Ninja

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 was added in May 2016 patch Secrets & Shadows (Enmasse) / Ominous Shadows (EU)

Official description
The ninja is a nimble strategist who relies on hit-and-run tactics and misdirection to attack quickly and get away cleanly. She deals deadly damage with her impressive shuriken, up close or at range. Ninjas can also harness their Chi to produce devastating flame attacks.

General
The ninja is a cloth armored melee DPS class that uses a Shuriken to deal damage. Ninjas are a very mobile class focused on evading enemy attacks. They generate Chi, which is used used for the most powerful attacks.

Initially ninja is very easy with few skills but becomes more complex with new Apex skills.

When released, ninja was totally overpowered with 30% more damage than any other DPS class. Since Bluehole doesn't like to nerf anything, older classes were gradually reworked and finally balanced when Apex was released (and monsters buffed later). In PVP only ninja fireball skill was nerfed, since class was not really OP in PVP due being so squishy.

Equipment
Ninjas wear cloth armor and class is somewhat squishy when taking damage. Luckily the class has good mobility and plentiful iframes which don't result huge DPS loss.

Skills
Ninja skill set before Apex is really simple. is backstab skill with 10 sec cooldown. This makes ninja very mobile.

There are three basic attack skills:, and. All have powerlinks for next skill, so they should be cast in that order. If you run out of skills to use, just cast Combo Attack to reduce all basic cooldown by 0.5 seconds.

It should be noted that highest damage burst ninja has is their fireball skill. Ninja skills gain Chi energy, that is used for skill. This makes ninja throw fireballs at enemies. Unlike other classes with similar mechanics, majority of Chi does not come for normal attacks, but there is special skill to gain 50% of Chi (1 min cooldown, &minus;20% with glyph). It also buffs Burning Heart, so it's ideally cast when Chi is at 50%. Note that Burning Heart cooldown depends on how many fireballs were launched, so bigger damage means longer cooldown.

Ninja has interesting set on evasive skills. works just like Evasive Roll on some other classes. It moves short distance and can be used to pass through enemies, it has iframe to dodge special attacks and can be cast two times within 3 seconds before cooldown.

is used to prepare for enemy attack. It's quite unique high damage iframe that works for both DPS and dodging attacks. Although it activates quite slowly (first frames of skill are not iframes), which mean ninja should prepare for attack.

is other dodge skill. It creates a 3 second cloud of smoke around ninja, which also protects allies (works like shield, not like iframe).

is special system for ninja. Always activate this skill. You gain stacks that improve your damage 2% per stack and stack max 5 time. Stacks are reset if ninja is knocked down (originally ninja lost all stacks when just hit).

There is one skill with useful combos: throws a bomb at enemies knocking them into air (boss monster cannot get knocked up...), makes ninja jump backwards and buffs damage for 4 seconds. It's obvious you should cast it before using the biggest damage skill, the Burning Heart. If you don't have Burning Heart available, just use to throw daggers which crit enemies while they are knocked into air.

Ninja has some rudimentary crowd control skills which are only useful in angering mobs or pestering people in PVP. throws a rotating shuriken 12m ahead of ninja. This staggers enemies for a while. throws shurikens into various directions, where they knock down enemies and pull them together.

Apex changes
Apex makes ninja significantly more complex.

There is real boost skill, which gives Chi regeneration while active and boosts other skills. New fireball skill has same cooldown as this and should be obviously cast only with Inner Harmony active.

is combo skill with three parts. Main idea is that next part of combo only activates after any skill is cast between parts.

is simple filler skill with low cooldown useful in combos.

Racial traits
Only elins can become ninjas, so there is no customization in regards to racial traits. All ninjas have and  which increase their movement speed,  increases plant gathering speed,  makes enemies less likely to attack, and  can be used to teleport to.

Gearing and Attributes
For gear with enigmatic rolls you can pick, recommended weapon rolls are Damage vs. enraged monster; Damage vs. enraged monsters; +6.9% damage from behind and Flat 6% damage, and Cooldown reduction. With low gear that has only 4 enigmatic lines pick Cooldown reduction as first roll. Alternative to enraged damage is to run double cooldown reduction.

With new level 70 patch Exodor gear ninja uses gear with magical amplification: Manaforce Azart or Dark Light gear. (Crystals, rollable weapon lines incl. double cooldown and chest line are not available on level 68/69 Exodor gear or on new level 65 Exodor Scout gear released after that.)

Generally ninja skills have 2&times; crit chance, expect Fire Avalance which is guaranteed-to-crit 3&times; skill.

For level 65 level cap endgame Essential mana recommended for ninja crit factor of 380+. This meant full crit rings, earrings, necklace and underwear.

By the late stage level 70 endgame bosses are level 73, which mean similar crit levels are required. However, with gear progression this is easier to achieve. For endgame full power set of Warlord rings, earrings and necklace is recommended and superior (yellow) relic+halidom for crit factor.

With patch 93 new passives ninja damage scales with magic amplification value.

Crystals
Ninja uses standard melee Weapon Crystals: Bitter, Savage, Focused and Pounding.

Glyphs
Specializing in glyphs like all classes means a great deal to customization. Notable glyphs are:

Enhancement Points
EP Damage is generally not useful.

Card Collection
Generally first max magic crit power, then max magic amplification.

See August 2021 card builds.