FFT Class Review #3: Ninja.

[The Amazing Spiderman]

First of all, sorry or the delay. I'm on my final exams, so I couldn't post this earlier...

Well, this week's turn is for the Ninja.

Ready for some reviews?



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Let's get with the basics first:

Ninja

Combatant whos hides as a means of battle. Can "Throw" weapons at distant enemies.
Can wield two weapons.

Job Requirements: You must be a Lv.3 archer, Lv. 4 and Lv. 2 Geomancer to get the Ninja class. In the PSP, it must be a level 5 Thief and a Level 4 archer, and Lv. 2 Geomancer.

Sprites: The Ninja sprites are pretty cool looking. Althought I would rather have more darker uniform colors. The Male Ninja has blue clothes, and seems he's hearing some sort of helmet on the head. While the Female Ninja, more Kunoichi-looking, has red clothes, black hichsocks, and a red cloth/bandana tied to her hair that goes down to under her chin.

Default Equipment:

Weapons: Knives, Ninja Swords, Maces.
The ninja can wield two weapons at the same time.

Head Armor: Headgear, hats.

Body Armor: Clothes.

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Now, the first Review, courtesy of BG-57.

Ninja

Prerequistes: Level 3 Archer, Level 4 Thief, Level 2 Geomancer

Role: Front Line

Sprites: Loose fitting clothing. Females wear red with a hair covering, males dress in blue with a hat and mask.

Default Weapons: Ninja Sword, Hammer

Default Helmet: Hat

Default Armor: Clothes

Compatible: Works well with support abilities like Steal or Item.

Throw

Key: Must Have Useful Pass

Shuriken: Shurikens are easily obtainable, relatively cheap and do a fair chunk of damage.

Ball: A good alternative to an elemental spell. Again plentiful and cheap.

Knife: They don't do enough damage to be worth throwing.

Sword: Can do decent damage.

Hammer: Too variable in damage.

Katana: Worth throwing if you catch replacements in Deep dungeon or duplicate them.

Ninja Sword: Can do decent damage.

Axe: Too variable in damage.

Spear: Cannot be duplicated, expensive to replace.

Stick: Not enough damage.

Knight Sword: Worth throwing if you catch replacements in Deep dungeon or duplicate them.

Dictionary: Not enough damage.

Sunken State: Makes you invisible if you get hit. There are better ways to be invisible and the effect wears off as soon as you take an action.

Abandon: Increases Evasion when attacked. Not bad.

Two Swords: One of the best skills in the game! Makes any physical fighter into a killing machine.

Move in Water: Useful in levels with lots of water, useless everywhere else.

Setups:

Cheater's Delight: A glitch in the game allows you to duplicate one handed edged weapons for 10 Gil a piece. Almost as good as the W-Item glitch in FFVII. Have a character like Orlandu equip Two Swords as a Holy Swordsman. Put a sword and shiled in the wrong hands (shield in the right, sword in the left). Go into a shop that sells that weapon and choose Best Fit. It'll slap a copy of the weapon in the right hand and ask is this okay. You can duplicate Swords, Knight Swords, Daggers, and Katanas. The latter will make Draw Out more worthwhile with the top-tier Katanas. If you have a guilty conscience and disposable time, you can Catch most of these weapons from Ninjas in Deep Dungeon, but you'll have no way of predicting what they'll throw.

Killing Machine: Combing Knight and Ninjas is a good way to balance the speed of a ninja with the defense of a Knight.

Throw
Math Skills
MP Switch
Equip Amor
Move +2/+3

Kogo Knife
Iga Knife
Thief Hat
Maximillian
Setiemson/Genji Armlet

Overall Rating: 8. These guys are heavy hitters on the battlefield. Their high speed and double attacks make them formidable offensive warriors. All you need is to beef up their defense and they'll serve you well.

[The Amazing Spiderman]

Now, my review.

The Ninja:

Ah, the Ninja. An excepcional warrior that has many pro's over other warrior classes, and it's drawbacks are actually not that bad.
With an innate Two Swords ability and matchless speed, the Ninja's role on a squad consist on being the striker, and a merciless one. Wielding two Ninja Swords is enough to KO an enemy, and if you can't reach your target, there's always the Throw command, that allows you to throw a weapon in your inventory at your enemy.
The Ninja is one of the most aggresive classes in the whole game, just like the lancer, whose role, as I said, will be nothing more than killing.

The Ninja has a variety of weapons to equip: Knives, Ninja Swords, and Maces. Stick with the Ninja Swords all the time, only use knives if you can't afford the swords, or you have two Zorlin Shape. Never use the Maces. NEVER.

The ninjas don't have too much synergy with other classes, they can terminate the enemies that your other units didn't kill and are running away easily, thought.

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Now, let's review the Abilities:

*
**
***
****
*****

One being the lowest, 5 the Highest.

Throw:

Well, this ability is pretty straightforward. Throw a Weapon. Deal Damage. But, how do you calculate the total damage?
You can calculate it with this formula:

Throw Damage = (Unit Speed * Thrown WP)

To to determine the throw range, it's the same as your movement range. Try to increase it for better range, of course.

So, you see, the higher your speed, the better the result. So, DON'T use this ability on another classes with lower speed, and low movement rate!

Things you should know about throwing:

-It ignores the original weapon formula. So no ramdom damage with Axes and Maces.
-If the thrown weapon has an added on Element, it still keep it. Like the Ice brand will be Ice elemental even if you throw it.
-If a weapon thrown can inflict an status effect, when thrown it's ignored.

You can throw the following weapons, and I'll rate which ones are the better to throw:

Shuriken
*****

Easy to learn, and a must.

Ball
*****

Like the shuriken. Easy to learnm and a must. You can use it to abuse the elemental weakness of a monster.

Knife
**

Good to have. But Throwing a Shuriken is better most of the cases, anyway.

Sword
**

Good to have. But I wouldn't throw my swords away, anyway since they are expensive.

Hammer
*****

Seriously, this one is the BEST one to use, in my opinion. Why?
Well, the maces have a high Weapon Power, and the outcome damage for throwing isn't ramdom ,is determined with the Weapon Power only.
Not only that, for for instance, the Morning Star, with 16 Weapon Power, costs you only 9000 gil, compared to the Rune Blade, 14 Weapon Power, and it costs you 20000 freakin' gil.
So, at the end of the game, I HIGHLY suggest you that you pack yourself with lots of Morning stars to deal big damage.

Katana
**

Good to have. But I wouldn't recommend throwing them. Save them for the Draw Out Skill instead.

Ninja Sword
**

Good to have. That's all.

Axe
****
Like the maces, it's actually pretty good being throwed. But, stick with the maces, since they are cheaper than axes.

Spear
**

Good to have. That' all.

Stick
**

Good to have. That's all.

Knight Sword
****
The Knight Swords deal a HELL of damage. BUT, unless you are duping weapons, I wouldn't throw them.....

Dictionary
**

Good to have. That's all.

Reaction abilities:

Sunken State:
*****
Turns you invisible after being hitted.

This ability is pretty useful on many degrees. By becoming invisible, you can't be targeted by your enemies's attacks, so they won't deal you damage. Also, it guarantees you direct hit if you attack. But, the transparent status dissapears after you act...

Abandon:
*****

This ability doubles all type of evasion % by the double: Inherent by the class, from a shield, mantle, and weapon evade. And the best thing is that it doesn't depend on the brave level!
So, if you have a Feather Mantle Equipped, you will have 80% physical evasion rate, and 60% magic evasion rate!


Support Abilities:

Two Swords:
*****
Allows the unit to equip two weapons.

If I need to tell you why do you MUST learn this ability with a warrior, I'm going to kill you.
Just remember that there are some weapons that aren't compatible with this ability, like Sticks and Spears.

Movement Abilities:

Walk on Water:
***
Allows the unit to walk on water, like it was ground.

Good to have when you're on a stage where water is abundant.

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Setups:

Male
Hanzo Hattori

Iga Knife
Koga Knife
Thief Hat
Black Costume
Vanish Mantle

Throw
Battle Skill
Sunken State
Attack UP / Concentrate
Move +3


The Standard Stealth Ninja. Battle Skill is there for the double chance of breaking Speed or Power, or go for the Armor Break Combo (Break Armor, and the second attack will do damage instead.).
He starts with transparent status because of the Vanish Mantle, and will become invisible again with Sunken State.
Attack UP or Concentrate. Your choice. I'd go for the Guaranteed attack, thought.


Hanzo Hattori II

Fist
Fist
Thief Hat
Black Costume
Bracer

Throw
Punch Art
Blade Grasp
Martial Arts
Move + 3

A martial arts powerhouse. High PA and Speed makes it a force to be reconned with.


Elektra II

Female

Zorlin Shape
Zorlin Shape
Thief Hat
Secret Clothes
Chantage

Throw
Punch Art
Blade Grasp
Martial Arts
Move +2

My second version of Elektra. The Knives = Sais. She can do well bare fisted, also. Secret Clothes for the Ambush Attack, chantage for inmortality. You know the drill.

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Overall rating:

9

Fast. Deadly. Silent. Powerful.
The Ninja is the best in what he does: Heavy Hitter. So, I highly advice you that all your units focused on the physical jobs master this job.