Random Ninja equip/merit q's

[Avinor]

About to hit 75 and had a few questions on some Ninja specifics:

Ninjutsu skill:
I don't have any other magic merits, nor do my other jobs need any, so I may as well max these out. Does it make much of a difference overall though? And would it be useful to go about collecting a +skill gear set to carry around? My inventory is pretty full as is.

Tier 1 Merits:
My first impression was that it would be nice to increase the -resist duration on the more useful spells (suiton, maybe huton and raiton). Do they make much of a difference overall though?

Tier 2 Merits:
Seemed the general consensus were the spells were just pretty to watch. Do any of them give a better -resist effect, or are they just a tad more damage?

Unji:
How much of an improvement over Fudo in the offhand? I wasn't planning on getting one since I also wasn't planning on using NIN to merit much since I have sword chucks for WAR, but it would be an opportunity to get parry skillups. But at over a mil in today's gil, I figured I'd just stick with the cheaper alternative.

Misc. enmity gear:
Right now my tanking earrings would be Ethereal and Loq. carried over from PLD. I was planning to pick up a single Eris+1, any other worthwhile suggestions? Similarly, would the enmity shuriken be worth buying, or simply stick with Fen. stone/lolRosen? And for hand gear, should I invest in Yasha+1, or would Dusk and S.kote cover enough situations to preclude them from use in most fights?

Mostly I'm just trying to prioritize stuff based on limited money and space. I can obviously see what gear might be useful, but I'd like to hear from experienced NINs on what they really end up using.

[_Zoolander_]

Unji is a step up from fudo in the off hand, but if your looking to pinch some pennies, fudo off hand is fine.

Arhats Gi +1 is great to tank in, and having the arhat head piece+1 is nifty for -phy dmg setups. Dusk gloves and S. Kote are usually the best for most situations. What you are tanking and what you are subbing should determine what kind of armor setups. /DRK goes more towards haste to lower stun and recast times, while /WAR, you can go a variety of options depening on if you are meleeing for hate, kiting, or not just meleeing/using an earth staff. /brd...lol go naked and you would still keep hate ><

If you don't/can't afford a cerberus mantle, a really nice back piece (and cheap) is high breath mantle. 5 enmity is pretty nice to have in one slot, I generally bring two to events if I'm using it, incase of a death. (Enchantment lasts 30 min, recast is 30)

As far as merits...meh. Pretty much all of the ninja job merits are dissapointing/worthless. Merited ninjutsu skill helps some...but ninjas best merits are really from combat skills (katana) and +critical hit %.

[Krandor]

Ninjutsu skill:
If you have no other magic to merit, you might as well skill this up. You won't notice any major differences in you're landing ability outside of soloing, moreso with the fact that RDM debuffs are stronger then most Ni Level ninjutsu now
Tier 1 Merits:
The Subtle blow is ok for soloing, most of the magic merits are fairly minor though. I think some people like meritting the Suiton one to help BLMs land Thunder spells easier. I've personally never touched the Tier 1 merits outside of a few points in Subtle Blow.
Tier 2 Merits:
IMO, I think they're all garbage, and not really worth the merits.

Unji:
Your offhand is really a matter of opinion. I switched from Fudo to Unji awhile ago and like the slightly higher speed, but the loss in WS damage might bother some people.

Misc. enmity gear:
I only used my Yasha Tekko for Kiting, but tbh I have PLD for most kited fights, so I don't bother anymore. I keep S kote/Dusk/AF+1/AF2 on me. S kote for abit of face tanking or evasion, the haste and other handpieces should be obvious.

I think Lamian Kaman+1 is the hot ticket Ranged item of late for tanks, and it would be pretty useful for NIN as well as PLD, I use it for both jobs (well the NQ anyways, dont' want to drop the gil buying a HQ and still working on getting one synthed). Especially if you're doing /DRK tanking, the +2 enmity from the Shuriken wouldn't be terribly noticeable, though the price on your server might be different from Asuras. I think here's it fairly expensive and not really worth the gil to me.

My run of the mill HNM tanking gear consists of (I guess I should point out since my LS prefers PLD/NIN I have no real desire to level my /DRK for NIN, we have more then enough NIN/DRKs anyways)

Earth Staff
Lamian Kaman
Arhat's Jinpachi+1 (or Turban)
Harmonia's Torque
(NQ *cough*) Eris Earring, but I also have Ethereal/Loq if I ever level DRK
Arhat's Gi+1
S Kote/Dusk/AF2
BQ Ring/Sattva
Cerb Mantle
Swift Belt/Warwolf
Byakko's Haidate
Fuma/AF2/AF+1 Feet

90% of the time though if I'm actively tanking something as NIN, I'm doing it in full DD gear.

[Alastaire]

Krandor pretty much covered everything, only thing I have to add is that stocking Ninjutsu skill+ gear is pointless just because, realistically, you will never have room for it when it would actually be useful. Every event I go to, it's always a question of, "Okay, what can I afford NOT to bring."

[Avinor]

Krandor pretty much covered everything, only thing I have to add is that stocking Ninjutsu skill+ gear is pointless just because, realistically, you will never have room for it when it would actually be useful. Every event I go to, it's always a question of, "Okay, what can I afford NOT to bring."

Yeah I've managed to clean up a bit to make room in Locker and Safe, but I rarely get to leave my mog with less than 50 in inventory, so if I can avoid pieces with marginal use, particularly rare/ex ones, all the better.

[Mikeal]

Ninjutsu skill:
If you have no other magic to merit, you might as well skill this up. You won't notice any major differences in you're landing ability outside of soloing, moreso with the fact that RDM debuffs are stronger then most Ni Level ninjutsu now

Everyone says "solo only" "land enfeebles" but it also improves your spell interruption.

Tier 1 Merits:
The Subtle blow is ok for soloing, most of the magic merits are fairly minor though. I think some people like meritting the Suiton one to help BLMs land Thunder spells easier. I've personally never touched the Tier 1 merits outside of a few points in Subtle Blow.

Tier 1 blows, case and point.

Tier 2 Merits:
IMO, I think they're all garbage, and not really worth the merits.

Tool expertise is nice if no Relic hands.
otherwise thing of these as additional hate tools

Unji:
Your offhand is really a matter of opinion. I switched from Fudo to Unji awhile ago and like the slightly higher speed, but the loss in WS damage might bother some people.

Parse it and decide for yourself, everyone is full of shit about this. It depends on your setup, and what merits you already have.

Misc. enmity gear:
I only used my Yasha Tekko for Kiting, but tbh I have PLD for most kited fights, so I don't bother anymore. I keep S kote/Dusk/AF+1/AF2 on me. S kote for abit of face tanking or evasion, the haste and other handpieces should be obvious.

Enmity gear is useful, but if you want hate you use /brd or /drk and then you don't need a shitload of enmity most of the time.

[Stilgar]

S kote = shura kote?

Maybe it's a stupid question, but I have honestly never seen one uncursed.

OH LOL I'M DUMB. SEIRYUU.

[Ravenlokk]

S kote = shura kote?

Maybe it's a stupid question, but I have honestly never seen one uncursed.

OH LOL I'M DUMB. SEIRYUU.

qft




lol im jk <3

[Grey Jorildyn]

Krandor pretty much covered everything, only thing I have to add is that stocking Ninjutsu skill+ gear is pointless just because, realistically, you will never have room for it when it would actually be useful. Every event I go to, it's always a question of, "Okay, what can I afford NOT to bring."

i always felt it was worth carrying even if just trying to land kurayami on tiamat or something else. i pack 320 ninjutsu, full merits, and it's never let me down. i carry ninjutsu gear with all my gear sets; attack, enmity, or solo. i recommend it.

[LinktheDeme]

Ninjutsu skill:
I would do it if you dont plan on leveling any other type of mage job otherwise i wouldnt bother with it. Its decent for soloing VT+ and some NMs nothing too groud breaking tho
Tier 1 Merits:
the subtle blow one is great for solo and i prefer doton for kirin only mob i notice that blms have most trouble landing spells onTier 2 Merits:
ninja tool expertise and can do one in sange (For help claiming on events you go to as nin/brd i hear it helps havent bothered with it htough)
Unji:
I personally prefer Fudo because i've had higher parsing results by about 50-100 damage Average per battle. Also its significantly cheaper which allows more money for better gear so its win/win.
Misc. enmity gear:

as /war

Hades Santi
Nokizaru shuriken
eris earing x2
the enmity +3 torque (Forgot name at moment)
arhats head (+1)
arhats gi (+1)
yasha tekko (Or that +3 enmity one is good too from assault)
mermaid ring
Jelly, bomb queen, or bloodbead
yasha boots
arhats pants +1
warwolf
high breathmantle

as /brd

Earth Staff
nokizaru surikent
eris x2
+3 enmity torque
Walahara head
arhats gi (+1)
yasha or dusk (depends if kiting or not)
mermaid ring
other same 3 as above
arhats pants +1 (Or haidate or BPants if you have)
fumas
swift belt
high breath mantle

lamian kaman and the lamanian back piece are good but situational, IE wyrms and JOL. There really good for /brd because most of the time you dont need the hate. Alot of time i take off + enmity gear because other tanks cant grab hate when i /brd

People say cerberus mantle is good but its not better in my opinion. High Breath mantle has more enmity and +40 hp cant really beat that. Its cheaper as well only down side is if you die or zone youll lose it which is why i normally carry two. Resentment cape is good for JOL most other things high breath would trump it

[Alastaire]

Krandor pretty much covered everything, only thing I have to add is that stocking Ninjutsu skill+ gear is pointless just because, realistically, you will never have room for it when it would actually be useful. Every event I go to, it's always a question of, "Okay, what can I afford NOT to bring."

i always felt it was worth carrying even if just trying to land kurayami on tiamat or something else. i pack 320 ninjutsu, full merits, and it's never let me down. i carry ninjutsu gear with all my gear sets; attack, enmity, or solo. i recommend it.

If you have room for it, by all means. Personally I never do.

[Zilong]

You'd be spamming Kurayami/Hojo for hate anyway, if the first one doesn't land, the next 30 or so are bound to.

[Denchi]

You guys don't use Gigant Mantles? I picked one up and push 1800HP while tanking which i like. But if High Breath is really that much better I could save myself some money.

[Alastaire]

You guys don't use Gigant Mantles? I picked one up and push 1800HP while tanking which i like. But if High Breath is really that much better I could save myself some money.

I've been trying to ENM for one for a while now, but it's not dropping. ._.;

[LinktheDeme]

You guys don't use Gigant Mantles? I picked one up and push 1800HP while tanking which i like. But if High Breath is really that much better I could save myself some money.

once your past about 1.4k of hp theres really no point to add on more because your either sacrificing enmity or haste gear something that the HP gear cant out do. Unless you have people constantly SATAing you for hate but still without haste gear your utsusemi timers are kinda iffy on certain mobs.

Whats your gear set up?

[Denchi]

For most things I just use (bear with me, I'm still pretty gimp)

Weapon: Earth Staff (Build TP and do Spirits Within to open most of the time)
Head: Arhats +1 or Turban
Neck: Eva Torque
Earrings: NQ Pigeon
Body: Arhat's +1
Rings: Jelly/BQ
Back: Gigant
Waist: Warwolf
Legs: Byakko Haidate
Hands: Dusk
Feet: Fuma
Ammo: Happy Egg

Eat Pescatora mostly, sometimes Tacos

[LinktheDeme]

For most things I just use (bear with me, I'm still pretty gimp)

Weapon: Earth Staff (Build TP and do Spirits Within to open most of the time)
Head: Arhats +1 or Turban
Neck: Eva Torque
Earrings: NQ Pigeon
Body: Arhat's +1
Rings: Jelly/BQ
Back: Gigant
Waist: Warwolf
Legs: Byakko Haidate
Hands: Dusk
Feet: Fuma
Ammo: Happy Egg

Eat Pescatora mostly, sometimes Tacos

id say tacos over pescatora, and insteada pigeon go with eris unless your sjing bard and maybe drk?(not sure too much on how to do /drk). High breath insteada gigant is for sure though. Also nokizaru suriken is normally better than happy egg. and harmonias torque almost always trumps evasion/spirit torque

[Krandor]

You guys don't use Gigant Mantles? I picked one up and push 1800HP while tanking which i like. But if High Breath is really that much better I could save myself some money.

I'm Galka, I don't need the HP on either job.

If you're desperate for an HP backpiece use High Breath. The loss of some HP is well worth the big enmity boost.

[Bluedemon]

About to hit 75 and had a few questions on some Ninja specifics:

Ninjutsu skill:
I don't have any other magic merits, nor do my other jobs need any, so I may as well max these out. Does it make much of a difference overall though? And would it be useful to go about collecting a +skill gear set to carry around? My inventory is pretty full as is.

Tier 1 Merits:
My first impression was that it would be nice to increase the -resist duration on the more useful spells (suiton, maybe huton and raiton). Do they make much of a difference overall though?

Tier 2 Merits:
Seemed the general consensus were the spells were just pretty to watch. Do any of them give a better -resist effect, or are they just a tad more damage?

Unji:
How much of an improvement over Fudo in the offhand? I wasn't planning on getting one since I also wasn't planning on using NIN to merit much since I have sword chucks for WAR, but it would be an opportunity to get parry skillups. But at over a mil in today's gil, I figured I'd just stick with the cheaper alternative.

Misc. enmity gear:
Right now my tanking earrings would be Ethereal and Loq. carried over from PLD. I was planning to pick up a single Eris+1, any other worthwhile suggestions? Similarly, would the enmity shuriken be worth buying, or simply stick with Fen. stone/lolRosen? And for hand gear, should I invest in Yasha+1, or would Dusk and S.kote cover enough situations to preclude them from use in most fights?

Mostly I'm just trying to prioritize stuff based on limited money and space. I can obviously see what gear might be useful, but I'd like to hear from experienced NINs on what they really end up using.

Ninjutsu skill, Tier 1 (Subtle Blow) and Tier2 (Ninja Tool expertise) are fine if you have alot of time on your hands to merit, but not really important. There are some way better and more important things to merit before even touching these though.

Unji is a marginal upgrade from Fudo, but an upgrade none the less. It just depends if you want to be a little bit better or not. Fudo is still by no means a slouch katana however. Its still very practical and useful.

If you sub WAR to tank, Get both Eris+1 and your Nok. Shuriken. You'll need just about every single emnity piece you can equip. If you sub DRK or BRD you can get away with less emnity gear. My pro Taru tip: Merit emnity as well if you want to sacrafice more emnity gear (in my case, I do this in exchange for HP gear).

[Eulore]

This is what I used for HNMs:

Earth staff
Nokizaru Shuriken
Walahra Turban
Harmonia's Torque
Eris' Earrings x2
Arhat's Gi +1
Dusk Gloves
Bomb Queen Ring
Sattva Ring (Mermaid's Ring is good too)
Resentment Cape (Also have Gigant Mantle, too much stuff to carry around a High Breath Mantle or two)
Warwolf Belt (Swift Belt macroed to casts)
Byakko's Haidate
Fuma Sune-Ate

I used to keep full enmity gear on and macro into haste gear, but that can be hard on healer's, especially any outside of the alliance. Also this is going to be my setup for nin/drk (I'm lazy and it's only 31) which I'll need to mainly stay in haste gear for.

As for Unji, I love mine. The higher TP gain, quicker hits, and bonus to WS from the STR and DEX on the katana fits my style. They both parse pretty close to each other, but in my experience the unji sub generally parses higher. If you're on a budget and don't have some major pieces, or if you have a better meritting job like ridill war or something, go with the fudo. If you're hardcore about nin merit damage, go with the unji.