SAM positional requirements?

Does the SAM have a positional requirement like DRG? Just curious as I went through a dungeon with one and he sat right next to me as I tanked and was getting clobbered. I'd turn the mob and he'd come back up front. I haven't leveled one and have read the tool tips and don't see it, but thought I'd ask.

Samurai only has 2. Gekko (back) and Kasha (flank).

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Originally Posted by Leehi

Samurai only has 2. Gekko (flank) and Kasha (flank).

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Thanks, that's kInd of what I thought. Wonder why he kept planting himself in front of the boss with me. Healer had a hard time. We made it no biggie. :)

Positionals on SAM don't affect our potencies, but it's important for generating kenki. Any SAM not hitting their positionals MOST of the time (mechanics and whatnot happen) is doing it wrong.

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Originally Posted by Tufelhunden

Wonder why he kept planting himself in front of the boss with me

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Some tryhard sam take physical dmg on purpose so their defensive skill triggers a genki skill which consumes less of the gauge than the one without the trigger, its a very small potency increase. They can do it every 15s, they gain like 18potency or something.

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Originally Posted by Commander_Justitia

They can do it every 15s, they gain like 18potency or something.

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20, actually. Granted, most SAM will just trigger it from unavoidable AoE. Or a weak avoidable AoE, especially if they have Bath or SW available.

As said above, SAM loose 5 kenki on their two 3-skill-long-chain finishers, which change their Kenki generation from 50 over 8 skills to 40 if they stand in front, or 45 if they just stand in back or flank withouth moving (At least one of the two positionnal will hit right).

Since they already get plenty of kenki to buff midare-setsugeka, they effectively loose 20% of a Hissatsu : Shinten for every missed positionnal, translating into a net 60 potency loss.

I, however, don't have the overall potency of a full SAM cycle to translate this into a % loss, but due to their high potency skills and high DPS even from non positionnal SAM, I would say it is far to be big loss, even if it is still a loss.

maybe he was trying to proc the open eye buff

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Originally Posted by Commander_Justitia

Some tryhard sam take physical dmg on purpose so their defensive skill triggers a genki skill which consumes less of the gauge than the one without the trigger, its a very small potency increase. They can do it every 15s, they gain like 18potency or something.

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Thanks. Problem was it was Inferno and he was snacking me hard through cool downs then the healer was struggling. But at least I know now. Again thanks for the information. :)

Only 2? Kinda miss when you had to do positionals to proc combos

What dungeon was it. Sam's positional don't apply until I think they get kenki mastery trait or something.

I think it's also something that's easily missed because players will pick up Sam at 50 read the skills see no positional requirements listed on any of them and might never look at those tool tips again and thus miss the added lines for positional bonuses when that trait kicks in.

As Dzian mentioned, new SAMs at 50 don't actually start out with positionals, though they receive a trait at 52 (the base Kenki Mastery) that gives them 5 points to their gauge when executing Gekko or Kasha from their respective relative position, which I imagine quite a few may miss. The 62 trait Kenki Mastery II gives them additional gauge when executing weaponskills, regardless of positionals. They don't actually get an offensive use for triggering Third Eye (Seigan) by getting hit until 66, however.