Ninja Tankingpre 37

[Menelao]

Ok, i just got to 12, and so far, i've been casting utsusmei at the end of a battle, provoke, let the monster hit me 2x, start casting my second utsusemi, and then let it run course. My question is, is there any way i can improve this, like hsould i tell the war to provoke after my 2nd utsusemi runs out, or should i just take hits?

[nosebleed]

i was also wondering the same thing, since i've been trying to tank for a bit now since i'm Lvl 15.

but my qeustion is more along the lines of, will Utsusemi refresh itself, if say i had one more shadow left and i recast Ustusemi at that point, would Utsusemi have full effect or no effect at all?

or in other words, would i get 3 shadows or 1 because of the fact that Utsusemi was still active with 1 shadow left at the time i recast it on myself.

sorry if my writing seems a bit incoherent, as i do not know how to explain it any better.

thanks for any information anyone can share on this subject, i'm a new taru ninja tank that wants to do the best he can!

[Soliloquy]

I usually request that a backup tank (preferably a SAM - Third Eye is nice for that) provokes off of me when he sees me take damage. This gives me a chance to recast. If, however, I'm taking damage and the backup doesn't provoke, or if I really need to try to block a hit, I'll recast.

I'm not entirely sure what the best time between attacks is. I got accustomed to casting immediately after an attack with RDM (soloing, and the spells usually cast fast enough to not be interrupted), but a PLD friend recommended trying to cast immediately before an attack. However, each of these get interrupted more often than not for me. About halfway through the attack delay of the monster seems best, but awfully hard to coordinate. And, of course, dodging or parrying hits while casting helps loads.

Nosebleed: If your recast timer is down on Utsusemi by the time you've got just 1 shadow image left, you may be able to use that instead of a dodge/parry to recast - but you run the risk of dodging or parrying instead. Plus in my experience it seems like Utsusemi is a variable number of hits - I've seen it block just 1, and I've seen it block 4, though 3 seems to be the most common for me. I prefer to recast after my Copy Image effect has worn off, but I've always had a backup voker in my parties so far.

[Dragosani]

Utsusemi: Ichi is always just 3 shadows but if something casts a -ga/aoe spell on you then it dispells all the images.

[ninvampire]

Trying to time a recast is very tricky before you get Ni as I unfortunately found out my first time trying to blink-tank. From what I can tell anything between 30-70% can be interrupted (my #s might be off) So you want to try to time your cast so that the first hit comes before 30% and the 2nd after 70%.

If you have a competent secondary tank you can use a macro to let them know when your utsusemi has run out and to have them provoke the monster off of you. This is optimal because from the 5 deaths I experienced going from 12 to 13 ninjas do not really have the vitality nor hp to sustain many hits.

I've put leveling ninja on hold for the time being because I'll need to invest in as much +evasion gear as I can to help to be more of a dodge-tank. Navarin also looks to be a good food to consume as it gives you +20 HP +3 STR +1 AGI -1 INT +10% Attack and +5 Evasion for 60 minutes.

[Maxim]

Before Utsusemi:Ni you have to buy all evasion bonus equipment possible.

In Valkurm hunt tough and VT crabs. These monsters are more likely to miss you without eating shadows because their level is lower so by the time you lose all your shadows you will be able to cast Utsusemi again. I did this from levels 12 to 20 and it made chaining extremely easy since you take very little damage.

From 20 to 22 hunt worms. Worms are easy to chain even without blink tanking but tanking with it makes it all the more easier. Continue wearing evasion bonus equipment. From 22 to 24 hunt crabs once again and with good evasion equipment you will be able to dodge about 80~100% of the attacks.

From 24 to 28 you can either fight in Battalia or Yuhtunga. Mandragoras attack twice so they eat through blink fast, and tigers in Batallia seldom attack twice. I've tried both and Batallia is way easier but most people don't PT here anymore. Buy all the HQ+2 and HQ+1 equipment you can find, and get VE pin. As far as leveling in Yuhtunga goes, PT with a second tank, or even a second NIN and cycle Provoke/Utsusemi with each other.

From 28 to 31 you will be PTing at the second jungle in Yhoartar. By this level you have tons of evasion+ equipment available so you should have around +27 to evasion. On top of that, these Mandragoras do not hit hard at all. Even if they hit you, you will most likely cast Utsusemi uninterrupted and it made blink tanking extremely easy for me. By now you should have ninjutsu skill near-capped so you will not have your spells interrupted as often.

From 31 to 35 level in Garliage or CN. In my opinion Garliage is much better if you hunt beetles. They attack slow and don't have good accuracy so it makes blinking a breeze. The bats here occasionally attack twice but with good evasion it won't be a huge hazard.

From 35 to 37 you will have to level in Crawlers at CN. These Crawlers have a really annoying ability that casts Slow status on you. The problem with this is that it makes your recast timer for Utsusemi to about 40 seconds instead of 30 seconds, which can really screw up your tanking. Basically, 35 to 37 are pretty icky levels but Utsusemi:Ni is right around the corner so just hang in there.

I'm a level 40 Ninja now, and blink tanking from levels 12 to 37 has been very challenging but satsifying. I did some calculations and it turns out I have spent about 250k on shiheis during these 25 levels (about 90% of the time I was main tank and didn't have a secondary provoker, but it wasn't a problem because of my evasion bonus... all it meant was that I had to use 2 to 4 stacks of shiheis per PT).

If you have throwing skill leveled and some money to blow I suggest you throw shurikens. It's pretty fun doing more damage than the other melees (I spent about 200k on shurikens from levels 18 to 37).

Couple of other tips. Once you get the blind ninjutsu use it at the beginning of each fight. It has a pretty high amount of hate (I'd say roughly half the amount of hate that Provoke does) and it really helps you evade attacks without wasting blink images. Also ask the WHM or RDM to cast Slow and Paralyze at the beginning of each fight until you get the Slow ninjutsu because it helps save images as well as gives you more time to cast Utsusemi between the monster's attacks.

Eat Mithkabobs when fighting against most monsters because you really need to do as much damage as possible in order to keep hate. Provoke once every 30 seconds unless you're PTed with a THF. Throw shurikens to do tons of damage and keep hate. When fighting against mandragoras you might want to eat defense kabobs (the seafood one) because you'll get hit more often that normal monsters and the extra defense really helps, especially when you're in a PT with you as the only tanker.

For the record, the most I have ever dodged and parried consecutively in a single fight without using Utsusemi is 21. I was fighting an IT+ Crawler at level 35 in CN. Using blind and boosting evasion goes a long way.

Utsusemi:Ni =

[bunta]

Yep i was so happy to hit 37 this weekend for Ni. I wore most evasion gear but no VE hairpin(0-2). Typical battle for me vs IT beetle in CN is: Ni--miss--miss--parry--misss--shadow-- etc. It feels nice not to take a single hit, well maybe 1-2 when you try to recast it