Pulling the Strings/Ninja

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ENM Information Name Level Cap Zone Pulling the Strings 60 Mine Shaft #2716 Before you read the rest of this guide, please read the "Notes" section of the Pulling the Strings article. In this guide, I will assume you have read that article. Important Information about the ENM One thing you should know before attempting this ENM is that the main problem of this fight as a Ninja is the enemy's Mijin Gakure. The Moblin Fantocciniman is a Moblin that does not attack by default; instead it sits there and rolls a marionette die (does a special) that can do a random buff on either the player character, the Fantoccini. This ability can also activate the Fantoccini's 2 hour ability, which would be Mijin Gakure. If Mijin Gakure is activated early on in the fight, you will die instantly. This battle is all about luck, whether or not Mijin Gakure is activated early on. Personally, I have done this 5 times, and out of 4 of the 5 times, I have lost due to a Mijin Gakure early in the fight. The chance of getting killed from Mijin Gakure being used is high. Other than Mijin Gakure, this battle is very very easy and straightforward. It is possible to survive Mijin Gakure if the enemy's health is lower than 50-60% and your own health is full. Do note that it can use its 2-hour multiple times, so don't let your guard down after it uses it once. Keep your health up to 100% at all times until the enemy reaches about 40% health, then focus on keeping it up your HP to 80% or more. When the enemy is at 20% health or more, keeping up at 60% or more should be sufficient but make sure to keep shadows up at all times. Also using Reraise and reviving usually does not work. This takes up too much time, remember that there is a 15 minute time limit. The time it takes to reraise, wait for Weakened status to wear off, rest to 100% health will take almost all of your time. You will not be able to kill the enemy in time at this rate. Do not count on Reraise for a second chance to fight. Though, if you want to be a little safer, you can use reraise in case you get killed when the enemy is at 1-2% health or something and you need to land a finishing blow. Although that probably won't happen if you have potions to keep you from dying. Other information about the ENM In this battle, the Goblin will roll two dies every 30 seconds or so, this will give various buffs/debuffs to either side. These include: Restoring health Reseting Job Ability recast times (Useless for Ninja since Mijin Gakure shouldn't be used) Increasing TP to 100% Increasing/decreasing a stat(attack is what I have seen) About Ninjutsu Nukes: I have tried using Ninjutsu Nukes as the main method of dealing damage and it doesn't seem to be as effective as just meleeing. I didn't have much nuking gear though, just INT rings and Crimson Blades. Nuking "may" be work if you have elemental staves and full nuking gear, you can try it out if you want to see if it's effective or not. So if you don't have full nuking gear and don't want to test out if it's effective to nuke in full nuking gear; don't nuke to deal damage, only nuke to lower it's resistance for debuffing. Equipment Remember this is 60 cap and to bring gear that is level 60 and under. My suggestion is to wear as much evasion and haste gear as possible. In situations where you can either use haste or evasion in a slot, I suggest using haste because haste will increase your damage output(and lowering the enemy's HP ASAP is a good idea in this fight, as the Mijin Gakure's damage is dependent on the enemy's current HP). However if you are finding that your shadows are going down too quickly and you are not evading enough, idle in evasion gear and macro in haste for Utsusemi. I found that idling in evasion for slots with haste(such as waist and feet) wasn't needed though. Here is a list of equipment at level 60: Weapons: Sai, Buboso, Keppu, Sairen, or Hototogisu Note 1 - Sai is the cheapest best weapon you can get at level 60. Hototogisu is better and technically free but it may take a while to get it drop from the NM. You don't need the best weapon, the difference of the most expensive weapon and Sai isn't much, so you shouldn't pay too much for a weapon unless you're planning on doing a lot of level 60 cap stuff. Note 2 - Use Keppu only if you have Fans equipped, the additional effect is decent, it's good if you have a Mega Fan. Ranged: Bailathorn or Bibiki Seashell Side Note - Use Bailathorn when shadows are up, swap to Bibiki Seashell when shadows are down. Head: Empress Hairpin Emperor Hairpin or Silk Headband Body: Scorpion Harness or Ninja Chainmail Side Note - If you have a Haubergeon, macro it in for weapon skill use. Swap out other evasion gear for damaging gear also, if you have them. Hands: Ochiudo's Kote, Horomusha Kote, or Federation Tekko Legs: Ninja Hakama at night, Kingdom Trousers or Nokizaru Hakama during daytime. Feet: Fuma Kyahan or Ninja Kyahan Rings: Use rings suited to how the fight goes. Use DD rings(accuracy for meleeing, INT for nuking). You can swap to AGI rings if your shadows are down(or your recast time isn't ready). Though always use accuracy(or Rajas) rings for weapon skills. 2 AGI = 1 evasion, and 1 evasion = 0.5% evade rate. So with +6 AGI total from both rings, you'd have a 1.5% increased chance to evade. AGI rings may not be a bad idea if you have trouble keeping shadows up and managing the recast times on shadows; though it might be best to full time DD rings, the faster you take down the enemy's HP, the lower Mijin Gakure will potentially do to you. Earrings: Elusive Earring, Dodge Earring, or Evasion Earring Neck: Royal Guard's Collar, Chivalrous Chain, or Spirit Torque Waist: Swift Belt, Life Belt, Swordbelt, or Survival Belt Back: Jaguar Mantle, Bat Cape, or Night Cape The gear listed are just a few examples of gear you can use for the fight. Evasion is important for the fight; however if you feel you have enough evasion, you can try using more DD gear instead of evasion. Notes: If you're using Sushi or accuracy food, switch out the accuracy gear for attack or evasion gear. If you're using meat or attack food, make sure you have at least +15-20 accuracy. Consumables Food See above note - Depending on the gear you have, decide between Sushi(Accuracy) food or Meat(Attack) food. Healing and other stuff I recommend bringing a couple(around 5) hi potions. Bring 2-3 Pear au Lait or any other similar milk drinks for regeneration. An Icarus Wing is useful for the beginning. Again lowering the enemy's HP ASAP will increase your chances at surviving Mijin Gakure(due to the lower damage Mijin Gakure will do due to lower HP). Though if you really don't want to spend the money on an Icarus Wing(due to low amount of gil or because you just do not want to waste or use too much gil on this ENM), then you shouldn't because it won't make that much of a difference. It'd help but it won't drastically improves your chances of winning. Ninjutsu Bring the tools needed to cast Utsusemi, Hojo, Kurayami, and Jubaku. Bring also one tool stack of Huton tools. Huton will be used to weaken it's resistant to ice, which helps Jubaku land. Bring one stack of Raiton tools as well. Raiton will be used to help Hojo land. The elemental tools are also useful for damaging but meleeing is generally better. The ones listed above are the ones recommended, like I said above, Ninjutsu nuking isn't as effective as meleeing but I've only tested it using INT rings and Crimson Blades. If you happen to have full nuking gear such as elemental staves, Moldavite Earring, etc; it "may" work but I don't know myself because I don't have full nuking gear. So if you don't have full nuking gear and don't want to test out if it's effective to nuke in full nuking gear; don't nuke to deal damage, only nuke to lower it's resistance for debuffing. Strategy Reminder Like I said earlier, this battle is all about luck. If the Fantoccini uses Mijin Gakure earlier on, you will be killed instantly. Fantoccini's Mijin Gakure at around 60%-100% health means death. Make sure you have nearly 100% health at all times until the Fantoccini reaches about 40% health, where Mijin Gakure will not kill you instantly, then focus on keeping it up your HP to 80% or more. When the enemy is at 20% health or more, keeping up at 60% or more should be sufficient but make sure to keep shadows up at all times in case the enemy uses a strong weapon skill on you. Also remember the Goblin will roll dies occasionally and each die has a chance to give you or the enemy various buffs. Besides Mijin Gakure and Goblin's dice roll, this battle is fairly straightforward. First thing you should do is use food outside of the battle field, then go inside the battlefield and cast Utsusemi: Ni. Consumables: Use food outside of the battlefield. Go inside Pulling the Strings battle and cast Utsusemi: Ni. Use Pear au lait(or other milk drinks) only when you are hit and not at the beginning. Remember to use potions to keep your health nearly 100% because of Mijin Gakure. Also do not use Mijin Gakure yourself, as it is too risky, even if you have reraise on. Beginning of the fight: Head forward to the battle and prepare to fight. Start by casting Jubaku: Ichi on the Fantoccini, then casting Raiton: Ni > Hojo: Ni > Kurayami: Ni. If you have an Icarus Wing, save your TP to 100%, then use Blade Jin > Icarus Wing > Blade: Jin to do a Detonation skill chain and cast Huton: Ni to magic burst. During the fight: When any debuffs wear, recast them. Remember to recast Raiton: Ni > Hojo: Ni or Huton Ni: Jubaku: Ichi when reapplying those debuffs. Keep health nearly 100%, and use Blade: Jin and just Blade: Jin. Though in case of emergency and you have low health and no shadows, use Blade: Retsu to paralyze the enemy. After 50% of the enemy's health has been depleted: If you have gotten this far, you have past the hardest part of the battle. Mijin Gakure will no longer kill you instant but remember that Mijin Gakure can still be very lethal even after the enemy is below 50% health so be prepared to heal if anything goes wrong. The rest of the battle should be straightforward, remember to recast Raiton: Ni > Hojo: Ni or Huton Ni: Jubaku: Ichi if you need to reapply Slow and Paralyze. Once you win: A treasure chest will spawn, click the treasure chest to receive 2000 experience points and either a Worm Mulch or a wonderful Naruko Earring. Conclusion I hope this guide helps some people out. Remember, this is a very luck based ENM battle and do this battle only if you really need 2000 experience points or a Naruko Earring.