User:Gregedor/GuideWeapons

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 

Primary Weapons:
 * 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.

Secondary Weapons: 
 * 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. 

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. 

Levels 40-49


 * Level 40 - Kagehide


 * Best weapon for level 40. You could make do with older weapons until 42 if you like.


 * Level 42 - Magoroku


 * 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.



Levels 50-59


 * Level 50 - Koryukagemitsu


 * 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.


 * Level 50 - Soboro Sukehiro


 * 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.


 * Level 56 - Raikiri


 * This sword is pretty cheap on my server and has great DPS if you feel like upgrading before 60.


 * Level 59 - Daihannya


 * 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.



Levels 60-69


 * Level 60 - Gold Musketeer's Uchigatana


 * 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.


 * Level 66 - Sukesada


 * 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.


 * Level 67 - Kazaridachi


 * 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.



Levels 70-75


 * Level 70 - Kamewari


 * 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.


 * Level 72 - Michishiba


 * 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 72 - Hagun


 * 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 73 - Onimaru


 * 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 - Ushikirimaru


 * 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 75 - Futsuno Mitama


 * 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 - Amanomurakumo


 * 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!



Polearms
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. 

Levels 60-69<BR>


 * Level 60 - Couse


 * 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.

<BR>

Levels 70-75<BR>


 * Level 70 - Schiltron Spear


 * 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.


 * Level 72 - Gondo-Shizunori<BR>


 * 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.


 * Level 73 - Stone-splitter<BR>


 * 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.

<BR>

Bows
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. <BR><BR>

Levels 1-55<BR>


 * 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.

<BR>

Level 55+<BR>


 * Level 55 - Lightning Bow


 * 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.


 * Level 71 Shigeto Bow


 * 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.


 * Level 71 Arco De Velocidad


 * 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.


 * Level 72 Ifrit's Bow


 * 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.

<BR>