SAM is dead

[Shurrikhan]

Pipedream Adjustments Wishlist Incoming...

First, revert to pre-Endwalker, with some small fixes.

• Background Change: Conal and linear AoEs no longer require a target to use. If an enemy is targeted, the game will check both lines of attack and use the one (character facing / camera-facing or to-target facing) that will strike a greater number of effective targets.
• Background Change: A new class of actions called Techniques has been added. These may be used even in the middle of other animations. All pet skills, Sprint, and certain other actions have been moved into this category.
• Tenka Goken reverted to again deal greater damage to its first enemy struck (~30%), better making it a net gain in 2-target combat and more obviously worth using in single-target before gaining access to Yukikaze. Range of cone also extended by 2 yalms.
  
  
• Tsubame-Gaeshi (again) no longer grants Meditation stacks, and Shoha's damage has (again) been buffed accordingly, though to just 540p this time. [The one mostly good Endwalker change; 540 [180p/stack] used instead of 560 [186.67] for divisibility and internal balancing.]
• "Meditation Stacks" renamed to "Honed Blade" or the like, because the prior sounds stupid.
• Meditate now supercharges existing Honed Blade stacks with each tick, causing them to count as two each, if it would otherwise overcap. Its cooldown has also been reduced to 40s, and it now also reverses the drain of Fuka and Fugetsu, causing them instead to gain a second of duration with each second channeled.
• Meditation is again oGCD, but it does not begin to tick until the GCD has cooled, and now ticks per half-GCD's time (thereby more than doubling its rate and improving GCD-sync) but alternates between granting 10 Kenki (odd ticks) and a stack of Honed Blade (even ticks). If within .5s of a tick, it will hold other GCD actions for the tick, thereby keeping GCD-synced and allowing for proper queuing. [This makes Meditate more fluid without being an obligatory weave; every odd tick is worth 120p, every even tick 180p, for a total of 300 ppgcd. Compare against SAM's ~460 ppgcd from weaponskills (not accounting for CDs, including TG and Namikiri), and Meditate's former value of =<217.5 ppgcd.]
  * The buff lingers faintly, allowing oGCD actions not to break Meditation for almost a second, giving it a bit more fluidity; again, though, it can't tick while under the global recast delay, and it makes sense to keep the GCD synced.
  
  
• Base cast time of Iaijutsu reduced from 72% to 60% of a GCD (1.5s baseline); its enhanced version instead allows one to start Iaijutsu at up to 20 yalms' range if possessing at least 10 Kenki and allows Gyoten to be queued as a technique, causing it to automatically be used at the end of Iaijutsu's cast to gap-close and reach the target to complete.
• Tsubame Gaeshi is now available for 5 seconds after using Iaijutsu -OR- Tsubame Gaeshi replaces Iaijutsu when off cooldown and until a new Sen is generated; while Iaijutsu is shown, a cooldown ring for Tsubame-Gaeshi shows over Iaijutsu without replacing it or greying out its icon (similar to when cooling holding at least one charge but also cooling an additional charge).
  
  
• Shoha II replaced by a trait just causing Shoha I to launch red arcs of energy (a la Guren), dealing additional linear (or narrow-conal) AoE fall-off damage.
• Hissatsu: Senei is now a trait that causes Guren to swap instead to Senei when its line of attack would strike only a single enemy.
• Third Eye's Third Eye Opened proc now replaces your next use of Shinten or Kyuten with Seigan or Soten (new), respectively; Seigan deals an additional 100 AoE potency in a narrow cone and Soten deals an additional 100 potency to its first enemy struck, and both heal for damage dealt. [In this way, we have more animation variety without button bloat.]
  
  
• Enhanced Ikishoten replaced with Art of the Swell II - Tsubame Gaeshi grants a stack of Namikiri, to a maximum of two stacks. Each allows the use of Ogi Namikiri or Kaeshi: Namikiri. (Generally, you'd hold these to save 20 Kenki, since Kaeshi: Namikiri can only be used within 5s of Namikiri and includes Kaiten's modifier for free.) [Because people like their big swishy-thwoom skill, even if it's pretty braindead.]
  
  
• [Very Optional] Shoha can now be spent at any number of stacks and is now an oGCD mobile channel, striking every quarter-GCD so long as you are in range of your target; number of animation steps now varies with number of Honed Blade stacks consumed. (This animation cycles; if using for just 1 stack's worth each across three separate GCDs, you'd see each third of the animation, in order.) [I just want to be able to see the whole animation, without losing fluidity.]

Then some leveling changes...

• Hagakure and Kaiten moved to a far earlier level; base skill potencies can be reduced in compensation to be returned at Kaiten's original level, and Hagakure now grants 15 Kenki per Sen after <some level as early as 58 and as late as 80>, making it less of a trap.
• Gyoten moved to level 40 or so.
• Ikishoten moved to level 58 or so.

And then some new stuff for fun (spitball):

• New Trait: Art of the Storm (lv64) - Every 20 Kenki spent reduces the cooldown of Ikishoten by 1 second. Fuga and Enpi increase your movement speed by 30% for 3 seconds. Iaijutsu reduces the global cooldown incurred by your next Hakaze or Fuga by 33%.
  
  
• New Trait: Art of the Swell (lv68) - Ikishoten and Meikyo Shisui now randomly (or based on current Sen count / combo progress / whatever) grant either Swell: High Tide or Swell: Low Tide.
  
  High Tide - The next 3 casts of a random Kenki skill to consume 10 less Kenki and deal 100 more damage to their primary target if AoE or 50 more AoE potency if single-target.
  * If the random skill's recast times are fully consumed, a new skill we be selected.
  
  Low Tide - Your next 3 Sen consumed by Hagakure within the next 10 seconds grant an additional 10 Kenki and automatically grant Kaiten.
  
  
• New Trait (~lv74): Art of the Sword - Gyoten and Yaten gain a third shared charge and their recharge time is reduced by 3 seconds (from 8 to 5). Using Yaten duplicates your latest non-Iaijutsu single-target weaponskill in a cone facing towards you from your target for partial damage to other enemies. Using Gyoten causes your next non-Iaijutsu single-target weaponskill to additionally deal a portion of its effect to other enemies in a line.
  
  
• New Trait (~lv78): Art of the Storm II [replaces Enhanced Fuka and Fugetsu] - The effect of Fuka and Fugetsu are now initially enhanced, beginning at 14% before fading to 10% over their duration.
  Additionally, using Kaiten on a skill which grants Fuka or Fugetsu will cause it to instead grant Shin Fuka or Shin Fugetsu, which increases its effect to 20%, likewise fading to 10% over its duration.
  Only one or the other may be active at the same time; activating either while the other is active will double the prior's remaining duration but degrade it to the normal effect.