Ninjutsu Review!

[Equitable_Remedy]

Meisui

• Animation: Meisui’s animation is the best part about this ability. Drawing in the sphere’s of water (off the Suiton) with some power-up aura and the centering gesture on the character is great.
• Function: Meisui’s function seems to be to justify the TCJ single-target sequence ending in Suiton, which as I said earlier, is not enough to justify a whole button, in my humble opinion. I appreciate Enhanced Meisui adding a boost to Bhavacakra (synergy is good), but it still doesn’t justify the button.
• Suggestions: Make this button more meaningful, though I admit that I don’t have any great ideas as to how. In the alternative, delete it.
• Grade: F

Bunshin

• Animation: Bunshin’s animation is a bit odd, but pretty good. I’m a big fan of almost any use of these symbols in NIN moves, and the Bunshin animation places them on the ground as well as curving through the air around your character. The typical ninjutsu character gesture works here, and I even know the mudra spheres that quickly spin around you, though they’re a bit random. I do not like the actual clone animation—the faded, delayed character model is ok, but I visually would have preferred an independent clone more like DRK. Shadowing attacks is ok and can look cool at times.
• Function: Bunshin is 5 stacks of a melee beast mode, which I think is great for a gish given TCJ for the magic side. I like the design here: stacks (rather than timed), damage boost based in part on the weapon skill used (adds a bit of optimization), and boosts Ninki generation for more Bhava/Hellfrog.
• Suggestions: My preference here would be for the clone to be an independent model ala DRK. Yes, this is a straight nod to Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and I’m not apologizing for that. Level 100 trait to allow it to cast ninjutsu with you?
• Grade: A

Phantom Kamaitachi

• Animation: I love this animation, and it’s a great use of utilizing existing art assets (the ninjutsu gesture and Bhavacakra) for something new. The clone dashing in and executing the move looks great, and the wind graphics give the AOE feel while keeping the move pretty clean.
• Function: I really like that this ability keys off of Bunshin. At first, it [I[really[/I] grated on me because it was an oGCD in my mind’s eye, so the execution felt very awkward. I felt much better about it after moving the keybind (I initially put it in my old Assassination keybind), and now I quite like it. The range is nice during a forced disengage, and the AOE and synergy with Hollow Nozuchi is great in dungeons.
• Suggestions: The above being said, I still think that this would be better as an oGCD. The animation is quick (especially for the character), and the vibe of the move would be enhanced by very quickly firing off this clone.
• Grade: A

[Equitable_Remedy]

Hollow Nozuchi

• Animation: I hate to say it, but the animation is kind of terrible. I understand that they’re supposed to be snakes, but you’d never know it from the animation.
• Function: This unusual ability (not weaponskill!) gives some bonus AOE damage by adding some synergy between AOE weaponskills and AOE ninjutsu. This is a great idea, and I’d like to see more of it; bonus points for not needing to be on a hotbar.
• Suggestions: My biggest suggestion would be with the animation: add the snake heads in there to make it clear what’s happening. Beyond that, get tanks to stop pulling mobs out of Doton.
• Grade: A

Chidori Forked Raiju and Fleeting Raiju

• Animation: These are interesting because that they look pretty good in combat, though they look quite janky frozen in gpose (the feet are just weird). The superman pose of Fleeting Raiju looks very strange to me, though Forked Raiju looks quite good. The lightning effects on both of these moves are quite good, especially the on-hit graphic from Fleeting Raiju.
• Function: Obviously, Raiju has been and remains quite controversial. I’ll just say that I hated these when I first got them, but that they’ve grown on me a lot. I think my problem is that I initially tried to play them like a level 80 ShB NIN—cramming everything into the Trick Attack Window—which doesn’t work. Once I actually started playing like a level 90 EW NIN, they felt much better. Now, I like being able to zip around during add phases, and last-hitting a boss with Fleeting Raiju is cinematic, if nothing else.
• Suggestions: I’d like to avoid this thread devolving into yet another Raiju whine thread, so I’ll leave suggestions to the numerous other threads/Reddit/Discord on the topic.
• Grade: CONTROVERSIAL