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Ninja

Playstyle: Offensive · Complexity: 2/6 · Season 1

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Who is this character?

A combo assassin: chip damage plus delayed poison, with Ninjutsu pumping every hit.

How to play Ninja

If after roll 1 4× Shuriken for Walk the Line are reachable. Keep 4× Shuriken and reroll all dice not needed, aiming at Walk the Line (4 dice). If fewer than 4 matching dice remain after roll 1, switch to Assassinate!. Walk the Line deals a documented 12 damage and bypasses the defence roll, so the 4 committed dice stay on the table.

Early game: Run Slash as a safe baseline and build early Ninjutsu tokens plus Delayed Poison via Smoke Screen.

Mid game: Use Death Blossom and Walk the Line for undefendable burst damage.

If after roll 1 5× Mask for Assassinate! are reachable. Keep 5× Mask and reroll all dice not needed, aiming at Assassinate! (5 dice). If fewer than 5 matching dice remain after roll 1, switch to Walk the Line. Assassinate! deals a documented 10 damage and applies Delayed Poison, so the 5 committed dice stay on the table.

Apply the second delayed poison BEFORE the first ticks – 2 tokens = 6 damage at once.

Death Blossom becomes undefendable with a mask in the follow-up roll – often better than Slash against tanks.

Throwing the Smoke Bomb at a 3-damage hit early and eating the 10 afterwards in full.

Hoarding Ninjutsu until the opponent is dead – unspent tokens are lost damage.

Strengths

  • Slash lands almost always with 3 of 6 blade faces (5–7 damage)
  • Delayed poison: 3 damage per token at the end of the opponent's turn (up to 2 tokens = 6)
  • Ninjutsu turns any attack into +1 to +2 or undefendable

Weaknesses

  • No block: Smoke Bomb only dodges on 1–3 (50%)

Key attacks

  • Slash
    Standard route

    Reliable damage route for turns without special setup.

    Take it as soon as 3× 🗡 Blade is mostly on the table after roll 1 (98% across all three rolls): safe damage beats rerolling working dice for a harder route.

    3× 🗡 Blade · 5 damage

  • Walk the Line
    Burst

    High single-turn damage that locks several dice.

    Only go for it when at most one symbol of 4× ✴ Shuriken is missing after roll 1 (54% across all three rolls); otherwise you give up an already safe route.

    4× ✴ Shuriken · Sum of 2 dice

  • Death Blossom
    Standard route

    Reliable damage route for turns without special setup.

    Take it as soon as 3× 🗡 Blade + 2× ✴ Shuriken is mostly on the table after roll 1 (63% across all three rolls): safe damage beats rerolling working dice for a harder route.

    3× 🗡 Blade + 2× ✴ Shuriken · about 6 damage

  • Smoke Screen
    Standard route

    Reliable damage route for turns without special setup.

    Take it as soon as 1× 🗡 Blade + 2× ✴ Shuriken + 1× 🥷 Mask is mostly on the table after roll 1 (72% across all three rolls): safe damage beats rerolling working dice for a harder route.

    1× 🗡 Blade + 2× ✴ Shuriken + 1× 🥷 Mask · about 3 damage · delayed poison

  • Poison Blade
    Control

    Control route: damage plus an effect against the opponent's next turn.

    Worth it when the opponent is hunting their strong route next turn (59% across all three rolls): the effect beats a few extra damage points there.

    Small straight (4 in a row) · 5 damage · delayed poison

  • Shadewalk
    Control

    Control route: damage plus an effect against the opponent's next turn.

    Worth it when the opponent is hunting their strong route next turn (10% across all three rolls): the effect beats a few extra damage points there.

    4× 🥷 Mask · 6 damage · delayed poison

  • Shadow Fang
    Burst

    High single-turn damage that locks several dice.

    Only go for it when at most one symbol of Large straight (5 in a row) is missing after roll 1 (25% across all three rolls); otherwise you give up an already safe route.

    Large straight (5 in a row) · 8 damage

  • Assassinate!
    Finisher

    Ultimate: the board's highest damage value with the hardest requirement.

    Do not force 5× 🥷 Mask (1% across all three rolls): only when the requirement is reachable after roll 1 is giving up the safe route worth it.

    5× 🥷 Mask · 10 damage · delayed poison

Key statuses & resources

  • Ninjutsu: Max 3 tokens. Spend after an attack and roll: 1–3 = +1, 4–5 = +2, 6 = +2 or poison or undefendable. Smoke Screen banks 2, Shadow Fang 2. Whenever a kill or a double delayed poison becomes possible – hoarding beyond 3 does nothing.
  • Smoke Bomb: Spend when damaged and roll: 1–3 negates the entire hit (max 1 token). Smoke Screen, Shadewalk, Assassinate!; Shade Shift on 2 masks. Only against the biggest hits (8+) – a 50% coinflip is too expensive for chip damage.
  • Delayed Poison: negative, inflicted by Smoke Screen, Poison Blade, Shadewalk and the ultimate.
  • Preferably spend Ninjutsu at 2-3 stacks before a big attack (Assassinate!/Walk the Line) to maximise the burst bonus.
  • Ninjutsu: Smoke Screen banks 2, Shadow Fang 2.
  • Ninjutsu: Whenever a kill or a double delayed poison becomes possible – hoarding beyond 3 does nothing.
  • Smoke Bomb: Smoke Screen, Shadewalk, Assassinate!; Shade Shift on 2 masks.
  • Smoke Bomb: Only against the biggest hits (8+) – a 50% coinflip is too expensive for chip damage.

Abilities & board

Health: 50 · Starting CP: 2

Dice symbols

🗡 Blade · 3/6 (faces 1, 2, 3)✴ Shuriken · 2/6 (faces 4, 5)🥷 Mask · 1/6 (faces 6)

Level I abilities

  • Slash
    Normal
    Dice requirement:
    3× 🗡 Blade
    Damage/healing:
    5 damage
  • Walk the Line
    Undefendable
    Dice requirement:
    4× ✴ Shuriken
    Damage/healing:
    Sum of 2 dice
  • Death Blossom
    Undefendable
    Dice requirement:
    3× 🗡 Blade + 2× ✴ Shuriken
    Damage/healing:
    about 6 damage
  • Smoke Screen
    Normal
    Dice requirement:
    1× 🗡 Blade + 2× ✴ Shuriken + 1× 🥷 Mask
    Damage/healing:
    about 3 damage
    Key effects:
    delayed poison
  • Poison Blade
    Normal
    Dice requirement:
    Small straight (4 in a row)
    Damage/healing:
    5 damage
    Key effects:
    delayed poison
  • Shadewalk
    Undefendable
    Dice requirement:
    4× 🥷 Mask
    Damage/healing:
    6 damage
    Key effects:
    delayed poison
  • Shadow Fang
    Normal
    Dice requirement:
    Large straight (5 in a row)
    Damage/healing:
    8 damage

Ultimate

  • Assassinate!
    Ultimate
    Dice requirement:
    5× 🥷 Mask
    Damage/healing:
    10 damage
    Key effects:
    delayed poison

Defense

Shade Shift The defense roll is made whenever you are attacked. The prevented damage is not sufficiently verified. Avoiding the attack is also possible. Shade Shift prevents nothing: 3 dice (1 reroll), retaliate 1 per blade, 2 per shuriken, Smoke Bomb on 2 masks.

Special mechanics

  • Shade Shift counter
    Board mechanic
    Shade Shift prevents no fixed damage. Its defensive roll creates 1 normal counter-damage per rolled face and can create a Smoke Bomb on 2 masks.
  • Delayed Poison stack
    Token mechanic
    Delayed Poison stacks up to 2 tokens and deals 3 damage per token at the end of the opponent's turn. · Maximum: 2

Resources

  • NinjutsuMax 3 tokens. Spend after an attack and roll: 1–3 = +1, 4–5 = +2, 6 = +2 or poison or undefendable. · Smoke Screen banks 2, Shadow Fang 2. · Whenever a kill or a double delayed poison becomes possible – hoarding beyond 3 does nothing.
  • Smoke BombSpend when damaged and roll: 1–3 negates the entire hit (max 1 token). · Smoke Screen, Shadewalk, Assassinate!; Shade Shift on 2 masks. · Only against the biggest hits (8+) – a 50% coinflip is too expensive for chip damage.

Upgrades & cards

What changes?

  • Slash
    Level II
    • Damage: 6 damage instead of 5 damage
    • Dice requirement: 4× 🗡 Blade instead of 3× 🗡 Blade
  • Slash
    Level III
    • Damage: 7 damage instead of 5 damage
    • Dice requirement: 5× 🗡 Blade instead of 3× 🗡 Blade

Hero-specific cards

Not sufficiently verified

Works well with

  • Seraph

    Seraph adds the healing that Ninja lacks.

  • Wolverine

    Wolverine adds the healing that Ninja lacks.

  • Gambit

    Gambit adds the healing that Ninja lacks.

Good matchups

  • Gunslinger

    Gunslinger lands spikes up to 10 damage once Reload is up – and Ninja has little to absorb it.

  • Pyromancer

    Pyromancer lands ~6 damage per turn once Fire Mastery is up – and Ninja has little to absorb it.

  • Rogue

    Ninja pushes damage through that Rogue barely stops with Duplicate.

Tough matchups

  • Druid

    Druid pushes damage through that Ninja barely stops with Shade Shift.

  • Storm

    Storm pushes damage through that Ninja barely stops with Shade Shift.

  • Huntress

    Huntress keeps Ninja tied up with Bleed, and Ninja already needs tight rolls.

Buy now

Dice Throne: Season One – Battle Chest

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