Body piece while leveling NIN

[Tinoretetito]

I am currently staticing my MNK with my friend's NIN, and we are almost to the levels with useful body pieces. He is trying to decide which body piece to use, but whenever he or I asks someone's opinion, we invariably get 1 of 3 different responses, being

A) SH for TP, hauby for WS

B) AF for TP, hauby for WS

C) Hauby fulltime

I was just wondering what opinions, and reasons for said opinions, the people on BG have on this issue.

[maddadon]

really kinda depends on the rest of the build

evasion for ninja is kinda lol-- esp when exping

hauby kicks a lotta ass

but I personally use af+1 to tp in (the thought being to hit things as fast as possible) and then switch in hauby for ws. (that and i just like the look of it).

But I know of many that use hauby full time and do very well by it.

you really can't go "wrong" by using af for tp and hauby for ws, or by using hauby full time imo. its a style thing. The main "wrong" thing I see is peeps using scorp harness... /sigh

[Ashira]

SH for TP, Haub for WS while leveling. I'm releveling NIN now with a group, and am certainly geared differently than when I leveled on my own character, but I can pretty much ichi tank at level 62 vs Colibri and Erucas using a SH, which I can't so much in the Haub.

[Amastacia]

If your party has a BRD in it, Hauby full-time.

If it doesn't, SH for TP/Hauby for WS (real answer: why are you XPing without a BRD?).

[Isiolia]

Does your static have a BRD?

Hauby works great full time with Elegy and a March, especially if mobs don't double attack much, are Paralyzed, etc.

If not, TP in SH, WS in Hauby. Use Hauby n' such if not tanking.

AF+1 is 75

74*

AF body isn't really great without Katana merits, IMO, and even then only great with sushi. No point in +5 DW if you're just going to drop 5% or more ACC to do it.

[Judai]

Most NINs use Sushi for leveling, since you are overcamping mobs 90% of the time. In that case, AF for TP and Hauby(+1) for WS. I just finished my NIN and AF Body was great and I never really had Acc problems. The few times you come accross mobs with higher evasion I used SH+1. Typically my mages sucked ass and I couldn't trust them to haste or cure me properly, so I swapped in some Evasion gear and tanked in that(body,earrings). Evasion tanking really isn't as "lol" as people like to say for Exp but I wouldn't stick Eva in all slots. Personally I'm a big fan of Af Body tho, 5% attack speed is too nice but you do need a good chunk of Acc coming from somewhere else. AF Body is even better with BRD and Mad/Min.

[Isiolia]

When I leveled BRD, it was in a static with a NIN. Typically I was doing Minuet/March, and he was using Sushi as well. I parsed all the time there so I could tweak things as needed. AF body had noticeable ACC loss the few times he tried it, so there was no real gain (actually a slight decrease in damage) compared to Haub+1.

In part it would depend on overall setup. With Min/Mad, instead if Min/March, AF would likely win out.

[Lexa]

I use SH or Haub, depending on if I need the extra dodgy-ness or not. If I tp in SH, I WS in Haub, and regardless I never use AF body in exp.

[Mrdude]

I tp'd in haubergeon regardless of bard or not. Scoropion harness is really only good for soloing, and before 59 exp. Once I got into the 70's I used af body most of the time, because accuracy really wasn't an issue, but if there was a need for the accuracy I would use haubergeon.

[Vedder]

SH & Hauby are both cheap now so get them both.

SH is probably better for when you just start out at a new camp and mobs are taking a little longer to die and hitting you more often.

The answer is basically that once you find that you can go Ni to Ichi and then have the timer back up for Ni without shadows going down, you should be a in a Hauby. Obviously, things like a BRD for March & Elegy will make this happen sooner for you.

That's just me though... I had more of a tank mentality coming up on NIN, but at 75 it totally changes and you just need to gear to rip shit up.

[Aerides]

Most NINs use Sushi for leveling, since you are overcamping mobs 90% of the time. In that case, AF for TP and Hauby(+1) for WS

OP has about 6 levels of colibri in his near future so i doubt he's popping a new sushi every other fight. Great if he can, but if not, SH for TP.

[Sprint]

Certain camps using SH the added evasion allowed me to tank Ni to Ni. Hauby I'd be casting ichi alot, so SH was better for dmg without the slow down of casting ichi; faster tp gain to ws in hauby. Something to keep in mind for all those that lol at SH in exp.

[Jayhawk]

Wear Hauby unless you are having real difficulty keeping shadows up.

[Therin]

I enjoyed SH+1 on harder monsters (ITs and so on). If I was speed-chaining I used AF and Haub for WS.

If I was in either party situation with a subtank (PLD, other NIN, or WAR/NIN with THF) I would just fulltime Haub.

[Tyr]

If you have a BRD, Haub definitely
If you don't have a BRD, SH definitely.
I rarely ever exp'ed in AF, mainly because while DW+ is great, I would much rather have Accuracy+10(+12) and Evasion+10(+12).

If you plan on exping with a Hauber, know that you'll more than likely have a higher parry because of not evading, which is a bonus I guess in itself.

IMO, Hojo + Haste is enough to allow you to keep hauber on fulltime, but to keep things extremely smooth, using hauber when elegy is in play is the best option.

Also, if you can afford it, squid sushi's a very cheap way for accuracy bonus despite snatch morsel. If the mob is on you from claim->death, then maybe you want a cheaper alternative, or just go with no food.

[yrpaine]

If you have a BRD, Haub definitely
If you don't have a BRD, drop pty and lfp till you get one with a BRD.

fixed

[evilpaul]

A) SH for TP, hauby for WS

I'd go with this unless you've got Slow+Elegy on the mobs and your party is killing really fast.

[Ryda]

I wont say you should never TP in hauby in the 60s. but you should have a VERY slow mob to do it. The question of keeping shadows up is only half of it...the other is how many more times can you attack a mob when you cast shadows 15% less, 30 eva is a 15% decrease in the mob hit rate. I would take that over 10 att and 5 str and dex if i was a tank on most things, regardless of the possibility im not taking damage.

[Toxictaru]

Haub and SH having the same Acc, I'd probably TP in SH simply for that extra evasion. It CAN save your ass. Colibri popping flurry fucks with NINs when they actually maintain hate (ie a decent NIN pre-75), and Haubergeon is going to screw with you.

That said, I didn't have to tank on NIN a whole lot, so I pretty much TPed in Haubergeon fulltime (was set with a PLD up to 70). After like, 71, I used AF body for the most part, WSed in Haubergeon. It was rare to be without a BRD or a COR, so I didn't particularly give a shit about losing the accuracy, cause I had songs. Kinda toyed with Osode for WS for a little while after 75, but a couple of days and a few threads later, Osode stayed in MH. I carry it now sometimes if I decide I want to run around in it for oldschool looks.

[evilpaul]

Probably the biggest reason you would want to use SH would be for when you have craptastic support. Not everyone gets to static with a person from their LS who's a BRD and insists on making parties only when he can get another BRD (although it's freaking sweet when that happens).

You'll also possibly find yourself in a party on Mount Z on Erucas that like to fry your ass for 900 damage at the start of every other fight because the SMN mainhealer's Barfira sucks balls, and you don't want to be caught with shadows down after that. Or you're doing green crawlers in Aydeewa Subtersomething and Slowed half the time because Haste is a luxury for the RDM's MNK/WAR-terrorist friend who gets hit a lot for some reason.