Disclaimer: This article contains curated tips, guides, other useful information posted on Inven KR by the users. Please note that such guides and information are not objective truths and may not reflect the latest patch or meta changes.

■ Introduction

This is a walkthrough for Ninjas who just reached Lv. 56 or about to reach Lv. 56 and are ready for Awakening.

When using skills before Lv. 56, focus on leveling with Fox Claw, Shadow Slash, Shadow Stomp, Shadow Clone, Beheading the Dead, Blade Spin, Fatal Blow, Fatal Blow Combo, Black Moonlight, Ninja Step, Brace, and Ghost Step.
(Main DPS Skills: Beheading, Blade Spin / Alt DPS Skill Fox Claw, Fatal Blow and Combo, Shadow Stomp)

Make sure you respec all your combat skills right before you hit 56 and then follow this walkthrough. After all, all your main skills before Lv. 56 won’t be used anymore after awakening.

Many of you would have chosen to play Ninja for his swift movement, hiding skills and assassination skills that eliminate your enemies in the blink of an eye. You must have expectations for even greater speed and agility after awakening. However, Ninja will lose all his agile movement skills and Attack speed after Awakening. Instead, you will see some slow and heavy action.

■ Basics you need to know: Crowd Control Skills and Action Restrictions

Crowd Control Skills cause an Action Restriction, which is a term used when a character is temporarily unable to perform any actions due to enemy attacks. Action Restrictions can be affected by resistance and each resistance can be classified into 4 groups: Stun/Stiff/Freeze, Knockdown/Bound, Grapple, and Knockback/Floating.

Resistance can be increased by transfusing the crystals into your gears. Keep in mind that the resistance for Air Smash and Down Smash cannot be improved, and all resistances are only applied up to 60% in PvP. 

Same type of Action Restrictions (i.e. Stiff-Stiff or Stun-Stun) won't work one a same target twice, so choose your combo wisely. Your combo should be like Stiff-Stun-Stiff-Stun. This can go don forever if you use your skills at the right moment and the enemy is not immuned. A target that falls down by Knockdown, Bound, Float, or Grapple can only be knocked down again with Grapple.

■ Basics you need to know: Extra Damage

Speed Attack and Counter Attack are not that useful. 

■ Basics you need to know: Forward Guard

Forward Guard blocks all the damage and CCs (except for Grapple) from your enemies in front. You’ll see a bar on the side, and when the target keeps on hitting you or when the enemy's DPS is too strong, the bar will break and you’ll receive damage.
 
Skills that penetrate the enemies, such as Slashing the Dead or Violation, will penetrate the guard and cause Back Attack, allowing the enemy's CCs to come in.
 
Unlike Forward Guard skills, Q block skills do not break even after getting hit by continuous skills like Witch's Lightning Chain. Those skills will keep pushing you backward if you are blocking them with a Q skill. 

Warrior's and Valkyrie's Guards have Super Armor effect rearward. This means that no CCs (except for Grapple) are inflicted from the back, even if you go to the rear side of your enemy using Block Jump or Violation.  

■ Basics you need to know: Super Armor 

Super Armors block all CCs (except for Grapple) from your enemies while you're casting a skill. Super Armors prevent your character from falling down to the ground and also prevent your enemy from cancelling your skill with a CC. But the damage from your enemy will come straight in. When the enemy's DPS is too high, you're most likely to be dead. 

■ Basics you need to know: Ninja Awakening Gameplay 

Ninjas after Awakening have fewer Forward Guard and Super Armor skills, compared to other classes. 

That means you’re likely to get killed when you deal damage face-to-face with the enemy. You should approach the target from its back, inflicting CCs and dodging attacks. This makes you look like you are dealing massive damage. Among all classes, Ninja requires the highest level of player control technique for PvE. 

■ Basics you need to know: Attack Speed 

Ninjas must have the Att Speed of 5. Casting speed is unnecessary.
 
The passive 10% speed boost before Awakening doesn’t apply anymore after awakening, which means you’ll move slower. It’s better to get as many Att speed buffs as you can through Skill Add-ons, Shadow Slash, and Alchemy Stones.

■ Basics you need to know: Shuriken 

Unlike Kunoichis, it’s better for Ninjas to use Shurikens. Even if you switched your class from Kunoichi, you should get rid of your Kunai and start using Shuriken. Star: Malice, the non-awakening ranged skill, is a big advantage of using Shuriken so you should use one.
 
To improve Accuracy, Use Quitar Shuriken to improve Accuracy and use Estique Shuriken to improve Attack Speed. Don't try to improve DP. Just use Rosar. You’ll eventually use Nouver, anyway.

Familiarize yourself with these basics, and let's move on to the Awakening skill part. 

■ Ninja Awakening Basics: Transitioning Stance 

Many of those who just got awakened find it difficult to use the Transitioning Stance. This is a unique perk of a Ninja that no other classes have.
 
When you switch to Awakening by pressing C in Non-awakening status, you basically take the normal stance. When right-clicking twice in normal stance, you raise your both arms and assume the Transitioning Stance. (You get the Forward Guard effect while switching stances.)
 
There are skills that have slight changes in skill animations and effects when used in Transitioning Stance. (e.g., Serpent Ascension, Sudden Decapitation, Corrupt Sword Dance, and Murderous Intent.)
 
The Serpent Ascension—the main DPS skill—gains more hits, and Sudden Decapitation decreases to 2 hits. These two skills are enormously different, depending on which stance you’re taking.
 
In Transitioning Stance, you can use a front and rear mobility skill called Silent Charge. It can penetrate the enemy, but it consumes Stamina and has a 2-sec cooldown.
 
Transitioning Stance Controls:
Right-click
A, D Right-click
Drastic Measure

■ Ninja Awakening Basics: Awakening skills that you don’t need
 
You should master everything except Corrupt Sword Dance and Lv. 58, 60 Flows
 
Corrupt Sword Dance:
No Super Armor, Guard, or CC—just mere WP recovery and Bleeding Damage.
You can just use it quickly by hitting left-click while casting Seamless. However, it’s a useless skill. If anything, just put the first base skill point in it and leave it that way.

Execution (Lv. 58 Flow) a.k.a. Suicide: 
It’s a skill that is usually used after Sudden Decapitation as a combo. The skill description looks good since it says it’ll cause Knockdown and Air Attack and Down Attack, but the casting animation is way too long, so it never actually hits. 
 
Mach Explosion (Lv. 60 Flow) a.k.a. Bluff Explosion:
It’s a skill preceded by Drastic Measure. Drastic Measure has a long animation after casting, so no one actually uses it.

■ Ninja Awakening Basics: Non-awakening skills that still used after Awakening

[Mandatory Skills]

1. Mobility skills
 
Ninja Step - Master
The life of Ninja. Penetrating the target and being invincible while moving makes the skill great for killing your enemy from its back. You can use this skill in Awakening also.
 
Ghost Step - Master
Evasion Skill. Gains Invincible->Super Armor, and penetrates targets on left, right and rear. When Controls are maintained in Awakening status, an evasive mobility combo Ghost Step-Drift is possible. When Controls are maintained in Non-awakening status, Ninja Evasion is activated.
 
Target Chase - Master
Unlike Kunoichi, Ninja can use this skill only with keyboard shortcuts. You can run with 15% increased speed without Stamina consumption for 15 sec. The Best of the Best mobility skill on long distance traveling. (Unable to use in non-combat status) Automatically switches to non-awakening status when used in Awakening status.
 
Shadow Slash
You can do WP recovery, mob kiting, sideway evasion all with this one great skill. It has 5% Att speed self-buff and many use Attack against monsters and HP recovery as their Skill Add-ons.
Shows flashy moves when used with Ghost Step in PvP.
 
 
2. Other useful skills
 
Ninjutsu: Block Jump (Stiff)
A skill that makes a newb kicked on the ass and get his mind blown away. You can reappear on your target’s back by pressing W after you disappear, and then move away by pressing S. By hitting A, you can reappear from below and kick, and D will make you reappear from above and smash. Stiffs the target on reappearing. Even if you don't intend to attack your enemy from its back, you can still use the skill to evade your target’s skills. The skill has melee attack buff.
 
Brace - Master
Needless to say, the best WP recovery skill. Recovers 200 WP when mastered, so it’s mandatory to use the skill after every cooldown in battles.
 
Smokescreen (Stun)
A preceding skill of Concealment that has Stun effect and 18% evasion, but is still effective even if used alone. Skill Add-ons such as DP is added to give more durability to Ninjas since they have less Guard, Super Armor, and HP absorb.
 
Concealment
The iconic skill of a Ninja, but you will find your ninja getting suddenly slowed down when you cloak.
You can use this skill in Awakening when you give points to the awakening skill: Shadow Cloak and put Ninjutsu: Concealment on your shortcuts.

3. The 3 Passive Skills 

Killer Training - Master
Grants Melee Evasion, Melee Attack and Accuracy buffs.
 
Infinite Mastery - Master
Grants 700 HP when mastered until Lv. 56.
 
Skilled Hunter - Master
+3 to Attack against monsters Are you willing to PvE? Give points.

4. CC Skills
 
Star: Malice (Stiff) - Master
Ranged attack that causes Stiffness. Mandatory on PvP. Good to use one PvE to pull aggro from mobs in distance.

Suicide Fall (Grapple)
Non-awakening Grapple skill. Won’t reduce any cooldown even mastered, so better with 1point.
 
Ankle Cutter (Bound) - Master
A skill great for buffs. 100% Critical Hit rate and -20 DP to target.

Shadow Stomp (Float)- Master
Decent damage dealt with Air Attack and can do an instant long-ranged attack in PvP. The casting motion is long, but can be canceled. Will explain how to do this later.

[Recommended Skills]

Black Moonlight (Stiff)
Gives a brief Super Armor effect, but it will be canceled most of the time. But still, it has a wide AoE so it's good to give some points. 

Ghost Greeting (Stiff. Float in PvE)
Can be used as a dash skill. Not recommended to use recklessly since ninjas don’t have much Super Armor and Guard.
 
Ninjutsu: Blade Spin (Float)
This skill is often used to switch to non-awakening while dealing damage, since it automatically switches to non-awakening when used in Awakening status. One point will master this skill.
 
Floor Sweeping (Bound + Down Smash)
Can be used as an instant, hidden skill to invoke Shadow Stomp and also can blow away knocked down enemies with its Down Smash effect. +10% Down Attack damage.

Shadow Clone and Crescent Slash are also recommended, but they can wait until you have sufficient skill points. 

■ Ninja Awakening Basics: Serpent Ascension
 
Serpent Ascension is the alpha and omega of Ninja's damage dealing ability. Without this skill, Ninja is absolutely worthless.

It will make the enemies float, and also cause Air Attack with Sword Energy. This is what makes Serpent Ascension so powerful. 

But without any Super Armor or Forward Guard, when you use the skill right in front of your enemy you’ll get beaten up and the skill would likely be canceled. It's a high-risk, high-return skill.

The maximum hits for Sura Katana (3 hits) and Sword Energy (5 hits) will increase to 5 hits and 6 hits, respectively. Ninjas can deal massitve damage with Serpent Ascension in Transitioning Stance.

■ Ninja Awakening Basics: Skills that automatically switch stances

Drastic Measure (Bound)
It’s a charging skill that automatically switches to Transitioning Stance when used. Offers Super Armor while charging. You can use Murderous Intent (Stiff) – Drastic Measure as a skill chain.
The post-casting animation is pretty long, so cancel the motion with switching C and fade away with Ninja Step. Otherwise, you’ll get beaten up. When you succeed with the Murderous Intent (Stiff) – Drastic Measure (Bound) combo, you’ll be switched to Transitioning Stance. Then, you can use Down attack – Serpent Ascension.
 
Bloodthirst: Katana Showerhower (Floating, Super Armor)
A useful Super Armor and HP absorb skill. It automatically switches to normal stance when used in Transitioning Stance.

Seamless (Forward Guard on 1st hit, Bound)
A precious skill that can only be used by pressing the space bar while casting other skills. There’s a Forward Guard effect on the first hit, so you may just cancel the skill after the first hit. It automatically switches to normal stance when used in Transitioning Stance.

Vacuum Slash (Forward Guard on 1st, 2nd, 3rd hit, Floating, Air Attack, Knockdown on last hit)
This skill has an almighty finishing blow. The Controls overlaps with Serpent Ascension and Katana Shower (F), so it is occasionally used in between Serpent Ascension and Katana Shower’s cooldown and saves you from death. It automatically switches to normal stance when used in Transitioning Stance.

Katana Shower, Seamless, and Vacuum Slash cause you to switch stances again, which is quite annoying. These skills are better used after Transitioning Stance – Serpent Ascension.