Koga Blade Vs Iga Blade?

[hawklaser]

Seeing as all four of the Ninja Blade licsences are locked behind quickenings(meaning can only get 3 of them) curious as to which one people are taking? The likely choice seems to be between the Koga and Iga Blades. Or are people giving up the 4 on ninja blade 1?

[Hinnyuu]

Honestly, it just doesnt' matter. By the time you get Koga/Iga you aren't too far from getting Orochi, which is higher damage but non-elemental - which means you're only really worrying about earth- or water-weak enemies for the two respective blades, none of which are particularly prevalent or of any special relevance. If you REALLY care, pick the element you can't cover with the rest of your party.

[Inssengrimm]

Think about what your quickenings also unlock on the other class.

Tbh there is little reason to go for Ninja Swords 1 as Daggers are not much less DPS and you will most likely be abusing either the Gladius evasion or the Orichalcum slow debuff.

Iga and Koga are only there to give an elemental weakness edge, Koga being earth which is a particulary scarce element, is a good choice.

Honestly would check what the secondary job is and what each quickening unlocks, but most people would just unlock ninja swords 2, 3 and 4. Forgetting about 1.

[Sakhari]

I honestly can't think of a single instance where I've even considered using the Koga or Iga blade because I 'really' needed an earth or water attack. On paper, having elemental weaknesses covered sounds great but in practice, it just doesn't matter all that often in a standard game.

As was pretty much covered above, as long as you get NB4 and your other class's unlocks are covered, it really doesn't matter which of the other three you leave behind. You can also pretty easily farm up a Zwill Crossblade dagger at roughly the same point in the game which has nearly the same attack stats as the Koga/Iga while also allowing you to use a shield.

[hawklaser]

Its just kinda annoying that can't get access to all the Ninja Blades when you go look at the other license boards, they don't have weapons behind quickenings, or don't have stuff behind all 4, or at tend to block HP, Battle Lore, or Magic Lore nodes. Couple odd ones block spells.

Just seems odd that Shikari blocks all 4 ninja blades in comparison, so unless doubling up on Shikari have to give up something. Also there are a number of earth and water weak enemies in the game, just don't think any that matter much.

[Inssengrimm]

True, and elemental boost is not that of a huge deal unless you pair it with even more damage enhancing gear (white black and white robes make excalibur or yagyu so appealing). But none the less is another element covered, and earth is a "rare element" indeed.

Is a weird decision, honestly koga and iga should be a single license and the 3rd quickening should be either an HP or a Battle Lore.

[Hinnyuu]

Personally I very much LIKE that they're forcing people to make a choice. I wish it was on something actually relevant. Things become much more interesting when you don't just get everything, and I wish they'd been more restrictive in that respect to actually make your choices meaningful. Koga vs. Iga is just not something that is ever going to matter, I'm afraid; but screwing yourself out of Yagyu/Mesa is, I guess. So there's that.

[hawklaser]

Originally posted by Hinnyuu:

Personally I very much LIKE that they're forcing people to make a choice. I wish it was on something actually relevant. Things become much more interesting when you don't just get everything, and I wish they'd been more restrictive in that respect to actually make your choices meaningful. Koga vs. Iga is just not something that is ever going to matter, I'm afraid; but screwing yourself out of Yagyu/Mesa is, I guess. So there's that.

If there were more choices that mattered in the other license boards, it would be a good thing. Just kinda feels odd that the only one that has a meaningful choice behind quickenings is Shikari on the Ninja Blades. Perfectly fine with how the espers work on being a notable choice, as many more of the license boards have meaningful choices invovlving them.

[Inssengrimm]

I agree with having to choice, but thing is, this basically happens only on shikari. So its really odd and off putting.

Probably as stated above, if all classes had the same level of choice and depth to their license boards it would come off as a good implementation. Like pick between ultimate weapons.

[SenSx]

I have to make the same choice.
I picked Ninja Blade 1 because my Shikari / Red Mage needed quickening 1 for white magic on the Red Mage board.

Got to choose between Koga and Iga.
There seem to be more ennemies weaken to earth, but also weak one, I doubt I'll switch weapon for that.
It seems to be easier to deal water damage than earth damage, so one would say : go for Koga !...
But if you look closely, that is not entirely true.
Because most of the water damage you can do is from starting weapons, and aqua spell that does not have ga enchanced version, so you will never use it late game even against ennemies weak to water.

Here are you damage options for both elements:


Water:

- Aqua spell: no a ga spell, so you'll never use it late game = useless (why no a ga spell ?)
- Miter: an early mace weapon : useless
- Murasame: same, too early weapon to be usefull later
- Aqua Shot: ok damage late game, but weaker than iga.

So the only strong alternative to Iga is Aqua Shot.


Earth:

( NO EARTH SPELL...why ? )
- Cypress Pole: Very weak starting weapon
- Gaïa Rod: weak rod, you won't use it in combat anyway.
- Mud Shot: ok damage, but not as good as Koga.
- Earth Arrow: very good damage, as good as Koga.

So the strong alternatives to Koga are Mud SHot, and Earth arrows.
That means more damage potential for earth than water late game.

On top of that Iga looks better, and the quickening to unlock it costs less, so i think I'll pick Iga.

Anyway I'll probably never use it, once I'll have Mesa, I'll never switch.
But I am a perfectionnsit, and I want to have the best of everything for the sake of it.

[DigginTiger]

I picked the Iga blade because i knew i was going to farm bombshell and entites (salamander is harder to chain than sylphi in my opinion).
But, as many have already said this choice isn't that impactfull at all.
At the end of the day, your shikari will end up with either orochi or nagasa something in his main hand.

[UIY]

Originally posted by Sakhari:

I honestly can't think of a single instance where I've even considered using the Koga or Iga blade because I 'really' needed an earth or water attack. On paper, having elemental weaknesses covered sounds great but in practice, it just doesn't matter all that often in a standard game.

As was pretty much covered above, as long as you get NB4 and your other class's unlocks are covered, it really doesn't matter which of the other three you leave behind. You can also pretty easily farm up a Zwill Crossblade dagger at roughly the same point in the game which has nearly the same attack stats as the Koga/Iga while also allowing you to use a shield.

There is a use for them in Trial mode when you face the Elementals but you are correct as in 99% of situations you wouldn't choose to use these over a more powerful counterpart.

[DigginTiger]

Originally posted by Hinnyuu:

Personally I very much LIKE that they're forcing people to make a choice. I wish it was on something actually relevant. Things become much more interesting when you don't just get everything, and I wish they'd been more restrictive in that respect to actually make your choices meaningful. Koga vs. Iga is just not something that is ever going to matter, I'm afraid; but screwing yourself out of Yagyu/Mesa is, I guess. So there's that.

agreed

[hawklaser]

Originally posted by SenSx:

Earth:

( NO EARTH SPELL...why ? )
- Cypress Pole: Very weak starting weapon
- Gaïa Rod: weak rod, you won't use it in combat anyway.
- Mud Shot: ok damage, but not as good as Koga.
- Earth Arrow: very good damage, as good as Koga.

So the strong alternatives to Koga are Mud SHot, and Earth arrows.
That means more damage potential for earth than water late game.

I am pretty sure Break is a earth based spell, it just does no damage. As I don't think I ever had it miss on the earth weak birds. Immune is a different story however.

Some other notes, the Ringwyrms in Cerobi absorb earth, as does Hashmal in Pharos. Chaos is weak to it, and one of the more durable mobs in Pharos was also weak to earth. I don't recall many other things that absorb earth, but it is fairly rare to have a good source of it.

While looking into it further, I was noticing the same, on the other options and earth/water both were covered better by ranged. Though then again, is there anything of note in the mid-late game that is weak to or absorbs water? Entites not included, they are almost always a pain outside of the lower level ones.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by hawklaser:

I am pretty sure Break is a earth based spell, it just does no damage. As I don't think I ever had it miss on the earth weak birds.

Weakness is purely a damage modifier, it does not affect statuses. Break has a base chance of 50%, modified by the caster's MAG and the target's VIT.

Personally, I find covering ALL weaknesses to be a bit overrated, but I suppose it depends on where you get it from and how easily it is done. Don't go TOO low on the weapon power, though, due to the way it works with enemy defenses.

The only elements to worry about, really, are holy and dark - not only because they're present on some of the endgame bosses and (in the case of holy) on so many endgame dungeon mobs, but also because White Robes and Black Robes exist, offering a 50% damage boost to already powerful melee.
I suppose you can also make an argument for fire due to Oil, but so many relevant targets are immune :(

[SenSx]

Just a litle note: Chaos is weak to earth, but completely disable attack command, so Koga is useless here, unless it is possible to use damaging technics that keep the element.