Ninjitsu vs. Super Reflexes

[TungstenShark]

It seems to me the best way to take advantage of the Blaster primary is to pair it with sets focused on Defense, not forcing you in to melee range (unless you want to). I suppose the other school of thought is go Regen and just heal through whatever gets thrown your way, but that's a thought process for another time. Hard to find reliable information regarding Sentinel abilities online and I do not have access to Pine's at the moment so I'll ask here: what are the differences in these two secondary power sets and which do you prefer on a Sentinel?

[marcussmythe]

There are good cases to be made for both.

 

Ninjitsu seems to require less total powers - more ‘optionals’, and has a solid self heal.

 

SR has some new (to me) under the hood bonuses, including (I have read) bonus Resistance as HP falls, and a power that gives some absorbtion - giving it a buffer.  Also - SR now can have its mezz prot in toggles - one less thing to click.

 

Both softcap to all positions relatively easily (with IOs) and to just range even more easily.  SR can softcap with SOs, and does so more readily.

 

Before its changes, Ninja would have been by go to.  With the changes, I dont think theres a clear ‘better’ answer between the two.

 

To further complicate the math - if you are interested in pure survivability, theres an arguement to be made for a resist based or health recovery based set that then goes on to softcap ranged defense (or typed defenses).  If I did so, Id probably go for softcapping positional-ranged, as the effective cost of softcapping typed defenses is always higher than that of softcapping positonal defenses (IOs favor positional defense strongly).

 

OTOH, Im leveling an energy/energy and planning on softcapping types damage, as I fined energy a low-maintenance set and I like the graphics.  My personal recommendation is to focus on what you find the most fun to play, rather than what seems ‘most powerful’ in a hypothetical max-level best IOs Incarnated Out build - because when you finally get there, anything will be a powerhouse, and you probably will spend less playtime on your completed demigod than you do getting there.

[Kytherion]

I would completely agree with marcussmythe's assessment on both. I've been a fan of SR when CoH first went live and stay a strong fan of it even now. If they can't hit you, everything else is mote. You can do nearly the same with Ninjutsu with a little more cost. Again, the benefit with Ninjutsu is having the Endurnce Recovery click and the Heal click for those times your Defense fails you.

Also keep in mind what your main power set is. Something that is low damage but fast recharge pairs well with SR well because then you can focus more on attacks versus extra Secondary clicks. And in there the auto Recovery. Something more powerful with slower recharge like Energy pairs well with Ninjutsu since there is the a click recovery (more immediate Endurance gain versus the lower auto Enduring recovery in SR) and heal for when you need it. Stacked with IO sets and the Fighting set you get your Resistances up with NIN while SR you can push to high Defense with some Resistance to help mitigate what small amount gets through. I'm personally still playing with Absorb effects (Practiced Brawler versus Master Brawler) but it's easy to have Practiced Brawler on Auto click and being up 100% of the time.

In the end, it's what you'll have the most fun with. SR has more toggles but less clicks. Nin as less toggles but more clicks. I like the concept of both personally. Then again I've also started chasing Energy Armor like Marcus. :p

[TungstenShark]

I'm not necessarily looking for "the most powerful"...either Super Reflexes or Ninjitsu would fit the concept I have and I had no previous experience with either. I like the idea of a low maintenance defensive secondary which is probably SR more than Ninjitsu. I had not considered Energy as a secondary so that's an interesting twist to throw in to consideration now too.

[Marshal_General]

I just went Ninjutsu with my DP Sent and besides the defense shields, I have movement speed increase, stealth, a stamina gain clicky, a heal and a reason to use ninja run. Tee move speed can't be used with combat jumping, so that saves me a power slot.

[Rocketmandb]

I'm playing an Archery/Nin build right now and am liking it quite a bit. While it's tough to get Nin to the def cap, it has a lot of benefits. One is that Shinobi-Iri is flipping awesome. It gives you stealth, the equivalent of a nearly 2x def combat jump, and +spd. Add that it can be stacked with Ninja Run, and you have a travel power rolled into it too. Essentially, this one power saves you from taking CJ, a travel power, and stealth. This lets you free up power pools and power slots for other things.

[Kytherion]

I just went Ninjutsu with my DP Sent and besides the defense shields, I have movement speed increase, stealth, a stamina gain clicky, a heal and a reason to use ninja run. Tee move speed can't be used with combat jumping, so that saves me a power slot.

 

Ohhh, that's a really good point I forgot about. I have a DP/Nin too and don't even need to take a travel power with Shinobi-Iri and Ninja Run/Sprint. Actually have one build that maxes out Jump and nearly max out run as if I have both Super Speed and Super Jump.

[That Ninja]

I just went Ninjutsu with my DP Sent and besides the defense shields, I have movement speed increase, stealth, a stamina gain clicky, a heal and a reason to use ninja run. Tee move speed can't be used with combat jumping, so that saves me a power slot.

 

Ohhh, that's a really good point I forgot about. I have a DP/Nin too and don't even need to take a travel power with Shinobi-Iri and Ninja Run/Sprint. Actually have one build that maxes out Jump and nearly max out run as if I have both Super Speed and Super Jump.

Could you post that build. That sounds really cool and I've been trying to think of an interesting pistols concept.

[D43kk3n]

I second that.. I made this same build about a week ago and have been curious to see one fleshed out all the way. If you could post you'd it'd be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Burnt Toast]

I prefer Ninjitsu for a few reasons - easy to softcap positional defense instead of trying to soft cap type, the built in stealth power, the heal, and the end recovery power. My Water/Nin is 50 and rarely has any issues even fighting +4 on teams. My toon only has about half of their sets and plays with ease.

[SinergyX]

I currently got both sets, it kinda depends on your primairy. With my dark/ I went with SR, the selfheal is damage and ~12% heal (8sec cooldown), while my fire/ I went for Nin for the extra stuff.

 

The most annoying remains the clicky on nin, auto cast you need to match it with global recharge (I don't have perma hasten, so it sometimes is 100sec, other time 70sec), worst part is when you die and you just casted it, takes a while to reload.

 

Biggest difference is runspeed, Nin is serious fast. SR you do get some speed, but Nin it really goes close with SS if you use ninja-running.