Blink Tank Equipment Levels 1-30 <-- NEED INPUT

[Narru]

Hey all you ninjas. I'm planning on starting ninja soon, and was planning my equipment path for blink tanking from levels 1-30.

Note that I'm only planning on taking ninja to level 30 (it will be a sub for my ranger until level 60 ranger, which I will switch to sam). Also assume gil isn't an issue ^_^

Any changes/suggestions/advise?

NINJA Upgrade Path Levels 1-30

Food to use:
Bowl of Navarin or Meat Mithkabobs

Weapon Path:

Level 1 - Kunai +1
Level 7 - Wakizashi +1
Level 13 - Shinobi-Gatana +1
Level 13 - Brass Xiphos +1
Level 16 - Mokuto +1
Level 18 - Flame Sword
Level 19 - Suzume
Level 26 - Busuto +1
Level 27 - Gladiator

Guns:
Level 15 - Bandit's Gun +1
Level 27 - Pirate's Gun +1

Armor Path:

Head:
Level 8 - Hachimaki
Level 14 - Erd. Headband
Level 21 - Beetle Mask +1
Level 24 - Emperor's Hairpin

Legs:
Level 7 - Leather Trousers
Level 16 - Bone Subligar +1
Level 21 - Beetle Subligar +1
Level 25 - Kingdom Trousers

Body:
Level 8 - Kenpogi
Level 13 - Power Gi
Level 16 - Bone Harness +1
Level 21 - Beetle Harness +1
Level 25 - Federation Gi

Feet:
Level 7 - Leaping Boots
Level 24 - Winged Boots
or
Level 16 - Bone Boots +1
Level 21 - Beetle Boots +1

Hands:
Level 8 - Tekko
Level 10 - Lgn. Mittens
Level 16 - Bone Mittens +1
Level 21 - Beetle Mittens +1
Level 25 - Fed Tekko

Back:
Level 4 - Rabbit Mantle +1
Level 12 - Traveler's Mantle
Level 21 - Night Cape
Level 24 - Nomad's Mantle +1

Ears:
Level 14 - Silver Earring +1
Level 24 - Mythril Earring +1
Level 29 - Dodge Earring

Rings:
Level 14 - Reflex Ring
Level 16 - Bomb Ring

Waist:
Level 7 - Leather Belt
Level 15 - Warrior's Belt +1

Neck:
Level 7 - Wing Pendant
Level 21 - Green Gorget
or
Level 21 - Spike Necklace

Edit: To keep it current since it's now a sticky ^^
Please check out the summaries at the end of this post for more info.

[Drynavere]

lol...well from what I can see....The equipment you have listed, so long as money permits....will be quite uber for that level. You should be fine using everything you have listed at the levels listed for blink tanking. Will probably save you some money on shihei with all that evasion. :biggrin:

Nice equip if you can afford it all. (Being a ranger main...I presume you can)

[Cylus]

Looks a lot like my gear progression.

Level 19 Suzume is not worth getting. I think the damage is the same as Mokuto +1 and there is no added status effect (Mokuto +1 gets added silence once in a while, useful for a few mobs at that level).

On the feet, I stayed with leaping boots til 25, and then I got Federation Kyahan +4 attk and ranged attk. Winged boots are not worth the cost IMO, even if you can afford them, but whatever. I'd rather take the extra damage.

On Hands I also took the Federation Tekko at 25 as well. Same thing +attk and ranged attk.

I passed up the bomb rings. Dunno why, but the reflex rings seemed better for ninja tanking at the time, especially since I use a gun.

I'd always keep one sword and one katana on you. Gives you more versatility for skillchains. Both give you a starter and finisher for level 2 skillchains. Sword - fast blade to finish distortion, burning blade or RLB to start fusion. Katana - Blade: Rin to start Distortion, Blade: Retsu to finish Distortion, Blade: Teki to finish fragmentation.

Since weapon skills build up regardless of which hand they are in, you can switch back and forth as needed.

I'm at level 25 nin/war atm with +27 evasion from gear and pretty good defense, and all I can say is the costs of ninja are totally kicking my ass.

1) I blink tank. I average about 1/2-2/3 stack of shihei per level. (I have half a static party and I haven't had a bad party since level 10 when we started. We are getting quite a reputation XD).

2) I use elemental debuffing ninjutsu consistently. 19-22 I used Huton on Diving Beetles (our distortion skillchain owned them since our thief ended it). In Qufim from 22-25 it was Suiton (lightning debuff) or Huton (Ice debuff). Either had Distortion or Fragmentation skillchain. Our BLM was mb'ing between 100-150.

3) Use Kurayami (blind) and Hojo (slow) often. I just got Hojo recently. Not sure if it stacks with the rdm/whm spell. Anyone know if it does? Either way, I can use up to 1 stack of these per grouping.

4) Shurikens/bullets. On my server, Shurikens are 10k a stack. Bullets are anywhere from 6500-8k/stack. I use like I'm a pseudo ranger. Use at least 1 stack per level.

I love the class though, it's very fun to play. Very expensive to play as an effective tank that can compare to a PLD though. Until 37 when you get Utsusemi: Ni, you really need a second provoker though. I doubt I'll take my Ninja past 37 for a long time though. Maybe when I have gil coming out of my ears ;).

[Narru]

Thanks for the post Cylus, you brought up a couple points I didn't consider.

- Yes the level 19 Suzume is only marginally better than the Mokuto+1. Think I'll just stick with the Mokuto+1.

- Atm I have both leaping boots and winged boots on me, so money isn't an issue ... now that I think about it, gonna keep using the leaping boots until level 24 winged boots. I feel the stats help a lot more than just +1 evasion from the Bone/Beetle. And I'd have to say +3Dex +3Agi is better than +4 Attk/Ranged Attk, so I won't be using the Fed Kyahan, but thanks for pointing this out.

- Ahh, didn't see the Fed Tekko. Gonna switch it so I'm using that piece for my hands at level 25.

- I feel the bomb rings will help more for when I do get hit, and adds some buffer for the whm's. I think Bomb Ring > Reflex Ring.

- Ahhhh, you've unlocked another path for me that I didn't even consider - Guns! I'm gonna toy around with the idea of a gun wielding ninja blink tank.....
Provoke, double slash, cast some debuffing ninjitsu, double hit, take out gun and fire, provoke, double slash, etc... Will look really really cool and should give me great aggro control. Oh, yeah and blink in between ^^;;; gotta have to learn timing on all of that.


Considering I wanna build up my Alchemy and Goldsmith to levels 60ish, and save around 2-3 million for gear for my ranger before even starting that class, I don't think ninja will make me bankrupt too soon. So again, money isn't an issue.

Keep the comments coming :)

[Cylus]

I am by no means poor myself ;). I already have all the afore-mentioned items with the exception of winged boots.

Guns are good, but if you want the +1 versions, get ready to shell out again. They're worthless until level 22 because bronze bullets do pitiful damage. Level 22 you get normal bullets and then you outdamge bow rangers until they get their level 30 bow.

I'd recommend starting with Tanegashima at 19 and then at 27 Pirate's Gun. +1 version runs around 300k or more on my server, but adds +5 ranged acc.

From my experience, Ninja is much more expensive than ranger at lower levels. As ranger I was using a bow and only had to worry about arrows and occassional utsusemi. As Ninja the ranged ammo is more expensive and ninja tools are used a lot more. :/

Fun job though for sure.

[Durren20]

This might be a little off-topic since this is considering equip <30, but is Ochido's Kote worth the -5 evasion to you, I think it is considering the +20 attack, but I'm not a ninja yet so...:sweat:

[Narru]

Gonna go Bandit's Gun +1 at level 15
Pirate's Gun +1 at level 27

Ochido's Kote is definetely worth it at level 34. +20 Attack is huge. Couple that with mithkabobs (you are eating these right?) and Beserk (/sub war), which both boosts attack by around 20-25% each, and you've got some really nice attack bonuses to help you keep hate.

Besides, by that time, -5 evasion vs the +30 evasion you already have shouldn't be too bad.

[intranet69]

Just got a quick question for Cylus

How did you get +26 evasion @ Lv25?

10 from Emperor
3 from Nomad
3 from Federation ki
3 from Kindom pants
4 from earings

thats only 23 if i counted right..^^;
maybe im missing something..hehe..^^;

[Narru]

Maybe Cylus counted 2 AGI = 1 Evasion?

[ninvampire]

What about instead of the bomb/reflex rings you replace those with two stamina(+1) rings? With the warrior's belt+1 you'd have +7 VIT which would definitely make a difference in the damage you'd be taking should your secondary tank either fall asleep or not be able to refresh his voke.

[Narru]

Originally posted by ninvampire
What about instead of the bomb/reflex rings you replace those with two stamina(+1) rings? With the warrior's belt+1 you'd have +7 VIT which would definitely make a difference in the damage you'd be taking should your secondary tank either fall asleep or not be able to refresh his voke.

For this I refer you to http://ffxi.cogn.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=37603&highlight=Defense+AND+Exponential

Check near the end of the post and I think at lower levels I'd rather have the +Def and +HP of the bomb ring rather then +2 VIT. BUT I think I will take your suggestion and try replacing the Reflex Ring with +2 VIT ring. I'll let you know if +2 VIT > +2 AGI at levels 14-30...

[ninvampire]

Forgot that the bomb ring had +2 def on it. Although if you could manage 2 stamina rings +1 that'd give you 2 defense as well.

[Biterman]

Also remember that you can only wear one bomb ring, as they are rare. I rather go with the VIT too. Bomb ring also comes with -5 to fire, so those gob bombs will hurt even more.

Its pretty common to lvl 16 to 19 on gobs in dunes, unless you do Korroloka, and their bomb goes thru blink. ^^

[Malabmannop]

Just a question. How are you people making all this gil? Like I am trying to make money but I just can't seem to get my cash flowing. Any tips would be very much appreciated.

[Omni]

u cant really blink tank till 37. at best youll be a good puller, back up tank. 4second cast time, 30second cool down. i really hate utsusemi: ichi :\.

[Narru]

Originally posted by Omni-Ragnarok
u cant really blink tank till 37. at best youll be a good puller, back up tank. 4second cast time, 30second cool down. i really hate utsusemi: ichi :\.

I believe that with the best gear out there (basically the ones I listed in my list), you are able to blink tank fully (meaning without a provoke buddy taking it off of you when your blink goes down) even at level 12. The only problem I might see is that you may/may not be able to keep aggro at those lower levels.

I love this quote I read once on these boards (sorry for the person who posted it, I forgot your name) "You gotta get into the mindset that Utsusemi is used only as a BACKUP when blink tanking. You need to have your evasion so rediculously high that you evade a majority of the hits anyway, and Utsusemi is there only when you failed to evade - not the other way around."

We'll see, I'll let you know if I can fully have blink up at level 24ish (when I get high enough to use Emp. Hairpin) even with only :Ichi.

[ninvampire]

What food are you using Narru? While leveling ninja up to 21, I was always trying to pick up Navarin (+20 HP +3 STR +1 AGI -1 INT +5 evasion +10% attack 1hr duration)

[Narru]

Originally posted by ninvampire
What food are you using Narru? While leveling ninja up to 21, I was always trying to pick up Navarin (+20 HP +3 STR +1 AGI -1 INT +5 evasion +10% attack 1hr duration)

Good call, I forgot to list food. Gonna make the change.

[Cylus]

I've never seen any blink tank ninjas use bowls of Navarin, and neither have I so I can't attest to it's usefulness. I personally think the extra damage you get from Mithkabob is important to help keep hate.

After playing Ninja for a while, I found that guns were not a good choice IMO. You only have a C ranking in them if I remember correctly, and even with macros to switch out to ranged acc rings every time I shoot, I still found myself missing far too much.

Using Shurikens, I tend to hit a lot more often now and I think overall do more damage, thus keeping hate better. Overall, much more expensive, but I never expected Ninja to be cheap.

As far as ninjutsu goes, I only use it if we don't have anyone else enfeebling, or maybe take care of one of the less important ones that has higher hate (blind is good). The more important ones like Paralyze and slow, even with maxed Ninjutsu skill, I have trouble getting to stick consistently. That's precious time I could be using to chuck shurikens at the mob.

The elemental debuffs are ok, but imo not as important as I originally thought. I generally only use them if blm is getting resisted too much on magic bursts.

Emperor hairpin helps a lot with the evasion, and it's really the first time blink tanking is viable without a backup voker, and by 29 I was able to do dodge and parry enough to generally to be ready to take only a few hits before utsusemi was ready again.

Still, having a second tank before 37 is always good, granted they can keep enough hate themselves to take the hate off you when needed. There are always the instances where everything just goes wrong and you can't get another utsusemi up at a crucial moment.

I was in on pt with myself, another JP Ninja, 2 samurais, 1 brd, and one blm in Garlaige. Stuff died so fast and there was at least 2 skillchains used per battle and there was almost no damage taken by the party (so little that the brd/rdm and blm/whm could do any necessary healing). It's funny the crazy parties you can do at lower levels :). I am fairly sure we couldn't get away with that at higher levels.

[greysenn]

I've got probably about 4 less evasion than the list on there, and it really depends on the mob as to whether or not you'll be able to tank it. (The list is really good btw, thanks for posting it.) Some stuff I can tank np, but usually the stuff you fight will hit you consistantly enough to knock blink down. I still need a backup to really be able to tank properly.

Will the extra 4 make enough of a difference? Maybe. There was a noticeable hit rate reduction at 12 (the mantle) and 14 (headband, earrings and rings). Particularly with tough and below mobs, but it really wasn't there with the IT's.

As for a belt, I would go with the lvl 8 Obi +1, It's 2 defense, but it has an 8% reduction in spell interrupts. (Ninjitsu takes a loong time to skill up in an xp party setting)

Edit: Blah, didn't consider the evasion from all the +1 armor. So it's probably more of a difference than I listed.

[Tythera]

You're probably right with the food until 63 when you can drop the Kote/Navarin for Mithkabobs/Arhat. Good guide, wish I would have found it before I hit 30 (I couldn't decide on what to get).

[Kousai]

well.. last night was my 1st time pt'ing with a blink tank, he was a japanese lvl 26 nin/war.. we were fighting IT mandragora's outside of kazham, and i must say that was the best pt i've had in months, we were constantly chain 3 and 4'ing mandragora's for 250+ exp, with -0- downtime, he was constantly spamming ninjitsu to keep hate, he barely ever lost agro and he wasnt taking much dmg at all..

our whm was constantly over 3/4mp, as soon as the mob got to about 1/8th health i'd disengage to go find another mandragora... went really well and i now love ninja's <3 ^^

[Tsubame]

What about Jack-O-Lanterns for a food item? They give +25 DRK Defense, -10 Charm, +10 Accuracy and +10 Evasion.

Not as good for your attack, so may limit your hate gaining abilities, but you'll be hitting and dodging more, so I think it'd make up for it. Not to mention, it's cheap as anything, I see them for sale in Windy for 100 gil each. (Don't stack).

[Aero]

For earrings over longtime use...

Should I keep my dodge earrings from level 29 or switch to drone earrings at 35?

[hatey]

When I did ninja 1-25. I went def gear all the way and I was a mithra and tanked very well. I have never found evasion to be reliable at all and I don't think you should rely on it either. Saving money on tools isn't really important in your case, it seems like your rich anyways. Also if evasion is a viable option I would think that even with all that evasion gear, that at low levels you could never boost it enough to have it really be viable. Even as thf/nin with 2 evasion boost job traits and +13 evasion +18 agl, I still rarely evade vs IT. I also think the main problem with ninja is keeping hate. Even if you have a thf in PT I bet you still are making a ranger hold back a lot more than a pld with a thf. Is it possible to keep blink up infinitely if you have ichi and ni at 37? If so I would go all out in attack gear and maybe have +def gear to toggle in during emergencies. This would reduce downtime and improve your hate.

Edit : Please note I 1-25 I did use mithkabob along with my def gear. Everytime I ate fish I regretted it a lot. Not cause of hate, but because my dmg output wasn't enough. Even vs pugils I wanted to use mithkabobs.

[Narru]

Just a quick update (I'll post a full report later when I hit 30+)

Currently level 25. At level 24 I had a huge +evasion bonus cause of Emperor's Hairpin and Nomad's Mantle +1. Also can switch to mithril earrings, and other items (which I can't remember off the top of my head, refer to the list on the first page). Then at level 25 yet another +evasion bonus (think it was +4 difference between 24 and 25).

Anyways I'm approaching the point where I might start blink tanking alone without a voke buddy. I say might because I haven't had too much time to test since I recently just hit 25. Level 25 was my testing point because I'm currently at +29 evasion from all my bonuses. If you look at the skill cap tables, that would translate into roughly an IT mob conning Tough to me (in terms of evading it).

Right now I was only in one PT since I hit 25, and for safety sakes we kept with the usual buddy voker. Bah I'm rambling...


OK point being, if I had to estimate how many attacks I dodge/parry right now vs IT (talking barely IT's here, not IT+ or IT++), I would have to seriously say at least 40% of all attacks. With Paralyze, Slow, and Blind I can definetely solo blink tank.

Just wanted to say something before hatey manages to convince everyone following this thread that +evasion is not the route to take.

Oh, and it's not about saving powders, it's about saving time. If I go all +defense gear, sure I'll take less damage, but then the whm needs to waste mana healing me. With my approach, no one takes damage (except for AOEs) and no mana is wasted healing - faster exp.

Btw I got from 20-25 in 7 hours in Qufim. This was a straight leveling with THE SAME PT for 7 hours straight (practically unheard of). Was a pickup PT too, lol. When the members saw what I was doing, they immediately canceled what they had to do for the day and decided to stick with me til I had to go.

Nin/War, Pld/War, Thf/Mnk, Rng/Rdm, Brd/Whm, Whm/Blm

Edit: Just wanted to add a quote: "The PLD's 'bottleneck' is a whm, while the NIN's 'bottleneck' is a blm..."

The whm's in my PTs always had 70%+ mana all the time. I had to ask them to start using Banish/Banishga cause they were bored. :)

[Narru]

Thoughts, Ideas, Conclusions about Ninja after the first 30 levels of blink tanking:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that all my experiences are for the lower levels (1-30) and what follows is in no way shape or form represents higher level play/tactics. Certain aspects will change at higher levels, and others will not. But this is just to give those people who are interested in playing a blink tank ninja an overview so that can can decide for themselves if they want to take on this career path.

The one strong quote that I got out of all this blink tanking was:

"A Paladin's main bottleneck is the whm's mana, while the Ninja's main bottleneck is the blm's mana."

I shall try to explain this quote later on...


Locations to Level:
---------------------------

1-8 Fight anywhere
8-12 Worms in Kos. Highlands using bow + arrow (solo)
12-19 Valk Dunes
19-25 Qufim
25-30 Khazam (moved to second jungle at 27)


Evasion Equipment:
----------------

The first post in this thread was my equipment path. Obviously I chose to go all out +evasion gear.

With this gear setup I was NOT able to solo blink tank at level 12. There is no way for me to avoid enough hits to recast Utsusemi: Ichi, and last the 45 seconds it takes for the spell timer to reset. A buddy voker is absolutely necessary at this level, otherwise you really slow down the PT since the whm has to spend a lot more mana to heal you (as compared to a better defensively equiped Paladin who will take hits for less than you). As I leveled though, and was able to equip some of the other items, I slowly got better and better at evading hits...

I would consider level 25 the first level where I can seriously "think" of solo blink tanking. Yes you heard me, level 25 - NOT level 37 like most people think (when you get Utsusemi: Ni). The reason I say "think" rather than "oh you can definetely solo blink tank," is because there are arguments on both sides of this. Please refer to my Keeping Aggro section for more info. At level 12, you would evade maybe only 10% of all hits. Definetely not reliable to try to get blink up again. But as you'd expect, when you keep adding more and more +evasion gear to your arsenal, you could slowly see that you evade more and more. There could be lucky battles where I wouldn't get hit at all for the entire fight, while being the only one who had aggro. This was around the level 20 mark. But it really changes at 24 and 25.

24 was the level where a huge increase in evasion came along. Emperor's Hairpin, Nomad's Mantle+1, Mithril Earrings. Then at 25 you can wear Kingdom Trousers and Fed. Gi. If you count the formula of 2 Agi = 1 Evasion (which for some reason I'm starting to believe less and less that this formula is true), at level 25 I have +29 Evasion from my gear. As a friend of mine points out by looking at skill charts, this is similar to reducing an IT mob into a T con mob in terms of evading it. This is huge. At this point, I can actually rely on my evasion keeping me alive until I get my blink up again. Also note here that evading the mob is not the ONLY factor in getting Utsusemi: Ichi up again. Your ninjitsu skill also plays a factor, since the higher the skill you have in it, the better the chance you can complete the spell even if you get hit. By the time level 25ish rolls around, I'm confident that I have enough evasion, ninjitsu, and parry skill to be the one and only tank in the PT. Parry is nice when it's at higher levels - getting it to skill up is another story ; ;

Food: At first I listed eating the Bowl of Navarin as my regular food item during blink tanking. Since then I have decided against it for a couple of reasons. 1) On my server (Fairy), there doesn't seem to be a huge market for that food item. If you can buy it from an NPC, that information I am not aware of. 2) They don't stack :( which I hate. 3) I rather eat mithkabobs because of aggro control. Please look at the Keeping Aggro section for more information.

Oh, and on Fairy, there has never been a Mithril +1 Earring sold in the AH of any city... so trying to obtain one was impossible for me >.<

[Narru]

Buddy Voker:
--------------------

First of all, NIN + PLD = GOD (only at lower levels before you can solo tank of course ^_^ ) Before you reach the level 25 mark, most likely you'll have to group with a buddy voker. Heck my LFG search comment specifically says: "Utsusemi OK - Will be main tank but will need a buddy voker ..." Do yourself a favor and get a PLD to help you out. I find that because a) they needed to get a char to level 30 to unlock PLD, thus are more experienced usually, b) they are already in the mindset of tanking so don't mind getting hit and will have the gear for it, c) have the other pld abilities that can save ya in a crunch ( Invincible > Ninja 2h ). Was in a PT in Qufim killing Pugil at level 22 (yes you heard me, 22 - took on giants as well ^^). Chaining to #3, 200+ exp after Chain #1 usually. PLD had to leave, so we got a DRK to replace. I figure more damage output would be better since I was tanking 90% of the fight anyway. For some reason or another, we couldn't pass the #1 chain. No one could figure out why. It was that dramatic a change.

Secondly, NIN + NIN = SUPER GOD. It's a joke at times. If played correctly, there's absolutely no downtime, you can chain up to #5 (depending on how crowded the area is), and everyone loves you. Ideal PT for me at these levels, I would have to say Nin/War, Nin/War, Blm/Whm, Blm/Whm, DD, DD. Where DD can be either Blm or Rng. Note that for all my opinions, I'm assuming the people you're PTing with are somewhat skilled and not poor. Let's face it, a poorly skilled or poorly equipped character won't have as stellar a performance.



Keeping Aggro:
----------------------

Ok, this will be the meaty part of this whole summary, as I have a couple rants I can go on. I apologize now if I tangent too much, but I have a lot to say :)

We as Nin blink tanks play a what I would call "querky" role as aggroers. There's absoluetely no black/white division in anything really when it comes to aggro - it's all a grey area. Unlike a paladin where it's a lot simpler - pld should always keep hate, no matter what, at all times. Lemme give a quick example before I continue: We start fight, I provoke immediately, blink miss blink blink, refresh Utsusemi, miss miss blink blink blink... at this point my blinks are all gone, provoke timer is ready again, but I need another 5 seconds before I can recast Utsusemi. What should I do? Should buddy voker provoke and allow him to get hit once or twice while I refresh Utsusemi and then provoke, or should I provoke right away and rely on my evasion to allow me to recast blink? Sometimes, especially if you've just evaded/parried the last 6 consecutive hits or so, it's a hard decision. If you keep aggro to yourself, you risk the chance of failing to recycle Utsusemi and causing excess downtime to your whm. But if it does work out, the rewards are great - no damage is taken, blink is back up, you can kill more. It is because of this I say that at level 25 you "might" want to solo tank. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. It all depends on how much you want to gamble in order to achieve greatness :)

At the later levels, you'll find it harder and harder to keep aggro against the super heavy damage dealers - blms and rngs. This is where I'll try to provide a workaround for it: the dual provokers. This concept is a little hard to understand, so I'll try to explain a lot:

At any and all times, I like to keep the backup voker ready with a provoke just in case I run into a extremely bad string of evades (especially if we're trying to take on things we shouldn't be at our levels :P - talking about the IT+++'s ) It allows the buddy voker to take it off me while I refresh Utsusemi obviously. Now, how can that be accomplished if I DON'T get into a bad string of evades until later into the fight? If I provoke every 30 seconds and never take a hit until maybe my 3rd provoke, that buddy voker won't be able to get it off of me cause I have much more hate than he does. What do I do? Simple. Just have your buddy voker provoke 30 seconds after you provoke - ALWAYS. So what will happen is that you will make the decision at this point (after he provokes) what to do next. If the evades are going well and you can take more hits, you should provoke immediately to take it off of him. If you're blinks are all gone, take the time to refresh it and then provoke. In either case, you and your buddy voker should be a lot higher on the hate list, thus allowing your damage dealers to go all out more.

Here's another tactic I use (especially before level 25 when you absolutely need a buddy voker). Utsusemi refresh cast time is 45 seconds. 3 blinks = 3 rounds of combat. Let's say 3 rounds of combat take 15 seconds to execute. Meaning you need to last around 4-6 rounds of combat of misses before you can refresh Utsusemi again. My rule of thumb is - the first 6 attacks are free - NO MATTER WHAT. You have 3 images, after the second one is gone I start to refresh Utsusemi so that the mob eats one while I recast blink, giving me another 3 - thus 6 hits free at the start of every fight. At that point your buddy voker should have voked it off of you. Once you refresh Utsusemi, you have basically 45 seconds before you can recast it. Now you have one of two options - 1) provoke now, let it eat 3 images, and have buddy voker voke again - 2) let buddy voker take a couple hits while you wait til the refresh timer on casting Utsusemi gets to around 15 seconds, then provoke and do the 6 blink tactic. The choice is yours. Sorry if that was confusing to anyone.

Now to include in the human factors. Let's face it, if you're going to be PTing for 5 hours straight, you can't expect everything to work like clockwork at all times. Other members of your PT get lazy, you get lazy, provoke isn't done exactly at the 30th second, someone's talking on the phone or is distracted. In other words, shit happens. It's ok to take a couple hits sometimes, it's ok to let your buddy voker take a couple extra hits (especially if the whm is bored outta his mind and you want to give him something to do ^^), it's ok to sit and watch the giant run after the tarutaru mage and smack him around a bit just for kicks. Lol. The main thing to remember is no one is perfect - you can't expect the buddy voker to always voke when you want him to, you can't expect the blm's to try to throw a wrench in it just for fun and nuke all out in the beginning of a fight sometimes. Just remember, a) it's a game, and b) just make sure you stay alive - lol.

[Narru]

Other Members in your PT:
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To be added later when I have more time.


Paralyze, Slow, Blind:
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To be added later when I have more time.

[Narru]

Ego Inflating:
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To be added later when I have more time.

[raexn]

I'd just like to start by saying I haven't seen a better guide for blink tanking or just playing ninja period. I just started myself and am about to hit lvl13 after a long period of farming.

I'm curious if you are using synthesis to minimize your costs on your tools and ranged weaponry or if you're just buying them all outright. I found out early how much fun guns are, and how worthless the lvl1 bronze bullets are. :thumbsup:

Needless to say I decided to work on my alchemy to make my own ammo. The main thing i was curious about was your mnk type mobs that you were lvling on. Manda's i've seen and had most people say are a nightmare for most blinktanks even with a buddy voker cause they're basically a waste of Utsu tools(I suppose this is semi true for pugils as well due to their random double attacks).

Could you be more specific on how you handled those if you have more time? (=

[Narru]

Currently working on the other parts of my summary, but I'll post a reply to your questions:

Synthing - At least on my server (Fairy), Shihei (used for Utsusemi) sells for break even price if you don't HQ on the synth. Since I make gil via other methods than Woodworking, I just buy them. I never crafted my own Ninja tools.

Pugils with double attack - tough to blink tank. Generally they are hard to handle for a Ninja (even for a PLD) cause they sometimes double attack you and they hit hard. In this case I'd like to think there's nothing anyone can do really... toss all strategy out the window and just try to survive the fight. Just consider it your blinks go away faster, hope for evades, and stick with the same techniques. One thing you should try to shoot for is to have blink up when it does Screwdriver. It's the single attack that makes Pugils so dangerous, so if you can void it, all the better.

Mandy's - Easy. Had a lot of fun blink tanking these. There's a reason why so many people crowd around one area trying to kill these (always crowded in the jungles for me). Yes they double attack, but I found that they can't aim very well, meaning they miss you a lot. Even if they hit you, it's only for what 15 damage? At this point in your career, you're whm is usually bored out of his mind anyways, so it gives him/her something to do :) Only thing that might hurt is Head Butt, but that'll hit you for max 50 damage.

Whether or not to blink these is entirely up to you. I tried fights with blink up all the time, and fights with it up only for the first 6 hits. Wasn't too drastic a change between the two. In this case, it's determined by how much gil you have in your pocket. I'd still say you can solo tank these, even without blink, as I wasn't hit very often at all. Or maybe you can blink tank the IT+++ ones, but not the VT or T ones. The entire time fighting in the jungle, I had not a single worry about Mandy's. I spent all my time worrying about Gobby trains and Gobby adds instead :P

[raexn]

I appreciate the response :handsdown

[manga101]

my current equipment at NIN/WAR lev32


head: Emperor Hairpin
hand: Fed tekko
body: Fed Gi
back: Nomad Mantle +1
earring: Dodge x2
Ring: Archer Ring x2
leg: Kingdom Trouser
feet: Leaping Boot

weapon: Fudo

food: meat chiefkabob


iffy to get:

Ochiku Kote - been readding alot on it... 50/50 on pro/cons issue

[little ninja]

what alot of you are forgeting is alot of you have lvled a war job for 30+ lvls. so not only are you getting about +25 evasion from gear. most of you have capped evasion an parry skills. thus you are evading a few more hits. not really sure what % that is. or really how much of a factor it is. but it does help. even if a little...


blink tanking is all about timing, like a pld with their cures. you must treat your blinks the same way.. my early lvls had a pattern. cast blink on a pull. when the mob had hit my 3 blinks i did not panic. i waited for the next attack. when it was about to hit me, i hit my macro taking the one hit but also giving my blink some time to cast. all you have to do is test the timing. the first few may not work. but in time you will be able to time it with a certain mob attack. thus mastering it with that mob.


only other advise i may give up an comig nin's is this. dont be afraid to lvl other jobs like thf, an rng. ther ability with the range attack an throws will only help cap yours. thus not only allowing you to do more damge because its capped. but to be able to hit a mob.. and dont be afraid to go outside of lvling, to skill up your own casts. it will onlly make them stick better, an less chance of it being interupted..

[Eyke]

any ideas on making money for all this stuff

nothing seems to work :/

[FrustratedMiner]

I want help...I'm a taru nin/warr currently 32 and im outfitted as follows

Weapons:
Nikkariaoe
Republic dagger
Federation knife

Ranged Weapon
Chakram

Head
Emp Hairpin

Neck
Green Gorget
Spike Necklace

Ear
Dodge

Body
Federation Gi

Hands
RSE (+3str 12hp's 6def)

Fingers
Bomb Ring
Reflex Ring

Back
Nomad's +1

Waist
Warr +1

Legs
Kingdom Trousers

Feet
Leaping

When does the evasion on this stop to matter? When I get Utsusemi Ni at 37? None of the gear seems even remotely interesting as far as evasion for a whiles...how long should i stick with the evasion gear with the low defense for? Thanks for any input in advance.

[Thegod]

I am one of the firm believers that accuracy >>> dex so much so that dex is an after thought for me, if i can get it w/o sacrificing my ranged abilities, or my agi, then yeah, but if not then i'll pass, plus the emp hairpin gives the same stats and +1- evsion, much better way to spend 400k

[Narmo]

Just a question. How are you people making all this gil? Like I am trying to make money but I just can't seem to get my cash flowing. Any tips would be very much appreciated.

The way how I get my Gil is by camping Valkurm Emperor.

THF/RNG gets the job done. 'Nuff said :biggrin:

[Thegod]

yeah someone answer the evasion question please.

gardening >>> camping VE or any NM of any level for that matter.

gardening is so overwhelming that no1 even wants to bother, realistically it took me about a month to get my gardening program down, but i dont farm, get grain seeds whenever im in CN or pash or the canyon, and i get rich with no farming.

just IMO its better...

but yeah i was wondering about the evasion question myself, i mean there isnt really any body hands legs and feet gear that give evasion like the federation set mixed in with kingdom gear mixed in with rare drops (winged/hairpin)

so when do we switch, i mean before i ever hit 30 with any job (i was red mage first) every ninja i saw in the jungle wore chain mail? now IMO thats a retarded choice, why go def, when hits r gonna hurt no matter what gear you have on.

[Darkedge]

As a level 30 war my options are very limited with money making. I can kill Crpyt Ghost and Spook in KRT, but I haven't gotten any drops yet.

Anyway, Thegod, we're on different servers, and I have a mule. Could you PM me any suggestions on gardening? I have about 50k to invest into it.

I plan on taking MNK THF and NIN to 25 or so before I relevel warrior (I've got my reasons...) and I know 25 nin will be expensive just by looking at this thread.

[yuukei]

Is all of that evasion really worth it from lvl 16-25? Do you really dodge mob attacks all that much?

[kazuri]

Originally posted by yuukei
Is all of that evasion really worth it from lvl 16-25? Do you really dodge mob attacks all that much?

Yes, espicially at that "prime level" when you can equip Emperor Hairpin, +10 to EVA. You'll notice a difference with your EVA Gear equipped and not equipped.

[yuukei]

Well I'm not going to be able to acquire the hairpin. Will it still work out okay? I'm only taking nin up to 37 by the way.

[kazuri]

Hm, I guess so. If you can't afford one, you should stick with another optional piece that has either AGI+ or EVA+. If you can't find one, something with VIT+ and/or high DEF would be good.

[Kosy]

Originally posted by Narru
Food to use:
Bowl of Navarin or Meat Mithkabobs

Not sure if you're aware of this, but SE nerfed Navarin's Eva+ bonus (not sure if it was just reduced as a flat pt bonus or removed entirely but it's definitely not a %+ anymore) So you might want to update your listing. Mithkabobs also got nerfed (all of these caps have now been put into place for most foods) You could put Dhalmel Stew or Pies in place of Meat Miths and Pumpkin instead of Navarin.

Also, when leveling NIN, I find it's a waste of time and money to get eva+ gear up to 20s. Focus on VIT+ and Def+ gear (basically, anything a PLD would wear and if a NIN can equip) Too bad NIN can't equip Battle Gloves since the eva+ and acc+ would be very helpful (But then again, those gloves would be selling for 100s of Ks)

I think once you get your debuffs, like Hojo and Kurayami, you can tank effectively. But it's actually at 30, when you get Jubaku, does it get a lot easier to solo blink tank until 37, when you get Utsu: Ni.

If you're in a static, I would agree with going all out and not having gils stand between you and being uber. But if it's going to be a lot of pickup parties with tons of idiots, then you're better off not blowing 100s of Ks for those kinds of situations ... :sweat:

Oh and one note on the Kote. I was in a party with my THF and a NIN (level 34, one level lower than me) was main tanking. He had Kote on. First off, his dmg wasn't impressive on those Worker Crawlers. Secondly, -eva hurts, regardless of how much other +eva you have. Sadly enough, at those levels, anything -eva will come back to bite you in the ass. It did to the NIN who died three times in half an hour and on the 3rd death, just Mijin Gakure, HP'd and disbanded. LOL

[JP_Ikari]

Going to be picking up NIN for my PLD, lots and lots of equipment stated, but for being gil happy, it may work. I was wondering anyone got any suggestions if you're strapped for cash??

JP

P.S. I'm going to be working on getting enough fame in Tenshodo for Utsu Ichi and will hope to get a BCNM run for NI T_T.

[lionx]

I dunno but for those strapped on cash you can try getting Windurstian gear instead of Federation since its only marginally better i feel on some parts. The Windurstian gear is CHEAPER than the NQ gear and cheaper than Federation because everyone wants to HQ Federation but not Windurstian(on my server anyway). Camping for Emp pin is more viable now with rare/ex on the item, and leaping boots i never thought were a necessary need but it is indeed useful. Also if you want just get one HQ Katana and one normal sword on the side.

[JP_Ikari]

That works. Too bad since they're rare/ex everyone (including their grandma) is farming EMP 24/7 now LOL. So it's about harder now since there are a ton of competition. Leeping Lizz maybe workable (if I get my ass to do it that is T T ).

JP

[lionx]

That works. Too bad since they're rare/ex everyone (including their grandma) is farming EMP 24/7 now LOL. So it's about harder now since there are a ton of competition. Leeping Lizz maybe workable (if I get my ass to do it that is T T ).

JP

Quoted for truth ; ; But at least you dont have to farm endlessly i guess.

[DigitalisAkujin]

I hit 30 last night and here's my current gear:
Main: Nikkariaoe
Sub: Fukuro
Head: Emporer Hairpin
Body: Federation Gi
Back: Nomad's Mantle +1
Neck: Spike Necklace
Hands: Custom M Gloves
Belt: Warrior's Belt +1
Earrings: Dodge Earrings x2
Rings: Reflex Rings x2
Legs: Kingdom Trousers
Feet: Leaping Boots:

Hume stats:
-25% Spell Interruption Rate
STR34+7
DEX34+12
VIT31+4
AGI34+12
INT28
MND22-6
CHR25

Evasion+25
Attack: 121
Defense: 110

No merits.
With Berserk:
Attack: 151
Defense: 82

Food: Navarin or Sole Sushi depending on my position in the party.

If I'm second voke or plain DD which I've had before when the leaders decide to invite a PLD then I like Sole Sushi. Navarin is for main tanking.

Navarin btw is now +5 evasion bringing my total to +30 for lvl 30^^
This is still the 3nd best with the exception of Tender Navarin and Jack-O-Lantern but Navarin gives me a little of everything so I'd rather get that.
The only thing I can do better is get a 5 million +3 evasion skill earring. /sigh