The Sealed Dagger: A Ninja Guide

Is the ambu katana any good stat wise? Are there better ones to start out with?

It's a great starter katana actually and blade ku might serve you nicely for the time being.

Also good for fights where you want to avoid Skill Chaining. Ku Seems pretty strong with the Ambu Katana.

Is ku actually useable? Its been a long time but it used to be Hi > jin, whats the pecking order for nin ws now?

Depends on what weapon you're using.

If you're using the Ambuscade katana, Blade: Ku's very strong.

Aeonic makes Blade: Ten very strong and unlocks additional skillchain options for Blade: Shun.

Normally :ku is weak, but 60% bonus from ambu katana is enough to change it into competitive ws (for NIN standards).

Anyone have stupid buffed NIN DPS on hand?

Did a bunch of Hachimonji math because I was bored.
Capped Attack, No Samurai Roll


Capped Attack, Samurai Roll


Long story short, if you wanna Kasha with Hachimonji, hold TP as long as you can while still benefiting from Moonshade.

Not sure how it compares to currently considered options overall. Bearing in mind that critical hits aren't being accounted for, at a like, 30% rate on average?

Took the best of the above and adjusted DPS for critical hits.

Generaly speaking droping any calculations without explaining your set and resoning is at least vague.

For example 30pdl in tp would suggest you used full malignance? 122 storetp in set? Why is apr changing between sets when only change is samurai roll? You need to provide more info or else your numbers are totally irrelevant.

It'd literally take you 30 seconds to google Hachimonji yourself, but there's your link anyway.
ItemSet 372661
ItemSet 372662
Herculean = 4 WSD/15 STR

Do we even know if going stp is optimal here over kendatsuba? Stp adds hits with hachi, but afaik those hits dont give tp, so its just weak white damage. You also assumed NIN will reach 4.68 pdif in set with almost 0 attack using C- weapon. That is really only possible in some zergs and in zergs you have buffs that will let you use 1000tp bonus off hand basically making anything else irrelevant for dps.

They give TP, they just don't get modified by STP any longer. Also kinda assuming Daken procs are still regularly modified by STP. If that ins't the case, then RIP. I haven't seen any testing for it. And I don't have a Hachimonji to test with myself.

Is Kendatsuba better? Dunno. Hachimonji isn't properly implemented into any spreadsheet as far as I know. And redoing math for every conceivable gear piece, by hand, is a ridiculously inefficient use of time for what was mostly a thought piece spurred on by a question from early.

Anything that resists Geomancy is out as an option. Beyond that? Dunno. Min/Min/Honor/CRXIChaos/Indi-Fury can crank NIN up to the point that anything you can drop below 750 Def will provide full PDL benefits.

No better one to start with. It's definitely the best non-REMA non-SU5 Katana. For no reason other then base weapon damage there is nothing that even comes close. Once you add in all the other stats on it... it becomes even more ahead of all the other Katana's. It's definitely not as good as REMA's or Su5 but it's between those and all the other Rare/Ex Katana's.

I've been disappointed in the setup when I'd tried it in the past but I'll see if I can find time to parser the stp setup vs kendutsaba +1 today and see where both end up for Ninja DPS.

I've been playing with the spreadsheet from the main page and it seems to me like the Offhand Katana is not being calculated correctly... there are huge swings in DPS on Katana's that don't make sense to me. For instance compare Shigi and Taka... Shigi has 50 Acc on the Taka but the Taka has higher base damage, attk, crit hit rate etc. I would expect it to be slightly ahead of Shigi for damage unless accuracy is an issue but instead changing from Shigi to Taka drops Set DPS by over 170. The Fudo Masamunes are even worse when put into the offhand... it almost seems like they are transferring the stats of the mainhand augments into the offhand as their DPS is way higher then it should be when they are put into offhands. Am I missing something here?

Ninja can't use Nepenthe Grip +1...

Veikur is usually on point, probably meant to use Bloodrain Strap, which is all jobs and 1 less STP.

The default buffs and target have you at horrific hit rates so that 50 ACC is outweighing anything the other katana is giving you. You also need to take extra care that all buffs are exactly the same if just comparing weapons alone. I got the difference of 172 I think by copying set 1 to 2 for both tp and ws sets and then just changing the offhand of set 1 to shigi and 2 to taka which I assume is what you did. This leave that terrible hit rate in and the buffs between sets are not the same. The default setting had set one, and not two, with AM3 active and set 2 had berserk up but one didn’t.

That’s the power of proper buffs and the major flaw when people use these spreadsheets. The volume of bad numbers and assumptions most people make in those is startling and any time you see someone post a number you almost need to see their work.

In addition there are random flaws in the file. Take PDL for instance. This file is treating PDL from job trait the same as from gear. That’s not correct the trait is a straight add but gear is a percent up. So base katana pDIF non crit cap is 3.25 and then you get another .1 from trait making it 3.35 and then 10% from the JSE neck for 3.35*1.1 = 3.685. However the sheet is adding the trait .1 to the Necks .1 for a total .2 and then doing 3.25 * 1.2 = 3.9 and that’s wrong and overstating Damage.

Yup.

Also, fixed.

Thanks so much for your well thought out reply. This was my fear so thank you for confirming it. I'll poke around the spreadsheet more and try to make sure I'm doing it correctly and comparing apples to apples. Admittedly this is my first time using a spreadsheet for damage calculations, I normally parser my way to results so this is definitely a new method for me. Thanks again!

I had actually been curious if This kind of a build for the purposes of Ageha and Skillchaining would be viable. i came to 144 STP Being the maximum i could locate with /sam and no Corsair buffs

This is what i came to on paper using the same set you did - probably not exact, but paints a decent picture:

1. Daken: 155
1. Daken W/80% proc: 124 Average per round
4. WS Return: 309
3. DA: 254
3. DA+Daken: 409
3. TA: 381
3. TA+Daken: 536
3. Total Average attack round: 459

Statistically speaking it Should be very rare for you to not see at least a daken, or a triple attack on each round - and you should see both about 20% of the time. since DA Daken, and TA both pass the 350 mark, that means at a minimum you've got a 2hit build (without a corsair). with the very rare exception of where you dont daken or TA, which again with an 80% & 44% proc rate that should be extraordinarily rare.

Adding a samura+COR to the party wont actually let you get to 1000 any faster than a 2 Hit build; but it would guarantee a 2hit with no daken procs. Even on a Quad + Daken + WS youd only have 972 TP returned. That being said, the quad would still have some value in the white damage it provides, and evenmore so with the TP Overflow for getting back to 2750 faster.

Sound about right? any thoughts on how this would go for a ninja who wanted to spam kasha and ageha?

Parse. No R at the end. Parse.
"I normally parse my results so this is definitely a new method for me."
Or
"I normally run a parser to *** my results so this is definitely a new method for me."

I don't know what I was expecting from the guy that butchers every ninja spell and ability... I mean I know you're trying so that's something...

Not the first time I had to fix PDL and how it was calc'd in the sheet, guessing it won't be the last either! :D

~Fixed~

Good to know. It's obvious I'm not the greatest at the English language... or language in general sadly. Definitely one of my failings. I am trying though...

Hoping people still are able to find usefulness in my content despite those failings.

Man, don't take the comments of a troll seriously. Those videos are very much welcome for anybody, not just beginners, and they are as helpful as having a physical reference guide. Just the fact that someone is doing the work is noteworthy. Any slight incorrect statements will get caught by the keen eye of the NIN disciples :3

If you need any info on the spreadsheet or how it was written/how it's used. Don't hesitate to hit me up on Discord. Langly#1846

Awesome! I've gotten to the point where DPS windows on gear sets I'm comparing are all within each other so I'm hoping this helps me with those comparisons that are close together and hard to catch on the Parse. Much appreciated!

Like this literal guide that we already have and gets updated.

No credence to Langly? As if no one else does the work or it needed to be done? Ruaumoko made a nin guide already. Nothing new or particularly noteworthy was presented in a manner that was more streamlined. Logic couldn't even figure out when Shigi would beat Taka.

Ok Buukki.

If you're going to do work that nobody asked for, then don't get your panties in a bunch when it is criticized. It was shared to the world. Everyone wants to be the benevolent dictator. Fools think they are.


If you're redoing the fights enough times, or even video recording, you should be logging the results. The spreadsheet assumes certain conditions are maintained throughout the course of the fight. After enough fights I would take the results from the parse over the spreadsheet data, but to each their own. There's no fflogs for ffxi and probably never will be. Spreadsheets are fun to tinker with.

I don’t know what your problem is. Langly knows how I feel about his guide. So we need to ask for someone to provide videos before someone takes it on? You sound ridiculous. Literally every other day someone in game or on these forums asks a question that is answered in the main page. Yet, nobody seems to read that. The videos are well made and he takes his time trying to cover as much as he can. If there are five sources or fifty, what does it matter? You can just ignore it if you don’t want to see it.

Rua’s videos are older and don’t cover the in depth context of ninja in a similar way. They are more job evaluation guides, not to the same degree. But none of that matters because if Logical wants to make a guide for a job he really likes, so what. I’m seriously not understanding what your problem is, you’re just being negative to be negative and making aggressive commentary about someone saying parser vs parse. How childish can you get

Guys I cannot have this. MOM AND DAD STOP FIGHTING!

Logical is my favorite NIN bro that I actually play with on Phoenix. Very pleasant guy, and his videos are well made and informative - some people prefer that kind of presentation over written guides and spreadsheets, so it's nice to have these resources out there (especially as a solid foundation for newer NINs). I haven't watched them all with a fine toothed comb, but in what I've seen I certainly haven't run into any information that I felt was way off base (though I'm sure we all have our minor personal preferences). And IDK, most of the pronunciation is fine to me? Except it should be Blade "Heeeeeeeee"! ;) If that's the worst thing I can say about the guy... /shrug.

On the other hand... Mho is my wise sensei enlightening me on the Path of Nagi (just waiting for that Ambu reset to finish Alex this month... and way too many Nyzul tokens to wrap up... and then R15 here we come). I'm not exaggerating that Mho influenced me on committing to that insane project!

And certainly nobody should have anything bad to say about Langly's great work maintaining the guide here.

KNOCK IT OFF AND BE FRIENDLY NINJAS OK? :P

Hey guys,

I'm having some problems wrapping my head around how to package NIN for dynamis (straight DPS only, 0% tanking). It seems to me that NIN swims in a pool of fairly mediocre options (none bad none great) and its making me indecisive. Help me out!

Buffs (w1/2): HM/VM/Mad/Min/Schrzo Fury/Barrier Sam/Chaos (these will not change)

DPS classes multi step boss NMs primarily. Kikoku/XXX would be Shun Ten Metsu Shun. I know the aeonic is popular, honestly i'm not impressed by it or the effects of tp bonus on most katana ws (compared to other weapons). Using the Aeonic I would add another shun to that skillchain, or if time limits, drop the first shun.

Alot of ppl are hung up about going /war and i just dont see the benefit. With adhemar and Kendatsuba as gear options, +10 DA doesn't seem all that great when your getting up in the 35+ TA range. I know it is nice on some WS, but meh. Also berserk is super risky the way we do dynamis and rarely would get used.

I was reading some ppl actually sub DRG for the wsd trait which is a nice addition to dmg without the defensive penalty of berserk.

I've been enjoying my Kikoku/Blurred Knife+1 combo with /sam and kakka: ichi using my Malignance/STP dps set but im not sure its competitive (New to endgame min/max NIN not sure what i should be expecting for dmg/dps). I also like this build bc STP helps both melee dps and adds to daken (although be it small) while MA only helps melee rounds. Im using Blurred OH to supplement the MA loss while maximizing its potency with STP. Im sure you guys have doen the same and are aware of the synergy.

ItemSet 372947
Back: 30 DEX 20ACC/ATT STP 10 PDT10

Wave3 usually consists of spamming your best WS as the mobs dont live long, Blade: Ten or switching to a SB build. Initially im not keen on the tp bonus katana OH on NIN, but im aware of that option.

Thanks in advance for the help. <3