Shadow Work

[Sneakypants]

OK my NIN is 37 and I do have Ni, but I have not touched it in a while and have had very limited experience with combining Ni and Ichi.
What I do know is that Ichi and Ni can both overwrite Ichi, but only Ni can overwrite Ni...Giving you that fresh set of shadows.

I have been reading up on "cancelling" shadows, so you don't end up with the situation where you have 1 Ni left and cast Ichi, evade, and are then left with no shadows once you get hit as Ichi was unable to overwrite the last remaining Ni shadow.

Um, yeah...


Anyway, can someone post their experiences or a guide or something that would clearly describe hwo I would go about cancelling my shadows?
I was curious if this was the same as cancelling any other buff or if this refers to cancelling a casting or whatnot...


I am guessing that I could cancel my last shadow, manually, and then start casting, with the appropriate timing. Can you create a macro to cancel shadows, or does it have to be done manually?


Thank you for the advice.

 

[Mai Ikari]

Okay, I'm no ninja, and just working off what I've seen.

You're canceling the shadows just like any other buff. There's no macro you can make to cancel shadows, so it's all timing. As to the timing of the cancel, right as you start casting should be good, but like I said, I'm no ninja.

*waits for someone with some actual experience to post*

 

[Phraust]

I wasn't too keen on the Idea of the Shadow swapping off the bat, so I went out and Practiced on Evil Weapons in SourMon Champagne. At 37 they conned 'Tough' and 'Very Tough', so there was a range to practice, and a close zone.

Practice Makes Perfect.

Ni to Ni: Wait for your last Shadow to be eaten. You get 1.5 seconds to get 4 new ones up. Easy.

Ni to Ichi:
Start Casting Ichi about 1-2 seconds after your second Shadow is whacked away.(Right Before the monster's next attack.
In the meantime hit your + key on your Number pad twice. And watch your Spell Castign Bar. If you see your Utsusemi: Ni Icon is still up when Utsusemi: Ichi is casting at 80% cancel The Utsusemi: Ni Icon. When the spell hits 90% even if you get hit by a mob the casting will not be canceled.

Ichi to Ni:
Chances are good you will get hit once Three shadows go away quick. Don't worry too much about it, you will live, but you will be a liability if you panic. Wait for the period right as the Mob is swinging at you, and cast, if you are lucky, you will Just start casting right as it's hitting you, and poof you got four more shadows.

So basically it looks like this:

Shadow Dies.
Shadow Dies.
Shadow Dies.
Shadow Dies.
Utsusemi: Ni. Casting
Utsusemi: Ni Casted.
Shadow Dies.
Shadow Dies.
Utsusemi: Ichi Casting.
Shadow Dies.
Shadow Dies, or is cancelled.
Utsusemi: Ichi Casted.
Shadow Dies.
Shadow Dies.
Shadow Dies.
Utsusemi: Ni Casting
Monster whacks you.
Utsusemi: Ni Casted.

It's really fun when you get the hange of it. And you Start taking on tougher and tougher mobs. Till you start Soloing IT- and IT mobs.

Edit:
From my Observations of a good Ninja:
A really good macros to have:

/p Stun the mob Please <call14> =============== (Stun)

For when You just can't get your shadows up.

In my opinion, Nin is not a good job to take a break from. If you are going to do it, do it constant and consistant. Once you get your cycle down, it's hard to get it up again.

Good Luck.

 

[Legalus]

Ni to Ichi:
Start Casting Ichi about 1-2 seconds after your second Shadow is whacked away.(Right Before the monster's next attack.
In the meantime hit your + key on your Number pad twice. And watch your Spell Castign Bar. If you see your Utsusemi: Ni Icon is still up when Utsusemi: Ichi is casting at 80% cancel The Utsusemi: Ni Icon. When the spell hits 90% even if you get hit by a mob the casting will not be canceled.

Personally I always cancel it when it's at 50%.
Whenever I try to cancel it at 80%, it is already too late and I get that damn "Legalus' Utsusemi:Ichi has no effect on Legalus".
And that's where my "/p I'm screwed" macro comes in.

I suggest you just play with it and see what works for you sneaky.....

 

[Sneakypants]

Thanks for the write ups. That's pretty much what I had in mind, but I wanted to hear it from some experts.

I'll have to mess around, but I'm thinking I'd lean more towards 50% as well, just to ensure I don't end up shadowless a round or two later.

/bow