Best Role For Samurai In Abyssea

Hi,

One of the guys in my weekly static group (8 years and going strong) only has Paladin and Samurai > 75 (both are at 90) half of this staic group only play once a week (we are all irl friends and keep in touch this way), we have been doing a lot of Abyssea stuff lately and he is feeling kind of useless/bored. I understand that a lot of Abyssea NM's are beaten with one or two tanks and some good healers, and people to hit weaknesses (blm,brd,blu,war,etc..) This pretty much leaves PLD and SAM mostly out of the picture. He likes playing SAM more than PLD (though PLD can hit a surprisingly large number of red weaknesses) so I was wondering how you guys play Samurai in Abyssea. What role do you normally fill and do you have any suggestions on what he can do to feel/be more useful during our events?

I have a SAM at 90 but have not ever played it in Abyssea beyond leveling it up there. I am hoping SAM becomes more useful in the outside of Abyssea content that is forthcoming.

Thanks!

Basicly, SAMs only role is to deal dmg.
And it's not very good at it inside abyssea, so it's fairly useless

Sub whm and back up heal/make sure the good dds are hasted?

Sam = DD. Not the best in Abyssea but if that's what you have to work with you can still be fairly useful on the dd end of things.

Jinpu/Koki and if tp isnt needed for those then Shikikoyo the better dd's.

Lol guess its one way to make sam useful

This^

lvl another job? it only takes a few days at the most.

Tell him to come as PLD, level up his dagger to get Aeolian Edge, round up a bunch of mobs and burn them all down with said WS. He can farm time while the rest of you kill NMs. He can also farm KI popsets from the gold boxes that will be dropping.

Sam is a DD. Using it for triggers is ok but a NIN can do all the sam triggers and more - as well as tank better and DD better. So either go NIN or cap your shikikoyo to give me some TP >.> lol

keeping the corner warm

If I was gonna do that on any job whilst the rest of the party was off doing nms for kis Id always do that blu, and would suggest to lvl blu even just for that reason over doing it on pld even with more leveling being required.

Somehow, inb4 Forbidden Keys.

Thanks for all the quick replies! Leveling another job isn't really an option, for one it will not get skilled up and two even if it only takes 3 days, that is three weeks we spend as a group doing exp instead of what the rest of the group wants to do.

He just merited Shikikoyo last night, so hopefully that will help out.

I hadn't really thought about having him AOE normal mobs for time/gold boxes, not sure how that would work out but I can suggest it.

get his pld a caladbolg or almace and he can DD

Get him a almace and ochain. :P

get him all 3!

Get his sam a Mas so he can Fudo everything in sight.

why would that mean 3 weeks of xp as a group lol? it takes 3 days, he can do it on his own time. it doesnt take long to skillup unless hes lvling war, and he can cap while you guys do events +get gear.

Ya'll are being silly.
Yes, SAM doesn't have the desirable Critical-Hit based WS that takes advantage of Razed Ruins, like WAR, or MNK, or NIN.

That doesn't mean one can't DD or melee as a SAM in Abyssea, especially in a group. Just because SAM isn't a good job for duo-trio "low-man" farming in Abyssea, doesn't mean it's "useless". Laughable.
In general, the Magic-based Great Katana WS like Tachi:Jinpu will yield higher WS damage numbers in Abyssea, using Magic Damage+ Atmas. However, the WS numbers on Jinpu can be wildly inconsistent. I think an awesome way to take advantage of SAM in Abyssea is to load up on multi-attack Atma and use a high-DPS high-delay Great Katana, like Kikugosaku. I like to use Voracious Violet, Lion, and Razed Ruins, adding on Pole Grip, Atheling Mantle, and Nocturnus Mail.

If you manage your Store TP gear properly, and use the above gear and Atmas, with Haste/March effects, you can drop two-level self-skillchains left and right in Abyssea, and three-level self-skillchains whenever Sekkanoki or Meditate is up. Does this take some timing/planning and player skill? Absolutely.

Now, realistically, there is no way that a SAM's damage, even with all these tweaks I've recommended is going to keep pace with a Ukon GreatAxe WAR. However, the damage will be formidable, and far, far from "useless" (as one person in this thread stated). If you'd like to take my tactics one step further and tank or co-tank a NM as SAM in Abyssea, I'd urge you to consider revamping SAM merits to decrease your Third Eye recast time. Having a fresh Third Eye available every 25 seconds makes SAM tanking much more sustainable. Another feature to consider taking advantage of is subbing MNK for SAM tanking. I've not tried this yet, but in theory, SAM tanking could benefit from Max HP Boost II, Subtle Blow II, and Counter traits.

Anyways, "in before" lolSAM. I'm not trying to make the argument that SAM is a dominant melee DD in Abyssea, it isn't. But if you apply some critical thinking, and tweak your SAM equipment and tactics, SAM can be formidable, or at least serviceable as a DD in Abyssea.

Over and out.

Samurai's role is to Blade Bash the enemies, Meditate and Shikikoyo the Ukon WAR as often as possible so the WAR can self SC more and own stuff faster.

Sub /Dnc so you can use the leftover TP to build finishing moves and assist heal or Stun enemy moves.

/thread

sam/drg maybe?

For the record, PLD can actually do all the red procs WAR can except for scythe. :P

But yeah, burning down lots of mobs at once with Aeolian Edge would be a good idea. Just gotta get him Regen atmas and he can easily do that solo. Sea Daughter (from Grauberg boss) is awesome during daytime (especially since it also gives 5 TP/tick Regain) with the 30 HP/tick. Mounted Champion is awesome too. After that there's several that are basically equivalent; any of them could be used (Vicissitude, Stronghold, Impenetrable).

Only when fighting DRG type mobs so he can Ancient Circle the Ukon WAR

"samaurai" Leads a rousing cheer for the real dd! pom poms and everything

Samurai is so 2009!

Regain atma and run in to WS the mob?

I've never really been a fan of SAM at all, and it probably has a lot to do as DRK being my main and everyone used to ask "Got SAM?" It never failed too that if I didn't have a SAM in a Nyzule climb that I'd lose a RDM or a BRD because people used to think that you NEEDED one to win. Given that, I have a bit more sympathy for them due to more effective jobs in abyssea. But just because there are jobs that are more effective, doesn't mean that sam are useless by any means.

Elanabelle had some good points in that post and Sheelay mentioned /DNC which is probably going to help the pt out more than most subs due to the high STP that sam brings. SAM was built for tanking and dd, but if those spots are taken by other jobs that can do it better, than I suggest /DNC for stuns, cures, erase, haste samba, etc...

Add some Conserve TP Atma and have the SAM spam Tachi: Hobaku

Just have him come Pld to cleave and trigger. Sam is pointless unless your static is really hurting for dmg.