Thief gear guide

Thief gear guide lays out the most efficient equipment progression for a thief in MapleStory Classic World, from the job advancement at level 10 to about level 40: what to wear and fight with at each stage, what it costs, and whether the upgrade is bought in a shop, hunted from a monster, or crafted. Every price, drop, and recipe below comes from the wiki's shop, drop, and crafting data. For skills and training, see the Thief guide and the Training guide; this page is only about the gear.

Thief equipment arrives through three supply lines, and knowing which one feeds which slot saves both mesos and wasted trips:

Shops. The Kerning City Self-Defence Item Store covers most of it: Don Hwang sells the armor ladder in five-level steps up to level 30, and Cutthroat Manny sells the dagger ladder up to the same point. Past 30, the shop ladder simply ends.
Drops. Several of the monsters the Training guide sends you to drop the exact piece you would otherwise buy, sometimes a tier above your bracket. Those overlaps are called out below; they are free money.
Crafting. Gloves are never sold at all, shoes stop being sold after level 20, and claws stop after level 25. From there, Leatherworking and Weaponcrafting own the slot: level a profession yourself or buy from someone who did.

Tip: At nearly every shop tier, one color variant of the same piece carries a hidden LUK bonus at the same price: the Black Ghetto Beanie, Dark Nightshift, Black Pao, Dark Sneak, Dark Tiberian, Black Steal, and Dark Guise all out-stat their identically-priced siblings. When the shop offers colors, buy the black or dark one.

Before level 10

Spend nothing on Maple Island. The gear that matters starts after the advancement, and the island already tips you: Red Snails drop the Red Cloth Pants (level 10) and the level 15 Brown Duo gloves. Bank your mesos for the Kerning City shopping run.

Levels 10 to 15: kitting out in Kerning City

The advancement leaves you standing in Kerning City, and the full starter kit is one building away at the Self-Defence Item Store. About 10,000 mesos covers a dagger thief head to toe; claw users pay 2,000 more for the Garnier and a few hundred for their first bag of stars.

Lv	Item	Type	Stats	Requires	Source
10	Triangular Zamadar	Dagger	W.ATK +28	20 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, 3,000
10	Garnier	Claw	W.ATK +10	25 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, 5,000
10	Subi Throwing Stars	Throwing Star	W.ATK +15	—	24 Hr Mobile Store, Arturo, Dr. Faymus, Len the Fairy, Luna, Mina, Mr. Sweatbottom, 500
10	Black Ghetto Beanie	Hat	W.DEF +15, LUK +1	10 LUK	Don Hwang, 1,200
	Black Cloth Vest (Male)	—	—	—	—
	Black Cloth Pants (Male)	—	—	—	—
10	Blue Gidder Shoes	Shoes	W.DEF +10, AVO +1, Jump +1	10 LUK	—

Levels 15 to 20: the free dagger

The level 15 armor refresh at Don Hwang is routine. The weapon slot is where the bracket gets interesting: the level 17 Triple-Tipped Zamadar is both Cutthroat Manny's 8,700-meso shelf item and a Bubbling drop, and the Training guide already has you killing 64 Bubblings a map in Line 1 (Area 1) at exactly these levels. Skip the level 15 Field Dagger, grind where you were grinding anyway, and let the dagger come to you.

Lv	Item	Type	Stats	Requires	Source
17	Triple-Tipped Zamadar	Dagger	W.ATK +34	11 STR, 31 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, 5,800
15	Steel Titans	Claw	W.ATK +13	15 DEX, 35 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, 7,000 Weaponcrafting 3
15	Black Thief Hood	Hat	W.DEF +18, LUK +1, HP +5	20 LUK	Don Hwang, 1,900
15	Dark Nightshift	Top	W.DEF +28, LUK +1, HP +5	20 LUK	Don Hwang, 3,000
15	Dark Nightshift Pants	Bottom	W.DEF +20, LUK +1, HP +5	20 LUK	Don Hwang, 2,400
15	Red Ninja Sandals	Shoes	W.DEF +12, AVO +1, STR +1, HP +5	20 LUK	—
15	Brown Duo	Gloves	W.DEF +8, STR +1	20 LUK	Leatherworking 3

Levels 20 to 25: skip one, get one free

Two efficiency calls in this bracket. First, the level 20 Coconut Knife is only a sidegrade over the Triple-Tipped Zamadar; skip it and put the mesos toward the level 22 Stinger, a real jump. Second, the level 25 Iron Dagger drops from Horny Mushroom, and the Training guide's best map in the bracket, Ant Tunnel III, is packed with them: another dagger you can hunt instead of buy.

Lv	Item	Type	Stats	Requires	Source
22	Stinger	Dagger	W.ATK +39	17 STR, 44 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, 11,700
25	Iron Dagger	Dagger	W.ATK +40	20 DEX, 40 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, River, 13,500
20	Steel Igor	Claw	W.ATK +17	20 DEX, 45 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, 14,100 Weaponcrafting 4
25	Meba	Claw	W.ATK +19	25 DEX, 55 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, 16,500 Weaponcrafting 5
20	Black Loosecap	Hat	W.DEF +21, LUK +2	10 DEX, 30 LUK	Don Hwang, 3,600
25	Dark Tiberian	Hat	W.DEF +24, LUK +2, HP +5	15 DEX, 40 LUK	Don Hwang, 4,500
20	Black Pao	Top	W.DEF +32, LUK +2	10 DEX, 30 LUK	Don Hwang, 6,000
25	Dark Sneak	Top	W.DEF +36, LUK +2, HP +5	15 DEX, 40 LUK	Don Hwang, 7,500
20	Black Pao Bottoms	Bottom	W.DEF +23, LUK +2	10 DEX, 30 LUK	Don Hwang, 4,800
25	Black Sneak Pants	Bottom	W.DEF +26, LUK +2, HP +5	15 DEX, 40 LUK	Don Hwang, 6,000 Horny Mushroom drop
20	Black Enamel Boots	Shoes	W.DEF +14, AVO +2, Jump +1, DEX +1	10 DEX, 30 LUK	—
20	Bronze Mischief	Gloves	W.DEF +10, STR +1, DEX +1	10 DEX, 30 LUK	Leatherworking 4
25	Black Lappy Boots	Shoes	W.DEF +16, AVO +2, STR +2, HP +5	15 DEX, 40 LUK	Leatherworking 5
25	Dark Wolfskin	Gloves	W.DEF +12, LUK +2, HP +5	15 DEX, 40 LUK	Leatherworking 5

Levels 25 to 30: the last shop tier

Level 30 is where the Self-Defence Item Store hands you its final ladder rung, so this is the last full-kit shopping trip of the run. The weapon path peaks with the Forked Dagger at 27 and the Reef Claw at 30 (a dagger, despite the name). For claw users this bracket is a fork in the road: Meba is the last claw any shop sells, and the level 30 Guards tier exists only through Weaponcrafting 6.

Lv	Item	Type	Stats	Requires	Source
27	Forked Dagger	Dagger	W.ATK +45	22 DEX, 54 LUK	Cutthroat Manny, 14,700
30	Reef Claw	Dagger	W.ATK +48	25 DEX, 60 LUK	—
30	Steel Guards	Claw	W.ATK +22	30 DEX, 65 LUK	Weaponcrafting 6
30	Dark Guise	Hat	W.DEF +27, LUK +3	20 DEX, 50 LUK	—
30	Black Steal	Top	W.DEF +40, LUK +3	20 DEX, 50 LUK	—
30	Black Steal Pants	Bottom	W.DEF +29, LUK +3	20 DEX, 50 LUK	—
30	Bronze Chain Boots	Shoes	W.DEF +18, AVO +3, DEX +3	20 DEX, 50 LUK	Leatherworking 6
30	Steel Sylvia	Gloves	W.DEF +14, LUK +3	20 DEX, 50 LUK	Leatherworking 6

Levels 30 to 40: the shops bow out

Past level 30, no shop sells thief gear; everything is hunted or crafted, and the Training guide's spots for these levels are exactly where the loot lives. Jr. Wraith in Line 2 (Area 1) drops the Dark Guise, Bronze Wolfskin, and Mokbi Throwing Stars. Fire Boar in the Burnt Land drops the Red Guise, Green Knucklevest, Red Pilfer, and Wolbi Throwing Stars. Lorang on Florina Beach drops the level 30 Steal set, the Cat's Eye earring, and at 40 the any-class Korean Fan. Curse Eye drops the Black Knucklevest and Green Pilfer.

Lv	Item	Type	Stats	Requires	Source
35	Halfmoon Zamadar	Dagger	W.ATK +53	30 DEX, 70 LUK	Weaponcrafting 7
40	Gephart	Dagger	W.ATK +58	35 DEX, 80 LUK	Weaponcrafting 8
40	Korean Fan	Dagger	W.ATK +55, ACC +1, AVO +1	70 LUK	—
35	Dark Guardian	Claw	W.ATK +26	35 DEX, 75 LUK	Weaponcrafting 7
40	Steel Avarice	Claw	W.ATK +28	40 DEX, 85 LUK	Weaponcrafting 8
35	Black Knucklevest	Top	W.DEF +44, LUK +3, HP +5	25 DEX, 60 LUK	—
35	Black Knucklevest Pants	Bottom	W.DEF +32, LUK +3, HP +5	25 DEX, 60 LUK	—
40	Green Pilfer	Hat	W.DEF +33, DEX +4	25 DEX, 60 LUK	—
40	Red Pilfer	Hat	W.DEF +33, HP +40	25 DEX, 60 LUK	—
35	Red White-Lined Boots	Shoes	W.DEF +20, AVO +3, Jump +2, DEX +1, HP +5	25 DEX, 60 LUK	Leatherworking 7
40	Black Blue-Lined Shoes	Shoes	W.DEF +22, AVO +4, Speed +2, DEX +2	30 DEX, 70 LUK	Leatherworking 8
35	Gold Arbion	Gloves	W.DEF +16, LUK +3, HP +5	25 DEX, 60 LUK	Leatherworking 7
40	Dark Cleave	Gloves	W.DEF +18, LUK +4	30 DEX, 70 LUK	Leatherworking 8

The level 40 Shadow armor set is documented on the wiki but has no confirmed source yet; if you learn where it comes from in the beta, the wiki wants to know.

Throwing stars

Stars are a claw thief's real weapon stat, every set shares the level 10 requirement, and only the weakest is sold. The rest are upgrade drops, and the ladder lines up with the training route: you upgrade your stars by hunting the same maps the Training guide already recommends.

Lv	Item	Type	Stats	Requires	Source
10	Subi Throwing Stars	Throwing Star	W.ATK +15	—	24 Hr Mobile Store, Arturo, Dr. Faymus, Len the Fairy, Luna, Mina, Mr. Sweatbottom, 500
10	Wolbi Throwing Stars	Throwing Star	W.ATK +17	—	Max, 1,000
10	Mokbi Throwing Stars	Throwing Star	W.ATK +19	—	—
10	Kumbi Throwing Stars	Throwing Star	W.ATK +21	—	—
10	Steely Throwing Knives	Throwing Star	W.ATK +25	—	—
10	Ilbi Throwing Stars	Throwing Star	W.ATK +27	—	—

Tobi Throwing Stars (attack 23) and Hwabi Throwing Stars (attack 29) exist in the game data with no confirmed source yet.

When crafting takes over

Three thief slots belong to crafters. Gloves are crafted at every tier (the Duo through Cleave line, Leatherworking 3 through 8), shoes from level 25 up (Leatherworking 5 through 8), and claws from level 30 up (the Guards, Guardian, and Avarice tiers, Weaponcrafting 6 through 8, each with stat-variant versions crafted from the base claw). How professions level and what the recipes consume is covered on the Crafting page; if you would rather not craft, these are the slots to watch other players' shops for.