The Sealed Dagger: A Ninja Guide

Thanks! I'll try it asap.

May have asked this before but hopefully not.

Any of you actually using Ageha before a fight?
Normally I'm going NIN WHM GEO and I was spreading whether 2min 1 march dia III haste II was worst or better than INdi-haste/geo frail (x5) and dia II which it actually was slightly better.

When I added the 25% from ageha was a huge jump in DPS in the NIN BRD RDM setup and probably leads to even more dps N/G/W but I really prefer the extra utility from RDM, para/blind/silence/slow(synergy with elegy) frazzle/distract

Any have any opinions on this?

I used a Beryllium Tachi a few times for Apex to see how much of an increase it would be, and it took far too long for me to get 1000TP. For longer fights, it would be useful, especially if you can start the fight out with 1k tp, you'd definitely benefit. For something short under 2 minutes, it might not make a difference.

On Monk if I'm the only active DD on a certain boss, I will start the fight off with Shell Crusher (lasts 9 minutes at 3k TP, which is huge) and then swap to h2h for dps. It works out well if you need the extra buff and it's worth keeping a gkt around on NIN if you're ever in a lowman scenario like that.

Yeah I keep a +1 tachi on me for it when I wanted to try it and it works great especially w/ distract 3 landing and i just swap into full acc to make sure im landing the hits.
The shitty part is the static 3 minute duration makes me feel like its not worth doing if you have to do it multiple times. But i'll have to do an omen boss and see

Omen is probably the worst boss to do it on, since they have Stygian Cyclone, which wipes their debuffs. It works out better if Monk is the only dps on it, since native subtle blow and the chance of them using SS is reduced, but still likely. You would have to constantly keep re-applying ageha/crusher on Caturae so you'll never enjoy a full duration. But you can try it on the midboss like Gorger.

Yeah I'll check it out and see. Plus the thing with omen is Fade helps so much that its hard to switch it up, mule is only 3 song ballerhorn so I'd have to go like a dark carol for resistance, or even change it up to /run since I hardly get to use berserk anyway

If you're ninja, fade may only be needed for last 25% or so when he starts using Malign Invocation + Interference back to back. In which case, Migawari at least blocks one of those hits if you choose to not use fade. Though fulltime fade allows you to literally walk through those moves without ever needing Miga. Mule can CC for the extra song if you need a carol, or you can just save the GEO's entrust for the last push, since that's the most damaging risk. NIN can fulltime Kendatsuba+1/hybrid set and Malign and Interference is completely non-threatening.

Im a broke *** being bestu isnt cheap, only 1/5 +1 ken haha but yeah normally fade is more so for the trusts than for me.
Normally when it readies a TP move(omen) since theyre almost all magic I just hit my MDT toggle real quick then again for normal mode.

I especially like N/B/R for amb since i get lullabies and can cripple them to black plague levels with debuffs

I noticed that Fudo Masamune B doesn't actually reduce the Rounds/WS. I spent way too long yesterday coming up with a possible fix for that. Instead of adjusting the Avg, I adjust the Sums(which appears to be what's used for Rounds/WS) to this:


Basically, it takes the current column's multi-attack percent, halves it, halves the previous column's multi-attack percentage, then adds them together. For example, if your main hand percentages are 50% SA, 25% DA, 25% TA, it will become 25% SA, 37.5% DA, 37.5% TA. The end result is the Sum still totals 100%, and the Avg still has a flat 0.5 added to it, and the Rounds/WS is now reduced.

But is this right? lol. Not as good at math as I'd like to be. It seems right to me but I'm not even sure how exactly Follow-up works.

assumed follow up is just 50% chance DA-->TA TA--QA and so on thats just what i think though, 0 idea or backing to prove it

Yeah, sounds right to me.

I just realized I messed the math up actually in that post. Should be 25% SA, 37.5% DA, 25% TA, 12.5% QA. The formula does that. I just messed up that part of the post. lol.

If anyone has Fudo/SU4 and if it's even able to be tested, are you getting all the enmity for shadows at the time of the cast or is it giving you the enmity after the cast once the shadows are already up

I do have a C path Fudo, and while I'm not sure exactly how to test the enmity stuff, I can only assume it works the same as the Atk per shadow effect. Which is, the effect is based on number of shadows currently active and automatically adjusts based on active number of shadows at any time. As in, after your initial San cast (7 shadows) you will have Atk+105 (15 per shadow). That happens once the spell completes and you get your shadows, not at precast. Once you lose a shadow, the atk is immediately updated and reflected in /checkparam.

So, for enmity purposes, it's ideal to try to recast Utsu right before an enmity generating JA/spell (Voke, Flash, whatever). Enmity from Fudo C should just act like you have gear equipped with "Enmity+x", amount of which is updated on the fly as you lose/gain shadows.

As an overall approach, you should probably just assume you're not usually going to be able to maintain max shadows at all times, nor will you drop to no shadows for any sustained period of time. On average, you'll probably keep 4-7 shadows up most of the time. Fudo C makes it a bit easier to spam recasts too, thanks to the ninjutsu recast delay- on the same path.

If anyone has suggested methods to test something relevant to Fudo Masamune enmity, please feel free to suggest and I'm happy to help - provided it's something that doesn't take a ton of time and can be done with myself + mule(has SCH) + trusts, or possibly recruiting 1 friend.

FWIW, I currently usually use Fudo mainhand and Shuhansadamune offhand for tanking (though stuff like Shigi, Tancho+1, Raicho+1 have their potential uses). Will offhand Nagi once I get that finished (maybe by end of 2018!), assuming the enmity+40 works in offhand like I think it will. Once I have my Nagi, I'll test that one by having NIN and another player both voke or something at same time (both with and without NIN using Nagi), and compare enmity levels with SCH Libra. Unless someone ELSE can test that Nagi now ;) - I've put that request out there many times, but never had anyone able to confirm it.

Yeah I'm saying if the enmity is applied at the time of the cast as soon as the shadows are put up or right after the buff is active, like would it count for the very first time you put shadows up which cd is so low it really wouldnt matter anyway

So I just came back to the game, and am trying to figure out how to start upgrading my gear. I'm trying to use the spreadsheet, but running into problems.

For weapons I currently have two Mijin, which probably aren't great(?), so any advice on what might be the next step for me? Ideally two options, something I can work towards solo and maybe what group content I should keep an eye out for?

Perfect case in point scenario.

Square wants you to get this; https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Ajja_Katana

I would be genuinely interested in seeing how long it takes you to do that. (without paying for a win)

This is a "Starter katana" That should be perfect for you. You get it from doing ambuscade. You'll need 1500 (total)hallmarks for the Tokko version, and then an additional 2300~ for the nuggets to make it Ajja.

That is your answer for group, or solo (much easier as group) aside from that will be Shigi https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Oboro

Below that tancho https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Orcfeltrap (good solo option)

Here's what you can work towards:

Great offhand, adds a good amount of accuracy and is a swiss army knife for NIN in general: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Shigi

From Sinister Reign, may have trouble getting a group at your skill, but you can shout for it: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Ochu

IMHO, I would just skip the above and shout for a seller for two of these in Reisenjima: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Kanaria

These are by far the best you can get for your current scenario, and you could probably shout to buy each for 1.5m each, since people just throw them away. They can get some very nice augments as well, and stones are fairly cheap. These will allow you to skip the line and get right into something useful. I'd still recommend grabbing the first Katana I mentioned, as it will still give you a very hefty accuracy option if/when you get into endgame and need princely amounts of accuracy.

I mean, I would go straight for kanaria too, but I would really like to see someone in that scenario realistically go for that ajja katana as is now intended.

Assuming he has no resien access (just came back) nogo on kanaria, and ajja should be the best choice. For speed(obtaining) cost (free) and power(132 base no augments).

Intended to be a starter weapon, so let's get some people starting with them, eh?

Ninja was the first job I really geared and I did purely self progression style without mercing or getting help for anything I couldn't do myself or contribute on.

So here's my experience:


When I was in full NQ mummu and sparks katanas I got duod two tancho from https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Orcfeltrap.

Then I got a shigi offhand for more accuracy. https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Oboro

Then I went for a https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Aizushintogo , the DW sucks but it's still a pretty high damage wep with ok stats. Decent mainhand.

I tried to get ochu but I couldn't, and still haven't, gotten an ochu with better stats than dmg +2.

I then made Kikoku, then got a kanaria to offhand with that.

Shigi became an acc offhand for when I had acc issues(mainly divergance). However, with the introduction of divergance weapons https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Fudo_Masamune ( I use +1) is far superior as an offhand option for that situation so shigi gets no use.

Maybe this will be helpful to you, Sheathe.

Not mentioned a lot, but I used Izuna for a good bit while transitioning to endgame.

https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Izuna

Can get DA/QA/Acc/Att, and it's a fairly decent option right off the bat. Obtained from Alluvion Skirmish, easy to get. Just augmenting it can be a pain, but likely cheap now with all of the AMAN trove stones in circulation. I have like 3 of these on mules and one on my main for QA build.

Thank you for all the responses!

So right now your best bet is kikoku because its the best katana in the game, if I could DW them I would, but fr though Ochu is a really good overall offhand and I dont know how easy it easy for you to access Vagary but achuichugetakikoku is also a good offhand

@Lunatone, if you could hold a third Kikoku in your mouth... would you look me in eyes longingly while you did the deed?

Is this the Sheathe from Gilgamesh? If so, we used to static together. This is Vindall. Hit me up if I can help in any way. I think we are both on Carbuncle. Im on mostly 7pm cst

Recently did NIN. It performs very well, parses high, high survivability. Here's set I used. Obv don't have the neck +1/+2 but those are quick upgrades, and I swapped in Kenda feet when I needed +20~acc/+50~racc. You can downgrade Kanaria to Ochu if you're spamming Ten, mantle is dex/acc/da/mag dmg-10%, hands are acc path

Set will put you around 33% TA if using a max Kanaria, 28% DA
ItemSet 363169

Ochu is better for Ten Spam. I just used Kanaria since it has higher accuracy on it than Ochu and I was accounting for Wave 3 THF/MNK bosses. I switched between the two, but with buffs, Ochu is clearly better and it is hard to beat as an offhand for Heishi. I'll save up for a +2 neck eventually. You shouldn't have any issues with wave 3 accuracy though, especially with Innin bonus from behind (I think +50 with JP bonus).

You could do Ilabrat Ring over petrov aswell, more dex so you'd get some more acc, or just put cacoethic ring +1 in