Menaphite Thug

Menaphite Thugs can be found at the southern end of Pollnivneach. They are constantly at war with the Bandits, who are found in the northern section of Pollnivneach. According to a dialogue during The Feud, they are followers of Amascut.

Menaphite Thugs are commonly targeted by players to train the Thieving skill because of the fast experience that may be gained with the help of a blackjack. A thieving level of 65 and completion of The Feud quest are required. This method to train thieving is often referred to as "blackjacking."

How to blackjack
Blackjacking may only be done when no more of the same NPC are in sight; a room with the curtain closed may be used. Menaphites may be moved to specific locations by using the right-click "Lure" option. It is better to lure them into a house with a ladder, just in case you attack or the Menaphite Thug says, "I will kill you for that!" To prevent the Menaphite Thug from attacking you when he says this, you can either climb up the ladder, or click pickpocket until he stops.

To blackjack Menaphite Thugs, the player should knock out a Menaphite Thug with a maple blackjack (which grants a better chance of a successful knockout than an oak or willow blackjack); then, if the knock-out was successful, pickpocket twice. Then, the Menaphite Thug can immediately be knocked out again and the cycle repeated. This requires somewhat good timing, but it is easy to see the messages appear in the message box to help determine the correct times to click. A cycle of one knockout and two pickpockets takes 3.6 seconds, with 1.2 seconds per action.

Although it is not possible to fail the pickpockets while the Menaphite Thug is knocked out, it is possible to fail to knock-out. If a knock-out fails, 40 life points is immediately taken, and the knock-out should immediately be re-attempted or else the thug will start attacking the player. The player can also quickly pickpocket the thug if the knock-out fails, but this is not recommended because if the pickpocket fails, then the thug will stun the player for several seconds (if the pickpocket succeeds though, the thug will not attack the player). The thug may not be knocked out or pickpocketed while attacking the player, and in the event that the thug attacks, in order to continue thieving the player must stop the attack by going up and down a ladder or stepping behind a door or table, blocking the thug for a few seconds, alternatively when they start to attack you may repeatedly attempt to pick pocket the thug rapidly 5 times, this will stop the thug attacking the player. Rather, if a knock-out is failed, the player should immediately re-attempt it or try to pickpocket the thug before he starts attacking. It is possible to fail consecutive knock-outs and have to re-attempt many knockouts in a row; this is common at lower thieving levels but rare at higher thieving levels.

In World 88, many players train on Menaphites. This can be good or bad; you have more people to chat with and they can trap the thugs and knock them out, but you may have trouble keeping up with the rhythm. Another advantage is that if a Menaphite attacks someone, another player can knock it out, and there is no need to run or climb stairs.

Experience rate of blackjacking
137.5 thieving experience is gained for a successful pickpocket and 10 thieving experience is gained for a successful knockout; this is a total of 285 experience per blackjacking round. 60 coins are gained per pickpocket.

The experience rate of blackjacking has been subject to much controversy. It is possible to achieve 200,000 thieving experience per hour at 65 thieving and 270,000 thieving experience per hour at 99 thieving, but the experience rate is often stated to be much less due to distractions, mistakes, and general difficulty performing the method correctly. The fact that so much clicking is needed sometimes deters players from using this method, but it is possible to turn on One-button mouse and Mousekeys and "click" using the 5 key, which eliminates the need to click the mouse while blackjacking. It still is very difficult to type or view other windows while blackjacking, however.

Blackjacking is usually considered to be faster thieving experience than Pyramid Plunder before level 91; with blackjacking, 65 to 91 thieving can take only about 25 hours, while Pyramid Plunder can take about 40, and definitely no fewer than 35. However, at level 91, the last room in Pyramid Plunder may be accessed, and blackjacking is usually considered to be about the same thieving experience as Pyramid Plunder after level 91. Most players use Pyramid Plunder past this level.

Pickpocketing Menaphite thugs can be more profitable than Pyramid Plunder; over 100k coins can be gained per hour blackjacking. Blackjacking from level 65 to 91 thieving can earn about 2.3 million coins and blackjacking from level 91 to 99 thieving can earn an additional 3.0 million coins.

Drops

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Trivia

 * In October 2009 some missing animations of Menaphite thugs were added; blackjacking was made more realistic and smoother.
 * They also appear in the FunOrb game Armies of Gielinor as the Menaphite Pantheon's first warrior unit.
 * When you knock out the thug, instead of displaying the message, "You smack the Menaphite thug over the head.", it displays, "You smack the bandit over the head." It is unknown if it is a typo or it was displayed that on purpose.
 * Even though the thug is the same level as a bandit, it requires a higher level to pickpocket. It is unknown why since those two enemies are mostly the same.