Vital Equipment

[Jei]

great axe....
katana is ok to me. better idea to keep them skilled too.

[Tifa]

Katanas:
You're always going to want +1 katanas. As a ninja you don't have a ton of hate generating abilities and stuff, so anything you can do for extra damage will help. More damage also makes your battles shorter (duh).

Ammo:
Bomb Core at 63 will help you out a lot.
Fenrir's Stone also a possibility but this isn't purchasable by AH.

Head:
Emperor Hairpin can last you from 24 to 70 if you like.
Use your AF mask at 56 macro'd in for your enfeebles.
Optical Hat at level 70 is a must-have item. It's kinda time consuming to get, and definitely a pain in the ass, but it's worth it.

Neck:
Spirit Torque at 38.
Ryl. Grd. Collar at 55.
Evasion Torque and Ninjutsu Torque at 65. In EXP I still wear my Ryl. Grd. Collar all the time, but for hard stuff you may want that Evasion Torque handy. Macro in your Ninjutsu Torque for enfeebling, it will greatly increase your chance of landing them.

Body:
You can get away with almost anything early on.
The first body piece you might wanna try to get is Scorpion Harness at 57. It's expensive but effective for a long time (like...forever). If you can't afford one, definitely stick with your AF body. The Enhanced Dual Wield is awesome.
If you feel you suck at holding hate, there's also Arhat's Gi at 64 (+3 enmity).

Hands:
Federation Tekko at 25.
Horomusha Kote at 34 (very expensive).
Some NINs like Ochiudo's Kote, but personally I hate getting any negative stats, in this case evasion-5. If you can blink tank just fine with these on, by all means go for it.
Praefectus Gloves at 65 are cool. It's a Rank 8 Bastok CP item with +5 evasion skill and +5 parry skill in areas outside your nation's control. Make sure you check the regional info before using these- and have a backup handpiece in case.
Dusk Gloves at 72 are very hawt, also expensive but a great endgame handpiece.


Waist:
Survival Belt at 38.
Life Belt at 48.
Warwolf Belt at 71. Might still prefer lifebelt at 71, but by the time you get closer to 75 you'll have enough natural accuracy where you can use the warwolf most the time.

Legs:
Kingdom Trousers at 25.
AF legs at 56. Great upgrade here.
Arhat's Hakama at 63, another great upgrade.
Yasha Samue is also great at 71, if you like it.
Byakko's Haidate is a NIN dream item, R/E but if you know the stats, then you already want a pair. Level 75.

Feet:
Fuma Kyahan at 39.
AF boots at 54.
Arhat's sune-ate at 64.
Fuma Sune-Ate at 72.

Back:
Traveler's/Nomad's Mantle at 24.
Bat Cape at 46. (may be expensive)
Amemet Mantle (or +1) at 61.
Later on you can choose between Behemoth Mantle, Gigant Mantle, or Corse Cape, for tanking. They are all expensive, but good tanking pieces. For EXP and DMG things, you'll always want the Amemet mantle.

Earrings:
Dodge Earrings at 29.
Eris' Earrings at 54 for enmity, but it's probably also ok if you like the Dodge Earrings still.
Elusive Earrings at 60.
Suppanomimi at 72. Very hard to get but definitely the best DMG earring a nin can get.

Rings:
You can get a little creative with this. I think ninjas can get away with Acc, STR, AGI, or even DEX rings. Personally, I used AGI rings until 72, and then i changed to STR rings, which helped out my WS dmg a lot. This slot is up to each person. Just use what you think is helping you the most.

I think I covered most the bases, might add to this later if I think of anything else.

[Omni]

Originally posted by mw21
What would you reccomend for lower levels ie 1-30 for a newly NIN? Someone said I should start Great axes at 5 but I'm interested to hear what you guys say.

:confused: nin cant use g.axe :confused:

[mw21]

So uhhh what should I use then? Could someone detail it out from like 1-25 and I'll be good to go.

[Omni]

somepage.com/ffxi

go look up katanas and pretty much pick the most recent katana you can get for whatever level you are. it's only higher lvls where katana choice gets a little more interesting. lower lvl stuff is pretty much whatevers. you might want to pick up a sword too. since the difference btwn A and C skill at those lvls are very small, you might want to have one handy so you can start fusion renkei with red lotus blade. just imo.

[Kilgraw]

Great Katana at low levels is a good choice I thought.

[Omni]

i guess that can work, i have never seen a ninja use g.katana in a xp pt, nor have i.

we dont get to use that many g.katanas. we get 1 new g.katana every 10-15 levels. you also wont be making use of your natural dual wield ability.

[Lmnop]

the idea behind the Great Katana nin is that it hits harder to keep hate better (especially pre-25 with DW2) and has more powerful WS. But the lower acc put it out of the question for me. Also, Retsu is flippin awesome.