Okay, so now that we have K/O and it's been a little while, I guess it will be appropriate to make these suggestions. (Previously I was told to wait until K/O was released)
These are the changes that I feel are necessary to make Ninja class, not only more interesting, but better overall.
I would really be interested in some feedback about these changes, especially from Oda if that is "legal". I don't feel that these changes would make the Ninja class overpowered in any way, but I could be wrong. I do however think that these changes would actually breath some life into this otherwise uninteresting class by actually giving it the options it's original skill tree hinted at (Melee, Thrower, and Magic). Not only would these skill adjustments be balanced, they would complement the class's "3rd job" skills quite well and help make up for some of the shortcomings of the Renewal system (like MATK). I would also like to point out that I have taken care to ensure that many of these adjustments do not exceed similar first job class's specialty skills (like Improve Dodge).
I'm going to break it down skill by skill as well as certain stats. Unless otherwise stated, old effects are kept in regard to SP consumption, mastery bonuses, etc.
To start, Huuma Shurikens will no longer be a melee weapon. Huuma Shurikens will be a ranged weapon similar to bows, whips, and instruments. If Shurikens are not equipped, Huuma Shuriken has a range of 1. When Shurikens are equipped, Huuma Shuriken's range is increased to Throw Shuriken skill level, and the equipped shuriken will be used much in the same way arrows are used with archer class. Huuma Shuriken's damage will also be primarily affected by DEX to increase damage, similar to how bows, whips, and instruments work.
Physical Skills
Dagger Throwing Practice (Passive Skill)
Mastery Bonus to Huuma Shurikens.
Throw Shuriken (Passive Skill)
Increases damage dealt with Shurikens, increases HIT stat, and increases range with Shurikens by 1 cell per skill level.
Throw Kunai (Offensive Skill)
Throw Kunai can only be used when equipped with Huuma Shurikens. Throw Kunai's damage is primarily effected by DEX.
Throw Huuma Shuriken (Offensive Skill)
Damage is effected by DEX rather than STR. Throw Huuma Shuriken becomes a monster targetted skill rather than a ground targetted skill. Skill has a 3 second (reducable) skill delay, and no global delay.
Throw Coins (Offensive Skill)
No change. (No pun intended![]()
)
Flip Tatami (Offensive Skill)
Monsters or players hit by this skill have a skill level x 5 % chance to be inflicted with Stun, Blind, and Chaos. Max level gives a 25% chance of inflicting the status effects. Damage is primarily effected by STR. Level 1 and 2 have a range of 1, 3 and 4 have a range of 2, level 5 has a range of 3 cells, and the after cast delay is reduced to 0.5 seconds. Pneuma effect will still only effect the cell from which the skill was cast.
Shadow Leap (Active Skill)
Can no longer leap over snipe-able walls, which would allow usage in WoE. No after cast delay.
Haze Slasher (Offensive Skill)
Can only be used with dagger type weapons. SP cost reduced by half. Skill now adds flee as follows:
Level | Flee
1 | 2
2 | 4
3 | 6
4 | 8
5 | 10
6 | 12
7 | 14
8 | 16
9 | 18
10 | 20
Shadow Slash (Offensive Skill)
Can only be used with dagger type weapons. Remove skill's crit chance. Reduce SP cost by half. Add animation delay in which skill can be comboed into haze slasher (much like the delay after raging quad to combo into raging thrust). If Haze Slasher is used in the delay after Shadow Slash, Haze Slasher will deal double damage and place the player back in hiding status. Shadow Slash can be continually combo'd into Haze Slasher, but Haze Slasher will never do more than double it's normal damage.
Cicada Skin Shed (Active Skill)
No change.
Mirror Image (Active Skill)
Skill is completely changed. In order to cast the skill, the player must be in Ninja Aura status and must have at least one Shadow Orb in the inventory (will be used). Duration stays the same as old version. Cast time stays the same. Mirror Image gains a 200 second skill specific cooldown. When in Mirror Image status, character's flee is increased by 2.5% per skill level. Aspd is increased by 5% per level. Casting the skill will always consume 10% of the casters HP and 50% of the caster's SP. While in Mirror Image status, the caster will lose 10 hp per second and natural HP recovery is reduced by 100%.
Ninja Aura (Active Skill)
Ninja Aura increases ATK by 2% per level and MATK by 5% per level.
Killing Stroke (Offensive Skill)
Can be cast with Dagger or Huuma Shuriken. If cast with Huuma Shuriken character will not be moved to the target. If cast with a dagger character will be moved next to the target and will enter an animation delay in which, if Haze Slasher is used, Haze Slasher will deal double damage and the character will be placed in Hide status. Damage formula stays the same except for remaining mirror images. Instead, that part of the damage formula is taken from the caster's current HP at the time of casting as shown below
Old Mirrors = New HP Idea
1 Mirror = HP is 80-100% at time of cast
2 Mirrors = HP is 60-80% at time of cast
3 Mirrors = HP is 40-60% at time of cast
4 Mirrors = HP is 20-40% at time of cast
5 MIrrors = HP is 0-20% at time of cast
Magic Skills
Ninja Mastery (Passive Skill)
Skill adds Skill level x 3 MATK
Flaming Petals (Offensive Skill)
Deals 100% MATK
Blaze Shield (Offensive Skill)
No change
Exploding Dragon (Offensive Skill)
No change
Freezing Spear (Offensive Skill)
90% MATK per hit
Watery Evasion (Supportive Skill)
Adds a 1% chance per level to cause frozen status to monsters or players in the area of effect.
Snow Flake Draft (Offensive Skill)
Damage is 2 x Skill Level %. Increase area of effect to 9x9. Cast time should be 100% variable.
Wind Blade (Offensive Skill)
Remove cast delay and animation delay to put this skill on par with Flaming Petals and Freezing Spear. Reduce MATK to 100% per hit.
Lightning Jolt (Offensive Skill)
No change.
First Wind (Offensive Skill)
MATK is Skill Level x 2 %.
Kagerou / Oboro Skills
Kunai Splash (Offensive Skill)
Reduce amount of Kunai used by half. Damage is primarily effected by DEX.
Swirling Petal (Offensive Skill)
Damage formula changes ((DEX*1.5)+(AGI*2))+150*Skill Level used +100*Throw Huuma Shuriken
Kunai Explosion (Offensive Skill)
At max level, AoE is 5x5
Cross Slash (Offensive Skill)
If Shadow Slash and Haze Slasher are maxed, increase damage by 2x so that at max level it would deal 1500% Allow the skill to be cast from Hide status. If skill is used from hide status, further increase the damage by 0.5x. Change skill to be a melee attack in the same way that Shadow Slash is a melee attack. Skill can only be cast when equipped with dagger type weapons.
Soul Cutter (Offensive Skill)
If Soul Cutter succesfully hits the target, the target will also lose 10% of its max SP, and have its INT stat reduced by 50% for 20 seconds. When used on MVPs, will only reduce INT by 25% and only lasts for 10 seconds. Stacks with Divest Helm's INT reduction.
Moonlight Fantasy (Active Skill)
If cast on a friendly player, that player's normal attacks will deal 3x3 splash damage around the target equal to half of the damage dealt to the target and increases the player's aspd by 25% (stacks with Mirror Image status). If cast on an enemy player or a monster reduces aspd by 50%, inflicts Chaos, Blind, and Hallucination status effects for the duration of the skill.
These are the changes that I feel are necessary to make Ninja class, not only more interesting, but better overall.
I would really be interested in some feedback about these changes, especially from Oda if that is "legal". I don't feel that these changes would make the Ninja class overpowered in any way, but I could be wrong. I do however think that these changes would actually breath some life into this otherwise uninteresting class by actually giving it the options it's original skill tree hinted at (Melee, Thrower, and Magic). Not only would these skill adjustments be balanced, they would complement the class's "3rd job" skills quite well and help make up for some of the shortcomings of the Renewal system (like MATK). I would also like to point out that I have taken care to ensure that many of these adjustments do not exceed similar first job class's specialty skills (like Improve Dodge).
I'm going to break it down skill by skill as well as certain stats. Unless otherwise stated, old effects are kept in regard to SP consumption, mastery bonuses, etc.
To start, Huuma Shurikens will no longer be a melee weapon. Huuma Shurikens will be a ranged weapon similar to bows, whips, and instruments. If Shurikens are not equipped, Huuma Shuriken has a range of 1. When Shurikens are equipped, Huuma Shuriken's range is increased to Throw Shuriken skill level, and the equipped shuriken will be used much in the same way arrows are used with archer class. Huuma Shuriken's damage will also be primarily affected by DEX to increase damage, similar to how bows, whips, and instruments work.
Physical Skills
Dagger Throwing Practice (Passive Skill)
Mastery Bonus to Huuma Shurikens.
Throw Shuriken (Passive Skill)
Increases damage dealt with Shurikens, increases HIT stat, and increases range with Shurikens by 1 cell per skill level.
Throw Kunai (Offensive Skill)
Throw Kunai can only be used when equipped with Huuma Shurikens. Throw Kunai's damage is primarily effected by DEX.
Throw Huuma Shuriken (Offensive Skill)
Damage is effected by DEX rather than STR. Throw Huuma Shuriken becomes a monster targetted skill rather than a ground targetted skill. Skill has a 3 second (reducable) skill delay, and no global delay.
Throw Coins (Offensive Skill)
No change. (No pun intended
)Flip Tatami (Offensive Skill)
Monsters or players hit by this skill have a skill level x 5 % chance to be inflicted with Stun, Blind, and Chaos. Max level gives a 25% chance of inflicting the status effects. Damage is primarily effected by STR. Level 1 and 2 have a range of 1, 3 and 4 have a range of 2, level 5 has a range of 3 cells, and the after cast delay is reduced to 0.5 seconds. Pneuma effect will still only effect the cell from which the skill was cast.
Shadow Leap (Active Skill)
Can no longer leap over snipe-able walls, which would allow usage in WoE. No after cast delay.
Haze Slasher (Offensive Skill)
Can only be used with dagger type weapons. SP cost reduced by half. Skill now adds flee as follows:
Level | Flee
1 | 2
2 | 4
3 | 6
4 | 8
5 | 10
6 | 12
7 | 14
8 | 16
9 | 18
10 | 20
Shadow Slash (Offensive Skill)
Can only be used with dagger type weapons. Remove skill's crit chance. Reduce SP cost by half. Add animation delay in which skill can be comboed into haze slasher (much like the delay after raging quad to combo into raging thrust). If Haze Slasher is used in the delay after Shadow Slash, Haze Slasher will deal double damage and place the player back in hiding status. Shadow Slash can be continually combo'd into Haze Slasher, but Haze Slasher will never do more than double it's normal damage.
Cicada Skin Shed (Active Skill)
No change.
Mirror Image (Active Skill)
Skill is completely changed. In order to cast the skill, the player must be in Ninja Aura status and must have at least one Shadow Orb in the inventory (will be used). Duration stays the same as old version. Cast time stays the same. Mirror Image gains a 200 second skill specific cooldown. When in Mirror Image status, character's flee is increased by 2.5% per skill level. Aspd is increased by 5% per level. Casting the skill will always consume 10% of the casters HP and 50% of the caster's SP. While in Mirror Image status, the caster will lose 10 hp per second and natural HP recovery is reduced by 100%.
Ninja Aura (Active Skill)
Ninja Aura increases ATK by 2% per level and MATK by 5% per level.
Killing Stroke (Offensive Skill)
Can be cast with Dagger or Huuma Shuriken. If cast with Huuma Shuriken character will not be moved to the target. If cast with a dagger character will be moved next to the target and will enter an animation delay in which, if Haze Slasher is used, Haze Slasher will deal double damage and the character will be placed in Hide status. Damage formula stays the same except for remaining mirror images. Instead, that part of the damage formula is taken from the caster's current HP at the time of casting as shown below
Old Mirrors = New HP Idea
1 Mirror = HP is 80-100% at time of cast
2 Mirrors = HP is 60-80% at time of cast
3 Mirrors = HP is 40-60% at time of cast
4 Mirrors = HP is 20-40% at time of cast
5 MIrrors = HP is 0-20% at time of cast
Magic Skills
Ninja Mastery (Passive Skill)
Skill adds Skill level x 3 MATK
Flaming Petals (Offensive Skill)
Deals 100% MATK
Blaze Shield (Offensive Skill)
No change
Exploding Dragon (Offensive Skill)
No change
Freezing Spear (Offensive Skill)
90% MATK per hit
Watery Evasion (Supportive Skill)
Adds a 1% chance per level to cause frozen status to monsters or players in the area of effect.
Snow Flake Draft (Offensive Skill)
Damage is 2 x Skill Level %. Increase area of effect to 9x9. Cast time should be 100% variable.
Wind Blade (Offensive Skill)
Remove cast delay and animation delay to put this skill on par with Flaming Petals and Freezing Spear. Reduce MATK to 100% per hit.
Lightning Jolt (Offensive Skill)
No change.
First Wind (Offensive Skill)
MATK is Skill Level x 2 %.
Kagerou / Oboro Skills
Kunai Splash (Offensive Skill)
Reduce amount of Kunai used by half. Damage is primarily effected by DEX.
Swirling Petal (Offensive Skill)
Damage formula changes ((DEX*1.5)+(AGI*2))+150*Skill Level used +100*Throw Huuma Shuriken
Kunai Explosion (Offensive Skill)
At max level, AoE is 5x5
Cross Slash (Offensive Skill)
If Shadow Slash and Haze Slasher are maxed, increase damage by 2x so that at max level it would deal 1500% Allow the skill to be cast from Hide status. If skill is used from hide status, further increase the damage by 0.5x. Change skill to be a melee attack in the same way that Shadow Slash is a melee attack. Skill can only be cast when equipped with dagger type weapons.
Soul Cutter (Offensive Skill)
If Soul Cutter succesfully hits the target, the target will also lose 10% of its max SP, and have its INT stat reduced by 50% for 20 seconds. When used on MVPs, will only reduce INT by 25% and only lasts for 10 seconds. Stacks with Divest Helm's INT reduction.
Moonlight Fantasy (Active Skill)
If cast on a friendly player, that player's normal attacks will deal 3x3 splash damage around the target equal to half of the damage dealt to the target and increases the player's aspd by 25% (stacks with Mirror Image status). If cast on an enemy player or a monster reduces aspd by 50%, inflicts Chaos, Blind, and Hallucination status effects for the duration of the skill.