Greetings! Thought I'd put some useful stuff I've found leveling Ninja. Generally I think of it as a burst DD class, what with the Ninjitsus. Also, I find myself shouting "Jauntyu Pipukin! Watashi no meishi desu!" whilst playing it.

There are 3 main attack cycles/combos:
1. Extra pain: Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Dancing Edge
This decreases a target's resistance to slashing, and also makes their heals less effective
2. More DoTs: Spinning Edge > Shadow Fang > Mutilate
There's not a combo between the last two, though I find in this order it maximises DoTs within the cycle
3. Stab 'em up: Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Aeolian Edge
Doesn't do anything fancy, just decent DPS, especially with Dancing Edge up.

Tactics:
I tend to follow this approach:

1. Huton Ninjitsu for increased attack speed
2. 1 > 2 > 3 of the above. I've found that you can kill most single trash mobs in a single cycle this way.
3. A Ninjitsu when it's ready (or Kassatsu if you're impationen ;) ). For groups for Doton or Katon, depending on Party DPS/mob HP. On a single target, vary for the situation. Fuma Shuriken if they're AOEing, Hyoton if they need binding, Raiton for burst DPS. Can drop Doton if you fancy it, just beware of un-aggroed adds. Suiton gives good burst damage, as it gives immediate use of the Hidden moves.

That's basically it. If you can, start with a Hide > Sneak Attack/Trick Attack. Trick Attack doesn't hit as hard (400 AP max vs 500 AP from Sneak Attack), but makes the target more vulnerable to damage. However (and for extra burst), you can use Suiton which allows you you use the Hide moves without hiding.

Kiss of the Wasp/Kiss of the Viper. Go Kiss of the Wasp if you need to Stun instead of Silence on Jugulate. KoV lets you recover 50% attack HP from Mug. Says all this in the descriptions, but people miss it sometimes.

AOEs are Doton and Katon (Ninjitsus), and Death Blossom. All a bit weak and will lose your ability to Hide, but it's a nice little extra when your party's AOEs will murder everything quickly (BLMs….).


If anyone else finds anything interesting with the class, let me know. This just what I've found from playing the class. Not looked at any claims of Meta, it's just me.

Missed cross classing.

You get your pick of LNC and PUG. I've gone for Internal Release, Blood For Blood, Featherfoot, Invigorate, and Second wind. I've macro'd Internal Release and B4B together for that delicious burst boost (timers in my top - 3rd - action bar so I can see when they're ready). I'm considering dropping 2nd Wind for Mantra or Haymaker. I do fairly well at not getting hit - whether that's me or the class' high DEX is another matter - and Haymaker has an attack potency of 170, adds Slow, and very likely to pop on the class.

Go for Feint instead of Haymaker. It gives you the Slow effect without the hassle of having to "evade an attack" first :)

I've made a "NIN plan" and have these actions selected:

Feint, Blood for Blood, Inner Release, Second Wind (still not sure about this one though, for reasons you mentioned), and Invigorate (NIN gets nerfed in 2.45 so the TP fountain we have now will be gone)

Thoughts?

I see the logic, but it's all much of a muchness. The Slow status is just a nice-to-have, and I'm looking to optimise burst damage. Having run a few dungeons now, I'm considering Impulse Drive for the highest cross class Attack Potency (180 when from behind). Combined with Dancing Edge > Suiton > Trick/Sneak Attack > Impulse drive, you've got a massive burst DPS. If you want to go mental, Kassatsu > Raiton > Limit Break > Threaten Family > Bitch Slap (LB if available/prudent, last two are yet to be implemented [2.5?]).

Not sure how much of an effect the TP nerf will have. I don't have much trouble with TP, but I'm very liberal with Ninjitsus. Didn't know they were doing that, so thanks! I'll be interested to see what happens.

Yeah Impulse Drive might be a good one!

To be honest, the way I look at it is this: I'm not tanking, and nor should I be, so things like Featherfoot and Keen Flurry are useless, it also makes the activation requirement for Haymaker very difficult to achieve (good DPS don't get attacked often, and good tanks keep hate off their DPS).

So that removes 3 of 10 possible cross-class skills immediately.

Next up, curative skills. Are these really necessary? If your own skill is any good, plus if your healer is any good… Mantra and Second Wind should not be necessary in the later stages of the game. At best, these skills are "situational" for certain fights, etc. Not really what you want to be wasting 2 slots on for your general skillset.

Minus another 2 of 10 skills.

Already that leaves us with 5 skills and 5 slots. 2 of them are direct dmg buffs (atk and crt), awesome. One is a dmg plus slow effect (with no positional reqs etc), another is a TP buff (useless atm I know, but I'm thinking that post-2.45 it will be helpful), and the last is Impulse Drive, which has a decen potency when used from behind (where most NINs will be anyway!)

^_^

Oh and in regards to burst damage, I've got a macro for "double Raiton" that I think will be nice! I'm not high enough lvl to test it yet though lol

Does your macro extend gratitude at people's attendance to your BBQ? ;)

Yeah, sounds about right on the cross class. Without being a braggart, I'm running dungeons without getting hit a good chunk of the time (yet to do Titan :P), so Featherfoot and Second Wind really are a waste of slots.

Also, don't if you've noticed whilst levelling, but up to 45 you can go Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Dancing Edge > Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Mutilate and have Dancing Edge and Multilate up constantly, with enough time during cool downs to hit Raiton and Katon without a break in your cycles.

Does your macro extend gratitude at people's attendance to your BBQ? ;)Jaunty Pipkin

Perhaps :P

Also, don't if you've noticed whilst levelling, but up to 45 you can go Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Dancing Edge > Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Mutilate and have Dancing Edge and Multilate up constantly, with enough time during cool downs to hit Raiton and Katon without a break in your cycles.Jaunty Pipkin

Sounds excellent, thanks! But…. how come you can't do it post 45? Just too many other actions to be using?

You can, but at 46 you unlcock Shadow Fang, so the rotation change to the one in the original post. With the first one, you keep up perhaps 90% of the time, but when you start using 3 Mudra combos you can't achieve a Ninjitsu within the action CDs.

Ah ok, gotcha! Thanks :D

Problem: I noticed that upon becoming a NIN, I lost access to Impulse Drive. Seems like it's a ROG cross-class only skill? :(

So! Second Wind or Mantra instead? Seems like the only reasonable options. The increased evasion and parry buffs really don't help as NINs don't tank. Haymaker would be nice but again, not tanking so it will rarely get a proc. Mantra could be useful as your tank (and any other melee DPS) will benefit from the healing boost, and Second Wind is really just to help keep your HP up after getting hit by those unavoidable attacks.

Also… On the topic of rotations… I've been playing around a bit (keep in mind I'm only 46, but I believe the rotations would be the same now as they would at 50) and discovered some things you might find useful.

1 . Have KoW up (I've found Stun incredible useful for solo/party content) and Huton on as usual, then strike first with Mutilate for DoT and follow up with Feint for Slow
2. SE > GS > DE combo for more DoT
3. SE > SF combo for even more DoT, then follow up with Feint
4. Raiton mudra* for a small dmg burst, then re-apply Mutilate
5. SE > GS > AE combo for raw dmg, then follow up with Feint
6. Repeat step 5*
7. By now you should be able to refresh Huton and begin again

*When I hit lvl 50 I have a macro that does a quick double-Raiton that I'd like to use at step 4, and then we should be able to remove step 6 and keep the same rotation.

EDIT: Also, instead of the double-Raiton macro, you could do…
Suiton > SA/TA > Kassatu > Suiton > SA/TA
I will need to test this to see which is better and more efficient with DPS of course :)

I might need to refine the rotation a little, but that's the gist of it. It should also allow for stunning with Jugulate as needed. I set up a quick macro called "Jugmug" that stuns first, then robs the monster right after, it's pretty handy!