Studying The Blade- The SAM DPS Guide

Since I sparked the topic about skillspeed, I'd like to add one thing since the trend has been going on about DH is best stats, while I do believe that it currently weighs more until we can get more crit, if you stack it while ignoring the rest of your stats (SKS/crit) your DPS will plummet instead.

I tried going full DH once, the crit was on subpar percentage that it resulted in DPS loss instead, I'd say a balanced build between crit, DH and sks with favoring more DH is the best build ATM until we can get proper gears.

And I'm going skillspeed build, I currently have 1460, a bit over for 2.1gcd recast under shifu buff, I am using 1-sen kasha opener and have no problem with hagakure or the 2nd hagakure clipping people are talking about.

Tl;Dr : I do believe there has to be certain minimum of substat needed for each stats to make SAM works, this isn't something that you can pump all in.

I don't disagree with Dervy at all. I haven't been a part of any theorycrafting in FF since T5 was a thing. Quit the game and been playing others for a long time. Just came back with SB. Which is completely the reason I really never posted anything and let the rest of them come out with stuff. Just to make sure I wasn't overlooking something.

Skill speed has a ton of potential for sam. Especially when the bulk of your dmg comes from 3 things that all benefit from it; basic attack, Midare, and Shinten. But in order for that to really happen you would have to see some noticable gain in the number of abilities used. Which is why I said it wasn't really attainable in this tier. When it gets to the point we can reasonably see 3k SS, or even high 2ks, without crippling ourselves in every other stat then we can really start to look at it. Until those numbers are attainable though, the best route to go is through buffing the base damage. At 1955 DH, which is attainable this tier, you would have 50% DH. At 1503 Det, you get an flat 8% increase to all dmg. Both of these are attainable in 340 gear and is a pretty significant boost to base dmg without the RNG of crit.

I do hope that one of the theorycrafters proves me wrong though. Like I said SS has tons of potential for sam due to how they work and I look forward to seeing how things end up. My actual predictions for sam: 2nd tier we will be moving towards more of a crit based build with stats being Crit > DH > Det and 3rd tier we could possibly be looking at a skill speed build.

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Originally Posted by Ariyn

I've been theorycrafting MMOs for nearly 2 decades. Unlike you, I don't wait for someone else to post numbers. I figure them out for myself. What you are waiting on is someone to tell you exactly what to do, what gear to get, and how to meld it. You want someone else to play your toon for you too?

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Hmm. I respect your opinion, but perhaps try being a little less rude to people?

The game doesn't do the job it should in illustrating the contribution of each individual stat point you stack. At best, we know the function each substat is supposed to fulfill, but not at all what "+200" of it really translates to (for example). There's no shame at all in admitting that the game should do that inherently, and choosing to look to other sources of information to make more informed gearing choices.

Also... Not everyone has the affinity for math, the proper know-how, and/or the time to devote to conducting research for these sort of things. How else do you learn, if not looking to those who are skilled at these things? And if you do find those people, if you don't have the time for learning this kind of theory-craft or whatever you want to call it, why not just go by their knowledge? It's certainly the more efficient route to similar results.

Ultimately, this (should be) a community effort. This rising tide raises all boats. The more information everyone has, the better the bottom line is for everyone's performance (ideally).

Moving on. It goes without saying that you can't just forego all stats in the game just to go with one, or two. At some point or the other you'll hit one of two problems. Either you'll get the sick SE dartboard gear you didn't want, or you'll have stat caps on gear that will force you to meld materia of a stat you aren't focusing on. No matter what, you'll likely end up with one stat you prioritize (DH), another stat you'll try and get on most gear if possible (Det), and melds that go towards your priority if possible, and if not, whatever else will benefit you (Crit). Whatever the stats of choice end up being, you can almost always count on that dartboard to vary your stats.

So I know on OP it says So it seems for SAM, Hit > Crit > Det/SkS is the stat priority for now. But I also noticed recommending SkS melds. Im a little confused on SkS, I was under the assumption we wanted high SkS. Is there a minimum/target SkS before going So Hit > Crit > Det/SkS or is this accurate at all gear levels.

Dervy is doing the math and has pointed out that Skill Speed is an odd stat on Samurai, that it could be better than Det and Crit. He mentioned before that it might be bad in V4/O4 Savage due to downtime. Also despite what he says he mentions his BiS from Sam has little Skill Speed.

So possibly: DH > SS?? > DET > CRT

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ights/dkma110/

Someone plz correct me if i'm wrong but, is SAM the only Melee class in the game currently that gets their combos cancelled when they LB?

No every class that uses combos, including tanks lose their combo once they LB. The only caveat is MNK which doesn't use combos but stances which proc abilities or their effects (if you wanna be technical about it).

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Originally Posted by Esoterikk

So I know on OP it says So it seems for SAM, Hit > Crit > Det/SkS is the stat priority for now. But I also noticed recommending SkS melds. Im a little confused on SkS, I was under the assumption we wanted high SkS. Is there a minimum/target SkS before going So Hit > Crit > Det/SkS or is this accurate at all gear levels.

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I've been updating the front page based on the knowledge and information being passed around the community. Currently, the idea seems to be DH priorities, Det is your secondary, and as others are saying, the more you have of one stat, the higher benefit you'll see from the others. That means you shouldn't flat out ignore one, but SS is the easiest to, since you don't lose anything too drastic.

I don't know what the conversation is for the SS builds right now, but I could only imagine it's because it gives you a flat 'better' casting time on Iai, and Sen gain.

Curious what kinda numbers Sams are posting in O1-4S. Anyone have any details about their experiences so far?

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Originally Posted by PROBOUND

Curious what kinda numbers Sams are posting in O1-4S. Anyone have any details about their experiences so far?

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4.4k at the end of O2S with 39% uptime of nerfed balance, item level 318. For me, anyway.