My NIN sucks balls

[hongman]

So this kinda ties in with my other post about equip, but in general, I suck.

I am being invited as a blink tank.

Which is all good, but...

Its a Miss Fest. Anything over VT and I miss more than hit.
Dmg. I hit for low singles to high teens.

Prolly not my fault, but WHY DONT OTHER people with Provoke USE THE DAMN THING when I am trying to get my shadows back up?

We all know Ichi Ninjitsu has a long cast time, and what good is a blink tank if I cant get blink UP??

And then there's keeping hate. The only tool I have is Provoke...Im not dealing ewnough damage to keep hate that way.

Help!

PS Eating Sole Sushi for the +STR and +ACC...suggestions (pref cheaper ones!) welcome

[Schmidster]

Reading your other post, you are only level 22. At such levels, it's only normal to experience what you are having there.

At such a level Sole Sushi, or any other sushi, is a huge waste of money. If you want accuracy, Jack o' Lanterns would do even better. At that level, I used Rice Dumplings.

[Murphie]

Honestly, the early 20s are just a rough time for NIN. If you can't get a party member who can be trusted to back up voke for you, then you're going to have a really terrible time in that party. I'd probably just go solo if it got to be too difficult.

[IfritnoItazura]

If you want accuracy, Jack o' Lanterns would do even better. At that level, I used Rice Dumplings.

False. Jack-o'-Lantern has only accuracy+10.

NIN22 caps katana at 69, giving it a base accuracy of 69 before DEX and equipement modification are added. Sole/Squid Sushi gives accuracy+15%, that means a minimum of 10.35 boost. Once DEX and equipement are added, Sole/Squid Sushi will give an even better boost

Jack-o'-Lantern may be usable for an evasion only build, but Rice Dumpling is probably preferable overall.

Shuriken (then Juji Shuriken) is the best tool for NIN that level for holding the monster in place, provided one has (nearly) capped throwing skill. If using Shuriken, Sole/Squid Sushi, Rice Dumpling, Dhalmel Pie, and Navarin are all decent food, and better than Jack-o'-Lantern.

Refernces:
- Accuracy (Wiki)
- Food comparison (Somepage)
- Skill Cap calculator (JP) (NIN = 忍 column; Katana = 片手刀 row)

[Raydeus]

I say just solo as a NIN/RDM, you can use att food and mass murder EP-DC in places like Korroloka tunnel.

At lvl 30 you get Fast Cast which is nice, and you also get Nikkariaoe so with Aquaveil on you'll never get interrupted by mobs up to EM.

I soloed NIN because without a good back up voke NIN depends a lot on evasion to make Utsusemi last a bit more but it's tough because you can't use DD gear to keep hate better. And depending on how expensive Shurikens are they might not be an option for you if you don't have that much gil. Tools alone can eat gil fast.

Plus soloing it is way more enjoyable than struggling with players that want you to tank like a lvl 60 NIN with Ni when you barely got Ichi.

So just solo it, it'll be a good practice for your RDM/NIN soloing anyway.


PS > Mass murdering EP-DC I think I made around 3k+ xp and hour with ring at lvl 30, but the lower your lvl the faster you can get xp.

If by any chance you have an Emp Pin then your downtime will go even further down because you'll evade often, if not lanterns but att food seemed to work better for me.

[Celeal]

NIN tank builds hate overtime and spike hate a few, which is very different from PLD tank (except Shuriken spamming NIN). If you are not getting hit (evade/parry/shadow), provoke and hitting the mob (DoT), you with build solid hate overtime.

Each time you got hit by the mob, you lost a chunck of hate, in a spike. As long as you are not taking damage (evade/parry/shadow), hate lost is minimal. Combine with Provoke and your damage output while you are evading/parrying/blinking, your hate goes up at a steady rate.

Slow, Blind, and Paralyze the mob will a big difference on your blink tanking. My suggestion is save TP for Blade: Retsu (Paralyze), use your own Blind (Kurayami: Ichi) and Slow (Hojo: Ichi).

Kurayami: Ichi, some evasion gear and Jack-O'Lantern works like wonder at level 20ish: The exp. mob whiffs a lot with this setup. Toss in Hojo: Ichi and Blade: Retsu, I main tank the mandies in Kazham without any issue.

As an alternative, you can NIN tank like a PLD or WAR/MNK by spamming Shuriken, while blinking at the same time. However, I never seen any NIN does that as a common practice.

[hongman]

Wow thanks for the support.

I am now lvl 26.

I like the idea of soloing it, coz up until now I have only been in 2 parties where I had a backup voker that actually did the job.

Thorwing skill - HOW??

My throwing skill is 0. SO I thought Id buy some Darts (nice and cheap) to skill up, but after a full stack, not 1 single skillup. What I am doing wrong??

Currently camping Valk Emp and Golden Bat for the drops....got a feeling im gonna be there a while...

[IfritnoItazura]

You need to throw stuff at hard enough (but not too hard) monsters.

>_>;

Worms preferred. (Low evasion, and can't run toward you to wack you.) Keep up Utsusemi to absorb Rasp the best you can.

It shouldn't be that hard to skill up throwing. Use range accuracy gear (e.g. Federation Tekko, Beetle Ring +1), bring a few stacks of Selbina Milk. (Squid Sushi if you can afford them, but it the expense does add up, so optional.) Aim for AGI gear for slots w/out range accuracy options.

At Lv.26, you should be able to survive for some time against Maze Maker (worm, up to Lv.21) in Maze of Shakhrami (enter from Tahrongi Canyon), before you have to zone. Do watch out for Goblins, though. It would be wise to use /WHM for Barstonera, and bring a few stacks of Selbina Milk unless you have an LS mate willing to cure you.

Once you're done with the Maze Maker, you can try the Land Worms in Korroloka Tunnel, though those are up to Lv.25, I think, so quite a bit tougher.

Edit:
If you want to start with something really weak, there are Rock Eaters at D-7 in Konschat Highlands; they go up to Lv.11.

[Raydeus]

My throwing skill is 0. SO I thought Id buy some Darts (nice and cheap) to skill up, but after a full stack, not 1 single skillup. What I am doing wrong??

Darts are good if you use your rdm to skill up throwing, since your skill is 0 you gotta start with really weak mobs outside the cities, and then move to higher level mobs as you level up your skill.

NIN's skill rating is A- , RDM's is F so to cap skill for your NIN37 you'd have to fight mobs up to lvl 49 as a RDM.

That would take longer than you'd want to, so my suggestion is getting lvl 81 skill (cap for NIN lvl 26) and then use NIN with a boomerang like Rogetsurin or Windedge to skill up while you xp (unless you start using Shurikens that is).

I use this skill chart as a reference, although is kinda dated and doesn't include the new jobs it's still good for checking skill caps and stuff like that. I'm sure other players here will have links for more updated charts too.

[kamalii]

I had the same problem as you with my NIN at low levels when I leveled it. I ended up soloing or duoing with another NIN after 26 and a horrible party in the dunes.

One of the things people don't realize is lower levels NIN tanks are AWEFUL unless you have 2 of them, or a war in the party to voke when shadows are down. Those 3 shadows don't last long, you don't have haste, and the cast time on that Ichi is agony.

As far as skilling your throwing skills - look for the lowest level boomerang you can find - hopefully there is one about your level. If not, stick with darts. Since your skill level is zero, you really have to start in the job level 1 areas - ronfaur, Gustaberg, SarutaBaruta. Then progressively work your way through. The dunes are great for skilling in the 60ish skill range all the way up to 100, but it slows off quite a bit. After that, go to Qufim worms. If you want to avoid Valk all together, you can skill in Korrolaka tunnel.

Even once you get NI, the key is going to be enfeebling at the beginning of the fight for that hate. It helps.

I still feel like I'm missing too much, decked out in full acc gear. My friend that pt's with me says its all in my head, but I do still miss a lot.

Good luck.

[hongman]

Thanks guys - lol I was trying to skillup in Qufim, guess thats where I was wrong

Well, reached NIN38 now, before i go any further I think I am going to skillup my throwing skill some more. Would Leveling RNG help here? I have a lvl 1 RNG Iv been meaning to lvl.

Any reason I cant use the WingEdge right now to save on Ammo costs?

[IfritnoItazura]

Would Leveling RNG help here? I have a lvl 1 RNG Iv been meaning to lvl.

Any reason I cant use the WingEdge right now to save on Ammo costs?

Yes, RNG10 would help; Accuracy Bonus is like a free Peacock Charm. Sharpshot isn't bad to have, either.

Returnable throwing weapon will always be better for your wallet. Just note that it has longer delay than darts, so skill up will be slower. Just don't be like me--most of my throwing skill came from tossing away gil--er, shurikens--in exp parties. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch...

[hongman]

Yeah, I nearly did my Morion Tathlum when I was RDM/NIN, luckily I didnt have my cursor on anything when I hit /ra <t> !!