How-To Guide: Samurai

The Last Samurai
The proud king of weapon skills. Opener of multi-skillchains. Lord of the Tachi. Samurai has the amazing ability to control his TP better than any other job in the game, allowing for a number of weapon skills in almost no time flat. Although very accurate and deadly, Samurai is one of few jobs who can take damage almost as well as he can dish it out. That isn’t to say Samurai can tank, it’s just that Samurai can survive a lot better than others. Performing self-skillchains by the low level of 3, and self Light skillchaining by no longer than Lv.70. A great melee front-line fighter, and a great support job for anyone using two-handed weapons. Samurai also looks amazing on the front lines, performing some of the most majestic and amazing-looking weapon skills you could think of. '''Please note: This is only a guide. Please add anything if it is needed, and take away anything that is either untrue or not needed.'''

Job-Race Combinations
Please note that race is the absolute last thing you should worry about when picking a job. Anything said here is seriously exaggerated. A single piece of gear can often make up for a race's negligible lack in a stat. Every race also gets "Race Specific Equipment", or "RSE", that will boost a race's stats to equal, or possibly even surpass other races.

Hume

 * Hume Samurais bring a lot of any stat the job may need into the mix. Dexterity for critical hits and landing strikes, strength for dealing heavy damage and even heavier weapon skills. Agility and vitality for survivability, as well as HP for those stats to protect. Since Hume has all-round stats, and Samurai needs a lot of them, Hume is definitely a great choice for Samurai.

Elvaan

 * Playing Elvaan Samurai will give access to the strongest overall weapon skills and per-hit strikes you could imagine. Strength is the only attribute noticed in all Great Katana weapon skills except one: and in that one, mind is a secondary attribute. Elvaan have the highest of both of these stats, so it plays an amazing Samurai. Detrimental in only dexterity and agility, meaning TP may be a little bit more difficult to gain. However, with some accuracy-boosting equipment, Elvaan can let the sparks fly.

Tarutaru

 * Oddly one of the most often noticed melee jobs of the Tarutaru. Providing a large amount of dexterity and agility into the mix for accuracy and ranged accuracy, but having a low strength attribute. Tarutaru play very good Samurai, in that they can open a lot of skillchains possibly easier than half the other races, while getting little enmity at the same time. Truly an overlooked job-race combination, but a great one at that.

Mithra

 * Dexterous and agile feline females. Mithra play the part of the accurate-as-hell Samurai, while also possessing a decent amount of strength to hit high-end like her allies. A great job-race combination, especially once her strength is increased further with her RSE body piece and feet pieces. Any tiny flaws in the otherwise amazing combination can easily be made up with a slew of different pieces of equipment.

Galka

 * King supreme with HP and vitality, and an average agility makes Galka Samurai by far the most survivable. Having strength very close to that of an Elvaan, and mind to boot, Galka can tear through enemies with no problem whatsoever, and take the heat just as well. Galka even has a fairly average dexterity for landing hits to gain his TP back after unleashing hell upon his tiny victims.

Weapon

 * Samurai’s main weapon of choice is the Great Katana. It’s quite quick, quite powerful, and is one of the coolest-looking weapons in the entire game. Honestly, it makes the coolest “ching!” noise whenever it strikes an enemy, and it’s the only two-handed weapon in the game that your character wears on his or her belt as opposed to the back. Great Katana is Samurai’s only A+ weapon, and should be the main one used in parties. However, Polearm is another alternative to later-game play. Some of them are really powerful, and a number of them are just great. The only problem is you’re sacrificing you’re A+ for a B-. Another weapon choice that’s great for Samurai is Archery. It’s not really any form of main weapon, but with a C+, you can land the occasional hit, and can also pull. Since Samurai can equip Longbows, there’s nothing stopping your awesomeness. If that’s not enough, Samurai can actually equip the fully-upgraded relic bow.

Armor

 * Samurai actually has an enormous variety of equipment to choose from. Harness, leather, scale, far-eastern equipment, and even some tougher armor. With all this variety, you can see right here that Samurai is incredibly versatile and can help the party with more than just opening skillchains. It even gives you the ability to tank in early and mid levels. You’ll never out-tank a Paladin, but you can debatably out-tank a Ninja once you get Seigan (and even beforehand). With equipment, you can also choose damage-dealing equipment. This is where you should spend the majority of money. A lot of stats are useful, so mixing it up and customizing yourself is key. Samurai also gets a lot of “Store TP” boosting equipment. It’s very useful and can/should be prioritized over other equipment. However, that doesn’t mean you should neglect your other equipment. If anything, having high accuracy and Store TP for attacks, then strength for your weapon skills might be the best way to go about doing things. It’s all preference, though.

Advanced Job Quest

 * Though this is one of the slightly more annoying and difficult advanced job quests to do, in my opinion, it’s worth it. It involves two fights and a three-hour wait. First off, you have to have at least Rise of the Zilart installed to get and play as this job. Go to Norg (through Yuhtunga Jungle, off Kazham), and talk to Jaucribaix at K-8, on the upper level at the end of the hallway. Next, go back down the stairs and talk to Aeka (I-8) for your Oriental Steel, and Ranemaud (I-7) for Sacred Sprig. Try not to accidentally get rid of these items, because you’ll have to pay in expensive items to get them back. Go to Konschtat and go far west to the little jut-out in the map at D-8. Trade the Oriental Steel to the ??? there to spawn Forger, a bomb. Anyone Lv.50+ should be able to take him out no problem at all. After he’s dead, lot the Bomb Steel he drops. Next, get a Hatchet and go to the Sanctuary of Zi’Tah. Travel far to the east to an unmapped region L-9. Trade the Hatchet to the ??? up in the tree (go in the daytime, it’s really hard to find a proper footing in the pitch black of night). Trading the Hatchet spawns Guardian Treant. He’s a little tougher than Forger, but you should be able to take him out with the same Lv.50 friend. After he’s dead, trade your Sacred Branch to the ??? and get a Sacred Branch. Go back to Norg and talk to Jaucribaix again. Trade the Sacred Branch and Bomb Steel to him, then wait three real life hours to talk to him again. You can log out or leave the area if you want. You can wait as long as you want too. Just go talk to him anytime after three hours, then you receive your Lv.1 Mumeito and the ability to become a Samurai. Congratulations! (Note: DO NOT THROW AWAY THE MUMEITO UNTIL YOU GET YOUR AF WEAPON)

Soloing 1 to 10

 * I don’t know about what a lot of others think, but I found these first 10 levels to be a lot of fun. Now I don’t know if you’re going to believe it or not, but I got from Lv.1 with zero experience points to Lv.3 in forty-five seconds. As long as you avoid status ailment-giving monsters, you’ll be fine. You don’t get anything to call your own in these levels, but it’s still fun; what does that tell you about when it gets good? Anyway, you’ll be better off picking normal equipment, and using your rewarded weapon to beat on things until Lv.4, when you can buy a Tachi. Use that until Lv.10. You may also want to pick up a Longbow +1 when you hit Lv.5. When you hit Lv.8, I suggest you spend the extra bit of money and purchase a Kenpogi +1. It’s totally worth it. Other than that, just remember to get Signet before you go outside and have a hay-day.

Valkurm 10-20

 * As soon as you hit Lv.10, you get your first Store TP, already giving you a noticeable boost to how much TP you get per hit. It’s not really that much more than others, so don’t feel let down if you get less TP than someone else. Before going to Valkurm, I suggest getting on your Lv.30+ job (or one of them, if you have several) and camp Carnero. He’s a sheep that spawns around the north half of the second level of Vomp Hill in South Gustaberg. He drops a Great Katana called the Katayama Ichimonji, which will last you until Lv.20 or higher. It’s amazing. Other than that, you’ll want your Kenpogi +1 until Lv.13, then switch to a Power Gi. Everything else, stick with high defense, evasion, and accuracy if possible. If you find yourself hitting for zero on Crabs and Pugils, buy strength and attack gear if you can. Bastokan/Republic Mitts or Sandorian/Kingdom Gloves are great. You get Third Eye at Lv.15. Since the addition of Seigan, it’s pretty useless until Lv.35. Though, I’d use it right before a high-powered weapon skill in case you grab enmity.

Mid-levels 20-40

 * The coolest thing about Samurai is it gets a milestone boost every five levels until Lv.35. Even then, you still get something good every five levels ‘til the very end. Lv.5 you got Resist Blind, then at 10, you get Store TP. Lv.15 is Third Eye, Lv.20 is Zanshin, Lv.25 is Hasso, Lv.30 is Meditate and Store TP II, and Lv.35 is Seigan. Truly, these twenty levels are going to be your favourite, especially if you’re still kind of new to the job and don’t know what to expect all that much. Zanshin at Lv.20 will occasionally let you attack a second time if you miss. It also works on weapon skills. Consider it a one-in-ten chance to make up for a mistake. At Lv.25, you get Hasso, the most over-powered job ability in the game. It lasts forever (5m duration, 1m cool-down), gives you +3 strength, +10 accuracy, and +10% attack speed. At Lv.30 you’ll be just drooling. If you thought it couldn’t get any better than Hasso, five levels later you get Meditate and your second Store TP. That basically means each hit you do gives you even more TP, and you can boost your TP to 100% in just a few quick seconds. This means you can perform skillchains with two people, or even open one, let a friend close it, then close off that one. It also means that you can get a fifth weapon skill in during Meiko Suishi. At Lv.35, you get Seigan. If you find yourself pulling hate a lot in a party, or if you are a smaller party’s main tank, or even when you’re soloing, you’ll be in heaven. Seigan buffs your Third Eye to double duration, as well as gives it the ability to not disappear with one hit, and you the ability to counter while it’s active. Is it worth giving up the strength, accuracy, and haste? Well, that’s up to you to decide. Since they both have one-minute recast timers and last for a long period of time, it’s the best strategy to switch them up when the situation calls for it. Lv.40 you get Demon Killer, which isn’t really that useful, but is still something. Basically in these levels is where Samurai is truly defined, and can immediately take on its own role of skillchain coordinator.

Your AF Weapon

 * There really aren’t a lot of weapons to choose from, and your AF weapon is probably the best of its level (Lv.42). It’s certainly got a nice damage-per-hit rating and decent delay, while also boosting strength and agility. Two levels later, when you can buy the Mikazuki +1, it might be better. Otherwise, keep it ‘til Lv.48.
 * Step one towards getting your new Great Katana is going to Zi’Tah again. This time, you’re there to kill Lv.42-46 Goblin Robbers. (Bring a friend.) You’re looking for a drop called Fish Bait. Once you get the bait, go to the ??? at E-8 with a friend (Lv.60 or higher, preferably). Trade the Fish Bait to the ??? and fight a pugil named Isonade. After he’s dead, touch the ???. Return to Jaucribaix and trade your Mumeito (this is why I said not to throw it out after you completed the advanced job quest). Congratulations! You now have your first piece of artifact equipment.

Mid-High Levels 40-60

 * Just because the best job abilities are already as good as your’s, that doesn’t mean these next twenty are any worse. I mean, you now have to do the trivial task of the limit breaking quests between 50-75, every five levels, and your equipment costs just sky-rocketed. But at the same time, you now get your AF and some of your cooler weapon skills. At Lv.50, there’s a Great Katana called the Soboro Sukehiro. It’s really hard to get, but ho-ly-shit is it ever good. It will quite frequently either double or triple attack on its own. This means that you get a number of quick hits in, without the worry of an enormous drop in TP per hit. That’s right, it’ll still give you the 13.8% TP, but times that by two, or by three! The weapon also stacks with Jump, so subbing Dragoon is actually a decent idea with this weapon. Even by Lv.75, it’s amazingly useful (though for weapon skills, you’d be far better off using Sidewinder). Although you won’t be using your AF for much more than macroing in, it should still make your life easier.

Your Artifact Armor

 * As with a lot of AF, your feet are your first, Lv.52, pieces. There are a lot better pieces of equipment for dealing damage, but if you find yourself soloing or in a small party and tanking, they’re good to equip. Otherwise, the enmity +5 is pretty scary. Your Lv.54 leg pieces, on the other hand, are quite good. Since strength plays such a vital role in Samurai’s life, these make for a great trade-off from the Republic Subligar assuming you were wearing them. The parrying skill +5 is pretty pointless, but I suppose any hit saved is nice. Lv.56 AF gloves are your third pieces. These are very good. As long as they’re equipped, the effects of rice ball foods are enormously enhanced, making them your new battle food. They also give you +4 to dexterity. Whether that’s useful to you or not isn’t up to me to decide. Your Lv.58 body piece looks cool, and it is kind of when you do happen to take hits. Otherwise, the vitality and “Occasionally boosts TP when damaged” is pretty pointless. Your AF headpiece is really awesome-looking. The downside is that it’s only all that useful for use with Warding Circle and Meditate. I suppose if Hasso and Seigan came prior to artifact armor, we might see something else on the AF set, but otherwise, it’s pretty much useless in comparison to a lot of better equipment you could wear. It’s still nice to wear it around towns, though. Showing off your awesome-looking Samurai look.

High Levels 60-75

 * With your generally useless artifact armor set in hand and the vast majority of your levels under your belt, you can ascend to Lv.75. When the group two merits were introduced, I still say Samurai got one of the best sets of merits to choose from. When you hit that level, your life should become a lot better. Until then, have fun kicking serious tail for these fifteen levels. Not much new strategic value now, other than adding your Myochin Kabuto to Meditate to give you +20 to +40 more TP per meditate.

End-Game

 * (Please add information about Dynamis, Limbus, Salvage, merit parties, etc.)

Warrior

 * The main sub for Samurai, though not the only one. Most jobs these days sub Samurai, but since Samurai is so wicked, it has to choose the old main sub. Warrior gives benefits to strength and dexterity for dealing damage, as well as the awesome job ability Berserk, which will increase your attack by a whopping 25% (at expense of 25% defense) for 3/5ths of the time. It also gives such job abilities as Provoke and Warcry. Provoke is great for taking hate when you want to. Having Seigan up when you use Provoke is preferable. It lets you main tank in small parties, or sub-tank in big parties (if the main tank is about to die). Otherwise, don’t use Provoke. Warcry is a very high-enmity ability, but it’s worth it. It gives everyone in the area a big attack boost; great for just before initializing a skillchain with your party members. Let’s not forget a second attack every once in a while thanks to Warrior’s job trait “Double Attack”. Even more TP and damage once you hit Lv.50 there.

Thief

 * Great for party hate control and keeping accuracy as high as you can (other than subbing Ranger, that is). It’s also nice for money-making when soloing or ‘farming’. I wouldn’t suggest subbing Thief until about Lv.60, though. Once that happens, you get Trick Attack. Sneak Attack at Lv.30 is good, but it’s too deadly for you to get that kind of hate without giving it to the tank. With both Sneak Attack and Trick Attack, you can deal a ton of damage and simultaneously give it all to the hate. This lets you deal a large chunk of damage every minute or so, while given the ability to deal even more damage since the tank has all the heavy-damage hate, plus his or her own.

Dragoon

 * Accuracy bonus, Attack bonus, Jump, and High Jump. Four reasons right there to sub Dragoon. Accuracy and attack bonuses for extra damage over time, and Jump and High Jump for an extra hit, plus a whole ton of extra TP. You don’t get High Jump until Lv.70, but you get Jump at Lv.20. Albeit not always the best choice, it still has a place in the hearts of some Samurai. Lv.30 you can also get the Wyvern Mantle for a +6 attack, and a Wyvern Earring for a +5% Haste boost, to complement your +10% with Hasso. If you have a soft spot in your heart for Polearms, equipping the Lance Belt can make it even better (with it equipped at Lv.30, you can potentially have higher Polearm skill than even Great Katana skill).

Ranger

 * A great, well-rounded sub, especially with a Soboro user. It provides a large amount of accuracy, and an even larger use to bow-type weapons. Once you hit Lv.57, and assuming you have capped Archery skill, you can unleash Sidewinder- one of the best weapon skills in the entire game. Your Great Katana will be more useful for most weapon skill, but Sidewinder is a great alternative. With two of four Accuracy bonus tiers under your belt, as well as a number of neat-o job abilities like Sharpshot and Barrage, there’s no real downside to subbing this. Using the Soboro, it’s general strategy to get TP with it, then use Sidewinder, since it will have low damage for Great Katana weapon skills.

Dancer

 * You get enough TP, so why not spend it healing yourself? As I say in my next paragraph about “Mage Subs and Ninja”, using any of those related support jobs are quite useless. However, Samurai wants to solo, so why not give it even better means! Dancer can Waltz and Samba its way to heal itself using TP, Samurai’s major thing. You can drain around 10-20 HP per hit with Samba, and Waltz about 90 back every 15 seconds, with no more than some TP cost. You can use Steps to enfeeble the monster, lowering its defense and evasion, then use Flourishes like Animated Flourish to even take hate in parties. Yes, Samurai subbing Dancer can even main tank in small parties. Warrior isn’t your only option anymore.

Mage Subs and Ninja

 * I strongly advise against any magical support jobs, including Ninja. Since you’ll be having Hasso and Seigan up almost all the time, spell casting is completely useless. I neglected to mention the downside to those two job abilities- they double casting and recasting time of all magical spells. If any Samurai subs Ninja to tank, he or she has a problem. Seigan and Utsusemi do not do well with each other. If you do want to sub one of these, are you really willing to sacrifice +10 STR, +10 accuracy, and +10% haste, or a wicked Third Eye buff?

Your Two-Hour Ability

 * Meiko Shisui is Japanese for Wise Reflection. Not really sure what that means, but don’t care either. It’s one of the best (or if not best, at least the coolest) two-hours in the game, instantly providing you with 300% TP and cutting down TP cost of weapon skills to a maximum of 100%. When I first heard of this two-hour, I actually got thinking that some Samurai weapon skills consumed more than 100% TP or something. Nope, it just cuts it from using every TP into just 100% TP. Meaning by the time you get Tachi: Enpi at Lv.3, you can use up to four weapon skills in succession. At Lv.30 when you get Meditate, you can use up to five. General strategy is to just chain together two pairs of Enpi and get two Distortion skillchains. However, once you hit Lv.33 and are open to Tachi: Kagero, you can chain together up to four weapon skills to get three separate skillchains.

Job Abilities

 * Warding Circle is earned at Lv.5 and won’t be useful at all until quite a bit later on. It doesn’t actually ’ward’ evil demons away from you, but it will occasionally prevent them from attacking by intimidating them. It’s an area-effect “Demon Killer” trait that lasts thirty seconds and can be used once every five minutes. It also gives a tiny bit of enmity, if you should happen to need a miniscule boost to it.
 * Third Eye is a really useful job ability. It used to be even more useful, but they changed it with the addition of Seigan. Now it’s not really useful until Lv.35 when you do get Seigan. What it does is prevents any physical attack directed at you. This can involve multi-hit abilities too, like Goblin Rush. Once you ‘anticipate’ the attack, it disappears. This job ability lasts for thirty seconds (or one anticipation), and can be re-used every one minute. As long as Seigan is active, though, you can use it every thirty seconds. You get this ability at Lv.15.
 * Hasso is, like, the best job ability ever, and is available to any Samurai Lv.25 or higher. As long as you have a two-handed weapon equipped, Hasso will increase your accuracy by 10, your attack speed by 10%, and your strength from anywhere between 3 and 10 (depending on your level). It has a five-minute duration and can be re-used every one minute, so it can theoretically have an infinite duration. The only one downside to Hasso is that it will increase the casting and recasting time of all spells (spells, songs, ninjutsu, etc.) by 50%, making any spells completely not at all worth casting. Also, Hasso and its cousin, Seigan do not stack. The later-used one will be the only one to take effect.
 * Meditate will be your bestest friend as soon as you hit Lv.30 and get it. On a wicked three-minute cool-down timer, it will give you +20% TP every two seconds for a total of eight seconds, meaning a total of 100% TP. It doesn’t let you do an instant one-two skillchain, but it does open up a lot of possibilities, such as opening a skillchain, having someone close it, and then you close a second skillchain. It’s also good if someone goes away in between fights for a few minutes, you can use it to build-up up to 300% TP before the next fight (assuming, of course, the member is gone for 6+ minutes). If your AF headpiece or relic gloves are equipped, you can get between 120% and 140% TP. If both are equipped, you can get between 140% and 180%. Have fun with two free weapon skills (or one powerful one with the Hagun weapon).
 * Seigan is basically a cousin job ability to Hasso. It too has a five-minute duration and a one-minute cool-down timer, and it too increases casting time and recasting time of all spells by 50%. The only difference is, instead of increasing damage dealt over time, it increases survivability through Third Eye. Acquired at Lv.35, while this ability is active, Third Eye’s cool-down timer is reduced by one-half to 30 seconds. On top of this, Third Eye may not disappear with one anticipation, meaning you can block a number of attacks. Finally, Seigan also lets Third Eye give you the ability to counter occasionally (this will count as an anticipation and may end the Third Eye effect). It’s a great soloing mechanism, and is even better for small parties where they want you to tank. Keep in mind, Seigan won’t make you better than a Paladin tank, but in small parties, you have a lot better chance of out-tanking a Ninja tank.
 * Blade Bash is one of two meritable job abilities. If you’ve ever heard of Dark Knight’s “Weapon Bash”, or Paladin’s “Shield Bash” abilities, you’ll have an idea what this is about. Useable every fifteen minutes (ten with full merits), you can stun and possibly plague your target. You will not get TP from this ability, mind you, and unlike the other two like-abilities, this one will not deal any damage. The chance of stunning and plaguing are quite high, though. It can be used to stop a monster’s attack quite assuredly. In case you don’t know what plague does, it constantly lowers the target’s TP and MP over time. It used to be a ranged attack, but they changed it so it’s normal range.
 * Shikikoyo is one of the better of your four merit choices. What it does is gives the target party member all TP you have over 100%. So if you have 247% TP, you’ll give them 147% and keep 100% for yourself, allowing you to both do a wicked skillchain right away. It can be used once every fifteen minutes (ten with full merits). Basic strategy would be to let the party member use a weapon skill, then you use Shikikoyo, and follow with a fast meditate. Your ally performs another weapon skill, then you close that last one. Four weapon skills, three skillchains, no mention of Meiko Shisui either.

Job Traits

 * Resist Blind, believe it or not, is one of the more useful resist abilities. This is especially true since Samurai has no way to remove blind. Resist Blind won’t always work to completely resist the effect, but it will always heavily decrease the duration of the effect, allowing you to have the most of your generally high accuracy. You get four tiers of this trait, starting at Lv.5.
 * Store TP is the Big Kahuna for Samurai. It simply increases TP gained per hit by a specific percentage. Your first tier of Store TP gives you a 10% increase in TP gain, meaning if you hit the target and normally get 11.3% TP, you’d get 12.4%. Samurai gets its fourth and final tier at Lv.70, giving a total of +25% to the Store TP value. You can increase this trait through a large number of abilities. Each “+Store TP” gives a direct value to the trait. For example, if you have +25% and have “Store TP+5” on, you’ll have +30%.
 * Zanshin is a really neat-o trait that gives you the ability to occasionally perform a second attack if you miss one. It’s a Lv.20 version of Warrior’s “Double Attack” trait in one way of looking at it, except it only procures when you miss. Zanshin can activate on weapon skills. It can activate on swings that consume shadows. It can activate on swings that are countered. It can activate on swings that deal 0 points of damage.
 * Demon Killer is a relatively useless ability unless you actually intend on killing Demon-class monsters. What it does is gives you the chance to intimidate those demons if they decide to turn around and attack you. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it can activate on abilities and spells used.
 * Overwhelm is basically only useful if you never sub Thief. Since Thief as a sub almost forces you to perform weapon skills from behind, and this trait only works from the front. What Overwhelm does once you merit it is gives you a large boost to weapon skill damage- as long as you’re facing the monster when used. Every time this trait is merited, you get +5% damage, up to +15% damage. For the purpose of example, let’s say you normally deal 300 damage on your weapon skill. With this trait, you would deal 345 damage. No, it’s not a huge amount, but it is worth it if you find yourself not attacking from behind. It’s also useful when soloing. I suppose when subbing Thief, it can still be useful. For one, Trick Attack can be used without Sneak Attack (just for slightly less effect), and for two, both of those abilities are on one-minute timers, and you’ll be using more than one weapon skill every minute.
 * Ikishoten</I> is another choice for merits. It’s only really useful if you miss a lot and have wicked merits into Zanshin (and/or Zanshin-boosting equipment). The Ikishoten trait gives a really high TP boost per hit with Zanshin. If it occurs and the hit lands, you will get an extra 3% TP every hit to a max of 9%. That’s almost a whole extra hit’s worth of extra TP, on top of the TP you already get from the attack.