Gear Discussion/Help SAM

Well, ideally in either case you'd be WS'ing in Alky hands and Rutter feet leaving you with 5/6+ STP during WS, meaning your only hope for recovering the difference is by overstocking the TP you're getting the your next 5 hits when you consider your WS as the start/first hit of your 6-hit build. Even with Chiv Chain, Brutal Earring and hachi feet you'd come up short because you were just breaking even on your normal STP requirements.

To both of you in regards to Alky's, whether it is a natural trait of Y/G/K themselves or some other reason, your WS accuracy is capped in most situations for whatever reason. I believe it was something that Hakamaru discovered or lead the tests on, but it was found that they have a weird natural accuracy that, save things like Gods and certain HNMs, lets you almost entirely disregard accuracy during SAM's one-hit WSs. I thought it was a fluke given the times I recalled whiffing, but capped acc does allow a 5% gap and that's enough of an explanation for me. Parses seem to prove it over time, and I am completely convinced now given my WS sets don't have a lick of accuracy on them that isn't just supplemental from other pieces and still only noticing maybe a maximum of 5 whiffs during 2+hour merit sessions.

Oh, my bad... was talking to the original poster :P

Would probably depend on what you're fighting? AF+1 are a must anyways since there is nothing better for Penta.

Without Rajas you're right, you'd end up short in TP switching out gear for WS's, but with it you should have more than enough for a 6-hit which was what I was getting at. And I've also read somewhere (don't remember where) that someone had found that Y/G/K had some type of native accuracy associated with them. I think what some ppl fail to take into account is the AGI of the mob they are fighting as well as native ACC of w/e race you're character happens to be (*cough* Elvaan *cough* :/ )

I know Gekko has an Accuracy bonus, I never heard anything about Yuki or Kasha though. My SAM is only 72 atm, so like I said, the Accuracy difference is the reason I hear from people. When I hit 74 and get my AF+1, I'll play about with them and my Pallas Bracelets. Maybe my opinion will differ from other peoples, maybe it won't.

I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing btw, I'm just trying to see the other POV's on it and find out why people choose the gear they do XD

Oh, I def agree with multi-hit WS's you'd need as much ACC as you can get, but I was mainly talking about Sam's bread and butter one-hit WS's like Y/G/K.

Lol np >_>

Personally I use Alky, and always will for all but Penta/Rana since there really is nothing compareable for MNK ws(non-asuran ones). I've only done Sky/Sea on SAM so I can't speak from experience on HNM acc.

The one thing that's nice about AF+1 is if you can afford/make Shogun rice balls then you can attain DA+5 or something (not sure of full stats off hand). Coupled with the headgear it can go to 10 DA iirc. I've never used them personally but it sounds sexy to me.

I TP in Dusk hands, Fuma and Askar body. With Askar, Rajas and brutal always equipped I never come up short on a 6 hit. Assuming I have not been hit during the fight I usually hit 100TP on the dot.

I said that I only use bracelets when /thf because you are guaranteed a crit WS. Taking away 12-13 dex on a gearset that is already very low in acc is not smart. I would rather hit a WS with ~10 less damage than miss.

With Headgear and Hands, +100Att +10% DA +some other stuff.

With the ZNM feet, you get +150 Att, +15% DA.

SAM in my LS was saying how he noticed a huge difference with NQ rice balls, tonosoma or whatever they are.

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Enhances_Effects_of_Rice_Balls

Without Rajas you're boned entirely on these choices. As you mentioned, after full merits you need +11STP during the TP phase on every hit of a 6-hit build to make it work. The only reason you need to know that number is so you know what to work around. For these purposes I'll assume an extra +1 is coming from Brutal Earring instead of Chiv Chain. If you're using Dusk hands/hachi feet combo, you're dead-on @+11 meaning you cannot swap out any of your Store TP gear for WS. You get Alky's or whatever you prefer for hands since Dusk being on is irrelevant, but you don't get Rutters. If you use Hachi hands/Fuma, you get the same effects, with slightly less attack, but now have +14 STP for your 5 non-WS hits. This means you get to take off hachi hands for WS as well as feet and still make up the difference which only works if you're overstocking during the TP phase. It's a small gain, but every little bit helps! Plus you don't need to shell out for Dusk hands until you get Usu feet this way! lol

Exact same principle applies to Usu feet which is why everyone friggin obsesses over them. lol

As far as natural accuracy is concerned, the bonus seems to be so great that unless you're fighting very high-level mobs (~85) race and AGI are fairly moot points. D: Just an observation, though!

Hmmm....ok, it's already been brought up that Gekko at the least has a native ACC associated with it, if you already have merits into your GK and your ACC is capped/near cap, I still fail to see the reasoning behind using hands to WS in with that much lower Str when the help from the extra ACC from the DEX will be negligible at best? You say that the gearset is "very low in acc" which I am assuming you are referring to the -6 DEX on the bracelets, but if you're ACC is capped, why on God's green earth would you stack more ACC when it doesn't amount to a hill of beans? If anything I would think if you're missing that much on WS's it's in direct relation to what mob you are fighting, not to how much ACC you have in gear.

Look me up on Bismarck Xzeikx my gear sets are there i have many jobs though so its not top notch but close enough lol its 6 hit still though

You really shouldn't be using askar for TP unless you have stellar amounts of acc elsewhere.

TP'ing in Askar body is kind of a sin itself. The logic in not wanting to miss a WS merely for extra damage is sound, but it's not something you should actually have to worry about. it does conflict with opting to drop +12acc in your body slot for the sake of some DoubleAttack+%, though. If using pizza puts you close enough to the edge that it doesn't matter then it's a moot point, but this is generally not the case. In relation to Tainted's point, I would argue that some simply do not know about Gekko, and possibly Y/K's accuracy bonuses.

I'd say you're probably right, there's not many ppl that are aware of the WSs' native ACC.

I was referring to the WS gearset when I said "very low in acc." Sacrificing ~10 accuracy for 4 str does not make sense to me personally. You are not sacrificing 6 Dex, its 13 because AF +1 has 7 Dex. That may not matter much against birds, but 13 dex lost adds up fast against higher level mobs. Keep in mind that I use Askar for both sets, so I am lacking acc from a haub.

I have used bracelets in the past for all subs, but after trying out AF+1 I changed it up and have not looked back.

Testing from BG thread:



That's the first one I found but I know there were more tests done on wiki and alla as well if you want to look them up.

Kuz is forbidden from posting his thoughts on SAM Gear due to the fact that the KI Samurai Union will find him and brutally e-thug him to death again.

Carry on.

Kuz that is because you are utter fail :P And you have been removed from the discostick union :P

Avinne! <3

The test you reference was run against easy prey mobs..... I realize that Gekko has a native accuarcy trait, but any experienced Sam will testify that when too much acc/dex is taken from your WS set misses seem to skyrocket even on Gekkos.

To me it comes down to personal prefernce as I don't care enough to look up tests or research on what actually parses higher. I have tried a wide variety of gear and found what seems to work best for what I do ingame.

Dex also affects crit hit rate. Again, have not studied formula but crit WS's are nasty.

You know what? Forget I said anything. Go on doing whatever it is that you're doing.

The only time you're going to crit on SAM ws is when you're /thf. If you know anything about THF then you would realize that the DEX bonus applied to Sneak Attack only applies to THF main and not to /thf. Since you're only doing ws in them the crit factor has absolutely nothing to do with SAM.

Best non-usukane TP set from my perspective, that's still very affordable for even a tight budget, is as follow:

Top Row: [Insert Great Katana Here - Hagun is the best pre-relic!] / Pole Grip (Rose Strap CAN be viable now, I didn't have the option when I was leveling!) / - / Tiphia Sting (Smart Grenade is a free alternative!)

Row 2: Walahra Turban (Better than Askar 99% of the time... use Pizza +1, it's good!) / Peacock Charm (Chivalrous Chain is an affordable substitute!) / Bushinomimi (Fowling is cheap and a good second) / Brutal (should be the first ABC item you get when you hit sea access!)

Row 3: Haubergeon, Haubergeon, Haubergeon. Opt for HQ / Hachiman Kote (these let you WS in Rutters to maintain a 6-hit setup with more str/attack in your WS set!) / Sniper's Ring (Blood Ring from Chigre is free and better!) / Rajas Ring (You're almost there, keep it up!)

Bottom Row: Amemet +1 (Until Forager's Mantle/Cerb+1) / Swift Belt / Byakko's Haidate (Shura are great if you don't have these! Or you can opt for Shinimusha Haidate for a different kind of 6-hit) / Fuma Sune-ate

WS set for the aforementioned TP set, which is still affordable:

Top row remains the same, of course, unless you're an elvaan at which point the RSE satchet is a great piece to sub in for your ammo.

Row 2: Wyvern Helm is cheap, easy to get, and really good. / Sea Gorgets for all WS (you can get these soon, make the effort! it's well worth it) / Bushinomimi (Triumph Earring, Fowling doubles as a WS earring if your wallet is tight) / Brutal

Row 3: Haubergeon(+1) is good until you have a Kirin's Osode / Pallas or Alky Bracelets, settle for nothing less / Ruby Ring (Flame if you can shell out) / Rajas

Bottom Row: Amemet +1 ~ Smilodon +1 (vary depending on capped attack) / Warwolf Belt (a little pricey now 'cause of augments, but worth it!) / Fourth Division Schoss are free, and +4 STR (Shura are awesome, try to gun for these) / Rutters (free if you take the time to farm them up)

Hope that helped a bit. Can PM me any further questions.

Note: ACP and MKD changed things a lot since I leveled SAM, they offer new ways to implement a 6-hit setup so they're well worth looking into.

Knew you wouldn't be able to resist SAM talk :P

Rank up your Sandy missions and get to Hades, Avi. Double time.

GAWD! I did it for +5 HMP! ... and I'm lazy ; ;

I need to merit my damn DRG now. >.>

(derail goez)

...and hiiiiiiiii Yuna :)

The point of the test is to not only show the Weapon Skill Accuracy on its own, but also in comparison to the very major drop in melee accuracy. Often times the argument becomes skewed because there's always about a 6:1 or greater ratio from hits:WS causing a lower sample size, but in this case they did what I consider enough testing to give real and convincing results.

haha.

I feel so out of place with all this cool SAM recognition in here!

I've noticed there's a really strong anti askar body sentiment on here. If you have the neccesary 4 ikishoten merits it doesn't hurt your TP gain too much in the long run to not have capped acc. It's too bad that DA and zanshin don't get along though.