SAM Stats

[Jwrigh7784]

Hello everyone and fellow Samurai. I love the class but there has been debate as to which stats in what order are most important. I've looked and I find complicated mathematical formulations (I wish I was kidding) on stats that don't really answer my questions. I'll admit, I suck at math and don't really comprehend the complicated stuff. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place? I dunno. Anywho, I was wondering if there is a consensus among players as to which stats to prioritize over what other stats. I feel fairly confident that Strength, Direct Hit and Crit are important but which is better to take first? How about other stats like Determination? Skill Speed? I'd like to know so I can play as optimally as possible and contribute as much as I can. I like to feel like I can be the best I can and not like I'm a lead weight for the party. Thanks for any and all answers.

[Gallus]

You cannot meld strength into sam gear because strength is already capped.
Best substat right now for sam is direct hit. The second one isn't so clear, some people meld crit, others meld det. People generally avoid skill speed though.

[Jwrigh7784]

You cannot meld strength into sam gear because strength is already capped.
Best substat right now for sam is direct hit. The second one isn't so clear, some people meld crit, others meld det. People generally avoid skill speed though.

Ah ok. That might explain why I can't seem to find a concrete answer. So let me ask, at 70, is there an expected amount of crit? I read somewhere that SAM's are expected to have 1800ish crit for current endgame content. Again, can't find anything concrete.

[FoodAspectedPrimal]

People who avoid skill speed on Samurai don't understand the job at a fundamental level. You want to hit one of 2 skill speed values for lining up certain off-globals, but also because unlike other jobs, literally every aspect of a samurai's kit is gated by the frequency of their global cooldown.

With that on the table, ideally you want to hit either 1050 or 1400 skill speed. Anything in between is fine as far as damage goes, but these values allow Hagakure and Meikyo Shisui to line up very nicely with the optimal rotation.

In regards to Direct Hit and Crit, I could go into tons of numbers but to keep it simple, if the combined total of your Direct Hit and Critical hit are GREATER THAN 3000, Crit is of a higher stat weight than Direct Hit. If the combined total is LESS THAN 3000, Direct Hit is higher.

Take all this into consideration when figuring out your melds.

[FoodAspectedPrimal]

As a neat little aside, if your Skill Speed on it's own exceeds 3600, it's the highest stat weight, but since that value cannot be reached at the current maximum ilvl, this is more something to be considered down the line. Skill Speed will likely be the top stat weight towards the end of stormblood.

[Jwrigh7784]

Thank you FoodAspectedPrimal, that was very helpful and exactly the type of info I was looking for.

[Zarex]

If people think they should avoid Skill Speed their doing it wrong tbh. Direct Hit is king but Skill Speed is second in priority. a good soft cap to hit for SkS is about 1030 with midare timings and Hakagure. if your not going super try hard anything over 850 is fine with SkS and stacking a bit more crit in its place.

Had good dps with around 930 SkS but when I went to about 1030 it was fairly noticable with CD's lining up and more DPS

[Gallus]

900 SkS

https://www.fflogs.com/reports/Ybdrh...pe=damage-done
https://www.fflogs.com/reports/CQRZA...pe=damage-done

Pretty sure I understand the job at a fundamental level

[Aquaslash]

Can you get 1400 SS without melding?

[ShanaShirayuki]

People who avoid skill speed on Samurai don't understand the job at a fundamental level. You want to hit one of 2 skill speed values for lining up certain off-globals, but also because unlike other jobs, literally every aspect of a samurai's kit is gated by the frequency of their global cooldown.

With that on the table, ideally you want to hit either 1050 or 1400 skill speed. Anything in between is fine as far as damage goes, but these values allow Hagakure and Meikyo Shisui to line up very nicely with the optimal rotation.

In regards to Direct Hit and Crit, I could go into tons of numbers but to keep it simple, if the combined total of your Direct Hit and Critical hit are GREATER THAN 3000, Crit is of a higher stat weight than Direct Hit. If the combined total is LESS THAN 3000, Direct Hit is higher.

Take all this into consideration when figuring out your melds.

Many of the top Samurai have nowhere near 1400 SS, let alone 1000. I doubt the statement you made about them not understanding their class. A more accurate statement would be to just focus on DH then Det, and let the other two stats fall into place, while at least maintaining 940-980 SS for triple sen (if that's the opener one prefers).