Ninja Class Guide

Introduction

The Ninja class is the male counterpart to the Kunoichi Class. This class uses a Shortsword as their primary weapon and a Shuriken as their secondary weapon. They can also use the Kunai as their secondary weapon, but Shuriken is preferred because it gives access to the skills “Shuriken: Malice” and “Shuriken: Flight” which are both useful skills in their kit. At level 56, Ninja unlocks his awakening skills and a new awakening weapon, which is the Sura Katana. The awakening weapon is actually 6 swords, which makes the animations and visuals of the class very satisfying. They are also the only other class (other than Kunoichi) to have stealth, which opens up a unique playstyle and you can pull off some fun engages because of it. The class is dynamic and fast-paced with many complicated skill combos and cancels. Ninja is also one of the more difficult classes to play, with a very high skill ceiling.

Awakening VS Succession

Ninja Succession and Awakening can be unlocked after level 56 after speaking to the Black Spirit and completing the Awakening and Succession quests under the suggestions tab.

• The Awakening will unlock a completely new skill tree, which will be your primary skills from now on. The skills in the pre-awakening are mostly utility skills, and your main damage dealers will be your Awakening skills.
• The Succession skill kit enhances your shortsword skills instead and only has a few awakening skills.

Your awakening weapon still affects your succession damage and vice versa. For example, if you are using the Succession kit, then 30% of your Awakening AP is still applied to the damage of Succession skills, as well as the additional item stats on the awakening weapon, such as Human/Species Damage and Accuracy.

Succession is considered the better choice for PVE and tends to perform better in most grind spots. It also does better in largescale PVP due to having more protected damage. For 1v1s and Smallscale PVP, both are considered to be quite balanced and down to preference, player skill, and certain matchups.

Skill Builds

Since the skill point update in late 2022, you can obtain all skills for approximately 1,000 skill points. Focus on your main skills first, then level the passives. The Weight Training skill should be leveled last, since it only gives you weight limit increase.

Protected Skills

It is important to read through your skills to understand which skills have protection and crowd control effects. Read through your skills carefully to get familiar with what each skill does. You can also filter the different effects in the Skill Window (K).

Locked Skills

These are the skills I recommend locking to help prevent messing up combos during PVP.

• Ninja Evasion
• Vacuum Slash (optional)
• Absolute: Boss Slaughter (optional – place on hotbar and use while holding [W] to skip the animation)
• Prime: Red Rain (optional place on hotbar instead if you have issues since it can conflict with other inputs)

To lock a skill, press the lock icon on the top of each skill icon in the skill window (K).

Skill Enhancement (Rabam) Skills

Skill Enhancement skills can be obtained in the Skill Window (K) under the “Skill Enhancement” tab at the top. At level 56, 57, and 58, you will have 2 different options to choose between. These skills have no skill points cost, but you have to have other skills leveled up to be able to take them.

Level 56 – [SHIFT + X]

• Ninjutsu: Oni Shadow– Requires [Smokescreen V] and [Ninjutsu: Concealment]
• Shuriken: Moon Dive– Requires [Smokescreen V] and [Shuriken: Flight III]

Both Rabams skills are viable and up to the choice of the player. Ninjutsu: Oni Shadow is the more popular choice and good for PVP because it gives an Evasion Rate buff and is an i-frame ability. The skill also has good mobility whilst in stealth and you can use ghost step straight after revealing yourself to go into stealth again. Shuiken: Moon Dive is now also a decent option since the skill was buffed. It deals decent damage, is now an i-frame, and also good for repositioning. The skill gives an AP buff which is useful in both PVE and PVP.

Level 57 – [SHIFT + Z]

• Illusion of Restraint– Requires [Ninjutsu: Block Jump] and [Ninjutsu: Shackles IV]
  • (Preferred Choice)
    
• Ninjustsu: Decapitation– Requires [Ninjutsu: Block Jump] and [Beheading the Dead III]– Requires [Mirage] and [Aal’s Protection]

The more popular choice of the two is Illusion of Restraint. The skill deals decent damage, is an I-frame while moving and then a Forward Guard during the attack. It also slows targets movement speed.

Level 58 – [Quickslot Only]

• Ghost Slash – Requires [Ghost Greeting III] and [Crescent Slash III]
• Ghost Claw – Requires [Ghost Greeting III] and [Fox Claw IV]

Both of these skills are viable and up to the player’s choice. Ghost Slash recovers HP on hits and has Forward Guard, but the damage is quite lackluster. It is mostly used as protected movement since it flows into Ghost Step and doesn’t cost stamina. While Ghost Claw has better damage, and an Attack Speed buff, but is completely unprotected and quite a long animation. It is useful as filler damage or to prebuff.

Skill Add-ons

Below are some examples of PVE skill add-ons you can take.

If you would like example skill add-ons for other scenarios, please refer to the Class Discord and their resources.

I recommend experimenting with your add-ons and figuring out what is best for you, because it really depends on your personal preference and how you play your class. If you’re simply not sure what to take then you can blindly follow the examples below and they will still be effective.

You can also check our Skill Add-on guide for a complete list of Skill Add-ons.

Weapons

Ninja and Kunoichi have 2 different offhands and can equip either of them. However, Ninja uses a Shuriken to access certain skills, while Kunoichi uses the Kunai for block.

Armor

For your armor, you will make a choice between Damage Reduction or Evasion gear. I recommend reading our guide about the two different DP stats if you want to learn what the two different stats do.

Typically you are recommended to stick to Damage Reduction if you are awakening since you are more reliant on AP and Accuracy. However, for Succession, you have an Evasion passive that makes Evasion strong on Succession Ninja and accuracy modifiers which means you can still maintain good damage when running evasion.

Because of the way the Evasion stat works, you may find that you are squishy for a long time and that your Evasion isn’t really doing much for you. This is why players only recommend swapping to Evasion armors once you reach full PEN gear with Caphras Level 9 or higher. It is also worth noting that Damage Reduction is still viable on Ninja, and is also viable on all classes, while Evasion is not viable on all classes. I highly recommend doing some research before commiting to Evasion.

Accessories

There are various different accessories in the game. At first, just focus on using the accessories that give you the highest AP in each slot.

There are also “free” accessories that all new players should get:

Accessory	How to obtain
Tuvala Accessories	Tuvala accessories are starter accessories obtained from the Season Server. Try to push up your accessories to PEN if possible, but if you don’t have much time to play Season, then focus on your Weapons and Armor first.
PEN Capotia Necklace	You can obtain a FREE PEN Capotia Accessory from the Season Servers Special Reward. For your first season, it is recommended to get the PEN Capotia Necklace because it gives the most AP. You then want to create another Season character in the next season to get the PEN Capotia Belt, and finally the PEN Capotia Ring or Earring.
PEN Ring of Crescent Guardian	You can obtain a PEN Ring of Crescent Guardian by completing Jetina’s PEN Accessory quests. These are daily quests that take a minimum of 45 days to complete. Every new and returning player should complete these as early as possible for a highly discounted PEN accessory.

Common Starter PVE accessories:

• TET Black Distortion Earrings
• TET Basilisk’s Belt (or PEN Capotia Belt)
• TET Ring of Crescent Guardian
• TET Ogre Ring/Laytenn’s Necklace (or PEN Capotia Necklace).

Crystals

Below is an example starter Crystal build for PVE. Some of the crystals are expensive. You can obtain the Rebelious Crystal by completing the main story questline. For more example crystal builds, including an end game PVE crystal build, and PVP Crystal builds, check our Crystal Preset Guide.

This is an example PVP Build for Ninjas using Evasion Armors. For more example crystal builds, check our Crystal Preset Guide or the Class Discord.

This is an example PVP Build for Ninjas using Damage Reduction Armors and going full Human Damage (glass cannon). For more example crystal builds, check our Crystal Preset Guide or the Class Discord.

Artifacts and Lightstones

There are a few different viable choices for both Artifacts and Lightstone combos. Ninjas are the “Melee Damage” type so you want to go for Melee Accuracy and Melee Damage for offensive artifacts.

For PVE Lighstones there are a few different options to min-max. For certain spots, you may want to use Species damage combos (eg. The Wild: Demihumans, The Wild: Kamaslyvia, The Wild: Humans). Species damage combos perform better if you are reaching the monster AP caps at a certain zone.

A more generic PVE combo is listed below that is recommended for your class and will work at any spot.

You can also find more information about Artifacts and Lightstones, and how to obtain them, in our guide. We also have a list of Best in slot Artifacts and Lightstones.

Useful Links/Credits

I highly recommend checking out the Ninja Class Discord for resources about your class. The class discords always have the most up-to-date information and tons of experienced players that can help with questions or gearing advice. I would like to give a shoutout to the Mods and Experienced players in the Ninja discord for all their hard work gathering resources. You can find some of their own guides below. I honestly cannot recommend enough to join the discord.

Useful links to check out:

• Official Ninja Forums
• Ninja Skill Sheet by the Ninja Discord
• Ninja Guide by the Ninja Discord (currently a bit outdated but still tons of useful info)
• NInja Guide for Beginners by yELo_HQ
• Ninja Awakening Guide by The Leaf San
• Ninja Succession Beginners Guide by WooTheWinner
• Ninja Succession PVP Guides by ArminTF

PVP Montage Videos:

• Ninja Awakening PVP by Zhay
• Ninja Succession Tournament PVP by ArminTF
• Ninja Succession Arena of Solare PVP by ArminTF
• Ninja Awakening PVP by ToyohisaTV
• Ninja Awakening PVP by Moon

Credits Disclaimer: Since there are now 26 BDO classes, it is impossible for me to keep class guides fully maintained. My main class is Ranger and I don’t claim to be the best in any class. Therefore, I use resources and recommendations from the Class discords since (as all other players would agree) this is the best source. I also ask for advice from friends who are more experienced in the class. Where possible, I credit specific players for information such as Add-ons, and combos. However, sometimes there is no player mentioned as the original sharer. If there are any issues with credit or you would like certain information removed/changed, please reach out to me!