They really need to change NIN's Smokescreen skill

[VirusChris]

When I first heard of this skill I was happy to hear Ninja's would get a skill to reduce enmity so they can't take the heat off of them and their party so the Tank can take aggro back to help them out... only to find out that Ninja's Smokescreen, like Goad, cannot be used on themselves.

What the heck man?! Are you seriously? It's a smokescreen by using a smoke bomb, it's a standard Ninja move and you're telling me I can't use it on my Ninja when I accidentally take the aggro from the Tank and he can't grab the hate back in time?

Utterly bull! Why would they do that? You can use it on your other team mates to help out but you? Isn't that the point of Smokescreen to help reduce enmity on the player and non-tank classes to help control the heat?

I find this ridiculous how is that a good game design? I've noticed in parties I've been that I end up taking the aggro even though the Tanks have the same level and ilevel as me or more and I STILL manage to grab aggro as I'm attacking super faster that builds up my Heat gauge due to Huton increasing my attack speed. Though the Tanks do manage to grab it back when their CDs are up and I'm not saying they're bad Tanks... it's just...

Why is the Ninja unable to remove their enmity so they don't get killed accidentally when they get aggro? They're not like FFXI who were unintentional part Tanks in their make-up and are glass cannons here in FFXIV.

I understand Goad as you encourage your team and Shade Walker is another type that works better for the team but why make TWO skills with the SAME effect to remove enmity on the party except the Ninja? Makes no sense.

Anyone agree they should change the Smokescreen effects to allow even the player to use it to remove their enmity? Cause I don't see ANYTHING in the description to hint otherwise using it on a team mate also effects your enmity as well.

[Houston009]

Shadewalker, is enough.

[m3eansean]

Smokescreen is really for use on your healers, so adds dont stick to them like glue when they pop (it only really helps, not as effective as I would hope it would be)

Shadewalker, is the one you place on the tank and dump 80% of your generated enmity onto them. It in a way, helps prevent you from pulling aggro, but needs to be used at the right time to be effective.

Honestly, in most cases, with a good team in endgame content. You will rarely use your enmity skills. Which is a shame to waste 2 of our Heavensward skills on enmity reduction.

[Houston009]

Only thing SE needs to do for Ninja is to fix their TP issues by:
1) Reducing TP cost of actions.
2) Make Goad effect caster too (even if it's just half).
3) Or, the dream, AoE Goad /o/

No reason why ninja should be running out TP as fast as PLD/DRK. Let's pass people Goad when i'm going to require Paeon/Promotion/Goad myself just as soon.

[VirusChris]

Honestly I never really understood Shade Walker really... I always assumed that you take the enmity from the one you cast it on and place it on a shadow clone you make to take the heat. From what I read the description it didn't say anything about that YOUR transferring your enmity to someone else in the in-game skill description. It says YOUR doppelganger and it wasn't very clear to me.

That's why I assumed that both Smokescreen and Shade Walker just did the same thing but Shade Walker took the heat off of someone to have mob attack clone to help the endanger player to catch their breath. I was they made it more clear to me which is why I never really used it or used it correctly as I wasn't sure what to do right.

I feel silly now, but thanks for clearing that help... but shouldn't Smokescreen STILL be used on Ninja as WELL as the party? Seems dumb honestly.

Only thing SE needs to do for Ninja is to fix their TP issues by:
1) Reducing TP cost of actions.
2) Make Goad effect caster too (even if it's just half).
3) Or, the dream, AoE Goad /o/

No reason why ninja should be running out TP as fast as PLD/DRK. Let's pass people Goad when i'm going to require Paeon/Promotion/Goad myself.

Yeah I noticed I run out of TP fairly quickly even with Invigorate to help restore 400 TP for myself though I do try to manage my TP gauge but sometimes it's a pain when I need to keep up damage and notice I'm running low of TP. I remember when NIN first came out its TP usage for skills were low considering the player to almost never run out of TP instead SE changed it for balance issues and now people complain they're running out of TP too much!

Ninja needs another TP restore skill to use to help themselves.

[m3eansean]

Yes Chris - thematically and practically, being able to smokescreen ourselves would be amazing. I mean they give quelling strikes to BRD, BLM and SMN, why not give ninja the ability to reduce his own enmity too?

Also I agree, the wording of Shadewalker is one of the most confusing tooltips in game. But yeah, it diverts 80% of enmity you generate to anyone you want. Tanks make the most sense ^^.

Being able to goad ourselves would be amazing, but SE doesn't want to remove that ability from the "support" dps, lest they never be chosen for endgame because they won't be needed.

[Ephier]

Smoke screen is quelling strikes for the OT so he does not have to hold back on opener. Shadewalker is for MT so he can open without tanking stance and maintain aggro. NIN is a support/utility melee dps, that allows for very high damage party compositions. I do not see what is wrong with smoke screen.

[Sen_Terrechant]

Shadwalker is godlike. It allows the tank to go straight into their DPS rotation without having to get enmity first which in turn ups the DPS of the whole raid because of it. It does have a two minute cooldown but so does Quelling strikes.

You guys literally got a Quelling +1.

[m3eansean]

I agree with the Shadewalker enabling the MT to use his dps opener.

However, this only works in static content. 98% of the time in duty finder content the MT has no idea what Shadewalker is and stands there like a deer in the headlights everytime I use it on them pre-pull. Then uses enmity moves like normal.

[Fenrir_Lokison]

Has anyone else noticed that Dream within a Dream, which claims to be a three-hit weaponskill in its description, only strikes twice? Whenever I use it, I see two rapid hits with the dream within a dream tag next to the damage, and the third strike afterward that has no tag on it. The lack of tag on the third hit leads me to believe it is actually a hit from an auto-attack. Has anyone else noticed this? Can anyone shed some light on it? Is this working as intended or is it a flaw?

Edit: Nevermind, I pulled up my battle log and just saw that the three hits were so quick that I've just been missing it.