Ninja: Heaven-Sword (And Beyond)

IV. Credits and Sources
V. Changelog Section

Start of Discussion

I. Introduction!

This is Leggerless dropping in with the one-stop, tourist-friendly Ninja guide! I went on a nostalgia trip back to my FFXI days with the Samurai and Ninja and decided “It’s time to be the ULTIMATE NINJA WARRIOR!”

I invite whomever reads this to join me on a journey in “Ninja: Heaven-Sword.” I shall cater to those who are new to FFXIV, starting out as a ninja, and veteran ninjas. There’s even a slice of pie for you theorycrafters as well. Let's prove to the FFXIV community we’re a DPS class that’s fun to play and worth the time. Your contributions and discussion are instrumental for this goal.

Terminology

GCD: Known as “Global Cooldown.” The recast timer for many abilities on all classes. The standard value is at 2.50 seconds and decreases as your skill speed increases.

DoT: Damage over time. Skills that do damage after initial activation fall under this category. Examples are Mutilate and Shadow Fang.

AoE: Area of effect. Any ability that affects multiple targets within a given area, whether that is on targeted ground or around the caster. Example is Katon.

Enmity: Used interchangeable with threat, hate, or aggro; this is a measure of how much an enemy sees you as a threat. If you gain too much, the enemy will target you instead of another party member.

”Clipping:” Applying a DoT effect while it is still active on the enemy. It’s typically advised to avoid doing this. Clipping also refers to moving when a non-instant spell cast is at ~90% completion; upon moving, you are still able to finish the action.

Cooldown: The time it takes before you can use a particular ability again. Term is interchangeable with “Recast Time.”

Animation Lock: The unlisted time it takes for you to be able to cast another spell right after your first cast. FFXIV:ARR likes to play out the ability animation after each use; it adds flair (or “FABULOUS”-ness) to your ability. This value hovers somewhere around .5 - 1 seconds; Animation lock time is different for each skill, but the difference is small.

Ability: A spell that your class/job may use. Interchangeable with weaponskill or skill.

Enter: The Ninja

A ninja is a warrior in the shadows; a silent assassin who takes down their enemies without drawing too much attention to themselves. In FFXIV:ARR, you are a DPS class. A damage dealer, a drunk driver; interpret it however you will, but your main objective is to take down your enemy swiftly employing the methods available to you whether it be by sword or car. In order to become a ninja, you must have a level 30 Rogue, a level 15 Pugilist, and have completed all of the Rogue quests. As a ninja, the two classes you may sub from are Pugilist and Lancer.

Going back on the note that you are a DD, remember these particular pointers below:

1. Learn the mechanics of a fight. Say something like “Hey guys, first time here” at the beginning of a dungeon run so the other group members know and can offer to teach you. Watch an example fight via Youtube if needed (if you’re into doing that sort of thing). Some people may not be too willing to carry you in the group if you don’t know what you’re doing!

2. Avoid the reddish-orange circles and paths that enemies make appear on the ground. You can’t do damage if you aren’t even alive to dish it out!

3. Avoid pulling aggro from your tank. Look at the indicators to the left of a target’s name. General rule of thumb:

If it is a red square (100% threat): Stop what you are doing, let the tank get threat, and hope you don’t die.

If it is a orange triangle (>=75% threat): Be cautious in going all-out in your damage. You’re at the tipping point.

If it is a yellow triangle (>=50% threat): Keep an eye out for any sudden changes, but you are free to carry on with your rotations.

If it is a green circle (<50% threat): FIRE AT WILL!

4. Avoid bashing the tanks/healers without good reason. They’d be more than happy to let a mob tear your face off for a free chuckle if you push them to do it. I play a tank and healer class too; I always love playing out these scenarios in my head.

I am a tank. What do I do if a ninja appears in my group?

Treat a ninja like you would any other melee dps.

If you do not know how to do that: keep the target(s) facing one direction for as long as possible. If you, the tank, are constantly moving around the mob you are holding threat on, then all of the melee classes have to move as well in order to properly execute their attacks. It’s a hassle for the entire group, not just one person.

**LordTiberiusRex** · 07-12-2015 12:31 AM

II. Abilities

A ninja is just like any other melee class, where you have combo actions that follow after using a weaponskill. What sets the ninja apart from, say, a dragoon or monk, is that some abilities, such as Assassinate and Katon, are mimic abilities from other classes put together into this one class in addition to a low number of positional attacks and enmity-reducing abilities. If I were to give a simple description of what a ninja is: a melee utility class.

On-GCD

L1:Spinning Edge: Delivers an attack with a potency of 150.

L4:Gust Slash: Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action with “Spinning Edge” to have a potency of 200.

L8:Mutilate: Delivers an attack with a potency of 60. Has a 30 potency dot that lasts for 18 seconds (30 seconds at level 44) on application.

L15:Throwing Dagger: Delivers a ranged attack with a potency of 120. Range of 15y. This is one of your only ranged attacks.

L26:Aeolian Edge: Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. 180 when executed from a target’s rear. Combo action with “Gust Slash” to have a potency of 240 and a potency of 320 when executed from a target’s rear.

L38:Dancing Edge: Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action with “Gust Slash” to have a potency of 260. Additional effect reduces target’s slashing resistance by 10% and HP recovery via healing magic by 20% for 20 seconds. This is similar to a Warrior’s “Storm’s Eye” and replaces that effect if used.

L42:Death Blossom: Delivers an attack with a potency of 60 (increase to 100 at level 48) to all nearby enemies. Radius of 5y. This is your spammable AoE skill.

L46:Shadow Fang: Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. Combo action with “Spinning Edge” to have a potency of 200. Combo bonus is a DoT with 40 potency over 18 seconds.

---Heavensward Abilities---

L54:Armor Crush: Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. 160 when executed from a target’s flank. Combo Action with “Gust Slash” to have 220 potency and 280 potency from flank. Extends Huton duration by 30 seconds to a maximum of 70 seconds.

As of 3.1, the following changes to GCD abilities are now in place:

Mutilate: TP cost has been reduced from 80 to 70.

Shadow Fang: TP cost has been reduced from 70 to 60.

Off-GCD

L2:Shade Shift: Create shadows that nullify damage up to 20% of maximum HP for 20 seconds. Cooldown of 120 seconds. Bubble Shield ability. Currently, this ability only blocks physical attacks.

L6:Kiss of the Wasp: Increases physical damage dealt by 5% (20% at level 36). Additional effect at level 36 changes “Jugulate” to stun. Cooldown of five seconds and shares cooldown with Kiss of the Viper.

L10:Hide: Makes you undetectable to enemies, but reduces movement speed by 50%. Cannot be executed in combat and does not work against enemies 10 levels higher than you. Does not work against bosses!

L12:Assassinate: Delivers an attack with a potency of 200. Can only be used on enemies with less than 20% HP. Warriors have Mercy Stroke and Ninjas have Assassination.

L15:Mug: Deliver an attack with a potency of 140. Additional effect includes an increase in items dropped if used as or right before the finishing blow. With Kiss of the Viper active, 50% of Mug’s damage is returned to you as HP.

L18:Goad: Refreshes TP of a single party member for 30 seconds. Cooldown of 180 seconds. This cannot be used on yourself!

L22:Sneak Attack: Delivers an attack of potency 100; 300 potency if in front of target. Changes to 300 and 500 potency at level 32. Can only be used while under the effect of Hide or Suiton and shares recast timer with Trick Attack. Cooldown of 60 seconds.

L30:Kiss of the Viper: Increases physical damage dealt by 10% (20% at level 40). Additional effect at level 40 changes Mug to return 50% of its damage as HP. Cooldown of five seconds and shares cooldown with Kiss of the Wasp.

L34:Jugulate: Deliver an attack with a potency of 80. Additional effect is a one second Silence. Wasp Venom changes the Silence effect to a two second Stun.

L50:Trick Attack: Deliver an attack with a potency of 240; 400 potency if behind target. Rear bonus increases targets damage taken by 10% for 10 seconds. Can only be used under the effect of Hide or Suiton and shares recast timer with Sneak Attack. Cooldown of 60 seconds.

---Heavensward Abilities---

L52:Smoke Screen: Creates a wall of smoke, reducing enmity of a single party member. Range of 25 yalms and cooldown of 180 seconds. Similar to Quelling Strikes, where it reduces the enmity you generate, rather than a reduction of current enmity.

L56:Shadewalker: Grants target party member the effect of Silhouette, diverting 80% of all enmity generated to your doppelganger. No effect when target is under the effect of Shadewalker. Duration of 15 seconds, range of 25 yalms, and cooldown of 120 seconds.

L58:Duality: Doubles the number of non-critical strikes for a single-target weaponskill. Combo bonuses and additional effects will only be applied once. Duration of 10 seconds and cooldown of 90 seconds.

L60:Dream Within a Dream: Delivers a threefold attack, each hit with a potency of 100. Cooldown of 90 seconds.

Do not be afraid to intertwine your On-GCD and Off-GCD Abilities! It is through the mixing of these two types that your DPS will be at its greatest potential! This also applies to Ninjutsu and Additional Abilities below as well!

Kiss of the Wasp vs. Kiss of the Viper

ALWAYS HAVE ONE OF THESE TWO ACTIVE AT ANY GIVEN TIME!

Wasp is used when you need to stun your opponent. Viper is used when you need to silence your opponent. The only skill both Kisses effect are Mug and Jugulate; they both give a 20% damage increase at level 50. Nothing too fancy about these two. Viper is typically used as the standard poison at level 50 and only switched to Wasp when you need to stun.

As of 2.45, these skills will increase only your physical damage and auto-attack damage!

Ninjutsu

Ninjutsu requires an entry sequence of “mudras,” Ten, Chi, and Jin, to create a particular action which you then click on to use. A ninjutsu action costs no MP or TP, but all mudras share a recast timer of 0.5 seconds and all ninjutsu actions have a cooldown of 20 seconds once used or exhausted. Mudras and ninjutsu actions are all off-GCD. 1M, 2M, and 3M to the left of the ninjutsu action will state how many mudras you must cast in order to use it. Each mudra, Ten, Chi, and Jin, will be unlocked at 30 (1M), 35 (2M), and 45 (3M) respectively along with the ninjutsu actions that use them in their sequences. Each of the mudras has a duration of five seconds. If a mudra timer runs out, the ninjutsu 20 second cooldown kicks in.

L30:Ninjutsu: Executes a specific ninjutsu coinciding with the mudra sequence made beforehand. If any other ability, spell, or weaponskill is used while in the process of making a ninjutsu skill, the ninjutsu will fail and, if casted, create a cute bunny that sits on top of your head for a bit doing nothing.

L40:Shukuchi: Move quickly to the specified location. Cannot be used while bound. Cooldown of 60 seconds. Range of 20y. Click once to ready, then click again on the ground to cast. Independent of Mudras.

L50:Kassatsu: Resets the ninjutsu recast timer and ensures the next ninjutsu action is a critical hit. Duration of 15 seconds and cooldown of 120 seconds. Independent of Mudras.

Fuma Shuriken (1M): Any one of the Ten, Chi, or Jin mudra to cast. Delivers a ranged ninjutsu attack with a potency of 240. Imagine Hadouken with a giant throwing star as the projectile and that’s a pretty accurate description.

Katon (2M): Chi -> Ten or Jin -> Ten. Delivers fire damage with a potency of 180 to target and all enemies near it. Black Mages aren’t the only ones who can Fire II now. A way to remember: Katon = Molten.

Raiton (2M): Ten -> Chi or Jin -> Chi. Delivers lightning damage with a potency of 360 to target. Be careful with kites while using this action. A way to remember: Lightning = Lychee = Light Chi.

Hyoton (2M): Ten -> Jin or Chi -> Jin. This is an exception to our 2M designation as this action is unlocked at level 45. Delivers ice damage with a potency of 140 to target. Binds for 15 seconds. This will probably be your least used ninjutsu action in PvE combat. A way to remember: Hyoton = Frozen = Ten-Jin.

Huton (3M): Jin -> Chi -> Ten or Chi -> Jin -> Ten. Increases attack speed by 15%. Duration of 70 seconds. Works for both weaponskills and auto-attack. A way to remember: Jackie Chan = Jin-Chi-Ten.

Doton (3M): Ten -> Jin -> Chi or Jin -> Ten -> Chi. Creates a patch of corrupted earth dealing damage with a potency of 30. Also inflicts heavy on enemies inside of the circle. Summoners bet with a Shadow Flare? Ninjas raise with a Doton. A way to remember: Got your feet = Jin-Ten-Chi.

Suiton (3M): Ten -> Chi -> Jin or Chi -> Ten -> Jin. Deliver water damage with a potency of 180 and grants Suiton for 10 seconds. Suiton lets you use Sneak Attack or Trick Attack outside of Hide. Where Gatorade fails, Suiton succeeds. A way to remember: The song from Mulan, of course! We must be swift as a coursing river! “BE A MAN!” = “Ten-Chi-Jin!”

Like what Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures would say: “ONE MORE THING!”

Huton is the bread and butter of a ninja’s damage output. You receive a 15% increase to your attack speed, which reduces your GCD and auto-attack interval, which in turn lets you throw out more attacks against your opponent and ramp up your DPS.

The easiest way to explain Huton’s significance in a fight is with this analogy: Greased Lightning is to Monks as Huton is to Ninjas.

Cross-Class

Pugilist

L4:Featherfoot: Increase evasion by 15% for 15 seconds. Cooldown of 90 seconds.

L8:Second Wind: Instantly restores own HP at a cure potency of 450. Cure potency varies with your attack power.

L10:Haymaker: Deliver an attack with a potency of 170. Can only be used immediately after evading an attack. Additional effect includes a 20% Slow for 12 seconds.

L12:Internal Release: Increase critical hit rate by 10% for 15 seconds. Cooldown of 60 seconds.

L42:Mantra: Increases HP recovery via curing magic by 5% for self and nearby party members for 15 seconds. Cooldown of 120 seconds.

Lancer

L2:Feint: Deliver an attack with potency of 120. Additional effect is a 20% Slow for 10 seconds. This weaponskill is on GCD.

L6:Keen Flurry: Increase parry rate by 40% for 20 seconds. Cooldown of 90 seconds.

L22:Invigorate: Instantly restores 400 TP. Cooldown of 120 seconds.

L34:Blood for Blood: Increases damage dealt by 10% and damage received by 25%. Cooldown of 80 seconds.

Here’s my Top Five Choice Pick:

Second Wind, Invigorate, Blood for Blood, Internal Release, and Featherfoot.

A skill to heal yourself, a skill to restore your own TP, a skill to increase damage output, a skill to increase critical hit rate, and a skill to increase your evasion rate if everyone, for whatever reason, wants you dead.

Mantra? With only a 5% bonus, compared to the Monk’s 20% bonus, it pales in comparison.

Feint? It’s a GCD ability. Dragoons have double the duration of the Slow effect and it doesn’t mesh well with any of the ninja combos.

Keen Flurry? One could argue that since a Ninja has dexterity as a main stat, their parry rate is increased and this skill would further augment it. I chose Featherfoot instead because it grants a chance to evade an attack entirely.

Haymaker? Hm. This one I’m ambivalent on. You could switch out one of the top five above, but then you would lose a duration buff, heal, or TP regen ability.

Heavensward Abilities: Details

Earlier, I only provided tooltips for the new abilities in Heavensward. Down here, we’re going into more detail on just what they’re capable of.

Smoke Screen

There’s a Summoner in your group, who’s putting DoTs left and right on enemies making your parsers jump from all the AoE damage. Perhaps there’s a White Mage who’s stuck on “Overheal” mode and is trigger-happy. With great damage or healing comes great threat. This is where Smoke Screen comes in. Using this ability on a party member decreases the enmity they generate, so they’ll be able to damage or heal more with fewer enmity gains.

Armor Crush

In 2.0, we originally had 3 combos and Mutilate. With Armor Crush, there’s a new 3-action combo in the fold we consider in our rotation. As Huton is equivalent to Greased Lightning, we place Armor Crush first on the priority. Huton no longer needs a re-cast, as Armor Crush adds to the existing Huton timer on your ninja. Instead of wasting a mudra on Huton, we can use that mudra to cast a different ninjutsu.

Shadewalker

Inexperienced tanks--or tanks that cannot generate threat quickly enough--are likely to lose threat on a mob to a DPS or healer. With Shadewalker, 80% of the enmity you generate is transferred to whomever you placed the buff on. The skill is like you handing someone an airhorn in an airport; you provide them the means to generate enmity quickly.

This is only the enmity you generate, not the entire party’s enmity generation. You should only place this skill on tanks as they’re the person keeping the mob’s attention off the rest of the group.

Duality

Only applies to single-target weaponskills. As of Heavensward, you have the following single-target weaponskills: Spinning Edge, Gust Slash, Shadow Fang, Armor Crush, Mutilate, Aeolian Edge, Dancing Edge, and Throwing Dagger. This ability grants two, non-critical strikes for any single-target weaponskill.

I ran ANOVA with a Tukey comparison test on my spreadsheet for Dancing Edge + Duality, to see if the second strike benefits from Dancing Edge’s resistance debuff applied from the first. The result? If the debuff is down, both strikes are treated as it being down; if the debuff is up, both strikes are treated as it being up. Additionally, using Duality with skills such as Shadow Fang and Mutilate do not apply a second DoT along with the first; only the first strike’s DoT goes into effect.

Dream Within a Dream

Going to a level 50 Ninja, we gained two Off-GCD abilities we could spam whenever they were up. Dream Within a Dream is another one of these abilities. If Mug is a damage/self-healing Off-GCD and Jugulate is a stun/silence Off-GCD, then DWaD is our high damage Off-GCD that we can spam whenever it is up. The ability does exactly as the tooltip says: it delivers three back to back 100 potency strikes--all of them hitting the target about the exact same time.

As DWaD, like Mug and Jugulate, is affected by Dancing Edge’s slashing resistance, rotations tend to place DWaD after DE. DWaD’s strikes have critical hit chances independent of each other; you can make anywhere from 0-3 critical hits from DWaD.

**LordTiberiusRex** · 07-12-2015 12:32 AM

III. Ninja R&D

Now we arrive at the fun part! I name this section R&D because much of the content found here, such as BiS loadouts, rotations, theorycrafting, etc., is volatile and subject to both heavy debate and rapid change.

Theorycrafting!

Theorycrafting, like raiding or PvP, is another endgame. Readers, if you have anything that is theorycrafting focused on ninjas, I’ll ask that you post in the thread.

Mathematical Formulae

(Credit: Dervy, Wordpress. 3.0 Critical Hit Chance & Damage Formulae)

Critical Hit Chance:

((CRT-354)/(858*5))+0.05

Critical Hit Damage:

((CRT-354)/(858*5))+1.45

In 3.0, critical hit damage and chance are now affected by your critical hit rating.

Skillspeed on GCD:

2.50245-((SS-354)*0.0003776)

Skillspeed on DoTs:

((SS-354)/7722+1) – Note, this fits into “BUFFS” for damage calculation

Enemy Level

Enemy level has no major significance on damage output. The same amount of damage you deal to a level 50 or level 60, you will also deal to a level 1. Enemy level is an independent factor and does not affect damage output.

Attack Min/Max Range

Quite literally: Average Damage +- (Average Damage * 5% [.05]). For example, your average damage output given a set loadout is 100. Expected damage value from an attack would be between 95-105. Applies for both weaponskills and auto-attack damage values.

Potency

Let’s say that a skill at potency 100 does X damage. A skill at potency 150 does Y damage which happens to equal ~1.5*X damage. Potency is a multiplier that you attach onto your base weaponskill damage like so: (Potency * .01005) * WS DMG.

Auto-Attack

It starts as soon as you initiate any action that damages your opponent. It is continuous so long as you are in melee range. AA on your target stops when you click/tab off of your target or if the target you are currently attacking dies.

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 ping and lasts for three seconds after the last ping. 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)

What about clipping?

During your rotations, you’ll notice that using a DoT or DE refreshes the timer on a target. Considered bad as it reduces your potential potency output, many avoid overwriting their durations on buffs. The single target base rotation in this guide is a general solution remedying the issue.

Korashy Trillian from Diabolos proposed this question to me in a thread:

Originally Posted by Korashy

The question is:

If SF is at 7 seconds (1 second away from ticking) and I refresh shadow fang, back to 18. Is it now still 1 second away from ticking (duration simply extended) or is 3 seconds away from ticking (duration refreshed + tick timer refreshed (dot clipping)).

Answer: The former. You’d still be one second away from ticking, so it is only a duration extension.

Clipping reduces the amount of ticks your previous application could have. For example, if you clip Shadow Fang at 3 seconds, you receive five ticks instead of the usual six ticks, according to this formula: [(DoT Effect Duration)/3]. The clipped Shadow Fang had a lifetime of 15 seconds, therefore five ticks are expected. Remember, ticks are based on a server’s timer, not your own DoT’s timer (see disclaimer above). If you clip the first SF at three seconds with another SF refreshing the timer back to 18 seconds, you have 11 expected ticks; the five from the clipped and the six from the full, compared to two full SF’s with 12 expected ticks.

BiS Loadout!

Also known as “A Practical Application of CPLEX and OPL.”

Patch: 3.07 | Added here on: 12/09/15

Weapon Damage: 10.775
Dexterity: 1.000
Determination: 0.141
Critical Hit Rate: 0.166
Skill Speed: 0.074

Note: Solvers are what come out of Operations Research; you have a function to maximize/minimize and constraints (like accuracy) to adhere to. Example is below, using the five numbers above:

Max: 10.775*W_D + 1*D + 0.141*D_e + 0.166*C_h + 0.074*S_s
Acc >= 647

BiS in Ariyala’s Solver (Miqo'te Seeker | 3.1 | 3.07 NIN Weights | >= 647 Accuracy w/ Food)

BiS in Ariyala’s Solver (Miqo'te Seeker | 3.1 | 3.07 NIN Weights | >= 647 Accuracy w/o Food)

If you don’t want to buy food all the time, do the w/o food version. If you can or are willing to afford the food, do the w/ food version.

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/Paladin/Dark Knight after some time fighting a mob, or pulling a large mob right after you eliminate a group. If a Warrior is in Deliverance using Equilibrium, you may avoid Goading them.

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.

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, staff, or flying sphere in their hands. Don’t do it; save yourself the ridicule.

Rotations!

Watch where you step. Like they say in Top Gun, you just entered… the “DANGER ZONE!!” Why am I calling it that? This is the main hot water topic you’ll find throughout all of Eorzea. And the internet.

Click here for a link to my Ninja Research (includes opener visual) spreadsheet

Main Combos

1. Spinning Edge (SE) -> Gust Slash (GS) -> Aeolian Edge (AE) [2.0]

2. Spinning Edge (SE) -> Shadow Fang (SF) [2.0]

3. Spinning Edge (SE) -> Gust Slash (GS) -> Dancing Edge (DE) [2.0]

4. Spinning Edge (SE) -> Gust Slash (GS) -> Armor Crush (AC) [3.0][Ninja Exclusive]

AE is your heavy hitter/damage combo. SF applies a DoT effect to your opponent. DE reduces your target’s slashing resistance and healing received. AC extends an active Huton by 30 seconds. If you have “Huton” active, you can go through each combo and Mutilate once within about 16-17 seconds (Huton decreases your GCD to two seconds, rounded down).

Base Rotation (Single-Target)

The spreadsheet under Rotations provides a visual opener. Here is your priority chain:

AC > DE > SF > MU > AE

If the first one is up, move to the next. AC = Huton/Armor Crush. AC may replace AE and still maintain this base rotation:

DE -> SF -> MU -> AC|AE -> DE -> SF -> AC|AE -> DE -> MU -> SF -> AC|AE -> DE -> SF -> AC|AE -> MU -> DE -> SF -> AC|AE -> Repeat

Let’s examine the sexiness to this beautiful rotation. DE has 2 or 3 spaces between actions, SF has 2 or 3 spaces between actions, AC|AE has 2 or 3 spaces between actions, and MU always has 5 spaces between actions.

If there is >= 40 seconds on Huton after using Aeolian Edge or Armor Crush, then use Aeolian Edge. If there is < 40 seconds on Huton after using Aeolian Edge or Armor Crush, then use Armor Crush.

Why 40 seconds? It is the allowable time Huton lasts if you do AC/Huton -> AE before you recast AC, factoring 1-2 mudra sequences, a bit of GCD bleed, and moving around a bit during your rotation.

If we break down the base rotation’s On-GCD combos into each separate action involved, then we get a far larger rotation to look at. Remember, the following still doesn’t include any Off-GCD skills; it is only On-GCD skills:

SE -> GS -> DE -> SE -> SF -> MU -> SE -> GS -> AC|AE -> SE -> GS -> DE -> SE -> SF -> SE -> GS -> AC|AE -> SE -> GS -> DE -> MU -> SE -> SF -> SE -> GS -> AC|AE -> SE -> GS -> DE -> SE -> SF -> SE -> GS -> AC|AE -> MU -> SE -> GS -> DE -> SE -> SF -> SE -> GS -> AC|AE -> Repeat

Please remember: this is a base rotation. The purpose is a guideline for how one can keep up Huton, DoTs, debuffs, and durations ~100% of the time. In certain cases, such as breaking away from your target, you’ll use Shadow Fang and Mutilate over Dancing Edge. For comparison: Dragoons have about 11 combos in their base rotation, whereas Ninjas have 18 combos in the rotation above. Ninjas can also start with any combo/Mutilate and still maintain a rotation well. There’s many variations to the base rotation established above which makes Ninja complicated, yet quite exciting.

Here’s what’s funny about the priority chain and the first base rotation of AC > DE > SF > MU > AE above: It has the highest opening potency if there are no other Warriors or Ninjas, but only if the target is alive for a short amount of time. If the target will be alive for longer than 20 seconds, opening with SF delivers more damage. Longer than 30 seconds and MU delivers more damage. Ninjas have a special curve ball where the time it takes to eliminate our enemy can change our openers. Possible permutations where each combo is repeated once, you have five factorial--120--permutations. Where there’s five combos but you choose four of them just once it’s also 120 possible permutations. In a case where you could repeat choices, you’d be looking at a possible 3125 permutations for five choices, and 625 permutations for four choices on openers. That’s a lot of choices!

The priority chain is designed with both your own DPS and other group member’s DPS in mind. If a target will be alive for longer than 30 seconds, your Ninja will put out the most damage opening with MU -> SF, compared to DE -> SF and SF -> MU. The values may differ as your GCD decreases, yet within a small tolerance MU -> SF still places higher. If a target will be alive for longer than 20 seconds, then SF > MU is better than MU > SF.

AC > MU > SF > DE > AE

If you were to maintain ~100% on all the debuffs of SF, MU, and DE starting with SF using a priority of SF > MU, your rotation would look like this:

SF -> MU -> DE -> AC|AE -> SF -> DE -> AC|AE -> MU -> SF -> DE -> AC|AE -> SF -> DE -> MU -> AC|AE -> SF -> DE -> AC|AE -> Repeat

For that same ~100% uptime by starting with MU, using a priority of MU > SF:

MU -> SF -> DE -> AC|AE -> SF -> DE -> MU -> AC|AE -> SF -> DE -> AC|AE -> SF -> MU -> DE -> AC|AE -> SF -> DE -> AC|AE -> Repeat

If another warrior is keeping up Storm’s Eye or if another Ninja is keeping up Dancing Edge, then you replace all instances of DE with AE. Parts in the first base rotation with “AC|AE” follow our 40 second rule still.

AE -> SF -> MU -> AC|AE -> AE -> SF -> AC|AE -> AE -> MU -> SF -> AC|AE -> AE -> SF -> AC|AE -> MU -> AE -> SF -> AC|AE -> Repeat

When in doubt about choosing a rotation, your best bet is to use something like the first base rotation with the AC > DE > SF > MU > AE priority chain, as it is the most adaptable.

This is the Ninjutsu priority chain:

Huton > Suiton > Raiton|Fuma Shuriken (more info below in "Raiton vs Fuma Shuriken")

Huton is the best Ninjutsu action you will ever have right now. It decreases all ability GCDs and increases auto-attack rates. Suiton is the prerequisite for Trick Attack without Hide, which grants you and your party an extra 10% on all attacks for 10 seconds. Raiton and Fuma Shuriken are quick strike Ninjutsu actions used whenever Huton is up and Trick Attack is down.

Example Rotation (Multi-Target)

In Multi-target rotations, your goal is to take down as many enemies as possible in the shortest time possible. Compared to other classes, Ninjas are more lackluster in the AoE department. Below is an example of a Multi-target run:

Chi (0s) -> Ten (.5s) -> Ninjutsu (1s) -> Kassatsu (2s) -> Chi (3s) -> Ten (3.5s) -> Ninjutsu (4s) -> Death Blossom x 10 (5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23s) -> Chi (24s) -> Ten (24.5s) -> Ninjutsu (25s)

General Tips, Tricks, and Extras

Our current guide update joke:

Significance of Huton

Single-target Extras

If Trick Attack or Sneak Attack is off their cooldown, then use Suiton and follow up with one of those two skills; if available, use a Kassatsu with a Raiton right after (an example of this: Suiton -> Trick Attack -> Kassatsu -> Raiton). If they are not off their cooldown, use Raiton instead. Use the combos above, additional abilities, and Off-GCD skills in the meantime while Ninjutsu is on its cooldown.

If there is a warrior in your party that is regularly applying Storm’s Eye (Hint: icon on the enemy status bar is a pink axe) or another ninja regularly applying Dancing Edge (Hint: you should know what it looks like by now), then you may opt out of DE. A suitable replacement for DE is AE; it will take the same amount of time to execute and is higher potency. In all other cases, DE should be used as it increases ninja, warrior, dark knight, and paladin damage towards the enemy.

With On-GCD skills, your main goal as a ninja is DoT, duration, and debuff upkeep via SF, DE, AC and Mutilate. Compared to Summoners, it’s a similar tactic with the use of Bio, Miasma, and Bio II. When all three (or two if a warrior/ninja is around in the DE warrior case above) are up, you should switch over to AE. When a DoT or debuff is about to go down, switch back over to the respective combo or ability to apply them. Wax on, wax off. Like a ninja turtle.

Mug, Jugulate, Duality, and Dream within a Dream should never be off their cooldown. If they can be used, use them. The exception is Duality; that skill should be paired with either AC or AE. They’re damage abilities that cost no TP to use with a cooldown. The same applies to Blood for Blood and Internal Release if you have those as additional abilities. In the case that you need to time Jugulate for an enemy’s mechanic, avoid spamming Jugulate to be able to cover the mechanic. You can also hold off on spamming these skills if a burn phase, such as Titan’s heart, is about to show up.

Multi-target Extras (>= 3 enemies)

Prioritize having Doton up, then using Katon if a Kassatsu is available right after. If there’s more than three mobs, spam away with Death Blossom, buffed by Blood for Blood and Internal Release if you have them. When there is only one to three mobs left then switch over to single-target mode. If there are exactly three mobs at the start of the fight, begin with Doton up; at this point, you may choose between multi-target and single-target methods. If the life expectancy of a mob group is <= 20 seconds, start off with a Katon instead of a Doton.

Remember boss phases and mechanics! If there are many mobs present but you need to take down one particular enemy quickly within the group, you will be better off using the single-target method instead of the multi-target method. Additionally, if you need to quickly burst down a large mob and don’t have the luxury of time, you may start with a Katon instead of Doton in the Multi-target method.

Huton

Keep this up at all times. If it is down, use the next ninjutsu action to reapply it. 70 seconds is enough time for you to fit in three ninjutsu actions. Use this one at the start of battle or a few seconds beforehand. As mentioned earlier, use Armor Crush in your rotation for Huton upkeep.

Raiton vs Fuma Shuriken

Many ninjas are aware of “mudra lag;” your mudra actions work slower than expected. Occurrences are more common in dungeons compared to open world, but this issue is still present. Even stat weights are adjusted based on the amount of mudra lag one has. Let’s compare the two below. Over a long fight, mudra lag accumulates and any unused time adds up and a large DPS drop ensues. Let’s explore the differences of Raiton and Fuma Shuriken below:

Raiton is a 360 potency lightning damage attack that uses 2 mudras in its sequence. In many rotations, Raiton is the preferred choice for a quick strike Ninjutsu action. If mudra lag is causing issues, performing Raiton will cut into your GCD, which delays your On-GCD rotation.

Fuma Shuriken is a 240 potency physical damage attack that uses 1 mudra in its sequence. Both Kisses enhance the damage of Fuma Shuriken, as it is considered physical damage. Dancing Edge enhances Fuma Shuriken as the Ninja’s method to deal physical damage is through slashing. Neither Kisses or Dancing Edge boost Raiton’s damage.

So which should be used and when? Raiton should be used when the user is not experiencing a lot of mudra lag or when the Bard has Foe’s Requiem up. See below for the damage increase:

Foe's Requiem * Raiton = 1.1 * 360 = 396 potency.

Fuma Shuriken should be used when you’re experiencing heavy mudra lag, or simply want to fire off a quick Ninjutsu action. Fuma Shuriken is also preferred when you consistently have your GCD sitting for more than half a second every time you cast Raiton. See below for damage increase:

(Dancing Edge + Kiss) * Fuma Shuriken = (1 + (.2 + .1))*240 = 312 potency.

Comparing DE+Kiss Fuma Shuriken to regular Raiton, we have a difference of 48 potency; this is about one tick’s potency from Shadow Fang difference in damage. Adding Foe’s Requiem creates a difference of 84 potency, equal to about two ticks’ potency from Shadow Fang difference in damage. From these numbers, Raiton is always a better choice when Foe’s Requiem is up. If Foe’s Requiem is not up, then it is situational and dependent upon other factors such as mudra lag to determine whether Fuma Shuriken or Raiton is the better choice.

PvP

...Wait. Am I playing the wrong game? Final Fantasy and PvP? What FFXIV:ARR guide covers this?!

Ahem.

FFXIV:ARR is a PvE-centric game. That being said, it is one of the primary reasons that talk about PvP within the game is omitted among most, if not almost all, guides created by the community. In light of this, I believe it would be unwise to exclude the portion of the community that are currently PvPers and/or have an active interest in it. I’ll admit; I have not participated in PvP all too much since its inception, so many of the tactics and strategies I present are based upon experience in other games besides FFXIV, like PlanetSide 2.

Where do I fit in as a ninja?

Familiar with the Rogue from World of Warcraft? Much of my explanation will connect back to that class.

If you are not familiar with that example: the ninja is the only job currently with a stealth ability. That means people cannot see you easily! What do you do with that power? Why, sneak up on your enemies! The ninja is the element of surprise in your group; if deployed effectively, it could very well change a defeat into a victory.

Don’t worry too much though; the combos and tricks that you have learned while in PvE will not change too greatly. Well... just one teeny, tiny difference that may cause a somewhat catastrophic effect. Instead of a target that has rigid and set mechanics, you’re dealing with an entity that has fluid and ever-changing tactics. That’s going to cause quite a shock to first time PvPer’s! You know what I’ll say to that though? That’s alright! You may feel intimidated the first time you try out PvP in this game. That’s a perfectly normal response. Through practice, you will get better at it.

Strafing

Strafing is the act of moving from side to side rather than forwards and backwards. A great example of this in practice is a “circle strafe,” where one continually moves in a circular motion, whether it be clockwise or counterclockwise, in order to disorient the opponent. Another example, and one I typically employ, is a strafe maneuver I call the “infinity strafe”, where one moves along the lines of an imaginary infinity symbol around their opponent.

Crowd Control

Suppressive fire, controlling the enemy’s actions, etc. Crowd control in FFXIV:ARR is done through status debuffs such as Stun, Silence, Bind, and Sleep. Employing these debuffs effectively will not only make your enemy have to react to them, but also give you a much higher chance at victory.

PvP Abilities

Weapon Throw (3): Delivers a ranged attack with a potency of 50. 20% chance of inflicting heavy for 6 seconds, and also removes the sprint effect. Range of 15y. Cooldown of 90 seconds.
U1: Shortens recast time to 60 seconds.
U2: Extends Heavy duration to 9 seconds.
U3: Increases effect potency to 40% (i.e. 20 -> 40% chance of inflicting Heavy).

Enliven (2): Instantly restores 50% TP. Cooldown of 240 seconds. Like Invigorate, but for PvP.
U1: Shortens recast time to 180 seconds.
U2: Increases TP recovery to 75%.

Purify (1): Removes all detrimental effects. Can be used regardless of own status affliction. Range of 30y. This means you can use it regardless of if you’re stunned, silenced, etc. Cooldown of 180 seconds.
U1: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds.

Overwhelm (3): Rushes target and delivers an attack with a potency of 150. Cannot be executed while bound. Range of 20y. Cooldown of 90 seconds. Similar mechanics to Monk’s charge ability.
U1: Shortens recast time to 60 seconds.
U2: Increases potency to 180.
U3: Adds stun effect with a two second duration.

Ill Wind (3): Delivers an attack with a potency of 170 to all nearby enemies. Radius of 5y. Silences afflicted targets for two seconds. Cooldown of 150 seconds.
U1: Shortens recast time to 120 seconds.
U2: Increases potency to 200.
U3: Silence duration is now 3 seconds.

Malmsight (1): Locates enemies in a 50-yalm radius in front of you and displays them on allied maps for 10 seconds. Cooldown of 150 seconds. This skill is comparable to acoustic location.
U1: Shortens recast time to 90 seconds.

Detect (1): Reveal the location of nearby enemies under the effect of Hide. Radius of 20y. Cooldown of 180 seconds. This is the PvP ninja counter skill.
U1: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds.

Recouperate (2): Restores 20% of maximum HP on self. Cooldown of 180 seconds.
U1: Shortens recast time to 150 seconds.
U2: Increases HP recovery to 30%.

Tactics: Communication is Key

FFXIV:ARR doesn’t lend itself to be anywhere near as complicated with PvP compared to games such as, say, ESO or Planetside 2 when it comes to small group tactics. The rule of thumb: a good team exercises effective communication. This can even be demonstrated without a single verbal/written command from a group member or group leader; this is the point where a group reaches what I’ll call “Nirvana.” Each person will automatically know how to act and adapt to any given situation almost as if they can see the future. Let’s go back to reality though; unless you are either a first-timer prodigy or part of a very, very experienced group, you’re going to have to communicate to your teammates. This can be done through VOIP (TS, Mumble, etc.) or in-game chat. If you’re the kind of person who dislikes using in-game chat, my first suggestion to you would be to find or create a group using VOIP as a medium you all can access.

**LordTiberiusRex** · 07-12-2015 12:32 AM

IV. Credits and Additional Sources

Credit List

Leggerless Hanzou of Balmung: Author and Main Editor.

Dervy Yakimi of Cerberus: Theorycrafting and Formulae.

Vik Vicious of Hyperion: Ninja Superthread creator on FFXIV forums.

FFXIV Community: General Contributors and Commentation.

Additional Sources

BiS Calculator (Ninja)

Theorycrafting tests related to Ninja

Video Guides

Originally Posted by Firana

I have completed my video guides for Ninja which you may be interested in adding in as I feel they compliment your guide well.

Here is a link to the old guide (2.4):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjlmnKtGGbw

And the new updated guide (3.0):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqBBlq59pj0

More to come!

**LordTiberiusRex** · 07-12-2015 12:33 AM

V. Changelog Section

Note: All dates are in DD/MM/YY format.

11/07/15: Guide published to Official Forum’s BB Code.
11/07/15: Hotfixes to tooltips. Added “General Tips, Tricks, and Extras” section under “Ninja R&D.”
14/07/15: “Overhaul” Update: BiS recovered with 2.55 weights, Single-Target Rotations updated, section on Heavenwards Abilities added, PvP sections merged, Duality Test on spreadsheet, Abilities edited, Introduction section shortened, and general editing.
21/07/15: "Patch 3.05:" Updated BiS with 572 accuracy caps (for Ravana EX) with and without food. Added YouTube guides, per Firana's post.
22/07/15: "BiS Comparison" Hotfix: Added a mathematical comparison between the w/o food version and w/ food version of the BiS Loadouts.
30/07/15: “Updating Update” Update: Added a new joke under “General Tips, Tricks, and Extras.”
09/08/15: "They've gone to Plaid!" Update: The GDoc guide is converted into a wordpress-based website! I'm leaving the GDoc version up for one week before I revoke the shareable link. The Wordpress site has a search function, archives, and is easily accessible from any device you own. Another way to put it: "For the Ninja on the go." Additionally, based on a mechanics test I've recently completed (See "DMG Resistance Test"), I re-wrote a few equations in the OP. BiS Loadouts I'm leaving unchanged for now because I do not have all Savage Accuracy caps. If this changes before my next weekly or bi-weekly update, I will hotfix it in. Categories previously under "Rotations" I've moved under "General Tips, Tricks, and Extras."
17/08/15: “Combing the Desert” Hotfix: Unlike Spaceballs, this isn’t literal. Did a general hotfix on Duality after reviewing Viridiana’s catch here. My mistake on the miswording. Any sections discussing the topic are adjusted. Also adjusted are a few tables under the Theorycrafting section on the WordPress version.
25/08/15: "Necessary, but meh" Hotfix: The launch of 3.07 incurred no significant change on the Ninja so only the guide version number is updated.
04/09/15: "Formulae FOR EVERYONE!" Update: Added in the new changes to critical damage and critical hit chance formulae; skillspeed formulae are also added. The Damage Formula for Ninjas will be expected in another update soon.
07/09/15: "Weighing In" Update: BiS Loadouts were updated. They are based off the preliminary stat weights for the MNK as NIN is currently unavailable. Both loadouts have >= 640 accuracy and are guaranteed suitable for A1S - A3S. These loadouts will be updated when NIN stat weights are released.
12/09/15: "BiSmarck" Update: That's right folks, the 3.0 Ninja Stat Weights are finally here. Time to get excited and gear up optimally for your future raiding endeavors. The next expected update will be on 3.1's release.
09/11/15: "Turkey Time with 3.1" Update: Quotation added in Abilities under GCD stating the TP reductions in Shadow Fang and Mutilate. BiS is adjusted for >= 647 accuracy, 3.1 gear, and has without and without food versions. General cleanup and wording changes done throughout the guide. Website version taken down, so I may work on only one version of the guide. Another version--or the GDoc version--may created in the future, but is not being worked on currently. Perhaps we'll expect more ninjas with the mudra fixes? Keep your eyes peeled for new and returning ninjas in light of the changes.

**Evangela** · 07-12-2015 01:22 AM

oh hello, fellow shinobi from Balmung.

**Manu-Kesna** · 07-12-2015 01:41 AM

Awesome! A new topic

I am trying to learn to be good at ninja, with 130ms latency is possible to do good right? Other than using FUma instead of Raition, it wont affect anything else in my playstyle/DPS?

**Arkenne** · 07-12-2015 02:42 AM

Well its great to see someone is taking their time to put this together, great job!!
Lemme point some stuff:

GCD: Its true name is “Global Cooldown.” This value is the recast timer for many of your abilities. The standard value is at 2.50 seconds, and decreases as your spell speed increases.

Its Skill Speed, you might confuse someone :/

L54:Armor Crush: Delivers an attack with a potency of 100. 160 when executed from a target’s flank. Combo Action with “Gust Slash” to have 220 potency and 280 potency from rear. Extends Huton duration by 30 seconds to a maximum of 70 seconds.

Flank :v

L2:Shade Shift: Create shadows that nullify damage up to 20% of maximum HP for 20 seconds. Cooldown of 120 seconds. Bubble Shield ability.

Just a reminder, the skill is currently only blocking Physical attacks. Not sure if a bug or a tooltip error. But I bet for the former.

L52:Smoke Screen: Creates a wall of smoke, reducing enmity of a single party member. Range of 25 yalms and cooldown of 180 seconds.

This skill is confusing in the tooltip, it doesn't affect the enmity the targeted party member already has on the enemy, but the enmity that party member is generating from appliance and on. Like Queling Strikes.

The only skill both Kisses effect is Jugulate; they both give a 20% damage increase at level 50. Nothing too fancy about these two.

They also effect Mug D:!!! Yes I know the effect is ridiculously unnotisable (totally forgot the life-vamp for months), but its there!

We have terribly great differences in rotation preferences, but this is whats so cool about NIN
Also, add a tip and tricks section, Hide and Shadewalker are amazing, you know?

**LordTiberiusRex** · 07-12-2015 03:26 AM

Originally Posted by Evangela

oh hello, fellow shinobi from Balmung.

*waves* Hello to you too!

Originally Posted by Manu-Kesna

Awesome! A new topic

I am trying to learn to be good at ninja, with 130ms latency is possible to do good right? Other than using FUma instead of Raition, it wont affect anything else in my playstyle/DPS?

Nope, it won't really affect anything else in your playstyle. I will say, however, to stick with only 1 Off-GCD action between On-GCD actions as a precaution so you don't risk heavy bleed through your GCDs.

And thank you Arkenne; I'll make those changes now on both versions. Actually. Double thank you, as this guide is also around on Reddit right now too.

**Manu-Kesna** · 07-12-2015 04:10 AM

We have terribly great differences in rotation preferences, but this is whats so cool about NIN

I am new to ninja and this left me with questions lol. What do you mean by that? What other rotation is there to ninja and does it matter which one I use? (Better dps or harder\easier to use?)

Thread: Ninja: Heaven-Sword (And Beyond)

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