Blink Rhythm and Timer Management

[OutofRhythm131]

Hello everyone. My name is Veran and I'm a Lvl 37 NIN/WAR on the Bismarck server. I had my first blink tanking experience last night, and I have to say it was very fun. My party was well trained and the THF kept the hate on me like a champ. Now, the only problem I was having was in between Utsusemi timers. The rhythm I tried at the beginning was: Ni (before puller pulls so the timer is at 0 when they got back), Ni, Ichi...now at this point, there was a 10-18 (varied depending on the monster hitting or missing me) second timer gap between Utsusemis. It didn't become a problem very often, since the monster was usually near death at that point. Then, I tried a Ni (before the puller pulled again), Ichi, Ni, Ichi rhythm and that worked a little better, but there was still a timer gap. My question is, what was I doing wrong? Do any of you more experienced Ninjas have any advice for timer management? I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.

[Kirk]

The Ni to Ichi gap is a blink tanks weak spot. Dont think there will be a way around it till we get san.. and even then I dont think we will get it for just that reason.. we'd probably be too unhittable with a san. But anyway heres my advice.

Go with the Ni before battle, recast Ni rythm.

Now at this point whether you cast Ichi or Ni depends on a lot of factors. The main one being how the mob is hitting you.

1) If you are fighint a mob that is IT+ and its taking all your shadows every hit and attacking quickly, the best thing to do is count shadows and start casting Ichi after your 3rd Ni shadow drops. Most likely that IT mob will take that last shadow right before your Ichi has finishing casting, and then you can breath easy till that runs out and refreash with Ni. At that point you will have to count again and recast Ichi the same way. There is one catch, if the mob doesnt take your last shadow you can be screwed if you can't cancel your Ichi cast in time and be in quite a pickle with no shadows at all ><

2)Now if you see that the mob is occasionally missing you, or has been successfully slowed, the best method is to actually let your 4th shadow drop and then cast Ichi. Now here you need timing. You need to time it so that the mob hits you when the cast is between 0-20%. That way it wont interrupt the cast. This has a downside too. In that if you dont time it right your cast will be interrupted and you will probably take at least another hit before you can time it properly again. This differs from the 1st method in that with a mob that is missing you somewhat, there is more of a likelyhood for that 4th shadow not to drop and that will leave you in the worse case scenerio outlined in point 1.

3) The third option is for when you are fighting a mob that has missed you about 3 or 4 times. In this cast let your last Ni shadow drop and since the mob has missed you, more time will have passed and your Ni timing will probablt have reset. In this cast go for casting Ni again.

Whoever said blink tanking was easy huh?

Hope this helps!

[Ridill]

Perfectly put. That's how I like to tank, providing some insanely powerful WS doesn't come out of nowhere x.X

Also, If I have enough Shihei, I usually will either recast Ni or cancel a pre-existing Ichi spell so I can get a fresh set of Ni shadows. But if you're poor and don't mind taking a couple hits then leave your shadows on

[Kirk]

Ah yes forgot that one Ridill. I do that as well, wipe my left over shadows and recast Ni, even like you said if its a full set of Ichi shadows ><. Hey it may seem a waste but if you wanna be the best ninja you can be, you can't really count gil while xping, just enjoy the shihei while it lasts

[Navia]

In the case of #1, i'd argue you *have* to cancel your shadow out before the cast finishes to avoid the chance of a blink cast being wasted.
As a WHM its real easy to remember those bad ninjas that let all their shadows get used up and then try to reblink while taking hits and getting their 'utsusemi flow' all screwed up. Its a pretty sad sight.

When I play ninja, even though I only have ichi, I clear the buff and recast a fresh one at the end of a fight even if it only lost 1 shadow. Worrying about how many powders you use only hinders you in my opinion.

[Maxim]

Yeah, there's really no need to worry about how many shiheis you use. I bring 4~8 stacks per PT and it usually lasts me a couple good PTs.

The number one problem that arises with Ninja is that you are sometimes forced to wait before pulling so your timer can refresh. A good ninja tank can normally pull monsters non-stop because the WHM barely uses any MP, but sometimes your Utsusemi:Ichi or Ni timer might be at 25 seconds and you only have 1~2 shadows left. During these dilemmas you have to make the decision to either pull the next monster with only 1~2 shadows left and 25 seconds left on the clock, or wait the 25 seconds, cast Utusemi:Ni, and break the EXP chain. During these situations it's not a matter of saving shiheis, but more of a matter of pulling/tanking safely.

The best thing to do is just use good judgement. I can't always do Ni>Pull>Ni>Ichi>Ni due to timer restrictions. Sometimes it's Ichi>Pull>Ni>Ichi. Or if I cast Ni and then pull very quickly it becomes Ni>Pull>Ichi>Ni>Ichi. Sometimes I get lucky with the monster constantly missing without eating shadows and can do Ni>Pull>Ni>Ni>Ni.

Choosing a blink cycle is something you do on the spot during battle, and it changes according to how well your party can chain and how often the monster is hitting/missing your shadows. If you have maxed evasion and good evasion/AGI bonuses then you will dodge enough attacks to delay time for either Ichi or Ni's timer to refresh so you can use it quickly before losing all your shadows.

In the event that the monsters are eating all your shadows before -both- of Ichi and Ni's timers refresh, tell your PT leader that you can't tank multi-hitting monsters (like monk-type and archer-type monsters).

[bunta]

He's right about the monk-type mobs (mandragoras) as they hit 2 times and it eats all your shadow in a few secs. During the kazham days, i used up to about 10 stacks from 25-31. Not fun...