The Sealed Dagger: A Ninja Guide

Anyone care to share their Aeolian Edge set?

It's on the front page. Swap Shiva for Metamorph+1(a) and O Sash and it's probably perfect. MAB/WSD/INT basically.

Thanks, overlooked and/or forgot about that set - could Skrymir Belt+1 be an alternative to O. sash?

Not a good one- but sure, it is second best outside of matching weather. I wouldn't recommend spending the gil on it for that purpose.

Hey guys, is Aurgelmir Orb +1 BiS for Blade: Ten now? 7Str 7Dex seems more appealing than just 10 Dex to me.

Do you have it already? If not, then I would wait for what happen to Seething Bomblet +1. It has a very good potential.

Oh it is for sure, but I never pressed 'delete' convincingly enough on the Palug stone for it to leave the itemset it seems.

What simonses .... said is a good point! The bomblet may get even better!

Yeah with gelly ring and Sailfi getting 15 points in a stat, the end result for the bomblet could be huge

Capuchin! Langly!
Lately I have this feeling of building up a Kannagi (without the slighest intention of building an AM3 focused TP set, aside maybe from stuff I already have).

Please help me resist this foolish idea!
Tell me I should rather save the money to R15 my Heishi Shorinken which is still rank 5 or something.
Tell me I should rather buy me a Fudo Masamune as Acc offhand or MH for tanking.


Help me guys! Help me! I feel this insane idea is growing on me and I need to stop it! I cannot possibly survive farming 75 Apademaks completely alone, without mules!

Save the money to R15 my Heishi Shorinken which is still rank 5 or something

Or

Buy a Fudo Masamune as Acc offhand or MH for tanking.

Or

Get Both

I'll do you one better.

Buy Fudo for Off Hand
Get Nagi for Main Hand
R15 Nagi
Profit!

Hahaha... don't ask me that, Kannagi is my most beloved NIN weapon. I am also steadfast in my belief that it's underrated, and performs better for me in real life situations than many people who treat optimal spreadsheet numbers as gospel would believe (personally, I also don't have the luxury of being able to assume I'll have GEO/BRD/COR when I want to DD on Ninja, which would tend to favor Heishi). And you probably already have most of an ideal crit/Empy AM3 white damage set anyway - it's basically handled with Kendatsuba gear, maybe some minor tweaks like slightly different ring/ear choices (e.g., Hetairoi Ring, Odr Earring), and perhaps trying a crit Ambuscade cape.

That being said... objectively, yeah, you're probably gonna get more out of putting those resources toward a Fudo Masamune for offhand (I tend to use it the most these days). And doesn't hurt to slap a C path on that bad boy and upgrade it a bit to have a niche tanking mainhand in your arsenal. Only takes a couple decent Dyna farming runs to be in great shape for that purpose.

For pure NIN damage purposes, maxing out Heishi is also probably higher value. But even that may not be the most practical approach for you since your MNK is gonna be better DPS anyway when you want to play that kind of role. So I guess from a purely logic based standpoint it probably makes the most sense to max out one of your good MNK weapons as a higher priority than ANY katana investment.


OK, now I can turn the tables and say HEY GUYS HELP, I'm about to do something crazy myself... Assuming May Ambuscade isn't awful, I should be able to finish off my Alexandrite for LOLNagi next month (I've refused to purchase any Alex for it, but whatever I farm myself I'm just giving to the rat). With that plus some more Nyzul tokens, that will complete my 75 Nagi. And I have the Scoria hoarded away already, so may as well get it to 119...

Which leads me to my dilemma... I KNOW I shouldn't be tempted to throw 10k Beits and some detritus at that damn thing to get it to max level + some augment progress. I only have the gil to fund one of either that inane project, or use it for the more rational choice of 10k Boulders for Caladbolg (at ~2/3 the price of Beits by current prices) + some detritus to get me going with augments. But I'm starting to try to justify to myself some weird Nagi STP/DT- builds with Malignance gear! And thinking... hey, Calad isn't THAT important to me since I already have a Masamune R15 when I need to be Beefy WS Guy.

I'm not sure how that leads me to "yeah, I'll invest more money in NAGI, that's the wise move". Loving NIN doesn't have to make sense though.

Caladbolg sucks :) #teamscythe

Do Nagi :)

Sechs, you do you. :D

GO-GO rank15!

I started to think about it and I assume that you mean crit +1 pdif bonus is very significant at lower pdif, which makes both white damage and blade: hi more competitive vs non crit WSs. What about Blade: Shun tho. Its also starting to be more competitive at lower pdif when its attack bonus gives it an edge over other WSs with higher base power. With 750 tp bonus and tp overflow blade: shun will commonly reach +100% attack bonus. How low pdif you would need to actually beat gains from crits over that attack bonus and would you ever go that low in practical scenario. After all you dont need geo/brd/cor players to increase your cratio. Many trusts will help with that too.

so im just getting into NIN Now..... is the kendatsuba stuff REALLY our go to for things like shun? How up to date is that main page? Is the kenda really that good for nin in general? i feel like were way too attack starved for it to be any good outside of hyperbuff situations

i'd think something like this would beat out kendatsuba?

ItemSet 372633

Herc Head: 15 DEX 22 Acc 30 Attk 2 TA
Herc Boots: 10 Dex 30 Attk 4 TA


I'm still missing the heishi and the regal, but the rest of its in my hands today. i dont really get great numbers tho with shun... but i also just dont see how the kenda is gonna push that much higher. theres little to no dex difference? like at most theres maybe 14 dex difference in the end? +4 on head -6 on body, +6 on Hands, +10 on feet... between my DA/TA/QA on my WS Set, i have a hard time believing TA Would make a difference

Any advice? i've been really struggling to see anything close to respectable numbers out of ninja right now... in fact my rdm and DNC basically ***on it in virtually all regards

The main guide is updated, I feel like we answer this every day. If you're new to ninja, the work has already been done for you so there isn't much need to question or theorycraft what a better set would look like.

Kendatsuba is an incredible set, you can't disregard it for anything really. Works too well for most of NINs uses. Get it.

Blade: Shun in general works the best of all NIN's WS options when you are on the lower end of attack/buffs, but can still put out some respectable numbers when you R15 Heishi. Obviously the job is going to be devoid of attack, but there isn't any events in the game anymore where you wouldn't be getting at least trust buffs. In a party setting with capped attack, that extra tp overflow helps a ton with Blade: Ten, Heishi's go-to WS of choice. If you're just starting out, it is no surprise you would not deal good damage. Blade: Shun does get an attack boost, and Heishi has decent SC potential so you get a lot of your damage there. You'll need to invest a good amount of JP and Gil into the job to make respectable improvements in damage, which includes a MAB/Burst set to maximize your damage areas.

Can't compare to NIN to RDM or DNC, because it hasn't been improved recently. Yes, it's at the bottom DPS-wise. Its also a ton of fun to play regardless. If you're overly concerned about damage being lower than other comparable jobs, it probably is and you'll have to invest time into it. It can be quite strong with the right support and gear, but it's probably not something you will be impressed with right out of the door playing it.

For comparison's sake, I started playing DNC recently (about 200 JP invested) and I can easily dump 2x the amount of damage NIN can in the same amount of time (stacked WS of course). (RDM shouldn't beat NIN but it might with TP Bonus offhand, which is lol). But every job has different tools, just have to learn how to work with what you have. For NIN, it's biggest strength is its survival and its amazing WS frequency. Try playing it with a ton of buffs, the correct sets, and JP invested. It gets better with the right builds, and there is a sense of satisfaction in playing the job. Kind of cool to land a 5-step Radiance and close with a huge MB. It's cute and insignificant in the grand scheme, but I love it.

You generally wont on nin less its ten or savage blade, or chi/jinpu if stars align, youll get decent or respectable numbers but thats the curse of katana ws, they all hit their ceiling relatively sooner than the big name ws.

i mean, can you blame people? half of these guides are out of date. i remember using the RDM guide only to find out it was basically end to end crap for most of its sets. as for the theory crafting.... i dont think its wrong for me to ask why something is a certian way when it doesnt make sense.

Like for example for blade hi - a huge single hit- why would you not use Kariyeh/Epaimondas over Regal/Mumuu? i could see maybe the regal over one of the two - but not the mumu over 5%.



I get its great for melee and MEVA, but it just doesnt look good at all for weaponskilling at all... i feel like theres better options that arent tanking me down to 1k attack unbuffed.



I mean, im just starting on nin, but gearwise, sans the kendatsuba stuff, and like two omen drops (regal), and the Timelock on ambu capes, i'm pretty much done if this guides gearing is to be the baseline for perfection.


Thats for sure in terms of it being fun, but unimpressive damage wise. E.G. right now my RDM is keeping up with basically the best DD's this server has to offer as long as im not in a setting where debuffing has to take priority. my dancer still cant keep up with my rdm and likely wont until i get a REMA for it.


Even if i roll Croc+daybreak, i can pretty much keep up with anything that isnt a MS+BR war, or a SAM Going ham. MNK Can definately keep up too- but i havent seen too much else that can keep up if i'm allowed the same buffs they are. usually my savages are easily in the 50k+ range no problem if im rolling Nae+thib- fairly less if its croc/day, but the enspells make up for it pretty well. if im allowed a full magic set up using GEO+COR, hitting damage capped seraphs is also viable. RDM is in a VERY stupid spot right now in terms of how strong it is.

YES we can blame people when the first damn thing in the guide is update dates. Give someone what they need right away and it's not enough...



And all that critical hit to bump your pdif up. Sure seems like it might make up ~some~ ground when attack is low. There's a spreadsheet linked that I maintain that's pretty easy to play with. You can go and check to see what kind of contribution to your pdif your gear choices will be.

Well... maybe this is a foreign concept.... but... just because something says 'updated' doesn't mean its actually updated. Hence the original question. i didnt come in simply questioning if it was updated- i came in with a specific point that didnt make sense, and appeared as if it may not be up to date.




i wasnt aware Crit hit rate worked on Blade shun?

Oh, i've soloed Kin/Fu, tho they did take a SIGNFICANT number of tries to get everything to gel. Still having some trouble on Gin/Kyou/kei. Managed to drop Neak/maju too now - those werent nearly as bad when i first tried. Thanks for asking, i know how much my progress means to you. Feels good to go from being gone since adoulin dropped to soloing omen bosses in just a few short months.

Cool, Gj soloing the easiest ones out the bunch. I was done with that when it first dropped and have been able to solo those t3 lol mobs before Lilith gear dropped - Still doesn't excuse your HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE need for an updated guide and back talking the creator... if you want one fully updated guide make one yourself - No one gives a ***about your need to stroke your ego

What better options would you be referring to? The herculean helm you included in your set is only 17 attack more, but 2 TA and 4 dex lower. If you needed attack, Path B Adhemar Bonnet +1 would be a much superior piece to what you listed, but even that comes in much lower DEX (and no virtual accuracy on a 5-hit ws), so that's not going to be as good. You're ignoring that Kendatsuba +1 comes with very high DEX (Shun Modifier). Also, the set only uses 2 pieces (feet and head) which are the highest DEX/MA pieces you can get to push damage towards the 8-hit limit. Whatever smaller amounts of attack you may be able to fit in will come in lower because you already get a native attack bonus to shun anyways. With Heishi and TP overflow, it should not be too difficult to get the attack boost modifier on Shun so you make up for it.

Oh im sure you did. you probably did it before the redmage updates too right? did you also do it with one hand? like this is the most pathetic onesided *** measuring contest ive ever seen. im not sure why you keep trying to do this every time i make a post. are you coming onto me?

I misread- when you discounted kendatsuba.

I wanted to point out that the crit rate would do something for your overall average pdif during TP.


Each WS set on the main page also has a date attached. I tried to make it as easy to follow for everyone as I could.

the herc helm i was referencing was 15 dex 30 attack and 2 TA. from what i see, its only 2 less TA, and 4 less dex than the kendatsuba, but 45 attack more than the kenda.

All you need is one TA Proc, or 2 DA procs to cap out on hits for shun right? i think if you do gere+regal, that should put the set i linked at 21% TA, which would have pretty good odds of getting at least one TA in there yea?

looking at it - youd have a difference between the two sets of

1. 14 less dex
2. 160ish more attack power
2. 2 Less TA
3. maybe 60 less accuracy overall?

on high evasion targets, yea i can see kenda being better for sure - but thats why im asking - it just didnt shake out logically.

oh no thats totally fair. i can clearly see where its going to be good for melee situations. asking if the gearsets were up to date, was just me asking if they were actually up to date as i couldnt wrap my head around the logic used to come back to that set.

E.G. i dont want to go sinking ~200M on kenda gear if its not actually the best thing to use. hopefully that clarifies where im coming from on this.