NIN vs. MNK

I want to start a melee DPS but don't want to do DRG because there are already enough of them. So I need help deciding between NIN & MNK.

Which one do you enjoy more?

Congrats, you now know which to play!

agree with aiselia try them out see what u enjoy. should not matter what anyone else plays tbh

Yeah, best to just play them both for yourself :P maybe try Pugilist / Monk first as even if you end up using NIN you'll need it for cross class skills.

Random points that might help:
*Ninja is generally the most forgiving of the two despite having more timers to keep an eye on.
*Monk has slightly fewer buttons to worry about (slightly), and their core "rotation" is a little simpler.
*Nearly all core Monk skills have a positional requirement, so you'll have to move around a lot more. Ninja only has 3 main ones to think about, Monk has 6 that are used all the time. The movement could be fun or anti-fun depending on your preferences.
*Monk has purely defensive utility (reduces enemy magic damage, increases healing received to team), Ninja has some offensive (+10% damage from all sources for 10s periodically, ally TP refresh) and other niche utility (transferring own hate / reducing ally hate)

With the new buffs introduced this week, its still kinda early to tell what is the most optimal melee DPS Dynamic Duo is going to be:

Dragoon & Ninja

or

Dragoon & Monk

Many groups still prefer Dragoon & Ninja as the more reliable and proven of the two. Plus both Elysium and Lucrezia both cleared A4S with a Dragooon and Ninja on their team giving more ammunition to the Pro-Dragoon & Ninja side. Now if you don't care about endgame raiding Savage, pick whatever you want.

personaly i started playing this game as a monk and since then....i dont enjoy playing any other class. when they introduced the chakra system of monk, i was getting kinda tierd of spamming meditation and form shift between each fight so i wanted to try ninja. i enjoyed lvling it until i hit 45...the class became much much more complexe with the last mudra and to be honest, i didnt liked the rotation with the mudra.

many ppl seem to like ninja but personaly,i didnt enjoyed it. ninja pre 45 is fine but you wont get the real feel of the class until 45.well,its the same for monk since most of the best skill are at hight lvl but personaly,i love to dance aound the monster and the form seem to make the rotation way easier to learn.

i would say monk if you want a more active gameplay since you have position on many skill (more then ninja) and easier rotation. monk animation look way better also imo and for the chakra,form shift spamming, you get used to it after a while.

Do you know your ping? If it's high, then it's highly likely you'll have a better time with Monk.
Mudra lag is annoying.

Just play whichever one appeals to you most, even if it's just the idea of it. Ninja was introduced later in the game, so you might find its questline more rewarding, so I might suggest that one, but that's just me.

I started the game as a Bard and loved it. Then I became frustrated with healers and switched to WHM to get through content. Now I won't touch a bow and arrow. I've picked up a sword + shield as PLD and a gun as MCH, as well. You can always change jobs and roles later if you what you chose just isn't working for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CGMidlander

Do you know your ping? If it's high, then it's highly likely you'll have a better time with Monk.
Mudra lag is annoying.

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And of course this is the only thing a Ninja is doing.... waiting 20 Secs and use a Ninjutsu.... oh and of course Kassatsu on cooldown... beside of this we use autohit.
Even without to much mudras we make more dps as other dps classes and with our increased move speed we are also a little bit more flexible.

Guys is it really important to be on 1st place with dps? From my site I also use some defensiv skills on my ninja and guess what? Still meet some tanks which cannot hold the aggro against me.... and enlough DPS which do much lower dps as I am... so should I change to a class which is no fun?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lantia

And of course this is the only thing a Ninja is doing.... waiting 20 Secs and use a Ninjutsu.... oh and of course Kassatsu on cooldown... beside of this we use autohit.
Even without to much mudras we make more dps as other dps classes and with our increased move speed we are also a little bit more flexible.

Guys is it really important to be on 1st place with dps? From my site I also use some defensiv skills on my ninja and guess what? Still meet some tanks which cannot hold the aggro against me.... and enlough DPS which do much lower dps as I am... so should I change to a class which is no fun?

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Some people may be bothered if they are being held back by something outside of their control.

At this point, all 3 melees can justify a spot in a raid group. On melee friendly fights, I can see a raid comp with a dragoon, monk, ninja, and machinist as pretty effective.

A few turns in savage our nin tp goes down kinda fast, I am about to have almost no skill speed on my gear (below 640) when I get some more estoric items but even then you will eventually go dry on very long savage fights, unless there is another nin goading you.

If you are not doing bleeding edge content none of this matters, and the interview with yoshi p says he is aware of it and may adjust some of our skill tp costs in another patch.

With the recent mnk changes I'd say both choices are equal.

Monk will have slightly more variance available, where you have the entire decision process of rushing a Dragon/Twin cycle, Fracture, or double Chakra (not necessarily consecutive) depending on your upcoming CDs, debuff durations, and if you need a particular stance at a particular time.

Ninja has virtually no decisions that it will really have to make in an ideal situation unless it was gaining Storm's Eye but the Warrior will soon be unable to maintain it. Its oGCD timers are longer and many, apart from Elixir Field's massive AoE, a bit more fun to see go off. If you like being able to aid the tanks, Shadewalker's threat-misdirection is great (I love using it with slow-reactive tanks in A2 normal when I'm not in the walker). It has great synergy with Warrior tanks, as you can allow them to start a boss fight in their dps stance (via your Shadewalker) and can get in extra nuke-combos (Aeolian in place of Dancing Edge). If you might be leveling with a friend who might go War, consider this, and pressure him/her accordingly.

The added two seconds to GL has been wonderful for QoL changes. You will still be dependent on your tank pulling to the end of the hall (not necessarily multiple groups, just each into proximity for chain pulling) for maintaining GL in dungeons, but T9 jumps (even pre-FormShift) and A4 Quarantines, etc. should no longer cost you GL even without really setting up for the lost time.

Hopefully NIN will recieve some TP adjustments to offset Huton no longer being recast, etc. (With very low ping, it already had TP issues compared to equal-SS MNKs and DRGs at 50...) I'd love for it not to typically the best Goad target, and yet the only one on whom Goad cannot be cast (without a second NIN to cross-Goad with).