How to Increase DPS?

Hi!

I'm Eryn. Would like to know how to increase my DPS as Samurai.

Been to some Sigma 3 Extreme groups and, although I've already cleared this stage, I get kicked by groups. They call me trash and idiot because I can't even reach the "average DPS", which is like... 5k? Then they kicked me out... Even though I didn't die a single time. :(

In this specific party they said my "parse" was 4.8k. I was:

SAM, iLv362, full Quick Arm Materia VI where I could fit it > then Direct Hit > then Critical.

My Gear is Tsuky Wep (iLv365), Diamond Gloves and Earring (iLv370), and the rest is the iLv360 self-crafted green gear.

I didn't use any food/pots for the run. Plain Gear, Materia and what I know about the class. Believe that mechanically I don't make many mistakes, like... SAM, right?

Please, would like to know what can I improve, so people stop calling me trash. Just don't want to be a burden to anyone.

English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance for any horrid mistakes.

Hello ^^

Check this image. It is the simplest guide I could find, hope it helps.

Also this video is a must watch for all melees.

If your computer is fast enough, I suggest recording your own game play with recording software like OBS (Open Broadcasting Software). Personally, I record my own game play every time I raid for Savage or Ultimate. It is a habit I developed when I played in other organized group-based games.

As a DPS, it is imperative to always be casting and keep your GCD rolling. Higher skilled players use their strongest moves when party raid buffs are available in order to maximize damage. Reviewing a strategy guide is helpful, but you may have to tailor your play to each specific situation you encounter.

After reviewing video, I notice a lot of things that could have been executed better. When you are playing in the moment, you may not notice the sub-optimal play. For example, not pressing enough buttons or pressing buttons in the wrong order.

Lulunami suggested to record your gameplay. The other option is to record your logs (though others probably did it in your stead) so you can analyze what's wrong in your rotation etc...

Sigma V3 savage is a big difficulty step over V2S, and starts to require people to have decent DPS. Around 4k DPS is a good tank DPS, a decent SAM at ilvl 360+ should be around 5.5k - 6k. I'm not saying that to make you feel bad or anything, just to point out that you have a lot of room to make progress and get better at playing SAM.

Quote:

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Believe that mechanically I don't make many mistakes, like... SAM, right?

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I might think you do make mistakes. If didn't make that many mistakes, your DPS would probably be way higher.

I'm no SAM expert, but I'll try to point out some things that would need attention (I'll look at this parse in particular, which seems to be your last O7S kill):

- (EDIT: Forgot SAM can bypass combos with Meikyo).

- Pretty average uptime on your Higanbana DoT: you used it 9 times on a 11 min fight. It lasts 1 min, don't let if fall off ! You have around 75% uptime on the DoT (which means it could be active 15-20% more).

- You can maintain a better uptime on Shifu and Jinpu buffs (92% and 87% respectively).

- Only one use of Hagakure. It's the common SAM "noobtrap". It is better to convert your Sens into Kenki, because of Shinten, rather than spending them on Midare. You want to use as much Kenki as possible on Shinten, since it is an oGCD ability. On the same fight, the best samurais use Shinten around 60 times (you used it 17 times for example), and a lot less Midare (15 times instead of 28).

- Looks like you delay your GCD a bit sometimes.

I can't say much more about it, since I don't play SAM. But those should fix a lot of you issues. Though it was mean for them to call you that way, they had a legit reason to be pissed off. Be more critical about your performances ! Try to face a SSS dummy, see if you can kill it in time. Check fflogs to see what the DPS of an average SAM (like at 50th-75th percentile). You have very few kills in savage, nobody's perfect on their first couple of runs, but practice makes perfect.

Forgot to invite you to take a look at The Balance's website and/or discord. It's an information goldmine, and a place to discuss and ask things to some very good players.

wanna increase your dps?
get a dps parser and experiment a bit, on what works better in raids, like saving a CD for possibly more aoe damage, or trying out another opener and see how your CDs are back up before or after the next phase change etc...., with parsers you can experiment and improve

(dps parser.... muhahahahahaha gaha haaaa ghh g g gg rr grgrg rgrgr grrrrrr, .... why does SE invest in a new App before giving PS4 players a parser?????????????????????????????????)

You can also compare your casts timeline to higher performing sams on fflogs. Find a 90th % sam and just scroll through his actions and figure out why he does these things differently.

Here's a random sam with a good o7s parse timeline:
https://www.fflogs.com/reports/vfW8VTJwy93NFcXg#fight=8&type=casts&source=208&view=timeline

https://www.fflogs.com/reports/AtkDh...one&source=171

This looks like the log in question, or at least, one close enough to the one in question.

Your Shinten usage is disturbingly low, while your Gyoten / Yaten seem abnormally high. This goes towards Kenki mismanagement which is going to be your primary method of improvement, as Samurai Weaponskills are fairly straightforward and without much room for improvement.

Your Hagakure usage seems limited to your opener. The commonly accepted ideal approach is to alternate between Midares and 3 Sen Hagakure's for SHinten Spam.

This is because Midare is itself a GCD while Shinten is OGCD. The two math out to near the same Potency in the Hagakure transfer, but as Shinten is OGCD, it doesn't delay -further- GCDs if that makes sense, and becomes a gain.

Here is a similar timed run with another higher DPS Samurai
https://www.fflogs.com/reports/4PhwX...-done&source=7

The per-hit cast is less important than the number of casts. (His gear is likely better than yours). The two most important parts of increasing DPS is priority of action use and uptime.

A few of these have been mentioned, but common things to look at are:
-uptime, make sure you are always hitting something/gcd rolling.
-unless you cap resources, try and time your big hitters (midare, higanbana, shinten dump) during party buffs like TA. Dots snapshot on application, so a higanbana during TA will get the 10% bonus for the full minute.
-always try and use guren when adds are present.
-More hagakure, sen are more valuable as Kenki than as a midare.

I’m sure there are more but these are what came to mind.

Complete tangent topic, but this is so far one of the most helpful forum postings I've seen in a long time. No one arguing no one being mean or overly critical, just some down to earth constructive criticism. This is a breath of fresh air compared to the proverbial trash pile that is the forums lately!

@Yeol

Hey, thanks a lot for these links. That SAM chart was simple too good to be true. Lot's of good info condensed. Is there something similar for other classes too? SMN and BLM, specifically.


@Megguido

Thanks for pointing out my problems. I did know about the log, but I was not sure how to use it. It's very overwhelming at first. I'm sure to use your tip for improving. Thanks again for spending your time for helping me.


@Kabooa

Thanks for your reply. The "distubingly low" part really hurted me, but at the same time, I laughed sooo much. Didn't know that Shinten was such DPS increase. For me it was like a - "don't have anyting to do? Use it" - thing.




Well... If it wasn't a great amount of info I got here! S2 :D

On my way to improving! What I liked most is that I didn't just get information on improving as SAM, but I also see lot's of general guide lines for other jobs as well. Will take some time, but I really don't want to be a burden anymore. Started this game as purelly casual, but the "hardcore" stuff got my attention. Really want to be someone people want to party with.

Again, thanks a lot for every bit of information and the respect that you all treated me with, every single one of you in this post.

All the best!