Bushido - The Way Of The Samurai (A Guide) V. 2.0

I found that I was lacking accuracy for AA fights (on Normal) which was fairly annoying and resulted in me wanting to build a high accuracy set. Most bards insist on using marches in these fights and not everyone is a four song bard so it made sense to pile on accuracy by way of gear and food.

Most of the AA's seem pretty squishy provided that you have the accuracy to hit them but then there is the added enmity problem.

Setups I've been in were basically PLD WHM BRD (2x March) and 3 DD/NIN.

I have been in some similar setups that have included RNGs. Their large boost to accuracy and ability to shed enmity (Decoy shot and if /DRG High Jump) make them very useful for these fights however my RNG is only 80.

I did a little accuracy testing on MR/HM and 1000 accuracy (/checkparam value) gave what I would call a noticeably decent hit rate for Normal.

I thought that I'd give a full accuracy approach a look.

I had chosen Justice torque as it seemed the best all rounder, some fSTR, accuracy and attack but for pure accuracy I will have to look in getting myself a Ziel Charm.

Plus I would like to do AA's on harder difficulties eventually

Marches are hands down the absolute most important buffs a BRD can give for melee on Normal or higher. Utsusemi is the only thing keeping you alive for the most part, so recast is the key to survival when mobs spam massive AoE damage moves and use multihits that can't be mitigated by Scherzo/EA.

That said, You can get a decent hit rate on Normals as a SAM with Sushi and no Madrigals. I haven't even gotten any of the new Skirmish gear and have a crappy hybrid build, but my SAM does pretty well at any Normal.

I killed all of them on the first week of release as SAM/WAR and sub-tanked tanked them with a PLD. In many of these, I dealt most of the damage (because the other melees kept on dying). I used full time defender, rabbit pies, Tachi: Shoha(attack boost), and a Hybrid DT set. It sounds gimp as hell. I felt gimp as hell. But even without capped accuracy + having defender, I was taking hate-- so damage wasn't the issue. I also lived through all 5 while bouncing hate, eating many WS's. (Even in one case, on Hume, the PLD died, and I tanked it for 5 minutes while the PLD unweakened). I was careful for hate only on Mithra Cloudsplitter, but even then, I used Yaegesumi if I did happen to get too much hate--which eats all cloudsplitters for 45 sec-- a nice last 5% finale.

I use RNG's for all of these AA's now so I haven't revisited this strategy. I mention this because I don't think that /NIN is the only answer. I also don't think that accuracy is the answer to this fight either. Based on my experience, defense plays a very large role in surviving (and thus DPS). You will die by berserking, even to Circle Blade-- and Circle Blade will do crap damage if you use my setup.

If you are truly trying to make some sort of accuracy set for specifically AA's, I wouldn't use any of that non i119 gear. The defense difference between Unkai Domaru +2 to AF1+1 is +10% damage taken in this new content. (Assuming I'm using Motenten's DT/Defense calculator correctly). It's simply too risky.

If what I say is something you'd take interest to, the top things I'd do would be:

1. Patricus Ring
2. Agitator's Collar
3. Otronif Brais +1 (Augmented with Acc. + PDT)<-- This is the only piece of gear that will provide this amount of accuracy for SAM in this slot at this level.
4. Lithelimb Hat

There is a high level of detailing to consistently pull off the AA's on normal. In this case, I'm cheering you on for trying and really hope you can win on VD.

Here's some tidbits:
For AA-GK, I see players spamming Seigan/TE whenever they pull hate. While this is second nature, this is NOT what you should do. In the defensive measures I have mentioned, nothing should kill you but a skillchain. This means, when you pull hate, you proceed to eat any hits that it does to you. The moment it does a dust cloud(Meikyo), eat his first WS and then proceed to Seigan/TE. You are then safe from the rest of his Meikyo. I am confident that this is how to deal with AA-GK on SAM/WAR.

You'll need a full acc set in Skirmish v3 on the Chapuli. It's one mob, so most people won't worry about it. It's very evasive though.

I didn't look closely to what your calculations consists of, but I made a spreadsheet to calculate this sort of thing and I'm quite certain it's not correct. I came up with the value of Gear TP: 40 (Assuming you're WSing in STP+16). I can double check or you can double check, doesn't matter to me but I'll have to do that when I get home.

Here's a sneak peak for what's to come: (Work in Progress, will release in later date)


Credits to Zoolot who helped me write it up.

Features:
1. Easy Inputs
A. GK Selection (Work in Progress)
B. STP in WS Set? (Value)
C. STP in TP Set? (Value)
D. Bow (Yes or No)
E. Ionis (Yes or No)

2. Outputs
A. Hit build in every combination of Misers/Samurai rolls.

I don't think it's wise to suggest SAM/WAR for anything higher than normal and even then it's pure luck on normal as to whether or not you survive against any other than Taru. Crit based WSes will still kill you regardless of defense if they get lucky rolls.

I do agree on saving third eye for Meikyo Shisui, just pop it after Yuki to blink gekko and you're fine. Though you can get dicked over at lower HP if TE drops and he hits Kasha > Fudo.

Overall it's infinitely more safe to do the exact same setup with /NIN.

Base TP/hit = 5 + ((450 - 180) * 6.5) / 270 = 11.5



Base Weaponskill TP return = 16.1 base for Fudo/Kaiten, 17.1 if both hits of Shoha land

With 16 STP in WS Gear = 11.5 * 1.56 = 17.9 for Fudo/Kaiten, 18.9 for Shoha



So 17.9 return from 1 hit of a weaponskill, need 82.1 more TP. Each hit needs to be worth 20.6 TP (82.1/4 = 20.525, round up).



With 40 Store TP in TP gear, we get 20.7/hit (11.5 * 1.8 = 20.7).

With 34 Store TP in TP gear, we get 20/hit (11.5 * 1.74 = 20.01, trunc to 20)



So the amount of Store TP you need minimum for a 5hit on a 450 delay weapon, assuming we're looking at 16STP in WS set, is 40.

Just got home:


Guess we're right then!

Here, this should help:
Store TP to reach hit builds (Assuming 16STP in WS):
(Sak. Sune-Ate +1 (8), Wakido haidate +1 (7), Brutal Earring (1))

Ionis Zones
Anahera Blade (4 hit): 52
Tsurumaru (4 hit): 49
Kogarasumaru (or generic 450 G.katana) (5 hit): 40
Amanomurakumo/Masamune 437 (5 hit): 46

Non Ionis Zones:
Anahera Blade (4 hit): 52
Tsurumaru (5 hit): 24
Kogarasumaru (5 hit): 40
Amanomurakumo/Masamune 437 (5 hit): 46

If you were wondering, you need 78 STP to reach a 4 hit Tsurumaru Non-Ionis.

78 would be in gear alone or are you counting traits/merits?

In gear alone. Tsuru gives 25 TP back, so each hit has to return 25 as well to reach a 4 hit.

With 78 Store TP in TP gear, we get 25/hit (11.5 * 2.18 = 25.07, trunc to 25)

For this reason, for roaming events, I prefer to use an Anahera blade outside Ionis Zones.

Sorry to ask - but how do you calculate your base TP after using a weaponskill?

I can see from Prothescar's post above that it depends on the weaponskill / number of hits but I'd genuinely like to know how it is calculated so that for other jobs etc I can use this information to work out STP/DPS values.

My STP mathematics were close but I had failed to take in to account TP value after WS.


Also I think that the below is as far as I am going to push it as far as an accuracy set goes. I think that the 5 STR and 7 GKT skill outweigh the 12 accuracy on Ziel charm, I'm still camping it to get one anyway as I'm sure it will be useful at some point in the future for other sets/jobs. Patricius ring as suggested would perhaps be a good improvement as it is a trade off of 1 accuracy for 12 attack (removing - 12 attack from Adler ring from TP set).

ItemSet 320122

Cheers

Justice Torque is offering you, at most, about 6 accuracy.

It's the same equation- you simply need to look at your WS set and figure out how much STP you have in it. That's the amount of TP you get on your first hit.

So 450 G.kat

Base: 11.5
Trait+Merits: 40
Gear STP in WS: 16

11.5(Base) * 1.56(STP) = TP hit after WS= 17.94

(WS store tp + store tp job trait + store tp from merits + store tp from cor roll + 100)/100 * (delay formula multiplier) = ws tp return.

if you're making a store tp calculator, dont forget to take into account save tp; if its higher than your base ws tp return, then save tp will be your ws tp return.

theres 4 formulas for varying delays, they used to be posted in the original sam guide, idk if they are still there now.

enjoy.

someone needs to remake this forum from scratch, all the sets were taken from other peoples gear sets, and sets aren't being updated, also it doesn't look like there are "full acc builds" posted for "each weapon" just a single set per weapon, which is misleading for people who do need a better understanding of which gear is best for them.

this all being said i will give credit for trying to pick up where someone else left off, but it just needs to be torn down and rebuilt :/

I have a vision for how it should be done and likely have all the resources and knowledge to do it, but I don't have enough forum scripting know-how to make it look good.

what do you mean other people's sets? i posted some of my own sets and ran enough sets through the spreadsheets. Llewelyn who is also a contributor to this guide shared his RME Gkt and Yoichi sets. There's really no need to update the OP sets with sidegrades, these sets are guidelines for you to tweak on your own.

I haven't done anything to the guide since being given the rights to, and I apologize for that. I haven't really been too interested in FFXI lately so I've been neglecting it. I'll update some stuff as well as include more detailed notes and additional sets sometime soon. After that I'll look into updating notes on weapons and current endgame events (I'll need info from people with experience using SAM in events that I otherwise do not use SAM in, such as AA fights and new Skirmish)

I think simplicity is what this guide needs the most. The problem with simplicity is that no two people enjoy the same type of content. Because of these variations of play, there will be a "situational" gear set for practically everything. This guide is trying to account for everything. This does not make a good guide. High attack, Low Attack, MAX ATTACK, Attack with buffs, attack with no buffs-- max attack with koga, max attack with amano, max attack with masa.

It makes it disorganized, un-helpful and confusing. No one cares about the 10 DPS difference that you see after swapping around 5 different pieces in musical chairs only on the situation you get a SAM roll of a 7 and a Misers of 2. A guide is an introduction to players new to the job, just returning to the job, not for veterans that already know what the essentials of the jobs are and looking for that 10 DPS parse advantage.

What we need is focus- but also freedom for people to mix and match but still maintain the basic essence of the job. This is how I think it should be set up:

1. Gear Chart(Recommended Gear List):
For example, for the ring slot for Melee TP, I'd post:
High Tier: Rajas Ring, K'ayres Ring,
Mid Tier: Mars's Ring, Tyrant's Ring, etc. (usually STP, Acc)

Not everyone is going to have all the ideal gear sets right off the bat and everyone is always progressing but still need the job to perform while they progress. Having ideal gear is great, but having substitutes is great too.

2. Base sets:
SAM gear, in the most simplistic form is the balance of Store TP and Multistrike. The most important aspect of SAM gear is to reach specific hit builds while maintaining haste. After that, it's all about multistrike (and sometimes Crit). Basically, what we see in SAM gear are sets with extremely high STP (~74) to very low (~39). You can start stripping one piece of Store TP gear at a time and replace it with multistrike and generally, your damage will become more aggressive... until you lose your hit build. We only need to post 3-6 sets with a gradient of Store TP and mark the ideal ones for 494, 450, and 437.

Why 6 sets if there's only 3 delays? If a player consistently has COR buffs, they can start using sets from other G.kat delays, more aggressive ones with less Store TP. (Or they can use sets that have more Store TP if they can reasonably drop a hit build).

3. Store TP Chart based on Delay.
I have a spreadsheet ready for this already, but something handy is this:

This looks ugly as hell, a chart would be nicer. The information is invaluable for someone who doesn't want to sit down with a spreadsheet all day (The point of guides in the first place). It will also eliminate Store TP errors that many make when they calculate it themselves (because they often forget to include WS STP)

In the end they only need to account for two things. Haste and Hit Build(Store TP). They know which gear to use, they know where they can get their STP. 99% of the people who need this guide will benefit tremendously just from this information alone.

I was not planning on doing this once I get around to updating it myself. As I said, I've yet to touch this. Personally, I do carry whatever I can, but putting that many sets on the front page would certainly be unnecessary. I'll probably just do Standard, accuracy and Samurai Roll sets for each GK Delay at the most.

I will look into the Gear Chart, however I'm not sure how I'd like to format it (like I stated before, I'm terrible at making things look nice and pretty).

Listing Ionis & Non-Ionis zones in the STP Chart for each GK would be unnecessary since it would only change for Tsurumaru (which I will note), but I will make a brief chart listing the STP needed for the common delays found on GKs in correspondence with the different STP values people may have in their WS sets.

What I'd suggest is to not even list them in G.kat delays at all-- but 5-6 generic sets with a gradient of Store TP values. There is a ton of overlaps between sets and they can refer to "Recommended Gear" chart to make minor tweaks.

Example:

TP#1: 71 Store TP - 437 (SAM Roll+8)(4-hit)<-don't know if I even want to add roll situations, it gets messy.
TP#2: 64 Store TP - Koga AM, Murasamemaru(5-hit)
TP#3: 53 Store TP - 494(4-Hit), Tsuru(Ionis)-4 hit
TP#4: 47 Store TP - Masa/Amano 437(5-Hit), 450 Delay(5 Hit)
TP#5: 39 Store TP - Tsuru(No Ionis)-5 hit, Amano AM(5 Hit)
TP#6: 34 Store TP - (Roll Dependant)

Also, of course, in some sort of chart form that is easier to see.
(This system happens to be how I organize all 7 of my weapons, Amano, Koga, Yoichi, Masa, Anahera, Tsuru, Murasamemaru to be used in every combination of SAM-Roll, Misers-Roll, Ionis, VWNM etc. It just so happens that it is also an easy way of guiding people to useful sets.)

This gives us a systematic way of ranking gear. Each piece of Store TP you lose will give rise to some sort of Store TP downgrade and some sort of Multi/Crit upgrade. The largest upgrades will come first-- and then the more minor ones. They key is usually having the least amount of Store TP needed to get to a hit build and loading the rest with multistrike/crit. (Exception being Koga-AM3)

And the best thing of all, it's entirely open interpretation; as long as you make have a certain amount of STP in each of these recommendations, it only serves as someone else's start point to adjust.

This is where the "Recommended Gear" chart comes into play. You are only giving samples, start points for minor tweaking. This makes thread maintenance a breeze every update. This is very important because the guide should be well maintained every update

Finally, updating the "Recommended Gear" is a breeze. It's usually only 4-5 pieces per update. We can just update the chart.

Ok, so is it just me or when working with nodes will your browser freeze if the page is open for ~10 minutes? <.< Very annoying; have to keep refreshing the page or I'll end up needing to open Task Manager and force close. Using Firefox if that matters.

This is where the "Recommended Gear" chart comes into play. You are only giving samples, start points for minor tweaking. This makes thread maintenance a breeze every update. This is very important because the guide should be well maintained every update

Finally, updating the "Recommended Gear" is a breeze. It's usually only 4-5 pieces per update. We can just update the chart.[/quote]
^
basically this in a nutshell, if you look at other forums they are updated every update regardless if items are "sidegrades" the problem with phrasing some of the stuff as "sidegrades" is not all of it is, Yao Helm is still a nice addition to full acc builds, but where less acc maybe needed, the substitution of Sakonji Helm could be affiliated with a different gear set, Sakonji boots +1 not only beef up our one hour, but they are a situational tp set build and not to mention replace Miki feet for Kaiten/Fudo, you dont list the in certain situations Lith Cap can be swapped with Sakonji +1 if you lack the buffs, and Otronif+1 being new pieces to hybrid/PDT sets. for the record MOST of the gearsets were taken from Llew not ALL of them, but i know myself i carry at least 4-5 gearsets for tp for each weapon i carry on SAM, for people who take SAM seriously or want to start, they need to know these kind of things, "is my acc capped?" "what is too much accuracy dependent on event?" "where can i substitute stp for acc, or attack without losing a x-hit build?" there is endless questions for people who don't main SAM and sadly some people just dont get it, this is why GUIDES are called GUIDES, so when a GUIDES is made, it is meant for advice to help people better understand, i know i take SAM seriously and im very competitive on my favorite job, so seeing a select set of gear on the forum i care most about it sucks seeing the lack of care/updating for it.

also, people say they dont bring there SAM's to D-VD difficult fights, or for AA's i do, and have np stomping people on parses granted i dont cap hate and get butt raped, i particularly like going NIN for DM II myself but SAM can still wreck shop in there, as long as they know how to manage hate "Namas Arrow" also it doesnt hurt to have a few people inside with EV eating damage to take a load off the second tank, there are still situations where SAM can be utilized, just not the "ideal job" for certain situations. anyways just my thoughts on it all, sorry if i upset anyone, just wish things would be a little more detailed.

Got a request to post some information from someone that unfortunately can no longer post on forums~ Feel free to give your own input.


I already brought up the issue where mobs these days tend to spin around erratically making it difficult to Overwhelm every time for the sake of the hit build. His rebuttal was:


Since I was given permission to use his name, if anyone would like to know, this information comes from Ironguy.

It was obvious to me from the first line

This was my 4-hit Koga/AM3 with Lentus without the replacement of Phorcy's Korazin with the inferior Sakonji Domaru. I've been working on 3-hit Lentus (Non-Ionis) Anahera Blade sets as well.

TP
ItemSet 320447
WS
ItemSet 320448

There's probably some other minor tweaks that I haven't worked out. There is very little that you can do to the TP set. The shuffling of Store TP between the WS set comes to mind. (And for sure, it's likely not correct as is).

The only thing different in the WS set from my base default WS set is that it needs +10 more. (+26 STP total). Lots of shuffling comes to mind including Hagneia stone, Takaha Mantle, Mikinaak gauntlets, K'ayres ring, Yaoyotl, Sakonji Kabuto +1 comes to mind. Honestly, I'd rather take any combinations of those than the loss of Phorcy's.

-------------
It's a fun thing to think about, it is not an upgrade when you play in an alliance setting (in fact, it'll likely be a DPS downgrade) and at the same time, it's a pain to keep AM up when you're not buffed. Not to mention that Koga users already have a 4 hit build when they have a COR's SAM roll. The delay+ from Lentus only hurts you when you take that into consideration.

If there was a situation where I'm roaming, I'm much happier playing with a 4 hit Anahera Blade without any stipulations.

I'm hoping for at least 1 more STP on the HQ Sakonji Body.

Lithelimb better for namas on non 119> content? assuming relic reforged+1 better since same STR R.att&R.acc+17, 11 less agi but the r.acc makes up for it yea?

I use Sakonji+1 for all of Delve and high level battlefields. I use Lithlimb in all lower content. I don't like to feel that I'm playing roulette for a miniscule amount of damage upgrade.