How my NIN works..
16 times now I've been asked to explain/tell/show how I do this by different people over the last month.. Apparently what I do has given some really good results :D.. But it's incredibly difficult to describe it all in tells, and even in a PM.. So, I just decided I'm going to post it all here and whenever I'm asked about it again I'll just /point Livejournal.
Mainly I've been asked about all the equipment changes/macros I have, and what equipment I use when/where and such.. etc.
So, this update I'm just putting some time aside while offline finishing college stuff and post all the information I can about it... If you're interested then read on and click the LJ cut, if not then in a few days I'll give a normal update on what's going on. :)
I'll go over the macros I use first... Then the different equipment changes I have and when/here I use them... And lastly how I do it.^^;
- Quick outline of Macros
I have 3 macro pallets put aside for NIN. I'll go over them quick now, and I'll explain the equipment changes sets I have more in the next section.
First Pallet
Usually used for exp PT tanking, soloing, and debuffing..
Here's the less complicated stuff about this pallet to start:
In all of my spells, Ctrl2+3 and Alt3 through Alt0, I have a line for /recast (spell) and a line for /ma (spell) or ... I usually use Huton(wind) from the menu, couldn't fit it on the pallet.. No room for +ninjutsu gear with all the other stuff I have though ;;.. (btw, /recast helps a lot :D)
Nothing special about the others, Ctrl1 is for pulling.. Alt1 and Alt2 are both WS.. Ctrl0 is Provoke.. And Ctrl5 is berserk (usually with warcry).. Ctrl4 tells the PT my TP(sometimes I put that in /echo) and gives me the /recast for Ni, Provoke, Berserk, Warcry.
Now here's the more complicated stuff:
The enmity macros on Ctrl6 and Ctrl7 have 12 equipment changes in total.. Changing practically everything I have on to all out enmity, and then Ctrl8 and Ctrl9 change me back to normal exp/tanking/soloing gear. They look like this:
Gives me something like +32 enmity with food... All of that gear has some sort of +enmity, with the Bomb Queen Ring being the only exception (use it to help make up for the HP I lost when I change to this gear)..
Normally what I would wear for tanking in an exp PT or soloing... Except sometimes I wear Rajas Ring/Sniper's Ring+1 in place of the BQ ring.. Depends on what we're fighting.
I'll go over how I use those equip changes later.. Just doing macros now. :)
Second Pallet
Used for weapon skill gear changes, and HNM tanking.
Alt1, Alt2, Alt3, Ctrl2, Ctrl3, Ctrl4, and Ctrl 0 are all the same as on the first pallet. Alt4 is just for activating sneak attack when I'm playing around on NIN/THF.
Ctrl6 and Ctrl7 switch me to the same enmity gear as before... But 8 and 9 switch me to all out evasion gear (+109 eva, 31 AGI). Ctrl 5 switches me to all out defense gear (+44 VIT, 640 def max).
Alt5 through Alt0 change me into different weapon skill gear (+50STR+50DEX).. I don't use Alt5 and Alt6 much anymore, usually just Alt7 and Alt8 for weapon skill gear... Then Alt9 and Alt0 change me back to normal exp setup.
Third Pallet
Made this recently just for DD NIN..
Only thing different from normal on this pallet is Ctrl8 and Ctrl9 switch me into accuracy/attack gear(+69 acc, +27 attack, +48 DEX, +29 STR) .. With Ctrl6 and Ctrl7 switching me into the same pure STR/DEX gear as on pallet 2.
(all with food)
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I have 6 total equipment sets I switch around between... Defense gear, Evasion gear, Enmity gear, Weapon Skill gear, DD NIN gear, Normal exp/tank/solo gear.
I'll outline those quick and describe the situations I use them in:
Defense Gear
-Used primarly for HNMs/NMs or other mobs that I have to rely on defense rather than evasion, simply because they don't miss much or often clear Utsesumi shadows.. A good example would be Faust, Zipacna, or occasionally the IT MNK Aern mobs in sea while farming organs. Gives me around +44 VIT, 640 defense, and 1600 HP. I take pretty low damage with this setup, and still evade occasionally. :D
Main: Earth Staff
Sub: -
Ranged: Ungar Boomerang
Ammo: Happy Egg (usually use boomergang)
Head: Genbu's Kabuto
Neck: Evasion Torque
Ear1: Cassie Earring
Ear2: (anything)
Body: Kirin's Osode
Hands: Seiryu's Kote
Ring1: Mermaid Ring
Ring2: Bomb Queen Ring
Back: Nomad Mantle +1
Waist: Warwolf Belt
Legs: Koga/Byakko's Haidate
Feet: Fuma-Sune Ate
It works pretty well... I was surprised how well I did on Faust with this setup :D.. Usually it's PLD tank only, but using this setup with some defense food I did fine holding hate and taking low damage :), with shadows helping when I could get it off in between the weapon skill spam ><.. Took it with a low amount of people so it was kinda rough, but we won.
Taking sub 100 damage from a difficult NM on NIN is sexy ;o... Averaged about 90 to 140 a hit ish.
Evasion Gear
-Used primarily for HNMs/NMs also, and sometimes when I need to hold something for a certain amount of time.. It gives me about +114 evasion with blinding potions (always with my HNM gear) and nighttime, with +30 or so AGI.. Usually don't wear the rasetto feet though, and hands too.
Main: Wind Staff
Sub: -
Ranged: Ungar Boomerang
Ammo: -
Head: Emperor's Hairpin
Neck: Evasion Torque
Ear1: Bat Earring
Ear2: Bat Earring
Body: Scorpion Harness
Hands: Seiryu's Kote/Rasetto Tekko
Ring1: Mermaid Ring
Ring2: Bomb Queen Ring
Back: Nomad Mantle +1/Toreador Cape
Waist: Survival Belt
Legs: Koga Hakama/Arhat's Hakama+1
Feet: Fuma Sune-Ate/Rasetto Sune-ate
It's fun to play with, it gives just about any mob I've tanked a considerable accuracy cut.. Even Vrtra misses pretty often when I do this, brings his accuracy to something like 60% ish. The most fun though was holding the Orc Overlord NM for 40 minutes with this setup, the biggest chain of misses stretched to 18 in a row. XD
Enmity
-I use this gear mainly for provoke, and it works great.. Enmity does not get removed if you change equipment (someone mentioned that they thought it did), a mob will never suddenly lose hate because you change equipment without any outside help. We often have two tanks for every LS event, and when pulling a mob my provoke with this setup always makes the mob come to me first, even though I change equipment right after :P.. I have a total of +32 currently with food.
Main: Unji
Sub: Unsho
Ranged: Ungar Boomerang
Ammo: -
Head: Cachez-nez
Neck: Harmonia's Torque
Ear1: Eris Earring
Ear2: Eris Earring
Body: Arhat's Gi
Hands: Yasha Tekko
Ring1: Mermaid Ring
Ring2: Bomb Queen Ring/Sniper Ring+1
Back: Toreador Cape
Waist: Warwolf Belt
Legs: Arhat's Hakama+1
Feet: Yasha Sune-Ate
Usually for tanking HNMs I keep this equiped unless I pull a lot of hate and have to tank over a long period time.. At that point I'll change to full evasion gear to make it easier to tank, on top of the fact that the evil toreador cape is in my enmity set^^;...
Normal exp PT tanking gear
-I use this most often, normally for when I tank in exp PTs and solo, it balances damage with evasion.. Making me deal a decent amount of damage, while at the same time giving evasion to make blink tanking easier. Dealing pretty good damage while not getting hit builds up a lot of hait.. Getting hit while tanking takes away a lot of it. ;;
Main: Unji
Sub: Unsho
Ranged: Ungar Boomerang
Ammo: -
Head: Optical Hat
Neck: Evasion Torque
Ear1: Cassie Earring
Ear2: Suppinommi
Body: Kirin's Osode
Hands: Seiryu's Kote
Ring1: Mermaid Ring
Ring2: Sniper Ring+1
Back: Nomad Mantle +1
Waist: Survival Belt/Warwolf Belt
Legs: Byakko's Haidate
Feet: Fuma Sune-Ate
I think my proudest moment from this was holding hate on a weapon after a RNG doing a 1.5k slug shot :).. It didn't even turn to look at him. And no, it didn't die from the slug :p.. It was still at 20%.
WS Gear
-If you WS at the start of a fight for 1k with Blade:Jin, you almost guarantee the mob will stay on you for the entire fight. Having a set of gear that pushes your Blade:Jin average 200-500 damage higher then normal each time helps as much if not more as Provoke. My set gives around +50DEX and +52 STR with food.
Main: Unji
Sub: Unsho
Ranged: Ungar Boomerang
Ammo: -
Head: Optical Hat
Neck: Spike Necklace
Ear1: Cassie Earring
Ear2: Minuet Earring
Body: Kirin's Osode/Haubergeon+1
Hands: Pallas Bracelets
Ring1: Rajas Ring
Ring2: Victory Ring
Back: Amemet Mantel +1
Waist: Warwolf Belt
Legs: Byakko's Haidate
Feet: Leaping Boots
I've posted the results in previous entries.. With the 1k Blade:Jins on Aura Statues/weapons and such in exp PTs.. Along with the others in dynamis and while soloing. Just got a new one yesturday too from sea:
<3 Hpemde mobs :D.. Didn't even bother casting Ni, wanted to WS it while it was berserked. XD
DD Gear
-Not often used outside of playing a DD in dynamis and just for fun, I tried it recently in an exp PT.. It upped my damage considerably, but it made it more difficult to tank efficiently. Still kinda thinking about whether it would be good to use more often when tanking in exp PTs. Gives +69 accuracy, +24 attack, +29 STR, +47 DEX.
Main: Unji
Sub: Unsho
Ranged: Lightning Bow+1
Ammo: Demon Arrows
Head: Optical Hat
Neck: Peacock Charm
Ear1: Minuet Earring
Ear2: Suppinommi
Body: Haubergeon +1
Hands: Noritsune Kote
Ring1: Sniper's Ring+1/Rajas Ring
Ring2: Sniper's Ring+1
Back: Amemet Mantel +1
Waist: Warwolf Belt/Life Belt
Legs: Byakko's Haidate
Feet: Fuma-Sune Ate
Sadly I can't carry all of them on me at once XD, but I won't be bringing DD gear to an HNM camp, and likewise I won't have HNM gear at in exp PT... So it works out fine. I usually bring the evasion/defense/enmity to HNMs, and the enmity/WS gear/DD gear/normal gear to any kind of exp PT..
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- How I put it all together..
This took me a pretty long time to get used to, it's a lot of equipment changing for different actions and occasionally requires me to move up and down between pallet 1 and 2..
For exp/normal tanking:
I stay on pallet 1 for most things I do.
When I want to provoke I hit Ctrl6 and Ctrl7 to change to the enmity gear, then Ctrl0 shortly after to Provoke, and then Ctrl8 and Ctrl9 to change back to normal gear. It sounds like a lot, but after doing it for so long I do this all in literally about a second, without having to think about it, it comes normally to me now..
Doing that macros in a quick +31 enmity to my Provoke, and puts me back into the normal tank gear right after.. All in all it requires me to hit 5 macros for each Provoke. It's easier then it sounds though.^^;
For doing weapon skills I have to move up one to Pallet #2 quick, hit Alt6 and Alt 7 to change to STR/DEX gear, then do whatever weapon skill (Alt1 through Alt3), and follow that with Alt8 and Alt9 to change back to normal equipment.. Then I move back down to Pallet #1. This was the hardest to get used to, sometimes I forget to move back down a pallet and ended up hitting Ctrl5defense or Ctrl6+7evasion gear (equiping an earth/wind staff ><), so I made /echos to remind me.. Got it down pretty well now though. :)
I also will sometimes macro enmity for when I'm debuffing and/or using job abilities.. Normally just use it in provoke though. :)
For HNMs:
This is just like exp.. But here I stay on pallet 2.. When I debuff though I either do it through the menu, type it out quick, or move down to pallet 1 and use the macro.
Since I usually tank in enmity gear (unless I have hate for a while), I don't switch gear as much.. I always try to provoke with the enmity gear on from hitting Ctrl6 and Ctrl7 though, then Ctrl8 and Ctrl9 have the full out evasion gear I use occasionally to tank. In an emergency of some sort where I know I'll be taking damage, or on certain annoying NMs/mobs, I have Ctrl5 to switch to all the defense gear.
Not much else. :)
For DD NIN:
Pretty simple.. I usually stay in the accuracy/attack gear all the time while I melee, and occasionally for weapon skills on higher evasion mobs. Otherwise just about everytime I weapon skill I change to the STR and DEX gear, it loses a lot of accuracy but I still don't seem to miss hits for Jin much at all, using both sets.
That's about all of it... It's not too complicated, but takes some getting used to.. And a lot of inventory space ; ;..
Feel free to ask if you want to know anything else..
Oh!.. And a quick question, just recently got all the items for a gorget togther (after 2 months><).. I'm curious what way you find out the element your weapon skill is based on?
I've always heard it was based on the color next to the weapon skill, but recently I saw a post (with little proof I might add) saying that it was based on the element(s) that the weapon skill plays in skillchains... Now I'm confused, and don't want to get the wrong one. ; ;
Thanks in advanced for any information.^^