Samurai Meriting

[s_white62]

Would love some suggestions for how to properly merit a Samurai. Any help/builds would be appreciated.

[Phoenyx]

Traditional merit scheme:
Group 1 -
5/5 Store TP
5/5 Meditate

Group 2 -
5/5 Overwhelm
1/5 Shikikoyo
4/5 Blade Bash

With recent changes to Hasso and Zanshin, there are other merit builds that focus on capping Zanshin rate and Ikishoten. Haven't done much with it myself, but there's some info on BG and I think in some threads here.

[Nala]

with the recent addition of hassanshin (hasso induced forced zanshin attacks) ikishoten merits have some value now, currently if i land both attacks on a hassanshin proc i stand to gain around 64 tp on my masamune with ws tp return (16.9 iirc?) makes for an occasional 3 hit build.

Group 1 -
5/5 Store TP
5/5 Meditate

Group 2 -
5/5 Overwhelm
x/5 Ikishoten

not saying you should or even have to but its an interesting alternative. (x is dependent on base delay of the GKT you use) would then spend at least 1 in Shikikyo and blade bash if you have enough merits left over.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

Merit according to how you like to play.

[Tatts]

Merit according to how you play is the best to describe it seeing how it's your membership, yes.
But, if you want some tips, Store TP and Overwhelm is the best to 5/5 just for the general output.
Now for myself I did
5/5 Store TP
5/5 Zanshin
5/5 overwhelm
1/5 shikikiyo
3/5 Ikishoten
and I still haven't decided to the last into Blade Bash or 4/5 Ikis.
Now I was a SAM for a while but I didn't put much thought or merits b4 the new update, only had 5/5 store tp and 5/5 overwhelm then focused on other jobs so that's why I have it on zanshin/Ikis and I do have to say... TP comes in quick enough that a couple times I was able to self WS w/out Meditate or a premature Sekka (yes, it has happened a few times ._.).
Mind you, it was a rare lucky streak but still blew my mind away.

[Dirtyfinger]

But, if you want some tips
5/5 Zanshin

I have a tip for you - Meditate is better.

[Tatts]

I have a tip for you - Meditate is better.

Well well well, aren't we the little Faux news reporter. Misquotation is bad juju. Clearly what "Tips" I recommended was Store TP and Overwhelm. After that, I just simply showed what I put in and hell, it works fine for me.

Having Meditate down by 30 seconds is nice, but it wasn't for me. I get it, 30 seconds can turn the tide but w/ Iki(tab) merits I felt it was a better investment because its always active. I love always active stuff: Rapid shot, Subtle Blow, DA, Enchainment, etc.
Anyways, rambling.
Point is, I use Zanshin merits for the off chance I do miss (SAM tends to be more blind than a <insert current pop reference here>) and I get that ~50% chance of attacking again, plus with the introduction of Hassanshin, having more Zanshin coupled with DA (either through gear or /war) means that you'll be attacking twice a lot.
That's my story and i'm sticking to it.

[hiko]

Well well well, aren't we the little Faux news reporter. Misquotation is bad juju. Clearly what "Tips" I recommended was Store TP and Overwhelm. After that, I just simply showed what I put in and hell, it works fine for me.

Having Meditate down by 30 seconds is nice, but it wasn't for me. I get it, 30 seconds can turn the tide but w/ Iki(tab) merits I felt it was a better investment because its always active. I love always active stuff: Rapid shot, Subtle Blow, DA, Enchainment, etc.
Anyways, rambling.
Point is, I use Zanshin merits for the off chance I do miss (SAM tends to be more blind than a <insert current pop reference here>) and I get that ~50% chance of attacking again, plus with the introduction of Hassanshin, having more Zanshin coupled with DA (either through gear or /war) means that you'll be attacking twice a lot.
That's my story and i'm sticking to it.

zanshin rate merit is very low for hassanshin (5/5 merit is 1.25%)
for merit i went 4/5 overwhelm/ikishoten 1/5 BB/shiki (5th overwhelm is only2%, imo this lost is <the occasional use of the 2ja)

[DarkBass]

zanshin rate merit is very low for hassanshin (5/5 merit is 1.25%)
for merit i went 4/5 overwhelm/ikishoten 1/5 BB/shiki (5th overwhelm is only2%, imo this lost is <the occasional use of the 2ja)

5/5 Zanshin merits = 5% more ZAR. but yea, i suggest you put in that 5th one to overwhelm. the last one is 2% but it all adds up. 1 str is just 1 str until its added with 80 other "1 str"s

[Rearden]

zanshin rate merit is very low for hassanshin (5/5 merit is 1.25%)
for merit i went 4/5 overwhelm/ikishoten 1/5 BB/shiki (5th overwhelm is only2%, imo this lost is <the occasional use of the 2ja)

Unless your job is SATA whoring, not doing 5/5 Overwhelm is sort of silly. Nearly every piece of gear with >=2%WSDMG is the best piece of gear for that slot unless trying to cap dDEX (Not relevant for SAM).

In which case, if you are an SATA whore, Meditate recast is better anyway for Group1