NIN vs. MNK

[EpicOreo80]

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.

[Aiselia]

Which one do you enjoy more?

Congrats, you now know which to play!

[Viperbite]

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

[Aeliott]

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)

[Transfinite]

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.

[Zakard]

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.

[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.

[Lantia]

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.

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?

[CGMidlander]

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?

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

[Amiaze]

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.