
Originally Posted by
Novani
Samurai isn't too bad as a melee DPS, but its major drawback is that is pretty much a gimmick DPS at the same time. Server tick is very much the bane of this class, its LB being reliant on 3 seconds of a debuff attached to a 5 second defence buff in order to apply it in the first place. If the server feels generous, this can be a massive boon with little downsides. But more often it's likely players will run into issues where they apply the buff, get hit once, have to wait until they see the debuff applied, and then when using the LB, there's a chance that the end result will be as if their opponent isn't debuffed at all, and now with the whole opposing team focusing on them they basically waste their LB and their life for nothing, leading to much confusion and annoyance both for and against the class.
This is further exasperated by the long cooldown for the LB, the primary focus of the class's kit, while its other major moves can hurt a fair bit per hit, the cast times of the charged moves can be unforgiving if the enemy moves in the slightest (losing track of your target mid-cast is a common occurrence, even if they're right beside you). In short, while the class clearly has a technical aspect that can be satisfying to utilize, it suffers to issues outside of its actual kit deficiencies.
So basically, you play as a tank with a surprise gotcha mechanic, but enjoy none of the actual staying power of a proper tank (something some tanks can help with, but not always) and are essentially at the mercy of server ticks actually registering buff and debuff in time before the actual strike of Zantetsuken, savvy players know how to avoid this and lock the samurai down, and compared to classes like Monk it can come off as unreliable but potent if used correctly. It's viable, but it is a gamble, more than many other melee DPS jobs.