I have played a thrower since I first starting playing, many moons ago. I have played thrower and board, thrower/1h hybrid, thrower/2h hybrid, thrower without a shield, heavy armor thrower and robe thrower, and currently have a horseback thrower and a thrower who literally has only strength, powerthrow, and weapon proficiency: throwing. These are my qualifications for my following opinions regarding throwing, which I intend as my gift to new players interested in picking it up as a vocation or a hobby.
Let me start by describing the role of the thrower on the battlefield. The thrower is a hybrid role, even when not a hybrid build. A pure thrower can fill different roles depending on what weapon they chose. Unlike a bow or a crossbow, every type of throwing weapon acts very differently in combat. Above all other classes I have played, a thrower is able to configure their weapon loadout to fight different enemies effectively. Thus, I can't describe the class as a whole. I can, however, describe a number of specific builds and how I have found them most effectively used.
StonesRequirement: 0 pt
Requirement for awesomeness: 8 pt
The stone is the cheapest throwing and the most accurate. Figure that one out. It also has the lowest default damage, but fear not! The stone is quite useful, even as a level 1 peasant! Most archers wear light enough armor on the body that they need fear being hit by a stone by any thrower. They also tend to not wear much on the head, making headshots deadly. A peasant with a wooden shield and a stack or two of rocks can keep the attention of archers off his teammates and possibly kill a few, something very useful indeed. Many others will take notice when rocks fly by as well, since recently there has been an upsurge in very high powerthrow stone tossers. With enough powerthrow, rocks can kill anyone. The blunt damage is also decently effective at getting through armor. While any other throwing weapon does more damage, if you need to snipe and can compensate for a significant drop at range, the rock can serve you quite well.
Throwing DaggersRequirement: 0 pt
Requirement for awesomeness: 5-6+ pt , 120 wpf
These are one of my favorite weapons. They are an ideal anti-archer weapon, with good damage against light armor, excellent accuracy, and incredible speed. A good headshot will 1-shot most light head armor around 5 powerthrow, those without head armor and with low strength, you can headshot at even lower levels. The speed on these is insane, when not using a shield, you can hit a shieldman by waiting until he starts to swing, then throwing one at him (not applicable against scimitars). Against light armor, you'll rack up the kills as well or even better than an archer, and that is with really minimal investment. Note that you will need very high powerthrow to have any effectiveness with these vs. heavier armor.
Requirements: 1 pt
Requirement for awesomeness: 5-6+ pt , 120 wpf
These are the games cheapest platekiller. A 2-h swordsman will die to these regardlesss of his armor if you aim well and he dodges poorly. Accuracy is just slightly worse than daggers, but the pierce damage is excellent. Around 6 powerthrow you'll notice that you are attracting a lot of attention the second one of these hits a plated enemy. That is because he thinks an archer hit him with a warbow. Still possible to hit someone as they prepare to strike, but not as easy. Can be used in melee, but they can't block and do little damage, recommended you only try this if desperate and you have a shield, or you are fighting a peasant. These are excellent for anti-horse duty, able to take down any but the heaviest with relatively few shots.
Requirements: 4 powerthrow
Requirements for awesomeness: 8+ powerthrow
These are my babies. I've heirloomed my set twice to give me a large bag and 20 of them with 4 slots. They hit hard, have a good bonus vs shields, and the throwing for them is really smooth in my opinion. They aren't perfectly accurate, no throwing after this is, but they are excellent shield breakers. You will shatter low level shields with these, medium shields might require two hits but will break. With a shield of your own, they don't make terrible melee weapons, though the reach is abysmal. You can hit any armor with these, you'll generally oneshot light armor around the awesomeness point and heavy armor will feel the hit, though as a cut damage weapon they aren't the best vs plate. Excellent vs light horses, which they will oneshot.
Requirements: 6 powerthrow
Requirements for awesomeness: 10+ powerthrow
Plate killer. That is what these are (they kill everything else too of course.) Large amounts of pierce damage will generally kill anything without high strength and ironflesh, regardless of armor, in one or two hits. I've only had these on one character, however, because I don't like the throwing animation for them. It takes adjustment, however many throwers rely on these as a mainstay and do excellent with the damage.
Requirements: 7 powerthrow
Requirements for awesomeness: they are always awesome, but at 10+...amazing.
One shot kill is the phrase these bring to mind. This is good, because you don't get many shots. More pierce than anything but a crossbow, these aren't known for amazing accuracy or range. What they are known for is making tincans cry foul. As a main weapon, they are somewhat disappointing, because you'll run out of ammo quickly and a steel shield can absorb half your ability to fight. However there are few weapons in the game that give you more of an ability to pick one person and kill them, shield or no. Throwing lances will kill anything you can hit. Just don't try to use them in a duel with an archer.
Throwing is a strength game. It was only this month I made my first character with more than 12 agility, and that was so I could throw from horseback. You'll really want at least 6 powerthrow, and throwing feels very weak at any point below that. My first thrower got agi first, because I wanted a shield, and I didn't start getting regular kills until around level 22 because of that. I really recommend a starting thrower tries to get 5-6 powerthrow before diversifying into agility, because as much as running helps you survive, I enjoy getting kills more than surviving. However, there are different schools of thought.
Throwing meshes naturally with hybrids. The pure thrower has much better throwing, but a small investment can give a rather good return. Lord_Braeden currently has 7 powerthrow and only 47 wpf in throwing (much of that left over from retirement) and is mainly a 2-h fighter, where he has 178 wpf. The throwing still comprises a lot of my kills, though that is also because he has horse archery and throws from horseback and just because I enjoy throwing more than 2-h fighting. The point is, even hybridized, throwing is nice. A single stack of heavy throwing axes is generally enough to remove a shield (or at least weaken it to the point of easy breakage) from a pesky shieldman.
Throwing isn't the best at really anything. For range, get a bow, for one hitting at range with minimal investment, a crossbow. What throwing does do is let you play a round, then adjust your equipment to counter the enemies your team is struggling with. Getting archer'd to death? Grab some daggers from the inventory. 2-h tincan murdering everyone? Throwing lance him in the chest. When the team needs a support fighter, you can grab wardarts and do a lot of damage, when the team needs someone to smash enemy shields, then you can throw axes.
Most of all though, throwing is dang fun, so for those of you struggling with it in the early levels, hold out hope! For now, throw daggers at enemies and distract them, your team will love you for it if you learn to not hit them. And remember. Soon, you will be invincible.
Horseback ThrowingHorseback throwing is awesome, basically. It takes a lot of practice to get used to, and on a courser I still can't pull it off at that speed. But a horseback thrower can be an excellent counter to a horse archer, taking down a horse is pretty easy once you get used to it and many horse archers are reliant upon their horses to the point of struggling once you take them down. (this not valid for all, of course). Against horse archers, pierce weapons are amazing, specifically wardarts and jarids. Sadly, you can't currently couch throwing lances due to a failure in game code, but they are still useful in melee from horseback. I'm a fan of the longsword and 15 heavy throwing axes from the back of a Destrier. It isn't the most useful, but it is helluva fun. Racks up a lot of hate, too.