Well let me give more examples then. Sam can make skillchains so easily for black mages to burst off of, which is crucial in Geas Feat and capacity parties. For those farming meywa plasm and HPB, SAM wrecks wildskeeper reives and delve (annoying that this still needs 3 to enter, but thats for another post.) Sams damage output is still insane and they have more tools to survive at close range than DRK. And before you make the arguement , I know that fighting at close range these days is suicidal, but smite will not fix that. All I'm saying is this: I believe that the problem SE was trying to address with smite is the fact that MOST parties will only accept SAM out of the pool of close-range DDs. In situations where people are still accepting close range melee, SAM is the first non-tank job they will accept. I do admit that all close range melee need to be given a break somehow: its just brutal in there !