The Sealed Dagger: A Ninja Guide

Yours is pretty similar to my enmity set. Other than the aforementioned Sapience Orb, Trux Earring, and Trance Belt, a couple recommendations:

- I use Kurys Gloves and think that the Enm+9 far outweighs saving a small amount of gil on ninja tools.
- There are other Enm+5 rings you could use. I personally go with Eihwaz/Supershear, but Pernicious and Provocare also have +5 (and Petrov or Odium have Enm+4)

I tend to be a bit squeamish about non-ilevel gear just in case I get caught in something, so I don't use an enm+ head (I just stick Genmei in my Enmity set). It's really too bad NIN isn't on Halitus Helm...


I went and farmed my own a while back because I could never find one for sale. Went 1/1 on the drop. If you keep an eye on when Trolls are preparing it's viable to just go kill the NM when they're on their way to Al Zahbi. Bring some TH, and good luck!


I think your instincts are correct. I'm slowly working on a Nagi now just to collect-em-all, but it's kinda trash. Free Mijin RR macro piece!

It isn't even the best tanking mainhand any more, since the Divergence path C katanas (plural, I'd say even the HQ1 Mochizuki would generally be better) just overtook it. Divergence will vary based on shadows, but on average should be able to compete with Nagi from an enmity standpoint... and the ninjutsu recast reduction is way more helpful than anything else Nagi brings to the table for tanking.

Honestly, the only niche Nagi has now would be as an offhand enmity piece (for tanking situations where you are unengaged or where your DPS is irrelevant), IF Nagi's Enmity+ applies when offhanding it. Can someone please confirm whether or not that is the case? :)

Even then, there are other choices with arguably more utility:
- Shigi for ninjutsu recast (assuming no enmity control issues from the Enm-10)
- Shuhansadamune for a nice combo of Enm+10/Counter+5/FC+5%/PDT-3%
- Raicho +1 for MDT-/Eva/AGI
- Tancho +1 for SIRD-35% (and some Eva/AGI)


I just got my Fudo Masamune, and while it's too bad the augs don't work offhanded (more for OFFENSIVE reasons, IMHO), I think I'm gonna go C path and just let the augments be nothing when I'm offhanding it. It's still the best offhand to any mainhand katana in most offensive situations, even without augs. Then when I want to be a dedicated tank (which tends to be relatively rarely), I'll just swap it into mainhand and voila!

Haven't pulled the trigger yet on C path though, I'm still somewhat intrigued by B path's follow-up attack and SBII... If anyone has thoughts/math about B path, please weigh in.


Huh? You're still talking about Nagi, right - why would you be stuck using Hi? Shun would probably be better as your default damage WS, with Hi or Ten mixed in as needed for SCs (and probably depending on buffs to see if Ten could be worth it). Hi>Hi does retain a niche for self-SC darkness, though that's less important in party situations with other melees.

You are unfortunately forced to use Kamu to trigger AM3 though. Yuck. (but at least Kamu->Shun is a nice easy Light SC, and Kamu doesn't suck QUITE as badly using its associated weapon)

I wouldn't put a path on anything until further testing has been done. There has been conflicting responses, people claim that Path A's double damage can proc on weaponskills and others say it only procs on auto attacks. Yet none of them show proof of either. Path C is a great option for a NIN tank, but if these claims are correct that it does indeed proc on weaponskills then this katana is hands down the best katana. Path B is interesting and has potential. Keep in mind that you can't change paths.

Yeah, I'm in no huge rush to commit... at least unless a path change option is announced (wouldn't shock me to see that lag behind release of the augments, just like Abdhaljs Needles, trading in reward rings, etc.)

For the relatively niche use, I might just do an HQ1 Mochizuki katana down the C/tank path, and hold off on deciding about the FudoMasa until things are more clear. Still very useful in the offhand in the meantime.

Ninja army, help me out: any tips on what are you using NIN for in Divergence? In particular - which Wave 2/3 bosses are viable for NIN tanking? I also recognize that NIN can be pretty handy as a DD that can stack a ton of Acc for wave 3 as well as be pretty safe with shadows - but more looking for NM tips.

I'm pretty new to Wave 2/3 bosses though, having just recently had the motivation to clear them. I am aware that Halphas is pretty NIN-friendly, just tanked that this week for the first time and we found it effective. I'm not sure about the rest, so would love to see what others are doing.

Note that I also have a very strong PUP tank and Epeolatry RUN available, so for stuff that those might work better on, I would have little motivation to use NIN for tanking (e.g. Bastok wave 2 we were thinking of an automaton tank + MB setup, which should provide maximum safety and no tank enmity control issues).

Not sure I'd define Halphas "nin friendly". Depends what you mean. Friendly for NIN as a DD? or as a Tank?

The latter: NO. His counters would destroy you faster than you can reasonably put San up and/or keep enmity from other DDs at the same time.

The former: Absolutely yes but then again NIN doesn't shine above most other DDs. I would say it's sadly likely behind most other DDs except MNK, PUP and... uhm, I dunno. BST? Oh I guess RNG too probably.
Not as bad as MNK but still, you know what I mean. It's not that NIN sucks overall, but it could be much better with more DPS cooldowns or slightly better WSs, alas we only have Sange.
You can exploit Innin for a decent amount of time on these bosses though, at least. That will slightly boost your White damage. Which represents a miniscule % of your overall DPS but it's better than nothing hey.


I'd love to play NIN myself on Divergence runs but I don't think I can allow myself to do that, yet. Maybe once other LS buddies have better gear (JSE necks, augmented RMEs etc) and our overall DPS will increase?

multiple people have tanked Halphas on ninja- you deal with the counters the same way you do on anything else

To go away from Halphas and answer more in general:

On Wave 3 the Accuracy boost you get from Innin is only theoretical because realistically the majority of time you won't be able to reliably stand behind the monsters. Something you can do on the Wave3 megaboss for a good amount of time, until Hate from damage reaches the cap and then it's gonna turn around very often.
It won't turn much to face you directly (thanks to the lovely -enm Ninjutsu and Innin) but it will turn around to face your other DDs so the result is the same.
Still, Innin moderately useful on wave3 megaboss

The superior amount of shadows nin gets will help you against all monsters with non-shadow-stripping AoEs, which is the majority of AoE TP moves in Divergence.
This means you will spend less time casting shadows compared to other DDs, which in return will make the DPS difference between you and other DDs slightly better in your favor.
Mind that Shadows are vital only on a few targets, on the rest it won't really matter much and stuff will die in one WS.


In general I guess you could say NIN is good enough to be perfectly viable in Divergence, but then again not as good as most other DPS jobs, neither does NIN bring anything special that can benefit the alliance in any way, alas.


Specifically if you wanna go for Red Eyes NMs tanking I'm sure you could do it just fine with proper sets and cooperative DDs in your alliance.
It would be harder in Sandy (those damn counterstances!) and in Windy (Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom).
Guess more viable in Jeuno and especially Bastok.

If you're tanking I'd suggest /blu or /run, really helps if you have a refresher though. I know Boshi mentioned how well Nin does w/ chi in jeuno because the bonus damage to all types

Halphas just spam w/e hate ja/spells you have /blu or /run w/e. Keep migawari up because Veil of Chaos after 50%. When we did like this is was RNG strat but honestly if its melee and you're tanking just turn lol

Without demanding anything from the alliance/DDs or them holding back?

When I did that, which I did, it required a *lot* of cooperation from the other DDs (holding back, mostly) and the amount of counters plus his regular attacks plus AoE was consuming my shadows so fast that I couldn't deal enough damage to keep enmity up at a reasonable hate.
The Enmity+ you get from Utsusemi during Yonin was nowhere near enough to compensate for that.


I guess it could have been much better with /RUN and Refresh, but then again I was meant to be a DD on that run and had to resort tanking last minute because our proper tank crashed.



All in all not something I would suggest to anybody unless you're looking for additional layers of complexity/challenge because you're bored of doing Halphas with regular tanks.



Edit:
Regardless of that, Halphas' counters are dangerous and I find it much harder to deal with it from a dualwielding job with strong DD buffs, compared to a 1H job or 2H job like RUN, which normally don't even get full DD buffs either.

Windy in particular on NMs you should be just fine in a full MEVA set and if you're not already going /run to windy for lux/pflug

Yeah I just back tanked it mostly. Wasn't even concerned with doing any offense on Halphas (though I was full on DD the rest of the run).

As long as you have proper haste, Halphas is pretty shadow-tankable (for the most part I could go San-San). Migawari gives you a nice additional layer of safety, and you can toss Scherzo on the tank party too. We noticed it was pretty effective when we went on a run where I was notNIN, but we had a NIN who wasn't even planning to "tank" and who jumped in and helped hold Halphas admirably after a semi-wipe while our dead PLD and RUN unweakened after an "incident".

Yonin/Gekka up and spamming away on shadows while turned was my approach. I didn't even have a totally tank-focused sub, I was /WAR (more for the offensive benefit for the rest of the run) and just used Voke when I could and kept Defender up. Even then, was largely able to keep hate off of even a buffed DRK. I also spammed some ninjutsu in enmity+ gear. Worked well enough.

I used Shuhansadamune and Shigi (was cautious about wanting to reduce my recast as much as I could, even with the weapon's enm-), but I'm interested in whether there's enough to do with NIN tanky stuff these days that it might be worth having a Divergence katana on the C path (even if just the HQ1 katana, and save Fudo Masamune for one of the offensive paths).


IDK that I agree. Shadows are a real significant benefit on T2-T3 mobs, since they allow you to stack all of the offense/acc you need while still feeling pretty safe. Compare to most DDs who probably need a pretty strong hybrid set on T3s that will really decrease their DPS over gearing for pure offense. NIN doesn't have to make those sacrifices. You can also be a nice off-tank, and grab stuff from a main tank or otherwise tank individual mobs, with great safety.

As for white damage, I do tend to use a Kannagi mainhand, so I like me some NIN white damage with those AM3 crit triple damage procs and it's a situation where the Innin/crit focused white damage approach excels. Hi/darkness is also pretty well aligned with perma double-dark weather.


I may have to try that. I can use full Kendatsuba+1 for Meva, along with all the accessories.

A lot of words have been used to say that ninja isn't the greatest DD job in the world- which I think is something that most people have figured out by now


And yeah- if you want to tank, you do kinda need to use a real subjob for it though /WAR is probably sufficient in some setups

Yeah, and this is actually a great application for NIN's solid enough DD potential while taking advantage of its huge defensive benefits for so much more safety/leniency. A lot of the Wave 2-3 stuff is made so much easier by having the extra protection of Utsu: San and being able to gear for mostly all-out offense (or stuff like Ken+1 set's strong offense and killer Meva for some additional security; I was going 5/5 Kendatsuba for my TP gear in my last Dyna).

TBH, I find NIN one of the more useful Divergence DDs all things considered, even if it isn't MAXIMUM THEORETICAL DPS.

On Wave2 I dunno, that stuff dies so fast lol
Wave3 is a bit more dangerous, on some mobs you will receive a clear benefit from the lovely NIN main shadows.
But on so many others they're gonna be so irrelevant... When I'm on other jobs /NIN I was so scared and defensive the first times, now I hardly bother unless I'm on specific mobs.
Tbf aside from the Party Leaders most stuff dies in literally a bunch of seconds though, keep that in mind.

Regardless, I loved NIN's additional shadows the few times I got granted the privilege to go Divergence on NIN. I was just staying while it will give you a lovely edge on some targets, it won't really matter on the majority of them.


Only thing I can compare to is DNC, the only other DD I used quite a bunch of times in Divergence.
My DNC has like, I dunno, ~20% PDT in his regular TP build (non hybrid).
In addition to that I got the luxury of Fan Dance.
I've very rarely had to switch to DT or Hybrid builds on DNC on wave3. Both on regular targets and on bosses/minibosses. When I had to, it was only for brief moments/phases.

My regular NIN TP build has like, uhm, ~13PDT probably, but likely more meva than my DNC one. No fan dance though, but lotsa shadows.
I never managed to play NIN on Wave3 megabosses. Personally I think the biggest thing that would create a difference compared to my DNC is that I would be much less likely to see the boss turn to face me, and when and if that would happen, I would have way more shadows to defend me.

When I'm on DNC instead it's a pain. After a while you reach the damage/enmity cap and the boss will often turn to face you if you continue to avoid holding back.
It has to be said Fan Dance sadly helps reaching that point faster since it gives you +Enmity :'(
I can see this being so much better on NIN thanks to the -enm Ninjutsu and Yonin, would love to try it.

By that reasoning, if Wave2 stuff dies really fast regardless, any DD will be fine and you aren't suffering much of a loss by using a "pretty good" DD like NIN (versus your ideal DPS heavy DDs). If anything, the ability to keep Migawari up and toss up an Utsu: San between mobs/pulls will make things a little easier on your healers while having a negligible impact on DPS/kill speed.

And when you get to the hard stuff on Wave3, you get some real benefit out of NIN. Not to mention, even if not main tanking you're a nice asset for some emergency mob-holding situations.

IDK, I guess I'm pretty happy with the ability to use NIN and feel completely useful on this piece of current high end content.

Absolutely!
I was just saying that the NIN's main Niche (lotsa shadows) will grant a clear benefit to you compared to other DDs, but only against certain specific targets and mostly I would say in Wave3.

My warning was more to be read as: "Don't expect the additional shadows to make a difference on every single target, because alas they won't". Just that!


YMMV of course, guess it kinda depends on alliance setup.
Normally we have 18 people and at least 2 proper tanks, so the holding stuff when/if a tank dies or with huge trains is not really a big deal... for us.
I can see it being much more useful on smaller groups with only one tank though! Would be nice in such setups.

Like honestly it really depends on the setup and if the setup works. If you're doing a melee setup, 10 songs and 2 rolls (or 6 songs 4 rolls) like literally any DD can get the job done. Damage is still damage. The sandy wave 3 boss would probably be the worst one for NIN just due to the constant -ga spells. Every other boss would be perfect for NIN. If NIN pulls hate they have shadows to absorb moves and if tank dies then NIN can be a backup tank. If you want consistent damage NIN would be the go to.

Waaaat! Are you guys seriously dealing with the Sandy Wave3 Megaboss without silencing it?
Sounds like quite a feat! I'm impressed.
Not just for the -ga enfeebles but biggest issue there I'd say is the dispelga stripping away all your buffs, slowly but steadily.

Are you aware that it's super easy to land silence on it once all 8 fetters are down and avoiding to do it on purpose for a biggest challenge? Or... I dunno, is there any other reason?

I'm aware on how easy it is to land silence yes. It just so happens that our RDM is also our BRD and GEO.

Not sure if helps you guys but I could consistantly land Silence on my GEO/RDM and on my BRD/WHM.
When all fetters are down the debuff resistance of wave3 megabosses drops to absymal levels.
Really I'd say anybody /WHM or /RDM with a decent midcast macc set can easily land silence.

Granted of course a RDM is preferable for the higher duration and blahblah. Was just saying because I was surprised myself. I normally don't even bother to try to land stuff on bosses because of course it's not gonna work on jobs with no native Enfeebling Skill.
Instead on these bosses it's super easy for any job, trust me! :D

Any thoughts on How Fudo Masamune fares as a Mainhand Nuking option? It has 255 Macc skill (13 more than REMA), +50 macc (which has been a consistent pain point for Ninja nuking in general), higher base magic damage (186 vs 217) and Path A has +50% Chance of Double Damage. I'm not hopeful that it does, but has anyone been able to determine if that double damage augment procs on Magical ninjutsu? Would make an interesting Nuke piece option for a job that was plagued with low native macc.

Kei would make a good test puppet to see it in action.

Even using 2 would give a hefty boost to magical nuking accuracy, since the base stats work in offhand.

Since that augment follows a "Main Hand:" I'm not going to hold my breath that it applies to magical ninjutsu. :(

I'm talking about using it in main hand for the purpose of nuking

I see what you mean. Would be worth the test. Naked, Ninja wheel, see if any outliers. If not, dud.

In either hand it's still a very a strong option thanks to all of the Macc. I've found that even when offhanding mine, the Macc makes it so much easier to avoid enfeeble resists on stuff that was previously somewhat troublesome. Similarly, resists on nukes are less common - and with no sacrifice to a good melee offhand (not that Ochu is a bad option when you know you're bursting).

Might be worth testing on a cheaper/lower risk NQ/HQ1 katana though to check that mainhand double damage proc idea out. HQ1 still has the same magic skill+242 as REMA, Macc+40 (or +50 inside of Divergence), Magic Damage+201. Still a great nuking offhand, and if the double damage DOES work on ninjutsu if mainhanded could just swap it in if doing something nuke-heavy (same idea as doing a path C katana for tanking, use it as an offhand, swap to mainhand if actually tanking). Hmmm... I'm tempted.

***EDIT***
FOR SCIENCE, I slapped an A path on an HQ1 katana and upgraded it to lv5 with the heroism crystals I had on me. At rank 5, "Chance of double attacks +10%". Went out and free nuked 40 weak mobs in East Sarutabaruta, damage was always consistent ~4.3k. Never once saw a double damage result (and further tested melee and did see double damage procs as expected). There ya go.

Still doesn't change what I said above about it being a great nuking katana in either hand just by virtue of the base stats though. Tons of Macc, high magic accuracy skill and magic damage.

Thanks for the test. Definitely another missed opportunity by SE. Would have been a pretty sweet and niche item, for a niche role on a niche job.

I don't know, I'm kinda bummed about 1h job weapon augs not working in offhand. You'd think, that for at least the native Dual Wielders (THF, DNC, NIN), the weapon should easily work for both hands. That was a really dumb decision they made there.

Eh, of all jobs, NIN probably has the least to complain about with Divergence weapons. Acc+50/Racc+50/Macc+50, and up to Atk+105, along with a high skill good damage offhand... is pretty freaking nice. For a job that had no good Empy offhand like dagger/sword people did, it's sure nice. THF certainly has more of a complaint.

Not to mention a C path tanking weapon that sorta demolishes the previous best tanking mainhand, so just swap it to mainhand when you feel like tanking (and you wouldn't want the enmity+ most of the time anyway when offhanding).

The double damage and additional attack on A/B paths would really be kinda broken to apply when offhanded, IMO. Though yeah, some of the niche stuff on each path coulda been kinda cool and not game-breaking: A path double damage applying to nukes, B path SBII+25 applying whether offhanded or not, C path ninjutsu recast delay applying offhand...

Yeah, Fudo Masamune is pretty much BiS for NIN anytime the accuracy is needed for content, augment or no. Which is for the best since they got shafted on Empy offhand.

I'm still super salty that now my BiS offhand is a Taming Sari for THF, though.

Was the att x shadow thing confirmed to work offhand?
Granted that technically Shigi still grants more acc (to the MH at least) and has the nice enmity-10 which is a nice addition on long fights like Wave3 Dirvengece bosses.

...but then again I guess it's a negative thing whenever you want to try to offtank even if just for a short while.

Fudo too has its own secondary nice things, like the large amounts of Mdmg/Macc and the HP+ which never hurts. (last but not least, lots of attack!)


In a situation where you're att capped and acc capped though, wouldn't stuff like Ochu or godlyaugmented Reisenkatana still be a better OH?

Yep, I have Fudo Masamune and Mochizuki Shinobi-gatana. Atk+ from offhanding them definitely applies to both a different mainhand (e.g., RMEA) and the offhand weapon.


In some situations, yes. So it's good to keep an Ochu or amazing Kanaria around for those situations where you're overpowered versus your target. But if you aren't capping both Atk and Acc, it's highly likely that Fudo Masamune wins. If you're planning to bring NIN to very high end content, OR if you're planning to use NIN without always having very heavy buffs, Fudo Masamune is an extremely useful offhand solely from an offensive perspective (to say nothing of the ability to augment it as a C path tanking mainhaind katana, B path for Additional attack & Subtle Blow+75 build, etc.)

A few samples with Heishi/Ten and the same very high end TP and WS set:

(1) level 139 Apex Bat and the following buffs:
* GEO Fury/Frailty (Idris values)
* COR Chaos/Samurai
* BRD March/Min5/Min4
* Innin

DPS by offhand:
A. Perfect Ochu: 4735 dps
B. Fudo (7 shadow): 4675 dps (98.7% of A)
C. Fudo (0 shadow): 4673 dps (98.6% of A)

What if you don't have 3 buffers, need GEO or BRD to do Acc instead of Atk, etc.?

(2) Same as initial set/buffs but swap Frailty for Torpor:
A. 3367 dps
B. 3627 dps (107% of A)
C. 3371 dps (100.001 of A)

(3) Maybe you have GEO (Idris Fury/Frailty) and BRD only?
A. 3590 dps
B. 3791 dps (105.6% of A)
C. 3616 dps (100.7% of A)

(4) Or, what if you fight a stronger mob? 145 (Theorized) target, and hell, I'll give extra buffs from an outside pt second GEO...
* GEO Fury/Frailty AND a Bolstered Idris Torpor
* COR Chaos/Samurai
* BRD March/Min5/Mad2
* Innin

A. 3570 dps
B. 3906 dps (109.3% of A)
C. 3710 dps (103.9% of A)

There are obviously countless additional variations or target/gear/buffs (e.g., Idris or Dunna?), spreadsheets are imperfect, etc... but you get the point. On stuff that warrants the acc/atk, you're getting a lot out of Divergence katana. Even where the Ochu wins in the above, it's close enough that I would be inclined to opt for the Fudo if I wasn't 100% positive I was capped everything. Worst case is a slight DPS loss (with some little perks like HP and MAcc for ninjutsu), but the potential upside if you DO need Fudo's extra oomph is significant.