The Ninja Superthread

[treuhavik]

These are the projected NIN weights. Not final, but pretty close to what they will be. Any further changes will be in the thousandth decimal place.

WD: 9.132
STR: 1
DET: 0.325
CRT: 0.226
SS: 0.215

You're the man, Derv! Much appreciated!


NEW BiS:

Flint Caviar - http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OWL4
Black Truffle - http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OWL6

Pre-T13:

Flint Caviar - http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OWL7
Black Truffle - http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OWL8

[Viridiana]

You're the man, Derv! Much appreciated!


NEW BiS:

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OX05 beats your Flint Caviar set by ~6.363 DEX weight. Naturally, it's also really expensive.

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OX09 technically beats the other one by ~0.044 DEX weight, but that's at the cost of having 40 more Skill Speed, which is not really preferable.

[Best-MNK-NA]

Best-in-Slot Equipment

Post-T13 - 535 Accuracy:

Flint Caviar - http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OWL4
Black Truffle - http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OWL6

Not quite, the BIS I listed before (http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OTEF) beats the first one by 2.028 dex and the second one by 2.239 dex. Do the math before you declare a gearset BIS. Virdiana's are even better though significantly more expensive.

Of course, Flint Caviar is essentially impossible to get in decent quantities unless you're fishing them yourself, so any gearset that includes them (for now) is really kind of unrealistic, at least on my server.

My gearset loses out to Virdiana's both by ~5 dex I think (though it's odd my math doesn't line up with her's in comparison to your BIS lists), so that's the way to go, but for my budget I think I can handle the dps loss.

I think having a "Budget" option that doesn't have any crafted gear (your black truffle set for now, though I bet a better set could be made since yours doesn't use the amazing pants), a "Medium cost' option like mine, and an "Expensive/True BIS" list with Virdania's would be a good representation of the truth.

edit: i have OX05 as 6.363 dex stronger than your flint list and 4.335 dex stronger than my list, so at least the math I'm doing is consistent. Not sure what i did wrong the first time.

[Viridiana]

I think having a "Budget" option that doesn't have any crafted gear (your black truffle set for now, though I bet a better set could be made since yours doesn't use the amazing pants), a "Medium cost' option like mine, and an "Expensive/True BIS" list with Virdania's would be a good representation of the truth.

Yeah, this is probably the best way to handle it, if we can get people on board. I'm just tired of seeing BIS lists that completely ignore crafted gear. I get that it's not a feasible option for most people; heck, I have it listed as a "someday" goal, myself. But I'm sure some people coming to this thread can afford it and might want to give it a shot.

Of course, then it starts getting wonky once you start adding in stuff like Pre-T13 variations and such, but I'm not really sure you can do anything for that. . .

[treuhavik]

I'm just tired of seeing BIS lists that completely ignore crafted gear.

The reason this happens is because the Ariyalas' calulator ignores crafted gear for some reason, even when ideally melded. So, while I normally do compare a few pieces before posting, it would take far too much time to work out every possible combination (I take care of this and my FC site while at work, I'd rather play when I'm home). Thanks for sharing these sets though. Should work nicely for me since I have Head, Belt and Feet penta-melded already.

You guys are probably right about the Pre-"final raid" sets, they do tend to stray pretty far from actual BiS, just thought it'd be nice for those looking to optimize for that encounter or those settling with the vendor weapon.

What I'll do is add a True BiS and Budget BiS using drops/tome gear only.

[Viridiana]

The reason this happens is because the Ariyalas' calulator ignores crafted gear for some reason, even when ideally melded.

Make sure the "ilvl range" setting in the solver is set to 25 or higher. Otherwise, once it settles on the i135 weapon it only drops down to i120 gear for consideration.

[treuhavik]

Make sure the "ilvl range" setting in the solver is set to 25 or higher. Otherwise, once it settles on the i135 weapon it only drops down to i120 gear for consideration.

That makes so much sense. Thank you!

[treuhavik]

This could be my narrow minded way of thinking, but for speed skill, would this only apply if you have 457+?

In the ideal situation with no lag, no mechanics to dodge;
Anything over 457+ (457 x 0.000952 x 15%) will shave 0.5 seconds off your GCD, which will fit 10 actions before jutsu timer is up, anything above a 2.0 gcd, wouldn't dex/det/crit be weighed more?

More I think about it, BiS in this game is situational. The BiS posted, speed skill is what makes that set shine. But not all fights will allow you to stand and attack. Maybe a build with higher crit/det will be more worth wild in some fights.

If you're curious, here's what I'm going for: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OXHB

It's 6.459 lower than BiS but, like you mention, all that weight is SkS. This set has 4.171 more weight in DET/Crit and 7 more in DEX. There are probably better options out there but this one fits best with the path I'm on (and it doesn't require any crazy foods).

[Viridiana]

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OX09 technically beats the other one by ~0.044 DEX weight, but that's at the cost of having 40 more Skill Speed, which is not really preferable.

Went back and played with the settings. Realized that this setup doesn't actually need Flint Caviar and can work just fine with Apkallu Omelets, with the same stats.

[LordTiberiusRex]

FFXIV Version 2.45
[*]If you have a Warrior in your party and they are using Storm's Eye with any consistancy, you can drop Dancing Edge in favor of Aeolian Edge. You may also drop Dancing Edge in favor of Aeolian Edge if you have another Ninja in your party and they are using Dancing Edge with consistency.

Changed that.

Now to add some other tid-bits.


DoT effects:

DoT’s on ninjas work a little “funny” in this game. Buffs such as the Kisses and Blood for Blood directly affect DoT damage. Dancing Edge’s slashing bonus does not increase the damage of the DoT effect, regardless of if it is applied before or after DE’s application, but it does increase the damage of the application strike on skills such as Shadow Fang and Mutilate. The tick count is as follows: [(DoT Effect Duration)/3].

Disclaimer: DoT's work on a "server-wide tick." This means that while the tick count of the skill does not change, the point in the spell where it occurs at may fluctuate (e.g. first ping in Mutilate occurs at 28 seconds rather than 27 seconds). The interval between ticks stays a constant three seconds, however.

Let’s use Shadow Fang, Mutilate, and Doton as our examples below:

Shadow Fang:

The DoT effect occurs once every 3 seconds. There are six ticks. An example visual below:

200 (18s) -> 40 (15s) -> 40 (12s) -> 40 (9s) -> 40 (6s) -> 40 (3s) -> 40 (0s)

Mutilate:

The DoT effect occurs once every 3 seconds. There are 10 ticks. An example visual below:

60 (30s) -> 30 (27s) -> 30 (24s) -> 30 (21s) -> 30 (18s) -> 30 (15s) -> 30 (12s) -> 30 (9s) -> 30 (6s) -> 30 (3s) -> 30 (0s)

Doton:

The DoT effect occurs once every 3 seconds. Note: Skill has duration of 24 seconds. There are eight ticks. The Heavy effect is applied upon the first tick and lasts for three seconds after the last tick. An example visual below:

30 [Heavy on] (22s) -> 30 (19s) -> 30 (16s) -> 30 (13s) -> 30 (10s) -> 30 (7s) -> 30 (4s) -> 30 (1s) -> 0 [Heavy off] (-2s)



Another "water under the bridge" topic concerns Goad usage:

Goad!

Is what I would like to say to get my fellow party members into action as a ninja. And you can too! Just... well, you cannot Goad yourself to action. That’s why many ninjas will choose Invigorate as a cross-class skill to make up for that. This leaves us with an important question: When do you Goad?

Let’s put this into a Do, Don’t, and Please Don’t format:

Do:

- Cast Goad on a Warrior if he/she is spamming Overpower (Animation looks like an Austin Power’s karate chop with an axe that spews enough flames to make even Ifrit proud).

- Cast Goad on a Warrior after some time fighting a mob, or pulling a large mob right after you eliminate a group.

- Cast Goad on a TP-based ranged/melee class only on request from them. Any other time it is used on them would fall under the “Don’t” section.

Don’t:

- Cast Goad on a Monk, Dragoon, Bard, or Ninja if a warrior tank needs it instead. Monks and Dragoons can use Invigorate, Bards have Army’s Paeon to restore their TP, and Ninjas can cross-class into Invigorate. Additionally, Paladins won’t need to be Goaded as they can use MP-based enmity generating skills.

Please don’t:

- Cast Goad on any class that uses MP as its primary resource. Big hint for what a MP class is: Someone with a book or staff in their hands. Don’t do it; save yourself the ridicule.