I am new to being a ninja and am still learning new things, so this guide is things I have discovered while playing the job. Links are taken from xivdb.com
Contents 1) Attributes 2) Rogue/Ninja Quest Links 3) Ability’s 4) Attack Combos 5) Cross Class Skills 6) Attack Combos 7) Spells 8) Priority List 9) Opening Rotation 10) Things to know/Consider
Attributes
As with most Jobs it has 2 main stats Dex (Increases Damage done by melee attacks for Rouge and Ninja) and Vit(Increases HP). All gear for ninja/rouge will come with these stats so you don’t need to be looking far for equipment. For sub stats (and with all DPS) you want to be looking for Det (Effects damage done by both physical and magical attacks) and Critical Rate (Increases the frequency of your physical and magical attacks dealing critical damage). Accuracy would be your next stat to focus on if you are doing coil (you will need to find out what the accuracy cap for that turn and try to match it with equipment and/or food), skill speed is a bit of a junk stat tbh, it is nice to have some skill speed but I wouldn’t go out of your way for it as it is a common stat found on equipment for ninja. As for stat allocation being a DPS your main concern should be your damage output so put all your points into dexterity.
Kiss of the Wasp Lv6 / Kiss of the Viper Lv30 OFF GCD
These are your main two buffs. The only difference is kiss of the wasp increases your damage by 5% and viper by 10%, but later on they both get boosted by traits. At Lv36 Kiss of the wasp is enhanced so that damage is increased by 20% and jugulate will have its added effect changed from silence to stun. At 40 Kiss of the Viper will have its damage increased to 20% and have the additional effect of mug changed to absorb 50% of damage dealt as HP. Both ability’s will overwrite each other.
Perfect Dodge Lv2 OFF GCD
Completely avoid next physical attack. Won’t work against magical attacks always handy to have ready if you are wondering close to a line of attack.
Mutilate Lv8 ON GCD
Delivers an attack with a potency of 60 and places a Dot on the target for a potency of 30 over 18 seconds. This gets boosted by a trait Lv44 to extend it to 30 seconds. Always try and keep this up on the target.
Hide Lv10 OFF GCD Makes you undetectable to enemies up to 10 levels higher than your current level and reduces your movement by 50%. No use in battle as it cannot be used while in battle.
Assassinate Lv12 OFF GCD
Delivers an attack with a potency of 200 to the target if they have below 20% HP. You want to be using this every chance you get, but be careful as this locks you into an animation.
Throwing Daggers Lv15 ON GCD
A Ranged attack that has a potency of 120. Nice to have but you are not going to be really using this in combat.
Mug Lv15 OFF GCD
Deals damage with a potency of 140 has and additional effect of increasing drop rate of items if used as/or before the finishing blow. Additional effect is changed if using Kiss of the Viper and over level 40 to absorb 50% damage dealt to HP.
Goad Lv18 OFF GCD
Refreshes the TP of the target of a single party member for 30 seconds. Boosted by a trait at 28 it increase the amount of TP refreshed.
Sneak Attack Lv22 OFF GCD
Delivers an attack with a potency of 100 to target has a potency of 300 if used to the front of the target and can only be used under the effect of hide (going to have a better explanation of this later). Shares a recast timer with Trick Attack
Jugulate Lv34 OFF GCD
Delivers an attack with a potency of 80 with the additional effect of silence for 1 second. The additional effect is changed under kiss of the wasp Lv36+ to stun.
Death Blossom Lv42 On GCD
Delivers an attack with a potency of 60 to all nearby members. Boosted by a trait at 48 to 100 potency.
Trick Attack Lv50 OFF GCD
Works the same as sneak attack but delivers an attack with a potency of 240, 400 if used from behind the target, additional effect if used from behind target is increases the damage taken by target by 10% for 10 seconds. Shares a recast timer with Sneak Attack (more on its uses later).
Kassatsu Lv50 OFF GCD
This does two things 1st thing it does is reset the ninjutsu timer and 2nd it makes the next spell a guaranteed critical for the next 15 seconds. This is best pairing it with Ration for bosses to get the most damage out of it.
Cross Class Skills
Feather foot Lv4 Pugilist
Increases Evasion by 15% for 15 seconds, this is good for soloing and those times you take hate off the tanks.
Internal Release Lv12 Pugilist
Increases Critical hit rate by 10% for 15 seconds. This is one of the ability’s all physical DPS should have if they can get it, good if you can use it along with Blood for Blood.
Blood for Blood lv34 Lancer
Increases damage dealt by 10% but damage suffered by 25%. This is the other ability all physical DPS should be using if they can, level lancer up for it if you already have not.
Attack Combos
Ninja has a few combos and you should be using all of them in your rotations. Dancing Edge Combo
Spinning edge -> Gust Slash -> Dancing Edge
This would be your 1st combo you should be using at the start of your rotation, at the end of the combo Dancing Edge will decrease targets slashing resistance by 10% and healing received by 20%. The only time you should not be using this is if a warrior is keeping up Storm’s Eye as it will just overwrite Dancing Edge.
Shadow Fang Combo
Spinning Edge -> Shadow Fang
At the end of the combo shadow fang will place a DOT on the target with a potency of 40 for 18 seconds.
Aeolian Edge combo
Spinning Edge -> Gust Slash -> Aeolian Edge
This is your main damage combo if all your DoT’s are up you want to be using this.
Spells
Now the fun bit you have 3 Mudras when combined together can cast spells:
Ten Lv30 Chi Lv35 Jin Lv45
Once you have used these Mudras use Ninjutsu to cast the spell.
Rabbit Medium lv30
When you mess up your mudra’s this is the only spell you will get and will have to wait till your spells have cooled down before being able to cast again.
Fuma Shuriken Lv30
This spell is available by using only 1 mudra before using ninjutsu. It delivers a ranged attack with a potency of 240. At one point this will be your only spell available until you have other mudras just keep throwing this out when it is available.
Kanton Lv35
Deals fire damage to all nearby enemies with a potency for 180. Good for groups I try and save this for larger groups then your normal 3 mobs. Mudra combinations: Chi -> Ten or Jin -> Ten
Ration Lv35
Deals Lightning damage to a single target with a potency of 360. This is your biggest damage spell even better if used after Kassatsu. Mudra combinations: Ten -> Chi or Jin -> Ten
Suiton Lv45
Deals water damage to a single target for 180. Not great damage but it has an added effect of being able to use sneak attack and trick attack without being hidden for 10 seconds. Mudra Combinations: Ten -> Chi -> Jin or Chi -> Ten -> Jin
Doton Lv45
Places a circle on the ground that causes damage to any enemies that come into it with a potency of 30 a tick. Save this for group pulls and try to put this up as soon as. Mudra combinations: Ten -> Jin -> Chi or Jin -> Ten -> Chi
Huton Lv45
Increases attack speed by 15%. You want to be casting this roughtly 10 seconds before pull and want to be reapplying it when there is under 20 seconds left on it. Mudra combinations: Jin -> Chi -> Ten or Chi -> Jin -> Ten
Hyoton Lv45
Delivers ice damage to target with a potency of 140 and has an additional effect of binding target. Mudra Combinations Ten -> Jin or Chi -> Jin
Priority List
Ninja does not have a set rotation like other jobs, but has more of a priority list, this is due to the DoT’s dropping at different times. This is the list in which I try to order my rotation you won’t be able to keep everything up at once but you need to ideally keep Huton and Dancing Edge up at all times.
Spells also have a priority list that works like this.
1) Has Huton got 20 seconds or under left, 1. Yes? Reapply 2. No? Move onto 2
2) Is Trick attack ready? 1. Yes? Cast Suiton and apply Trick attack to target, move onto 3 2. No? Cast Raiton on target
3) Is Kassatsu ready after trick attack 1. Yes? then use it and cast ration on target. 2. No? then just end your spells there
Opening Rotation.
This is my opening rotation for all boss mobs. If there is a warrior keeping up Storm’s Eye in your group you can drop the Dancing Edge combo in place for another Aeolian Edge combo at the end.
After this work on keeping up your DoT’s and use the priority list above. Ninja is the only job I would recommend using both Internal Release and Blood for blood at the same time between attacks, but again I would only do that if I use Dex potions, if I don’t have any I would put Blood for Blood in after gust slash instead.
Things to Know and/or consider.
Position – You should always be either at the back of the mob or on its side so you don’t take any unwanted damage.
Avoid the AoE’s – This should be obvious dodge all AoE’s except if it required for the mechanic of the fight like in last boss of ST so you get float effect, Meteors in Cloud of darkness, or other fights where you need to split damage between multiple players.
Use Goad – A lot of ninjas don’t bother using goad but keep an eye out for people that ask for it, I like to throw this on tanks during long fights as they don’t get to use Invigorate. Remember you cannot cast it on yourself and you can only cast it on people in your party and your alliance.
Kiss of the wasp/Viper – Make sure you have 1 of these up at all times you generally want to be using kiss of the wasp unless you need to silence something in the fight. Remember also if you need to stun something in the fight don’t just throw out jugulate.
Use of potions – While some people would consider these useless having a bonus of 67 of Dex for 15 Seconds is going to give your DPS a big boost and if you can mass produce them it is even better. I wouldn’t use them on trash mobs or dungeons but I would use them in Coil when you are going to need to pump out a lot of damage.
X Potion of Dexterity Recipe
Alchemist Lv 70 2 Star 7 x Thunder shards 8 x Water Shards 1x Dart Frog 1x Thavnairian Mistletoe 1x Volcanic Rock And you get 3 potions a synth so it isn’t that hard to make your own.
End Notes
Ninja is a cool looking job but it is harder to play then it looks get used to what you need to do where and when and it will start to get easier.
Ravenblade Admin replied
560 weeks ago