Samurai: Ultimate Guide by Gregedor



About the Author
 I have finally got a decent user page going. I keep it fairly up to date. 

 My page:User:Gregedor 

About this Guide
 I've used several guides along my path to 75 Samurai, but none of them seemed complete to me and none of them were updated regularly to reflect the changes in the game. I stopped using guides around level 70 and set out on my own for that reason. While it's not uncharted territory in the least, it is by and large just passed through friends, forums and blogs. The main focus for this guide will be on endgame concepts and setups and it will grow from there. So I set out on this on-going project to create the Ultimate Samurai Guide. 

 Obviously there are going to be people that disagree with me throughout the course of this guide. I encourage constructive comments on the discussion pages, but please respect my writing and do not alter this page without consulting me. 

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.

Benefits are: 
 * Provoke (Level 10) - Can backup tank, voke sleepers, ghetto pull with it...you don't miss it till it's gone and you let everyone around to die since you can't get enmity.
 * Defense Bonus (Level 20) - Hahahahahahlolololol/phew/sniffle Ok 10 defense does squat.
 * Berserk (Level 30) - I can't remember what it gives at low level, but at 75 it's darn near 100 Attack. 100 Attack, 60% of the time is incredibly nice.
 * Double Attack (Level 50) - 10% more attacks in the same amount of time, that's nice. More TP, more melee damage and boosts WS damage when it proc's.  Brutal Earring takes you to 15% total with this support job.
 * Attack Bonus (Level 60) - 10 Attack? For free? Sure, can't complain.
 * Warcry (Level 70) - This is only around 35 attack which is up for 10% of the time. Not a bad added bonus.  Stack this with berserk, attack bonus and the natural extra strength and you're talking 145-150 extra attack with this support job.  That's no slouch.

Thief
 Puts you at 5 STR lower (on 75 Hume) than a warrior subjob. Benefit here is the hate transference and the ability to do high, quick damage on HNMs/gods/etc. Awesome skillchain closer.

Benefits are: 
 * Gilfinder (Level 10) - This...doesn't matter in parties.
 * Steal (Level 10) - Again...doesn't matter much either. Can get some nice gil while out there killing things though.
 * Evasion Bonus (Levels 20 and 60) - 20 more evasion at 75, jumps you from 256 to 276 which is A+ skill. That's not bad actually.  Gets more miles out of it while solo though.
 * Sneak Attack (Level 30) - This is the real reason for coming to a thief support job. It won't be spectacular like on Thief main job, but it gives you a free critical.  Use only with WS.  Almost indispensible on HNMs/gods/etc.
 * Treasure Hunter (Level 30) - This might actually matter to people. I've been in alliances/linkshells that want a lot of people coming sub-THF to try and up their chances.  Definitely useful to farm with.
 * Flee (Level 50) - Ok, this does matter. "What???" You heard me.  I can't tell you how many times it saves my bacon when I end up being the kiter following a weaponskill.  Use this to get the heck out of dodge and kite until the real kiter gets the mobs attention again.  Can also zone bad pulls or links, run through aggro in small zones, or just get from MH to AH faster. ^^
 * Trick Attack (Level 60) - Finally! You can give all that WS hate samurai generate to people that deserve it. Like your friendly neighborhood paladin!
 * Mug (Level 70) - Useless in parties. Great in sky!  I get anywhere from 600-1000 mugging the lesser gods.  Not bad since you'll be /THF anyways for landing hits and shedding hate.

Ninja
 I swear if one more merit party asks me to sub ninja... No really, since the addition of Seigan there isn't really a need for this. I'd take the same damage fumbling around with removing hasso, casting, putting seigan up, more gear swaps, cast again etc. than I would with /THF and handing half my WS to someone with a real need for /NIN. Many moves the typical merit mobs do (Mamool, Imps, Puks, Colibri) can kick the crud out of shadows anyways, or just avoid them (screw you firespit!). Where this shines is solo work. I've taken on some pretty impressive stuff solo with ninja as my subjob.

Benefits are: </P>
 * Stealth (Level 10) - Um...no.
 * Dual Wield (Levels 20 and 50) - Dual wielding great katana would be awesome! Too bad you can't do it.
 * Subtle Blow (Level 30) - Did you really choose this support job for this?
 * Utsusemi (Level 24 and 74) - This is the only reason you have this support job...to off-set your sexiness.

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 kind of loses it's usefulness in the middle though, then roars back at 75 with the addition of god gears, merits, and weak to piercing merit camps. With the most recent 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.

Benefits are: </P>
 * Wide Scan (Level 1) - Pretty useful for NM camping.
 * Sharpshot (Level 1) - Very useful given SAM's naturally mediocre archery skill. For that 1 minute you can spam arrows if you like for increased TP gain.  Worked well on lower levels, higher levels just melee the TP.
 * Alertness (Level 10) - Pretty lame, like stealth.
 * Accuracy Bonus (Level 20 and 60) - +22 @ 75, that's more than 2 free optical hats. This is definitely not a small boost.  Effects your ranged accuracy too.
 * Rapid Shot (Level 30) - Unless you're doing multiple successive shots this probably is useless. Typically you're just getting TP with GKT and using /RNG to get Sidewinder access.
 * Camouflage (Level 40) - It's a free invisible, doesn't really last that long though.
 * Barrage (Level 60) - Awesome ability for doing damage and generating a large amount of TP. This can easily get you 60-100 TP in one shot.  Always use this with Sharpshot active.

Dragoon
 This subjob is basically just for fun. If you have it for lower levels it's not bad, but by the end of the game there is no way this will compete with /WAR even with the 5% haste earring. /WAR just adds far too much atk/str/double attack. It does let you do self-skillchains very easily. Benefits are: </P>
 * Attack Bonus (Level 20) - Same as with warrior, 10 free attack. Just that here you get it sooner.
 * Jump (Level 20) - Free combat round every 90 seconds. For levels 20-30, this along with the attack bonus make /DRG a powerful job choice.  At 30 you get Sneak Attack on /THF though and Berserk on /WAR making it a toss up.
 * Accuracy Bonus (Level 60) - 10 Accuracy, free optical hat. It's not a bad benefit.
 * High Jump (Level 70) - Free combat round every 3 minutes. Reduces enmity some.

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 don't have it high enough to play around with while solo at 75, but some of the job abilities and traits make it seem like it'd be interesting to play around with.

Benefits are: </P>
 * Martial Arts (Many levels) - Just ignore this, you have 0 Hand to Hand skill.
 * Subtle Blow (Level 10 and 50) - Two upgrades isn't a bad deal, the one upgrade from /NIN isn't noticeable.
 * Boost (Level 10) - Every 15 seconds pile on some more attack for one round. Great before a WS, great for keeping hate.  Can stack this up for three minutes and WS the crap out of something, heh.
 * Counter (Level 20) - Countering with a two-handed weapon...kinda like Seigan except, always active. That's pretty sexy.  Doesn't go off that much, but hey, take what you get.
 * Max HP Boost (Level 30 and 70) - 30 HP each for 60 total at 70+.
 * Dodge (Level 30) - Large evasion bonus for the duration.
 * Focus (Level 50) - Good chunk of accuracy bonus while it's active.
 * Chakra (Level 70) - Heals you up every 5 minutes, removes poison and blind. Boosted by 2xVIT so you can easily get over 200 HP out of this @ 75.

Weapons
 Samurai 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 </P>

 Primary Weapons: </P>  Secondary Weapons: </P><BR>
 * Great Katana - your best and most used weapon.
 * Polearm - can be more powerful on weaker mobs and in special areas such as Limbus, great in Lufaise Meadows.
 * Archery - for those that wish to persue the SAM/RNG combination and to help pulling or getting in a hit as a pull comes into camp.
 * Sword - you may be called upon to preform Spirits Within on certain fights.
 * Dagger - until recently I did dagger just for fun, but some Assaults have gone well with me using Cyclone on those silly Chigoe.

Great Katana
 There 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. </P><BR> Levels 1-39  There isn't much to think about for these opening levels. Especially if you will stop at 37 for a subjob. Just equip the best DPS great katana for your level. For 10-20 that's the Katayama, which is not to hard to obtain. Other than this one exceptional weapon, there aren't any that give bonuses worth worrying about. </P><BR>

Levels 40-49  Best weapon for level 40. You could make do with older weapons until 42 if you like. </P>  Ah, your first piece of AF. Best damage sword you can equip until around level 50. Mainly because anything in between is hard to find/expensive and because you get at least a few stat perks with this. </P> <BR>
 * Level 40 - Kagehide
 * Level 42 - Magoroku

Levels 50-59  I wish this sword existed when I was at this level. Easily replaces your AF sword. With the added STR and Acc you can easily keep this sword around until the 59-60 range. It will cost some money though, but has declined a lot in recent months. </P>  Again, another sword I wish was around when I was this level. Odds are unless you have a higher level job you probably won't get around to getting this when you are level 50. Not an easy item to achieve at all. The fight is hard and the drop rate lousy. It will be the best damage output until the mid 60s, but by 75 it's relegated to being a SAM/RNG sword only, or for having fun. It is a TON of fun.</P>  This sword is pretty cheap on my server and has great DPS if you feel like upgrading before 60. </P>  Used to be the cream of the crop before the previous three swords were added to the game. Still relatively expensive. Replace what you were using with this sword if you can get it. Only exception might be Soboro. On mobs with deadly TP moves though, Soboro might not be a good option. Weapon skills will be much higher on this sword in addition to individual hits. </P> <BR>
 * Level 50 - Koryukagemitsu
 * Level 50 - Soboro Sukehiro
 * Level 56 - Raikiri
 * Level 59 - Daihannya

Levels 60-69  This is the sword I used, it has better damage over time than the Daihannya, but will have lower weapon skills. The Acc boost does help out if you're lacking other acc gear. Additional effect can hit for around 15-30 damage adding a nice boost, but has a low rate of activation. You can keep this weapon until about 67. </P> <P> Very nice sword, best possible option until you're in the 70s. Has the added nicety of working on your NIN. Downside: I have never seen Shii. I brought several LS friends to camp Shii with me over the course of a month. We probably logged 40+ hours in that dreaded room and didn't see him once. It's a 100% drop if he does pop, but I'll be damned if we could make it happen. I even came back for another four hours of camping as a 75 SAM just to have the thing and still no pop. People I know do have it, but I'm mad at this thing. </P> <P> This sword is nothing special, just more damage on it. Kind of the standard replacement for Gold Musketeer's and Daihannya. At this point is also where Soboro starts losing it's luster. The melee hits are getting too weak, and you don't yet have endgame STR gear to make the WS on Soboro make up for it. These are kind of the odd levels where you're in between good options.</P> <BR>
 * Level 60 - Gold Musketeer's Uchigatana
 * Level 66 - Sukesada
 * Level 67 - Kazaridachi

Levels 70-75 <P> I never got this at level 70 because of the difficulty of obtaining it. It is the best option until you get to level 72. </P> <P> Once you unlock the latent effect (500 weaponskill points) this GKT will give you great melee damage, the best short of relic really. It does not, however, give you the best weaponskill damage. Since samurai at endgame is roughly 50% melee damage and 50% weaponskill damage this means that Hagun is better most times since the TP boost adds more damage than having the better melee damage. On mobs that perform Amnesia depending on how often you are afflicted, Michishiba or even Soboro Sukehiro have the potential to be better than Hagun. Also, I've noticed that while Yukikaze, Gekko and Kasha damage tends to suffer, Jinpu can still do great. It's certainly worth testing out more, I've not been able to run a parse on mine yet.
 * Level 70 - Kamewari
 * Level 72 - Michishiba

</P> <P> This will be your best friend from the time you get it to the time you stop playing FFXI. It isn't the most expensive katana, it isn't even that hard to obtain, and it certainly isn't the heaviest hitter either. The one thing this weapon does have is the TP Bonus effect. What this means is when you perform a weaponskill (at which Samurai excel) your weaponskill will perform as if you had an additional 100 TP. 100% TP skills land with the force of 200%, 200% as 300% and 300% stay 300% unfortunately. That extra 100 TP causes this rather drab and lackluster weapon to land harder hitting weaponskills than most other GKT until you approach 300% TP. At 300% TP for certain, since the bonus has no effect, almost any other GKT becomes more powerful. On gods and HNMs often you'll want another weapon if you find you have enough time to build to 300% regularly.
 * Level 72 - Hagun

</P> <P> For those weaponskills you fire at 300% this is the best you can do. I've tried Onimaru and Ushikirimaru and Shinsoku and seem to get the best WS results from Onimaru. It's also not bad for parties if you don't have your hagun yet. If you're a SAM/RNG without Soboro Sukehiro, this should be your weapon of choice. Hagun's TP Bonus will not apply to Sidewinder. Since the latent is active until you get 100%+ TP and during weaponskills, in a melee spam situation it's still a decent sword. I use it mainly at gods and HNMs when I don't have to Trick Attack someone.
 * Level 73 - Onimaru

</P> <P> Again, mainly for use with 300% weaponskills. It's damage is very similar to Onimaru, but it has a little more accuracy on the right mobs and passes along extra enmity if you're doing SATA on the tanks. This is the weapon I use on the lesser god fights where you want to keep hate on the tanks. For Kirin and other fights I use Onimaru since I normally don't trick attack anyone.
 * Level 73 - Ushikirimaru

</P> <P> I have not seen this on my server. There are a few out there though on other servers, might be one on mine. From reading posts around the internet about it though, it's a decent weapon. Assuming the strength latent effect is figured out, it also has the potential to take Hagun from it's throne. Until that happens though, this GKT is mainly for show. It will get you around the same damage, but it's nothing worth dropping your Hagun for. It isn't even worth using with 300% TP unless the strength effect is unlocked.
 * Level 75 - Futsuno Mitama

</P> <P> Relic weapon, obviously nearly impossible to obtain and it is above any other weapon you can get. No, I don't have one, but I've seen it around! </P><BR>
 * Level 75 - Amanomurakumo

Polearms
<P> Polearm 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). There are also some Limbus zones where mobs have differing weaknesses and immunities that having multiple weapon types is a must. </P><BR> Levels 60-69 <P> Best polearm a samurai can use for the duration of the 60s. If you're into using polearm then get one, they aren't expensive. I wouldn't worry about polearm much before this weapon since the options aren't so hot. If you're just going to wait until 70+ to skill up and use a polearm, then you can pass this up easily. </P> <BR>
 * Level 60 - Couse

Levels 70-75 <P> Ah, my old trusty Schiltron Spear. I used this one for a long time. The stat bonuses are great, and it's a cheap weapon. Not a bad option since you don't use polearm all the time. </P> <P> I have yet to get this mainly becuase nobody likes using their Kindred Seals on the fights this drops from. The melee damage is a little lower than that of Stone-spitter but with the longer delay you can actually get TP about as fast with the same gear, or faster with a different style setup. Should mean that overall you're doing more damage with this spear. The crit hits help too. </P> <P> Took a while for one of these to pop on my AH at a time I was looking for it. Not really all that expensive, just seems hard to find. It's all I use these days. Works under the same principle as Onimaru and Blau Dolch. Makes for some great Penta Thrusts compared to Schiltron Spear. </P> <BR>
 * Level 70 - Schiltron Spear
 * Level 72 - Gondo-Shizunori
 * Level 73 - Stone-splitter

Bows
<P> Having 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!)

For ammo, stick to the arrows with Ranged Accuracy on them. They tend to have the most damage and adding 5 accuracy really aids our low Archery skill. Sleep arrows and paralyze arrows offer some interesting options for solo play, but aren't worth it in parties. Personally I use cheap Scorpion Arrows for pulling and Barrage and macro in some Demon Arrows for Sidewinders. </P><BR>

Levels 1-55 <P> At these levels there isn't too much worth mentioning. Two options to take, either get the large bows with good stats (mainly +1 items) or go with fast bows to speed up pulling and skill raising. </P><BR>

Level 55+ <P> At level 55 you can finally get a Lightning Bow or a +1 that adds some melee stats. From there on out you can just use this bow to help your melee some and save money if you like. I'd use it while pulling since you're more concerned with Great Katana damage than Archery damage. </P> <P> The best damage and accuracy a samurai can get, and notice all the accuracy boost is only for samurai! If you want to hit, wear this. If you want to be SAM/RNG wear this. As I mentioned above keep Lightning Bow +1 if all you're doing is pulling you get at least some kind of melee modifier. There is no reason you can't sell all your other bows though after having gotten a Shigeto. </P> <P> Regen is nice and STR+1 is also nice, but it's nothing that you can't do without. A Tiphia Sting or a RSE Sachet would be a better choice for melee stats. Also the bow offers nothing in terms of ranged stats. Something to use instead of a Lightning Bow while pulling, but nothing to write home about. </P> <P> Odds are you won't even attempt getting this bow until level 75, but it is a level 72 weapon. It's also the most STR you can get out of your ranged/ammo slots so if you can get it, wear it. On SAM/RNG keep your Shigeto, but other than that there is no reason not to take advantage of 3 STR. </P><BR>
 * Level 55 - Lightning Bow
 * Level 71 Shigeto Bow
 * Level 71 Arco De Velocidad
 * Level 72 Ifrit's Bow

Armor
<P> This 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 haveing 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. </P><BR>

Store TP
<P> At 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 15.53 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 15.53 return, 100 TP takes you (100/15.53) 6.44 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. Since the base TP rate is 11.5, simply divide this into 14.29. 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 450 delay weapons:

9 hits - 0 Store TP

8 hits - 9 Store TP

7 hits - 25 Store TP

6 hits - 45 Store TP

5 hits - 74 Store TP

Odds are you'll never see a reasonable 5 hit build with a 450 weapon, and as a Samurai you can't do a 9 hit build past level 10. The key to remember though is that you gain nothing for extra Store TP. If you have 35 Store TP you're still taking 7 hits to get to 100% so you might as well shed some for more of another stat. Also, 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.

For those at 75 with the +10 Store TP merits it should be easy to obtain the 6 hit build. I would never really sacrifice this 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. 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.

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 +47 Store TP on melee hits and +42 Store TP on weaponskills. Since 45 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 16.33 from the weaponskill and 16.9 for each melee hit, five melee hits giving a total of 84.5 TP. Well a weaponskill and 5 hits adds up to 100.8 TP! So by keeping 2 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 StoreTP 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. </P><BR>

Equipment Setups
<P> A 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. </P><BR>

TP Build
<P> TP 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 45 Store TP point. 10 Store TP can easily come from a Rajas Ring and Hachiman Sune-Ate. 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 strength! You should be looking for accuracy and attack and maybe dexterity. 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). This just makes me sad. Nothing on that piece helps you hit the mob, hit the mob harder, or obtain more critical hits. Haubergeon does all three. 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.

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. The exception to this is those Mamool parties. All the Mamool Ja camps feature such easy to hit mobs as THF and NIN...crap. Here I normally grab the sushi no matter what and perhaps drop a few accuracy pieces for more attack.</P><BR>

Meditate Gear
<P> Another 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"

/equip Hands "Saotome Kote"

/ja "Meditate" <me>

/wait 2.0 (1.0 isn't enough sometimes, especially in lag. Could do a fraction like 1.8)

/equip Head "Melee headpiece"

/equip Hands "Melee handpiece"

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 it's no better. They don't even add a melee stat! 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 have 4 actual samurai and about 3 that play around with the job, and we do at least one Bastok a month, it shouldn't take long to get one.</P><BR>

Weaponskill Gear
<P> Now 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 anything else not SAM/THF, keep accuracy in mind. Samurai weaponskills are one hit by and large (exceptions are Enpi and Jinpu). 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. Haubergeon for this reason is good to keep on even though Hachiman Domaru has more STR. The 4.5 more accuracy (2 raw and 2.5 from added DEX) and the additional attack go a long way. Similarly, I typically use a Potent Belt over Warwolf Belt. I sacrifice 2 STR but gain 8 accuracy and will rarely miss. The Shura gear is also great since it gives STR and accuracy on the head and legs pieces. Even on SAM/THF accuracy will come into play since you should be splitting sneak attack and trick attack. For trick attacks you still want that healthy amount of accuracy since you will be facing the mob (for Overwhelm boosts).

For a Sneak Attack weaponskill, don't worry much about attack and 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. 1300 Tachi: Gekko on Kirin is definitely achievable (and has gotten me killed several times).

</P><BR>

The Haste Build
<P> Ok 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. This is flat wrong. Hagun is a 450 delay weapon and if you throw up Hasso it falls to 405 and with 13% haste gear (as I currently have) it's 356. Telling me that doing the same damage and same TP in 356 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 4 pieces with Store TP: Chivalrous Chain, Brutal Earring, Rajas Ring and Hachiman 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. I've been told time and time again that I shouldn't wear Byakko's Haidate on samurai. 15 Dexterity and 5% haste is the absolute best piece you can put in that slot for your TP build. The best! These two pieces alone already grant 10% haste. I honestly wouldn't worry about a haste build until you get 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 think it is. 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 (or DEX to a lesser degree) 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? Well then you're back to a 7 hit build. 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.

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 17-19% haste on. Couple this with hasso and your attacks are hasted 27-29%. But notice, you still kept the 6 hit build! You can still get 2% more haste with the new Usukane Sune-Ate and retain all your TP gain AND gain attack and accuracy. Holy cow!! It won't be easy to get though, I'm still 1/3 on the pieces after 5 months of Salvage.

There, when all is said and done you can get 6 hit build AND 21% haste (31% after hasso). This takes a 450 delay Hagun down to 326. Slap on the haste spell and double march and you're talking a 225 delay Great Katana. You can spin that two-hander faster than PLD do a Company Sword, lol. That would be wonderful to see. I'm getting close, still need a belt and the Usukane feet to top me off.</P><BR>

SAM/RNG
<P> SAM/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 rangers 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:

Armor:
 * Optical Hat
 * Seiryu's Kote
 * Hachiman Domaru / Kirin's Osode
 * Dusk Trousers
 * Amemet Mantle +1
 * Merman's Ring / Behemoth Ring
 * Peacock Charm / Light Gorget

Weapons:


 * Shigeto Bow
 * Soboro Sukehiro

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 268+AGI/2... naked RNG is 329+AGI/2... 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 in Cadaerva Mire can you reach the point that you don't want to be eating sushis, otherwise 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 and are really the best option. Tarutaru samurai can enjoy Creek M Clomps for 4 STR. Your normal Rutter Sabatons you're using for melee WS are 3 STR and a decent alternative as well.

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.

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 will exceed your SAM/WAR damage.

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. Key items for that are Rajas Ring and Hachiman Sune-Ate. Everywhere else you can get accuracy gear. Body you might be tempted to have on that Hachiman Domaru, which is certainly not wrong, but the 8 accuracy doesn't count on regular arrow shots, only on sidewinder. 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 always 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. The just released Einherjar has the cream of the crop though. 15,000 points (a long time unfortunately) 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 such as Faust. 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'll do more of them than a normal RNG.</P><BR>

Sample Loadouts
<P> I got feedback on the guide! Actually, twice! It made me very happy since it was from two SAMs who I respect very much. I was surprised they were learning from me. =P Anyways, one of them asked for another section to actually show some recommended setups rather than only discussing it. So if you'd rather just stick to the concepts and tailor your own gear, skip this section. I'll show both what I'm currently using and what would be the best of the best. So I'll include those in a future update, for now I put in some placeholders. </P><BR>

Tanking Gear
<BR>

Gameplay and Tactics
<P> Another section coming later, discussion about how to play your job. </P><BR>