Tera Online Ninja Class Melee and Ranged Attacks Build
Tera Online Ninja Class Melee and Ranged Attacks Build.
The Ninja is a lightly armored class which specializes in the use of the shuriken with melee offensive capabilities. The class is only available to elins.
Ninjas are quick on their feet and use dodging abilities to avoid damage, instead of relying on armor. By using their shurikens they build up chi, which can be used to unleash powerful abilities.
Ninja Class Build – Overview
Ninja is TERA’s new 12th class to be introduced. This class is race-locked (and gender-locked) to the Elin race.
It is a fast-moving, fast-attacking cloth class that can quickly maneuver the battlefield. It uses both melee and ranged attacks, though its playstyle keeps it mostly melee.
Ninjas utilize a third resource called Chi which is built and consumed for two skills (Burning Heart and Fire Avalanche).
Class Name: Ninja (“Insulsa” [인술사] in KTERA)
Weapon: Shuriken
Armor Type: Cloth
Combat Type: Melee
KTERA Release: Jan 26, 2016
NA Release: May 17, 2016
Ninja Class Build – DPS Performance
Although their damages on each hit aren’t strong, the overall damage turns out to be superior compared to other DPS classes. Just like a certain class at their initial release, Ninja’s performance was so great that they had been nerfed continuously.
However, they continue to remain as the top DPS class despite all the changes. With a few exception, Brawlers are usually seen to be inferior compared to Ninjas in terms of DPS. Also, one might find that Ninjas have higher attack speed compared to Warriors, sometimes causing other DPS classes feel “clunky”.
[Combo Attack] is a core skill in rotation due to its 0.5 cooldown reduction on every hit for core skills on top of mana regeneration, quickly cutting down the cooldown of Decoy Jutsu (a skill very similar to Warrior’s and Slayer’s Backstab) which has a base 10 second cooldown.
After adding on nostrums and cooldown reduction on weapon roll, Decoy Jutsu’s cooldown becomes very short, allowing her to use it very often, and making Ninja the easiest class to have high back time compared to other classes as they can DPS almost freely without worrying about Boss attack patterns.
Since Ninjas must constantly use Combo Attack, mana should not be an issue just like with Gunners, so Glistening Crystals (as well as Glisteningly X Dyads) are not needed. If mana management becomes an issue, the rotation used is suboptimal.
Due to their play style, they are also known as Fire Mage and their DPS heavily depend on how often [Burning Heart] is used. Since each projectile from [Burning Heart] hits consecutively up to 3 times, the player must pay attention to hit boxes and aim the cursor to cover as much of area as possible.
They also possess the strongest skill among all skills in game called [Fire Avalanche]. Its base damage is over 50,000, where Tanks were not able to hold aggro against it before the 20% nerf.
Ninjas also have a toggle buff skill called Focus, which raises 5% Damage and stacks 1% every 5 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. It increases damage up to 15% but the effect is lost when Ninja takes damage. That’s why it is important to avoid getting hit as much as possible to keep this buff up.
Ninja Class Build – Defense Analysis (Survival)
Despite being a Cloth Armor class, they have high endurance which makes them quite tanky among cloth classes. With the concept of Ninja, they possess the longest iframe compared to all classes. Their [Shadow Jump] can be used twice in a row, [One Thousand Cuts] attacks while iframing, [Smoke Bomb] allows party members within the area to iframe for 3 seconds, and [Decoy Jutsu] which is a very short iframe but extremely useful to get back time. Since [One Thousand Cuts] provide long iframe as well as a decent DPS, it allows them to keep up with DPS while ignoring attack patterns simultaneously. As [Smoke Bomb] also allows other party members to iframe, it is an extremely useful skill that can be used in Shadow Sanguinary 2nd Boss, allowing party to burn while ignoring its floor pattern mechanic. Additionally, on 22nd Floor Shandra Manaya, Ninja can use smoke bomb to completely ignore wipe mechanic when the party fails to follow the debuff mechanic.
Ninja Class Build – Gears
Weapon
Optimal rolls on weapon are:
- Top line : Enraged Damage
- Bottom line : Enraged Damage / Back Damage / Flat Damage / Cooldown Reduction
The new dungeon (Shadow Sanguinary NM/HM) Bosses follow the new enraged status, where every enraged status last ~35 seconds. Considering this fact, Enraged Top Line will be more beneficial in parties that can burn bosses quickly.
Chest
- Top line : Increase Damage of [Double Cut] by 12%
[Double Cut] is much more powerful compared to other possible rolls. It is the most frequent skill with highest crit rate at a proper gearing and glyphs. Although other lines such as Circle of Steel damage or Fire Avalanche cooldown reduction have been suggested before, Double Cut damage is the most optimal.
- Bottom line : Enraged Damage / Frontal Damage / Flat Damage / Max HP
Gloves
Just like any other DPS class, Ninjas use the following stats:
- 5 Power / 9 Crit Factor / 2.25% Attack Speed.
Shoes
Just like any other class, Ninjas use the following stats:
- 4 Endurance / 6% Movement Speed / 2% MP Regeneration.
Etchings
Double Keen is recommended.
Keen etchings on both Weapon and Glove are recommended because Ninja’s skills are very heavily reliant on crit factor to produce the most optimal DPS.
Accessories
Although some skills have Glyph of Carving, a low crit factor may not produce satisfying crit rate, so it is recommended to build full crit set as one of Ninja’s burst DPS skill [Burning Heart] is also heavily affected by it. Most KTERA Ninjas have agreed that Crit build is the optimal choice, so full crit jewelry set is used.
Optimal Crit set is a mix of Shadowvain (Tier 2 Crit) set and Shadowmaze (PVP Crit) set.
Optimal rolls are 4 Power/4 Crit on Rings, 4 Power on Necklace, 4 Endurance/4% HP on Earrings.
Setting up like this will result in about +250 ~ 254 Bonus Crit Factor.
Brooch
The optimal brooch for Ninja is the new brooch released with Ninja patch called Quatrefoil Brooch. This brooch gives 30 Power, 30 Crit Factor, and 12% Attackspeed for 15 seconds, so it is similar to having both Empowered and Quickcarve Brooches combined. As a base stat, it has 3 Power/6 Crit Factor and 2 more re-rollable stats.
The optimal rolls are 3 Power/6 Crit Factor. Quatrefoil Brooch and Quickcarve Brooch do not share cooldowns, so double brooching is possible. However, if you cannot afford Quatrefoil Goddess Brooch, you may take Empowered Brooch instead for double brooching with Quickcarve Brooch.
Keep in mind that Quatrefoil Brooch and Empowered Brooch share cooldowns so you cannot double brooch with these two.
Ninja Class Build – Skills and Glyphs
Combo Attack
Reduce 0.5 second cooldown on the following skills: Double Slash, Triangular Slash, Circle of Steel, One Thousand Cuts.
With auto glitching, the swift glyph has about a 40-50% up time, allowing for faster rotations without the cost of an enraged top line.
You gain 10 Chi per hit of this skill.
- Increase skill base damage by 20% (30%)
- When hitting target, MP recovery increased by 15%
- 10% chance to increase Attack Speed by 10% (15%) for 5 seconds
Shadow Jump
You can cast twice within 3 seconds. A cooldown triggers after the second usage (or 3 seconds after the first).
This skill is not affected by attack speed.
- Cooldown Reduction by 20%
Decoy Jutsu
Leaves a decoy log in the original spot, and then teleports behind a target within 15m while landing a strike. 0.3 sec iframe after casting.
Decoy Jutsu gives 8 Chi on cast, and another 8 on hit, giving 16 Chi in all.
- Reduce 125 MP consumption
- Base skill damage increased by 20%
- 25% (50%) chance to reset cooldown on [Double Cut] when hitting monsters.
Focused Chi(Passive)
Chi Degeneration Prevention and Additional Regeneration
Double Cut
Slash a target in front twice.
Double cut is affected by Combo Attack, so it has a very high uptime, often less than 3-4 seconds of it being on cooldown. Spam this skill off cooldown, and use Energetic, Powerlink, and Carving glyphs for it.
You gain 16 Chi per hit, for a total of 32 for the whole skill.
- Reduce 100 MP consumption
- Cooldown Reduction by 20%
- Increase damage of [Skyfall] by 25% (30%) when chained
- Doubles (Triples) Crit chance
Skyfall
Leap into the air and slash enemies in front 3 times.
Skyfall is also affected by Combo Attack, with a static 9 second base cooldown on NA, and comes off cooldown about once in every 1.5-2 Double Cuts.
You gain 13 Chi per hit, totaling 39 Chi for the entire skill.
- Reduce 125 MP Consumption
- Increase Crit chance by 1.5 (2)
- Increase damage of [Circle of Steel] by 25% (30%) when chained.
Jagged Path
Charges in a zigzag up to 18m based on the cursor’s aim. When targeting an enemy you will slash them at the end.
Gives 25 Chi on hit.
- 100% chance to increase all skill base damage by 10% for 3 seconds.
Circle of Steel
Spin the shuriken rapidly and slash enemies. Damaged enemies will be knocked airborne. At the end of spin, you will strike down airborne enemies to the ground.
This skill hits total of 6 times: 5 times while spinning then a heavy blow. Damage distribution seems to be 12% per spin tick + 40% final blow.
6 Chi per hit over 6 hits, totaling 36 Chi.
- Reduce 175 MP consumption
- Skill base damage increased by 20% (25%)
- Cooldown Reduction by 20%
One Thousand Cuts
Evades attacks while casting.
If used properly, it allows maintaining some dps uptime through an attack that would otherwise hit you and make you lose focus. Therefore, to utilize this for iframing long attacks as you can use Shadow Jump for short ones.
This skill hits up to 16 times: 15 consecutive slashes then a final blow, where damage distribution seems to be 5% per slash and 25% at final blow.
- Skill Base Damage increased by 20% (25%)
- Cooldown Reduction by 20% (25%)
Ninja Class Build – Glyph Setups
If you have completed the master/ rare glyphs, it may look like this:
Alternatively, you can replace Swift Combo Attack with Energetic Smoke Bomb and Blazing Attunement glyphs:
Rotations
Before we get there: Pre-combat preparations
- Toggle on Focus
- Charms
- Onslaught Scroll: Crit Power and Battle Nostrum
- Other Consumables
Combo Attack’s Utility
This is so important that it deserves its own section. The fun thing about Ninja is that their Combo Attack have a lot of utility which can have an impact in min-maxing their DPS.
- Their Base Damage is pretty decent
- Attack Speed glyph allows faster Rotation Cylces
- Cooldown reduction for core skills allow increased frequency of skill uses.
There are two ways to utilize this skill:
Auto-glitching
When you press and hold combo attack and press movement keys rapidly, combo attack will cancel its own animation and immediately chain itself one after another. This is reported to be useful only when your Ping is around 70ms or higher. This allows Ninjas to cycle through their Combo attack chains quickly. (the ping listed below are commonly reported ping. You may experience it differently.)
0~70ms : Cannot perform glitch or does not occur frequently enough to utilize it.
70~150ms : Combo Attack cycles through 1st ~ 6th hit very quickly (higher ping, the faster, even skipping a few hits)
150ms or higher : Combo Attack cycles through all 1st ~ 7th hit, most likely to skip most of them including 7th hit.
Auto Glitching can be utilized to gain slightly faster Chi regeneration as well as increasing skill frequency as Combo Attack also reduces Cooldown of major skills by 0.5 seconds each hit, but you may have to try them out yourself if this is right for you.
Auto-weaving
Once you are comfortable with your build and rotation, you can start adding in Combo Attack between some skills in your rotation. This is found to be effective for Ninjas because its damage is considered as a damage boost (or helps in maintaining your DPS) and if you have Attack Speed Glyph, it increases the chance to have glyph proc to maintain its effect throughout the combat.
However, please note that you must be aware of the Powerlink Glyphs, especially Jagged Path. Note that this will take some practice, but it is also not for everyone.
Also keep in mind that, Auto-weaving is quite ping dependent, so it is more friendly to those who have lower ping.
