For killing big stuff I'd give him FireBrand, Faithful, Jade Armor, Flying Shoes, Eye Shield, wraith crown & Horned helmet, and a ring of regeneration. That's the expensive, full luxury model. For economy thugging all you really need is quickness, the flying shoes, a survivability misc item (luck or regen) and a couple good weapons.
The Eye shield is good for both thugs and SCs because there is no resisting the eyeless. You attack him and *shhlck* one of your eyes plops out
. This means that if your target fights back he will be weakened or become useless. FrostBrand and FireBrand exploit elemental weaknesses and let you damage targets with super-high def (with the aoe effect). Faithful gives luck, and everyone needs quickness.
Survivability is a concern, but he'll kill stuff real good.