Their renowned Utsusemi spells allows them to evade the most lethal of attacks, and their incredible dual wield allows them to attack at dazzling speeds. With all that being said, ninjas benefit considerably from the subjobs they use. These subs can serve to drastically alter a ninja playstyle, or accommodate their multipurpose nature. Or really anything inbetween.
5. Red Mage
While this job is seldom used compared to others in this list, it still has its uses. Mostly due to the myriad tools it gives an already-flexible job. The RDM is best used when a ninja will be focusing on using ninjutsu for elemental damage or debuffing. With some nifty Fast Cast and Magic Attack Bonus traits coming from the red mage, it’s a fantastic subjob to take advantage of. With access to a bevy of support spells like Cure IV as a healing source, plus Stoneskin, Aquaveil, and Phalanx, ninjas can put their natural affinity to evade attacks to good use. To aid with their debuffing capabilities, they also offer Slow, Paralyze, Blind, Dispel, Dia II, and Bio II. And since there’ll be a potentially high amount of MP being used here, Refresh is also handy to conserve that MP, in addition to Convert in emergencies. To counter a ninja’s non-existent magical defenses, the RDM subjob also gain access to nearly every single-target bar spell, with the lone exception of Baramnesia.
4. Blue Mage
While the blue mage is also a fairly situational as a subjob, it helps ninjas with one of their strengths: The ability to tank. Ninja has pretty incredible ways to generate enmity through the use of Yonin or ninjutusu. But these aren’t always enough, especially in situations where multiple targets might be present. The blue mage subjob offers more ways to generate vast amounts of enmity, not just in single-target scenarios, but AoE ones too! And that’s not all. Cocoon’s defense +50% and Metallic Body’s Stoneskin effect gives your ninja some valuable defensive options – which ninjas lack outside of Utsusemi. Soporific, Geist Wall, Sheep Song, Blank Gaze and Jettatura combined with Yonin will often see to it that a ninja won’t have enmity stolen from even the most powerful DDs. Additionally, Wild Carrot offers a way for ninja to heal themselves. It’s not too powerful. But it’s helpful to occasionally keep HP topped up when safely guarded by Utsusemi shadows.
3. Dancer
Here’s an unmatched melee-focused utility job that works perfectly with a ninja’s survivability. This is a notably popular support job because of its capabilities in Dynamis, as well as low-man content. Curing Waltz ensures that your character can recuperate from even the most lethal attacks, combined with Utsusemi or Migawari: Ichi. The dancer subjob also grants Violent Flourish, a physical stun. Very helpful in preventing dangerous attacks or spells from happening. In addition to various Step abilities which provide potent debuffs to aid both physical and magical attacks, Haste Samba is also very handy by providing a 5% AoE job ability Haste. While Spectral Jig functions much like Monomi and Tonko combined, it can save precious seconds in casting or ninjutsu tools – which may prove as a more viable option depending on the situation.
2. Rune Fencer
The rune fencer sub offers a wonderful defensive option that aids in a ninja’s ability to tank, and massively negates their biggest weakness: a total lack of magical defense. Ninjas on their own are pretty great at handling physical damage, mostly thanks to the 3 Utsusemi spells they’re able to cycle through. But when it comes to AoE magic, they can really fall flat on their faces. Rune fencer instantly provides Tenacity and Magic Defense Bonus traits, which are often more than enough to consider this a viable sub if you’re dealing with magic damage. Both Pflug and Vallation give you the ability to shrug off debilitating status effects or magic damage that would usually leave a painful impression on players. And with a good use of Runes, it’s possible to forget that your ninja even has holes in their defenses! You’d also get access to Aquaveil and Flash, in addition to many bar- spells to further fortify your build. Using Runes will even bestow a powerful en-spell damage bonus to auto attacks, totaling up for some fantastic white damage (when combined with a ninja’s rapid attack speeds).
1. Warrior
Final Fantasy XI’s warrior is the job that a ninja wants to use if their intention is to truly assassinate. Warcry and Berserk push your attack to new heights, which is great if your’e unable to cap attack in content otherwise. The warrior subjob also gets Double Attack and Attack Bonus traits, making it the best choice when it comes to dealing damage with physical weapon skills. These weapon skills will be used most often to close powerful multi-step skillchains. Typically the ninja job has a harder time reaching high amounts of attack, so a warrior sub provides them with a convenient way to achieve it – if outside help isn’t capable of doing so. While the warrior’s defenses do suffer considerably, intelligent use of Utsusemi and Migawari can still help you hold your own by mitigating as much damage as possible. In the capable hands of a healer, ninjas won’t have to worry about supporting themselves past these two buffs. There may still be situations where a ninja needs to take enmity or tank temporarily due to the nature of their physical damage mitigating attacks. And that’s where Provoke comes in handy! This gives a very reliable way to quickly generate high amounts of enmity to snatch a monster’s gaze away from more vulnerable party members, like healers or supporting jobs. As a whole, a warrior subjob is fantastic at turning ninjas into off-tanks when an enemy may spawn additional enemies, or alternatively just to help aid in keeping annoying enemies off a tank by having them perpetually and vainly claw at a ninja’s shadows.
