[Zempten]

I don't see how having too much accuracy ever hurts as long as I can find atk to fit into the equation. Honestly, I still think shooting arrows is doing better DMG for me then swinging my GK around. 62-63 regular hits 77-80 on criticals. Also I don't have to worry about stupid mandy's countering my attacks. However it's annoying when I pull hate. However, I think Tach: Enpi is better then Piercing Arrow in terms of dmg as it's often anywehre from 70-120 and Piercing Arrow seems to stay around the 70s.

I really don't see why NIN or PLD have trouble holding hate at around lvl 60, PLDs defeintly shouldn't have ANY problems. NINs on the other hand I can understand - but from what I've seen so far a NIN can hold his own if he has proper food and enmity food and times his provokes/elemental nukes correctly. I'll agree that playing it this way is expensive, but as players we always seek to reach the full potential of our job - otherwise .. . it's kinda pointless.

[tdh]

Originally Posted by Mog

Yeah, I realize this now. I'm in the process of leveling warrior to 30 or so, so I can sub that until I hit 60 Samurai. I'm chock-full of dexterity already with the gear I've got (leaping boots, spike necklace, etc) and the fact that I'm tarutaru. And from what you guys are saying, added attack, berserk and provoke all help out.

So I guess when I hit 60 SAM, then I'll sub thief for sneak attack, trick attack for more hate control.

If you're fortunate to have a reason to sub THF pre-Lv.60, go for it. I've seen some pretty decent SA Jinpus in the past, but you don't get to use it very often. (I always though Jinpu didn't stack with SA since it says it's an Elemental WS, but it does seem to benefit.)

Once you hit Lv.60, you finally have TA, and a pretty decent 1 hit WS. Yukikaze can put up some big numbers with out SA, so adding that to it should allow you to show off.

I finally logged in tonight after like 4 months away, and I can't even level SAM. I loaned all my gear to a friend, and I haven't seen him yet. lol Acc rings, STR rings, Jujitsu Gi, Woodsman Rings, the whole 9. I have my AF1, and the Lv.25 Atk+4 boots. lol

[IfritnoItazura]

The best way to play a full-out DD SAM/RNG Lv.20 to 29 is to use it like a RNG everytime Sharpshot is up:

1. Get far away.
2. Activate Sharpshot.
3. Macro to full range accuracy gear.
4. Keep shooting arrows until Sharpshot wears off.

I was doing 40%-50% of most of my parties' damage output in Qufim and Yuhtunga Jungle that way. Not to say Accuracy Bonus isn't nice, but if you're not exploiting Sharpshot, you're not using /RNG to its fullest.

Of course, if your tank sucks, just activating Sharpshot will make the monster run to you, ruining the whole purpose of it. I recommend switching to /DRG for Attack Bounus and Jump (for SAM20-29), if you have reason to suspect you may not have a good tank in your party.

[Malacite]

Polearm can be handy for skillchain purposes later on from what I hear.

As previously stated though, keep archery levelled. Pick up a power bow +1 and you'll destroy mobs (especially flies and bats) while you're in the dunes. Not so hot on crabs and pugs though.


Also, some SAM like to use polearm in garlaige. This is because (as previously mentioned) Bats are fliers, and have a 20% weakness to piercing. The lance belt is a cheap piece of equipment that will give you +5 skill if you sub DRG, and while you'll be restricted to opening distortion (I say restricted because Tachi Enpi both opens and closes it) the extra damage per swing along with jump for an extra hit every 90 seconds may well be worth it. I'm not sure how a berserked GKT would fare on bats vs SAM/DRG. Switch back to GKT for the beetles ~.^

Oh yeah, and Sub RNG from 20-29 if you can for the passive +10 accuracy bonus and access to bow weapon skills :3

[Lmnop]

up 'til 30, I'd sub WAR on the premise that I don't trust any tank in a pick up, whatsoever. >.> It's hard for me to relinquish provoke... only reason I was able to convince myself to do sam/drg was because the PLD was a good friend of mine (who I already knew is a damn good player).

Polearm is like C rank, and pretty much all of it's SC slots, GK gets too. The only exception I can think of is that Penta Thrust can close Gravitation, which I believe no GK WS possesses that attribute. Jinpu can open it though :O and when's the last time you were in a party where someone said "Gosh, wouldn't it be nice if we could make a Gravitation SC?"

It is very true that Polearm does higher damage to flying mobs, so I'd suggest the investment for leveling off of bats/flys/etc. However, if you already have capped Archery and a good equip swap for shooting (including good bow+arrow), you should have some pretty darn good results against flyers regardless. GC is a prime example. Instead of swapping weapons and losing tps and whatnot, you can simply use GK and normal equip set for Beetles and use archery against bats. Regardless, in this situation I'd still (and did) sub WAR and stick with Enpi. Berserk ups Ranged attacks too, yo. Also, GC levels are pretty decent for Tentacle Sushi (pretty high acc% bonus, though low cap) as it adds to R.acc as well. didn't matter if I ate sushi or rice dumplings, my acc seemed to stay almost exactly the same, said the parser. I think that's just my strange luck though. However, it was much easier to land ranged attacks on sushi. Didn't even need a parser for that.

[Celeal]

SAM/THF from level 30 ~ 59 has its usefulness too, depends on the SC partners. For example, DRG + SAM/THF, DRK (Power Slash, Vorpal Scrythe) + SAM/THF, RNG (pre sidewinder level) + SAM/THF, WAR/THF (G.Axe) + SAM/THF...

IMHO, SAM/THF at level 30 ~ 59 playstyle is like a WAR/THF at level 30 ~ 59 or THF at level 15 ~ 29. As long as the time of pulling (between battles) plus the actual combat time is over a minute, SAM/THF is fine. However, I would agree that SAM/THF requires more attention, timing and party cooperation compare to SAM/WAR.