Quote Originally Posted by Iyrnwaen View Post
While job balance is much closer than folks like to admit, if SAM was that trivial to deal with, it wouldn't be the job of choice for so many top ranked players.
The problem with SAM is less the frequency with which they actually wipe teams, and more the psychological effect SAM has on the other team if they hold their LB.
Timidity loses matches, and a SAM with their LB lit up makes everyone walk on eggshells.

Dealing with Chiten/Zantetsuken is indeed super easy... 1v1, in a vacuum. That's not how matches work.
Most jobs cause intermittent AoE damage whether they want to or not, and most matches are decided in hotly contested, low readability CQC over the crystal.
Focus is as much a vital, limited resource in PvP as HP and MP, and SAM drains it rapidly just by having a full LB bar and existing.
The other 4 players on the SAM's team don't stop hitting me while I try to determine whether I'll get one-shot if I press Macrocosmos.

If I had my way, the 6.11 nerfs to SAM would be reverted and Zantetsuken CD would be reduced,
but Kuzushi would only be applied by Chiten when the SAM is the target of a direct attack.
There's nothing wrong with SAM outplaying folks and blowing them up with a counterattack when they get baited,
but a BRD should be able to fire Apex Arrow without worrying that it's going to go off at a weird angle because of server ticks and clip a SAM who will instantly kill him.
I think I agree with most of this, but there is an easy fix. If a SAM has LB, target them. Nuke them. They will go down. In the current state of the game, this is trivially easy.

Anyone who says SAM is still an A tier job doesn't play SAM.

Unless they can hit 2 people with their barrier attack (which is hard to do; it's casted and people wiggle/separate), their only mitigation is a 30 second cooldown which lasts 5 seconds and is a paltry 25%. SAM have to be front and center to attack. They are super easy to kill if your team can focus.