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Not that I have encountered alot of people who dont know how to handle the basics of Yokodama, but I feel that for all players above level 30 who will risk partying with a Thief at some point need to know their role in this process, and what can be done in an emergency in order to protect your mages and weaker defense melee jobs.

What is Yokodama?

Yokodama is the combination of Sneak Attack, and Trick attack to cause massive amounts of damage. Sneak attack alone will boost the damage by 6-10 times, Trick will boost an additional 4 times. These abilities stack with specific weapon skills only. Most notably Fast Blade, Viper Bite (100 dagger skill, or level 33 for a Thief), and Dancing Edge (200 dagger skill). The addition of Viper bite will add another multiplier to your damage and poison the target.

Positioning for Yokodama

The positioning needed to use Sneak Attack is for the Thief to stand directly behind the target. There is a small bit of movement you can have behind it but it's not a great deal. When in doubt, move to a better spot. Trick Attack is a bit more complex. It requires you to stand facing the monster, with another person standing between you and the mob. Trick attack will transfer the hate from the attack you made onto the person who is standing between you and the mob. Together you must have at least 2 other people to do this, you need one person to hold the aggro and one person to stand behind the mob, and you behind them. It will look similar to this as I've seen many other people use.

THF —– Trick Buddy —– Mob —– Aggro Holder
—->———->————–>————–<

Ideally, the aggro holder will be a PLD and the Trick buddy should be some kind of tank or semi-tank like a WAR or DRG. Once the PLD gets the aggro he/she needs to remain still. This is KEY to success. The 2nd voker will stand opposite them and adjust to best get behind the mob and stay close to it, or else the THF will not hit because they are too far back behind them. Once in position STAY STILL, I cannot stress that enough. Missing Yokodama because somebody moved is very irritating.

Doing the Deed

For the purposes of this tutorial we will say that the PLD is the trick buddy and a DRG/WAR is the second voker. The THF will stay behind the PLD when it is time to perform the Yokodama for maximum effectiveness.

When the THF is nearly ready the PLD needs to stop healing and try to shed some of the hate so the DRG can get a good aggro hold for a second. When the THF is ready the DRG will voke, berzerk, jump, Double Thrust, use everything available to grab aggro. The THF will then start the Sneak/Trick attack and after it lands the PLD will voke again and the aggro should be solid for a good long while. If the DRG can't get the aggro swing around behind him and Yokodama off of him so it doesn't go to waste.

Emergency Yokodama

This is key to a good party with a THF here. THFs at higher levels only job is damage, and hate control. If the mages grab too much aggro and they can't provoke them off, it's our time to shine. Step #1, DONT PANIC. I see alot of mages try to run around, it doesn't spare you damage or hate so stay still and let us work. The tanks need to line up behind the mob ASAP so the THF can set up a good Yokodama to pull the aggro. I don't think anything would still be aggrod after that much hate and a provoke. Once again, the key to this my soft little mages is NOT TO PANIC. I see alot of parties get wiped by mages who lose their heads about getting aggrod.

Skillchains and Magic Burst

When using Yokodama, the most popular skillchain would hands down be Distortion. I've done up to 233 damage on that skillchain against mobs in Garliage Citadel and Crawlers Nest. Magic Burst for that is water I believe, and light. The most popular weapon skills to chain it on are Double Thrust, Tachi: Enpi or Goten, or Piercing Arrow. Simply the most pupular, not the only ones. The damage can get extremely high. With one skillchain including Magic Burst we did 200 (Double Thrust), 370 (Yokodama and Viper Bite), 230 (Distortion), and 260 (Water II Magic Burst).

Take note of this Non-Thieves and Thieves alike, these things can save your life.