So uh..why is samurai Limit break so useless now?

I'm getting countered at every turn for awhile now, idk when it happened, but something change?

Well, people got used to it.
Even in Casual queue you will see someone mark for ignore an enemy SAM with LB up.

Players found out that shield can easily counter it and they dont even bother hitting you when you pop Chiten.

Dunno in my experience, even at plat/diam+, you'll always have someone eventually hitting chiten, and die. Casual is no exception. Sometimes I try to save people from biting the bullet by biting it myself with a shield, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (shield gone when the SAM finally decides to use LB, or I just die after because left at 5% HP and recup isn't enough). If you were used to multikills all the time with the LB though, yes, it's more of a unicorn those days unlike one year ago.

Not sure if anything has shifted tbh. But I sure do see a lot more ignore marks above samurais even in casual yes.

( also people always forget that Zantetsuken is a decent AoE LB vs unguarded stacks otherwise, combines well with DRG/SMN LBs )

You use Chiten when you're about to get into danger and/or get close to someone who's being attacked to soak AoE damage. SAM LB is actually really powerful just as deterrence and to weaken the enemy's momentum because they can choose to either Flare their target and hit you accidentally or continue with only ST attacks.

And actually you should not use Chiten randomly because in top games the moment your Chiten ends they'll just burst you and you'll die to relieve the pressure unless you have mitigation and escape plans. In low ranked matches, literally just hug a party member who's being attacked and you'll get an easy kill.

There are prohibited yet public tools that outright prevent people from attacking SAM's when it goes up. You can tell when it's the start of the game and you drop Chiten and everyone on you instantly stops attacking with half the group still targeting you as if they're trying to attack but can't.

It's a good deterrence like the person above me said though.

A little trick is to use Chiten and elixir on point, really messes with people's heads since they will usually look at your elixir cast bar and not your funny little debuff

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RileyNoxus

A little trick is to use Chiten and elixir on point, really messes with people's heads since they will usually look at your elixir cast bar and not your funny little debuff

---

Lmao nice tip!

I honestly think the most successful ways to use the SAM lb is defensively when you're on your own against multiple people. You either get safe for the few moments Chiten is up, or score one or a few kills.

The recharge time is too long: 120sec.
The insta kill is easy to counter, you can't attack the Sam or prevent the kill with shields.
And then you have a lot of jank, like Aoe hitbox, with a 5y radius, weird snapshots, It locks you in a cast animation that can be interrupted by CC.
Overall, you're more likely to end up doing 24k damage to a target.... In a game mode that often doesn't last 120sec.

If you want Damage:
Drg lb has 90sec gauge charge and does 40k Damage in 5y and 20k in 10y. But it also makes you invulnerable to Damage and gives you a huge shield.

If you want to kill a Single Target:
Monk lb has 75sec Gauge Charge, does 24k Damage + 3sec stun and can remove guard (half damage). And you can combine it with enlightenment to do 32k Damage.

Even Ninja, which gets the insta-kill done much more reliably, has only a 105sec gauge charge.

Being at a disadvantage for the first 120sec in a game, where you can't get lb back when dead, should be a something that flips the match, which Sam lb often isn't because it can be countered too easily.
SAM as a lot of other problems as well. sadly....