Yeah, agreed. I hadn't really seen any halfway competent RPR until like late last week, and it's a night and day difference. Bad RPRs just feed even more than SAMs do, but a good RPR makes a good NIN look like a joke.
Printable View
I disagree. One kill is always very easy to pull off with that LB. And one kill from 100% to 0% is already one hell of a LB. And it's not like "countering" the LB is foolproof and costless. When you see a Samurai coming with its LB bar filled you have to either avoid it or risk ccing it in case the debuff comes up which more often than not will not work on your favor. Oh, yes, and also avoid using AOE near it. Finally, it's not like you miss in case the target is not debuffed either, it is still 24k(?) 5-yard damage.
Introducing an ability like that was a very poor idea, and I don't think any of us should be defending it. It should be reworked into an affective but non-1-hit-ko ability.
As a counterpoint SAM is one of the or the LB with the longest cooldown, RPR by that time has theirs ready around 3 times. In higher elo people look out for you and mark you, double kills are actually rare because people know how to stand split. It's not fun design for both sides because when you don't have lb ready as a SAM your threat level isn't really that great and you're an easy focus target. If this gets changed it doesn't need a nerf but a full rework after all SAM is a pure damage job and baiting people into Chiten to be useful feels bad.
Also you can be polymorped, stunned or die and ultimately the 24k damage is not true damage either.
Full agree. SAM is a noob stomper class, much like WHM, but I feel like it falls off pretty hard against high skill opponents. MNK, NIN, and RPR are the only options against high skill players, IMO. I suppose we'll see what's what in that upcoming custom tournament, though.
SAM can still work just fine, especially since Chiten reflects against AOE attacks for some dumb reason, but you have to work harder than the other three classes above do, and often for fewer results.
They probably oughta just remove Kuzushi spread from AOE, increase Kuzushi duration by 3 sec (6 sec duration meaning around 2-3 GCDs inside it) reduce the charge time on the LB, ensure it's "true" damage, and remove the one-hit KO mechanic from it. It would still be a dash that deals 24k damage and can be amped by the substantial Kuzushi modifier, and it would still ignore Guard. That's still a pretty solid LB option but makes it both less binary to use (currently you don't touch it if you haven't put Kuzushi on them) and play against (if the SAM has LB or is about to have it, you either ignore them or CC chain them into the dirt... or just let one person be a sacrifice while the rest spread out.)
Where is reaper suggestions?