Ninja (Final Fantasy XI)

Ninjas appear in Final Fantasy XI as an advanced job available to players who have reached level 30 and completed the ninja flag quest. The quest features the story of Ensetsu's family and their connection to the pirates of Norg.

Originally, The Ninja was not meant to be a tanking job. However, the player base discovered a method that enables Ninjas to avoid most attacks directed at them by monsters. In time, ninjas became one of the two tank classes in the game. Ninjas are able to tank despite having low Vitality and Defense because they have good evasion, agility, and a few spells that allow them to create shadows. This is the most popular Ninja spell, called Utsusemi. It comes in Ichi and Ni formats, which is Japanese for one and two. The ichi form creates 3 shadows, and the ni version creates four. What makes it work is the low cast time of the ni version, allowing ninjas to cast the spell in between enemy attacks. Originally intended as a damage-dealing class, the ninja job was hijacked into tanking by the players, due to their utsusemi-blinking and the ability to provoke enemy attacks by using Warrior as a subjob.

Ninjas also get other spells that allow them to blind, paralyze, and slow the enemy, as well as elemental attack spells and spells to make themselves Invisible. All of these spells use powders or tools. They do not have an MP cost. Ninjas themselves have no MP at all, but they do benefit from Subjobs that give them MP, like Black Mage because of the raise in Intelligence.

Like in other titles, Ninjas have the ability to Dual Wield exclusively, making them a highly popular sub job in addition to their many other spells and ability.

Ninja Abilities
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Job Abilities

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Job Traits

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Ninjutsu List
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Combat Skill Ratings

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Magic Skill Ratings

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Ninjas in Final Fantasy XI
Though originally designed to be an enfeebling and direct damage job, Ninja has developed into one of the two major tanking jobs in Final Fantasy XI. Where a Paladin relies on damage reduction based on high Vitality and Defense, a Ninja's ability to tank relies almost entirely upon never getting hit. This form of tanking is often called Blink Tanking because it relies on Utsusemi, a Ninjutsu form of the spell Blink.

Strengths

 * Sought after for parties because they require little healing.
 * Can take on the roles of tank or direct damager.
 * Because they can evade attacks so well, enfeeble enemies, and cast Utsusemi, Ninja/Dancer can solo some of the most powerful monsters in the game that can be soloed.
 * Their enfeebling Ninjutsu is often more accurate or more potent than the White Magic and Black Magic counterparts in FFXI.
 * Utsusemi is one of the most defining and important spells of FFXI, leading to many jobs using Ninja as their subjob.
 * Katana have very low delay, and Ninja gets Dual Wield at level 10.
 * Mijin Gakure allows a Ninja to die without losing EXP or entering a Weakened state after being raised.

Weaknesses

 * Poor enmity creation, often making Ninja reliant upon Thieves at lower levels.
 * Weak physical characteristics for tanking, making them prone to taking heavy damage when a hit does connect. In many cases they can even be killed in a single hit by enemy Weapon Skills, if they're vulnerable at just the wrong moment.
 * Their damage-dealing Ninjutsu spells are not very powerful.
 * Area of effect magic often wipes Utsusemi and still hits the Ninja, which can be devastating.
 * Ninja tools, required for Ninjutsu, can cost a lot of gil, especially for Ninja who cast most or all Ninjutsu.

Warrior
Warrior is used for most Ninjas in experience parties because of provoke more than any other reason. This is the most simple form of enmity management and is the primary ability of any tank in keeping hate. At later levels, Warrior is a good subjob for double attack, increasing the number of attacks the ninja gets as well as Berserk and Warcry which add to the attack rating.

Black Mage
Black Mage is often used as a subjob for ninjas who are fulfilling another role other than tank or high level damage dealing. Ninjutsu's strength is determined by intelligence so Black Mage is used as a subjob as the job that generates the highest total intelligence for the Ninja. Ninjutsu elemental spells are capable of doing significant damage in this setup.

Dark Knight
Dark Knight is used for tanking NMs such as Gods or Limbus kings. The ability to use Stun and many other spells, including the job abilities Soul Eater and Last Resort makes it much easier for the ninja to hold hate.

Dancer
Dancer is used for an effective subjob for ninjas who like to solo, for self healing capabilities of abilities like Drain Samba and Curing Waltz. So when you do take hits when shadows fail you don't have to worry about down time for healing as much.