Though I was initially torn on the Neo-Ishgardian gear, after putting together an initial glamour for Dark Knight using the new top, the overall style grew on me rather quickly. All the frills and gowns across the various sets (for females, anyway) are the sorts of things I normally avoid on Alahra’s glamours, but the more time I spent playing Dark Knight the more something about it seemed to feel right. As silly as it sounds, I suspect part of it is the fact that the team gave the sets an Ishgardian origin. In-character, Alahra’s time in Ishgard had a profound impact on her, and it felt appropriate that she’d become enamored with new Ishgardian styles.

Once that thought had pushed me past my initial reservations, I wanted to experiment with the Neo-Ishgardian sets for other roles and see if I couldn’t make something of a glamour cycle out of them. While I’ve been testing combinations for many roles, the Neo-Ishgardian Top that’s my clear favorite at this point is the Striking one. As is often the case for gear cycles, I like the Striking gear better than the Scouting set (which is something that will forever torment me, since Alahra’s DPS main is likely to remain Ninja until FFXIV shuts down). While many of the Neo sets have long cloth trains, which seem poorly suited to Alahra’s melee, agility-focused fighting styles, the Striking set doesn’t, and that makes it the one I think she’d be most likely to wear.

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Glamour Components (Requirements: MNK 80, Female)
Weapon: (Tarnished) Makai Fists
Head: Reading Glasses (Ul Brown)
Body: Neo-Ishgardian Top of Striking
Hands: (Tarnished) Makai Fists
Legs: No.2 Type B Bottoms (Jet Black)
Feet: Ishgardian Thighboots (Jet Black)

So, despite my never really playing Monk (or Samurai) since the mudra revamp for Ninja, I chose the Striking body as my next Neo-Ishgardian project. As with the Fending body, this one’s gold on a dark base makes for an easy fit with many of my favorite pieces already, and given that I was planning a whole cycle of glamours, I didn’t have too much trouble setting the foundation here. Alahra’s glasses were in from the start (though I do rather like the Neo-Ishgardian caps), and as before I liked the pairing of the Ishgardian Thighboots with the body piece.

Given the body’s black and gold base, my original thought was to use the Replica Allagan Gauntlets of Striking for a pair of long gloves, but I quickly fell in love with the bracers and upper arm guards on the body itself. Without them, I don’t know that I would like the top’s sleeves, but the guards create an interesting profile, which made me want to stick with them. As a result, I went with the Makai Fists I’ve been using forever now, which does lock this exact look to Monk (though your favorite fingerless gloves of choice in black would probably work just fine for Samurai or if you don’t have access to the Makai Fists).

Since the frills on the Striking top are mostly confined to a short skirt, unlike the Fending one, I quickly found that the Faire Kohakama I used last time weren’t a great fit, since they led to some visual clashing. Of the available options, it came down to the Skallic Bottoms of Striking or the No.2 Type B Bottoms, and overall I preferred the tights on the latter to the ones on the former. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a dye that matched the pink on the body piece, so I defaulted to black on the leg piece.

Since putting this one together, I’ve been idling on it regularly, since that’s likely to be all of the play it gets and I’m still quite happy with the look. In all seriousness, I’d gladly give up the chance for unique Scouting sets to have Ninja back on Striking gear (as is the case for gear released prior to Ninja’s Patch 2.4 debut), simply because those sets so often seem a better fit than the Aiming or Casting gear that Ninja has been regularly sharing models with for some time now. I can’t imagine that’s ever likely to happen, though, so the best I can hope for is that we get a new Scouting job that opens up some style possibilities for the role (like Samurai did for Monk in Stormblood).