Samurai needs damage buffs

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

But do they even need buffs?
SAM is by far has the hardest hitting personal numbers, rivaled only by BLMs.

… if they are played properly that is.

The fact that a SAM lets themselves to be outdone by MNK & even RDM can only mean one thing.

[FoxCh40s]

The hell is a freestyle Sam?

[Frizze]

The hell is a freestyle Sam?

Obviously they can respond with their own definition if they like, but based on context id say its a low-knowledge/skill samurai. One who just hits buttons, rather then figuring out(or looking up) how their skills interact with each other so they can actually use them properly. You can get ok damage just by hitting buttons, but youll find yourself outclassed by jobs that actually have lower damage ceilings then yours(not to mention most of them will be buffing the group, so them doing their job and yours better then you kinda makes you redundant). Or you can put in the work to actually learn the class, and leave those people in your shadow.

[Kolsykol]

Obviously they can respond with their own definition if they like, but based on context id say its a low-knowledge/skill samurai. One who just hits buttons, rather then figuring out(or looking up) how their skills interact with each other so they can actually use them properly. You can get ok damage just by hitting buttons, but youll find yourself outclassed by jobs that actually have lower damage ceilings then yours(not to mention most of them will be buffing the group, so them doing their job and yours better then you kinda makes you redundant). Or you can put in the work to actually learn the class, and leave those people in your shadow.

When I think of a '' freestyle SAM '' I think of SAM's who just do their three combos and the finisher, and then a variety of them some who don't do anything else, some who sometimes throw in a dot when they remember which is rarely.
And then some who actually do keep the dot up and spend their Kenki etc.

Basically, it's a SAM that doesn't follow the actual rotation.
If I say '' filler phase '' they'll go '' the what? ''.
They just use things on CD if they're the fancy kind ( not fancy as in correct, but as in puts in at least a tiny bit of effort ).
And if they're not they just do their combos and finisher.
They don't follow the loop at all so they end up with Tsubame-gaeshi sitting on CD and with dots not being on target for long periods of time and with no Kenki for Kaiten etc.
Again there's a variety of different levels to this not all freestyle SAM are totally awful and beyond redemption.

[Rilifane]

The hell is a freestyle Sam?

Samurai is on a 60s cycle if played correctly and depending on the GCD after buffs, you have a 2-4 GCD filler phase and if any form of downtime occurs, be it from intermissions or uptime loss, you need to adjust your loop accordingly so you don't misalign your cooldowns or they will lose value. So if you lost a GCD and are on a 2 filler, you need to go for a 1 GCD filler and so on.
Meikyo is on a 55s cooldown, double Midare on a 60s cooldown, Ikishoten on 60s aswell but a freestyle Samurai will misalign their cooldowns, using Meikyo too soon or too late, resulting in not getting used for the strong combo finishers to collect stickers, missing stickers for hitting double Midare on time and lacking stickers for regular dot refresh. Instead of playing a clean loop with good dot uptime and selfish burst aligned with raid buffs, they'll constantly have their double Midare at odd times, missing a lot of dot uptime, overcapping Kenki or letting Ikishoten drift and even drop their buffs.
Freestyle Samurai is both a hefty rDPS and aDPS loss but only very few bother with learning the correct loop, let alone constantly adjusting it in a fight with downtime.
Many just play it for Midare goes BRRRRR and the wonder why they get out-dpsed by classes with weaker pDPS.

[FlareVyzar]

Samurai is on a 60s cycle if played correctly and depending on the GCD after buffs, you have a 2-4 GCD filler phase and if any form of downtime occurs, be it from intermissions or uptime loss, you need to adjust your loop accordingly so you don't misalign your cooldowns or they will lose value. So if you lost a GCD and are on a 2 filler, you need to go for a 1 GCD filler and so on.
Meikyo is on a 55s cooldown, double Midare on a 60s cooldown, Ikishoten on 60s aswell but a freestyle Samurai will misalign their cooldowns, using Meikyo too soon or too late, resulting in not getting used for the strong combo finishers to collect stickers, missing stickers for hitting double Midare on time and lacking stickers for regular dot refresh. Instead of playing a clean loop with good dot uptime and selfish burst aligned with raid buffs, they'll constantly have their double Midare at odd times, missing a lot of dot uptime, overcapping Kenki or letting Ikishoten drift and even drop their buffs.
Freestyle Samurai is both a hefty rDPS and aDPS loss but only very few bother with learning the correct loop, let alone constantly adjusting it in a fight with downtime.
Many just play it for Midare goes BRRRRR and the wonder why they get out-dpsed by classes with weaker pDPS.

There are two kinds of Freestyle Samurai. One that plays like an anime guy, pressing random buttons. Does not know anything. And there is the "proper freestyle" Samurai, also known as Adhoc Rotation.

The loop itself, is not the the best way to play Samurai. It actually is the Standard High end. Because this is what is suggested to new players when they approach to learning Samurai. But looping will only get you up to a certain extent. What will you do when you do a fight like E8s? E12s? E11s? TEA ? Or something like Diamond Weapon even? Looping just will not work for you there.

The top Samurai players are actually "freestyle" Samurais who mapped their rotation on a spreadsheet and proceed according to fight.

What gets freestyle Samurai a bad name is basically those players who spam Hakaze x10000.

Anyone who plays Samurai at high level knows that very well, that is what makes Samurai the hardest class to optimize currently.
Not saying Loop rotation is bad, it is the standard high damage, but if you only know that, you will never to the top level.
Obviously some fights Looping is optimal e.g E9s, but E9s is a full uptime fight. You don't learn much further past it.

Anyone who thinks Freestyle/Adhoc Rotation is bad, should go check Libitum Allegreto's logs or any top Samurai from E5s and up. Good luck getting on that level of Samurai performance while only knowing loop.
Heck if you don't want to perform on his level. You can even check mine. I play and self-optimize as Adhoc, but don't bother optimize and grind further after the first 2 month of raid tier. I could name further Samurais who kept on grinding for Speeds/Optimization, but you are free to go check that on FFLOGs.

[ssunny2008]

Anyone who plays Samurai at high level knows that very well, that is what makes Samurai the hardest class to optimize currently.

SAM is definately not the hardest class to optimize. You can adapt pretty easy to given circumstances thx to the 3 core combos "from the side, from behind, 2 buttons" most of the times even without true north. Playing uptime with a timed gaplcoser combo or using Meikyo in smart way will increase your damage too.
The most classes are way harder to optimize, because you don´t have the possibilities to adapt with your rotation, you need a bunch of proccs or have to care about short buffs / DoT´s. A lot of ppl just don´t think a step further and play 123, 145, 16, Midare permanently down while not using third eye.
SAM is easy mode in the endgame and even unoptimized, you´re able perform the same damage as other well optimized classes.

[Garnix]

Most players play freestyle if that's the definition of it.
That's not only true for SAM.
Some players play complete freestyle.
Some players learn their openers and then play "freestyle".
A very minor percentage of the player base learn how to play correctly with raid buff windows and perfect alignment of their rotation and all that.
And there is a reason for that: it doesn't really matter.

[Caitlyn]

SE needs to buff SAM! Even a fisher can out-dps a SAM!

[Kolsykol]

Most players play freestyle if that's the definition of it.
That's not only true for SAM.
Some players play complete freestyle.
Some players learn their openers and then play "freestyle".
A very minor percentage of the player base learn how to play correctly with raid buff windows and perfect alignment of their rotation and all that.
And there is a reason for that: it doesn't really matter.

It does matter, just stop.
If you don't want to play properly then just accept that and be honest about it but don't spread misinformation and lie to yourself and others.

And to be more thread relevant, if people are not going to play it properly and how it was designed to be played then don't complain about the damage being low and ask for buffs.
It's like BLM '' freestyling '' by just spamming F4 and no Despair and throwing out random spells as filler in Ice phase and then complaining that the damage is low.

It's unreasonable to expect people to play with 100% perfect alignment at all times that's not what we're talking about here we're talking about people totally ignoring the base rotation that the Job was designed for.
And if this didn't matter then why would anyone even bother with it at all?
Guess I shouldn't use Twin Snakes on MNK then because I can still clear most/ all content without it amiright?