Let's be honest, Ninja Exams is a content we all hate and just want to get it over with for the scrolls. While some of us, like myself, do enjoy coming up with strategy to pass them, most of us just plain hate them. So here's a thread compiling tips and tricks for Ninja exams in general. Some of them will be useful. Some of them might not be depending on what ninjas you own and what ninjas you don't. But here goes:

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I. The basics rules of NE:

1. The basics of Ninja Exams in general is to interrupt your opponent so your team will be taking the least dmg possible, while dishing out enough dmg to finish the fight ASAP. So keep in mind of all the ninjas who can interrupt/cc whether it be with their chases or their mysteries.

2. Buffs and shields are your best friends. When you have problems surviving or lack the dmg to finish the exam, remember those who gives buff and shield.

3. Initiative. There are certain special levels, and/or certain waves, especially later levels where a certain or all of your enemies will use their standard before your ninjas even use mystery. Initiative is useless on those specific levels. HOWEVER, on any other levels than those, your inits are very important. More on this later.

4. AI priorities: If you don't queue any skills, the AI will aim their mysteries for the ninja with the lowest HP currently in your lineup (not counting clones & summons). If you queue multiple mysteries, the AI will aim for the one that supposedly move last (if pos1 and pos2 queue, pos2 will be targetted). Basically, learning how AI works is a learning progress, you'll pick these up naturally if you pay enough attention.

5. Youtube and the forum are your best friends. Seriously, they are. There are guides put up by others just a quick search away. Many of them will work for you, I'm sure, I've been there.

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II. More advanced tips:

6. Initiative and positioning: In a typical non-special level, your pos1 will always move before AI pos1. If your pos2 has more than 10k init, it will also move before the AI pos1. Similarly, if your pos3 have over 10k init, it will move before the AI pos2. So on and so forth. If your pos3 has over 20k init, it will move before the AI pos1 as well. What does this mean? Well, it means you can sort of use a "reverse stacking" strategy on certain levels, having 3 dmg dealers/interrupters in your team in the positioning that have your pos3 having over 20k init, your pos2 over 10k, and your pos1 having any amount of init, and if you play it right, you could use all 3 AOE skills, killing off most of your enemies before they even has the chance to do anything. It also means that having a pos2 with over 10k init saves lives, especially if that pos2 is someone like Kisame Sharkmode and your enemies use most of their mystery round 1.

7. Gearing and dmg dealer: NE is probably one of those case where you may actually don't always want your pos1 to have all the best gearing. If you have a glass canon dmg dealer, or someone vulnerable to cc, it may be better to have a pos1 who can tank in front and focus your good gear on your actual squishy dmg dealer.

8. Know how the AI works. You ever wonder when watching Youtube guides how the person playing seems to know exactly who to target and when to do it? It's because they have likely tried the level again and again until they work out the rhythm of the exam, and came up with a countering rhythm. Know what the AI will do, figure out why you lose, and then come up with a strategy to resolve those issues.

9. Know your ninjas. When watching someone else do it with a ninja you don't own, don't just immediately dismiss the team and look for another one. Break it down, look for the specific reason WHY a certain ninja was used, and see if you own someone else who can fulfill that requirement. For example, if someone is using Kazakage Gaara, and you don't have him, figure out whether they use KK Gaara for his shield, his barrier, his super armor, or his chase. Normal Gaara with skillbooks generally is a better replacement, but if you don't have his bt yet, there are still other choices depends on what you need him for.

10. Elemental Puppets and Elemental damages: A Puppet of a given element will only take dmg from skills having that element. They c*so be drained by DoT (dmg over time) like poison, ignition, or if they use skill under imprisoned status (Fire main's mystery and chase), or they also take dmg from repulse. However, you should note that just because a ninja is of an element, doesn't guarantee he deals that elemental dmg. For example, 6PN doesn't deal wind dmg (while most of his counterparts do); Ningendo doesn't do Lightning dmg, he does do earth dmg, with his chase, though; Edo Hashirama deals earth and water dmg with his mystery, and both chases, but his standard does neither elemental dmg. In other words, when in doubt, use Edo Hiruzen, Tenten GNW, or Kinkaku, they do all 5 elemental dmg with their mysteries.

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III. Others:

11. Patience is a virtue. I've spent 4-5 hours on NE 300 when it first came out with 0 difficulty reduction. I've spent 2 hours on lv325 waiting to get the RNG just right (well, technically, I could have been done in 1 hour, but just as I was about to win the first time, blackscreen out of nowhere, and I had to waste another hour getting the right rng again). And those are just the 2 most recent horror I have yet to forgotten. I'm sure I've wasted even more time on certain earlier levels before I got all the OP ninjas. Basically, what I'm saying is, I know it's a pain, we all have to go through it. Just relax, breathe, pray to RNGesus and try again, if you can't take it anymore, go get some air, clear your head, come back to it later. It's not going anywhere.

12. If all else fail, wait for difficulty reductions.

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That's it for now.

G'luck!!!