Samurai LB is still BS

[Valence]

I'd be happier with a buffed SAM LB like advanced earlier by Reinhart above without the oneshot effect. The dash AoE on its own is a unique shape, and the amount of damage it deals on full parties is nothing to scoff at, much like SMN and DRG LB, which are table turning LBs already. DRG has the benefit of doing the spikier damage but is also telegraphed and guardable, while SMN is instant (hard to guard against it unless pure luck). SAM just takes longer to charge, and I think it's okay since it goes through guards anyway.

If the "you're just bad if you get hit by it" crowd is unhappy about that, then I actually pause to wonder why it would be so, since it's so easy not to get hit by it to begin with, which makes it underwhelming or bad by definition right? So they should be happy about such a change with potential buffs (charge time or damage).

[UkcsAlias]

If the "you're just bad if you get hit by it" crowd is unhappy about that, then I actually pause to wonder why it would be so, since it's so easy not to get hit by it to begin with, which makes it underwhelming or bad by definition right? So they should be happy about such a change with potential buffs (charge time or damage).

The problem lies at many parts that act together. And needs a solution that handles a lot of those cases.

And a few key aspects i noticed:
- No warning
- Too easily accidentaly triggered

While the strong hit can be desired, its instant kill is not. However, with a proper warning, that insta kill might be. So for that i might have a suggestion:
Chiten now instead of having a binary Kuzushi, Kuzushi now works based on stacks. And for example each stack reduces the effect of guard by 20%, capping at 5 (we can also do 3 stacks and 33%, or basicly any value with a fixed point for the ohko), When maxed, the player gets a highlight (to mark the guaranteed instant kill and help the SAM).
This means that in teamfights, you can now take some risks as instead of instantly having a full mark, you can watch the stacks you obtained. And yes, there will still be that binary point of 4 and 5 stacks, but it enables a newer player to for example take 3 as their treshold for care, instead of 4. It gives a progression of survival, while still involving a risk/reward situation, that can backfire.

And yes, you can be sure newer/bad players will die by this because they dont track the stacks. Which then is a l2p, but its one they can at least be hinted to, and learn track! As its no longer purely binary. It requires a bit more setup.

As a bonus effect, SAM now can also use this as a teamfight buff even without LB. Making guard weaker for everyone can still be a strong effect and on that offset the cheese strategy. And its a lot more likely to trigger in that case, as people wont be worried as quickly, and are a lot more likely to just take those 2 stacks.