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The Book of Syncletica: A DDO Monk Guide

Ninja Spy

UPDATES to this and related trees are incomplete for Update 33. This chapter has partial updates.

Before Update 19, the Ninja Spy prestige enhancements were useful, but had only two levels of training and were comparatively weaker to their Shintao Monk counterparts.

No longer. It's time to get your proper ninja on.

The role of a Ninja Spy involves successful infiltration in an adventure, quickly reaching an objective without detection. Ninja Spies share many characteristics with Rogue Assassins as they level.

Unlike Rogue Assassins, a Ninja Spy can often outgun what they cannot outrun if detected, can periodically heal themselves without potions or party healers (thanks to their Monk training in Wholeness of Body), and has innate abilities to make themselves invisible and partially incorporeal at will. Ninjas are also incredible escape artists from overwhelming mobs, and can now utilize a special poison to debilitate enemies.

If you are new to the Monk class, you should create a human Shintao Monk first as they are more hardy for the novice player than the Ninja Spy. There is no such thing as a "tanking" ninja. While versatile, the Ninja Spy lacks innate battle healing options, works better with stealth, and is more challenging to play than a Shintao Monk. That doesn't mean that a ninja can't survive on their own, but you'll surely need to know what resources you can use to survive, and that requires knowledge of the class and your race that could benefit.

Update 33 made tweaks that made a great tree significantly improved.

Class Tree Summary

As with most class trees, there are core enhancements at the bottom of the tree, which can be selected as you meet level and spent Action Point requirements. Also, many abilities require 2 AP to activate.

Some abilities have ranks where additional AP can be spent to improve that ability. Other abilities also have prerequisites that must be selected before you can choose a particular ability. Remember that a character can have only one Tier 5 class tree, so selecting any Tier 5 ability here will lock out the Shintao and Henshin Mystic Tier 5 trees.

Core Enhancements

Ninja Training: (Available at Monk level 1, cost 1 AP) You are proficient with short swords and treat them as ki weapons. While you are centered, you can use your Dexterity modifier to hit with piercing and slashing weapons.
- A low-hanging fruit for any Monk that cares to have some piercing blades rather than kamas.
Advanced Ninja Training: (Requires Monk level 3, 5 AP spent) While you are centered, you can use your Dexterity modifier for damage with ANY weapons you can wield as centered, except handwraps and quarterstaves. You also gain a chance based on your Dexterity score to throw an extra shuriken per attack.
- These first two cores form the Dexterity to Damage ability. This applies now not only to shortswords, kamas, and shuriken but also bows, if you have Zen Archery trained to use while centered. Dexterity to Damage is similar to the Weapon Finesse feat but the actual damage and to-hit work properly as opposed to using the Weapon Finesse feat. Zen Archers and related builds now use this over Aerenal Grace from the Elf racial tree (but still use the Elf tree itself to give longbow weapon proficiency and extra attack and damage).
Shadow Veil: Cost: 15 ki, Cooldown: 6 seconds. (Requires Monk level 6, 10 AP spent) Ki Activate: You focus your ki and draw shadows around you. You become invisible and 25% incorporeal for 1 minute. Actions that break invisibility do not remove the incorporeality portion of this effect.
- Formerly known as "Shadow Fade" in the original Ninja Spy I enhancements (and still shows that moniker when you activate it in the game). A key ability for stealth fighters. This is one of the few abilities anywhere in the game where a character can gain more than 10% incorporeality ("Ghostly") to aid in miss-chance to avoid damage from attacks. The advantage is that the incorporeality sticks with you on attacking, giving you a stronger miss-chance for up to a minute. Add in some Concealment and Dodge for better miss-chances.
Poisoned Darts: Cost: 15 ki, Cooldown: 15 seconds. (Requires Monk level 12, 20 AP spent) Ki activate: You spit poisoned darts in a cone before you. Nearby enemies are affected by a stack of Ninja Poison.
- New to this version of Ninja Spy is Ninja Poison, a magical poison that affects many enemies. This is one way to infect many enemies with it using this tree, even if you don't use shortswords or kamas or stars.
- Diversion: Cost: 50 ki, Cooldown: 3 minutes. (Requires Monk level 18, 30 AP spent) Ki activate: You expend a use of Meditation to turn yourself invisible and create a dummy that attracts the attention of nearby enemies.
- With the new changes in stealth, this ability offers a chance at genuine escape from an overwhelming mob. Move as far away from the mob first, use the ability, go into stealth to move as silently as you can, and use Abundant Step (if you have it) to escape VERY silently and swiftly. If you get out of sight far and fast enough, the mobs will stop searching for you. It's also a great ability to use when you complete a quest but still have mobs attacking you, forcing them to attack the dummy while you loot nearby chests and escape.
Ninja Master: (Requires Monk level 20, Diversion, 40 AP spent) You gain +2 Dexterity. While you are centered, you gain a +1 competence bonus to the critical threat range with shortswords and a +2 competence bonus to the critical threat range with kamas and shuriken. Any piercing or slashing weapon you wield gains the Vorpal ability.
- More about this remarkable ability in the section, "Ninja Poison."
- Update 22 fixed a bug that caused shurikens from receiving the critical range bonus.

Shadow Veil is a powerful fighting tactic you can use throughout your life.

Combined with Sneaking and good Hide/Move Silently skills, activating this ability can allow you to pass enemies with lesser risk of detection than other classes.

If you are detected and must fight, adding a Dusk Heart or similar Concealment item or effect to your 25% incorporeal effect from Shadow Fade means that you are like a ghost; harder to hit, buying you time while reducing damage. Concealment and Incorporeal effects work in tandem with Dodge bonuses to make you very hard to hit.

For more on using these miss-chance effects, visit this chapter.

Tier 1 Enhancements

Ninjutsu: Select one of four toggles that modify your Touch of Despair finisher.
- More on these powerful abilities in the section, "Ninjutsu."
Stealthy: +[1/2/3] Hide and Move Silently. Your passive ki regeneration is increased by [0/0/1] when sneaking.
- Lost from the old Ninja Spy enhancement trees was "One in Shadow," where you passively regained ki while in stealth. This ability not only adds needed points to Hide and Move Silently, but restores ki regeneration at the ability's highest rank.
Sneak Attack Training: Grants +1 Sneak Attack die and +1 to hit when performing sneak attacks.
Faster Sneaking: +[20/35/50]% movement speed while sneaking.
- This is a fantastic ability to help you move faster through a dungeon, making stealth missions less tedious.
Acrobatic: +[1/2/3] Balance, Jump, and Tumble. +[1/2/3]% Dodge.
- Additional Jump and Tumble points are helpful in offsetting penalties incurred in stealth mode. Dodge bonuses are always welcome for miss-chance.

Tier 2 Enhancements

Ninjutsu: Select one of four toggles that modify your Touch of Despair finisher.
Subtlety: -[20/30/40]% threat generation with melee attacks.
Sneak Attack Training: Grants +1 Sneak Attack die and +1 to hit when performing sneak attacks.
Elemental Ki Strikes: Found on every class tree, you may add one special ki attack. See the "Elemental Ki Strikes" section later in this chapter.
Agility: +[1/2/3] Concentration, Reflex saves, and Dodge cap.
- Handy. In addition to better saves for Dodge and Evasion and more ki, your maximum Dodge cap is raised to at least 28% (depending on any other effects you might have that raise this cap).

Tier 3 Enhancements

Ninjutsu: Select one of four toggles that modify your Touch of Despair finisher.
Flash Bang: (Cost: 20 ki, Cooldown: 30 seconds.) Throws a fragile eggshell imbued with ninja magic that explodes into light, blinding opponents on a failed Reflex save and momentarily dazing opponents on a failed Fortitude save. Both saving throws have DC [10/14/18] + Monk Level + Wisdom modifier.
- This mass-stunning ball that you can lob from far away isn't much more ki-intensive than Stunning Fist, and requires two saves to avoid getting blinded and/or dazed. Either way, you've really sent an enemy mob into chaos with this excellent first strike. Dazed enemies will revive once you attack. It's also a great emergency escape device if you use Sneak and go invisible and out of line-of-sight--fast.
Sneak Attack Training: Grants +1 Sneak Attack die and +1 to hit when performing sneak attacks.
Sting of the Ninja: (Cooldown: 3 seconds.) Weapon Stance: You poison your weapon with a secret mixture. While you are centered, piercing and slashing attacks you make deliver a stack of Ninja Poison on critical hits. Shuriken apply this effect on damage instead of on critical hits. You cannot inject Ninja Poison while unarmed except by using the Poisoned Darts ability.
- This is yet another Ninja Poison option, to be covered in the section, "Ninja Poison" in this chapter.
- A bug introduced in Update 21 is preventing Sting of the Ninja from injecting poison using shurikens.
Wisdom or Dexterity: Add +1 to Wisdom or Dexterity.

Tier 4 Enhancements

Ninjutsu: Select one of four toggles that modify your Touch of Despair finisher.
Deadly Exploits: Your Poison Exploit now deals 1d30 poison damage per stack of Ninja Poison removed.
- Poison Exploit is a Ninjutsu ability, described in the section, "Ninjitsu," this chapter.
Sneak Attack Training: Grants +1 Sneak Attack die and +1 to hit when performing sneak attacks.
No Mercy: You deal [10/20/30]% additional damage to helpless opponents.
- When you have something paralyzed or otherwise helpless, this ability helps in quick dispatch so you can return to the shadows.
Wisdom or Dexterity: Add +1 to Wisdom or Dexterity.

Tier 5 Enhancements

Touch of Death: (Cost: 50 Ki, Cooldown: 15 seconds) You strike a living opponent down with twisted ki, dealing 500 additional negative energy damage. Your opponent takes half damage on a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + Wisdom modifier + Monk level).
- A central attack of the Dark Monk. Use the Touch of Despair first to increase the target's vulnerability and magnify the negative damage significantly.
Crippling Strike: You gain the Rogue ability, Crippling Strike (On Sneak Attack: 2 Strength damage).
- Shadow Double: (Cost: 30 Ki, Cooldown: 30 seconds) You perform a melee attack with +2[W] and gain 100% melee doublestrike for 6 seconds.
  - A brief but room-clearing attack, especially if they are prone, helpless or low on hit points. Despite the name, don't confuse this with "Diversion," which creates a hate-magnet training dummy while making you invisible to escape a mob.

Infiltration over Obliteration

It's a bit counter-intuitive for most players to use stealth throughout a quest, but this is something that a Ninja Spy does well. Remember that it takes time to slay mobs. If you can avoid them altogether, complete objectives and leave faster, you can repeat the quest again--which means you're generating more experience per time spent.

But some players get confused about how sneaking works, especially since Update 19. Chances are, many don't use it because their few attempts at stealth failed miserably.

The reason why these sneak attempts failed wasn't because stealth was useless but, as with other skills, you need strong numbers in specific skills as well as wearing the right gear. Invisibility only gets you halfway and isn't an ideal substitute for true stealth because while Invisibility reduces the enemy Spot bonus, unless you're in Sneak, your Move Silently score doesn't count. That means enemies will hear you and search you out, even if they can't see you.

For more on understanding and improving your stealth ability, see "The Power of Shadow."

Players familiar to the Ninja Spy before Update 19 might notice that something is missing from the class tree.

Gone is "Dance of the Water Strider," an ability that allowed you to run across water and other liquids at certain locations in the game.

This was actually a useful tactic in the "Accursed Ascension" quest, where a room filled with deadly-to-touch water was not so deadly for a Ninja that could run over it.

Given the other improvements to the Ninja Spy, one could say that the loss of the Water Strider is a gain to others. Still, it would be nice to see that ability appear again, someday.

Elemental Ki Strikes

Every Monk class enhancement tree offers you the option to add one of four ki attacks with secondary effects. Each attack uses 5 ki and take 3 seconds to cooldown (same as Form-based ki strikes).

Eagle Claw Attack: Fire Ki Melee Attack: Your attacks can shatter objects. You strike at weak points in your opponents armor or hide, dealing +2[W] damage and apply two stacks of the Armor Destruction effect. (Each stack reduces Armor Class by 1 and Fortification by 1% for 20 seconds. This effect can stack up to 4 times.)
Fists of Iron: Earth Ki Melee Attack: You have imbued your attacks with extra force. Performs a melee attack with +3[W] damage, +1 critical threat range, and +1 Critical Damage Multiplier.
Knock on the Sky: Air Ki Melee Attack: You strike your opponent, deflecting their momentum. Performs a melee attack with +1[W] damage, and your enemy deals 2% less physical damage for 30 seconds. This effect can stack up to 5 times.
Unbalancing Strike: Water Ki Melee Attack: You have learned several joint strikes. You can attack these weak points of your opponent, throwing them off balance for a short period of time. This reduces their armor class by 2, applies a -10 penalty to their Balance skill, and renders them vulnerable to sneak attacks. A successful Reflex save negates this effect (DC 10 + Half Monk Level + Wisdom modifier + Trip modifiers). The target receives periodic saves to attempt to break free of this effect.

Ninjutsu

Replacing the old elemental vulnerability debuffing abilities from the old Ninja Spy tree moved to the Henshin Mystic class tree (now called Elemental Words, such as Static Charge and Porous Soul) are remarkably potent spell-like abilities that are activated along with any Touch of Despair finisher.

Once you select any one of the abilities in your tree, place its icon on your toolbar from your character sheet's Enhancements tab. To use the ability, click on it to toggle it off or on. Only one Ninjutsu ability may be active at a time.

All but one Ninjutsu attack affects a single target.

Impending Doom: If the enemy affected by your Touch of Despair dies within the next 30 seconds, you gain 25 Ki and 25 temporary hit points.

This ability adds some help in keeping yourself fortified while fighting kobolds or other lesser mobs. You might spend more ki and HP in setting up this finisher than what you receive, however.

Poison Exploit: Your Touch of Despair finisher purges an enemy of Ninja Poison, dealing 1d20 poison damage per stack of Ninja Poison removed.

Ninja Poison is so nasty that it causes damage coming out as well as going in. The Deadly Exploits ability (Tier 4) greatly magnifies this effect.

Poisoned Soul: Your Touch of Despair finisher causes your opponent to gain a stack of Ninja Poison every 6 seconds for 30 seconds.

More on Ninja Poison and its application in the next section, this chapter.

Wave of Despair: Your Touch of Despair finisher causes all nearby enemies to suffer one negative level.

This is a terribly powerful attack that's bound to be the new hallmark for Dark Monks everywhere. Negative levels decrease all saving throws, hit points and other resistances in enemies, making it far easier for your party (or you, going solo) to put them out of your misery. Great to use when you have enemies resistant or immune from negative energy or poison.

The Wave of Despair effect was terribly bugged of Update 19.0, but Update 19.3 resolved a bug where negative levels hit your allies as well as enemies.

In related effects, the Henshin Mystic's dark strike, "Every Light Casts a Shadow," does a similar thing but has the same "bug" but worse--it will add neg-levels to you as well. This may be working-as-intended. Have Death Ward handy.

Ninja Poison

New to Ninja Spy attacks is Ninja Poison, a magical poison that gives very nasty damage over time. Using your abilities, you can add stacking Ninja Poison damage that damages on injection, and use abilities to violently withdraw Ninja Poison for additional damage.

There's a catch in what attacks work to inject Ninja Poison (aside from the Poisoned Darts ability):

You must use shortswords, shuriken or kamas or other weapons that keep you centered to deliver piercing or slashing damage.

It's important to read the fine print on Ninja Poison, specifically from the "Sting of the Ninja" and "Ninja Master" abilities.

Only weapons you wield that have piercing or slashing damage will qualify to inject Ninja Poison.

Tests show that other gear you may wear that delivers indirect piercing damage, such as the Brawling Gloves from the Treasure of Crystal Cove event, do NOT give the piercing effect needed for Ninja Poison. Nor do handwraps with the Spiked property (as of Update 19.3) or the epic feat, Vorpal Strikes.

There's more to this poisonous game.

The Sting of the Ninja ability is a weapon stance that appears on weapons you wield you have the stance toggled on. This delivers Ninja Poison stacks on critical hits.

In case the poison isn't working at higher levels, take heart. Ninja Master, the last core enhancement, gives you Vorpal ability on any wielded weapon that qualifies for Ninja Poison. This effect also appears next to Sting of the Ninja (if activated) on the weapon description.

So you can perform a vorpal and poison attack with any shortswords, shuriken or kamas by level 20.

Ninja Poison's damage-over-time effect is extremely powerful. Even named enemies are not necessarily immune. For more information, see this post (with video) on its use on The Order of Syncletica, the guide's companion blog.

The Shuriken Master

Teacher "Firewall" demonstrated a new training style that utilizes the underappreciated throwing star, or shuriken, as the ninja's primary weapon. He calls his build "The Shiradi Shuricannon."

This character is a pure Ninja Spy that sacrifices STR and maximizes DEX and WIS, taking full advantage of the Advanced Ninja Training that uses the Dexterity modifier not only for rolling damage but also as a percentage of a chance to throw an extra shuriken per attack. WIS also aids the Ten Thousand Stars many-shot feat, increasing the odds of multiple stars thrown.

The Shuriken Master is a Drow, who gains the Shuriken Expertise feat free at level 1 as a racial bonus as well as shortsword and shuriken proficiency out of the gate. Drow racial enhancements can also add competency bonuses to damage.

From there, the character trains in many of the ranged attack feats, such as Quickdraw, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, and Improved Precise Shot. Ten Thousand Stars is also added for a burst of more stars per attack.

By level 20, a Shuriken Master is vorpalling and poisoning foes with impressive damage that only an Arcane Archer might beat in a ranged fight.

Training in Shiradi Champion gains very important speed and damage advantages as the character goes Epic. This does require training most abilities in Legendary Dreadnought, a destiny that's mostly unusable to this Monk, to unlock the Primal Destiny tree and the Shiradi training. Else, one could buy a Key of Destiny from the DDO Store.

A Shuriken Master has some early challenges to meet.

The first problem: ki. You don't generate ki from ranged attacks, so abilities such as Ten Thousand Stars can't work (or will only work once) with less than 20 ki in your stable pool. Training in passive ki regeneration skills is a must. All passive ki abilities stack. Don't confuse passive ki regeneration with "Enhanced Ki," an effect on some items that only generates more ki in melee, not while idle.

The Stealthy ability in the Ninja Spy tree, maximized, gives +1 passive ki regeneration.
By level 12, Greater Ocean Stance is granted and should add an additional +1 (Ultimate Ocean Stance also has this).
You could also train all ranks of the Henshin Mystic ability, Contemplation, for another +1 passive ki regeneration.
The Grandmaster of Flowers ability, Enlightenment, also gives +1 when fully trained.
GMoF's last core ability, Balance in All Things., adds +1 passive ki regeneration.

Another problem is healing. You're a Dark Monk, so your only periodic innate option is Wholeness of Body. You can apply some AP to the Shintao Monk class core abilities for a bit more healing amplification, however, you're missing a stronger battle healing option such as scrolls or wands. The Shuriken Master is a better scout than infiltrator, since they will initially have problems with mobs until you gain Improved Precise Shot. You could attempt to train Use Magic Device for wand/scroll use, but this may cause other skills to greatly suffer.

A third challenge is the low STR. While you can still fight unarmed, your low STR means that you'll like generate no damage (and therefore, no ki) in some fighting. You can boost your STR with items, but you'd be better off using kamas or your shortswords to generate ki or polish off enemies that are more resistant to your throwing. Low STR also means that breaking down some doors or pulling levers may also be a problem. Try using Fire Stance and have an STR potion, item or spell handy.

One final challenge is the dearth of named shuriken in the game and the damage they can create. There are only three:

Shadow Star, from the "Seal of Shan-To-Kor." This star has double threat range and hits harder but has no elemental damage.
Snowstar, from the "Cult of the Six" chain in Sorrowdusk.
The Morning Star, a powerful new star in the Wheloon quest, "Friends in Low Places."

You'll need to find returning shurikens, gain House Deneith favor for DR-bypassing versions, craft specialty stars, or work with a variation of all of these.

The popular semi-randomly generated shuriken you should look to getting by level 16 are the Spelltouched Shuriken. Created from ingredients awarded from the Eveningstar Challenges, these stars come in level 16, 20 and 24 types, have multiple and powerful enchantments, may have DR bypassing properties and, as a bonus, have a hidden "spellplague" side effect, such as paralyzing.

Ranged attacks cannot use any of the ki melee attacks such as those from the elemental stances, making the need to build or find suitable stars for the job (with appropriate elemental and/or damage reduction bypassing) a serious priority as you level.

A Shuriken Master might be mobbed easily early on in their life until they gain better Precise Shot and Improved Precise Shot feats. Use stealth skills to regenerate ki as well as avoiding fights until you can pick them off from long range and with impunity.

By level 20 and beyond, additional training in Primal Avatar for Rejuvenation Cocoon should make this build more self-sufficient.

Update 21 created an unfortunate bug.

Ninja Poison can be injected by shurikens. However, the Sting of the Ninja ability has stopped adding Ninja Poison to all but Cannith-crafted throwing stars. This is not working as intended, and bug reports have been sent to the developers. Update 22 (released in June 2014) might have fixed this bug; we await any reports.

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