Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

[Sevv]

Ninja/Dark Knight Guide

Section I: Preface

Ninja/Dark Knight is a more advanced tanking setup compared to your normal Ninja/Warrior. Ninja/Dark Knight relies heavily on the support of the tanking party. You will need a Bard as well as a Red Mage for Ninja/Dark Knight to run at full capacity. This guide will basically run down different possible gear sets for all different types of players, this guide is based on players who have obtained Byakko’s Haidate as well as those who have obtained Walahra Turban.


Section II: Top Teir Gear Set



x2




Back up Rings for Dring:









Section III: Substitute Gear Set



Use Normal Qualities on HQ, Especially before Earth Staff

Section IV: The Support
Bard: When it comes down to bard support you can take one or two song sets, personally I like to use Victory March and Mage's Ballad II. You can also take the Double Ballad route.
Red Mage: Simply Haste and Refresh, phalanx II does not hurt but is not needed.


Section V: The Macros
-Ctrl1-
/ma "Utsusemi: Ichi" <me>
-Ctrl2-
/ma "Utsuemi: Ni" <me>
-Ctrl3-
/ja "Last Resort" <me>
-Ctrl4-
/ja "Soul Eater" <me>
-Ctrl5-
/ja "Weapon Bash" <t>

-Alt1-
/ma "Stun" <t>
-Alt2-
/ma "Sleep" <t>
-Alt3-
/ma "Bind" <t>
-Alt4-
/ma "Absorb-Vit" <t>
-Alt5-
/ma "Absorb-Agi" <t>
-Alt6-
/ma " Kurayami: Ni" <t>
-Alt7-
/ma "Hojo: Ni" <t>


Section VI: The Targets
Ninja/Dark Knight is used on any mob where the strategy does not involve kiting the target. With the available support you will set up using the normal strategy placement for every HNM. The spell rotation usually runs in the order of the macros, do not go all the way thru the line of hate spells you want to maximize the casting of the first 3 for hate, those are you bread and butter so to say of hate gaining ability.


Section VII: The Exceptions

Khimaira: Stun is a huge no on this guy, he quickly builds resistance to the spell, and will start using Fulmination @ 35% and under.

Tiamat: Sleep is not advised to spam. Sleep can be used to save a major wipe, as well as rest mp.

Nidhogg: Sleep is not an advised spam, depending on your linkshell. Some Linkshells who have trouble with Nidhogg or are undergoing Mpk attempts would be better off having the Ninja/Dark Knights avoid spamming sleep.


Section VIII: In Closing
I hope this guide has described the basics of Ninja/Dark Knight tanking, the advanced part of Ninja/Dark tanking is basically getting your own feel for the style and basically getting your own routines. I wish you all the best luck on drops!


Section IX: Contact Information
Ifrit Server -> Sev
Mp Website -> Sev
Bluegartrls.com -> Sev

Section X: Rights of Posting V1.0
Mysticalpheonix.com
FFXIonline.com

[little ninja]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

ID like to see a video of you actually using this set up.

[Sevv]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

Next time I'm in sky tanking ill try to remember to video this, since I don't really do hnms anymore.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

What exactly are you advocating the use of Nin/Drk for? HNM tanking or exp/merit party tanking?

[Spinnthrift]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

Nin/Drk is used against HNM's, though he doesn't explain quite how it works in any detail.

[Electricity Gone Human]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

Been meaning to find more info about this strategy. Hoping more info comes around soon.

[Spinnthrift]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

I'd play it personally a little differently to how it appears Sevv plays it.

Edit: What I meant to say is that I'm looking forward to him completing this guide, as I might learn new tricks that I don't do normally, and query a few things later on about certain gear choices.

[Icemage]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

My HNMLS has been selectively using NIN/DRK for a while on HNMs, and it's pretty good.

Pros:
- NIN/DRK has good ways to gain persistent enmity. Unlike Provoke, the enmity from spells like Stun sticks around for a good, long while.
- Can be placed safely in a party with a Paladin - in fact, this combination works very much like PLD/NIN, but with a heavier emphasis on continual enmity gain instead of spike hate gain.

Cons:
- Takes time to build enmity. This can be a problem with un-sleepable NMs if you get KO'd, as getting back to the top of the hate list can be tricky, and will take some time.
- Vulnerable against fast hitting enemies, as it doesn't have much Evasion and only limited damage mitigation. Not recommended for enemies like Byakko.
- I would add Bahamut #2 to the list of problem NMs. He builds resistance to Stun in much the same way as Khimaira.
- Useless in kiting battles due to MP-dependence (King Behemoth, most strategies involving Kirin, Guesh Urvan, etc.).

With smart gameplay and good coordination, this is a very effective combination, but you have to have smart mages who know when to cover for you if shadows go down.


Icemage

[Sevv]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

Ya this is just the start of it working on it while i have time

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

- Useless in kiting battles due to MP-dependence (King Behemoth, most strategies involving Kirin, Guesh Urvan, etc.).

No clue about others, but I think I've seen NIN/DRK on Kirin, kiting style.

I wasn't a participant, though from what I can tell, kiters run in a circle, and RDM give Refresh when the NIN/DRK ran near by. Also, I think the NIN was K.O.'ed a few times, but managed to get back to kiting anyway. (Guess the death of the BLMs "helped"?)

[Aksannyi]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

NIN/DRK owns, many of our endgame ninjas use drk sub. I don't really know all the details because my ninja is 20, but I've seen great things from nin/drk.

[Malacite]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

What about or


Or as long as we're shooting for ideal, unrealistic gear >_>

[ItachiKujata]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

Kiting with NIN/DRK is definitely doable as long as you have a RDM for refresh. I pretty much kite kirin NIN/DRK all the time and usually have enough MP with just refresh. I've gone through kirins without dying before... just need to have a good support group plus enough HP to handle a stonega IV or astral flow... usually I die because one of the summons does a ga spell and kirin follows with a Stone V or something..

Not sure what methods you use but this is my personal cycle...

Stun first
Last Resort, Souleater from the start to spike hate
Bind > Sleep > Kurayami: Ni > Stun
LR and SE whenever I feel I need more hate or save for emergencies.

If you can't sleep or stun then it's probably not worth it to use NIN/DRK at all.

You list gear but you should really list which set to use with what. For stun I typically load up on haste first then enmity unless I can get more enmity in a slot than I can haste, then I would do HP at least so you don't die so fast. All other spells/JAs I go with max enmity. As long as you have haste, the timers should line up so you can just spam the spells and still keep up shadows.

I guess all this depends on the strategy your linkshell uses. NIN/DRK really works well with a cotank PLD/NIN or another NIN/DRK. If done well your DDs can go all out without having to worry about dying...

In general I find NIN/DRK better for medium to long fights where you can get time to build some hate. Fights that take like 5 mins I personally don't see worth it since the DDs generate hate way faster than you could.

[Icemage]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

Kiting with NIN/DRK is definitely doable as long as you have a RDM for refresh. I pretty much kite kirin NIN/DRK all the time and usually have enough MP with just refresh. I've gone through kirins without dying before... just need to have a good support group plus enough HP to handle a stonega IV or astral flow... usually I die because one of the summons does a ga spell and kirin follows with a Stone V or something..

Not sure what methods you use but this is my personal cycle...
Stun first
Last Resort, Souleater from the start to spike hate
Bind > Sleep > Kurayami: Ni > Stun
LR and SE whenever I feel I need more hate or save for emergencies.

If you can't sleep or stun then it's probably not worth it to use NIN/DRK at all.
You list gear but you should really list which set to use with what. For stun I typically load up on haste first then enmity unless I can get more enmity in a slot than I can haste, then I would do HP at least so you don't die so fast. All other spells/JAs I go with max enmity. As long as you have haste, the timers should line up so you can just spam the spells and still keep up shadows.

I guess all this depends on the strategy your linkshell uses. NIN/DRK really works
well with a cotank PLD/NIN or another NIN/DRK. If done well your DDs can go all out without having to worry about dying...

In general I find NIN/DRK better for medium to long fights where you can get time to build some hate. Fights that take like 5 mins I personally don't see worth it since the DDs generate hate way faster than you could.

That's really the point. It's not that NIN/DRK is necessarily bad at kiting fights, it just doesn't offer anything over what NIN/WAR does, with less maintenance. The trouble with kiting is that you're constantly losing enmity every time you're outside of melee range or run out of spell range, so the continual enmity gain gets largely negated - hence why the spike hate of Provoke actually works better, not to mention not needing Refresh.

And yes, as you say (and as I mentioned), you need a small head start to build enmity, otherwise BLMs or DDs can easily jump ahead of you on the hatelist.


Icemage

[little ninja]

Re: Ninja/Dark Knight... 4x the hate 4x the pleasure.

Seems interesting but I never been asked to go Nin/Drk before. An my Drk is 61.