Questions from a new CC SAM

[Reimar]

I've experimented with a few jobs in CC, most recently SAM. I've noticed a couple of things, though, and I'd like to pick the brains of more experienced PVPers.

First, I seem to be the priority target in most matches. Even if there are healers or squishy DPSes nearby, i'll routinely see 3+ enemies drop what they're doing and delete me before resuming normal play. This can be on the crystal or in a different postal code. Is this my imagination? Bad internet? Standard operating procedure?

Second, I can never seem to get the most out of my LB. I'll engage a target, see them hitting me, pop Hissatsu: Chiten to proc Kuzushi, and then use Zantetsuken. From the tooltips this should result in a one-hit kill, but about 80% of the time it merely hits for 24k. Any tips to make it more reliable as an instant death move?

Thanks in advance for any tips!

[RyanCousland]

The only thing I can think of as far as reason for targeting you in particular is probably to ensure your LB time is delayed but without knowing if you're isolating yourself or not I can't say much for any other reason as far as your LB or any dmg i dont have anything useful, but fret not your savior will arrive in due time

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[Vatom]

Try to aim for one or two people right now dont worry about getting everyone it will only make it hard to pull of since everyone will be plunging on you.
As for to actually pull it off you have to wait till the debuff is on them then hit one of the debuff targets (obvious I kno but I'm getting to it) you want to delay by a second or a server tick if somehow you can track that because for some reason even though the debuff looks on the LB will snap shot the instant you click it and if the debuff is still being place (floating above the enemy) it will register that its not even on the person and you will get the you did you LB dmg 20k. Also there is a range of effective activation. when you hit your target anyone around you that has the debuff will also take dmg its not the dash but the end circle that procs the dmg
I'm sorry if its hard to read or understand LMK if you have anymore questions

[Sinstrel]

If you pop chiten while a target is hitting you and immediately Zantetsuken, what will happen is that the enemy will be debuffed and take 24k damage because the server tick registered your Zantetsuken before the Kuzushi debuff was applied, even though it APPEARS that the Zantetsuken hit after the debuff. Hope that helps.

[Novani]

Pretty much as the others have said, SAM's LB is easily one of the most unforgiving moves to pull off and fight against, as it is dependent on the server registering a debuff being applied before the move executes, during which it's more likely going to register 5 or so hits on your person and you'll still be stuck trying to cast your LB, and heavens' help you if you get polymorphed mid-cast. Alternatively an enemy will be forced to keep attacking you even though they can clearly see you deploying Chiten a mile off, making it incredibly sensitive for both the Samurai and their opponents so you'll be a high priority to neutralize, particularly against teams that depend on AoE damage, hence why they focus you except when you have the buff up.

As a SAM, I'd advise against trying to use Chiten for LB use until the enemy is highly focused on a battle against your group instead of you, if people see the buff come up they'll definitely try to break line of sight, and you have a very short window in which to use your LB. Depending on your ping, you might even need to use it immediately due to server shenanigans. So it's best used as a tie-breaker move, any enemy, most likely ranged AoE ones you can take out is still a major boon to your team. As for playing defensively, absolutely make use of line of sight when engaged, if you can cleave multiple enemies while denying their backline an angle on you, even better since you'll have a stronger shield to work with. If you have a paladin on your team, stay close to them and push with them, their cover ability greatly synergizes with your style of combat.

[Valence]

1) It's always hard to tell what happens in a casual game and what makes people target who they do target, but a relatively safe bet is that you're overexposing yourself too much. This is a common mistake newer players do, and it is exacerbated when you play melee because you'll almost always be taking damage by one source or another since you're the closest and easiest target to hit for the enemy. Playing melee needs you to learn how to dive in, do your damage, soak up enemy damage, and zoom out once you're out of resources. It's true for all classes, but more so for melees.

2) The mechanics on how the server works decide how everything resolves. It's way more important to understand how it clicks in pvp than pve because not only it's more convoluted than pve due to crowd control, but it's also more prevalent between netting a hit or not:

- Pressing a button immediately registers an ability server side. As soon as the ability is registered, it will snapshot EVERYTHING on that time stamp, and any crowd control linked to it is also applied immediately (this is why all crowd control is extremely snappy and happens as soon as you press it).
- Damage resolution waits for the skill animation to go off with an arbitrary delay that's unique to every action you use (a bit like in pve, but blown out of proportions, especially on LBs where it can take several seconds). Even if a target guards in between before your damage resolution happens, the damage will get through because the skill was snapshot before that guard. However, since heals are instant, recover will heal before your damage resolution, which makes it distinct from guard in that regard.

How does this translate for Zantetsuken?

- If you pop the LB before the purple debuff shows up on somebody you hit, even if the debuff shows up before the damage resolution, you'll not get the oneshot because the ability snapshot the skill before the debuff was up.
- If you pop the LB after the purple debuff appears on somebody, it will snapshot the skill for the debuff and even if the debuff has faded off when the damage resolution happens, you'll get the oneshot. What matters is popping the LB during the purple debuff, so as people already said above just make sure to see the debuff on targets before using the LB (and make sure to hit the correct ones).

Sidenote: do not die before damage resolution, as dying negates damage resolution, snapshot or not.

Last sidenote on Zantetsuken: it deals 100% of the target's HP, which means a target with enough HP and a shield will probably survive, albeit at low health.

[Reimar]

Thank you, everyone! I'll try to put your advice to work!