Ninja Nuances

[Kaiyuri]

I'm looking for some tips to increase my ninja dps. I mained NIN when I started playing ARR, so I'm already familiar with the normal skill priorities (switched to AST for the static when 3.0 dropped and only just switched back to NIN 2 weeks ago). I'm specifically wondering about when to pop certain skills and cooldowns. Typically I reserve IR, BfB, DWnD, Duality (with AE) and Kassatsu for when Trick Attack is up. However, I've seen other players suggest always using Duality on CD, pairing it with AC instead of AE as necessary. Similarly, I've heard Kassatsu being used on CD as well.
Since I try to Trick Attack on CD as much as possible, it's obviously difficult to get the timing right all the time depending on the encounter (no rear access, boss is about to phase change, be invuln/out of range, etc). I fear that if I'm always popping things on CD and not saving them for when I get that TA timing right, the CDs won't be available for use when I do get the TA off.

[Kaiyuri]

When opening (Huton already up), do you put up all your debuffs first before TA or vice versa? (My static runs with a WAR.)

I've also been looking to macro an alert to TA to help others line up their CDs. I've been hesitant to do so, cuz there will be instances when my timing is off, and the TA doesn't actually land but everyone would blow their CDs anyway. I'm a noob to the macro system in FFXIV, but I don't think there's a way to get around that. I figured it was better just to add the alert anyway and hope everyone knows to look for the TA debuff first.

This is what I have so far:
/micon "Trick Attack"
/ac "Trick Attack" <wait.1>
/p Trick Attack used on <t> - damage taken increased by 10% for 10 secs

I've seen other ninjas display an alert for when TA is ABOUT to be ready (5s or so?), which I believe is more helpful for everyone's preparation. Are they using a second macro just for this alert and manually hitting it when the CD is at 5 seconds?

[Arkenne]

First off, you can by pass the 1k word limit by just editing an already existing post.
Its quite the workaround solution but meh :/

2nd, yep, the only moment things will aling for everyone is the opener itself, later on it will vary depending on playstyle, mechanics and timing.
Working around other people's cooldowns will only realisitically apply for the first 30 seconds of combat which is the duration of most battles start up before something happens. Afterwards is a matter of your own for your own, and... for that, saving CDs is often just a DPS loss... not that I have the math at hand to help show it out.

The only CDs for NIN you can save up on are Duality and Kassatsu, the former being for the exclusive use of either AE or AC, and the later if you just want to play safe.

About the macro, tho, the only use I can see for them is to warn other NINs in the party, raid or alliance so they won't overwrite your TA with theirs, effectively wasting the debuff time.

[Xenon_S]

Here is what I do (personal best was 1350 by the end of seph ex, i221, havent stepped into midas savage yet)

My personal belief is TA as much as possible given mechanics and down times, as it not only increases your personal dps, but also the raid wide dps.
That means, I will wait on my ninjutsu for a few seconds, and cast suiton when I see TA has about 11 seconds left on CD, assuming you can pull it off exactly.
IR should always be paired with TA since they have the same CD
Dream, Mug, and duality should be used on CD given you can pair duality with AE
experiment with your rotation and AC timings so you can always pair duality with AE without delays
Sometimes I dely my second b4b by a few seconds so it catches the 90s off gcds, i gauge that by looking at cd remaining of duality, if you pop b4b when duality is about 17 seconds on CD it should work out
Though I would only do that if I know i can pull it off without delaying b4b by too much so that I lose out on b4b useage over the entire fight
Given sustained fights, every second TA should be able to pair up with kassatsu raiton, and every third TA should pair up with dream/mug/duality

As for opener, the standard is Suiton-SE(kassatsu/IR)-GS(b4b)-DE/AE(jug)-SE(TA)-SF(raiton)-MU(Dream)-SE(mug)-GS(duality)-AE
or the suiton in middle version, TA timing is identical on both

Your TA hits after the 4th gcd, about 9 seconds into the fight, which should line up with at least 1-2 of other dps's main burst (should catch the entirety of mnk's, at least half of drg's, half of mch's, most of bard's, not sure about casters)
Anything else (given you are the only nin) will result in a dps loss for yourself

Macros cannot queue actions, so you often end up either spamming it (and the chat) or clipping your gcd with it depending on connection, which is not a good idea.
Generally in fights where lining up TA with the dps burst matter, you should have voice chat to call it out.

If you do want to have macros, here are a few ideas

First is to make a separate announcement macro that is not tied to any actions which you can use after you cast suiton (if you have enough space on your hotbar)
Something like "/p Suiton used, Trick Attack coming soon" would work

Second method is more complicated and it only works if your TA is on hotbar 1 and you have at least an empty hotbar to use
lets say your hotbar 5 is empty, you copy your entire hotbar 1 to it and hide it
The trick attack on hotbar 1 will be replaced with a macro that would be something like this

/micon "Trick Attack"
/macrolock
/ac "Trick Attack"
/hotbar change 5 <wait.1>
/p Trick Attack Used <wait.10>
/hotbar change 1

this basically changes the TA macro with the TA skill itself by swapping entire hotbars
which means you can safely spam it without spamming the chat
the hotbar will change back after 10 seconds so the next time you hit TA it will trigger the macro again

its honestly more effort than its worth if you are just using it in uncoordinated content