Samurai: Ultimate Guide by Gregedor
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 | Samurai: Ultimate Guide By Gregedor |
About the Author
About this Guide
Support Jobs
 Warrior
Tried and true, you can't go wrong with this support job. I use it probably 80% of the time. Has very high strength compared to other support jobs.
 Thief
Puts you at 5 STR lower (on 75 Hume) than a warrior subjob. Main benefit here is the hate transference and the ability to do high, quick damage on HNMs/gods/etc. Awesome skillchain closer. This used to be used in mid-level parties to help control enmity and increase the skillchain damage. These days you probably won't use /THF in most parties and at 75 it's rarely heard of for merits.
 Ninja
I swear if one more merit party asks me to sub ninja… No really, since the addition of Seigan there isn't much need for this. Heck most of your party is going to be WAR/SAM or DRK/SAM or seemingly something /SAM these days. They don't have shadows so why do I get forced /NIN? Anyways, fumbling around with removing hasso, casting, putting seigan up, more gear swaps, cast again etc. is daunting at first. If you're not used to /NIN it's better to /THF and hand enmity to someone with a real need for /NIN. Ninja subjob adds nothing for damage, /THF at least gives something. Conversely you could use /DRG which is less damage than /WAR but more than /THF or /NIN. Taking the middle ground will keep others ahead of you in damage, and therefore enmity, and mitigate a lot of the need for /NIN. Nothing is more frustrating than to take too much damage on /WAR and then switch to /NIN and never lose a shadow because your damage output has gone down so much.
 Ranger
I actually used Ranger a lot in the lower levels. Sharpshot can allow you to gain TP rapidly by spamming a few arrows, and bow WS are on par or better than GKT early on. The subjob loses it's usefulness in the middle levels, then roars back at 75 with the addition of god gear, merits, and weak to piercing merit camps. With the recent merit updates, it's now possible to max your Great Katana AND Archery merits. Before you had to be 4 in one and 8 in the other. This is a huge bonus to all those doing SAM/RNG. Also, I should mention that SAM/RNG is simply tons of fun.
 Dragoon
This subjob is mostly for fun. If you have it for lower levels it's a great choice, but by the end of the game it does not beat /WAR even with the 5% haste earring. /WAR just adds far too much atk/str/double attack. Several people now have pointed me to an article that argues in favor of /DRG over /WAR, but the article itself did not copy the parse numbers correctly, shortchanged the /WAR accuracy, used the relic GKT which has latent effects making Jumps far more powerful than anyone using Hagun, and finally it ignored the almost 4% difference in critical hits between the two subjobs. In short, adjusting all those numbers to the correct values makes /WAR better even with a relic weapon. Often times I see /DRG used when people don't want /WAR because it means taking it on the chin, but don't want to do /THF because it's fairly lackluster in parties. /DRG gives a way out with more damage than /THF but less than /WAR, High Jump will also help shed a tad bit of hate.
 Monk
Monk?!? Gregedor you're off the deep end now. Actually I'm not. At lowbie levels (like 1-20) this isn't a bad option. Being able to Boost every 15 seconds ups your damage quite a bit at these levels. I use it quite often on new jobs, though I didn't have it for my Samurai. Some of the job abilities and traits make is seem like it'd be interesteing to play around with at level 75 as well, but you won't be bringing it to parties.
 Dancer
Dancer? Yep. If you think about it though, Samurai is a job based on gaining TP rapidly and Dancer is a job that converts TP into abilities. It seems like a perfect marriage. Very useful for solo work, Campaign, Assault, areas that don't require heavy healing really. If mobs are hitting you for more than your Cure III equivalent, then it can get dicey. The only downfall is the level cap that you have to deal with when taking DNC as a subjob. Only abilities up to level 37 count and that excludes a large portion of the nifty tricks. Still, let's take a look at it.
*I called the sambas as Endrain/Enaspir because it's a familiar reference to En-spells from RDM. They don't actually steal HP or MP from the monster, but rather give you a portion out of the damage inflicted. Essentially it is created out of thin air rather than stolen. Others
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Equipment
WeaponsSamurai are fairly versatile in their weapon choices. If you can do it, get all your available weapons capped and then you never have to worry. There are really only three primary weapons you will use and two you might consider for special situations
Primary Weapons:
Secondary Weapons:
Great KatanaThere are many Great Katanas to choose from out there, but in true Square-Enix style most of them are not even worth considering. Great Katanas that you want to consider and their purposes are outlined below.
Levels 1-39
Levels 50-59
Levels 60-69
Levels 70-75
PolearmsPolearm will never be your primary weapon and should be considered after getting what you need for Great Katanas. It does have it's uses though. On "too weak" mobs, it will out damage your Great Katana regularly. I use one while farming for that reason. In xp situations though, it's reserved for birds, flys and other mobs weak to piercing (i.e. Caedarva Mire and Lufaise Meadows merit parties). Due to now having Colibri camps in the WotG zones for the 40s and Wajaom Woodlands for the 50s, I'd say put some effort in earlier than previously. There are also some Limbus zones where mobs have differing weaknesses and immunities that having multiple weapon types is a must.
Levels 60-69
Levels 70-75
BowsHaving a bow is a must for the times you're asked to pull, for me that was 9/10 parties unfortunately. Keeping your skill capped is fairly easy that way. Bow is also slower than your normal weapons, most times, and can therefore return a large amount of TP. Landing hits while pulling or firing as a mob is approaching camp can really give a boost to your TP gain. In merit parties though there often isn't time for it. Also a bow is a must if you want to pursue SAM/RNG and have fun with all the Sidewinder spam. (And it is fun!) Levels 1-55
Level 55+
GripsI have a short discussion on the discussion page (imagine that), but decided it's about time to incorporate Grips into the main page. I put it in weapons because it resides in your Sub slot and because it's listed under Weapons in the auction house, but you can call it however you like it. Levels 30-59
Levels 60+
OtherIn the spirit of completeness, I've added a catch all section for notable weapons that you don't typically use. These are either for fun, e-peen or exceptionally situational.
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ArmorThis is where the real art of choosing your setup begins. Your weapon is an enabler, at endgame each one has it's place. Your armor though is interchangeable while you're in combat and you may end up having many many gear swaps on your macro page. Each build will have a different subjob in mind, different enemy you're facing, the food you're eating or even something as basic as being in a different position relative to the mob.
Store TPAt the core of Samurai is the ability to do rapid weaponskills. That should always be at the core of your gear setup. Contrary to what a lot of Samurai tell you, you don't want to just stack Store TP because you can. Nor do you want to have too little in favor of another stat like STR. Getting to weaponskills fast allows for more skillchains and more damage. Remember samurai damage is often 50% or more from weaponskills and anything you can do to add to that will improve your play. Now, how Store TP works is it adds a % boost in TP return per hit on a mob. Pretty easy to calculate too, take base weapon return and multiply it by 1.XX where XX is the amount of Store TP you have. Samurai start with +10 and grow to having +25 at 75 just from job traits. You can then get another +10 from merits for a total of +35 with no gear on. This means a Hagun which grants you 11.5 base would give you 15.5 with +35 Store TP. About here is where you should ask, so what? Well the so what is how many hits does it take you to do another weaponskill? Before level 50 you can't really affect this because you have no Store TP gear available to you. After level 50 you can think about different setups to optimize your TP gain. Taking my +35 Store TP example, at 15.5 return, 100 TP takes you (100/15.5) 6.45 hits. Well you can't do a fraction of a hit, so it takes you 7 hits. Basically anything in excess of the minimum needed for 7 hits is a waste. This is where many Samurai make an error. They will either end up a few shy or many many over the number they want. So how much do I really need for a "7 hit build" on a Hagun? Well 100/7=14.29, meaning you need to get that much per hit. FFXI rounds each hit to the first decimal though so you need 14.3 rather than 14.2. Since the base TP rate is 11.5, simply divide this into 14.3. You should get 1.243. Drop the 1 since that's the base rate, and you need 25 Store TP to get your 7 hit build (since you can't get 24.3 Store TP). A level 75 samurai has that much from his job traits without merits so you don't need any additional gear. My same example works for all 450 delay weapons since Hagun is a 450 delay weapon. Here's a guide to help show the amount you need for different builds with 365 (Iron Ram Lance and Reserve Captain's Lance, both high DPS polearms), 396 (most SAM Polearms), 420 (some GKT, mostly those useable by NIN), 437 (a few +1 GKT as well as Relic), 450 (most Great Katana) and 480 delay weapons (Futsuno Mitama and some Polearms):
Levels in red are either unattainable or not worth the trade offs. As you trade more and more melee stats for Store TP there are diminishing returns on the benefit of reaching the next build level. One key thing to remember while choosing your gear though is that you gain nothing for extra Store TP. If you have passed that which is required for your build level, and don't have enough to reach the next level, anything in between is a waste. Trade it out for melee stats. Now to caveat this... (what doesn't have an asteriks next to it in this game?) keep in mind that this applies to your weaponskills as well. If you take off all your Store TP on a weaponskill, then you'll need additional on your melee hits to catch up and keep your desired build. If you're up there at a 6 hit build and you drop as low as 25 Store TP on the weaponskill, odds are you can't make up for that on your other 5 hits. For those at 75 with the +10 Store TP merits and some Store TP gear it should be easy to reach the green levels. I would never really sacrifice this positioning during most situations you encounter. Some Samurai I have conversations with seem to believe having that 3% extra haste gear is more important than moving from a 7 hit to a 6 hit build on a Hagun. Dropping that one hit (assuming you're using your weaponskills always at 100% TP) means you're getting 15% more weaponskills. Furthermore, a weaponskill inflicts far more damage than a melee hit, so while he's gaining 3% more melee hits (and 3% more weaponskills), you're gaining 15% more weaponskills. The damage output is clearly in your favor. Now if you're arguing with your friend over about 15% haste gear and going from a 6 hit to a 5 hit build (with Hagun) then you probably should reconsider and take that haste. For myself, I'm at max Store TP merits and therefore have +35 natural Store TP. Adding in my gear I have a total of +48 Store TP on melee hits and +41 Store TP on weaponskills. Since 46 is the 6 hit build level, this required some thinking on my part. Basically calculate the weaponskill's TP return separate and add to it the 5 melee hits following. What you come up with is 16.2 from the weaponskill and 17.0 for each melee hit, five melee hits giving a total of 85 TP. Well a weaponskill and 5 hits adds up to 101.2 TP! So by keeping an extra Store TP over the 6 hit level on my melee hits, I can safely drop it for weaponskills and still have my 6 hits to 100 TP. Like I said earlier though, you'll find a lot of Samurai having around +40 or maybe even +42 Store TP and it's just wasteful because they're still stuck in the 7 hit range. The difference from 7 hits to 6 hits for TP might seem small, but the results are huge. Equipment GuidelinesA Samurai should maintain several equipment builds. Really this is true of all melee, but for Samurai it's especially important. As discussed in the Store TP section above, you should have a desired TP build that gets you to 100% TP in 6 or 7 hits. Most of the time you want to be in this mode and sub in different gear for your weapon skills. There are times where TP build isn't necessarily as important.
TP BuildTP build is centered around, just that, to get TP as fast as possible. The best way to obtain this is to create a 6 hit build first. Easiest way is to get 10 Store TP from meriting so that you have 35 just standing around. If you aren't to that point yet, you can easily find 10 Store TP on the Hachiman or Shinimusha armor sets (Shinimusha Hara-Ate, Shinimusha Haidate). Now from the 35 Store TP point, it is easy to reach a 46 Store TP point. 11 Store TP can easily come from a Rajas Ring, Hachiman Sune-Ate and a Chivalrous Chain. Now if you don't have access to these pieces you can easily add up the other gear to get your desired level of Store TP. Now beyond getting that desired level of Store TP, what do you look for in the TP Build? It's not usually base stat bonuses like STR and DEX, but rather raw accuracy and attack. With the changes over the years, the power of base stats has increased for two-handed weapons (1 DEX/STR = .75 Acc/Atk). Base stats also have other stat perks (like crit rate). On individual melee hits you get no real benefit for any other stats. One of the most important pieces is Haubergeon, you should not pass this up. Stop at 59 or 60 and get the money to buy one. Now when samurai hit 70 I've watched a lot of them sell it for Hachiman Domaru and wear that all the time (and it's not for Store TP because they still don't hit a 6 hit build and you get 7 hit build by default at 75). Most of the time people do it just to recoup some money, this makes me sad. Nothing on that Hachiman Domaru would make you throw away Haubergeon. If your 6 hit build includes the Hachiman Domaru...find another way to get your 6 Store TP because Haubergeon is probably the most important piece of equipment Samurai can wear. Ochiudo's Kote is another highly prized piece. I'm not saying you need to cough up all that money at level 34, but you should include this item in your long-term plans. +20 attack is about the largest boost to your melee hits you will find. Now if you need Hachiman Kote to hit your TP level, then I guess you have to pass on these, but if you don't have to use hachiman then get this item. Another good substitue is Saotome Kote with 10 attack. One item that got a whole lot better with the two-hand weapon update is Byakko's Haidate. This might take longer to get, but instead of the old rules giving you 7 accuracy out of the piece, the 15 DEX is also ~12 accuracy making it the largest single boost to accuracy outside of Haubergeon +1. As an added boon you have the 5% haste. So while before you could consider Shura Haidate, Myochin Haidate +1, now the clear leader is Byakko's Haidate. Beyond this use your better judgement to find the amount of accuracy you need and put the rest on attack gear. I would shoot for enough accuracy to eat meats in xp parties, eating meat with many pieces of accuracy gear on will give you better damage than eating sushi with several attack pieces on. This is because you have many many pieces with 10 accuracy and can easily reach the accuracy mark of sushi. If you eat 90 attack meat though you're going to be hard pressed to replace all of that. The exception to this might be Mamool parties. All the Mamool Ja camps feature such easy to hit mobs as THF and NIN...crap. Here I would say newer SAMs or less merited ones stick to sushi, but those that have max GKT merits, good accuracy gear, etc. go with meat. Meditate GearAnother thing I've watched occasionally is samurai storing their Myochin Kabuto with all their AF. This is just wrong! Unfortunately for samurai you can't store your AF (unless you have AF+1 helm). The reason being that your Myochin Kabuto stacks with the Saotome Kote. Use them together! This means that you will get anywhere from 140-180 TP on your meditate. Without one or the other you're going to get 120-140 TP. There's nothing more important to samurai than getting TP. Make a macro for these pieces and don't remove it. Simple macro is: /equip Head "Myochin Kabuto" You could break this into just a /equip /equip /meditate and change gear back in your normal swap macros, but this is much faster and no chance to slip up. Don't melee in your AF helm. Please, please don't. I've seen it before so don't laugh. Even if you have the Myochin Kabuto +1 is not much better. The 5 STR isn't going to trump other pieces with 10 accuracy or 5% haste. Be smart, keep these for meditate but don't wear them 24/7. For those worried about not having Saotome Kote, it's a very common drop from Dynamis - Bastok, just put in some time with a linkshell to get the piece. My linkshell will get anywhere from 2 to 6 of these (yes we got 6 once) in one run. Since we do at least one Bastok a month, it doesn't take long to get one. Weaponskill GearNow where we went for all accuracy and attack on TP build gear we want to go for STR, STR and more STR on weaponskill gear. Yeah, attack is good too, but since the last 3 Great Katana weaponskills all have 75% STR modifier, adding 1 STR is worth (just eyeballing these numbers) about 4-5 attack. Keep this in mind when structuring your gear. If you have Ochiudo's Kote and Hachiman Kote go with Ochiudo's for weaponskills. If however you get something like Myochin Kote +1, then I'd say it's a toss up. Personally I went with the AF+1 over my O.kote. For SAM/WAR, SAM/NIN and SAM/THF TA, keep accuracy in mind. Samurai weaponskills are one hit by and large (only exceptions are Enpi, Jinpu and Rana). If you miss you do 0. It's not like Rampage where you can miss a few and still get some damage and the skillchain. Now having said that, it seems from recent testing that some of the Yukikaze/Gekko/Kasha (YGK) changes hint towards an inherent accuracy boost. This doesn't mean ignore accuracy, but it does mean you can relax how much you maintain for your WS build. Haubergeon is good to keep on 24/7 even though there are other pieces with more STR. Like I just mentioned though, you have to choose where to take some accuracy off for WS damage. Personally the chest piece, especially if you have Haubergeon +1 is a tough sell. They are 13 or 18 accuracy lost on just one piece. Kirin's Osode and Askar Korazin are probably worth the trade off, but something like Hachiman Domaru or Usukane Haramaki is not. For a Sneak Attack weaponskill, don't worry about accuracy. You're achieving an automatic critical hit, so go for as much STR as you can pile on. One exception to this rule is the Brutal Earring. Keep this piece of gear on at all times. 5% Double Attack is going to get you TP faster and has a chance of activating even on weaponskills. When on SAM/WAR that gives you 15% Double Attack and makes for some nice weaponskills. On SAM/THF this can make for some extreme weaponskills. Yes, 5% isn't a very high activation rate on SAM/THF and if you only do 10 WS it might never go off. Over time though it's more damage than your alternatives and when it does land you'll know it, lol. One item there is much contention over is to use a sea gorget or a sea torque. I recently got my Justice Torque and have tried to compare it to the Snow Gorget and Light Gorget. Neither piece is wrong, but the numbers aren't all that different. I think the real question is what mob you are fighting. I suppose I should do an hour with one and an hour with another at a merit camp, but either choice is good for weaponskills. If you don't have either, default to Chivalrous Chain. Don't melee in your sea gorget though, remember to take it off again! The Haste BuildOk the haste build. I'm sure everyone has been expecting it, what job isn't on the Haste bandwagon. If you troll the internet though you'll find countless boards that feel haste is wasted on any job that doesn't dual wield. You see it over and over in arguements about who should get Speed Belt, Byakko's Haidate and other coveted items. This is just flat wrong. Two handed weapon users argueably get more out of haste. Since all the haste boosts are percentage based, your swing speed increases far more than one hand users with each percent of haste. Hagun is a 450 delay weapon and if you throw up Hasso it falls to 405 and with 19% haste gear (as I currently have) it's 322. Telling me that doing the same damage and same TP in 322 delay that you do normally in 450 isn't worth it is just nonsense. The key to the samurai haste build, as opposed to any other class, is you just can't wrecklessly throw on all the haste you want. Remember the 6 hit TP build will give you 15% more weaponskills and will always be worth more than the meager 2% or 3% haste you might gain from putting another piece in that slot. Build your haste gear around your TP build. For my TP build I only need 3 pieces with Store TP: Brutal Earring, Rajas Ring and Usukane Sune-Ate. This leaves plenty of slots left for haste gear. Ok the easiest two to realize are the Walahra Turban and Byakko's Haidate. These two pieces alone already grant 10% haste. I honestly wouldn't worry about a haste build until you get at least these two pieces since they give you the largest bonuses. From here you have a choice. Either put haste in the hands slot and keep Store TP in the feet slot, or put haste in the feet slot and Store TP in the hands slot. To me, this isn't a debate, but some Samurai say differently. The haste pieces in question are Dusk Gloves and Fuma Sune-Ate (or Dusk Ledelsens). Both give 3% haste, but dusk gloves actually give you some attack. Remember my TP Build discussion earlier? If it's not accuracy or attack it doesn't matter for melee hits. Agility has no place on your Samurai for meleeing. My opinion then is keep the Hachiman Sune-ate and get the Dusk Gloves. What of Ochiudo's Kote and keeping Hachiman Sune-Ate? That's also an acceptable option. What of Hachiman Kote and Dusk Ledelsens then? You get more haste and attack from the Dusk Gloves so why would you reverse the two? The only time is a non-450 GKT (i.e. relic which is 437) because then you need more than the +5 Store TP from Hachiman Sune-Ate. If you're lucky enough to have Usukane Sune-Ate like I do, then it's a no brainer. You're going to keep those on and find a good hand piece. They also have more Store TP than Hachiman Sune-Ate so if you had on Hachiman Kote because you needed the extra Store TP, you can probably now get rid of them. The only real slot left then is belt to get more haste: Swift Belt or Speed Belt. When all said and done you should have around 19-21% haste on. Couple this with hasso and your attacks are effectively hasted 29-31%. But notice, you still kept the 6 hit build! There, now you have a 6 hit build AND 21% haste (31% after hasso). This takes a 450 delay Hagun down to 313. Slap on the haste spell and double march and you're talking a 162 delay Great Katana. You can spin that two-hander faster than most daggers, lol. It is pretty epic to watch. This isn't the end of the discussion though. That Walahra Turban might be the fastest headpiece out there but it does absolutely nothing for your stats. There's at least three other options (Aces's, Askar, Usukane). There's also a real contender to the Byakko's Haidate now in the Usukane Hizayoroi. None of these trade offs compete in raw speed, but they add damage which in the end is the real goal right? Personally I have built a spreadsheet to try to rack and stack various combinations of haste/attack/accuracy and really your setup has to be evaluated as a whole in order to decide which is right for you. In response to people requesting the spreadhseet... it's getting closer to a public debut, but not quite ready. Also, bear it mind it's all theoretical max/min/avg numbers and nothing empirical. Your final tests to validate your builds should be done in-game. SAM/RNGSAM/RNG is a different beast from anything else. Here you have to have both a good melee setup, a good WS setup and a good ranged setup. For TP building/meleeing it is the exact same as you would do with any other subjob. Perhaps you can get away with a few less accuracy due to being /RNG. For WS (if you need to use a GKT WS instead of bow) it's the same setup as being /WAR. So for this section I'm only going to talk about your ranged gear. Ok at low levels you can get by with some ranged accuracy rings and a good bow, Beater's Earring for good measure. The difference in skill levels between your C+ bow and a Ranger's A- skill isn't that significant yet. At the merit level, however, you need some serious help. I wouldn't even consider using SAM/RNG at 75 unless you have at least a few of the following key pieces:
Wow! That's some serious accuracy gear! You'll need every bit of it. Samurai archery skill caps at 230, 246 with max merits. A level 75 ranger is at 269 skill, 285 with merits and instead of the 22 accuracy boost you get from /RNG, the full RNG gets 44 accuracy! So...naked samurai is roughly 263+AGI/2+Gear... naked RNG is 298+AGI/2+Gear... hmm I think we have some work to do. Do not fear though! Samurai have higher STR, better access to STR gear and one awesome bow (Shigeto Bow). Yeah it's not a Eurytos' Bow but it's good. You certainly cannot go wrong with just stacking on more and more accuracy though. Only against Cadaerva Mire mobs or Greater Colibri can you reach the point that you don't want to be eating sushis, otherwise I'd generally put your meats away and bring on the fish. Since that's the case, tone down the accuracy in some key locations to maximize your damage on those Sidewinders. Where? Well the back piece is the first obvious one. Amemet Mantle +1 nets you 15 attack and 2 STR for starters. Now, if you decided to get a Jaeger Mantle (+20 ranged accuracy, -10 ranged attack) that is going to hurt your damage, but effectively combines two accuracy pieces into one slot so that you can potentially gain some more STR/AGI/attack elsewhere. I don't have one yet, but this can be a good alternative approach. Generally though you're not getting accuracy here so get the Amemet Mantle and up your damage. Your body is another normal spot. You can either go with Hachiman Domaru which is 8 STR and 8 accuracy. Yes, it's weaponskill accuracy, but for now let's only focus on those Sidewinders. Your other option here is Kirin's Osode which will give you 10 STR and 10 AGI and be a huge damage boost. The AGI also gives roughly 5 ranged accuracy and makes this essentially only 3 less accuracy than Hachiman. The feet slot is a good place to gain damage as well. There are no real good accuracy pieces here. Either go with cheaper Hachiman Sune-Ate which nets 2 STR and 2 accuracy or if you're Hume, Marine M Boots give you 3 STR and 2 AGI. Tarutaru samurai can enjoy Creek M Clomps for 4 STR. Askar Gambieras offer 3 STR and 3 AGI and topple both RSE. Your standard issue Rutter Sabatons you're using for melee WS are 3 STR and a decent alternative as well if you're cheap. Recent entries like Enkidu's Leggings pose a different tack with AGI and Ranged Attack instead of more traditional STR. Finally Hachiryu Sune-Ate have 10 AGI which is leaps and bounds above the other options I've listed...so is the price. Rings give you a bit of flexibility as well. You can have 2xSTR rings or 2xAccuracy rings or one of each, which is what I prefer most times. Rajas Ring is nice to have here since the additional Store TP nets me 22 TP returned, which is no slouch. This is especially key on Barrage, which I'll get to later. Garrulous Ring will give you 3 STR and 3 AGI, both modifiers for Sidewinder, but you might be better off with a 5 STR or 5 AGI ring. Everywhere else it's best to grab the most accuracy you can. You have no excuse for not having certain items. Things like your Shigeto Bow, Beater's Earring, Merman's Rings, Optical Hat, Seiryu's Kote you have no business trying to merit as SAM/RNG without. No really, if you don't have at least those pieces you're going to miss so much to make it not worth being SAM/RNG. Just go back to being SAM/WAR and hold off until you have the gear to make it work. Parties should not be willing to take a SAM/RNG that doesn't have the gear to make it happen. Wiff-fests went out the door back at level 55. What parties don't normally know, is that properly geared and in the proper camps you can exceed your SAM/WAR damage. Parties that don't accept your awesomely geared SAM/RNG should have a chance to see you in action first. Besides, it's fun and different! Ok earlier I said I'd talk about Barrage, well here we are! For RNG, Barrage is normally a significant amount of damage, sometimes even equal to a Sidwinder. I have found for SAM this isn't the case. Pile on that accuracy gear, all of it. STR and AGI will still modify your damage, but it's more important that you get all 4 hits to land than to squeeze a bit more out of 2 or 3 landing. Where you'll notice this most is your TP. If you do a sidewinder for around 20 TP and then land all 4 barrage shots you can easily be at 100 TP again and ready for more sidewinder. Since this is the case, keep some of that Store TP gear on. Everywhere else you can get accuracy gear. Body you might be tempted to have on that Hachiman Domaru, which is certainly not wrong, given the limited choices, but the 8 accuracy doesn't count on regular arrow shots, only on sidewinders. Kirin's Osode is the better choice here, or Kyudogi if you can afford it. One slot I haven't mentioned that is getting some attention recently is the Waist. Your Warwolf Belt is always an option, but the enmity is going to get you killed (kinda like it does on SAM/WAR). Royal Knight's Belt +1 is always a good option. It has 2 STR, 2 AGI and the attack...never really matters now since you're normally in ToAU areas for merits. CoP Dynamis gives the Saotome Koshi-Ate which is a great accuracy option and Assault has the Precise Belt as a buyable reward. Einherjar has the cream of the crop though. 15,000 points nets you Buccaneer's Belt. It has STR, it has accuracy...it even gives enmity down! Don't even think of something else if you have this. If you haven't caught on by now, SAM/RNG boils down to your gear. If you cannot hit about +60 ranged accuracy in your gear, I wouldn't come SAM/RNG. If you do surpass this mark, and eat sushi, your archery will be on par with your Great Katana accuracy. This is becuase on your GKT setups you've usually traded a lot of that accuracy for haste or attack gear. Another key enabler is the Soboro Sukehiro. It makes a vast difference in the performance of SAM/RNG. If the situation arises that you have to act like a full RNG (i.e. no meleeing) there's a few pieces left. You can either do Fire Staff and still use Hasso, or you can go with Trailer's Kukri and a Tatami Shield. The times you need this are limited indeed, but some examples might be kited mobs, or mobs that spam AoE. Treat the rest of your gear like it's barrage time, and pile on the accuracy and/or ranged attack. There is no reason you can't get enough accuracy to make it viable, and while your sidewinder is weaker you should do more of them than a normal RNG. |
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Sample LoadoutsWow, I've gotten a lot of feedback lately. Some of which are from SAMs who I respect very much. I was surprised they were learning from me. =P Anyways, this section appears to be highly anticipated. What does the Gregedor use? What is the best possible? Hopefully I can fill that in in this section. If you'd rather journey on your own using the guidelines I posted above, then skip this section. Otherwise...enjoy! Melee/TP Build
Well that's what I wear. There is enough Store TP to ensure that I keep a 6 hit TP build and enough accuracy to ensure I'm hitting. I have 18% haste gear in this configuration and 10% more for Hasso. I could use the Walahra Turban but the added STR and DEX give better results. Plus I'm tired of how the turban looks. Usukane Somen is another good option with more accuracy, but 1% less haste. Ace's Helm is still top dog, but it's a pain in the butt and doesn't look as good. =P With the ZNM update Black Tathlum has popped up and certainly would replace Tiphia Sting. There is also Smart Grenade out there for 4 attack instead of 2 attack/2 accuracy from the sting. I call that a toss up, some prefer one over the other. I think the main benefit of Smart Grenade is that you don't lose 25 HP. Be careful though, the grenade is still throwable! Other improvements you could work on are Speed Belt (or Ninurta's Sash) and Saotome Koshi-Ate if you ever need more accuracy. Full Usukane Haramaki Set does pose an interesting alternative to the above, but ends up being neck and neck on paper. Certainly anyone sporting a full set is worthy of some drool factor. A max setup with things like Dusk Gloves +1, Cerberus Mantle +1, Ace's Helm, Ninurta's Sash, etc. is about 15% better on paper than the build above for melee damage over time. Again that's just calculated damages and not actual parsed damages, but still... that's nuts! I mean to my credit the above setup is certainly no slouch. Slap a relic GKT on top and just blow everyone away... YGK Weaponskill Gear
So for weaponskills I get rid of all the haste gear and even some Store TP. The key on losing the Store TP, as I mentioned earlier, is that you have to have enough in your normal melee setup to compenstate for 1 of your 6 hits generating a point or two less TP. Losing the haste is of no consequence on a weaponskill. However, putting it back on quickly is important so that your next swing isn't burdened by being slower. Depending on what I'm doing I'll use Warwolf Belt or Potent Belt, it really depends on what accuracy I need to achieve and if the 3 enmity is going to make a difference. I've switched to using the new Champion's Galea instead of a Shura Kabuto. My recommendation is to use the 4 STR, 4 AGI, 15 weaponskill accuracy, 2% weaponskill damage build. This gives more damage than Shura or Wyvern Helm +1, don't know on Gnadbhod's Helm, however, a Galea of this config has the added benefit of working on everything. AGI will help SAM/RNG out and the 15 weaponskill accuracy helps both Penta Thrust and Sidewinder. This is even a great configuration if you have WAR, DRK or DRG levelled. There's more STR gear I could get, Forager's Mantle (or Cerberus Mantle +1), and Ifrit's Bow come to mind. The only trouble I have with getting a Forager's Mantle right now is that it's about 400,000 gil for only 1 STR improvment, hardly cost effective. If you're ready for top-of-the-line though you'll have to be willing to pay for it. You also don't recoup your Amemet cost if you're into SAM/RNG, since Forager's doesn't have the ranged attack. Something worth pondering is Smilodon Mantle +1. The NQ is 4 STR, which probably won't get you far compared to Forager's, but the HQ has 5 STR which is at least worth parsing out for comparison. Hachiryu Haidate also would be a large improvment. After working hard for the Usukane Hizayoroi I'm kind of miffed SE added the Hachiryu... but at the same time delighted there's a better piece out there. It's a love / hate thing. Now if only we can get a new foot piece, I've been using Rutter Sabatons for four years! Rana Weaponskill Gear
I've started using a separate WS build just for Tachi: Rana. Due to the three hit nature I've kept accuracy high while still gaining STR and attack for damage. Attack is more important here than on the YGK weaponskills. Obviously general improvements here mimic the YGK build, you can get more STR out of ranged or back slots, but most other slots this is a good balance of accuracy and damage. Cuchulain's Mantle would give a nice balance of STR and Accuracy, but you give up attack which is much more important on multi-hit weaponskills. The setup above is at the accuracy cap on most mobs and still manages +44 STR & +46 Attack, so overall it's a good balance. SATA Weaponskill Gear
For Sneak Attack weaponskills, my setup is essentially the same as the YGK build. With the two-hand update and max GKT merits my non-SATA WS is accurate enough to not need much additional accuracy so it closely resembles the SATA build. For SATA don't worry at all about accuracy, and to a lesser degree attack, because you get a free critical hit. Some might be asking, why the Brutal Earring? Well it is true that it only activates 5% of the time. Over time though that means you essentially have gained around 2.5% damage. This is more than what you get out of having a Triumph Earring equipped. Fenrir's Earring might be something worth considering, but only during the day time so you have to conscious of the clock and adjust your gear accordingly. Usukane Sune-Ate are listed here becasue they give decent stats for weaponskills, but they have 5 enmity. If the TA portion of your SATA is really needed, pop on more enmity and help that tank out. Improvements here are much the same as in the previous sections. Just stack on STR and to a lesser degree attack, there's no use for accuracy if you're doing SATA. If you're splitting your SA and TA, use the same gear for SA as you do SATA. For TA you can pick between a heavy hitting build like the YGK setup or an accurate build like the Rana setup. The TA doesn't add accuracy so if you want to ensure you land it trade in some accuracy gear. If you're not overly concerned about missing TA, then just go full bore with the damage gear. PLM Melee/TP Build
Ok here is my polearm build... I've been meaning to change out my lance, but don't use this enough to justify cost. If you have access to a Tomoe go for it, but you'll want a different amount of Store TP. Even I need a different amount... even with Rajas Ring equipped I would be 4 short of having a 7 hit build so I need a Rose Strap or for my Askar Korazin to finally drop. Ok first obvious improvement is Peacock Charm which is a huge cost or a ton of time spent camping the PCA. =( If you have Love Torque go for it! Even so this setup has +47 accuracy, plus 10 more from Hasso. That's a good chunk of accuracy. Even so, this is only about 82% accurate on Greater Colibri. To go further I should finish up Usukane Gote for +10 more accuracy, toppping out at 87% accuracy. Keep in mind I did grab 2 merits (4 skill) in polearm for some reason... if you capped this out at 256 skill with PCC and Usu hands you can hit the acc cap on Colibri pre-food even. Another item for improvement is that Bushinomimi, I love the sucker but have as of yet been unwilling to get another replacement. Something like Fowling Earring would be good for melee or Wyvern Earring if you've subbed DRG since you don't need the GKT skill of Bushinomimi when you're not using it... Minuet Earring or an attack earring or really anything is useful here. Note that here, full Usukane Haramaki Set is a great improvement. If you have Usukane Somen, Gote and Sune-Ate all for the accuracy/attack/haste combo, Usukane Haramaki will get you a tad more accuracy than the Hauby+1 and will get you that Store TP needed to reduce the hit build. Since 4/5 all benefit PLM use greatly... put on the legs and complete the set. You lose a bit of accuracy over the Byakko's Haidate but you get more haste and you can lose the Rose Strap if you were using one and go back to Pole Grip. Penta Thrust
Ok Penta Thrust is a bit different from the normal GKT weaponskills. Here the STR component is far less and there's an added DEX component as well. Also since you have naturally low Polearm skill you need lots of accuracy. Champion's Galea is a great item here. With the +15 weaponskill accuracy augment you can do yourself huge favors. If you went with the 2% weaponskill damage mod like I did for GKT use, that's not a bad pairing with the accuracy. If you're into strict PLM or other use though you could have the 10 accuracy 5 attack modifier on there for 25 total accuracy on penta thrust, wow! The above setup, though is near the accuracy cap though so I would focus on getting more damage. Cuchulain's Mantle is a nice balance of accuracy, STR and DEX so worth considering, but I don't think outweights the added attack. Standard Forager's Mantle though is a step up. If you get more accuracy somewhere either through PLM merits or gear you can always swap in more damage. Waist for instance, Warwolf Belt is great with both STR and DEX if you have enough accuracy to support. The second ring slot can get switched with Flame Ring. Hands though, there is more accuracy you could have, or more attack or even more STR, but at 7 STR & 7 DEX the total benefit of Myochin Kote +1 is hard to beat. Store TP is a bit of a concern with weaponskills. I do not have enough at the moment for a 7 hit build so I am not concerned by it, but if you are riding that line between 7 and 6 hit (with the delay I have going, other PLM might be the 6 and 5 hit line) then you don't want to drop any for weaponskill. Even though you might get an extra percent or two on Penta Thrust, don't count on that in your calculations. Sidewinder Gear
I went over SAM/RNG gear pretty thoroughly earlier. It really stresses you out though trying to find the optimal balance between accuracy and damage. Just accept the fact that you will never do more damage than a ranger, but strive to do it more often. You can see some of my trade offs above, such as one ring is damage (and some important Store TP) and the other is accuracy. I tend to keep the Pole Grip so that I can melee back TP a little quicker. You could go with a grip that benefits your ranged a little more like Axe Grip. Also I'm usually using Demon Arrows over Kabura Arrows because of the large gil savings over time. In terms of raw damage though you want Kabura Arrows. Improvements I would make here are fairly minimal. Longer term you can work for Hachiryu Sune-Ate. I'd work up the Einherjar points for a Buccaneer's Belt, that's a real no brainer. In the meantime my Dynamis LS has moved into dreamlands so I can get a Saotome Koshi-Ate to tide me over. You could get Behemoth Ring for one more accuracy, but that's hardly a world shattering improvement. Barrage Gear
For barrages I'm trying hard to hit all four arrows. The goal isn't so much damage as it is another method of getting TP. With Barrage on a five minute timer, which matches Sharpshot, I only use them in tandem to boost my accuracy further. Since I did change out my Rajas Ring with a Merman's Ring I had to put the Usukane Sune-Ate back on to keep enough Store TP to make me happy. In a perfect world, barrage would then give 84% TP returned. If you just used Sidewinder you have 20% already so it gives just enough for another weaponskill. Normally only 2-3 arrows land though so perhaps the 7 Store TP isn't as important to you. Something that's rare, but worth considering is the Bowman's Ledelsens that give 4 ranged accuracy, or again the Hachiryu Sune-Ate with 10 AGI (roughly 5 ranged accuracy). Improvments to this setup would be Hope Torque, Peacock Charm, or Sniper's Collar. Also Buccaneer's Belt, Behemoth Rings, and a Kyudogi. Kyudogi only gets you two more accuracy over the Kirin's Osode, but it does give you a few more attack as well. It's the better piece, but for the price it's only a marginal improvement. Again, I've traded out to Scorpion Arrows to save on some costs, but you can use Demon Arrows which have the same accuracy or go with fulltime Kabura Arrows for more damage. Defense/VIT Tanking Gear
The gear above would be for a straight-tanking situation. For this situation think like a Paladin except that you have very different gear access. Samurai's top end tanking gear ends up being the Kirin's Osode Set rather than any kind of abjuration or Salvage gear. I throw this setup in first because it's the most basic way to tank and because you tend to have a lot of this gear in your inventory anyways. As SAM/WAR you have provoke to help maintain some bit of control and hopefully you're still hitting the monster for decent damage on weaponskills. It really doesn't work for long durations though without a THF or /THF trick attacking you. Anyhow, with the setup above and a Protect V you should hit around 430 defense which is about 537 with defender on and even more with food. This is hardly slacking. True it might not be the 600 or so a Paladin is used to seeing, but if you've invested in this gear it's probably more than the warrior or ninja is going to have if they're focused into other aspects of their job. Now this isn't a complete story though. For the rings there are a multitude of options you can use here. I just showed Flame Ring because it has some defense and BQ ring because of the HP. You can always keep accuracy rings (Woodsman Rings though, don't give up defense with Snipers) or you can get Jelly Ring/Defending Ring to cut damage taken. There's more HP to get too with Bloodbead Ring. With the proper gear a Hume Samurai can hit around 1500 health and then boost it to 1600 or more with food. This is about as good as a Paladin and better than most Ninja I've seen. Legs also has diversity. Here you can use Dusk Trousers which have the most defense and HP. You could use Byakko's Haidate maintaining some haste, accuracy and decent defense. Lastly there's Myochin Haidate +1 with good defense, VIT, some HP and 10 parrying skill. Damage Mitigation Tanking Gear
Arhat's Gi +1 is the must have piece in this style setup, at 9% that's a huge boost and it's a simple AH purchase. This setup you're going for damage mitigation / reduction instead of defense/VIT like above, but it is still a straight tanking setup just with a different flavor. Remember that damage mitigation caps out at -50% so if you add other gear to this setup, remember that past 50% there is no more gains to be had. This is probably one of the more common ways you see SAM tanking. I've modelled the above towards a situation where you want to continue to do damage, but also mitigate damage taken. Hence the haste pieces, Usukane Sune-Ate, etc. that will keep your melee damage up. Also, even if you want to keep hate and remain the tank, the only way SAM has to do that is by inflicting pain! Looking at this steup though you'd have -40% damage taken, obviously you're using a polearm. If you want to stick with GKT you'd be at -30% damage taken, still not bad. There's plenty more pieces that offer protection, but it's entirely up to your play style. If you're lucky enough to have Shadow Mantle, since it activates 10% of the time it is equivalent to having a -10% back piece but it will not be a consistent reduction. Shadow Mantle would be above and beyond the 50% cap though since it is a different effect. This would mean you have an effective max damage reduction of 60%. So if you went up against let's say... a Chariot that hits you for 250 damage normally, with 40% reduction you're hit for only 150 damage. That's some serious gain! If you're lucky enough to have Phalanx / Phalanx II on top of this you get hit down around 130 damage. That's entirely manageable for straight tanking, but it still might be better overall on the party to blink tank something like a chariot. Go out and experiment on things and let me know since I have neither a Defending Ring nor a Jelly Ring lol. Conversely the same can be done with magic damage mitigation. Some pieces are dual use like I.R. Lance and Defending Ring, but Jelly Ring and Arhat's gear can go. If you're lucky enough to have Shadow Ring the same rules go for it as do for the Shadow Mantle. For Samurai it's probably harder to get up a decent amount of magic damage reduction, but it can be done. It will cost you more melee power though than the physical damage setup. Evasion Tanking Gear
Ok this time instead of soaking up damage, we just want to avoid damage altogether. Samurai has 256 natual evasion, which isn't too bad since only Ninja and Thief have a higher rating and other tanks like Warrior and Paladin have even less (both have 225). Again, like the above damge mitigation setup I wanted to keep damage fairly decent since that's the main method of keeping hate. You can obviously have more evasion than the above setup. So how did this come about? Well Usukane Haramaki is a no brainer, at 12 evasion it's up there at the top of the heap. It also adds some melee effects so it's a great piece, but expensive. To compliment this the Usukane Somen is 3 AGI and 7 Evasion while still keeping STR, accuracy and haste. Optical hat would be 10 evasion and accuracy, but you will be better served with the STR, haste and armor value thrown in on the Somen. Well, crud you're at two pieces of Usukane already, the expensive ones! Usukane Gote continue on this vein, at 10 evasion there's really nothing that can compete. Sure Seiryu's Kote is 15 AGI, but that's still short of 10 evasion plus it offers no other melee stats while the Usukane Gote can give you 10 accuracy to sweeten the deal. If you're at 3 pieces of Usukane already you're at a decision point. You can get some more evasion on legs and feet, albeit not much. Feet options now include Hachiryu Sune-Ate with 10 AGI which is great. If you want more damage though, at this point you might as well don the rest of the Usukane set. The last two pieces are the cheaper ones anyways. Full usukane offers 29 evasion and 13% haste so you're in a great balance situation. To flesh out the rest you can either go evasion or go damage. Earrings you can get 10 more evasion (2x Elusive Earring), waist 10 (Scouter's Rope), neck 7 (Evasion Torque), back 10 (Boxer's Mantle), that's 37 evasion. O.o Or you can keep with damage and have the setup as shown above. Boxer's Mantle is a good keeper since you get 10 evasion and parry. As shown above you have +39 evasion while keeping 95% accuracy and 17% haste. A more maxed out evasion setup you can reach +66 evasion, but go down to around 90% accurate and 13% haste. You could push it further losing the Usukane legs and feet in favor of other options, but you only lower your damage output further. So the setup as shown puts you around 256+39=295 evasion and a more boosted evasion mix places you at 256+66=322. That's certainly up there! Is it a THF? No, he's got +44 in job traits on you plus another 20 in raw skill, but it stomps a WAR or PLD and is close to a NIN. I mean you have basically the same gear access as a NIN (minus relic/AF/etc) so the difference is his A- innate evasion skill versus your B+. NOTE: I realize that Evasion Torque and Boxer's Mantle add skill and not evasion so they are somewhat less than 7 and 10, respectively. It is easier to treat them at face value for purposes of the example. |
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Gameplay and Tactics
Weaponskills and YouIn today's diatribe...Weaponskills! Before you read further if you don't know what a weaponskill is and how to chain them, you better learn. Samurai is the job for weaponskills. So get used to gear swaps and macro mashing because your wrists are in for a world of hurt. The Big ThreeIf you don't know the big three, they're going to become close friends with you over the coming months as Samurai. Tachi: Kasha, Tachi: Gekko, Tachi: Yukikaze are the Samurai's pain train. They do more though. I think it's fair to say that most people in the job class know they add status effects, but I know plenty of people never picking up Samurai that do not. Tachi: Kasha adds paralyze to the mob, Tachi: Gekko does silence and Tachi: Yukikaze does blind. This isn't 100% (what is in this game?) but I would say it's 75-90% on run-of-the-mill mobs. You can't tell when it's inflicted, except for paralyze because you get the nice message when the mob is unable to act. You do, however, get a message when it wears off. Usually that isn't too long, especially for silence it seems. Since all three weaponskills are nearly equal (Gekko is maybe just a tad more damage, but they're all equal on paper), I like to use the one suited to the mob I'm fighting. If you're fighting a mage mob, break out the Gekko, if you're doing other type mobs, use a Kasha. If you have Kasha on a mob, maybe put a Yukikaze on it next. For merit parties, this probably doesn't make or break the experience points. Things generally are dying too fast for you to care. If you're in the troll camps at Mount Z though, those last a bit longer and you might want to think about that as you tank it up following a WS. "Do I really want to let him keep casting tier 3 magic on me?" I will say that if you're soloing mobs, using these WS to their fullest will extend your life. Know and love the big three.
Tachi: RanaWith the addition of Nyzul Isle weapons and weaponskills comes Tachi: Rana. This guy is multi-hit like Jinpu, so go with a build of accuracy, attack and strength versus your normal YGK build of STR, STR and more STR. Unfortunately you'll only get moderate damage out of this and YGK will remain your primary pain train. What you can do though is two-step darkness chains! If you have Sekkanoki, Meditate, or Meikyo Shisui ready (or are just really handy with a Soboro!) then you can go Tachi: Rana --> Tachi: Gekko for a darkness chain with added damage and magic burst opportunities. Otherwise Rana is unfortunately another mediocre weaponskill. Same rules for Tachi: Jinpu do apply here though, there will be times you get a stellar performance simply because you landed every hit, got a double attack and well just flat lucked out. I do find that the gap from YGK to Rana is smaller when using a non-Hagun GKT so perhaps this is the way to go for people that do not yet have the Holy Grail of GKTs... no wait that's relic... Holy Handgrenade of GKTs... Stun Gun Ho!Let's get this straight first off...the damage on Tachi: Hobaku stinks. It stunk when you got it and it still stinks at 75. Yeah, yeah, I've had my fun little 500 damage hit before, but it's not a 1k+ Gekko. You're not using this weaponskill to score points in the e-peen contests. You're using this weaponskill to save your bacon. Of all the stun weaponskills, Tachi: Hobaku was probably the most reliable...with the change in one of the recent updates all the stun WS are about equal. Samurai get far more TP though so you are still the most useful. Use this to help stop Ancient Magic or -aga spells or any other undesireable effects. If your timers are down on the mages, you're a decent shot. It will certainly beat taking it in the face. While solo, you are the only hope. The stun gun reference is I've seen strategies where you basically do a stun lock with Samurai. If you have TP ready, 2hr ready, sekkanoki and meditate ready you have six stuns at your disposal you can fire fairly quickly. Chain a few Samurai together and you've got yourself a stun lock. This is definitely not foolproof. Some aren't going to work, some might miss, someone might be slow, face it you're going to have something go through. It is useful though and works in a pinch for mage power.
Tachi: JinpuOther than being fun to say, Tachi: Jinpu is a pretty decent skill. For it's level it's the most powerful until you get the big three. At later levels though it occasionally performs. The trouble with Tachi: Jinpu is the same trouble with multi-hit weaponskill in general. Landing seven hits on an Asuran Fists is relatively easy, but that last hit the game makes you struggle to achieve. Same seems to be true (for me) with Penta Thrust, Guillotine and other multi-hit skills. Well Tachi: Jinpu is only two lame hits, so it's nowhere near as hard, but it does have a nasty habit of giving you that lackluster hit whenever you use it. The upswing though is you can get four hits out of it. What? Yes four hits. Double attack can go off on both of the hits in the weaponskill and give you a four hit weaponskill. The proof is all my best merit party weaponskills in my screenshot collection are Jinpus. I even have one that is near 6k damage. Now it was a special mob in an assault, skewing the numbers, but that's just awesome. So don't use this all the time, but consider it from time to time if for nothing other than having fun.
The ForgottenUnfortunately for them, the other four weaponskill sit there collecting dust when you're past level 60. There's just no reason for them. Even if you want them to make a certain magic chain, it's not worth it unless we're talking something like a flood of BLMs are going to magic burst on it. Otherwise you do far more damage soloing a higher level skill than you do out of the chain plus burst damage on the weaker skill. Use them at level capped events, stow them for uncapped events.
Polearm SkillsThere's really only two options here, Penta Thrust and Impulse Drive. Often called Gimpulse Drive for how much it stinks, it can still put up some numbers and make a darkness chain. Penta Thrust, however, rocks! Penta Thrusts in the 2000 range have been rampant since the two hand updates. Archery SkillsDo I need this section? I guess for completeness... There is really only one skill to speak of for Samurai: Sidewinder. Well, I guess Namas Arrow if you had a relic weapon, but let's assume you don't. Use Sharpshot and/or have 150% or more TP to ensure hits. If you have enough accuracy gear though you should be ok at 100%. Spamming them as near 100% TP as possible is the goal afterall. Sword Skills?Some of us have sword skills! I capped it a long time ago for fun and for Spirits Within. Since a lot of the changes, especially the two hand updates, Spirits within is no longer needed. Overall sword is really not all bad, but it's a 230 skill so you're not going to use this in any serious capacity. If you use it for fun though, the highlight is SAM/WAR and breaking out Vorpal Blade. 1000+ damage on a Vorpal Blade is entirely achieveable so go out and mess around! |
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Doing the TangoDance lessons? This is a strategy session! Well, if you can't stand in the right spot you can't be good. Two left feet will get one of them cut off. Err...I suppose that is enough with my normal cheesecake for now. This portion should be short...ish and sweet and hopefully kind of "duh" to most players. Face to Face Mobs have all kinds of nasty moves that are frontal or a frontal cone type attack. Stand to the front of your opponents as little as possible and when you're tanking keep them faced away from people you're worried about getting hit with the moves. Just because it's a melee spam party doesn't mean you should be absent-minded, the mages supporting you are most certainly not. There is good reason to be in the front though, Overwhelm being the first. I got in an arguement about this with someone the other night actually. Overwhelm does not make or break a Samurai's damage. You should be doing great damage with or without it applied. However, given the choice of shuffling over to the front for 15% more WS damage or sitting still, I'd shuffle over. When you're near ready for TP, head to the front of the mob and get ready. If you're locked on the mob and just spinning around him, you don't lose hits. One hit shy of TP or after you have it, move over and let it fly. Coupling well with Overwhelm is Trick Attack. Yes, you can Trick Attack from the front. So long as someone is in between you and the mob you're golden. You won't see a damage benefit, other than that of Overwhelm, but you won't be dying either. To the Rear Why move to the rear? Sneak Attack. Either to be hit with SATA or do to SA or SATA yourself. Here you will see a damage increase as SA is a free critical hit. The benefit has changed a bit due to the two-hand updates in 2007, but it is still a large boost on HNMs since their defense, VIT and level are much higher. It is a shame Overwhelm doesn't work here, but in a way it's a good thing. Now you have more reason to split your SA and TA with both receiving a damage boost. Use them only with weaponskills. When to Back Up When you're on SAM/RNG you have another choice, back up or not? Best ranged damage (and hence Sidewinder damage) is done from a distance, but you can't melee from there. In the old days I would have said melee close, then change gear as you run to the ranged distance, fire and run back. There have been several changes to ranged attack over the years with food effects and tweaks to the distance accuracy/damage rates and so , I've changed my tune. Stay near, but not too near. You can actually be a fair distance from the mob and still hit it. Backup to as far as you can and still melee, then you can and camp there and Sidewinder things to death. Since Overwhelm has no effect on Sidewinder do not concern yourself with mob facing and just park it to the side so that you're out of the way. Closing Thoughts For those that haven't noticed by now, there's still a lot of moving around involved in Samurai. Most of it is true of all classes that /THF, but Overwhelm makes a Samurai more aware. Especially since you can't normally just hang out in front, and you get TP so fast, you'll be doing a lot of spinning around the mob. Try to keep clear for others doing the same, bumping into people slows both down. Also, don't monopolize the front even if there's no harmful AoE moves. Give others that need that positioning a chance to use the spot. If you're doing a skillchain and you know your partner is going to strip hate, run behind him instead of where the mob is currently facing, you'll be in proper position for your weaponskill. It's all part of playing heads-up ball out there. You'll find the skills slipping and the chains getting shorter in long parties, take a break then get back in it. |
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Hasso, Seigan, Utsu, Oh My!How do you wrangle this three headed monster? With a lot of macros and a fair amount of pain I would say... This section I'll explain a bit about what overwrites what and how I usually deal with the three competing abilities: Hasso, Seigan, Utsusemi. Note that this whole section pretty much pertains to endgame and tanking, merit parties are usually straight up Hasso with a Seigan only when you need to save your bacon. Overwriting & Recasts Well to kick it off... Hasso overwrites Seigan and Seigan overwrites Hasso. Duh. When you swap back and forth Third Eye is not lost, but how it behaves will change. So you can be in Seigan for a while with Third Eye up and anticipate 2, 3, 4 hits or more and as soon as you go to Hasso the very next hit will remove the Third Eye effect. Now what cannot happen, is the recast timer cannot be changed. If you were in Hasso when you hit Third Eye, switching to Seigan will not cause the recast time to shorten by 30 seconds. Also, duh, but it's important to know that the recast is based upon what was active at the time. Third Eye will not overwrite Utsusemi. You will use the Job Ability but to no effect and activate the recast timer. Utsusemi will overwrite Third Eye however. You also know from your Ninja skills that Utsusemi: Ni will overwrite Utsusemi: Ichi, but not the other way around. These will both be effected equally by Hasso and Seigan: you will have a longer cast and recast time. The longer recast may not bother you depending upon what you are doing, but the longer cast times certainly can make it hard to get shadows up. For this reason I recommend putting on max haste gear while casting Utsusemi, gear without regard to accuracy/attack/etc. like you normally are concerned. Walahra Turban is a perfectly acceptable piece of gear in this instance. In slots that you cannot gain haste, that's where you look at Spell Interruption Rate or Evasion/Parry/Agility gear. Reducing the extended recast timers due to having Hasso/Seigan active is important. With a decent amount of haste and a friendly buff or two you can get the recast timers back down to the normal recast rate. Again, extremely helpful depending on what you are doing. Sequencing Now because Utsusemi can overwrite Third Eye and Ni can overwrite Ichi and Third Eye is this nice instant-cast job ability, you can squence these along for awesome tanking power. You can start with Seigan and Third Eye up and take a hit or two or three. Your next stage is going to be Utsusemi: Ichi though which has a long casting time so you want to not risk it for too long. ~15s of the 30s recast timer is probably long enough, again depends on what you're fighting and how well your Third Eye is functioning. With Third Eye still up, preventing interruption, you can cast Utsusemi: Ichi and overwrite the effect. Now you have a fresh 3 shadows to avoid damage. When you have 1 left or even when the effect falls you can cast Utsusemi: Ni and get a fresh 3. If you still had 1 left it will be overwritten so there's no fumbling around with removing the effect. Then wait for all 3 shadows to fall and you can cast Third Eye since it's an instant-cast job ability and you're back to square one. So to recap: Now the kicker is that you have to have Ichi and Ni ready when you come back around again. Milk Third Eye some each time you use it, don't just put it up and go straight to shadows, unless of course you're using shadows to save from nasty AoE and Third Eye is just your bridge between the gap. Again haste gear is important here, you cannot constantly drop Seigan and reapply because of the 1 minute recast timer. Definitely practice this to get the hang of it. If the mob swings slow enough or is parried/evaded a few times then you can be near untouchable following this chain of events. Shadows as Backup Usually you're not in the Seigan >> Utsu pure tanking mode. It's also certainly hard to maintain hate while doing that as you have a subjob that adds no damage and you have Hasso down which is a great damage boost as well. Normally what I find myself doing is staying full-time or near full time Hasso and shadows are just there to save you. Even when taking on big things this is usually the case. If you're paired with another melee of near equal damage output you should be swapping tanking roles back and forth. In this instance, while he's tanking you can cast Utsusemi: Ichi. Cast Ichi as much as you can. Save Utsusemi: Ni for when you have hate and shadows go down. Due to the shorter cast time, even with Hasso up you should be able to get this spell off. If you're out of both, well then is when you go to Seigan/Third Eye and wait for someone to take hate back. If you find that Hasso is a bit too much damage then you can go to sequencing and stay there. Shadows as Primary If you're fighting something that constantly removes shadows and Third Eye with AoE moves you might consider not using either Hasso or Seigan and going back to the good old days of straight shadow tanking. Keep the haste gear and buffs up and just cast, cast, cast. This is how MNK and NIN tank after all, why not you too? It's certainly do-able but you've lost your Hasso damage and without some nice haste gear your recast times will still be large. Of course, without decent haste gear, your recast times while sequencing are large too. Straight Seigan Tanking This has gained immense popularity. Basically instead of /NIN you are /WAR and rely solely on Seigan/Third Eye. Not a difficult concept right? You need the /WAR though to maintain hate. Without the huge amount of extra damage plus Provoke you would be hard pressed to maintain hate with Seigan up. Obviously this depends on who you're going out there with, but like say a Black Belt MNK/NIN... he's doing an immense amount of damage. You can't go out there with something wimpy like SAM/NIN or SAM/IDK and expect to keep the mob's focus without the extra oompf of Hasso. Oompf is a technical term... I recommend getting some damage reduction gear to help you along. You might even consider using Iron Ram Lance for the additional -10% but keep in mind that PLM will probably not equal the damage output of GKT. Earlier in this guide I discussed tanking setups, refer back to there for some ideas. One of the areas you might not want to attempt pure Seigan tanking is on mobs that spam AoE. Particularly if that AoE is absorbable by shadows. Third Eye will do nothing for you in this situation. Bear that in mind before going in there. Final Note on Defense A final note on defense here... practice. Don't walk into a pickup alliance and say "gee guys we're doing pure Seigan tanking today". It will be different for your support people than the normal PLD or Utsu tanking. Also don't show up for the first time ever doing SAM/NIN and think you're invincible. Most of the time when we're discussing the whole Hasso/Seigan/Utsu line of defensive skills you're not in a merit party. If you're in a merit party that can't support near full time use of Hasso... there's issues. This section is entirely about tanking big bad bosses, NMs or other nastiness. If you fail here you most likely fail for a lot of people. By all means, push the boundaries, try it out, tank a Salvage Chariot, but let everyone know going in and if they're not ready to take a gamble on your Third Eye then consider going back to the same old standard strategies. |
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