The Brandished Ninjato is a piece of Legendary (5-Star) Gear, evolved from the Epic (4-Star) gear, Nightwing's Ninjato. The unevolved version can be obtained by ranking in the top 5% of certain Online Battle seasons, or as a possible reward in the Worst Heroes Ever Bundle, The Dawn of Justice Triple Pack, Nth Metal Pro Packs, or Nth Metal Ultimate Packs.
It was introduced in Patch 3.1.
Effects[]
- Retarget 60% - 90% of enemy AoE DAMAGE to wielder of this item with 50% DAMAGE absorb
- 20% - 40% MAX HEALTH increase
- [Nightwing] Reflect 6% - 16% DAMAGE
- [EVOLVED] Give 150% - 300% of received AoE damage as POWER
Mechanics[]
AoE retarget[]
User will absorb 60%-90% Area Effect for their teammates, with an extra 50% AoE damage reduction for the user. This takes place whether the Ninjato user is tagged in or out. When tagged in, it manifests as extra hits on the user, counting as non-AoE damage. The Joker/Batman Ninja notably can have passive Area Effect and Life Drain on his specials - in which case those extra hits do benefit from his life drain. However, extra damage reduction does not apply to those extra hits - only Ninjato's own 50% reduction.
This effect will trigger even if the user's teammate has already been KO'ed and the Area Effect damage would not have occurred, which is a minor drawback to this gear as it causes the user to take unnecessary damage.
The Master's Death Cart has an unusual Area Effect: it is dealt in many small hits after the special, instead of being dealt immediately along with the normal damage. The Death Cart user hitting any enemy character with the Brandished Ninjato (does not have to be Nightwing) with a special or Combo ender would gain a flurry of power (at least 1 bar). This can still occur even if the Ninjato user is under Invulnerability (but not if the entire special is blocked by Invulnerability). If these hits against the Ninjato user coincide with the next special, those hits can apply gear DOT (e.g. The Ibistick), whittling them down very quickly. When this is used against Nightwing with the Brandished Ninjato, it will also cause many small hits to be reflected against The Master's Death Cart user. Arkham characters with Brandished Ninjato have been observed being KO'ed by this reflected AOE without triggering Batgirl/Arkham Knight's rescue.
Reflect[]
When equipped on Nightwing, he will constantly reflect damage, regardless of whether he's blocking or not, generating power in the process for both fighters. This applies to a wide range of attacks:
- Basic attacks, Special Attacks, and Super Moves.
- Batgirl/Cassandra Cain's tag-in damage.
- Harley Quinn/Arkham Knight's surprise attack.
Damage dealt by the reflection is calculated before Nightwing/Regime and Nightwing/Prime's passives or gear like the Gingold Soda's basic damage reduction are taken into account (i.e. they reflect normal amounts of damage even though they are taking reduced damage), but after block's damage reduction.
The reflect damage (as well as damage taken) can be reduced to zero with passives and gear, or completely negated by Invulnerability, but in both case, power is still granted to both fighters.
If Nightwing uses a special right before the enemy can hit him with basic attack (the animation started, but the attack hasn't hit him yet), the reflect shield will apply DOT from his equipped The Ibistick or similar DOT gears.
The reflected Super Moves can KO the enemies. If the last enemy uses Super Move and the reflected damage is high enough to KO that character, the animation of that Super Move will be skipped, the victory menu will be immediately loaded instead.
AoE to power[]
User gains power based on % max health lost from AoE attack. % of max power gained = 1.5x - 3.0x % of max health lost. For example, when maxed, the user will gain 3 bars of power (or 100% of max power) from AoE damage if that AoE deals damage to the user equal to their 1/3 max health. Because of this, characters with low health will gain more power than characters with high health, despite the fact that the amount of AoE damage received is the same.
Strategy[]
The first effect causes the character equipped with this gear to take most of the Area Effect damage meant for teammates while negating half of its damage, countering the likes of some of the deadliest characters and gears with Area Effect damage such as Deadshot/Arkham Origins, The Arkham Knight/Arkham Knight, and League of Assassins Adept Knives, etc. Although the user will be taking the most damage, the largest health boost, and damage absorb the gear provides compensates for this.
Just like the Batman Ninja Helmet, it is best geared on its signature character, in this case, Nightwing characters, namely Nightwing/Prime and Nightwing/Regime for their defensive capabilities or fittingly Nightwing/Batman Ninja. It is especially effective on Nightwing/Regime if he is also equipped with the Gingold Soda and the Killer Croc Companion Card EVOLVED as he will reflect basic damage while taking no basic damage himself, even if he is not blocking. Players can also exploit the reflect effect to counter Harley Quinn/Arkham Knight as her surprise attacks can give Nightwing a lot of power.
Brandished Ninjato makes Nightwing/Batman Ninja a powerful tank that can gain large amounts of power from blocking attacks whilst simultaneously absorbing massive Area Effect hits with minimal damage, especially when coupled with other tank gear like Fourth World Godly Helmet, Chest Plate, or Astro-Harness.
Alternatively, you can utilize its high max health boost, and equip it to a 'glass cannon' type character like The Flash or Batman/Blackest Night. Be noted that they will absorb area effect damage, which is not a good strategy since they are fragile characters - only use this when you don't have any better gear.
Fusing[]
| Level | Credits | 
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +1 | 1,000 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| +2 | 2,000 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| +3 | 3,000 | 6 | 10 | 8 |
| +4 | 4,000 | 7 | 12 | 10 |
| +5 | 5,000 | 9 | 15 | 12 |
| +6 | 6,000 | 10 | 17 | 14 |
| +7 | 7,000 | 12 | 20 | 16 |
| +8 | 8,000 | 13 | 22 | 18 |
| +9 | 9,000 | 15 | 25 | 20 |
| +10 | 10,000 | 18 | 30 | 24 |
| Credits |
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62,000 | 15 | 10 | 20 | 5 |
| 117,000 | 112 | 173 | 152 | 5 |
| Level | Credits |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +1 | 5,000 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| +2 | 10,000 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| +3 | 15,000 | 6 | 10 | 8 |
| +4 | 20,000 | 9 | 15 | 12 |
| +5 | 25,000 | 15 | 25 | 20 |
| +6 | 30,000 | 21 | 35 | 28 |
| +7 | 35,000 | 27 | 45 | 36 |
| +8 | 40,000 | 36 | 60 | 48 |
| +9 | 45,000 | 45 | 75 | 60 |
| +10 | 50,000 | 54 | 90 | 72 |
| Credits |
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 392,000 | 332 | 540 | 446 | 5 |
Shattering[]
| Evolution |
|
|
|
|
Bonus
Shards |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unevolved | 15 | 25 | 20 | 1 | --> | ? | ? | ? |
| Evolved | 18 | 30 | 24 | 1 | --> | ? | ? | ? |
| Maxed | 18 | 30 | 24 | 1 | --> | 27-53 | 45-69 | 33-71 |
Ignoring the power credit cost and assuming minimum output (18 red, 30 blue, 24 green), evolving it breaks even after 7 gear pieces shattered.
Ignoring the power credit cost and assuming minimum output (45 red, 75 blue, 57 green), maxing it breaks even after 6 gear pieces shattered (over the base evolved form).
Trivia[]
- The Brandished Ninjato along with the Batman Ninja Helmet, and Quake Engine are currently the only non-set legendary gears in the game to have 3 unequal values for the shard types.
- It would be the fourth piece of legendary gear with character-specific effects, after the Militarized Batmobile, Batman Ninja Helmet, and the Quake Engine.
| Gear (evolved) |
|---|
| 4→5 star 5-U-93-R Pill (Overpowered 5-U-93-R) • Alien Artifact (Mother Box) • Ancient Katana (Soultaker Sword) • Astro Force (Astro-Harness) • Black Diamond (Heart of Darkness) • Black Power Battery (Nekron's Scythe) • Cloak (Cloak of Destiny) • Gingo Fruit (Gingold Soda) • Gloves of Azrael (Gauntlets of Azrael) • Mysterious Artifact (The Ibistick) • Nightwing's Ninjato (Brandished Ninjato) • Ra's Al Ghul's Dagger (Ra's Al Ghul's Scimitar) • Riddler's Cane (Riddler's Staff) • Scarecrow's Mask (Scarecrow's Ventilator Mask) • Sengoku Helmet (Batman Ninja Helmet) • The Batmobile (Militarized Batmobile) • The Master's Arms (The Master's Death Cart) • Time Capsule (Quake Engine) • Totem (Tantu Totem) • War Gauntlet (Claw of Horus)
|