NIN/DRK
Although I do most of my tanking on RDM or PLD, most people forget that I have a NIN that deserves some attention every now and again. This guide will give you insight on how to get the most out of NIN/DRK in the HNM tanking realm.
Overview & History: Although the NIN/DRK fad has come and gone all within the span of a few months, it is still a very efficient tank, especially for low number Wyrms. I believe the art was perfected by Rukenshin of Seraph, as he developed effective methods of solo tanking everything from Tiamat to Bahamut v2. A good NIN/DRK utilizes at LEAST 5 sets of gear, if not more. You cannot short change yourself on NIN as you can afford to do on PLD or RDM. You have to be extremely skilled at what you do as a NIN. Macro's need to be perfected, timing flawless, gear nothing short of stellar. It is not an easy task, but if you can get comfortable with it, you can have a lot of fun. You may be asking yourself "Why not just sub WAR?"...The answer is simple: NIN/DRK can generate more long term enmity than a NIN/WAR can. Not to mention you have Stun, which besides being one of the main sources of hate, can be used to give yourself a much needed break in the action to pull yourself together. The two other spells you will be taking advantage of are Bind and Sleep, which both generate Cumulative Hate rather than Volatile Hate. Kurayami, Hojo and Jubaki are also Cumulative Hate, which means as a NIN/DRK you have no means of getting "quick hate" (Aside from a trick attacked weapon skill). Depending on how you look at it, it isn't that big of a deal. Just have everybody back off for a minute or two while you collect hate. Five minutes of spamming spells and ninjutsu will keep solid hate on you throughout even the longest fights, barring a freak occurrence where you take over 1000 damage in a few seconds.
Merit Distribution: I understand that most everybody has another job to consider when distributing merits. Keep in mind that this would be the ideal setup of merits for a NIN/DRK tank.
HP: 4
MP: 4
Parrying Skill: 4
Evasion Skill: 4
Enmity Increase: 4
Enemy Critical Hit: 4
Ninja Tool Expertise: 3
There is not much variation you can get as a NIN/DRK. HP & MP you can adjust accordingly to fit your race. Galka being higher on the MP end, Tarutaru being higher on the HP end. Parrying Skill is something every NIN/DRK should max out, when it is capped, it can easily save your shadows and maybe even your life. Evasion Skill is something most NIN's neglect nowadays. Even if you aren't wearing evasion gear, NIN evasion is pretty good. Giving it a boost certainly wouldn't hurt. Enmity Increase is pretty obvious. Allows you to be able to switch some of your Enmity gear for Haste or MP gear. Enemy Critical Hit would probably be the last thing to merit on NIN/DRK, as you won't often get hit by physical attacks. But if you do manage to get hit, a critical would knock your hate level down marginally. Something we definitely need to avoid. Ninja Tool Expertise just means you get to save some money and perhaps not need to use a Toolbag at a clutch moment in the fight...Oh yeah and all the other options in both Ninja Group 1 & 2 are garbage for our purposes.
Gear: One of the most crucial parts of playing the job is knowing what gear to use in what situations. Some of the basic gear setups include: Haste, Enmity, Defense, Evasion, Elemental Resist, and Magic Defense. Some gear sets can be combined (Namely, Haste and Enmity) because you can get the full effect of both at the same time. Whereas gear sets such as Elemental Resist are stand alone sets.
As like any tanking job, it is important that if you are duo or trio tanking, you should keep levels of enmity similar to your partners'. If not it kind of defeats the point, as one tank will have hate the whole time and be solo tanking until they eventually take massive damage and lose chunks of enmity at a time. A good number of enmity for any occasion is 25. This is a higher number than a RDM tank should need, as you don't have Sleep2, Cures, or Dispel at your disposal. So you can make up for the lack of those spells with an extra 10 enmity.
The following is the ideal equipment setups for a variety of situations.
Haste
Hands: Dusk Gloves +3% Haste
Legs: Byakko Haidate +5% Haste
Feet: Fuma Sune-Ate +3% Haste
Waist: Swift Belt +4% Haste
Earring: Loquacious Earring Spellcasting Time -2%, Spell Recast Time -1%
With this setup and Double March/Haste Spell, you can achieve the lowest possible Utsusemi recast timers. The Loquacious Earring isn't necessary to meet this requirement, it just makes you cast Utsusemi a bit faster than normal. The only piece that might be readily accessible is the Byakko Haidate. This can be replaced with:
Head: Walahra Turban +5% Haste
The only reason I suggest Byakko Haidate over the Turban to begin with is because you can use Arhat's Jinpachi+1 for some Enmity full time. Whichever you chose, the total amount of haste adds up to +15%. With Double March and Haste spell, you need no more (As it does nothing) and no less (As you won't reach minimum recast timers).
The above set can be loosely tied into the next set.
Enmity
Head: Arhat's Jinpachi +1 Enmity +2
Body: Arhat's Gi +1 Enmity +4
Ring 1: Sattva Ring Enmity +3
Ring 2: Mermaid Ring Enmity +2
Earring 1: Eris Earring Enmity +2
Earring 2: Eris Earring Enmity +2
Back: Cerberus Mantle Enmity +3
Neck: Harmonia's Torque Enmity +3
Range: Nokizaru Shuriken Enmity +2
The above setup gives you +23 Enmity, include merits and you are sitting at +27 total. The above setup can achieve the maximum amount of enmity you need, while still incorporating every part of the Haste setup except for the Loquacious Earring (Which isn't needed except for making your Utsusemi fire a split second faster). So basically you can pile your Enmity and Haste gear into one quick, effective macro. If you are using Walahra Turban instead of Byakko Haidate, you can use Arhat Hakama+1 for additional Enmity.
Defense
Head: Arhat's Jinpachi +1 -6% Physical Damage Taken, DEF: 20
Body: Arhat's Gi +1 -9% Physical Damage Taken, DEF: 39
Hands: Seiryu's Kote +15 AGI, +50 HP, DEF: 29
Legs: Byakko's Haidate DEF: 42
Feet: Suzaku's Sune-Ate +15 MND, DEF: 30
Ring 1: Sattva Ring +5 VIT, +5 AGI, +30 HP
Ring 2: Jelly Ring -5% Physical Damage Taken
Neck: Parrying Torque +7 Parrying Skill
Waist: Warwolf Belt +5 VIT, DEF: 6
Back: Shadow Mantle Occasionally Annuls Physical Damage, DEF:15, +20 VIT (Darksday)
This is your "Oh shit." macro for whenever you get fast attacking mobs like Ouryu or Bahamut v2. If you know you are about to take an ass whooping, throw this gear on. It will drastically reduce the amount of physical damage you take, which means two things: First is that you stay alive longer, second is that you lose less enmity per hit you take. The AGI helps with reducing Critical Hits and also helps Parrying, which is extremely valuable when it is capped on NIN. Now I know Shadow Mantle isn't exactly easily attainable, so a good substitute would be Gigant Mantle for the HP it gives. But of course you could always stick to a Cerberus Mantle, as it gives 12 DEF or Boxer's Mantle for the Parrying and Evasion boost.
Evasion
Head: Optical Hat +10 Evasion
Body: Scorpion Harness +1 +12 Evasion
Hands: Hanzo Tekko +6 Evasion
Legs: Koga Hakama +10 Evasion (Nighttime only)
Feet: Dance shoes +1 +7 Evasion
Ring 1: Sattva Ring +5 AGI
Ring 2: Breeze Ring +5 AGI
Neck: Evasion Torque +7 Evasion Skill
Waist: Scouters Rope +10 Evasion, +4 AGI
Back: Boxer's Mantle +7 Evasion Skill
Earring 1: Evasion Earring +3 Evasion Skill
Earring 2: Elusive Earring +5 Evasion
Range: Ungur Boomerang +8 Evasion
Weapon: Auster's Staff +10 Evasion, +5 AGI
The lost art of evasion tanking. Often underestimated because it hasn't been seen in over 2 years by pretty much anybody. This setup gives a whooping +68 Evasion (+58 during the daytime), +20 Evasion Skill and +19 AGI (Which translates to about 9 evasion and also helps with Parrying and Enemy Criticals). With capped Evasion Skill merits and the above gear, you will have 297 Evasion Skill. Throw on double Mambo and have a RDM use Blind II and you would be surprised what you could evasion tank. If you are tanking something new, tell your BRD to give you double Mambo, tell your RDM to Blind or Blind II the mob and throw on this gear set. If you evade more than 50% of the attacks, I would say stick evasion tanking the mob. You lose no enmity whenever a mob misses you. Not to mention with Haste and another BRD singing double March, your recasts are usually pretty low and you won't need to switch to Enmity/Haste because you aren't getting your shadows ripped apart. But like I said, try using this setup for the first few minutes. If it doesn't work, fall back on Enmity/Haste/Defense setups.
Elemental Resistance
Fire
Head: Black Ribbon +12 Fire Resist
Body: Legionarre's Harness +5 Fire Resist
Hands: Hanzo Tekko +6 Fire Resist
Legs: Dino Trousers +4 Fire Resist
Feet: Suzaku's Sune-Ate +50 Fire Resist
Ring 1: Malflame Ring +10 Fire Resist
Ring 2: Ruby Ring +9 Fire Resist
Neck: Buburimu Gorget +10 Fire Resist
Waist: Water Belt +20 Fire Resist
Back: Cerberus Mantle +10 Fire Resist
Earring 1: Triumph Earring +11 Fire Resist
Earring 2: Triumph Earring +11 Fire Resist
Main: Neptune's Staff +20 Fire Resist
Total: +178 Fire Resist
Earth
Head: Black Ribbon +12 Earth Resist
Body: Beak Jerkin +1 +7 Earth Resist
Hands: Beak Gloves +1 +4 Earth Resist
Legs: Beak Trousers +1 +7 Earth Resist
Feet: Mercenary Kyahan +6 Earth Resist
Ring 1: Maldust Ring +10 Earth Resist
Ring 2: Topaz Ring +9 Earth Resist
Neck: Clay Amulet +11 Earth Resist
Waist: Wind Belt +20 Earth Resist
Back: Beak Mantle +1 +7 Earth Resist
Earring 1: Emerald Earring +10 Earth Resist
Earring 2: Emerald Earring +10 Earth Resist
Food: Steamed Catfish +10 Earth Resist
Main: Auster's Staff +20 Earth Resist
Total: +143 Earth Resist
Ice
Head: Black Ribbon +12 Ice Resist
Body: Tundra Jerkin +7 Ice Resist
Hands: Hailstorm Tekko +1 +12 Ice Resist
Legs: Feral Trousers +6 Ice Resist
Feet: Feral Ledesens +4 Ice Resist
Ring 1: Malfrost Ring +10 Ice Resist
Ring 2: Diamond Ring +9 Ice Resist
Neck: Jeweled Collar +10 Ice Resist
Waist: Fire Belt +20 Ice Resist
Back: Aurora Mantle +1 +8 Ice Resist
Earring 1: Triumph Earring +11 Ice Resist
Earring 2: Triumph Earring +11 Ice Resist
Main: Vulcan's Staff +20 Ice Resist
Total: +140 Ice Resist
The heralded Elemental Resistance gear. One of the essentials to being a successful NIN/DRK tank against some mobs. Although it is quite a hassle to carry around such a large amount of gear, let me tell you from experience, it is worth it. Get a Barspell and Carol of the element you want to resist, along with the above mentioned gear and anything based on that elemental is completely void and useless. Everything from Elemental Based TP attacks, to -ga3's, to enfeebles of the element. Resisted out the ass. These resist gear setups are incredibly overpowered for things such as Tiamat or Ouryu, where when they fly, they use attacks solely based on their elemental. Basically that means everything they throw at you does 100 damage or less, usually being on the low end around 15-20 damage. This means two things, first that you don't need cured as much to stay alive, second is that you don't lose a chunk of hate every time you get hit with an elemental attack, which usually are the most lethal had it not be for the resist gear. If you need elemental resist gear for another element, which I don't really think you'll need to, it is not hard to find. The only mob that I have found to be generally bad ass enough to laugh at elemental resistance gear is Bahamut himself. Bahamut (Version 2 only) and Jailer of Love are the sole reason you should have this next set of gear.
Magic Defense Bonus
Ring 1: Merman's Ring -4% Magic Damage Taken
Ring 2: Merman's Ring -4% Magic Damage Taken
Earring 1: Merman's Earring -2% Magic Damage Taken
Earring 2: Merman's Earring -2% Magic Damage Taken
Waist: Resolute Belt +2 Magic Def. Bonus
Back: Resentment Cape -5% Magic Damage Taken
Range: Lamia Kaman +1 +2 Magic Def. Bonus
To understand the importance of this set, you must first understand the difference between Magic Defense and Elemental Resist. Elemental Resistance gear lowers the chance of you getting hit for full damage by a spell. It's pretty much the Magic Accuracy of the mob against the Resistance of the player. Most mobs have pretty decent Magic Accuracy, but with all the bar/carol/elemental resistance you have, they stand no chance of landing anything effectively. Bahamut on the other hand, is unworldly in many aspects and you guessed it, one of those aspects is Magic Accuracy. Even with all that fire resistance, his Flares will get through unresisted about 70% of the time, leaving you with your thumb up your butt (Not to mention red HP or death). So to combat his magic accuracy, you need Magic Defense and Magic Damage Reduction gear. His Magic Accuracy can do nothing to either of these stats, as they work much like Shell. In fact, all Shell really is is a big Magic Def. Bonus. This gear setup reduces 17% of all magic damage, which when you think about it in terms of Bahamut, is pretty significant. A 1000 damage Megaflare will be reduce to 830 damage. You can use the remaining slots to fit in fire elemental resistance gear for a chance to resist one of his Flares. Jailer of Love is another story. You could effectively use elemental resistance gear on him, but he cycles through every element in the game. It is impossible to fit more than 1 elemental resistance setup in your inventory at a time. So a quick fix and all around defense is Magic Defense Bonus.
Like my previous guide to RDM/NIN tanking, I would like to close the equipment section with a word about Weapons. There are a few choices available. First and foremost being the ever reliable Earth/Terra Staff. This is my weapon of choice over all else. As two handed weapons get a parrying bonus on top of NIN's already incredibly high parrying skill. Not to mention the -20% physical damage taken for times when you get caught with no shadows. You could also go the Hades Sainti route, which I don't really recommend because as I stated earlier, you don't really need any more enmity aside from the gear I listed. Some might even use the Tutelary/Imanotsuragi path for the HP, defense and enmity. Again, I don't really commend it, as you don't really need the HP and enmity over what Earth Staff has to offer.
Tips:
- Capped Parrying skill is extremely beneficial. Make sure you ALWAYS engage the enemy you are fighting. Parrying does not proc otherwise.
- Your hate cycle should be similar to: Stun > Kurayami: Ni > Hojo: Ni > Sleep > Bind. By the time you finish Bind, Stun will be up.
- Always have at least 2 stacks of shihei ready to be used. When you solo tank, you will rip through them and be out before you know it. If you get caught with "You do not have the tools to cast Utsusemi", you are gonna get hurt.
- You will blink gear...A LOT. Have your WHM's or healers make /ma "Cure V" macro's for sticky situations where you are in the middle of blinking gear with low HP.
- Don't forget to use the /DRK sub abilities, as they generate decent amounts of hate.
- Anticipate attacks and don't count on enemies missing unless you are using Evasion Gear.
Conclusion: Through experience, I believe a well geared, NIN/DRK with a decent amount of experience may be the best tank for low number and maybe even normal number situations. It is probably my favorite tanking job even though I don't use it often. Honestly, a good RDM/NIN against a good NIN/DRK, I don't know who would win. All I know is that NIN/DRK with the right gear and skill can be a solo tanking genius.
Overview & History: Although the NIN/DRK fad has come and gone all within the span of a few months, it is still a very efficient tank, especially for low number Wyrms. I believe the art was perfected by Rukenshin of Seraph, as he developed effective methods of solo tanking everything from Tiamat to Bahamut v2. A good NIN/DRK utilizes at LEAST 5 sets of gear, if not more. You cannot short change yourself on NIN as you can afford to do on PLD or RDM. You have to be extremely skilled at what you do as a NIN. Macro's need to be perfected, timing flawless, gear nothing short of stellar. It is not an easy task, but if you can get comfortable with it, you can have a lot of fun. You may be asking yourself "Why not just sub WAR?"...The answer is simple: NIN/DRK can generate more long term enmity than a NIN/WAR can. Not to mention you have Stun, which besides being one of the main sources of hate, can be used to give yourself a much needed break in the action to pull yourself together. The two other spells you will be taking advantage of are Bind and Sleep, which both generate Cumulative Hate rather than Volatile Hate. Kurayami, Hojo and Jubaki are also Cumulative Hate, which means as a NIN/DRK you have no means of getting "quick hate" (Aside from a trick attacked weapon skill). Depending on how you look at it, it isn't that big of a deal. Just have everybody back off for a minute or two while you collect hate. Five minutes of spamming spells and ninjutsu will keep solid hate on you throughout even the longest fights, barring a freak occurrence where you take over 1000 damage in a few seconds.
Merit Distribution: I understand that most everybody has another job to consider when distributing merits. Keep in mind that this would be the ideal setup of merits for a NIN/DRK tank.
HP: 4
MP: 4
Parrying Skill: 4
Evasion Skill: 4
Enmity Increase: 4
Enemy Critical Hit: 4
Ninja Tool Expertise: 3
There is not much variation you can get as a NIN/DRK. HP & MP you can adjust accordingly to fit your race. Galka being higher on the MP end, Tarutaru being higher on the HP end. Parrying Skill is something every NIN/DRK should max out, when it is capped, it can easily save your shadows and maybe even your life. Evasion Skill is something most NIN's neglect nowadays. Even if you aren't wearing evasion gear, NIN evasion is pretty good. Giving it a boost certainly wouldn't hurt. Enmity Increase is pretty obvious. Allows you to be able to switch some of your Enmity gear for Haste or MP gear. Enemy Critical Hit would probably be the last thing to merit on NIN/DRK, as you won't often get hit by physical attacks. But if you do manage to get hit, a critical would knock your hate level down marginally. Something we definitely need to avoid. Ninja Tool Expertise just means you get to save some money and perhaps not need to use a Toolbag at a clutch moment in the fight...Oh yeah and all the other options in both Ninja Group 1 & 2 are garbage for our purposes.
Gear: One of the most crucial parts of playing the job is knowing what gear to use in what situations. Some of the basic gear setups include: Haste, Enmity, Defense, Evasion, Elemental Resist, and Magic Defense. Some gear sets can be combined (Namely, Haste and Enmity) because you can get the full effect of both at the same time. Whereas gear sets such as Elemental Resist are stand alone sets.
As like any tanking job, it is important that if you are duo or trio tanking, you should keep levels of enmity similar to your partners'. If not it kind of defeats the point, as one tank will have hate the whole time and be solo tanking until they eventually take massive damage and lose chunks of enmity at a time. A good number of enmity for any occasion is 25. This is a higher number than a RDM tank should need, as you don't have Sleep2, Cures, or Dispel at your disposal. So you can make up for the lack of those spells with an extra 10 enmity.
The following is the ideal equipment setups for a variety of situations.
Haste
Hands: Dusk Gloves +3% Haste
Legs: Byakko Haidate +5% Haste
Feet: Fuma Sune-Ate +3% Haste
Waist: Swift Belt +4% Haste
Earring: Loquacious Earring Spellcasting Time -2%, Spell Recast Time -1%
With this setup and Double March/Haste Spell, you can achieve the lowest possible Utsusemi recast timers. The Loquacious Earring isn't necessary to meet this requirement, it just makes you cast Utsusemi a bit faster than normal. The only piece that might be readily accessible is the Byakko Haidate. This can be replaced with:
Head: Walahra Turban +5% Haste
The only reason I suggest Byakko Haidate over the Turban to begin with is because you can use Arhat's Jinpachi+1 for some Enmity full time. Whichever you chose, the total amount of haste adds up to +15%. With Double March and Haste spell, you need no more (As it does nothing) and no less (As you won't reach minimum recast timers).
The above set can be loosely tied into the next set.
Enmity
Head: Arhat's Jinpachi +1 Enmity +2
Body: Arhat's Gi +1 Enmity +4
Ring 1: Sattva Ring Enmity +3
Ring 2: Mermaid Ring Enmity +2
Earring 1: Eris Earring Enmity +2
Earring 2: Eris Earring Enmity +2
Back: Cerberus Mantle Enmity +3
Neck: Harmonia's Torque Enmity +3
Range: Nokizaru Shuriken Enmity +2
The above setup gives you +23 Enmity, include merits and you are sitting at +27 total. The above setup can achieve the maximum amount of enmity you need, while still incorporating every part of the Haste setup except for the Loquacious Earring (Which isn't needed except for making your Utsusemi fire a split second faster). So basically you can pile your Enmity and Haste gear into one quick, effective macro. If you are using Walahra Turban instead of Byakko Haidate, you can use Arhat Hakama+1 for additional Enmity.
Defense
Head: Arhat's Jinpachi +1 -6% Physical Damage Taken, DEF: 20
Body: Arhat's Gi +1 -9% Physical Damage Taken, DEF: 39
Hands: Seiryu's Kote +15 AGI, +50 HP, DEF: 29
Legs: Byakko's Haidate DEF: 42
Feet: Suzaku's Sune-Ate +15 MND, DEF: 30
Ring 1: Sattva Ring +5 VIT, +5 AGI, +30 HP
Ring 2: Jelly Ring -5% Physical Damage Taken
Neck: Parrying Torque +7 Parrying Skill
Waist: Warwolf Belt +5 VIT, DEF: 6
Back: Shadow Mantle Occasionally Annuls Physical Damage, DEF:15, +20 VIT (Darksday)
This is your "Oh shit." macro for whenever you get fast attacking mobs like Ouryu or Bahamut v2. If you know you are about to take an ass whooping, throw this gear on. It will drastically reduce the amount of physical damage you take, which means two things: First is that you stay alive longer, second is that you lose less enmity per hit you take. The AGI helps with reducing Critical Hits and also helps Parrying, which is extremely valuable when it is capped on NIN. Now I know Shadow Mantle isn't exactly easily attainable, so a good substitute would be Gigant Mantle for the HP it gives. But of course you could always stick to a Cerberus Mantle, as it gives 12 DEF or Boxer's Mantle for the Parrying and Evasion boost.
Evasion
Head: Optical Hat +10 Evasion
Body: Scorpion Harness +1 +12 Evasion
Hands: Hanzo Tekko +6 Evasion
Legs: Koga Hakama +10 Evasion (Nighttime only)
Feet: Dance shoes +1 +7 Evasion
Ring 1: Sattva Ring +5 AGI
Ring 2: Breeze Ring +5 AGI
Neck: Evasion Torque +7 Evasion Skill
Waist: Scouters Rope +10 Evasion, +4 AGI
Back: Boxer's Mantle +7 Evasion Skill
Earring 1: Evasion Earring +3 Evasion Skill
Earring 2: Elusive Earring +5 Evasion
Range: Ungur Boomerang +8 Evasion
Weapon: Auster's Staff +10 Evasion, +5 AGI
The lost art of evasion tanking. Often underestimated because it hasn't been seen in over 2 years by pretty much anybody. This setup gives a whooping +68 Evasion (+58 during the daytime), +20 Evasion Skill and +19 AGI (Which translates to about 9 evasion and also helps with Parrying and Enemy Criticals). With capped Evasion Skill merits and the above gear, you will have 297 Evasion Skill. Throw on double Mambo and have a RDM use Blind II and you would be surprised what you could evasion tank. If you are tanking something new, tell your BRD to give you double Mambo, tell your RDM to Blind or Blind II the mob and throw on this gear set. If you evade more than 50% of the attacks, I would say stick evasion tanking the mob. You lose no enmity whenever a mob misses you. Not to mention with Haste and another BRD singing double March, your recasts are usually pretty low and you won't need to switch to Enmity/Haste because you aren't getting your shadows ripped apart. But like I said, try using this setup for the first few minutes. If it doesn't work, fall back on Enmity/Haste/Defense setups.
Elemental Resistance
Fire
Head: Black Ribbon +12 Fire Resist
Body: Legionarre's Harness +5 Fire Resist
Hands: Hanzo Tekko +6 Fire Resist
Legs: Dino Trousers +4 Fire Resist
Feet: Suzaku's Sune-Ate +50 Fire Resist
Ring 1: Malflame Ring +10 Fire Resist
Ring 2: Ruby Ring +9 Fire Resist
Neck: Buburimu Gorget +10 Fire Resist
Waist: Water Belt +20 Fire Resist
Back: Cerberus Mantle +10 Fire Resist
Earring 1: Triumph Earring +11 Fire Resist
Earring 2: Triumph Earring +11 Fire Resist
Main: Neptune's Staff +20 Fire Resist
Total: +178 Fire Resist
Earth
Head: Black Ribbon +12 Earth Resist
Body: Beak Jerkin +1 +7 Earth Resist
Hands: Beak Gloves +1 +4 Earth Resist
Legs: Beak Trousers +1 +7 Earth Resist
Feet: Mercenary Kyahan +6 Earth Resist
Ring 1: Maldust Ring +10 Earth Resist
Ring 2: Topaz Ring +9 Earth Resist
Neck: Clay Amulet +11 Earth Resist
Waist: Wind Belt +20 Earth Resist
Back: Beak Mantle +1 +7 Earth Resist
Earring 1: Emerald Earring +10 Earth Resist
Earring 2: Emerald Earring +10 Earth Resist
Food: Steamed Catfish +10 Earth Resist
Main: Auster's Staff +20 Earth Resist
Total: +143 Earth Resist
Ice
Head: Black Ribbon +12 Ice Resist
Body: Tundra Jerkin +7 Ice Resist
Hands: Hailstorm Tekko +1 +12 Ice Resist
Legs: Feral Trousers +6 Ice Resist
Feet: Feral Ledesens +4 Ice Resist
Ring 1: Malfrost Ring +10 Ice Resist
Ring 2: Diamond Ring +9 Ice Resist
Neck: Jeweled Collar +10 Ice Resist
Waist: Fire Belt +20 Ice Resist
Back: Aurora Mantle +1 +8 Ice Resist
Earring 1: Triumph Earring +11 Ice Resist
Earring 2: Triumph Earring +11 Ice Resist
Main: Vulcan's Staff +20 Ice Resist
Total: +140 Ice Resist
The heralded Elemental Resistance gear. One of the essentials to being a successful NIN/DRK tank against some mobs. Although it is quite a hassle to carry around such a large amount of gear, let me tell you from experience, it is worth it. Get a Barspell and Carol of the element you want to resist, along with the above mentioned gear and anything based on that elemental is completely void and useless. Everything from Elemental Based TP attacks, to -ga3's, to enfeebles of the element. Resisted out the ass. These resist gear setups are incredibly overpowered for things such as Tiamat or Ouryu, where when they fly, they use attacks solely based on their elemental. Basically that means everything they throw at you does 100 damage or less, usually being on the low end around 15-20 damage. This means two things, first that you don't need cured as much to stay alive, second is that you don't lose a chunk of hate every time you get hit with an elemental attack, which usually are the most lethal had it not be for the resist gear. If you need elemental resist gear for another element, which I don't really think you'll need to, it is not hard to find. The only mob that I have found to be generally bad ass enough to laugh at elemental resistance gear is Bahamut himself. Bahamut (Version 2 only) and Jailer of Love are the sole reason you should have this next set of gear.
Magic Defense Bonus
Ring 1: Merman's Ring -4% Magic Damage Taken
Ring 2: Merman's Ring -4% Magic Damage Taken
Earring 1: Merman's Earring -2% Magic Damage Taken
Earring 2: Merman's Earring -2% Magic Damage Taken
Waist: Resolute Belt +2 Magic Def. Bonus
Back: Resentment Cape -5% Magic Damage Taken
Range: Lamia Kaman +1 +2 Magic Def. Bonus
To understand the importance of this set, you must first understand the difference between Magic Defense and Elemental Resist. Elemental Resistance gear lowers the chance of you getting hit for full damage by a spell. It's pretty much the Magic Accuracy of the mob against the Resistance of the player. Most mobs have pretty decent Magic Accuracy, but with all the bar/carol/elemental resistance you have, they stand no chance of landing anything effectively. Bahamut on the other hand, is unworldly in many aspects and you guessed it, one of those aspects is Magic Accuracy. Even with all that fire resistance, his Flares will get through unresisted about 70% of the time, leaving you with your thumb up your butt (Not to mention red HP or death). So to combat his magic accuracy, you need Magic Defense and Magic Damage Reduction gear. His Magic Accuracy can do nothing to either of these stats, as they work much like Shell. In fact, all Shell really is is a big Magic Def. Bonus. This gear setup reduces 17% of all magic damage, which when you think about it in terms of Bahamut, is pretty significant. A 1000 damage Megaflare will be reduce to 830 damage. You can use the remaining slots to fit in fire elemental resistance gear for a chance to resist one of his Flares. Jailer of Love is another story. You could effectively use elemental resistance gear on him, but he cycles through every element in the game. It is impossible to fit more than 1 elemental resistance setup in your inventory at a time. So a quick fix and all around defense is Magic Defense Bonus.
Like my previous guide to RDM/NIN tanking, I would like to close the equipment section with a word about Weapons. There are a few choices available. First and foremost being the ever reliable Earth/Terra Staff. This is my weapon of choice over all else. As two handed weapons get a parrying bonus on top of NIN's already incredibly high parrying skill. Not to mention the -20% physical damage taken for times when you get caught with no shadows. You could also go the Hades Sainti route, which I don't really recommend because as I stated earlier, you don't really need any more enmity aside from the gear I listed. Some might even use the Tutelary/Imanotsuragi path for the HP, defense and enmity. Again, I don't really commend it, as you don't really need the HP and enmity over what Earth Staff has to offer.
Tips:
- Capped Parrying skill is extremely beneficial. Make sure you ALWAYS engage the enemy you are fighting. Parrying does not proc otherwise.
- Your hate cycle should be similar to: Stun > Kurayami: Ni > Hojo: Ni > Sleep > Bind. By the time you finish Bind, Stun will be up.
- Always have at least 2 stacks of shihei ready to be used. When you solo tank, you will rip through them and be out before you know it. If you get caught with "You do not have the tools to cast Utsusemi", you are gonna get hurt.
- You will blink gear...A LOT. Have your WHM's or healers make /ma "Cure V" macro's for sticky situations where you are in the middle of blinking gear with low HP.
- Don't forget to use the /DRK sub abilities, as they generate decent amounts of hate.
- Anticipate attacks and don't count on enemies missing unless you are using Evasion Gear.
Conclusion: Through experience, I believe a well geared, NIN/DRK with a decent amount of experience may be the best tank for low number and maybe even normal number situations. It is probably my favorite tanking job even though I don't use it often. Honestly, a good RDM/NIN against a good NIN/DRK, I don't know who would win. All I know is that NIN/DRK with the right gear and skill can be a solo tanking genius.