The Sealed Dagger: A Ninja Guide

Episode 31 of A Guide To Ninja Series is out covering Empyrean +3 Gear. I've also updated the Ninja Spreadhsheet with all the latest gear bringing it up to date.



Updated Spreadsheet

I was expecting a funeral music and at the very beginning you are saying empy +3 is very useful and was worth waiting for. I haven't watched more yet, before writing this, but I expect this to be either trolling or trying to squeeze one lemon into a huge glass, fill most of it with water and call it a 100% lemon juice :D

Back to watching ;)

Edit: yeah it was a lemon scenario :) Basically beside Feet for WS and hands for burst/futae, everything else is just for max accuracy set (which lose TONS of tp gain for that accuracy) which is super niche. Then it's also a boost to magic accuracy, which is more important, but usually NIN can land it's most important debuffs just fine and debuffs like paralyze, blind and slow are again super niche coming from NIN even when you solo. Lastly few of those are some upgrades for few WS with Trusts scenario, but I'm almost sure it must be extremely marginal (don't know since Logical didn't tell and I didn't have time to check sheets yet).

Empy+3 is huge disappointment for NIN imo.

Also empy+3 hands has ninjutsu mab+18. No point to call it differently or say it doesn't have mab.

Think even in a burst scenario the hands were losing, though that was +2, may have changed with the added burst/minor mab +3 gave, obligatory shoulda put actual mab on the gloves and/or changed the function of whats thee already into a real +%

It so is.
Body could've been... a decent (BiS?) option for Blade: Hi. Which is a bad WS anyway so who cares.

A lot of the problems (most?) of the NIN AF3 are with the original set. Quite evidently they didn't want to rework these sets too much, for any jobs not just for NIN.

But still, a few pieces could've been saved by a better allocation of the stats. Like no mab on hands, I mean wtf, why?!

Logical isn't wrong about the reasons he cites, and some are fairly practical uses:

1) Feet are BiS for lots of WS (and obviously the standout piece of the set to me)

2) Body, Hands, Legs are BiS Macc/Ninjutsu enfeeble pieces.

3) Hands are a decent call for nukes too. Even if they aren't maximum damage on non-Futae nukes, the huge amout of Macc reduces resists so may be worthwhile on higher level targets. I don't think Logical realized that the "Elemental Ninjutsu Damage +18%" seems to just be MAB+18 on ninjutsu.

4) Every piece in the set is BiS for Acc/Racc. I think that's of debatable importance, as we have plenty of sets that are only a little lower in Acc and have much more useful additional stats. I'd make up Acc gaps with food/buffs instead of switching to MAX ACC gear, and there's really not much you actually need a max acc set for these days anyway. But, I suppose it's plausible to want a max Acc swap for some stuff (e.g., Volte THF mobs).

5) I care a whole lot less about WS sets for trust buffs, but if you solo a lot on NIN (like Logical does), that's a fair point.

It's still a very disappointing set though. They COULD have made very minor adjustments to create:
- Head as a more competitive TP piece
- Body as a killer WS piece (give WSD here, not feet)
- Hands as the ultimate ninjutsu hand piece
- Legs as an even better defensive/tanking piece (toss some DT-II on there, Subtle Blow II, Enmity, etc.)
- Feet as phenomenal utility piece (Utsusemi, FC, SIRD, movement speed?)

As it is, I'll get feet and be happy. Then the rest are for completion's sake, and I won't have them for a VERY long time as they'll all have to get in line between significantly more useful +3 pieces on other jobs. And these are gonna need some grind, so it will be a while!

Appreciate your thoughts but I guess we just have different opinions on what's useful or niche. The accuracy set is VERY needed right now for the new version of Sortie solo and taking on the delve NM's. Currently I have to use max accuracy food to even have a chance and on mobs like the bee I can't skillchain at all due to the slow TP gain. Which is when you use an accuracy set, when all that Store Tp and multiattack is doing nothing but making you whiff. I can easily not have any store tp and multiattack and still self skillchain which is what is needed when taking on those mobs. Same can be said for soloing Odyssey Atonement 3 NM's. Ninja also just got a huge boost to all their ranged accuracy which was a huge issue for the builds that had nin using empyreal arrow for odyssey bosses. In regards to magic accuracy, it was VERY needed and I'm surprised you don't think ninja's enfeeble much solo. The bosses of sortie, demersal degen (especially when you have adds) and the mini nm's such as ixion and custard guy and the delve nm's previously spoken of are SO much easier when paralyzed but I can only stick it about 33% of the time if I don't have magic accuracy food on. With this new set that should no longer be necessary. And since trust situations are where many ninja's (myself included) spend the majority of their time on ninja, the fact that these pieces are now BiS for so many of those situations in so many slots is important, especially since it's now eclipsed harder to get gear such as Nyame and Malignance and expensive HQ gear.

Now to your point, for an End Game Ninja who spends the majority of there time in a group... the feet and earring are really the only useful items as your often going to be buffed enough to not need accuracy, you won't be responsible for enfeebles and the rest of the pieces don't help with capped buff weaponskill damage. So I guess really it just depends on how you spend your time on ninja.

Personally I'm excited to try to take out the 6 delve NM's once I have the gear as previously I was running out of time on the 6th nm (that damn bee).

So that elemental ninjutsu damage +18 is mathematically the same as magic attack bonus +18? I guess that explains why it didn't beat Nyame when it was +2 and why it still probably won't at +3, thanks for that clarification.

I would also note the only reason the acc/macc is even very notable is because NIN's AF set is so terrible, with set bonus most melee jobs already have similar acc from their AF sets. NIN's empy +3 has the same acc/macc basically every other job's empy +3 got it's just NIN has worse options than most. I would still easily rate it as amongst the worst empy sets.

You are excited because NIN got the bare minimum when usually it gets less than the bare minimum.

Logical is always going to analyze things from the perspective of a solo player, trying to get the most out of any/every piece of gear. I honestly have respect for that mindset, as NIN clearly is his favorite job (mine too), and it's refreshing to see someone who cares for all the smaller details of the job instead of just "Use Hybrid WS, Savage Blade everything". Being optimistic like this is what I sometimes do when trying not to be a downer all the time.

With all of that praise being given, I 1000% agree with the first two quotes. Also, Logical is definitely over selling the usefulness of this set. I didn't even bother looking at the Ninja +3 set AT ALL. The +2 set was disappointing as I stated before, so I knew the +3 set would be also a disappointment. So all of the points Logical made about this set, while true, seem exaggerated.

I do have some valid questions about Logical's use cases for the acc/racc deficiency when soloing in Sortie (or Gaol NMs): exactly how frequently do you think the common person is going to do that? I would guess a very small amount, if only you or me and a few others. If I don't have the accuracy to hit Naakuals, I simply won't fight them and waste 25 minutes of my time for one chest. Also, Ninja is probably one of the worst DPS jobs for Gaol bosses when considering how futile shadows really are. But in reality, how often would you say someone will need accuracy sets for Gaol bosses, while SOLOING? That's the weirdest correlation that has practically no real-game application. I certainly would not make 3 pieces of this set and then say I now have the accuracy to fight hard stuff, so the set is useful. That's selling it a bit too far.

I get your perspective, but for whoever watches those videos, nobody but you will see it that way. This set is terrible if we are being honest. The best application I could come up with for the Head, Body, and Legs are this: While solo, High Accuracy DT set when using Yonin (counters the accuracy loss by a lot), which also has high meva. So you can fill the other two slots with Malignance for TP. That's literally the only reason I would wear multiple pieces of this set. I probably won't even bother making it at all, at least not for like 6+ months.

It depends though. If you are fighting a monster that has the Resist Paralyze trait, the monster will always resist no matter how much magic accuracy you have.

Citation needed

https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Resist_Paralyze

He specifically said about 1/3 he gets resists. That lines up closely with a resist trait simply taking effect, which will always occur even if you have 5000 magic accuracy. Piling on more magic accuracy won't do anything if a resist trait is proccing.

To be fair he said he gets resisted 67% of the time :)

Guess I'm interpreting 2 statements differently. Firstly, he said he can only land 33% of the time without macc food, which leads me to believe he thinks it's a macc problem and not a "Resist!" problem, especially in the context of talking about adding more macc to your sets.

I also misinterpreted your "The monster will always resist no matter how much macc you have" to mean the monster will always resist no matter how much macc you have rather than the monster will always resist *a percentage of the time* no matter how much macc you have. It also assumes that every mob he's talking about trying to paralyze has the trait which...do they?

"it depends" "if you are fighting a monster that has the resist paralyze trait" - I was very specific about this instance, not assuming anything.

I misread his comment about 2/3 though.

Not to continue to be pedantic, but the sentence still reads weird to me. Here's another example:

"If you're playing on a Roulette table with a 00, the ball will always land on 00, no matter how you spin it."

Sure, true, it will always land on 00 *some of the time* because there's a 00 on the wheel, but like...the sentences reads as though 00 on the wheel = always lands on 00. Just like in your sentence, at least the first time I read it before this discussion, it reads like "If the mob has resist paralyze it will always (100% of the time) resist you, no matter if you have 5000 macc.

It's just phrasing, whatever. I was envisioning some newb coming in here, reading that as gospel, and thinking "Oh ***, if it has a resist paralyze trait, I shouldn't bother casting paralyze because it will always resist anyway." or if it's going to resist anyway, don't bother with macc gear because it's just going to proc the trait.

Bee is very specific mob, especially with Aura. Have you tried different Trusts setup, like maybe Cornelia, Kuyin, Koru (Distract), Joachim/Ulmia (madrigals)?

I did try adding Joachim to my setup already having Cornelia and Koru in it and it did help a bit and make it so with accuracy set I was able to sc the majority of the time with max acc food. That being said as soon as Cornelia is taken from us again the setup will take another hit, hoping I have 2-3 pieces of this empy +3 gear to make up for it by then.

Kuyin is 27-28 accuracy
Qultada is 20-50 accuracy and he himself will wiff, so won't really break your skillchain that much.
I assume your heishi is R15 and Kunimitsu is R25?
I also assume you are ML40 and you are using /WAR aggressor or /DRG?

Those aren't good assumptions to make. ML40 isn't anything to sniff at, but it's possible to grind out. that aside, you can't use support jobs in Gaol anyways, so aggressor and /drg don't do anything to help with soloing Bee.

I think you are a little confused. He was talking ( for the whole time btw :P ) about bee in Sortie. The Naakuls NMs.

Also my assumptions are totally valid. We are discussing set potential in soloing end game, so I expect he has done everything else to cap accuracy, before trying to justify loosing 52 stp and overcappping dual wield by 6%, which is probably like +44% tp gain he is loosing (which means 70% accuracy set with that STP and less DW would outperform 99/95% accuracy set without it for example and 30% hit rate is like 60acc). Well I might be a little off, because Daken wont be loosing tp per hit from overcappping DW, but I'm very close probably.

You're right. My mind went to Atonement 3 NMs because he also mentioned them in his original rebuttal, but his initial point was about the Sortie NMs and accuracy for those.

Few things, your overestimating how free I can be with my trust selection on these. Need to use Yoran-Oran and Monberaux to stay alive, Koru-Moru+Joachim for haste cap leaving only 1 spot free which really needs to be another healer or haste capper as all of those delve nm's tear through your trust with all their nasty abilities. I normally finish each fight with only 2-3 trust left alive. Sometimes even having to swap in dual wield gear when both my hasters die. So I'll normally have cornelia as the 5th right now for extra acc/haste and because she can't die. The option of just throwing in Kuyin and Qultada for some extra acc just isn't there due to how vulnerable they all are in these fights. And no I don't have Kuni R25 just like my Nyame I still at about R5 and currently Master level 26.

Really though we are really just being a dead horse here. I understand what you all are saying in regards to your disappointment in the set. I was simply speaking from the perspective of someone who is a solo Ninja player. Lately I've had a need for more accuracy and magic accuracy with recent sortie content and it was nice to actually have it provided with this new gear. I understand most won't deal with many of the situations I present, was simply trying to share my perspective on what I found as possible uses for the set.

Once Cornelia leaves, are you thinking of going back to Sylvie UC? I'd be awfully tempted since she'll cap your haste by herself on NIN, plus helps out pretty well on cures/status removal. Gives you some additional flexibility. On solo NIN I always used to like doing stuff like Sylvie+Monberaux+Ygnas as my main heals and capping haste, then fill my last 2 slots from (a) even more heals if needed (Selh'teus, Ajido for cures/dispels, even Kupipi sometimes), (b) a Dia III RDM, (c) Qultada, or (d) Joachim, mostly for the Madrigal/Minuet.

I was die-hard Sylvie until Sortie finally made me go over to the Yoran side, but I only did that because I've settled into doing Sortie with dualboxed SAM + Idris GEO when not in an actual party. Sylvie doesn't add much for that setup, so went for a better WHM.

Logical is just expressing how useful good accuracy sets are for people that don't carry around a pocket BRD/COR/WHM.

Those mobs blow on RDM when you can't land Distract.

That's fine if you need MAX accuracy set, but let's not pretend NIN's other TP options like Malignance, Kendatsuba+1, Tatenashi+1, and even Mpaca don't also have very good accuracy. While it varies by piece, aside from the legs we're talking about single digit Acc increases per Empy+3 piece over the next best alternative, at a very steep cost of giving up TP generation like multiattack and STP. Simon is right that even with significantly uncapped acc, those additional stats can mean better overall DPS. There's a very good chance that you can build a better set for a particular Acc threshold by getting your Acc elsewhere (e.g., swap in high acc accessories) instead of giving up some of the stats on visible armor slots.

Assuming Logical's math was right, he noted that the Hattori+3 gear Acc (from Acc+DEX) advantage is only:
Head: Acc+6.5 over next best option
Body: Acc+9
Hands: Acc+5
Legs: Acc+22 (for katanas, due to the skill)
Feet: Acc+8

Feet are certainly worth it since any NIN will make good use of them for WS anyway, so hey, getting a new max acc piece at the same time is a nice bonus. Legs may be worth making specifically for an acc set due to being a much bigger difference from next best option. Beyond that... eh, it's kind of a hard sell IMO for the relatively minor Acc gains over next best alternatives that offer a lot more than just raw Acc and strong Atk which doesn't amount to THAT much impact for TP phase (maybe a little more valuable for Kannagi builds that skew a bit more toward white damage, but even then something like Mpaca with good Acc along with Atk and Crit rate/TA is probably better if there's any way you can deal with Acc through other food/buffs/accessory swaps).

And remember, Hattori +3 requires a very substantial grind to upgrade each piece. I would expect most players who play multiple jobs will have LOTS of pieces that are a higher priority than squeezing out single digit Acc gains (with big sacrifices) on pieces like NIN head/body/hands that aren't hugely useful for other reasons outside of Macc. If your playstyle is very highly skewed toward solo NIN with trust buffs (like Logical does a whole lot!), maybe your situation is different. But that's pretty obviously not the case for the majority.

Even for someone like Logical, I know he has a really good RDM and SMN too... and those jobs just get SO much more from their Empy sets than NIN does, so if you care about keeping them up-to-date too it makes it feel like such a big sacrifice to prioritize NIN pieces that might have some pretty niche use cases. It's definitely a NIN labor of love. But I say that as someone with a R15 Nagi and Kannagi, so I *DO* get it that you sometimes just want to choose with your Shinobi Heart instead of your brain lol.

That's fair, but we should be talking about general situation involving capped ML and rest of the gear, not your situation when we try to rate this gear for career NIN trying to do some most evasive solo content in the game. You are still missing like 35(?) accuracy from just ML and Kunimitus rank, which is about the same as 4/5 of empy +3 set without legs adds on top of mix of Malignance+Kenda.

Koru + Monberaux + Kuyin + Cornelia + Joachim
Kuyin and Cornelia don't take damage and rest of them stay at distance and can cure, so they shouldnt be dying that much.

Also I assume you only have that much accuracy issue with bee, you can change 1-2 Trusts for other Naakuls.

You can at least prebuff with Qultada if you fight something beforehand and unequip your weapons. Qultada will think you have no accuracy and default to that roll. Then you can drop him after you kill the fodder and summon your additional healer or whatever. That also gives you Chaos as well for ~3-5min, which should help your kill speed a little bit.


I think it's clear you were speaking from your perspective, but when you put out a video covering the sets, people are going to want to know how it applies to NIN uses in generalways, not a very specific subset of Ninjas who solo everything with trusts and are devoid of buffs. In that case, the intro where you mentioned about this set being "well worth the wait" was unintentionally misleading. People would think it has some gargantuan use when really it's more accuracy.

Regardless, the Feet are very solid for obvious reasons like you mentioned, and although you didn't really touch on the legs much (and I got roasted for mentioning how cool I thought they were), I think they are one of Ninja's best tanking legs. The worst part about it is that it competes with Mpaca's Hose, which is a phenomenal piece for SBII, tanking, and overall well-rounded dps.

As easy to acquire gear, the set is good for both WS and TP phase IF you don't have the mentality of getting together your group and doing things the traditional way. If you uncouple your expectations from having access to high R ody gear and EFd MLs, but you're still trying to enjoy this game, this is good gear that ANYONE should be able to access.

No, I don't think it's an amazing set compared to others. Yes, it should have been significantly better.

BUT Every one of those alternatives is harder to get SOLO than +3 Empy. It's just time doing an event you're going to do anyways. Run through EFG and do the non-combat chests at the end of your regular run and eventually you will have enough stones to upgrade without buying them.

That saves you from $$$ Ken +1, months of Lilith 4/5 because you have bad luck, or the significantly higher challenge of Tatenashi+1 or Mpaca up to a comparable level.

And it's got good DT to go with good Acc which is what you need when you are fighting higher level mobs than you probably should solo but you want to keep pushing.

Define "harder to get SOLO". Do you mean "longer"? Because The 70k + starstone upgrade cost is super grindy for a solo player. How much Galli can someone earn solo, 10k? That's a week to upgrade one piece of gear. Is it really that much harder than clearing v1 Odyssey boss and upgrading to R15 gear? Is it really that much harder or grindy than doing aman trove orbs or soloing e/Ve Lilith runs? Ken+1 is money, but that can be earned in ancillary ways, like doing seg farming, unity upgrades etc. Also, ken+1 set is buyable, so you can earn and use it instantly provided su3, vs Empyrean+3 where you have a daily grind and gate they limits your progress on several levels. Idk about this set being easier to get SOLO tbqh