esp. with Life Belt / Spectacles at this level). As with the pants, it may take a while to find a pair of these on AH.
:lvl 68 Cobra Leggings Store TP, Accuracy, and less Enmity. Great for acquiring TP.
:lvl 69 Emissary Boots Best feet for Evasion. 
:lvl 72 Dusk Ledelsens, Good TP piece.
:lvl 72 Enkidu's Leggings, One level earlier than Dragon Leggings listed below, but with +2 more ATK +2% Haste, +4 RATK, and Subtle Blow +2.
:lvl 73 Dragon Leggings, minor upgrade from Bounding/Leaping Boots but the HQ version is the best SATA piece in the game.
:lvl 73 Hecatomb Leggings, Macro in for WS setup.
:lvl 73 Assassin's Poulaines Triple attack +1 and a big chr boost for dancing edge. These boots are great.
:lvl 75 Skadi's Jambeaux, Same movement speed as Trotter/Strider Boots but with better melee and ranged stats. However for kiting/fleeing purposes, the lack of AGI and evasion -5 on these makes them worse than Trotters/Striders.
:lvl 75 Homam Gambieras, powerful TP piece. Like Dusk but trading 4 attack and 2% haste for 6 accuracy/ranged accuracy and 3% haste. A nice upgrade, but your choice.
===Neck===
:Lvl 7 - Feather Collar +1
:Lvl 7 - Rabbit Charm (Useful until 75 for Steal macro)
:Lvl 21 - Spike Necklace (very nice with its +STR and +DEX.)
:Lvl 33 - Peacock Amulet or Peacock Charm - (Very nice improvement to Accuracy, but very pricey, macro in Spike Necklace for SATA)
:Lvl 59 - Spectacles - (great piece for TP and ranged attacks, cheaper than Peacock Charm but not as good. May drop in certain assaults)
:Lvl 60 - Chivalrous Chain - (if you dont have a Peacock Charm/Amulet, good for WS also)
:Lvl 65 - Evasion Torque/Parrying Torque - (a great piece for evasion setups, for tanking or soloing tough mobs, the latter useful for skilling up parrying)
:Lvl 70 - Kubira Bead Necklace - (Natural upgrade from Spike Necklace for WS and SA, obtained from Einherjar)
:Lvl 72 - Elemental Gorgets (see In the Name of Science) - (Weaponskill only. Adds a nice chunk (assumed to be +10) of accuracy to all hits of both Dancing Edge and Shark Bite, and increases fTP multiplier by +0.1)
:Lvl 73 - Love Torque (a very difficult to obtain but very useful piece of gear for general damage over time. Obtained from Jailer of Love)
===Waist===
:lvl 1 Blood Stone
:lvl 15 Warrior's Belt or +1) For defensive purposes should you happen to pull hate.
:lvl 20 Key Ring Belt Put in for SATA. Can be obtained only once a week from Bait and Switch quest. Cannot be bought.
:lvl 30 Mercenary Captain's Belt SATA belt
:lvl 40 Tilt Belt For TP building. Use Merc Belt for SATA.
:lvl 43 Swordbelt +1 Attack is good for SATA.
:lvl 44 Headlong Belt First haste belt. Somewhat pricey. 
:lvl 48 Life Belt Acc for TP building. Also good to use in Multi-hit Weapon skill. Macro in something else for SATA Viper Bite. Put on Dancing Edge.
:lvl 50 Swift Belt Haste is good for TP. Macro in something else for Weaponskill and sata
:lvl 50 Royal Knight's Belt upgrade from Mercenary Captain's Belt for SATA
:lvl 54 Virtuoso Belt upgrade from Life Belt for Acc during TP building and Multi-hit WS 
:lvl 55 Speed Belt Higher haste than Swift belt, less acc. Either will work to your advantage, though this belt is favored.
:lvl 71 Warwolf Belt, very cheap but excellent weapon skill macro-in piece for all situations.
:lvl 73 Scouter's Rope, an excellent evasion piece.
:lvl 75 Ninurta's Sash, Haste same as speed belt with added attack but drop (for mini quest) is from Absolute Virtue (item: Sin of Indignation)
===Back===
:lvl 4 Rabbit Mantle
:lvl 12 Traveler's Mantle
:lvl 21 Night Cape
:lvl 24 Nomad's Mantle +1 if you can afford it.
:lvl 47 Jaguar Mantle 
:lvl 55 Republican Army Mantle 2 dex makes it a good macro piece for SA/SATA. The vit bonus isn't bad to have either. Can only be bought with Conquest Points from Bastok.
:lvl 61 Amemet Mantle great, affordable. Amemet Mantle +1 suggested. Will last you to the end.
:lvl 69 Psilos Mantle Cheaper alternative after Amemet, has slightly better stats than Amemet NQ for a THF on a budget, plus gives a tiny accuracy bonus.
:lvl 70 Boxer's Mantle Great cape to have. +10 evasion shield and parry. You can't go wrong when tanking or soloing.
:lvl 70 Assassin's Cape
:lvl 71 Corse Cape Evasion cape.
:lvl 71 Forager's Mantle Make this a last decision upgrade for perfection. The price isn't worth it if you can upgrade other pieces before it.
:lvl 72 Toreador's Cape Evasion cape with added Enmity for instances when you are evasion tanking.
::Hidden effect: Dramatically increases the rate of critical hits taken. At least +40% Critical Hit rate taken.
:lvl 73 Commander's Cape
:lvl 75 Cerberus Mantle +1, the best Weapon skill item.
===Earrings===
:Lvl 16 - Bone Earring - (+1 suggested, Melee Earring)
:Lvl 21 - Beetle Earring - (+1 suggested, Melee Earring) Usable to lvl 55)
:Lvl 29 - Dodge Earring - (Soloing purposes.)
:Lvl 30 - Genin Earring - (pricey, but one of the best earrings, effect works with /NIN.)
:Lvl 35 - Drone Earring - (if you don't have Genin or are not /NIN.)
:Lvl 40 - Intruder Earring - (Dex+1 Agi+1; Don't forget this earring if you have it, or have some freetime to camp the level 55 NM, Centurio XII-I.)
:Lvl 55 - Spike Earring - (Good upgrade, use until lvl 63)
:Lvl 60 - Wilhelm's Earring + Altdorf's Earring - (A great combination for TA, have to be used as a set though)
:Lvl 61 - Minuet Earring - (Good for BRD parties)
:Lvl 63 - Coral Earring / Merman's Earring - (Merman's recommended if affordable.)
:Lvl 65 - Diabolos's Earring - (a free source of accuracy on your ear slot.)
:Lvl 70 - Pixie Earring - (DEX+3, Best Sneak Attack earring.)
:Lvl 72 - Hollow Earring - (DEX+2 Accuracy+3 Second best SA earring, along with Delta Earring. Also Ranged Accuracy +3)
:Lvl 72 - Suppanomimi - (increases rate of attack slightly with a Ninja subjob.)
:Lvl 75 - Delta Earring - (Great Dancing Edge and SA earring, obtained from Einherjar)
:Lvl 75 - Brutal Earring - (excellent TP gain earring obtained from Ancient Beastcoin purchases.)
:Lvl 75 - Novia Earring - (evasion +7, definetly good for soloing)
===Ring===
:lvl 1 Bastokan Ring/San d'Orian Ring/Windurstian Ring
:lvl 14 Courage Ring for Melee
:lvl 14 Balance Ring For SATA
:lvl 30 Rajas Ring Best ring for both Melee and SATA until the 40s. 1 of 3 possible rewards for finishing CoP.
:lvl 34 Venerer Ring Good for TP building, a bit pricey. 
:lvl 35 Jaeger Ring Dropped from Carmine Dobsonfly in Riverne - Site #A01.
:lvl 36 Puissance Ring Minor dmg boost while TP building.
:lvl 36 Deft Ring Dex
:lvl 40 Sniper's Ring/Sniper's Ring +1 Good Acc ring, quite expensive.
:lvl 49 Ecphoria Ring
:lvl 50 Ulthalam's Ring Accuracy and Attack +4 on the same ring. A free substitute for a Sniper's.
:lvl 50 Unyielding Ring Good DEX+ and also increases defensive survivability.
:lvl 50 Garrulous Ring Good AGI+ and also adds some STR for your little daggers.
:lvl 54 Grace Ring will last you until at least 72 for your Weapon skill.
:lvl 57 Toreador's Ring better Acc @ +7. VERY expensive. 
:lvl 65 Lightning Ring Awesome macro item, +15 Accuracy and Ranged Accuracy every Lightningday.
:lvl 70 Blood Ring a great replacement for sniper's nq ring, acc is same, and no negative stats, cost is usually around 1000 zeni, and a semi-easy fight.
:lvl 72 Spinel Ring The cheaper endgame DEX ring for weapon skills.
:lvl 72 Adroit Ring HQ of Spinel Ring; may or may not cost more than the next option, depending on server. (Same Dex @ +5)
:lvl 72 Angel's Ring *Augmented* The accuracy+6 augment is what you want, great upgrade for a TP ring, and with the CHR+4, it makes a nice solo Dancing Edge piece as well. (Augment may include a -enmity stat, make sure to macro this out on your TAs due to this.) Awarded from ACP11.
:lvl 74 Thunder Ring* Great Dex source for your Weapon skills in a ring.
:lvl 75 Mars's Ring Good luck obtaining, +1 acc more than Toreador's Ring
:lvl 75 Iota Ring DEX VIT AGI ACC+3 Very good alternative for TP & WS if you cant afford Thunder Ring x2 or havent complete CoP. Obtainable with Ampoules of Therion Ichor rewards from Einherjar.
* This is worth to consider:
:lvl 75 Rajas Ring At lvl 75 Rajas Ring gives STR DEX STORE TP +5 , which makes it a better choice than Thunder Ring for WS.
: You may want to acquire Ranged Acc rings. Macroed into the ranged attack for quick TP boosts with Marksmanship.