The Sealed Dagger: A Ninja Guide

If you enjoy the job the answer is yes, it is worth the gil to invest in (this applies to all jobs, gil is a renewable resource). Ninja's have a lot of solo skill chain options,and they vary on the weapon you tend to use. Ninja is a good solo job, does well in small groups, is generally good for most ambuscade months, and can do quite well in larger endgame content too.

Pretty sure the general consensus is that Heishi (Aeonic) is the best, however it's the most restrictive to get. Kannagi and Kiko are also quite strong but are more for lower buff/smaller group type situations and more niche builds and applications. Honestly they're all worth getting.

Make what's easy for you.

Yes, NIN's can self skillchain with buff help.

Shun > Ten > Kamu > Shun is an easy one to accomplish that's not just a 2 ws chain. Kamu sucks, we just kinda live with it. There are others you can play around with also.

It's worth it if you enjoy the aesthetic of the job. NIN is win.

Just my personal 2c which means nothing to anybody:

NIN is a FFJ (for funs job), period. It's not overly impressive in any one area, but I have a ton of fun playing it. It can do a lot of little things and has a few neat tricks that makes it somewhat unique. It has enhanced survivability vs other DPS, but will get blown away in terms of sheer damage by any other skilled player on a good DD job. I love things like nuking and tanking; it's a very versatile and useful job in itself, but you won't be able to convince anybody of that because there are just jobs that can do what NIN does so much better. It is what it is, not even a real debate.

I had it geared to the max at one point, probably very outdated now. I hardly find many reasons to use it now, which is a shame. I can multi-step better on other jobs like WAR, DRK, DRG, and kill twice as fast. I can tank better on RUN. I can nuke better on (any nuke job). Lately, I've not really used it much. It's really just something i change to when I want to have fun with shadows, not getting hit, soloing stuff like AAGK etc. Most stuff wipes shadows, so it has limited practical use in a lot of events where shadows would have been a great defensive tool. Still cool though.

With that being said, this game isn't really going anywhere long-term, so there's no real reason to psyche yourself out of playing a really cool job. It's not technical like BLU or PUP, but it's active enough to keep you engaged. When properly geared, supported and played, it's good enough to get the job done, and you might end up always being the last DD standing if things go bad. People will make fun of your damage, sure, but they'll also be the first ones dead, and then brag that they "won the parse before they died" (lol).

Anyways, to answer your questions:

Which REMA to make: I would say Relic is pretty amazing from what I have seen and people have posted, but I don't have one. I wish I would have made one before. Aeonic is a lot of fun also. I have it, and it's great. There's a few Kannagi fans in here also, and they have good things to say about it. Mostly everybody agrees that Mythic is a waste of time.

NIN can multi-step a few options. Can FFXI Calc some of the common ones. I use Shun > Ten > Kamu > Shun > Shun (A) for Radiance, and then MB with Futae Raiton: San if applicable. Again, it's for funs.

As far as whether or not it's worth the time and effort, that's subjective to you. Do you want to have fun in FFXI just playing whatever you want to play? If so, do your own thing and play the damn job, it's worth having it around. If you don't think it's worth dumping several hundred million gil into a job you'll never use, then don't bother tricking it out. The best thing about NIN, though, is that MNK, SAM, PUP, and a lot of other light DDs can use many of the gear you would strive for, so it's not a waste investing in it because you'll get mileage out of it on another job.

Just my opinion though.

NIN is great for Bead farming against Quetz!

Like Buukki said Ninja isn't really the best at any one thing. However it does a lot of different things good enough, plus it is a very engaging job and it is a lot of fun (subjective). I play my Ninja a lot.

I love nin, it’s biggest problem is that it just doesn’t have a role at the moment. Other dualwielders have just blown by it in terms of damage. Blue Thf Dnc offer similar if not better versatility and have higher damage potential. Rudras is “Ten” times the ws of our primier options.

Ninjutsu isn’t really relevant in 2019

And SE decided that it wasn’t a tank anymore when they made every “tank buster” every basically ignore or strip shadows.

My nin is very well geared but tbh the only time I really use it now is for soloing VD tenzen and the one Month a year where it’s meta for ambu. I’d like more of an opportunity to bring it to things. But my cor would easily out parse my nin both equally geared. When you add cor’s buffs to that I rarely feel like it’s worth it to the group to come ninja.

Edit: I also do all my bead farming on Ninja

It does have a role. If all you ever see is which job can deal the most damage in the shortest amount of time without regard to any other possible advantage, big or small, then yeah, NIN doesn't have a role in a party. It will get outperformed by any other job in it's native class. But this is mainly a player-made-up problem, not an issue with the actual job. Some jobs just happen to deal more damage and SE makes no bones about it. If you value the little things NIN can do, then it has a use.

For most people, none of that will matter at all. Which is why you shouldn't play jobs based on what everyone else thinks. I happen to think NIN is a pretty cool job regardless of anyone else, and I'd still play it just because I can. It won't make a shred of difference in any content in this game, biggest hurdle will just be in convincing a party to allow it. Most of the time it isn't even worth debating, just keep every job on deck when needed, swap when appropriate. (I do agree I hardly play it anymore).

Last time I played ninja was when they were used in Ambu for a month. That's about it. Other than that I mostly play ninja solo.

Ninja's in the same spot Paladin is in. Another job is better at everything it has to offer. Plain and simple

Along with 7-10 other jobs.

Meh, no job is really better than the other. They all bring something different to the table. Fully geared every job has their mechanics that play well. Ninja can be used as a DD that doesnt feed TP to the mob. Ruau had it right pairing with a monk.
Was it not in the last interview where they said it's not about DPS. It's more mechanics and strategy. For God sakes, ninja can smoke a lot of DPS jobs with blade chi spam. But it's never buffed for it. Always what the war, drk wants.

I don't understand why people keep saying that.....Try blade chi with malaise on wave 3 boss, then swap to Aeolian with malaise when adds pop. You will be surprised at how high they come out on parse against AEless/magical ws less jobs.

The only thing that's limiting a job performance is limitation from players themselves.


There's absolutely no reason not to use malaise in a wave 3 run unless pt aren't using cor to begin with.




I'd say nin is a better job than pld.

Seconding everything Buukki said.

Specific to the quoted portion, the big caveat about Kikoku is that it REALLY needs augments (say, rank 10+) to compete. Otherwise it'll get smoked by Heishi or Kannagi. So, if you aren't in the position to get relic augment unlocked or the desire to pay the needed Astral Detritus, relic might be a bit less compelling.

I'm one of the Kannagi fans - not the most popular opinion around here, but I love it and I'm convinced NIN white damage meta will show up one day ;)

And, of course, outside of RMEA katanas, Ambuscade Sword and SB is pretty effective on NIN...

I do think NIN is pretty fun to actually play. It's usually not the BEST at any one thing, but it does lots of things well. Competent melee damage, lots of SC flexibility, solid physical WS and great hybrid options (if buffs allow for hybrids to shine), some additional enfeebles or magical damage, niche tanking ability, etc.


I sort of disagree with that, since lots of other jobs get more Subtle Blow II. NIN is pretty much stuck at SB+50 cap, which is really easy to hit with good TP gear (even without Auspice or Myoshu), aside from a mainhand B path Fudo Masamune. Several other jobs that can use SBII gear will exceed the Subtle Blow +50 cap a NIN can hit, and potentially do higher DPS while fighting. Niqmaddu Ring, Sherida Earring, Dagon Breastplate, Moonbow Belt/+1... Hard to justify NIN over a SB+70 SAM or DRG if you're seeking to decrease TP feed.


Why WOULD your buffers focus on the "princess NIN" to give buffs that will be awkward for the other DDs, in situations where it's better overall to give the more traditional physical damage buffs that the WAR DRK would want?

That being said, in Dynamis there are popular meta jobs (COR in particular, RNG to a lesser extent based on groups/setups) that like buffs that would play nice with Chi. So there ARE current events where it's reasonable to think you might do well with hybrid WS.

thanks for all the input! so relic wins at R15? metsu spam? what do you use offhand?

i been curious about the ambu katana off hand being viable for relic offhand myself

Hybrid ws already needs fury/frailty anyways. So the difference is just adding malaise. In alliance content its not really a big deal.

forgot to ask, what's the merit looks like?

Off hand I use the reisenjima Katana I’ve got a DM aug that adds among other things +8 stp and 3% crit rate. I’ve no idea how it actually compares I’m just a stp *** on nin so I took it and ran.

I'm a fan of 3 triple attack +stat vomit auged Kanaria for offhand personally. Capped Ochus are nice to. Dont have Fudo Masamune so cant comment on that.

Fudo masamume comes out on top when you need accuracy and attack. Otherwise, kanaria 3%ta/acc/att is good for most things. I don't even bother using my capped ochu anymore because the impressive spread on kanaria is too good to pass up. I don't like gokotai as an offhand, doesn't gain any benefit really. Main hand it for slow pull events idle set, WS, then swap to a rema. You don't even notice the weapon switch TP loss because you're starting every fight with TP.

Not sure why you're disregarding Gokotai.
If we're ignoring the hand-specific acc/att, Gokotai actually gives slightly more acc (and slightly less racc) than Fudo Masamune.
But Gokotai also has Mab for Hybrid WSs.
Also Gokotai gives DEX+15 (for Shun, Metsu and secondarily Ten too), AGI+15 (for Hi) and INT+15 (Hybrid).
Whatever MH you use, Gokotai seems to be pretty nice as an all-rounder.

Fudo has delay -5 and the Attx15 per Shadow, which is undoubtely nice, but if it leads you into the bad habit of casting Utsusemi more often than you would normally do, it can potentially lower your DPS actually.


Also, last but not least, Gokotai is virtually free if you've got Pulse weapons, Fudo Masamune is like what, 150m?

That was the whole point of the video, Capu. Yes, heavy DD can break the subtle blow cap easier with gear but they have to (in some cases) change their merits. Sacrifice a lot of TP gear to even get to that point (Also show me one SAM, DRK, DRG actually using subtle blow sets) Ninja and monk have it innately. And with Fudo path B, you're done.

But like the interview said, it's not all about DPS. You can play with the mechanics. And Fudo path B ninja paired with a Monk penance would be even more crazy than that video showed. Ninja is still viable, just everyone chooses to go the more traditional route of spray and pray.

To be fair, sams on kende so sb is pretty painless for it.

Other jobs in question can get 37 sb between rings and body though i agree with the nin/mnk doing it with minimal/no losses, drk gets 15 sb everytime last resort goes up assuming boots work like the def penalty and kick in on activation

One of the bigger advantages of ninja over other jobs is that it easily caps SB while being able to inflict Inhibit TP 10% for a good amount of time. Cycled with Penance's -30% TP accumulation and the monster will have trouble getting TP as fast. NIN also has base 27% SB and can bump it up to 37% via Myoshu without making any gear modifications. This means you cap SB on every offensive strike (including WSs) as long as you have 13 SB in any of your gear sets. Easily accomplished by Adhemar Head/Hands, any combination of Kendatsuba gear, or utilizing the correct weapon choice.

In short, NIN (like monk) effortlessly caps SB. If using a Su5 weapon, you will maintain 75 SB without changing a thing. That's much different than a heavy DD going out of their way to attain 80 SB (which is still higher, but with sacrifices).

Also, there is no logical reason as to why Ninja is not on Sherida Earring. The job spread makes no sense, and it was purposely omitted it appears. It would have given NIN capped SB without ever making a macro set for it. Lame AF.

I'm gonna take Ruau's findings further. I have R15 empy and relic h2h. And decked out ninja. But I'm gonna have a buddy get Fudo path B and start testing on other NMs to see if it will make things a whole lot easier. High tier fights, so on so forth. I'll post in here with what happens with that kind of setup.

Nothing to prove TBH, it's already well known the strategy totes a significant reduction in mob tp moves used. Tested it as recent as this month; used 1 MNK/DRK on this month's ambuscade: DRK TPing on pony (WS on Dulla), MNK on Dullahan full-time. Not sure if DRK was even using SB in his Caladbolg Torcleaver set, but it didn't appear to matter much. Saw Charging Up maybe 4-6 times the entire fight, and it was only boil 3 times (once miasma, then downgraded). It's a very manageable setup that makes certain mechanics ridiculously easier.

Problem is, players just don't employ these unique strategies often or at all, and then complain that it's another "SMN BURN ONLY" fight, "meleeing sucks". Kind of funny how so many people just throw up their hands and acquiesce to a SMN strat when they can't just bulldoze their way to a win. It's just a player mindset. No amount of videos or testing will change that until MNK is doing 75k Victory Smites back to back.

It really doesn't require that much sacrifice for a heavy DD to hit SB+50 cap or higher. ANY job really only needs Subtle Blow +25 in gear to cap, since there is no reason you wouldn't be able to use WHM Auspice (SB+25 with Empy 119 feet) in any low TP feed strat. That's pretty easy to do for most jobs with minimal sacrifice to normal TP sets:

- SAM has Kendatsuba, as previously mentioned, so it's simple for them in a fairly normal TP set (say, a SB+65 set with regularly used Ken+1 head/legs/feet, plus SB II+15 from Niq Ring/Dagon Breastplate). If no Dagon, still easy to hit SB+55. Higher SB than Ninja, much higher damage potential.

- WAR DRK DRG who don't have Dagon for SBII+10 free up a slot for Flamma+2 body (SB+17, along with respectable DD stats), leaving only 8 more SB in gear to hit cap, then SBII+5 from Niq Ring (and DRG also getting another SBII+5 from Sherida). Not hard to get same or better Subtle Blow as a Ninja, but higher damage output.

- For light DDs (say, RUN DNC THF), Adhemar Bonnet +1 (SB+8), Herculean Gloves (SB+5), and Herculean Boots (SB+6) are a minimal sacrifice (if not a normal TP piece) to help cap SB, plus the SBII gear they'd already be using in TP sets (Sherida for another SBII+5, plus RUN also getting Niq Ring for another SBII+5)

- DNC gets SB+20 from trait, /NIN (occasionally used anyway by lots of jobs for fights with deadly AoE TP moves) gets SB+15, /DNC (regularly used by some jobs, like COR) gets SB+10

- There are some good all jobs accessories that aren't huge sacrifices if you're looking to do a low TP feed fight. For example, Chirich Ring/+1 (SB+7/+10), Dignitary's Earring (SB+5), Rajas Ring (SB+5)

(minor note, there's no such thing as a SB+80 build. SB+SBII caps at 75, and only MNK can achieve that without a Su5 B path weapon)


First off, EVERY job in the game can do a path B Su5 weapon to get SBII+25 at the expense of better DPS alternatives. Nothing unique to NIN here.

Additionally, I would argue that Fudo Masamune path B is only for people with too much money on their hands.

If you only want one Fudo, Path C is way more practical since all paths are the same benefit when offhanded, but C also doubles as the best tanking mainhand. Path B only addresses the super-niche use of NIN focused on low TP feed mainhand, but makes a significant DPS sacrifice from the other mainhand options... If you have a Fudo Masamune in the first place, I guess it comes down to which niche use you want your NIN to be able to handle better: occasional blink tanking (Fudo C is a monster), or if you really see yourself using NIN more for lowman reduced TP feed setups (in which case, sure, I guess Fudo B is your choice).


The problem for NIN is that MNK is *much* better at this role.

MNK has a unique advantage in low TP feed scenarios since it has:
(1) Easy access to large amounts of Subtle Blow II from Moonbow Belt/+1, Sherida Earring, Niqmaddu Ring (which are BiS TP pieces even without considering SBII), and
(2) Penance, which is rather potent (mob STP-35% with Relic head, unresistable) and can be maintained over 50% of the time (or 100% of the time with 2 MNKs rotating)

NIN has:
(1) No SBII gear, aside from the major DPS sacrifice of mainhand Su5 path B weapon (as noted above, an option also available to every other job)
(2) Myoshu: Ichi, which for the most part is functionally useless in realistic situations since you're highly likely to already be SB capped in any normal NIN TP set. If you have Auspice, you cap SB naked on 99NIN, and lots of our typical TP gear already has SB on it. And that's before even considering you can add SB+5 in merits if you don't need to keep two 5/5 elemental ninjutsu effect.
(3) Yurin: Ichi, which is resistable by mobs (variable duration) and fairly weak (mob STP-10%), and IIRC, doesn't stack with the more potent Penance Inhibit TP

What S-E SHOULD do for NIN to actually make it excel at this role (along with MNK) is:
(1) Change Myoshu (or add a :Ni version) from Subtle Blow to Subtle Blow II. It makes me frustrated that they haven't already done this.
(2) Perhaps change Yurin (or add a :Ni version) to give it a stronger effect, and maybe un-resistable.

It really wouldn't surprise me if they did do something like that in NIN job updates, along with redoing some NIN :San spell merits (much like changes to WHM Protectra/Shellra V and BLM AMII).


You aren't wrong, but still... you only need to reduce TP moves so much. Yes, if 6 melees are beating on a mob with deadly TP moves that fight obviously might become dangerous and put too much pressure on healers. But come on, don't you guys fight things with a healer competent enough to keep the party alive regardless of whether the TP moves are 30 seconds apart or 34 seconds apart (pulling hypothetical numbers out of the air here, but the point is that we are no longer talking about mobs spamming super-deadly JAs)?

Like you said, I know a lot of WAR DRK or whatever are not willing to do something like equip a Flamma+2 body for a relatively small DPS hit (and gain near capped SB from that one swap adding SB+17), but they could do that and significantly reduce dangerous TP moves, while still having significantly higher potential DPS than a NIN (and a mob that dies faster has less time to kill you with a nasty TP move!)

Realistically though, if you're only using a couple DDs and intentionally focusing on reducing mob TP moves, it really shouldn't matter whether you go with MNK+MNK, MNK+NIN, or any other combination of MNK NIN SAM DRK WAR DNC THF DRG RUN COR whatever... While the biggest bang for your buck to reduce TP feed would be including at least 1 MNK, all you really NEED is some pretty minor attention given to (a) using Auspice and (b) DDs equipping a couple SB pieces.

The whole subtle blow system needs to be scrapped. If you can't hit me, you get no tp. Or let it go to 100%

Bloodpacts give no tp. They can leave magic so that lolblue can still learn spells. Or fix blue so that it doesnt need to see tp moves to learn.

It's really not that *** hard to fix simple problems. They just started adding PDL to break caps for jobs that are in fact dealers of damage. So why isn't there a higher SB cap for the "masters of subtle blow" why isn't there a higher enmity cap for the "masters of enmity". Why is RDM stuck with the same fast cast cap that every other job is. (not that it really matters, but the point stands) Why is a rangers snapshot cap the same as every other job.

One thing I thought of that I will give NIN Subtle Blow some minor credit for: if you're playing solo with trusts, you won't get Auspice (except for UC Pieuje), so maybe it's nice that you can easily cap SB with traits/gear/Myoshu in a situation where most jobs would struggle to do so. Perhaps useful for some highly niche cases like solo farming particular unity NMs (Glazemane?).

If you're actually fighting a difficult mob with a group and employing a low TP feed strategy, I find it ridiculous to think you wouldn't bring a WHM though - so it's pretty irrelevant for that situation.