NIN dps good now?

[Aebel]

Hey guys super casual player here with a noob question. It was always my understanding that NIN dps was super low because it offers a lot of support, I know they got reworked a while back (mudras on GCD and all that) did they end up sacrificing some support for more damage? I feel like I'm hearing that they're out DPSing DRG pretty reliably a lot.

[Sylvain]

They are and everyone's support kit has been tuned down in favor of personal output. But even if they were the worst dps, unless you'd be interested in doing the hardest content , it wouldn't affect you. Casual content such as expert roulette , normal raid and alliance have no dps check meaning the you could have all dps do less than SB tanks and still manage to clear everything without breaking a sweat.

So if you like ninja just play ninja, no need to worry about ge balance if you do easy stuff

[Aebel]

Oh for sure, it's more of a curiosity than a worry for me. I always liked the idea of a melee that was mostly support, I just never got around to playing one anywhere near endgame. Thanks for the response!

[Powercow]

Yeah, Ninja had some damage issues early in the expansion but those have largely been resolved. At most percentiles across all fights on the current raid tier, they're 4th out of 10 in terms of damage dealers, which is pretty good.

[SpeckledBurd]

Ninja's personal damage has always been low, but its raid contribution was always top tier well above what was possible with personal damage jobs like Monk in Heavensward or Samurai in Stormblood. It's given up a little raid damage for more personal damage with the design of Job's moving away from extreme party buff synergism, but it's still performing very well.

It's also got the absolute highest burst damage of the Melee (and possibly of any job?) right now and it's least punished by Disengages due to the way mudras now work.

[Yani-Madara]

I remember someone did math testing and Nin only gained 1% damage increase. I couldn't find the link though.

A lot of people will say it's a lot stronger because Ninjutsus hit harder and it's easier but it was at the cost of the following:

1 kassatsu charge removed, Trick attack potency nerfed, shadowfang nerfed to only be used every 60 seconds like GNB, Bhava got nerfed, oGCD Ninjutsus caused a potency loss.

Maybe this was too detailed of a description but point is DRG and Sam are still doing more damage than Nin.

Not saying it's not a viable class, just not the strongest.

Poor Bard is the one at the very bottom for many months now, and it's still viable.

[MerlinCross]

Besides Trick Attack, which will always cripple our damage output(Can’t buff Ninja damage cause we have Trick) what Raid contribution do we have?

[Vendalwind]

Ninja's personal damage has always been low, but its raid contribution was always top tier well above what was possible with personal damage jobs like Monk in Heavensward or Samurai in Stormblood. It's given up a little raid damage for more personal damage with the design of Job's moving away from extreme party buff synergism, but it's still performing very well.

It's also got the absolute highest burst damage of the Melee (and possibly of any job?) right now and it's least punished by Disengages due to the way mudras now work.

ninja was no where near outdoing Monk or Sam rDPS wise anywhere in stormblood. It was however the most picked class for statics because of how threat and enmity worked during stormblood, and it was because of those tools we enjoyed a very positive position in savage content. we were the most underpowered melee for 4 man content of course tho.

In Shadowbringers we were the bottom of the barrel on release, and we no longer have any utility other than damage utility (trick attack) and our shade shift personal shield. Now we're in a pretty solid spot but our rotation has been simplified in a way many veteran ninjas are slightly disappointed about. Our DPS is fight specific, and despite having the ability to handle disconnects well we do have to plan far ahead and really know a fight perfectly to do so with our mudras and ten chi jin placements.

Im not complaining tho, all 4 melee are in a solid spot right now. So the things below i state as facts (cause they are) but im not trying to advocate for any serious balance changes.

Overall positioning rDPS we are the second weakest melee, ahead of MNK on average slightly, but a high percentile monk(who has mantra available) will generally outdo a high percentile ninja.

In Ramuh we're second best on average, but a H-% MNK, DRG, or SAM will far out do us.

Ifrit/Garuda we are 1st place on average, and only a H-% samurai outdoes our perfect.

Idol of Darkness we are the worst sadly all categories.

And Shiva we are ahead of DRG and MNK on average, but again lose to a H-% MNK.

Again Im not advocating for balance changes, but generally looking at the data I would place SAM as the best melee dps right now. then a gap. and then MNK, DRG, and NIN all about the same output level.