Studying The Blade- The SAM DPS Guide

Unfortunately, I can't pull up the old google doc from before the media tour build I'd been looking at.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._observations/

This thread, however, is where it was initially discussed. There were two openers based on the media tour build tooltips. One had the use of Hagakure on 3-Sen exclusively. The other had use of Kaiten-Midare, with Hagakure peppered in where available. The conclusion was that you could use Hagakure on 3 Sen exclusively, and be ahead GCD's, which also puts them ahead in Sen gain. However, that puts you in a weird spot for maintaining your DoT, as it will desync with a high enough skillspeed. However, the opposing rotation, based on the same media tour build, was slightly higher potency per second, while never using Hagakure on more than 1/2 Sen.

The takeaway I had, was that as long as you were using it, you'd benefit compared to someone who doesn't. Using it on 1, 2, or 3 will not be miles apart. This reminds me a lot of how I felt about Fracture on MNK, where you could use it, and it would increase your DPS, but you weren't really miles ahead of anyone. Except this sucks a bit more, because it directly butts heads with the core design of the Job, which is building Sen, and using them on something spectacular. I wish they'd change Hagakure so that it either didn't cost Sen, or that if it did, it'd be a specific amount.

Heya Nominous,wanted to say thank you for taking the time to make this thread ^_^

You've pretty much covered all I can think of but if I figure out or learn anything useful I'll post here. There was a doc that explained the Hagakure on 1 Sen,but it has since been deleted.

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Originally Posted by Daioh

Heya Nominous,wanted to say thank you for taking the time to make this thread ^_^

You've pretty much covered all I can think of but if I figure out or learn anything useful I'll post here. There was a doc that explained the Hagakure on 1 Sen,but it has since been deleted.

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Just Nom, or Noms is fine! And no probs friend. For how much I've been looking forward to Samurai, I felt it only made sense to contribute to the community surrounding them. If you or anyone else has questions, or anything to add, please do!

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Originally Posted by Nominous

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Major props for taking the time to write it all up in such detail.

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Originally Posted by Selova

That looks pretty solid for our opener Chronons. The only thing I'm trying to figure out is kenki management when guren is on cd and Shinten useage. The tricky part I seem to be having is trying to make sure I have 50 kenki ready for when guren comes off cd and how many shintens I can get off in that 2 minute window while at the same time making sure I'm buffing every midare and higanbana with kaiten.

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The 35 Rule for Kenki is perfect I think. The neat thing about Shinten not having a significant recast timer means that you can really use them whenever in that two minute period, provided you adhere to two guidelines - 1. Dont use shinten when under 35 Kenki, 2. Dont let yourself hit 100 Kenki. For what its worth, the reddit doc we both referred to showed 8 Shinten between the first and second Guren while also having Kaiten before every Midare.

Assuming you use Hagakure(40secs) on cooldown it will be available to you shortly before your next Guren(120secs). Even if you can only Hagakure one Sen it should put you at 55 (35+20) if your following the 35 Rule. That means you are still only a Yakikaze combo away from the 70 threshold for Guren. Just dont Shinten the 20-10ish seconds before Guyen is coming off cooldown and you will be good every time, I think.

Shouldn't this thread be called "Mastering the Blade" instead >_>;;?

Studying fits better there are no masters (of any cls') yet .___.

Just stepped by to give a hugh thumb up, great that this community still got more than just complains here and there. Good work, well done and keep it on <3

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Originally Posted by Daioh

Heya Nominous,wanted to say thank you for taking the time to make this thread ^_^

You've pretty much covered all I can think of but if I figure out or learn anything useful I'll post here. There was a doc that explained the Hagakure on 1 Sen,but it has since been deleted.

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Unless I'm mistaken, the 1 Sen Hagakure is only used in the opener or if you happen to screw up somewhere in a fight and head down the same combo tree twice.

Also, people are speculating on 3-Sen openers.

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Originally Posted by ShaolinMike

Also, people are speculating on 3-Sen openers.

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I plan on doing some testing tonight, with some different rotations to see if any specific style works exceedingly better than the other.

I'm gonna try a full 3 minutes using just 1 Sen Hagakure, same for 2 and 3. Then I'll do some where I use Hagakure on cooldown, with no regards to planning whatsoever.

I'm also gonna test out some rotations where I only use Meikyo Shisui to generate Kasha/Gekko stacks, doing Yukikaze as the lead up. I'm sure that in the end, using it as soon as possible will still be more beneficial, but I got curious about how Yukikaze during Meikyo isn't as beneficial as a 400 potency attack that skips more than just hakaze. Lots to research!

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Originally Posted by ShaolinMike

Also, people are speculating on 3-Sen openers.

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Yep, Ive been watching The Balance discord and have seen the 3 Sen speculation as well. It seems most there seem to agree the 1 Sen opener I posted earlier (Dervy's) is the best all around, with the possibility that 2/3 Sen openers may be more beneficial depending on the fight. Lots of people are testing the 3 Sen to find out whats possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qCqkgoBkgs
Here is an awesome video by FFXIVMomo doing the 1 Sen opener (for when you have a WAR/NIN) and a 2 Sen opener (when you have to apply the slashing debuff yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0SaUWg9NSQ
This is them doing one of the proposed 3 Sen openers.

FFXIVMomo is a reliable source and if anyone is interested in learning more about SAM or rotations I would advise checking out The Balance Discord. Its a treasure trove of good info.