SAM Equipment Approaching 40...

[Eej]

Well, I'm only 36SAM/18WAR right now, but I've already invested in those funky, super-cheap Jujitsu pants, and I'm wondering what I should upgrade to. Jujitsu Gi looks very tempting, and very expensive, then again so does the Ochiudo Kote, Valk Emperor Hairpin and those 3% haste boots. Which ones do are recommended and which ones are just plain old overkill?

I just wanna know before I commit to farming for a few weeks.

[ZQM]

Most important to me at that level would be.

1) Jujitsu Gi (You're job is to gain TP, not damage)
2) Ochiudo kote (You still would want to do damage)
3) Valk Emperor Hairpin (You shouldn't take hits often except for Fuidama, so the +eva isn't great. +3 dex helps with crits and acc nicely though)
4) Haste boots. 3% isn't much at all. However, I plan on wearing them a LONG time since the other boots aren't very good at all.

[bunta]

Yep i'm getting the exact same gear, but for my ninja . I'm at 39 with NIN and i'm gonna put off leveling for 2weeks to 1month to get all that stuff.

[kujo412]

get the jujitsu gi, and kote.

the +3% haste doesn't make a really noticeable difference.. not noticable enough to cost that much.

and the emporer hairpin is only good for thieves, it offers no defense.

[Biterman]

Do you guys think Leaping boots are good for a SAM, or are there better options?

And whats best to use other than Emperor Hairpin?

[Straith]

If you are going to start farming right away, I'd personally reccoment saving for:

Ochido's Kote > Jujitsu Gi > Sniper Ring x2 > Valkyrie's Mask > Life Belt

Didn't exactly pan out for me the way I wanted due to leveling faster than I thought I would and sudden price spikes on things I wanted. (Snipers went from 180k-350k in a very short time, sitting at 380k now)

I had this planned out at 30, and I wanted to try and get things as I could equip them. I did get the kote at 34, I picked up the haste boots at 39 more because I could than anything, they prolly arent worth the 100k I paid. One sniper at 40, and Valk mask at 43.
My PT knocked out all the Genkai 1 crap this week, so before we press on post 50 we're taking some time off to catch our gear up, which means I'm hoping to knock the other sniper and a life belt out in the next few days. I'll prolly forgo the Gi altogether with Royal Knight chest piece and AF around the corner. Although the Gi would probably be a smarter first buy over a sniper at 40 due to cost effectiveness, I was scared the rings would keep climbing in price so I wanted to get asap. Was gonna get the second sniper before valk mask as well, but I'm a sucker for the way the mask looks. I almost always have a bard in my PT, so I got a little slack for neglecting my accuracy a few levels.

The hairpin never really caught my eye, always struck me as more of a thf item. Wore pretty much whatever until 30, centurion visor to 43, and will wear valk mask til AF.

Leaping/Winged boots are nice given our selection, but their price always made them fall into the "money better spent elsewhere" category for me. Only other boots I can think of worth mentioning pre-AF are the Federation kyahan I think I wore from 25-39, and the haste kyahan. The federation boots/gloves are good buys for level 25 , I dunno if the haste boots are worth the cash, though.

Swordbelt at 43 , but its so cheap it won't be a concern. With such a low price tag I think this one is worth keeping in your inventory as well; the lifebelt/swordbelt swap seems like a pretty cost effective way to up your attk later on when a bard or the like seems to have your accuracy in the overkill range on the mobs you are fighting.

Most of these suggestions were from a purely dps-oriented samurai standpoint, but if you were asking about an emp hairpin, I'm guessing def wasn't in high concern anyways.

Luck.

[Biterman]

Hey, thx for the very informative reply.
My main is, and always will be BLM. However, most of us mages get to a point when we get tired of doing nothing but casting. It's great to see big damage numbers, but it can get old fast.

So I think I will go for SAM as my side job project, and as a Taru, I need good items to be useful to PT's.

[Eej]

Damn, Ochido's Kote goes for 400-500k on Seraph and Jujitsu Gi goes for about 140k... This is going to require a lot of farming. Oh well, there has to be a reason why I'm leveling my THF to 15...

I've heard that some people keep wearing the Valk Mask even after they've gotten AF Helmet, though. This was from the ramblings of a 59RNG/29NIN though.

[ZQM]

I don't understand why anybody wouldn't wear the AF helm, since meditate is the SAM's bread and butter. Unless their meditate macro includes changing gear, that way they have more ATK when attacking and more TP when using meditate.

[SurrealRogue]

How bout Earrings? What earrings do you guys recommend?

I currently have a pair of drone (+3 agi) and a pair of beetle +1 (+3 attk, -2 eva).
At much higher levels, I see many sam are wearing the Fang, Spike and Coral earrings, but I'd like to get an opinion around level 40ish

Also, if you already have emp hairpin and LL boots, would you get valk's mask and the haste kyahan? I already have those for my Thief Job, but I don't want to slack as a Sam for equipment either.

As far as Sniper rings go, how do you offset the huge dark penalty you get for wearing them? Do you take them off when fighting undeads?

Pls and Thx