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Class Showcase: Ninja

Ninjas were known as Shinobi in Japan. And as for what this class does, well... To be honest, this class wasn’t really designed well from a gameplay standpoint, and it’s really obvious from looking at this class that a lot of the class design in this game was focused on the themes of the class instead of balancing from a gameplay standpoint. While this did make for a more memorable class roster compared to the other Etrian Odyssey games, a few classes ended up suffering from a gameplay standpoint, such as the Ninja and Yggdroid. Though unlike the Yggdroids, who were just bloated with gimmicks, Ninjas are fairly usable. Just kind of lackluster.

At any rate, there’s not really a good comparison for what class from EO1 and 2 Ninjas are similar to. But as for what the class can do, they’re kind of a jack-of-all trades, master of none sort of deal. They have access to a few damage skills, and can inflict ailments and function as a support.

Mind you, Ninjas do have their high points. For one thing, they’re actually one of the strongest classes in the early-game, as their toolkit at that point can make life so much easier for the player. The difference between the Ninja’s stats and the power of the available weapons compared to the other classes at that time isn’t that big, so they’re pretty good damage dealers during that time. Unfortunately, they fall off damage wise shortly after, and are typically used for supports after that. What they do excel in is crowd control, as their ailments can be used to make dealing with random encounters easier by either disabling them or instantly taking them out of the fight. Granted it’s not much, but at least it’s something. Though once subclassing comes around, they do jump up in usefulness, as there are plenty of options they can take to make them relevant again.

Now for whatever reason, Atlus USA didn’t really bother to localize most of the skill names for the Japanese themed classes during the DS era of Etrian Odyssey. Instead they were just romanized (and in EO1 and 2, replaced with different Japanese words.) And this stopped once Etrian Odyssey entered the 3DS era. I’ll be putting the translated versions of the skill names next to the romanized skill names. (Also goes for one of the Monk’s skills, as well as a few of the Shogun’s skills.) Most of these translations for the Ninja’s skills will come from Etrian Mystery Dungeon, as the Ninja was in that game, and most of their skills were in it.

Equipment:
Weapons: Katanas, Knives, and Books.
Armor: Light Armor, Clothes, Helmets, Gloves, Boots, and Accessories.

Despite the fact that Ninjas can wield Katanas, they don’t really work with most of their skills. They need to use Knives in order to use most of their skills. In fact, you can pretty much blame Ninjas for being lackluster thanks to Knives. They have much lower attack power compared to other weapons, that their damage output ends up being lower than most other dedicated damage dealers. If Knives were stronger, Ninjas would actually make for good damage dealers past the first Stratum. (This is also what I meant by the class design being focused on themes, as there really is no reason gameplay wise for them to use a Katana.)

Stats

Statwise, Ninjas are very fragile. Their HP is incredibly low, and they have the lowest VIT stat in the game, so they fall to physical attacks very easily. However, they can take hits from elemental attacks more easily, since they do have a decent TEC stat. They do have the highest AGI stat in the game, so they're the fastest class. Combined with their high LUC and TEC stats, their attacks are very accurate most of the time, and they can evade attacks more often than other classes would. But while their STR is on par with the Buccaneer's, their damage output is hampered by the fact that their best damage skills require them to use a Knife, which have far lower attack power than most other weapons. Their ability to equip a Katana is useless since it can't be used with their better damage skills.

Keburi no Sue (Smoke Powder)
Skill Type: Class Skill
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A

This class skill eliminates the back row penalty for melee attacks, allowsing the Ninja to deal the full amount of damage with melee attacks from that row. Increasing the skill level also decreases the TP cost of all the Ninja's skills.

Notes:

No matter how many levels this skill has, the TP cost of skills can never go below 1.
Has no effect on Front Mortar or Long Stride.

In the early game, you want at least one point into this skill. It's what makes Ninjas very strong at that point. You pretty much have a melee attacker that can attack from the back row. And early game, this is what lets Ninjas be incredibly useful, as this lets you avoid putting them on the front row, where they would get mauled. This skill is also what makes the Ninja a decent support, as they’ll be able to cast skills more often than any other class thanks to the reduced TP cost. Though this isn’t a great skill to max out early on since they want other skills first. The best time to max this skill out would be around the mid-game.

Something else to keep in mind is that when subclassing, a few skills from other classes only decrease the TP cost and do nothing else. Meaning that leveling up those skills can be entirely redundant, or become less desirable to level up because of this skill.

Knife Mastery
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N/A

This weapon mastery skill increases the damage output of regular attacks when using a Knife. Higher levels increase the damage output.

If the user cannot equip Knives normally, this skill enables them to do so.

Notes:

Does not affect skills.

Take this for the skills it unlocks, not for the miniscule damage bonus that only applies to regular attacks.

Senpuku (Concealment)
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: N.A

This skill increases the Ninja's evasion to all attacks. Increasing the skill level increases the evasion bonus. Has no effect on skills that only inflict debuffs or ailments.

A pretty decent passive. Combined with the Ninja's naturally high evasiveness, you could probably turn them into a dodge tank with this and Kumogakure. Though some attacks have really high accuracy values, so they won’t likely be dodged even with all the evasion boosts available.

Karuwaza (Acrobatics)
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: N/A
Prerequisites: Kumogakure – Level 3, Sarutobi – Level 3

Every time the Ninja dodges an attack, they recover TP. Increasing the skill level increases the amount of TP restored. Does not activate if an attack was blocked. (i.e. through the use of an Aegis Limit, Sarutobi, or a Parry.)

Notes:

Stacks additively with other evasion boosts.

This, combined with the Ninja's Class Skill, pretty much guarantees they'll have infinite TP. Ninjas tend to avoid attacks often, so they'll be recovering a lot of TP in dungeon crawls. Though I don't know if maxing it out is a good idea. The amount of TP restored at level 10 is kind of overkill, unless your Ninja is making use of high TP skills, or is using Bunshin a lot.

Kubikiri (Beheading)
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: LUC, TEC
Prerequisites: Suikyou – Level 3, Makibishi – Level 1

Whenever the Ninja uses a regular attack, they have a chance to instantly kill their target. The infliction rate increases as the skill level increases.

Notes:

Does not work with skills.
Stacks multiplicatively with Death forges.
Works with all weapons. The Ninja does not even need to have a weapon equipped to make use of this passive.
If the Ninja has a way to attack multiple times with a regular attack, this passive has a chance to go off for each attack.

A neat little passive. It can be a nice way to help your Ninja contribute to your team by picking off troublesome enemies in random encounters instantly. Izuna has a higher chance of pulling that off, but that skill does cost TP.

Nikudan (Human Bullet)
Skill Type: Passive
Maximum Level: 10
Stats Used: STR
Prerequisites: Otori – Level 3, Bunshin – Level 1

If the Ninja dies, they'll send out a kamikaze Fire attack at the enemy that killed them. Higher levels increases the damage dealt and hit rate.

Notes:

Damage is dealt after dying. Meaning that if the Ninja is the last one in the party to die, the attack will not go off. (And the party will get a game over.)
Counts as a melee attack, meaning that without Keburi no Sue, the kamikaze attack will deal half damage if the Ninja was in the back row.
Etheric Charge has absolutely no effect on this skill.
Only triggers once per battle per unit.
Can trigger for newly created Bunshin clones, but not decoys or other types of summons.

Kind of a gimmicky passive. For one thing, while it does have a high damage modifier, it’s difficult to deliberately get this to go off. I mean it triggers with the Ninja’s death. And while Otori can provoke enemies into attacking them, it’s not guaranteed. Unless you’re trying to kill off a clone, trying to deliberately kill off your Ninja is probably a bad idea since you’d be left with a smaller party. I wouldn’t bother maxing it out. It’s too situational, and there’s not really any good ways to capitalize on it. It is a prerequisite for a stronger skill, though.

Kagenui (Shadow Bind)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Knife
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: STR, LUC, TEC
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: -6
Prerequisites: Knife Mastery – Level 1

The Ninja attempts to bind an enemy to their shadow, which deals Slash damage and has a chance to inflict Leg Bind. Increasing the skill level increases the damage dealt, infliction rate, and hit rate.

It’s a decent early game damage skill, and can later be used for utility. Though leg binds are kind of a questionable bind to make use of in most cases, as their effects compared to other binds tend to not have much of an impact. There are a few post-game fights that this skill would be useful for, so if you lack a Wildling, feel free to make use of this skill instead.

Izuna
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Knife
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: STR, LUC, TEC
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: -6
Prerequisites: Knife Mastery – Level 3, Kagenui – Level 3

The skill has the Ninja strike at an enemy, dealing Slash damage and attempts to Petrify them. Higher skill levels increase the damage done, infliction rate, and hit rate.

Considering how petrifying enemies is just another form of Instant Death, this is just a more powerful version of Kubikiri. But it does cost some TP to use. If you want your Ninja to have a reliable way to pick off enemies, feel free to take this skill. It still deals okay damage even if the petrification doesn’t go off.

And if you're wondering why Izuna isn't translated here, that's because Izuna isn't really a word. It's really more of a name.

Takanoha (Hawk Strike)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Knife
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: STR
Target Type: Random
Action Speed: +9
Prerequisites: Knife Mastery – Level 5

The Ninja strikes at random enemies on the field, dealing Slash damage to each one. Increasing the skill level increases the number of hits, damage output, and hit rate.

Notes:

The total damage output at each level is 160%/170%/170%-255%/180%-270%/190%-285%/190%-380%/200%-400%/210%-420%/315%-420%/330%-440%
The average damage output is 160%/170%/212.5%/225%/237.5%/285%/300%/315%/367.5%/385%

It’s the Ninja’s best damage skill. Well, best damage skill that isn’t Tagen Battou. It’s also far less costly, and doesn’t require setup so your Ninja can deal damage instantly in random encounters if they need to. In most circumstances, this would honestly be a really good skill. Sadly, it’s a fairly mediocre way of dealing damage compared to most other good damage skills since knives have low attack power.

Tagen Battou (Drawing Slice)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: Knife
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: STR
Target Type: Random
Action Speed: +9
Prerequisites: Knife Mastery – Level 10, Nikudan – Level 3

The Ninja joins forces with all of their clones in the battle to randomly attack all enemies with Slash damage multiple times. After the attack is finish, the Ninja and clones merge together. If there are no clones in the battle, then the skill deals a small amount of damage.

This skill has 2 special formulae to determine the damage output.

If there are no clones in the battle, then Damage per hit = 0.5 * Base Damage * Skill Multiplier

If there are clones in the battle, then Damage per hit = (Base Damage * Skill Multiplier) * (2 ^ Number of clones)

All possible damage multipliers for this skill are listed in the table below.

Notes:

When the clones merge, they will create a new unit on the party slot the caster was at. This new unit does not have the cloned state.
When the clones rejoin, all of their HP and TP is added together and transferred to the new unit.
Any special properties or attributes on the caster, such as buffs and debuffs, will transfer over to the new unit.
Damage is dealt before the clones merge.

This means if that the caster dies through Curse damage, the remaining clones, if there are any, will not merge.

Also affects decoys and forces them to disappear. However, the decoys’ HP and TP will not be added onto the caster’s HP and TP and will not affect the damage output.
The music cuts out briefly when this skill is cast. (Only a cosmetic effect.)

And here’s the Ninja’s actual strongest damaging skill. In fact, it’s the strongest damaging skill in the game. Though in order to have multiple clones you need to be running a party that has less than 5 members, which is really not ideal. As a result, the high damage versions aren’t really practical to make use of since you’re essentially gimping your party to nuke down an FOE or boss. While the high damage versions can be used to cheese bosses and kill them in a few turns, they’re only useful for the big fights since you’d be running a very small party while exploring the labyrinth. Though if you’re doing a solo run for whatever reason, this skill can be an easy way to cheese bosses there, provided you can set up all those Bunshin clones without any of them dying.

Now Tagen Battou’s damage doubling for each clone was just something clowny the dev team implemented. The skill is quite usable even with only 2 clones, which is what would be used in most normal parties. On average, a level 10 version can hit for 1320% damage, which averages out to 660% damage per turn, which is more than what Blade Rave can deal. The only downside to this skill is the amount of setup time needed to cast it constantly, and the massive TP cost. Not even Keburi no Sue can really help with that, and the Ninja doesn’t really have that great of a TP pool.

Fukubari (Ninpo: Daggers)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: STR, LUC, TEC
Target Type: Multi
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: N/A

The Ninja spits poisonous needles at up to 3 different targets, dealing Pierce damage and has a chance to inflict Sleep. Increasing the skill level increases the damage dealt, infliction rate, and hit rate.

Notes:

No matter what weapon is equipped, the attack is always considered to be ranged.

Well I guess if you need a source of reliable Sleep, this skill would be nice. Though out of all the Sleep inducing skills available to you, this one has the lowest infliction rate compared to Lullaby and Call Owl. Though Fukubari doesn’t have the downside of putting the user to sleep, and doesn’t require an empty party slot to use.

Suikyou (Ninpo: Mirror)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: LUC, TEC
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: -9
Prerequisites: Fukubari – Level 1

This skill has the Ninja target a single enemy. If the enemy has an ailment, that ailment is then reflected to all other enemies in the battle. Increasing the level increases the infliction rate.

Notes:

Does not work with binds.

Don’t be fooled by the ridiculously high infliction rate at level 10 (Yes, it really is 999%), this skill isn’t all that amazing. First of all, in order to even use it, another enemy with a status effect has to be in the battle. That means it’s useless for most bosses, since most of them fight alone. You might be able tag an FOE with it if you get into a random encounter near one and inflict a status on an enemy before the FOE joins in, but there aren’t many situations where you can really take advantage of this skill.

Makibishi (Ninpo: Caltrops)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Arm
Stats Used: LUC, TEC
Target Type: Row
Action Speed: +0
Prerequisites: Fukubari – Level 3

The Ninja lays down a bunch of poisonous caltrops around a row. If an enemy attacks that row, they'll step on the caltrops, taking a fixed amount of Slash damage (with damage randomization added on) and has a chance to get Poisoned. Increasing the skill level increases the damage the caltrops deal, the infliction rate, and Poison damage.

Notes:

The damage is fixed and cannot be affected by buffs or debuffs.
The counterattacks can never miss.
The counterattacks can only activate for each enemy once per turn, no matter how many times they attack the chosen row.
The counterattacks will not activate if anyone in the chosen row dodges or negates the attack.
The damage the counterattacks deal is affected by the enemy’s Slash resistance.

However, Singularity will not activate if the enemy is weak to Slash attacks.

The counterattacks are melee attacks, meaning that without Keburi no Sue, the counterattacks will deal half damage if applied to the back row.

This skill is beyond worthless. Those numbers are not damage multipliers. They are actually the amount of damage they deal. And there is no way to increase that amount aside from using it on enemies weak to Slash attacks. Yeah, 90 damage. That would be nice for the first two floors! Past that point, the skill would drop in usefulness heavily! Even by poison damage standards, this skill is awful! Take it if you want Kubikiri, but do not max it out. There is pretty much no use for this skill at all unless you’re that desperate for Poison damage for whatever reason.

Kagerou (Ninpo: Mirage)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: +6
Prerequisites: N/A

The Ninja summons a decoy to attract the enemy's attention. Increasing the skill level increases the decoy's HP and TP, and decreases the TP cost of the skill.

Notes:

The decoy does absolutely nothing, and cannot be controlled.
The decoy comes with a provoke effect (has an aggro value ranging from 3 to 5), making it more likely to be targeted by enemies.
The TP stat is merely cosmetic and is not actually used at any point.
Aside from HP and TP, the decoy shares the same stats with the Ninja.
Decoys can partake in Limit skills, and their stats will even be used for the calculations for those if needed. However, they cannot be used to fulfill amount of required party members needed to cast them.
Multiple Decoys can be summoned at once.
The decoy disappears from battle when it dies.
The decoy's death will not trigger Nikudan.
The decoy cannot be healed, nor can it be affected by buffs or debuffs.
Kaishaku will not activate if the decoy falls under the HP threshold.
Decoys cannot be summoned if there are no empty slots in the party.
Decoys only disappear when dying or if the person who summoned the decoys casts Tagen Battou.

This is honestly a very handy early game skill. While the decoys fall off in usefulness past the first Stratum, they can help you get past the very rough early-game. If the Great Lynxes or any other bothersome are giving you trouble during the time period that your party hasn’t really come together yet, you can have your Ninja cast this to get those enemies off your back for a turn or so. Later on you’ll want to make use of other summons, but it doesn’t hurt to invest in this at all, as Kagerou is a prerequisite for Bunshin, a much better summoning skill.

Otori (Ninpo: Divert)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Single
Action Speed: +6
Prerequisites: Kagerou – Level 1

The Ninja selects an ally and causes enemy attacks to be more likely to target them for 4 turns. Increasing the level increases the maximum aggro value.

Notes:

The minimum aggro value for all skill levels is 3 and cannot be raised.
Does not stack with other provoke skills. They will be overwritten instead.
Only works on single (also includes attacks that deal splash damage) and random target skills. Does not work on row target or AOE attacks.

Multi-target attacks are somewhat affected, but only one attack can be drawn due to their targeting nature.

Essentially, this is the same skill as the Hoplite's Provoke. The main difference is that it can be cast on anyone in the party instead of only the Ninja themselves. It's pretty handy against a couple of bosses, but it'll help a lot in the early game to keep the heat off of your more fragile party members. Whether you max this skill out after that point is up to you.

Bunshin (Ninpo: Clone)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 1
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Head
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Summon
Action Speed: +6
Prerequisites: Kagerou – Level 3

The Ninja creates a perfect copy of themselves, though the current amount of HP and TP they have is split between them and their clone.

Notes:

The clone is a fully controllable unit, and has access to the caster’s stats, skills, equipment, and passives.
Any conditions the caster has (such as status effects and buffs) will not transfer over to the clone.
The TP cost is applied before the split.
The HP loss cannot kill the Ninja.
More than 1 clone can be active at a time.
Places both the caster and the cloned unit in the cloned state if it’s not applied to them already.

Units that lose all their HP in the cloned state will simply disappear instead of dying.
If only one clone remains, its cloned state will be dispelled, meaning that they will die when they run out of HP instead of disappearing.

When the battle ends (either through winning or running away), any remaining clones will merge together in the earliest available party slot, so their HP and TP will be added together.
Clones can partake in Limit skills, and their stats will even be used for the calculations for those if needed. They can also be used to fulfill amount of required party members needed to cast them.

This skill is actually kind of gimmicky and not all that useful. The only real use this skill has is letting the Ninja make use of Tagen Battou. I mean having 2 Ninjas early can help since they can make a portion of the first boss a lot easier as this skill can be used to get around its main gimmick. But as a summon, they’re kind of lacking compared to animals. A Ninja doesn’t exactly contribute all that much to big fights, and using them in small fights is kind of a waste of time since that could be spent just doing other more important actions right off the bat.

Now if we’re bringing subclassing into the equation, this skill goes from kind of gimmicky to one of the best utility skills in the game. Bunshin on a Prince/ss can be used to get buffs on everyone in one turn. Or you could have double up on Monks for 2 healers. Hoplites get the most out of this skill since they benefit so much from Bunshin. Double Line Guards, double Bodyguards, and doubling up on Anti skills can all help keep your party safe and possibly generate free turns. However, while Bunshin can be fantastic for supports, it’s not exactly great at boosting damage. Physical damage dealers can take Gladiator as a subclass and Berserker Vow + Charge provides a bigger damage boost than Bunshin would, and in a 5 man party, you can only have 1 clone active. The only damage dealing class that can make use of this skill well is the Zodiac, and that’s because there aren’t that many elemental buffs in the game. Of course since the Ninja doesn’t have to subclass to get this skill, this allows them to be very versatile in what roles they can play since several subclassing choices would benefit heavily from Bunshin.

Sarutobi (Ninpo: Flight)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Leg
Stats Used: N/A
Target Type: Self
Action Speed: +60
Prerequisites: Senpuku – Level 1

When used, this skill has a chance to negate any physical damage the Ninja takes for the current turn.

Notes:

The nullification is checked for after the accuracy check.
Cannot nullify elemental or Almighty attacks.
Cannot nullify skills that don’t deal any damage.

Not really a great skill. There aren’t too many situations where you would want to use this unless you’re trying to turn your Ninja into a dodge tank. And later on, enemies start getting access to AOE attacks and such, making this skill not really great for that purpose since this only protects the Ninja.

Kumogakure (Ninpo: Smoke)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 10
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Leg
Stats Used: HP
Target Type: Self
Action Speed: -3
Prerequisites: Senpuku – Level 5

Sacrifices half of the Ninja’s current HP in order to increases their evasion for 4 turns. Increasing the skill level increases the evasion boost.

Notes:

The HP loss cannot kill the Ninja.
Stacks additively with other evasion boosts.

Well I guess you could try turning your Ninja into a dodge tank with this. Stacking a max level Kumogakure with a max level Senpuku gives them an evasion of 110, and that’s enough to avoid most attacks in the game. The only problem is that this only works on the Ninja. Once AOEs become more common, this skill really can’t used for dodgetanking since there’s no way to force the Ninja to protect the rest of your party as well.

On the other hand, this skill is a lot more useful in solo runs since avoiding attacks is a lot more valuable there, and with Senpuku, it can be very hard for enemies to actually land a hit on you in that case. And the only enemy attacks in the game that can’t miss are counterattacks. Granted that’s the only situation this skill is really useful in.

Tonsou Jutsu (Escape Technique)
Skill Type: Active
Maximum Level: 5
Equipment Needed: N/A
Body Part: Leg
Stats Used: AGI, LUC
Target Type: N/A
Action Speed: -10
Prerequisites: N/A

The Ninja attempts to escape with everyone. If successful, the party will be sent back to the stairs or the Submagnetic Pole, depending on which one was used last. Higher levels increase the escape rate and decrease the TP cost.

Notes:

Can be used even when cornered by an FOE.
Cannot be used in other inescapable situations.

If you actually managed to get cornered by an FOE, this can get you out of that situation. But outside of those kinds of situations, this skill is kind of limited and redundant. Escape rates in this game are really generous, so I don't consider this a stellar skill. And if you're careful about not getting cornered by FOEs (Which is actually a lot harder to pull off than it is in EO2), this doesn't really do much for you.

Subclasses:

Prince/ss:

With Bunshin, you can also effectively turn the Prince/ss’ order skills into AOEs instead of row target skills. Ninjas also have decent TEC, so they can also make pretty good use of Protect Order.

Gladiator:

Ninjas have a decent enough STR stat to be good damage dealers. They’re just stuck with using one of the worst weapon types in the game. A Gladiator or any other damage dealing subclass can get rid of that weakness, letting the Ninja contribute more to fights by taking the subclass’ attacking skills instead. Though with a Gladiator subclass, you can make use of Berserker Vow Charged Tagen Battous, but honestly, that class combination would be far better the other way around. Though it is an option you can take. And they’re also better at using Nine Smashes since Ninjas have some of the best accuracy in the game, though they don’t have enough accuracy to offset Nine Smashes’ miss rate completely at higher levels.

Hoplite:

Hoplites are mostly stat independent, so this can be a good subclass for Ninjas. The only problem with a Hoplite subclass would that the Hoplite is incredibly skill point hungry, and the only real benefit to Ninja/Hoplite is that they use less TP. Oh, and Ninjas can’t make good use of Bodyguard, or they’ll get pasted for their troubles thanks to their awful durability.

Buccaneer:

If you ever wanted to make a pirate ninja, now you can make your dreams come true! In all seriousness, this is actually a really good class combination. Namely because of Pincushion. Since the Ninja has the highest AGI stat in the game, they can make good use of Pincushion. And thanks to Keburi no Sue, they can equip Rapiers, which deal more damage than Guns, so they can use stronger Pincushions from the back row. The only downside is that this class combination misses out on using Berserker Vow and Charge, so they’re ultimately not better than the Buccaneer at using Pincushion. (Though is that really a matter of Ninjas being bad, or that Gladiators are just too good?)

Monk:

Ninjas have a decent enough TEC stat that they can make for effective healers, and Bunshin can effectively give you a backup healer in case something happens to one of your clones. The Ninja’s high AGI also ensures that they can get their healing off before the enemy attacks. Unfortunately, the Ninja’s STR stat is low enough that turning them into a Punch Monk would be a bad idea.

Zodiac:

The Ninja’s TEC is also decent enough for them to become ninja wizards. Though that’s not really why most people take a Zodiac subclass. The real reason why Zodiac is a popular subclass is because of Dark Ether. A max level Keburi no Sue reduces the TP cost of a max level Dark Ether to 1, allowing you to spend only 1 TP to ensure that a row spends absolutely no TP in a fight. With Bunshin, you can expand that to your entire party. Sounds pretty broken, right? Well, it is a bit cheesy for the mid and late game. Unfortunately by post-game, this little cheese tactic falls off heavily in terms of usefulness. By that point, your party should have much more manageable TP pools and access to Amrita IIIs, which recover all of a party member’s TP. Oh and you’re essentially sacrificing a party slot to make use of Dark Ether spamming, meaning that for boss fights, you’re fighting with a 4 man party. Which is quite frankly, suicide.

Wildling:

Possibly one of the worst subclassing choices you can make, unless you are that desperate for ailments. A Ninja’s animals will be faster thanks to their high AGI, and do deal more damage thanks to Ninjas having higher STR than Wildlings. However, the Ninja has lower LUC and TEC stats than the Wildling, making their animals worse at inflicting ailments, which is the point of using most of the animals in the first place. Really not a good trade off, and the other options for subclassing will give your Ninja more of an impact. Though there is Primal Drums, if you want to make use of that.

Arbalist:

Not really a class combination I would recommend. The Arbalist has little to offer a Ninja since Ninjas can’t really make good use of Front Mortar. If you’re wondering why that’s the case, Keburi no Sue doesn’t work with Front Mortar, so Ninjas can’t fire off powerful shots from the back row. And Keburi no Sue makes an Arbalist subclass redundant since it already turns the Ninja into a ranged damage dealer.

Farmer:

If you're making a farming team, you'll want 5 Ninjas with a Farmer subclass, since their Class Skill reduces the TP cost of all skills, making them far better Farmers than Farmers. For a main team though? I really wouldn't recommend it unless you have to have field skills for some reason.

Shogun:

Endure is honestly the only thing a Shogun has to offer a Ninja. Anything the Shogun can do support wise a Prince/ss subclass can do better, and a lot of the Shogun’s damage skills are lackluster. Especially since Ninjas can’t make use of 5-Ring Sword since they don’t have access to Second Sword.

The Ninja can be a versatile class if you know what to do with them. However, their versatility comes at a price in that many of the roles they can take on are done better by another class. Though this doesn’t make them an outright bad class, just a little less desirable to use.