The Sealed Dagger: A Ninja Guide

Eh domain invasion isn't really a good test, flaming crush doesn't do well there either. Anything with damage taken properties or just extremely high def or mdb will really impact hybrid damage. On the other hand if you put both malaise and frailty on something that takes normal damage it can really up the damage. I don't know how to optimize Chi yet but I can tell you from playing SMN anything that has damage cuts of any kind will really impact hybrid damage a lot more than just single property damage (say a physical or just magical WS). Think of it like this say you have 2000 damage multiplied by pdif a 2nd time, and mab, giving basically multipling again by say 10. so you get 20k damage. If a mob takes less physical and magical, say 50% DT, phyiscal part would do 1000 and magical part would be multiplied by 5, so you'd end up doing 5000 damage, so 25% damage against a mob with damage cuts. On the other hand if it has damage weaknesses or takes normal damage but strongly debuffed, the damage quickly grows. Hybrid damage at least in my experience playing smn, will quickly grow or shrink, to the point my same set for flaming crush, can do anywhere from 5k to 99k damage, I doubt chi will ever see the upper end of that but you get the idea. Hybrid is more situational, there's a lot of content you don't even use FC on smn as a result.

got some seki sherikens, looks interesting. Usable or just sange ammo?

BiS non sange ammo in capped accuracy conditions.

hmm not bad then at all :D will keep

I hate you so much, I think I'm over 0/40 on those from AA GK >.>''

Not sure if a fun fact or a bug, but yesterday when Mochi was doing sky AA, regimen mittens dropped from the AA Mithra which we thought was only from the BCNM. So you might have an easier time farming it that way, just kill AA Galka there.

I've found that Treasure Hunter plays a big roll on Escha AA, so try and bring a THF. (note: I have no actual proof of this claim, it's anecdotal)

Key was I actually went on nin and so it was forced to drop because the galka felt sorry for my dps!

Your DPS was fine :(, Dont say such things.

This was unexpected but fun:



This UNM can give my thf trouble occasionally but way easier on NIN with miga and 7 shadows to lean back on. Was Shun -> Shun with am3 up, lilisete, apu, arciela, ulmia, qultada trusts. I think this UNM has a mechanic where his def is lowered during TP moves or as he loses HP or performs certain tp moves. In any case, sometimes shun does a lot more than usual and radiance seems to do amazing on him. He has two pieces that I want to upgrade on NIN so was just farming him figured I'd share the result.

Also seems SE has a sense of humor:

Have you tried 4 stepping?

Ten -> Kamu -> Shun -> Shun

If you can reliably do it, I think it's better DPS.

I'm not 100% sure how Aeonic AM works but wouldn't you want to 2K TP Shun > Kamu > Shun ?

He takes double damage and SC damage during TP moves, yes.

You don't have to open with your Aftermath WS if that's what you're trying to say.

Just curious if the obtaining a high SC bonus and applying it to the first and second SC is better than just popping it at 1k for the last one.

This is assuming the SC Bonus will apply to the initial Shun > Kamu and then apply to the Kamu > Shun for Radiance.

Haven't tried any 3-4 steps yet, but ya it would in most situations end up a far better choice to do more than 2 step. I kept tping while casting nin buffs so was mostly a happy accident.

The SC bonus is applied on the activating WS so you'd actually get the SC bonus for both the first Shun and last Shun in Snaps' proposed skillchain, so you're only getting 2% SC bonus minimum in a 3-step for the same number of SCs as you would a 4-step. I don't know how high Radiance SC damage scales per step, but I'd say a 4-step is certainly better than "wasting" 1000 TP and dropping a Ten (your strongest WS with Heishi) and however much extra Radiance SC damage a 4th step provides. The one benefit to a 3-step is, obviously, you produce more Radiances more often. May be more worth considering if you're setting up Radiances with an SC partner where you can expect to have excess TP often, but it would depend on just how stronger Radiances become with each step.

Seeing as I solo almost exclusively on nin, aeonic katana is really looking nice. I normally do 4 step with metsu, which makes me sad that I cant do the same 4 step with aeonic, but oh well....

So 4 step will always be better than 2-3 steps? Wouldnt the fact you can MB for 50k+ easily with futae make a 2 step + mb, then 2 step + mb bet better overall dmg? Obviously high lv nms this wont work, im more talking stuff nin will actually solo.

so what are ethe ideal for top dmg
2 step
3 step
4 step
can we 5 step?

4 step is brought up as a significant number because that's minimum number of steps needed to activate radiance with aeonic aftermath level 1. You can six step if you want and some situations might even call for it, it becomes a trade off of how big a radiance vs how often then and also what the numbers are off other WS and Skillchain in the chain. when I tested on a job with no skillchain bonuses umbral/radiance seems to do about 3x with 2 step with no skillchain bonuses/mob weaknesses, and 350% with 3 step. Never measured 4 step. Outside apex mobs or high tier NM's most things don't live that long.

I don't see why Futae MBs would suddenly make 2-steps better considering it's on a 3 minute recast. Also your MB damage scales with the number of steps you have in a skillchain, so there's also that to consider. But yes, 4-steps are generally the way to go if you can. Some people like to try doing longer skillchains, but you start really increasing the risk of having your long SC interrupted by misses, stuns, poor RNG, etc..

Personally I'm not a fan of multi-stepping on NIN because lulKamu, so I go on other jobs if I want to do that sort of thing.

I am very unfamiliar with aeonics, is why I asked. SO ideally you would 4 step light, mb san and lagh as the mob dies? seems fun to me!

If only they would make relic ws usbable if the relic is used offhand.... metsu is the full reason I would hate to use aeonic. I love that dang ws and its sooo consistent.

You can actually 7 step.

Ku -> Retsu -> Shun -> Ten -> Kamu -> Shun -> Shun

Distortion -> Fusion -> Gravitation -> Fragmentation -> Light -> Radiance

On paper I think it will probably be the highest DPS because of how high the multipliers get. It's extremely difficult to do this, the timing on using WS becomes very small. I feel it requires a COR and the mob can't do anything that stuns or otherwise deters you. I don't consider it viable in most cases, and elemental resistances will come into play on most mobs as well. It is kind of neat though (and yes I have done it so I know it works.)

I think the 5 step is the following.

Shun -> Ten -> Kamu -> Shun -> Shun

Gravitation -> Fragmentation -> Light -> Radiance

If I had a COR and capped haste, this is probably the skillchain I would default to (assuming none of the skillchains are resisted). With just capped haste, I'd stick to 4 stepping.

Aeonic aftermath gives your weaponskill either Light/Darkness property. The aftermath can be consumed to make radiance when doing a "level 4" type skillchain (Light -> Light or Darkness -> Darkness). The aftermath level corresponds to the minimum number of steps required for this to work.

Level 1 aftermath - 4 steps
Level 2 aftermath - 3 steps
Level 3 aftermath - 2 steps

Wasn't implying anything was a waste, just musing to hopefully learn more. I didn't know the SC bonus applied for the initial SC, which should be obvious considering shun gets the light property on initial use.

The amount of TP used in both combinations is the same as well which probably pushes the argument further that the 4 step is the way.

I'm a little late to the party but I finally completed my katana. I'll get around to testing it out whenever I can. It's nice to see experimenting going on already though with multi-step SC's.

I have a couple of questions about some spells and their uses and just generally curious if anyone has an answer.


Aisha - Is it its own independent debuff or does it function on the Bio/Dia Tier? Is it used often or generally useless?

Yurin - I know Chi blast used to be praised back in the 75 era because it had the same effect on it, does this spell have any use these days?

Myoshu - I know its buff that can easily be applied before combat what about keeping it up during combat is it worth the time to stop and cast it for the extra 10% , I think with Kikoku AM and merits you are at 42% Subtle blow.

Migawari - This spell is obviously amazing but how often to you use the Empyrean body with it? Also does it mark Ninjutsu skill on cast or does it check Ninjutsu skill when it procs?

I just recently got my NIN to 99, I built a Kikoku before it was even 75 because I knew I loved the style of it + leveling while doing trials was a bit more relaxing. I'm just trying to learn a bit so that way I can optimize the job.

It actually doesn't. AM-activating WS is Fusion/Impaction only.

Oh ok, I just assumed since Verda said his WS was Shun > Shun that produced radiance but Now I assume he just 3k TPed Shun then did another Shun > Shun to close Radiance.

It's just Attack Down like Demoralizing Roar. I never use it.

I can't think of an important use for either. Either you're fighting something in a group making the TP feed not reduce enemy TP frequency any further or you're soloing something that generally doesn't have any threatening TP moves to begin with. I'm sure there are a couple obscure exceptions, but not thinking too hard about that one.

Empyrean Body is a detriment to use with Migawari; same as Ambuscade cape, but there's no getting around that one with how awesome Ambuscade capes are. I believe you auto-cap the Ninjutsu Skill potency on the spell with just your native skill.

Yeah, it's a bit more niche, but Yurin can be useful on lowman stuff when you might only have a couple DDs or so and you want to try to reduce particularly nasty TP moves. Glazemane, T1 Reisenjima Cactaur, that sort of thing.

Not that it's super common these days, but it's also really handy if you're ever farming Abyssea NMs and working on procs.