Returning Ninja Gearing

so returning to playing NIN after very long time, whats the go to WS now for pure DPS? tried Hi and it just seems bad, metsu isn't working so great even with WSD+, Ten is working the best for me surprisingly but even that's only doing about 5k. gearing Hi for crit dmg, metsu and ten for WSD+ so im thinking im missing something, using a mix of herc and ambus equipment

It depends on how you build nin and what you need to accomplish. I love my Kannagi even over Heishi. The biggest thing you have to come to terms with is that nin ws's as a whole are not like CDC or Resolution. The nin ws's are weaker and take a lot of build around to break say 10k consistently. If I am making darkness I use Hi with Kannagi. If I am using light I swapped to Shun with Heishi.

Sounds like you're like you're a Kikoku user as you mentioned Metsu. I would gear it to proc aftermath and swap to making a skill chain of choice or Shun spam. I wouldn't be spamming Hi with Kikoku.

i have the kikoku just because i made it many years ago and a bored weekend took it to 119 but not AG'd, i just like testing everything i have to find what works best and NIN is stumping me. im thinking i need to merit shun if i want to see any real return from damage but that means i have to give up another skill from a more played job until i get the aeonic.. ahh decisions

I mean, post your gear sets vs what you have available if you want a critique. Just like having a +242 skill weapon helps, so does having a +269 weapon. It's all relative though. What are you using the job for? How much have you put into the job? You have augmented Herculean pieces? Adhemar pieces? Ambuscade +2 pieces? AF1 +2/+3? Have you looked at the nin guide and compared your sets theirs to get an idea of where you're lacking?

Overall I feel nin is in an uncomfortable position as is. The return on investment just doesn't worthwhile unless you really love the job for whatever reason.

If you haven't fleshed out all of your gear you may find Shun performs better for you until you get all the right augments on Herc and get supporting accessories.

Then Blade: Ten will certainly be your go to WS for pure damage. But hey, we have great skillchain options and can self skillchain perfectly fine.

I have no problem bringing a load of damage to an event as NIN.

Whats the go to weapons currently these days? I do not have relic or mythic and I am really not looking to build another mythic as I just got done with Gastra. I do have 85 kannagi and I also have a aeonic for nin. Mainly looking at a all around nin.

I thought nin is nonexistent now :0 (he he he)

Aeonic is easily best all around. Offhand great augs Kanaria, Perf. Ochu, or Shigi for high acc needs.

Hush, i got 3 Kanaria on me atm, one is dmg 14, dex 15 acc 9 crit hit 2% and other 2 are unaugmented. What would you recommend for augs on aeonic offhand?

Dmg Dex att/acc and 3 triple att.
Least thats my dream piece

For offhand Kanaria:
DMG/DEX/TA+3 and whatever you can manage for acc/atk Kanaria is certainly good, but not necessarily best. I'd hold onto a good TA+3 Kanaria for situational use, but WSD+3% or higher with good attributes is likely better unless you're solely spamming Shun. Obviously depends on many factors, including your WS set, target, etc. - but I find that the majority of the cases I spreadsheet, WSD wins out for me these days (and that's backed up by gauging my actual performance).

WSD is pretty great for the standard approach of a Heishi user spamming Ten at ~1000+ TP, and for Hi purposes (more for SC, but can still be very useful). While Shun gets less out of WSD, it does still add SOMETHING, so don't stress too much about using the occasional Shun. WSD is also relevant for Metsu, for any Kikoku users out there.

I think WSD+3% is likely base maximum augment, with Fern giving +1 to "special stat" for a cap of WSD+4% (though may be wiser to use Taupe and shoot for attribute+15), and it can definitely go higher with DM. I have a WSD+7% from DM myself that spreadsheets as my best offhand in the majority of situations, and even my WSD+3% with better DMG usually beats my TA+3 Kanarias.

DMG is nice, but for an offhand, shooting for DEX and TA or WSD is a higher priority (strong WS mod for most of our good WS, acc, crit rate). STR is doable too though, particularly for heavy Ten usage. DMG is vital for a non-RMEA NIN trying to make a mainhand Kanaria though.

Other offhands:
Ochu - perfect/near-perfect Ochu can win due to strong all-around stats and especially nice STR/DEX attributes, depending on situation (and other factors like the quality of the rest of your WS set). Perfect Ochu will generally come out ahead over a Kanaria that doesn't have very strong augments. Also worth noting that in any situation where you can actually tack on reasonably strong ninjutsu nukes (for instance, last month's Malboro Ambuscade, Apex mobs), Ochu's benefit to nukes is another factor that can easily push it over the top as ideal offhand - if nothing else, that's a justification for wanting to hold onto one for situational use.

Shigi is always worth keeping around for mega-acc purposes.

Taka is quite good too, though where it really shines is as an offhand to Kannagi.

As for RMEA weapons in general:
Heishi is your best all-arounder. Spam Blade: Ten with a good WSD set for best damage in most situations. Shun is nice for SC purposes (including Radiance) and some lower buff situtations.

Kikoku is very good, and depending on how much you get out of the large atk+ stat and aftermath, can occasionally be ideal mainhand choice. I wouldn't really recommend someone who already has a Heishi to bother, but if Aeonic is out of reach it's probably the best RME option for the majority of situations. Extremely flexible for SC purposes too, Metsu is a strong WS that plays very nice with many commonly used WS from other jobs, and you still have the Shun/Ten/Hi options as needed.

Kannagi can be good, and even best for certain situations, but if you're building one RME: (a) Kannagi's lv90+ HMP/Dross/Boulder upgrades are a lot more expensive than relic's Dyna currency/Putons, (b) most people would consider it more of a hassle to deal with Empyrean trials, and (c) the extra cost/headache isn't generally worth it, since it will still be worse or sidegrade to Kikoku in most situations. Also has considerably less WS flexibility than Kikoku (or Heishi), kinda locking you into using Blade: Hi most of the time for optimal DPS.

Nagi is the worst of the bunch from a DPS perspective. Perhaps has a niche as a tanking weapon, for whatever that works in current FFXI where NIN is only a tank in niche situations. Not really worth making today for anyone but the hardest of hardcore NIN completionists.

Good guide! I like my kikou paralyzingly NMs a lot he he

Capuchin really nailed it on the head. WS's will be your primary source of dmg and the more you WS the more dmg you will do. Hence decent augs with TA+3 or better probably what you should aim for. If you can manage it, high wsd can sometimes come out ahead like in capuchin's case. since Blade: Ten has such low dstat mods, it benefits more from wsd than base stats generally. The wsd will be nice but not as universal as multi - hits for WS's like shun etc. Base stat augs I'd go for dex - for acc and shun, or a solid STR Aug will do as well to push up fstr- especially on ten.
Especially on higher-tier mobs and soloing Shun becomes really strong with heishi.

out of curiosity, how did you all get your kanarias? merc? if so how much did you settle for as a reasonable price?

On asura a few mercs do them for 2m or less, I got mules for 1m each

wouldn't have anyone you would recommend would ya?

Gyomi does them for 2m i believe it was.

Or just wait for someone selling coladas and scoop up katanas for hit the ground prices.

SCH, GEO, PLD should be able to trio Ironside pretty easy, I went 2/563794652839543286478634 (really like 2/70ish) on drops, but most other people get it way more often. if you want to kill it faster - add a couple BLMs and another SCH.

I mostly trio'd mine as SCH.

got someone doing them for a mil, got 2 already (trash dm augs >.>) figure ill just grab a couple (3) of them and hope for the best, what stones you using to get dmg, stat, trip, and acc/att? managed to get a dex2, acc 21 and triple +2 on one so far
edit: also if a complete undergeared (no rema yet {though at stage 3 on katana relic}) would using 2 of these be best for dd situations?
edit2: now got one with dmg+7 acc 22 wsd3/dex2 acc21 TA2, should i be pushing those for more dmg+ and acc/att wish the same stat?

For nin i would get the aoenic first.

You want dmg on the mainhand. After that prioritize acc and ta.
Offhand ta will give you the highest returns. Dmg takes a backseat for offhand augs.
Taupe stones to achieve 15 dex/STR, 3 ta, and as much acc (and then attack) as possible.

more or less this.

If your doing DMG augs too I believe it was snaps or capu that showed high wsd aug 5+ doing great for ten spammers also.