I have only ever made Faire Ninja for the Cane of Corpus? Was thinking about trying another race / weapon build. What have you tried that worked well?

Hobbit for 3 or more in party, and an Elf as solo.


The cane literally forced you to usually charge enemies,
if you plan to stay away from any cursed weapons,
go for throwing and Martial arts, later polearm or perhaps sword if you are lucky enough to find the light sword.

Although slings dont give ninjas ranged crits, equip a sling and also have enough shuriken etc in personal inventory.
That way you can hurl slingstones at long distance,
equip thrown weapons during a turn as they count as ammo,
when enemies come close unequip the shuriken and use MA.
Rise dex&spd all the way up, then go for sen&str,
dmg from MA scales with lvl and ranged crits only need 1 dmg to count

NOTE: the game will crash if you unequip shuriken during an attack sequence,
or was it only for the boomerang shuriken?
Anyway wait until all swings of an attack sequence are done, then remove shuriken from hands.
I think switching from Death stars to normal shuriken (as sson as target is poisoned;) does not cause crash.
Also the game does not offer enough thrown weapons in shops, so ninjas are literally forced to camp for ammo

I'd usually cast a spell first round and then the Cane acted like quite the Cuisinart.

any race can play Ninja with throwing bombs being the best damage they deal out unless they build as a Alchemist first in which case they pump spells

The cane is very special:

Unless in a strong party, you get it very late, because a difficult enemy must be defeated. Difficult, if your level is not high enough.
It is cursed, char cannot switch to throw weapons, which means you miss a trait of the Ninja class
It is completely OP in both damage and crit chance. It makes the rest of your party more or less obsolete.

Alternatives: As townltu mentioned, MA is by far the strongest "weapon" in the early game. It gets damage and iinitative by skill. There is no stronger weapon far into the game (Bayjin, Rapax, SE Wilderness). But in the endgame it cannot catch up with other good weapons in Polearm, Sword and Mace&Flail Categories, and feels lame. Daggers/Sais are not good enough and overall rather frustrating to play.

Of course, do not plan around other cursed weapons.

Do not expect the effect of critical throwns to make a real difference. Crits will happen, but rather not when you would like them, despite the "autopenetrate" which always gives a min of 1 dmg, unless the shuriken/dart misses. Effect sounds nice, but unfortuately is not worth a build around that feature. You sit before a 5 x 500 HP encounter and wait for the crit to happen, otherwise Ninja does about 5 damage average per hit. Is not really fun, even with 15 attacks per round, and a boomerang shuriken. And good ammunition, Death Stars, Doom Darts, is simply insufficient available, as townltu said.

My own experience with boosting SPD on MA is not that good, imo STR brings better returns, except with the CoC.

If the Ninja is mainly supposed to support the party with Alchemy spells, I am more fond of Alchemist, Bishop. Ranger than with Ninja. Slow development and hybridism hampers her efficiency in that respect.

One alternative, if you are planning on getting the Cane:

Get the Staff of Doom early, and equip it. It is usable by everyone (including fairies), and while not as good as the cane, is still a very nice weapon. The staff uses the same skill, so your skill will be high enough for when you do finally get the cane, and it is still a very nice weapon, yet is a lot more accessible.

To deal with the negative HP regen, just give the character an Amulet of Healing, which is buyable, plus there are two hidden in the game. (It's a top tier accessory, and probably the best buyable item that doesn't require going through Rapax territory.)

You can buy Remove Curse scrolls if you don't have access to the spell; that will allow you to switch over to the cane once you acquire it. (Note that a Bishop's remove curse ability isn't going to work unless you're level 16 or 17 or so, so don't rely on it; Bishops can, of course, learn the spell and use that.)