Will be nothing more than an off hand weapon,I main aeonic and off hand kannagi, used to rock but not anymore. Sad face...
For which reason exactely do you offhand?
Last I checked it sucks.
Yeah, offhand Kannagi isn't a good idea. Ochu or Kanaria with good augs, Taka, or even Achiuchikapu will be better. Now, if for some reason it was switched to be DEX+50 instead of AGI+50... Kannagi offhand would generally be BiS (see also: Almace, Twashtar). But that's fantasy, sadly.
Also, supposing you were using only Blade: Hi, offhand Kannagi with a good WS set could indeed be at/near the top offhand. But, you wouldn't really want to do that - using a different WS (and different offhand, since Kannagi won't be much help to Shun/Ten/Metsu) will be significantly better. Mainhand Kannagi and Hi is more viable due to the Mythic weapon boost to associated WS. (EDIT: thank you Oronyx for calling out my mistake - doesn't change my overall point that Hi is better now than it was though, see #1 below)
That being said, I'm working on AG Kannagi right now and I think there are a few relatively recent factors that make it more worthwhile than it has been:
1) WS gear: some of the newer gear helps make Blade: Hi more competitive
(with Kannagi mainhand's 30% bonus). AF+3 head and 4/5 Mummu+2 plus Mummu Ring is really hard to beat as a general set, and is pretty easy to obtain. That makes a huge difference over having to hope for excellent AGI/WSD Herculean augments that still fall behind Mummu gear. Hi is still no Shun/Ten/Metsu, but it's not as big of a liability now as it has been over the past few years.
2) TP gear: Kendatsuba/+1 is pretty much tailor made for Empy ODT aftermath, with high multiattack and crit rate. Adhemar +1 is also a lot cheaper and more available now with crafting shields, and the set bonus crit rate (and head crit damage+) are similarly nice for Kannagi and a more crit-focused build.
3) Kannagi is a beast for white damage with Empy AM up. We're actually seeing more realistic situations where you might not want to spam WS indiscriminately as soon as you hit 1000tp. The game in general has more SC coordination, many NMs have mechanics favoring good timing of WS as opposed to all out spam (think Kin or Glassy Thinker from Omen, frequent Ambuscade NM gimmicks).
4) Also, don't
completely ignore AGI+50 for Daken Racc purposes. 54% proc rate with full gifts, and since most of our good TP gear also has enough Racc to give decent hit rate (but probably not capped on a lot of content), the extra ~37.5 Racc isn't an absolute nothing in terms of TP generation. Though, yeah, I'd definitely trade it for DEX+50 any day of the week.
I think there's a legitimate place for all three of Heishi, Kikoku, and Kannagi:
Heishi Shorinken
Pros
- Strong DMG and TP Bonus is a significant WS boost: really helps Ten shine, and Shun gets Radiance.
- Fairly easy to use, as long as you're on top of WSing at good times. To some extent, a little TP overflow is fine too since Ten scales well and a 1250tp WS (effectively 2000 with Heishi+Moonshade) is fantastic - but beyond that, TP overflow has somewhat diminishing returns.
Cons
- NIN is still a job that is more skewed toward TP phase/"white damage" than most, so doesn't necessarily take as much advantage of Aeonic's boost to WS power as some other jobs.
- In order to realize the full "spreadsheet numbers", you really have to be on top of WSing right away, or else some of that theoretical advantage bleeds away.
- Requires ability to obtain Aeonic weapon; might be more difficult for those without a strong enough group (or desire/availability of using merc services - which aren't nearly as prevalent on servers besides Asura)
Kikoku
Pros
- When not attack capped, the massive Atk from weapon Atk+60 and AM Atk+10% (about Atk+115~120 in my normal TP sets) is really potent and can cause Kikoku to be BiS mainhand. Not being Atk capped on NIN really isn't that rare of a circumstance these days on difficult content, especially in the lower-man scenarios where NIN sometimes thrives.
- Blade: Metsu is a very useful WS. Not necessarily just for damage (which it's no slouch for), but also for excellent SC flexibility for both Light and Darkness SCs.
- If you aren't in a position to get Aeonics completed (or have other Aeonics as a higher personal priority), Kikoku is the easiest/cheapest RME weapon to obtain.
Cons
- If you're fully buffed, it can fall behind Aeonic and Empy a bit since you aren't benefiting from all of that Atk.
Kannagi
Pros
- With Empy AM up, it's the best white damage weapon by far. If you're in a situation where you're holding TP on a regular basis (or even if you aren't being as diligent about WSing immediately), that can swing things in favor of Kannagi. This aspect is NOT necessarily reflected on spreadsheets that assume near instantaneous WS usage as a default, and don't always accurately model realistic situations. (
do you ever end up with well over 1000tp without consciously focusing on it? I know I do.)
Cons
- Weak SC flexibility. Blade: Hi is kind of a one-trick Darkness pony. While Kannagi is still OK for Shun, it is inferior to Heishi's TP Bonus and Kikoku's atk (when uncapped, significant on a highly atk oriented WS).
- If purely spamming WS at 1000~1250 tp, will start to fall behind Heishi/Kikoku due to weaker Shun/Ten and Hi inherently not being as strong of an option.
- That AGI is annoying. Man, if only this (and Hi's related WS mod) was DEX, things would be so much different.
What about Nagi?
LOL nope.