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This isn't a post to try to glorify Nin/Thf, or Nin/War blink tanking, or any of that over argued stuff, this is a post on my findings as to how to possibly get Ninja's to do the best damage they can give.
A common thing we're all used to by now is the big surprise that Ninja's tend to be considered tanks rather than damage dealer's, which most people associate Ninja's with. Then there's the people who do blink tank, and end up loving it and defend it to the death thus, the constant and never ending Nin/War versus Nin/Thf debate that never ends.
The thing often lost in this though that I think hasn't been talked about much, if at all on this board is looking into how Ninja's could actually do the best damage the class is capable of. First of all, I'm not going to jump out and say that Ninja's will out damage Ranger's or something because it won't. But this is a board about Ninja main's after all, so this is about what we *can* do
Getting further into the 40's and on, and hearing from more high level Ninja's, I'm starting to see that Ninja's are far from gimpy fighter's, they're actually pretty damn good. Although I've only started seeing it at this point. But my regular attacks can rack up just as much, if not a little more than most of the other melee's as far as regular damage goes. But one thing all Ninja's have to know is they're limits, Although we're on par with the heavy hitter's in the normal hits, they all have special little tactics and abilities they can use to give them greater damage at intervals. Like Drg's have they're Wyverns and Pentathrust at the same time. Drk's have they're powerful WS's to use with Berserk or Sneak attack for big damage, Ranger's have they're weapon skills and great job abilities, Thieves have Fuidama and so on.
Ninja's have Weapon Skills, and lots of hits and thats pretty much it for now. I know for a fact that later Katana WS's do pretty good to great damage so that can be something, but thats later. For now WS's are a bit limited in use. But that doesn't mean Ninja's arn't capable of sweet damage at even the 40's. People who want Ninja's to do damage tend use Nin/Thf and rely on Sneak Attack. While it'll give you one good hit, thats pretty much it. I personally think that while Nin/Thf can function ok, its barking up the wrong tree as far as what to work on with a Ninja main. Thf/Nin can do the same thing but 10 times better. Rather than try to follow Thieves and always be behind, lets think about what Ninja mains have at they're advantage in comparison.
Thieves: They do very high damage in one hit that comes every so often. They get tripple attack and can use duel wield II. But they're regular attack power is weak.
Ninja's: Have Duel Wield III and IV, so they'll always duel wield better. They get Ni debuff attacks. Very haste friendly.
So you see, while Ninja's can never match a Thief's single hit Sneak power, Ninja's have the potential to hit much faster and a bit harder each time than Thieves in overall damage. When people first use the Ninja class, or hear about it in this game they tend to think they want to be the "One Hit kill Assassin" job of this game, thinking Ninja's do that. But thats just not how Ninja's function I think, no matter how hard one tries. Now think, in fighting games where Ninja's are very, very offensive characters what makes them offensive? Is it because one single hit does a ton of damage? No, its because Ninja's barrage with a blur of little hits that all add up. I think instead of concentrating on making one hit massive, the best thing to do is to make sure every one of your hits does sufficient damage, but hits often at a fast rate.
If a Ninja played a melee'er/backup tank (It does happen at this point once in a while) where your not the main tank Warrior would still be a good sub. I'm not going to glorify blink tanking like so many do, this is about what damage your capable of. Warrior's add attack power to each of your individual hits, plus you can use Berserk often to make your hits even more damaging. With faster Duel Wield, and Haste effects and bonuses you can hit very quickly. I'm pre Duel Wield III just barely, but I have Fuma Kyahan on and when a Whm hastes me, my hits go as fast as a 1h club. So with Duel Wield III it'll be a little bit faster even. With Berserk on, and Warrior sub's extra attack power (And food ofcourse, but all melee's at this point have no exvuse not to use food), the damage I can do adds up very quickly. Make sure you have a decent bit of accuracy so it all counts. When a Ninja/War gets to 50 you'll have Double attack so at random times you'll do 3 to 4 hits. Now just count that all up, your his will do a good amount of damage, hit twice each hit, hit a tiny bit faster than a 1H club (Depending on what mages you pair with), and at random times those 2 hits turn to 3 and 4. So with as fast as you hit you'll get the chance for dbl atk to take effect more often. With a WS's thrown in here and there, and a bit of Shurikens your damage racks up to pretty impressive figures. Although Sneak attack gets you one greater hit, you can easilly surpass its damage in no time at all with how much you hit.
The Ni elemental's do a pretty ok bit of damage depending on which you use on which monster, and if you go in succession you can lower elemental quite a bit for some good following damage.
What Ninja's have that most other melee's don't are those debuff's, so you'll want to make sure those are thrown in there quickly and efficiently. If you do all that, plus hit as many times as you can I think you get something much more closer to the Ninja's proper design. You soften enemies and wittle them down rather than try to be one hit kill wonder's, which your not. Thats why I say Ninja/Warrior is far more flexible than just for blink tank use, you can get better damage results too.
In my opinion, even a combo like Nin/Drk would work better than something like Nin/Thf or Nin/Rng because its about taking advantage of the strength Ninja main's do have, they're better duel wield and debuff action. You want your Ninja to be like a whirlwind of little slashes and status effects. I think this gets the best damage results from this job, and it can get you nice and satisfying results. So if you want to be a damage dealing Ninja, get some accuracy equipment, make sure your weapons are updated, and get a pair of Fuma Kyahan. They're expensive (100k) But very well worth it. And pair up with someone who has Haste for an added boost. Use your sub abilities to make sure your two individual hits do as much damage as you can possibly squeeze out, in other words use abilities like Berserk every chance you get. Make sure your Ninjutsu is well leveled and at ready at all times and most of all, remember what you can do and what you can't do.
All this is useful because even if your blink tanking, you can use this knowledge to do good damage AND blink tank at the same time. But even if you were playing a Melee, this would be good to know. Ninja's strength lies in that they can strike for medium damage twice, and can do it faster than others so use that if you can. You wittle down enemies, not do gigantic one hit kills I think.
When I get to even higher levels I'd like to update on how I experiment with this topic. But for now I think the key to getting the best damage out of Ninja's with regular melee is to make every one of those hits high quality, so it can all add up.
A common thing we're all used to by now is the big surprise that Ninja's tend to be considered tanks rather than damage dealer's, which most people associate Ninja's with. Then there's the people who do blink tank, and end up loving it and defend it to the death thus, the constant and never ending Nin/War versus Nin/Thf debate that never ends.
The thing often lost in this though that I think hasn't been talked about much, if at all on this board is looking into how Ninja's could actually do the best damage the class is capable of. First of all, I'm not going to jump out and say that Ninja's will out damage Ranger's or something because it won't. But this is a board about Ninja main's after all, so this is about what we *can* do
Getting further into the 40's and on, and hearing from more high level Ninja's, I'm starting to see that Ninja's are far from gimpy fighter's, they're actually pretty damn good. Although I've only started seeing it at this point. But my regular attacks can rack up just as much, if not a little more than most of the other melee's as far as regular damage goes. But one thing all Ninja's have to know is they're limits, Although we're on par with the heavy hitter's in the normal hits, they all have special little tactics and abilities they can use to give them greater damage at intervals. Like Drg's have they're Wyverns and Pentathrust at the same time. Drk's have they're powerful WS's to use with Berserk or Sneak attack for big damage, Ranger's have they're weapon skills and great job abilities, Thieves have Fuidama and so on.
Ninja's have Weapon Skills, and lots of hits and thats pretty much it for now. I know for a fact that later Katana WS's do pretty good to great damage so that can be something, but thats later. For now WS's are a bit limited in use. But that doesn't mean Ninja's arn't capable of sweet damage at even the 40's. People who want Ninja's to do damage tend use Nin/Thf and rely on Sneak Attack. While it'll give you one good hit, thats pretty much it. I personally think that while Nin/Thf can function ok, its barking up the wrong tree as far as what to work on with a Ninja main. Thf/Nin can do the same thing but 10 times better. Rather than try to follow Thieves and always be behind, lets think about what Ninja mains have at they're advantage in comparison.
Thieves: They do very high damage in one hit that comes every so often. They get tripple attack and can use duel wield II. But they're regular attack power is weak.
Ninja's: Have Duel Wield III and IV, so they'll always duel wield better. They get Ni debuff attacks. Very haste friendly.
So you see, while Ninja's can never match a Thief's single hit Sneak power, Ninja's have the potential to hit much faster and a bit harder each time than Thieves in overall damage. When people first use the Ninja class, or hear about it in this game they tend to think they want to be the "One Hit kill Assassin" job of this game, thinking Ninja's do that. But thats just not how Ninja's function I think, no matter how hard one tries. Now think, in fighting games where Ninja's are very, very offensive characters what makes them offensive? Is it because one single hit does a ton of damage? No, its because Ninja's barrage with a blur of little hits that all add up. I think instead of concentrating on making one hit massive, the best thing to do is to make sure every one of your hits does sufficient damage, but hits often at a fast rate.
If a Ninja played a melee'er/backup tank (It does happen at this point once in a while) where your not the main tank Warrior would still be a good sub. I'm not going to glorify blink tanking like so many do, this is about what damage your capable of. Warrior's add attack power to each of your individual hits, plus you can use Berserk often to make your hits even more damaging. With faster Duel Wield, and Haste effects and bonuses you can hit very quickly. I'm pre Duel Wield III just barely, but I have Fuma Kyahan on and when a Whm hastes me, my hits go as fast as a 1h club. So with Duel Wield III it'll be a little bit faster even. With Berserk on, and Warrior sub's extra attack power (And food ofcourse, but all melee's at this point have no exvuse not to use food), the damage I can do adds up very quickly. Make sure you have a decent bit of accuracy so it all counts. When a Ninja/War gets to 50 you'll have Double attack so at random times you'll do 3 to 4 hits. Now just count that all up, your his will do a good amount of damage, hit twice each hit, hit a tiny bit faster than a 1H club (Depending on what mages you pair with), and at random times those 2 hits turn to 3 and 4. So with as fast as you hit you'll get the chance for dbl atk to take effect more often. With a WS's thrown in here and there, and a bit of Shurikens your damage racks up to pretty impressive figures. Although Sneak attack gets you one greater hit, you can easilly surpass its damage in no time at all with how much you hit.
The Ni elemental's do a pretty ok bit of damage depending on which you use on which monster, and if you go in succession you can lower elemental quite a bit for some good following damage.
What Ninja's have that most other melee's don't are those debuff's, so you'll want to make sure those are thrown in there quickly and efficiently. If you do all that, plus hit as many times as you can I think you get something much more closer to the Ninja's proper design. You soften enemies and wittle them down rather than try to be one hit kill wonder's, which your not. Thats why I say Ninja/Warrior is far more flexible than just for blink tank use, you can get better damage results too.
In my opinion, even a combo like Nin/Drk would work better than something like Nin/Thf or Nin/Rng because its about taking advantage of the strength Ninja main's do have, they're better duel wield and debuff action. You want your Ninja to be like a whirlwind of little slashes and status effects. I think this gets the best damage results from this job, and it can get you nice and satisfying results. So if you want to be a damage dealing Ninja, get some accuracy equipment, make sure your weapons are updated, and get a pair of Fuma Kyahan. They're expensive (100k) But very well worth it. And pair up with someone who has Haste for an added boost. Use your sub abilities to make sure your two individual hits do as much damage as you can possibly squeeze out, in other words use abilities like Berserk every chance you get. Make sure your Ninjutsu is well leveled and at ready at all times and most of all, remember what you can do and what you can't do.
All this is useful because even if your blink tanking, you can use this knowledge to do good damage AND blink tank at the same time. But even if you were playing a Melee, this would be good to know. Ninja's strength lies in that they can strike for medium damage twice, and can do it faster than others so use that if you can. You wittle down enemies, not do gigantic one hit kills I think.
When I get to even higher levels I'd like to update on how I experiment with this topic. But for now I think the key to getting the best damage out of Ninja's with regular melee is to make every one of those hits high quality, so it can all add up.
I said myself that I don't think its the best fit, I don't like the feel of it personally.
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