Ninja: Heaven-Sword (And Beyond)

[Subucnimorning]

I got a bit of a late start in HW...i'm conflicted on Esoteric vs Alex NM gear slots. Sorry if the below has already been asked 70 times!

I have i200 weapon already and am 15 Esoteric short this week on chest/pants slot.

My problem is I haven't started collecting pieces for the Alex NM chest piece yet and the Esoteric chest is Skill Speed which I know is not optimal especially with long term TP issues we have. Should I just buy esoteric chest and get Alex NM legs so I can get the higher ilvl gear quicker or should I take the slower path (and probably more optimal) and get esoteric pants and start the slow process of Alex NM chest? Decisions, decisions... any help is appreciated greatly.

[Mystina]

i did weapon > legs > belt > feet. i got the alex n chest and head peice for much needed acc needs until i get eso head peice..after that i might get chest unless void arc comes out and drops a new one D:!

[Viridiana]

Decisions, decisions... any help is appreciated greatly.

Well, the 190 pants are even more SS than the 200 chest is. If you're looking to up your ilvl without too much SS, I'd do pants, then chest (though the SS sucks, it's the best unless you can clear A4S), while using those weeks to get the smaller Alex pieces. Maybe hands and feet the first week?

[LucentLagombi]

So looking through the op I'm a little lost on how you would usually start a fight. Up till now I've just been doing the
huton, wait 15, 1»bfb+ir»2»mug+jug»de»suiton»1»ta+kassatsu»sf»raiton»mutilate»dream»1»2»dual»ae

But knowing that it's best to open with the dots this seems less than optimal. Can anyone help me fix my opener?

[Subucnimorning]

This is the opener i've been using and pretty much same discussed in this thread:
Suiton on pull -> SE [Kass] GS [BFB] DE [IR] SE [TA] GS [Duality] AE [Fuma/Raiton] SE [DWaD] SF [Mug] Mutilate.

This way you fit all your big hitting abilities into the TA window, if you don't do Kass before TA you will miss an ogcd (Mug) which probably wouldn't be the end of the world but it is definitely a DPS loss.

[MrCookTM]

So looking through the op I'm a little lost on how you would usually start a fight. Up till now I've just been doing the
huton, wait 15, 1»bfb+ir»2»mug+jug»de»suiton»1»ta+kassatsu»sf»raiton»mutilate»dream»1»2»dual»ae

But knowing that it's best to open with the dots this seems less than optimal. Can anyone help me fix my opener?

Your order of weponskills is fine, don't change it. But why would you double weave jug and mug before TA? What I personally do is the following:

Huton pre pull - wait 20s

Suiton while tank is pulling, 1 (B4B), 2 (IR), Dancing Edge (Pot), 1 (TA+Kassatsu), Shadow Fang (Fuma Shuriken), Mutilation (DwaD), 1 (Mug), 2 (Duality), Aeolian Edge (Jugulate)

This way all ogcd's fit into the TA window. I opt for Fuma instead of Raiton because of mudra lag, if your latency is good, just do Raiton, though I don't know if you get the final Jugulate into TA that way. I also do Suiton pre pull so I don't have to do a 3 step mudra while under B4B and IR. This is a very lag friendly opener without any double weaving (except for TA+Kassatsu which is obviously needed to ensure the TA effect for SF) and the one I personally get the highest dps out of.

[Subucnimorning]

Is there any reason to do DoTs earlier and Duality AE last versus DoTs last or does it not really matter?

[ShanaShirayuki]

Is there any reason to do DoTs earlier and Duality AE last versus DoTs last or does it not really matter?

The first choice, more uptime for your dots means better sustained DPS for the entire fight. Not to mention it'll be near impossible for your DoTs to get the benefit of your potion, BfB, IR, and TA.

[MrCookTM]

Has anyone ever tested the dps difference between the i190 gordian chest and the i200 eso chest poece?

I'm getting my 4th shaft next reset, been late to weekly alex farm. I'm definitely getting the eso pants next but I'm not sure if I should buy the chest piece right after. Ofc I'm going to buy it sooner or later anyway, but since it will be quite some time before I get my hands on a gobtwine (only started savage recently, currently on A2s, also static's more on the casual side with only a few hours of raiding a week), I'm debating if it's still worth it to get the chest over the i190 piece or if I'm better off spending my eso elsewhere for now. For reference, I already have weapon, head, belt, feet and bracelet (+pants next reset).

[ShanaShirayuki]

Has anyone ever tested the dps difference between the i190 gordian chest and the i200 eso chest poece?

Kind of difficult to test the exact difference when there are no NIN stat weights atm, though I've read that Dervy is currently working on it. For now we have to use what's posted for other jobs, such as DRG or MNK. Using those weights there is roughly a 3 DPS increase from the 190 to the 200 piece. Not to mention that secondaries took a nosedive in value with 3.0, with WD and Main Stat being more pronounced in importance.