I actually bumping this cuz I'm wanting to hear peoples thoughts on a Pure Ninja (No chiv, necro, bush, magic, or bandies) and how they work them. I was thinking healing from Item Properties would be the way to go. Life Leeches and HPR (coupled with Animal Form HPR) and the occasional Greater Healing Potion. But I'm more attuned to the idea of straight HPR because you can easily smoke bomb and stealth a bit to let the HP regenerate. But also GH wands sound like a good quick dress/undress healing idea.
If your good enough, you'll make sure you leave them poisoned before going into hiding. If you run out of Smoke Bombs, I always make it a habit to carry a Shadow Strike capable weapon to try and manage. And ofcourse there is also Mirror Image to divert attacks upon.
I also looked at a defensive Special Moves. The Nunchaku has the Block ability if you choose Mace Fighting, an ability that raises defenses. I also took a look at Defense Mastery, but taking an attack penalty for a physical defense isn't exactly helpful. Rather stock on Reactive Armor scrolls (1st circle) and cast it for physical resists (Scrolls aren't cheating a pure build, but skills in magery do). Shadow Strike though is a favored defensive escaping move of mine.
I actually have concerns on the opening attack between Backstab and Surprise Attack. But I'm not sure what the mechanics are in terms of the defense penalty on Surprise Attack and the tracking bonus (distance travelled) for Backstab. Though I typically lead with a Surprise Attack so that Death Strike is more affective, thereafter.
I usually use both Fukiya and Shuriken to poison as my ranged attack (if I'm opting out of using Splash Potions). Darts usually get Deadly Poison against dexxers within 1-5 tiles. Shuriken usually applied with Lesser, fast-ticking poison against mages at the 3-10 tile range. Poison is necessary to me because if you need to stealth back up rom taking damage, you'll still have a DoT running while you recuperate (Though, not for long since avid Pvpers know how to deal with poison quickly.) My Best advice is to avoid fighting necromancers though. Vamp Embrace will drain you. You can't poison easily and they life leech, a.k.a., Tank-Spankers cuz they tank your damage and spank you into hiding. I usually have 100.0 Poison though and can sometimes land that Lethal on them those rare few times OR I'll just Toad form and let them strike me to get non-resistant poison. If you fight another Nox though, Unicorn form is your best friend. JUst remember you can't use a lot of your abilities in these forms.
Alas I ramble about things I'm interested in and this topic has most certainly proved that. But if I can learn something about the opening stealth moves or reliably tested pure build healing methods, it would be time well spent writing this. Thx in advance!