Samurai: Ultimate Guide by Gregedor

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 you die since you can't get enmity quickly.
• Defense Bonus (Level 20) - Hahahahahahlolololol/phew/sniffle Ok 10 defense does squat.
• Resist Virus (Level 30 and 70) - Virus covers both disease and plague. Disease you don't care about, but plague kills TP so every little bit of resistance helps, but… how often are you really hit with plague? Endgame monsters, sure, but levelling? Not really.
• Berserk (Level 30) - Gives you 25% more attack, which I can't remember what that equates to at low level, but at 75+ it's around 100 Attack. 100 Attack, 60% of the time is incredibly nice.
• Defender (Level 50) - Similar to Berserk but for defense. You can use this to help save your bacon or try your hand at SAM/WAR tanking. Meaning this is mostly never used.
• 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 procs. Brutal Earring and Pole Grip take you to 17% 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.
• Aggressor (Level 90) - Similar concept to Berserk and Defender. Adds accuracy and decreases evasion up to 60% of the time (3 min duration with 5 min recharge). A very nice boost indeed.
• Fencer (Level 90) - Not useful unless you're using a 1 hand weapon.

Puts you at 5 STR lower (on a 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.
Benefits are:

• Gilfinder (Level 10) - This… doesn't matter in parties.
• Steal (Level 10) - Again, this doesn't matter much either. You can get some nice gil while out there killing things though.
• Evasion Bonus (Levels 20 and 60) - 20 more evasion at 60+ which jumps you from 256 to 276 (at level 75) 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. Extremely useful on HNMs/gods/etc. and other thick skinned monsters.
• Treasure Hunter (Levels 30 and 90) - This might actually matter to people. I've been in alliances/linkshells that want a lot of people coming /THF to try and up their chances. Definitely makes a difference while farming.
• Resist Gravity (Levels 40 and 80) - Gravity is certainly annoying and happens all the time in Salvage. It's certainly not a reason to pick this subjob over something else, but it's free.
• 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 often are /THF for landing hits and shedding hate when with smaller/weaker groups.
• Hide (Level 90) - Not a terribly useful ability given how random the duration is, but it's a free invisible.

Since the addition of Seigan there isn't as much need for Ninja in most of the day to day activities. Endgame situations, sure shadows save the bacon, but most of the time Third Eye is more than sufficient. 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. The only real time I feel it's absolutely necessary to come /NIN to a merit party is when you're routinely tanking due to outclassing your party by a wide margin. If you have Hagun and Usukane while your let's say… MNK is in O-hat and Scorpion Harness… come /NIN.
Benefits are:

• Stealth (Level 10) - Um… no.
• Tonko (Levels 18 and 68) - Invisible using only ninja tools is very nice.
• Dual Wield (Levels 20, 50 and 90) - Dual wielding great katana would be awesome! Too bad you can't do it. Only things SAM can dual wield (and not well I might add) are Swords, Daggers and Clubs. Issue here is that with /NIN you cannot use Vorpal Blade, which would be one of the drawing factors for a sword.
• Subtle Blow (Level 30, 60 and 90) - Did you really choose this support job for this? One upgrade is hardly noticeable, two is pretty decent. Three is definitely worth something to consider when you're on big NMs with nasty TP moves.
• Utsusemi (Levels 24 and 74) - This is the only reason you have this support job… to off-set your sexiness.
• Monomi: Ichi (Level 50) - Sneak using only ninja tools is very nice when just travelling around or going into aggro-prone areas.
• Level II Ninjutsu (Level 80) - I originally did not include this as a consideration, but given the nature of staggers in Abyssea, it can be useful to bring along if you don't have another /NIN or NIN job as you can actually land a blue stagger using your /NIN spells.

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. NOTE: I have not tried SAM/RNG in Abyssea areas, please write me if you have some experience in this regard.
Benefits are:

• Wide Scan (Level 1, 40 and 80) - 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 (Levels 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. -- Getting updated in Nov 09, more to follow…
• Resist Poison (Level 40, 80) - Similar to my comments for /THF, this is a nice freebie, but not a reason to choose this subjob over something else.
• 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 if possible as you have a hard time landing every shot.
• Shadowbind (Level 80) - Useful for handling aggro or getting away if in trouble. Careful not to hit a mob after you bind them...

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. 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.
Don't take my critique to mean this is a poor subjob, on the contrary it is #2 in melee damage of all subjobs currently available at level 75+. The /DRG also creates an easier time to self-chain without Sekkanoki. That may or may not be your aim sometimes and certainly adds a lot of the potential in the subjob. Add to that the fact that Soboro can proc during a jump and you have real self-chaining potential. Pre-75, /DRG is a solid subjob from 20-50 especially if you have the 5% haste earring (Wyvern Earring) and the 6 attack mantle (Wyvern Mantle) that only work with /DRG. I'd recommend levelling this job anyways even if simply for fun.
Benefits are:

• Attack Bonus (Level 20) - Same as with warrior, 10 free attack. Just that here you get it sooner putting /DRG ahead of /WAR for low levels.
• 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 and Berserk on /WAR making it a toss up between the three.
• Accuracy Bonus (Level 60) - 10 Accuracy, a free optical hat. It's not a bad benefit.
• High Jump (Level 70) - Free combat round every 3 minutes. Reduces enmity some.
• Conserve TP (Level 90) - Occasionally makes your WS use less TP. You still need 100TP to activate the WS, but when you finish you will have the TP earned from the WS plus some TP that was saved. Activation rate is actually fairly decent, which will help boost how many WS you can crank out.

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.
Benefits are:

• Martial Arts (Many levels) - Just ignore this, you have 0 Hand to Hand skill.
• Subtle Blow (Levels 10, 50 and 90) - 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+.
• Chi Blast (Level 82) - Basically only useful for pulling and claiming, but it's a very fast claim.
• Counterstance (Level 90) - Again, not altogether useful because you shouldn't be tanking 100% of the time, but it's a bene regardless.

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. If mobs are hitting you for more than your curing waltz, 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 45 count and that excludes many of the nifty tricks. Still, let's take a look at it.
Benefits are:

• Drain Samba (Level 10 and 70) - Adding endrain* to your hits is awesome. Two-handed weapons with /DNC can get upwards of 30HP per hit. That's certainly not chump change.
• Evasion Bonus (Level 30 and 90) - Small boost of 22 evasion which is nice; lower levels has more impact.
• Curing Waltz (Level 30, 60 and 90) - This is your cure spell (pretty obvious name lol) and level one is around 70 HP and level two around 170 HP. These are influenced by stats of course. Level 1 can almost be spammed with a 4 sec recast time. Level III is finally getting pretty serious, but then again at level 90, so is your HP pool.
• Dual Wield (Level 40 and 80) - Finally, another job besides NIN has dual wield. Once again though... you can't dual wield great katana. However, this does make interesting options for those that can benefit from dual wielding.
• Resist Slow (Level 40) - I don't know the success rate on this trait at resisting slow, but it's at least something. It also shortens the duration, but as 70+ SAM/DNC you have Healing Waltz to remove slow instead of waiting it out.
• Quickstep (Level 40) - Lowers monster evasion, awesome!
• Animated Flourish (Level 40) - See Provoke.
• Subtle Blow (Level 50 and 90) - Two upgrades is pretty decent.
• Aspir Samba (Level 50) - Enaspir* for your weapon, but as SAM/DNC you'll have no MP so don't worry about it.
• Divine Waltz (Level 50) - Curaga basically, 70-90 HP for the whole party.
• Spectral Jig (Level 50) - Free (yes really free, 0 TP used) sneak + invisible. I think this is self-explanitory.
• Box Step (Level 60) - Lowers monster defense, also cool!
• Accuracy Bonus (Level 60) - Always a good trait, gives you 10 free accuracy and ranged accuracy.
• Desperate Flourish (Level 60) - Inflicts gravity on the target.
• Healing Waltz (Level 70) - Erase... wow!
• Stutter Step (Level 80) - Lowers a target's magic resistance, interesting.
• Reverse Flourish (Level 80) - Grants TP dependent on the amount of finishing moves you have saved. So, if you do five steps and they all land, then you can pop this move and get 60 TP in return for your 50 TP worth of effort. Plus, the mob is enfeebled from all that stepping, pretty nice.
• Skillchain Bonus (Level 90) - Worthless. You natively get a skillchain bonus at 78 on Samurai. Several levels before you can get it from /DNC.
• Haste Samba (Level 90) - Ooh, very nice! Stacks on top of Haste/March to make you swing even faster.
• Violent Flourish (Level 90) - Chance to stun your target. Low proc rate, but a fairly decent ability.

That is quite a laundry list of abilities. This is definitely the most useful subjob, especially while solo. It offers little in the way of offensive abilities, but so too does /NIN.

*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. However, if you're fighting a mob you normally can't drain (undead) or aspir (non-mages) then you cannot get HP/MP from these moves either.

• White Mage - Could be used for solo work or for something where it is you and a bud out duo, but this is basically replaced with /DNC.
• Dark Knight - People often mention this for Souleater, but considering all that you give up out of other jobs it's largely a waste. You do get Absorb-TP but your magic skills are capped as if you were 45 DRK so it's not likely to stick. I suppose if you were refreshed you could function just as well as any other /DRK stunner, but is that really the best use of a Samurai's abilities?

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 45 for a subjob. Just equip the best DPS great katana for your level. For 10-20 that's the Katayama, which is not too 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.

• 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. The fight is hard and the drop rate lousy. It will be the best damage output until the high 60s, but between there and 73-75 it loses it's luster mostly due to a lack of gear to beef it up, especially on the WS side. At 75 Soboro is mostly relegated to being a SAM/RNG or SAM/DNC sword or other special situations... 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, great 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, especially if fighting crabs, 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.

• Level 69 - Namioyogi

Without the paired earring, this sword is also nothing special, in fact the enmity increase might make it a hazard, but it is cheap and does give the same DPS as Shinsoku a few levels earlier. So consider this if you want an upgrade, but keep in mind that five enmity might make your life a little harder in groups. With the earring this sword is about on par with a Shinsoku + other earring.

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 70 - Kumokirimaru

This guy has become an interesting gem for Salvage, in particular Bhaflau Remnants. The Wamouracampa and Wamoura in there both count as vermin and since you typically don't have your weaponskills and abilities unlocked that early in the run, there's no reason to be using Hagun. The damage is quite impressive and when you do get weaponskills unlocked and you can do a 300% TP hit on the Wamoura for 3030 Gekko with 3030 Darkness damage. Yeah, you read right, 6060 damage in the blink of an eye. That made me super pleased one week. =D

• Level 72 - Shinsoku

People have asked about my opinion on this sword. Back when it was 3M and Hagun was 1M I'd have told you that you were nuts to get this POS. Now that Hagun is expensive and Shinsoku is like 10-30k... it's not a bad stop-gap until you get other weapons. The stat boosts also make it a decent choice for SAM/RNG if you have no Soboro.

• 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 and Rana have still suprised occasionally because of the multiple hits.

• Level 72 - Hagun

This will be your best friend from the time you get it to the time you stop playing FFXI. The one thing this weapon has going for it 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 would be a good alternative to enhance your melee damage some. Hagun's TP Bonus will not apply to Sidewinder so there is no since in wielding it. Since the latent on Onimaru 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. Also, this is arguably better for use with Tachi: Rana than Hagun because the TP Bonus will only give a boost to accuracy and not damage, unlike YGK where extra TP means extra damage.

• 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 fights where you want to keep hate on the tanks. For other fights where you don't trick attack anyone, I prefer to use Onimaru.

• 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. The 8 STR is active during WS which give it a decent boost, but not as much as Hagun's. The big difference in base damage coupled with the STR though makes it an interesting change. From what I can read and deduce it will get you around the same damage as Hagun, but it doesn't mean to sell that Hagun! Also, you need to head for a 5 hit TP build to use this effectively, which isn't as hard as on a normal GKT since this is a 480 delay weapon.

• Level 75 - Amanomurakumo

Relic weapon, obviously nearly impossible to obtain and it is above any other weapon you can get. If you got it... use it.

• Level 75 - Kogarasumaru

The new Mythic Weapon. Basically useless... the aftermaths have been figured out and the Double Attack effect is only active after a 300% weaponskill. Well, the goal is to fire WS at 100% so you get stuck with the accuracy bonus. This makes this sword far, far inferior to it's cost, imo.

Levels 75-90

• Level 80 - Scathacha

I don't know why this has so much CHR on it... even if you're into CHR for boosting Demon Killer I don't think 20 will make that big a difference. Anyways, VERY high DPS on this guy and he does have STR and GKT Skill. Plus it looks funky.

• Level 89 - Kikugosaku

Again, crazy high DPS for just getting a dropped weapon. Still not quite equal to Great Katana Trials offerings. STR and Store TP are nice and help to bring this 480 delay weapon down to a high build that's tolerable. The Zanshin bonus is interesting, but as my take always is on Zanshin... you shouldn't plan on missing.

• Level 90 - Hyogugusarinotachi +2

Yeah I can't spell it either, but it's one helluva weapon. STR +9 and Attack +24 make for nice weaponskills and melee damage. I think it's also the highest DPS short of the Level 90 relic/mythic/empyrean. Definitely worth working towards. There's other flavors too if you like, DEX +9 Accuracy +20 if you have accuracy issues, AGI +9 Evasion +24 if you want evasion, VIT +9 Phys Dmg Taken -12% if you want a dmg mitigation option. The additional effect variants aren't as worth it in my opinion.

• Level 90 - Keitonotachi +2

This is basically your Hagun replacement. You can either get the +10% weaponskill damage variant or the TP Bonus +100 variant. My recommendation is the TP Bonus one, should be higher return that 10% weaponskill unless you're churning out huge numbers.

• Level 90 - Kokushitsunotachi +2

Comes in several flavors, Occ. Attk. Twice with high damage, Occ. Attk 2-3 times with low damage, and Double Attack +8% with the highest damage. Of those options, I think you'll be best off with the Occ. Attk. Twice variant. However, this is also the harder of the three to obtain.

• Level 90 - Amanomurakumo (90)

If you have a relic... upgrade it. I don't care HOW many weaponskills it takes, just get on with it!

• Level 90 - Kogarasumaru (90)

If you have the mythic... upgrade it. Notice a theme? The damage output is still low though compare with relic and empyrean. Third Eye IV is interesting, I don't know what it means exactly. It could be that you have 4 uses of third eye even without Seigan? Or maybe increased counter? I have no clue. I asked someone I saw with one but he didn't respond. Please let me know if you figure it out and I'll post it here.

• Level 90 - Masamune (90)

Finally the Empyrean weapon. It has near identical DPS to relic, but with STR instead of Accuracy you'll be doing more damage. Tachi: Fudo seems similar to Tachi: Kaiten in terms of mechanics. Long road to upgrade this guy, but definitely worth it.

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, Bhaflau Thickets 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

• 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. If you're just going to wait until 70+ to skill up and use a polearm, then you can pass this up easily.

Levels 70-75

• 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 70 - Engetsuto
  

Very decent PLM which can be made even better with a 5 hit build due to the longer (480) delay. The +1 version is nicer for melee damage and stat bonuses, but will ruin your 5 hit build so I'd actually not recommend going for the HQ variant.

• Level 71 - Iron Ram Lance
  

Smoking hot new entry into the Polearm scene. It's actually getting quite crowded down here now. Look at the effect, -10% Damage Taken...that's crazy! Also the DPS for the weapon is higher than even Stone-splitter or Engetsuto. Obviously it's faster swinging so lower damage per swing and also lower Penta Thrusts versus an Engetsuto or Gondo-Shizunori, but it certainly beats many other choices on this list. If nothing else it's a power player in making a Samurai damage reduction gear setup.

• Level 72 - Gondo-Shizunori
  

I have yet to get this mainly becuase nobody likes using their Kindred Seals on the fights this drops from. The melee damage over time is a little lower than that of Stone-spitter but with the longer delay you can modify your build to a 5 hit setup and get TP faster overall. This should mean that you're doing more damage with this spear. The high base damage helps with Penta Thrust too.

• Level 72 - Tomoe
  

This is a brand new entry with the addition of the ZNM fights. This hands down beats the Engetsuto, but you have to put in a lot more work than purchasing one off the AH. As soon as I can get off my rear I'm going to be charging for this weapon. The DPS is a little under Iron Ram Lance, but with a longer delay and harder weaponskills you should make up for that deficiency. Probably the current king for Samurai polearm options.

• Level 72 - Leviathan's Couse
  

I take that back about the Tomoe... this is probably the current king of SAM PLM. It has the same delay, more damage, more attack and can achieve a 5 hit build. It is definitely not easy to obtain, but certainly worth it if you're looking for the best.

• Level 73 - Stone-splitter
  

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. I used this for a long, long time until I got the Iron Ram Lance. Works under the same principle as Onimaru and Blau Dolch. Makes for some great Penta Thrusts compared to Schiltron Spear.

• Level 73 - Love Halberd
  

Someone asked that I add this bad boy to the list so here she is. She and bad boy conflict, but it has love in the title...this can't be a guy. =P Anyways, the obvious benefit is the added effect. Once you take that into account, the damage is not bad, really pretty good. Since the two-hand updates in 2007, the DEX now has more effect and makes for a decent accuracy bonus (~5). This is a 100% drop so you could get it in fairly short order.

• Level 75 - Dabo/Dabo +1
  

To be honest I can't remember when this was added, hmm...but it's on my list now. Overall Tomoe is probably better for damage, but this does have lots of accuracy and evasion which might better suit your needs. It's crafted only so expect a fairly high price and low availability for a while.

Levels 75-90

• Level 81 - Erebus's Lance

Great DPS jump from Engetsuto and the other pre-75 polearms. Additionally this is a 480 spear making for good TP gain and has 12 accuracy to help with hitting. Since you can't use any Magian Trial polearms, this is about the only option post 75.

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.

Levels 1-55

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.

Level 55-75

• 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/Shigeto Bow +1

The best friend 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. In addition to the stat perks, this is the third highest DMG bow a Samurai can use which will boost Sidewinder output.

• 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 - Martial Bow

Generally only a few jobs use the TP Bonus weapons (like SAM with Hagun) but I am curious the effect of this on Sidewinder. Base damage is low and there are no ranged stats, but you might improve your Sidewinder accuracy a bit which would be the same as having some straight ranged accuracy. The question is, how much? I'd be interested in hearing some people's testing on this guy... seems rather quiet out there on discussion pages.

• 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.

• Level 72 - Failnaught

This is the most ranged accuracy SAM can get on a bow (2 more than Shigeto +1). The sacrifice of course is damage, both in base damage and in ranged attack. It does have -enmity which could save your bacon, but I think the use of this bow is mostly situational. In fact with the -enmity might make this a better bow for standard SAM/WAR and meleeing than for a SAM/RNG build. Certainly not a bad weapon though.

• Level 75 - Cerberus Bow +1

Similar to most of the early bows, only the +1 of the Cerberus Bow is worth considering for ranged damage. At 73 base DMG it's not far behind Shigeto and with 24 ranged attack it is certainly going to pack a punch. SAM has fairly low ranged attack, at least compared to RNG, so this is a nice boost. AGI is also a primary mod on Sidewinder. Serious contender to Shigeto +1.

• Level 75 - Lamian Kaman/Lamian Kaman +1

Very fast bow that would be good for pulling (+1 also has some accuracy to help). Magic defense bonus is also a nice perk. MP and M.Def certainly get more miles on other jobs but it isn't necessarily wasted on SAM.

• Level 75 - Yoichinoyumi

Why didn't I add this a year ago...no clue. Sorry for the oversight. Ok! Relic bow, you can't go wrong with this. The obvious use is to combine with a Soboro and spam Namas Arrow instead of Sidewinder. The 20 ranged accuracy is certainly going to help you hit the target and Namas Arrow adds some more to that. Obviously if you go for this have an arsenal of SAM/RNG gear ready.

Level 75-90

• Level 85 - Murti Bow

This guy has great DMG, 16 over Shigeto. Also gives you occasional use of Namas Arrow, which is nifty.

• Level 87 - Beursault Bow

About the same damage as Murti but with some ranged stats. Probably the better option if you can find it.

• Level 90 - Yoichinoyumi (90)

Best option you have yet again. If you have a relic bow, upgrade it. Very sexy.

I 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.

So what do we look for in our grips? Well for the most part it should be pretty obvious, melee stats. On the other hand if you're going for a Sword Strap it's a little more of a loaded question.

Levels 30-59

Admittedly there's only a few grips to choose from, even when you can choose from all of them, but I broke it up into two groups.

• Level 30 - Brass Grip +1

This is the only grip at level 30 to give melee stats. Yes, there's a normal quality version, but the HQ is so cheap why bother? The only alternative to Brass Grip are Lizard Straps, but I'm not a big fan of a few 5-10 HP.

• Level 50 - Orca Strap

This is a recent addition and offers a decent +3 attack, but you need to be 75 and fight a WotG NM... hmm... I'd pass.

• Level 55 - Mythril Grip/Mythril Grip +1

At level 55 you can finally get a decent grip. The plus one is probably a very managable price so go ahead and get it. I was actually quite happy using this grip until prices came down on the higher level ones.

• Level 55 - Sword Strap

I would caution you away from Sword Strap at this level. Effectively it lowers the base delay of the weapon. Well, this effects the TP gain per hit and therefore your build to 100%. Now I haven't yet gotten to the Store TP speech in this guide, but after reading there you'll understand how large of a hit this can be. If you're at 75 though with a properly sized build you can beat the detrimental effect here and go with it if you like.

Levels 60+

Ok well group one was fast, but you'll see why the division in a second. Basically before 60 is a lot of trash and after 60 you get some choices.

• Level 60 - Pole Grip

Currently this is king by concensus. 2% more double attack is a killer boost especially when combined with other gear and a warrior subjob. I'm quite happy with mine. Activates on weaponskill too which gives the edge over Sword Strap normally, probably, most of the time.

• Level 60 - Rose Strap

Brand new strap that gives 4 Store TP normally and 20 in Campaign. I don't know about needing 20...probably on non-SAM jobs, but the 4 might be just what you need to break on into a lower hit TP build.

• Level 65 - Axe Grip

Initially I left this out because compared to the others I think 3 STR is a fairly weak benefit. However, I can see how someone might consider this. How does 3 STR compare to 2% Double Attack or 3% Crit? Well you'd have to parse that out. Best use for this that I can think of is SAM/RNG.

• Level 65 - Claymore Grip

This I view as a intermediate step for Pole Grip. The 3% critical hit isn't going to mess up your TP build like Sword Strap does and it's argueably close to the 2% double attack on Pole Grip in damage output. My nod goes to Pole Grip though, but this is a great option.

• Level 65 - Platinum Grip

At first I'm sure you're cross-eyed looking at this. It's a stun effect though. The proc rate varies but is somewhere between 5 and 10%. This isn't what I'd bring to a merit party, but it's certainly an option for solo or duo type activities. I would equate it to scenarios where a Ninja might use stun katana, except now it's extended to two-handed users. Personally I travel with a Paladin often times and could care less if he's taking it on the chin. =P

• Level 81 - Danger Grip

A solid hitter with 5 accuracy and attack. I don't know that you want to trade in your Pole Grip, but it's not a bad item.

In 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. You do want to keep a usable Sword/Dagger/Club around for red/blue staggers in Abyssea.

• Fire Staff / Axe Grip

If for some reason you find yourself in a situation that you have to stand back and plunk at the mob with ranged attacks, then this is a good way to do that. Using a staff will still allow you to have Hasso active for another 10 STR. Overall this is +17 STR and +10 Ranged Attack so not too shabby. Definitely makes you feel like a Ranger...

• Trailer's Kukri / Tatami Shield

Similar to the fire staff example, here you have ranged accuracy coupled with a few points of STR. You can't use Hasso though, which is a bummer.

• Ridill

Basically just because you can! Hands down an awesome DPS sword and they actually let SAM use it. You need to be SAM/WAR though for Vorpal Blade or Sanguine Blade. If you go SAM/NIN to dual wield you won't have any WS worth using unfortunately. You can spam Spirits Within, but that's only useful at 300% TP. You can also use a Kraken Club, again an odd twist, so you could pretend you're a WAR or DRK and dual wield Ridill/KC and spam Spirits Within. I'd be interested in seeing this even if just for laughs.

• Kraken Club

Read above with Ridill... but basically just for show.

• Sky Winds

You actually have as much throwing skill as you do archery skill. True you can't Unlimited Shot and retain the wind like a RNG can, but you have at least a decent shot of hitting a sky god in a pinch.

• Daggers

Samurai can actually use quite a few daggers... who knows why. I've used this from time to time to gain access to an AoE weaponskill. GKT has none as does PLM, you have no Staff skill, Sword's AoE stinks... Cyclone really is the best you have access to. Farming or against pesky Chigoe are about all I can think of using this for, but hey there's a use!

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 15.5 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 TP 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 chart 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 and many of the new Trial of the Magians GKT), 450 (most Great Katana), 464 (Zanbato and a few outliers, as well as the new Kurodachi) and 480 delay weapons (Futsuno Mitama and some Polearms like Tomoe):

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.

So far all this still holds true for the new level 80 cap as there are no more Store TP merits for Samurai and not much in the way of Store TP gear. We will see in the coming months if the move to 99 cap makes it easier to reach up into the red levels or if some other funky delay weapons are added.

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 on Hagun (different for other weapons). 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, such as fighting very evasive mobs where you want to max out accuracy, or solo/tanking work where you may want to amp up on evasion at the expense of some Store TP.

TP Build

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 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. I recognize that with the changes over the years, the power of base stats has increased for two-handed weapons (1 DEX/STR = .75 Acc/Atk), but it is still not quite as powerful as raw accuracy and attack. Base stats, however, do give other perks (like crit rate). On individual melee hits you get no benefit for any other stats outside STR, DEX, Acc and Atk.

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. 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.

There are by far newer and better pieces that I could discuss, but these are important starting items. Haubergeon (esp the +1 version), Ochiudo's Kote, and Byakko's Haidate will jump-start your Samurai career. From there you can push on to the Usukane Haramaki Set and the Justice Torque and the other shiny baubles, but you have to start somewhere. Running around in your Hachiman Domaru and Myochin Kote probably won't get your very far with your buds on the endgame scene.

Meditate Gear

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. A 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 is not much better. The 5 STR isn't going to trump other pieces with 10 accuracy or 3-5% 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 Gear

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 big 3 Great Katana weaponskills (Yukkikaze, Gekko, Kasha [YGK]) 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 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 might be worth the trade off, but something like Hachiman Domaru 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 Build

Ok the haste build. I'm sure everyone has been expecting it, what job isn't on the Haste bandwagon. Two handed weapon users argueably get more out of haste than dual wielders because haste boosts are percentage based, and your delay is far higher than dual wielders. Hence, you knock more off your delay than they do off of their delay. So because haste is percentage based, it can make two-handed users catch up to dual wield jobs very quickly.

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 (Ninurta's Sash if you're already decked out). 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. Bear in mind it's all theoretical max/min/avg numbers and nothing empirical, but it allows fast comparisons of setups without parsing for hours. Final tests to validate your builds should be done in-game.

SAM/RNG

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 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:

Armor:	Weapons:
Optical Hat	Shigeto Bow
Seiryu's Kote	Soboro Sukehiro
Hachiman Domaru / Kirin's Osode / Kyudogi
Dusk Trousers
Askar Gambieras / Hachiryu Sune-Ate / Enkidu's Leggings
Amemet Mantle +1
Merman's Ring / Behemoth Ring
Peacock Charm / Light Gorget / Hope Torque
Saotome Koshi-Ate / Buccaneer's Belt

Wow! That's some serious accuracy gear! You'll need every bit of it. Samurai archery skill caps at 255 (level 80), 271 with max merits. A level 80 ranger is at 294 skill, 310 with merits and instead of the 22 accuracy boost you get from /RNG, the full RNG gets 48 accuracy! So...naked samurai is roughly 293+AGI/2+Gear... naked RNG is 358+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 T-VT mobs 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 exceeding 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/WotG 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.

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. Unkai Kabuto +2 is the next goal in the Head slot. There's really nothing that can compare anymore.

Black Tathlum is still a good alternative to the Thew Bomblet. White Tathlum has 2 Store TP if you're still coming up a bit shy.

Improvements for belts are Speed Belt, Ninurta's Sash, Goading Belt or even Bullwhip Belt if you don't mind being weak to every spell known to mankind. Anguinus Belt is a different tack. It has enough Atk and Acc to make it a viable contender to full haste solutions.

Lots of other improvements abound. Unkai Sugemino is an excellent replacement for Amemet or Forager's. Unkai Domaru +1 (or +2) are awesome chest replacements. Unkai Sune-Ate +1 (or +1) offer a different tack on the feet piece. Kind of like my comment on Aquinus belt, it gives enough stat bonus to outweigh a 2% haste piece. Many many options out there. I will say though, that full Unkai Armor +2 Set is not the way to go. Mainly because the hands piece is geared towards ranged attacks and because the set bonus isn't something more useful to melee stats like Haste would have been. Still I can't say you're a slouch if you're decked out in that set...

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.

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. If you have Twilight Helm... you probably don't need to be reading this guide, heh.

There's more STR gear I could get, new high level rings offer more STR to replace Flame. Unkai Sugemino is a nice WS back piece. Hachiryu Haidate are still top dog for STR in the legs slot, but Unkai Haidate +2 offer a nice alternative with Store TP if that's what you require. Twilight Mail is now the ultimate body piece. Unkai Sune-Ate +2 excel on the WS side of the house.

I've started using a separate WS build just for Tachi: Rana. Due to the three hit nature I've kept accuracy higher 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 but generally a good balance of accuracy and damage is best.

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.

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.

Ok here is my polearm build. I have gone with my Usukane Gote over Dusk Gloves because 5% more hit rate beats 3% more swings. If you have more accuracy you can consider trading out. I have already had to sacrifice a lot of accuracy in the body slot to get the Store TP required for a 5 hit build. In order to avoid this you can choose a few options... get a Rose Strap and lol Chivalrous Chain, go rebuy a Hachiman Kote or get Usukane Haramaki/Unkai Domaru +2 upgraded. I'm working on the later but I'm far from there yet.

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. Lots of higher level earrings cropping up with Acc and/or Atk. Most are available though the AH vice being R/EX so go check them out.

Full Usukane Haramaki Set is a great improvement over this motley gear. 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 keep the 5 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. Now that the level cap is over 75 this may not be desirable. Unkai Armor +2 Set has lots of accuracy to offer and the set bonus to Zanshin is much more useful on PLM where you tend to miss a lot more if you aren't eating some serious accuracy food.

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!

Cuchulain's Mantle is a nice balance of accuracy, STR and DEX so worth considering, but I don't think outweighs the added attack. 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 or you can go with Anguinus Belt which is some healthy accuracy and attack. 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. Unkai Kote +2 seem to be the next closest with a tad more STR and accuracy, but not the added DEX boost.

Store TP is a bit of a concern with weaponskills so if you are riding that line between 6 and 5 hit (with the delay I have going, other PLM might be the 7 and 6 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 in case you come up with wiffs.

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. You could get Behemoth Ring for one more accuracy, but that's hardly a world shattering improvement. Unkai Kote +2 are very useful for this setup and definitely a replacement for Seiryu's Kote.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• Atma of the Voracious Violet

STR +50, Double Attack +5%, Regain +2 TP/tick

Probably the first and foremost atma to get for Samurai. The STR aids WS damage a lot, which if you are at base stats with no or one atma, will be very weak. Regain and Double Attack cause must faster weaponskills which further help damage. This is an all around great atma and should be in use most of the time. Goes by the nickname VV.

• Atma of the Razed Ruins

DEX +50, Crit Hit Rate +30%, Crit Hit Dmg +30%

Probably equal in importance to Voracious Violet. This one is harder to obtain, though, so you won't have it for a while unless you got it via another job. Both the DEX and Crit Rate contribute to critical rate which will make a BIG difference in your damage output. Crit Dmg boost just sweetens that pot. DEX further will improve accuracy which mitigates some need for accuracy gear, though abyssea mobs can get to be fairly difficult to hit when compared with the non-abyssea content. Goes by the nickname RR.

• Atma of the Apocalypse

Triple Attack +15%, Quick Magic +10%, Auto-Reraise III

This atma may take a while as you have to complete the main storyline including defeating Shinryu. However, this is immensely useful in Abyssea. Auto-reraise keeps you going if you're solo or without a healer. Quick Magic gives you a 1/10 chance of being instant cast with no cooldown, greatly extending your life when using Utsusemi. Finally who can argue with having 15% triple attack on GKT! Great atma all around.

• Atma of the Sundering Slash

Attack +20, Regain +3TP/tick (with 2-handed weapon)

Slightly different tack on this atma. The Attack bonus is not impressive to say the least, but 3 TP regain is. Furthermore, it's meant for 2-handed users just like you. If you have VV and Sundering Slash equipped, that's 5 TP/tick just standing on the sidelines. As you'll find on NMs in Abyssea there is a lot of that waiting to proc red/yellow/blue staggers since everyone meleeing just makes it hard to land clean blows. So equipping this and VV will give you lots of regain for GKT/PLM and you can get through your procs faster.

• Atma of the Sea Daughter

Regain +5 TP/tick, Slow +13%, Daytime Regen +30 HP/tick

Ewww, slow sucks. The reason for this atma obviously is the regain. 5 TP/tick is the highest of all atmas. Again, this is to be used on the sidelines to help with TP gain and staggers. Unlike Sundering Slash though, this works with any weapon. This would be the option to go with for SWD/DAG/Club since you have very low skill and won't melee TP fast at all.

• Atma of the Stout Arm

STR +40, Attack +50, Ranged Attack +30 or 40 (Major)

Second highest STR atma, plus adds some Attack. If your aim is raw WS output, you probably want to pair this with VV. Also, you'll probably have this far sooner than RR so it's a great option until that point. If you're doing SAM/RNG then this is a great atma for you. STR and R.Attack for Sidewinders, STR and Attack for melee damage. It's a good mix.

• Atma of Alpha and Omega

Triple Attack +10%, Attack +50, HP -25%

Takes a big hit to your HP, but with 10% triple attack and additional attack, this can be part of a balls-out powerhouse combo.

• Atma of the Harvester

STR +30, Double Attack +10%, Enhances Resist Sleep

Another good STR bonus, and 10% double attack also helps out. Nice alternative for Stout Arm, might even be preferable.

• Atma of the Gnarled Horn

AGI +50, Crit Hit Rate +20%, Counter +10%

You might consider this a primary with the +20% crit rate. Coupled with RR this makes for +50% crit rate bonus which is immense. Definitely a primary atma for THF or NIN. For Samurai though, this is more if you expect to tank/solo with the added AGI and counter. Or this could be part of a SAM/RNG build with 50 AGI adding a bunch of damage and accuracy to your Sidewinders. Goes by the nickname GH.

• Atma of the Drifter

Ranged Attack +30 or 40 (Major), Ranged Accuracy +30 or 40 (Major)

This is the only atma to add ranged accuracy and at a 30 or 40 boost it's no slouch. If you are one to do SAM/RNG this is a very nice atma to have. I put this as a secondary atma though because SAM/RNG is never your primary role.

• Atma of the Savior

All Stats +30, All Resistances +Superior, Occ. Absorbs Dmg 10%

This one is a pain to get as you must complete all Abyssea zone quests and ops, but with 30 to all stats and high resistances it's a great option for increased longevity.

• Atma of the Impregnable Tower / Atma of the Ebon Hoof

Both are HP +30%, Other stats not useful to SAM

These are for increasing HP if you're in a situation that needs it. No other utility here.

• Atma of Cloak and Dagger

Acc +30 or 40, Eva +30 or 40, Minor Death Resistance

If you need accuracy, this is a good atma. Mostly I this as being used for the evasion boost.

• Atma of the Dark Depths

AGI +10 or 20 (Minor), Eva +10 or 20 (Minor), Crit Hit Rate +20%

Crit rate on this is no slouch, but the other stats give no damage boost and are slightly less useful than GH. If you couple the two though, you're into a good evasion build with high crits to maintain some damage. Cloak & Dagger plus Dark Depths plus GH can put you at 60-70 AGI and 40-60 Evasion which is about 70-95 total Evasion bonus while still having +40% crit rate. Worth looking into for solo/tanking efforts.

• Atma of Dread

Treasure Hunter +1, don't worry about the rest

If you're out farming as SAM/THF this would bring you to TH3. If you're just on regular SAM/WAR or /NIN then you're at TH1. Something you may consider for farming items.

• Atma of the Mounted Champion

VIT +50, Regen +20 HP/tick, Enmity decrease from taking damage -Minor

This is mostly a tanking atma, which maybe you need to tank something, but this is mostly for if you need the +20 regen due to lack of healing support or if you're solo.

• Elemental Resistance Atma

Elemental Resistance +100, Other bonuses

There's a whole slew of resistance atmas. These are useful for fighting mage or elemental type mobs that use that particular type of magic.

• Atma of Gales

Wind Magic Attack +40%, Wind Magic Accuracy +40

This does boost Tachi: Jinpu damage, which as I mention in the weaponskill section can get quite powerful with high stats or under the effect of Primeval Brew. So if you know you're brewing and are going to spam Jinpu, you may consider picking this Atma up.

• Atma of the Ultimate

MAB +50, M.acc +50, MP -25%

Since you don't care about MP on Samurai, there's no real drawback here. This can be used with Gales to up Jinpu damage, however, taking two magical damage atmas might not be the best assortment. Your call.