o o
Prepare to pay for your crimes!> |/ \|
^ ^ < Sure-- let me introduce you to my
"insurance" company! HA!
__________________________________
Behold my comical talents! -Author
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Table of Contents
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01. Introduction
02. Version History
03. The Role of a Samurai
04. The Quest of the Samurai
05. Choosing a Race
06. Job Traits
07. Job Abilities
08. Sub Jobs
09. Weapon Skills
10. Skillchains
11. Weapons
12. Armor
13. AF Equipment
14. Frequently Asked Questions
15. Contact Info
16. Special Thanks
17. Legal
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/01. / INTRODUCTION /
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/
First off, I'd like to note that I am not currently on-line with this game.
I'm in transitions, and I may not be on for as long as the PS2 release. Please
keep this in mind while reading this guide, because for the moment, as updates
are added to the game, I am missing them, and I try not to add information to
this FAQ until I have confirmed it myself. Please don't let that discourage
you from letting me know about anything that is inaccurate in this guide.
When I wrote this guide, I had no online access. This is my way of coping
with the withdrawal symptoms of not having FFXI. *convulses*
Thusly, the majority of this guide is written from memory. If you recognize
any errors please let me know. A lot of information will be added once I can
confirm it myself, but for now we're on the honor system.
Thanks to those of you who sent me confirmations and updates. As expected,
I'm finding several errors, so if you notice anything that needs to be
corrected, just let me know what it is. Most have you have been very helpful
(there's always the occassional whiner, but whatcha gonna do?). For those of
you who need to be told, opinions and complaints are worthless in my mailbox,
but information is very helpful. I think you can distinguish the difference.
To the rest of you, enjoy.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/02. / VERSION HISTORY /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
Version 0.99- 01/30/2004 Almost there! Lots of corrections today and I
finished the Quest of the Samurai and the Weapons
sections. There's also new Special Thanks and some
Legal updates. Only the Armor section left to go!
Version 0.91- 01/08/2004 Fixed a lot of little errors- thanks to all of you
who submitted corrections.
Version 0.90- 01/06/2004 Added more Skillchain info, and the AF Equipment
section. Only three more sections to go!
Version 0.75- 01/05/2004 Added the Skillchains, Contact Info, and Legal
Sections. After changing locations, the transfer
turned out a lot of formatting errors, so many of
those were corrected, and I'm finally able to
distribute this guide.
Version 0.50- 01/04/2004 Added the Weapon Skills section and fixed some
errors.
Version 0.40- 01/03/2004 Added the Subjob section plus a few minor
corrections.
Version 0.25- 01/01/2004 Created this guide.
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/03. / THE ROLE OF A SAMURAI /
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/
In Final Fantasy XI, partying with other players is a big part of the
experience. When you're in a party, each character should have a role fitting
of their character's abilities. Your goal as a Samurai is essentially to do
damage. Most character classes will fall into one or two of the categories
below:
Attackers- Since your goal in a party is generally to kill enemies, and
gain experience, effective attackers are crucial to a party's success. The
role of an attacker is to do large amounts of damage.
Examples: Ranger, Black Mage, Dark Knight, Dragoon, Samurai, Monk, etc...
Tanks- The purpose of a tank is to be a shield for the party, a damage
sponge if you will. It is tremendously beneficial to a party to have
someone that can absorb most of the damage so that others can focus on
doing their role rather than surviving.
Examples: Paladin, Ninja, Warrior, (Monk at low levels)
Healers- Pretty self-explanatory. When you fight you get hurt. If you want
to keep fighting, you'll need to be healed.
Examples: White Mage, Red Mage, Bard
ENers- Enners (also called buffers, debuffers, enhancers, or enfeeblers) are
support characters who use their abilities to strengthen their party members
and/or weaken their enemies.
Examples: Bard, Red Mage, White Mage
Syn- Merchants (or synthesizers) are generally non-combat classes and for
the most part don't exist on FFXI. You can, however, relate this to the many
guilds of Vanadiel.
Please note that even though tanks will attack the enemy, not all attackers
are tanks. Tanks deliberately keep the damage on themselves. Attackers don't.
Yes, it is preferable in an emergency circumstance to have the attackers take
the damage before the enners and certainly the healers; however, this shouldn't
happen in the first place. If the party was properly constructed and everyone
does their job, it should never happen that an attacker has to tank. If it
does, then either be very skillful or target "even match" mobs, or you may
find that your experience chains are negated by a series of untimely deaths.
So as I said, your role as a samurai is as an attacker. The problem is
this-- Samurais are not by any means the best damage dealers. Above Samurais
in damage dealing are Rangers, Black Mages, Dark Knights, Dragoons, and
probably some other classes of which I'm not sure, so why be a samurai?
Well, if you're not particularly fond of Samurais then you should probably
choose another class in the first place. I know that for some people, being
an uber-character is the one and only way to have fun, and losing is incredibly
not fun. All I'm going to say on this is that if you want to be "the best"
attacker in all of Vanadiel, this is probably not the class for you. Samurai
is, however, a very fun class to play and definitely has its advantages. For
one, samurai is a very well-balanced class in terms of fighting with no big
weaknesses (such as the horrible defense of a Dark Knight/Black Mage, or the
high costs of ammunition for Rangers). Also, samurais collect TP like a sheet
of Bounty absorbs grape juice. This makes them the leaders in skillchains for
their party (it also makes Samurai a highly desirable sub-job). It also poses
a problem or two, because the truth of the matter is that although Samurais
are not by any means useless in a party, there aren't many good reasons to
have Samurai as your main job. This, of course, may change in upcoming
updates.
This lone sentence is just to reiterate that you should NOT think that
samurais are a weak class or not playable just because they don't do the most
damage.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/04. / THE QUEST OF THE SAMURAI /
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/
Okay, did I say I'd have this up soon? Well, for me, three weeks is fairly
soon, okay?
The quest to become a Samurai is pretty hard, to say the least. Yes, there is
combat involved. Of course, Samurai is an advanced job, so you can't do the
quest until you've reached lvl 30. First, though, you'll need to go to Norg.
Your client is Jaucribaix. Once you're there, do the following:
1) Talk to Ranemaud to get the Sacred Sprig.
2) Talk to Aeka to get the Oriental Steel.
3) Go to Konschtat Highlands (D-8) and trade the Oriental Steel to the ???.
4) A Bomb named Forger will appear. Defeat it to get the Bomb Steel.
5) Go to the west of the Sanctuary of Zi'Tah and use an axe on the ??? of the
giant tree.
6) Defeat the Guardian Treant and inspect the ??? again. You'll recieve the
Sacred Branch.
7) Give the Bomb Steel and Sacred Branch to Jaucribaix. Return in 3 hours.
8) Congratulations! You'll recieve the Mumeito GK and can now be a Samurai!
If you want to solo this quest you'll need to be around Lvl. 55. The Guardian
Treant is one tough fella. You should be able to beat Forger some time before
that, but I don't see much reason to if you can't finish the whole quest. Of
course, you can always party up, or just get someone at a high level to do it
for you.
Also, keep the Mumeito, or you may find yourself dishing out some major cash
to get it back later on.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/05. / CHOOSING A RACE /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
Any race will make a suitable Samurai. In the end it all comes down to your
personal preference. I recommend that you choose the race that you like the
most, because otherwise you might find that you don't enjoy the game as much
(or as long) when you get sick of looking at your character. Below I've listed
the stats for each race as a level 1 and level 70 samurai, which can be found
running rampant all across the internet, but just in case you wanted to choose
your race right at this moment based solely on the stats of a lvl 70 samurai,
I thought I should oblige you.
If you care to do the math, all of the stats (except for HP) will add up to
be the same. The only stats that don't matter for a Samurai are MP, INT, and
CHR, because MP and INT only matter for magic casters, and CHR only matters
for Bards and Beastmasters. The only reason these stats would matter would
be that you chose such a job as a sub-job, which as I discuss in a later
section is not a very good idea. What this all means is that "the best" race
is most likely the one with the fewest points in MP, INT, and CHR, and the
most points in HP, because these are the only things that vary. Mithra and
Galka each get 8 points added to their other stats because of their low CHR.
They both have average INT, but Galka's is lower. Galka also has quite a bit
higher HP than other races, so the bottom line is, in terms of numbers, Galka
is "the best" choice for a Samurai, followed by Elvaan, then Mithra, then
Hume, and lastly, Tarutaru. Of course, if you're like me and can't stand the
sight of a Galka, then by all means choose a more attractive race.
*Before I recieve a single e-mail on the matter, I want to explain that MND is
of a notably lesser importance to a Samurai than the other stats, as it only
aids us in magic defense and resistance to status ailments, so you might want
to consider that while choosing your race. Nonetheless, it's a stat that is not
in any way useless (well, unless you don't fight much of anything with magic or
status attacks). My point is that everyone has their beliefs about which stats
are most important-- the only comment I'll make about the priority of stats is
that MND is generally a less essential stat than STR, DEX, VIT, and AGI.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/06. / JOB TRAITS /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
Job traits are bonuses that your character gains at certain levels. You
don't use them-- they are always active. Here are the Samurai's job traits.
Lv. 5 Resist Blind: Increases your resistance to "blind" status.
Lv. 10 Store TP: Your TP growth rate increases.
Lv. 30 Store TP: Your TP growth rate increases.
Lv. 40 Demon Killer: Increases your attack damage against demons.
Lv. 50 Store TP: Your TP growth rate increases.
Here's my little commentary... In general, the "resist status ailment" traits
aren't that useful, because they only provide a little protection, but for a
Samurai, blind resistance is one of the better ones at least. "Store TP" is
your most useful trait, so it's a good thing that you get it relatively early.
The whole source of your power is your ability to manage TP. Demon Killer, as
you can imagine, is really only useful when you're fighting demons, which
probably won't be too often. Samurais only have three job traits, which is a
little scarce in comparison to most jobs, and we have no stat bonuses, which
sucks, frankly.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/07. / JOB ABILITIES /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
Unlike job traits, job abilities must be activated by the player. Each
ability has a duration for which it lasts, and a charge time before it can be
used again.
Lv. 1 Meikyo Shisui: Your TP bar fills to 300%, and all weapon
skills now use exactly 100 TP.
Charge- 2 hours Duration- 30 seconds
Lv. 5 Warding Circle: Increases your party's resistance to Demons.
Charge- 10 minutes Duration- 1 minute
Lv. 15 Third Eye: You evade the next attack.
Charge- 1 minute Duration- 1 minute
Lv. 30 Meditation: You gain 100 TP (in five increments of 20 TP).
Charge- 3 minutes Duration- 5-10 seconds
Your two-hour ability should generally be saved for big fights and emergencies
only. As you can see for yourself, Meikyo Shisui gives you the opportunity to
unleash three weapon skills consecutively, resulting in the ability to execute
your own skillchain. This is arguably one of the best two-hour abilities in all
of FFXI.
Warding Circle, like your Demon Killer trait, is only useful against demons,
but at least it works on your entire party. Not a great ability (but it's
definitely better than not having it).
Third Eye is a great defensive ability, and a one minute recharge time is not
bad at all, particularly if you know that a powerful attack is coming your way,
or find yourself having to take a few hits.
Finally, Silent Concentration is indespensable to a Samurai. Once you gain this
ability, you should never stop using it.
Silent Concentration and Third Eye should be used as often as possible (in
combat). It would be a good idea to set macros for each of these abilities.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/08. / SUB JOBS /
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/
First things first-- if you don't know what a subjob is or how to get one
there's about a bajillion places to find that information, no doubt GameFAQs
is one of them. If you don't understand how a subjob works, this might not
make much sense to you. Fret not, it's simple. Once you've got it figured out,
stop by again. In the future there's a (poor) chance that I'll add that
information to this guide.
Here's the part that always get everybody's panties in a bunch. Excuse my
language, but don't email me any s**t about how my opinion is wrong (how can an
opinion be wrong?) and never EVER ask me about a job/subjob combination unless
you feel that there is something I didn't cover thoroughly enough, or if there
has been an update (such as a raise in level cap, which could obviously effect
the viability of a subjob).
This section is intended to inform you of the most effective subjob
combinations for a Samurai main. The golden rule here is to use the subjob that
you like the best, but it would be very under-appreciated if I were to sit here
and talk about which subjobs I liked best, so if you like a combination, use
it. It's hard to make a total gimp. Well, not hard, but more or less unlikely.
The sad truth of the Samurai is this: the Samurai is not a main job. It's
a sub job. (In case you're a noob, please don't email me asking if it is
impossible to have Samurai as your main job.) There are virtually no benefits
to having a Samurai as your main job, because pretty much everything you could
want from the job you can get if you sub it. What are you missing out on if
you sub Samurai? The ability to use a Great Katana (which is a neat weapon but
by no means a great one), the Demon Killer trait (which only works against a
couple of enemies), and of course your 2hr ability, which is almost a shame
except that it's actually not overpowered by any definition of the word.
So in the end, the Samurai doesn't really have anything of value as a main
job that it doesn't as a subjob. On the other hand, Samurai is generally the
best subjob for any melee attacker. (Samurai is to attacker, as Warrior is to
tank). Any job that makes a good attacker class becomes absolutely lethal
once combined with the abilities of a Samurai, and that's why at least 80% of
the people you see playing as Samurai most likely have no intention whatsoever
as remaining a Samurai. In case by now you're not seeing the trend, Samurai's
got mad jipped as a main class, which is truly the greatest shame of all FFXI
IMHO.
So without further ado, here's my take on each job as a subjob for a Samurai
main. I try to be a little in-depth with it so you know *why* it does or does
not work well. I also rated each job with stars (*), five being the best. If
you want to make a truly valuable party character, you shouldn't use anything
that rates less than a four.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
Black Mage- I prefer to start with the bad news. Subbing a magic class with a
melee class is just generally a bad idea. Melee+ Magic= Bad. Got that? Black
Mage is no exception and probably one of the worst combinations. Samurai is
an attacker. Black Mage is an attacker. You can't be fighting if you're casting
magic, so you're basically doing two things badly. Some spells like Drain and
Bio might not be terrible, but you don't have much of an MP pool to work with,
since you get zilch as a Samurai, and then less than half the amount of a Black
Mage's MP.
**
White Mage- Actually a useable combo. White Mage with any job is not terrible
for soloing if good for nothing else. Mind you your magic won't be good, but a
few cure spells and auto-regen never hurt anyone (except the undead- har har).
In a group you should have a true white mage to do the healing, but it's not
a bad all-purpose combo. Your limited cure magic will still be able to generate
some hate when it's absolutely dire, and of course you can heal yourself.
You're not likely to get many party invites with combo, but you'll survive in
any case. Let me just make myself clear in that this is not a good combo--
mediocre at best--, but it will work.
*
Red Mage- If you were going to have a mage subjob, it should be White Mage.
Half black magic and half white magic at half strength may be fun, but is
mostly worthless. If you want to play it as an Enner, you might get somewhere,
but it won't be nearly as useful as other jobs.
*
Summoner- Never. You can't have an Avitar out while you fight, plus you'll have
nowhere near the MP you'll need to keep one out. It's like with Black Mage only
worse.
*
Bard- Bard generally makes a bad sub. You can't equip instruments so you only
get one song. You get no abilities, and Resist Silence is utterly worthless for
a Samurai. You'd be much better off focusing on your fighting.
?
Beastmaster- I've recently learned that your skills with a Beastmaster sub are
dependant solely on your CHR, and aren't hurt directly by being subbed. I'm not
sure what kind of CHR you have as a Samurai, but I'm sure that it's fairly
poor. If anyone has anything to say about playing as a SAM/BST, please give me
a holla.
(At last, we reach the 100% melee jobs, which generally make much better
combinations.)
*****
Warrior- The standard combo for Samurai. Many people choose this because
you get more party invites with Provoke. Truth be told, you should never have
to tank. (You ~could~ tank, but you would be bad at it.) Hate is bad for you.
Nonetheless, you get a nice defense boost as well as an attack boost. You also
get Double Attack, Berserk, Defender, and War Cry-- all nice abilities. Again
though, you're probably better off using a Warrior/Samurai.
*****
Monk- Pretty much Even-Steven with a Samurai/Warrior. The HP boosts and
counter are really handy, plus you get Boost, Dodge, and Focus. You also get
Chakra really late-- though I doubt it heals much HP (especially as a sub),
every little bit helps. Chi Blast is also a possibility if the level cap raises
(and I'm sure it will eventually-- I think it's coded to go all the way to 90).
Again, in a battle situation it's pretty even with SAM/Warrior, but most people
go towards WAR so they get more PT invites. Again, Monk/Samurai would be more
effective.
*****
Thief- Another good combination. The Gil Steal and Treasure Hunter traits
combined with the Steal and Pickpocket abilities are great to have as they
really help out with Gil and item acquisition. You get a substantial Evasion
boost, as well as Sneak Attack, which is a great way to initiate combat, and
Trick Attack, which has potential usefulness in a party situation (Samurai
Yokodama!) On top of all that, you get Flee, which comes in handy in a pinch, or
just gets you around a little faster. Color me greedy, but if this deal came
with the Thief's Triple Attack and Hide ability, I'd be sold on it. Sadly, even
with rising lvl caps, it's unlikely (but if it did, I guess thief would be one
of those jobs with no reason to have as a main.)
***
Paladin- Probably one of the least effective of the melee jobs to sub for
Samurai. You'll gain some defense, but as an attacker you need something more
offensive (not that the defense hurts). The only abilities that you can use at
all are Holy Circle/Undead Killer, which are fine if you plan to fight a lot
of undead, Protect, which is only useful in an emergency, and Sentinel, which
is actually pretty good. Nonetheless, I wouldn't recommend subbing Paladin
just for the Sentinel ability-- for that you could sub WAR and use Defender.
The only other thing to consider is the white magic, which is weak because
it's a Paladin's and even weaker because you subbed it. It doesn't hurt to have
it. This combination isn't bad per-say, and it's probably more suited to what
it does than subbing white mage. I don't think that Paladins can learn Regen,
but if they did it would be worth considering for soloing and whatnot. Bottom
line-- don't think that you can tank just because you have a Paladin sub (even
though you ~could~).
****
Dark Knight- Between the Attack Bonuses, Last Resort, Darkness, and the Weapon
Bash abilities, this combination helps establish Samurais as stronger damage-
dealers. Some people feel that the attack boost isn't substantial enough to
make this a "good" combination, but if you utilize your abilities in unison
with your weapon skills, you should find yourself doing some nice damage. (For
example, using Last Resort and Darkness followed by a couple of Tachi: Gekko's,
and tossing in a Weapon Bash can really pile on the damage.) The Arcana killing
abilities are semi-useful.
***
Dragoon- Most people consider Dragoon a bad sub from the beginning because you
lose the 2-hour ability to call your wyvern, but I feel that it's futile to
consider what you don't get (but since we're on the subject, you don't get
Super Jump either, which stinks). In the end, the dragon-slaying abilities
you'll get won't be as useful as if you just subbed another job, but if you
do use Dragoon then of course you should use them when you can. You do get an
Attack boost and an Accuracy boost, which aren't huge, but still noticable. On
top of those, you get Jump and High Jump, which aren't bad abilities. Samurais
are decent with Polearms, but subbing Dragoon won't really aid that much. To
sum up, you really only get Jump, High Jump, and the stat bonuses. It's not
worthless, but not anything special either.
**
Ninja- You'll get zero abilities. Dual-wield shouldn't be used because you'll
either want to use the Great Katana or the Pole Arm. The only useful trait you
gain is Stealth, which isn't compensation in itself for the lack of abilities
and traits. You do gain some Ninjitsu, but Blink is probably the only one
you'll ever use. Again, subbing anything is better than nothing, so if you want
to do it, count your blessings and don't worry about what you're not getting.
****
Ranger- This combo gets some flak, but it's really not bad at all. The bow
skills you get will fall behind at later levels, but a ranged attack is not
a bad way to initiate combat early on (you'll want to switch to Great Katana
or Polearm afterwards). You'll get nice Accuracy boosts as well as the
Precaution trait. The Wide Scan, Scavenger, and Camouflage abilities are all
useful, and Shadow Sewing may become available at a later level cap. Not a
terrible combo for soloing, either. This isn't a bad combo even if you choose
not to use a bow.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There you have it. I had considered adding a section to rank Samurai as a sub
job, but it can be broken down easily enough without considering each job
individually. If you haven't already read the "Role of the Samurai" section, do
so now. Again, you'll find that most classes fall under one or two of these
roles: Attacker, Tank, Healer, Enner. I've broken them down by these sections
rather than by each job, so keep in mind that a job can belong to two of these,
because the more oriented a job is to that party function, the more applicable
the information will be. For example, a Warrior can be considered both an
attacker and a tank (varying greatly on how you choose to play it), but the job
is more naturally oriented to tanking. In this case, the summary I've provided
on subbing Samurai for a tank class would be more applicable than the one which
talked about attackers; however, since Warriors are also attackers, you
shouldn't completely ignore that either.
*****
Attackers- This obviously does not apply to magic attackers. This job is subbed
for the Weapon Skills, which are not how a mage does damage. As far as melee
and Ranger classes are concerned, this can be considered "the best" combination
for any job within these categories, but again, the more a job is played in
other categories, the less that applies.
*
Magic Attackers- On FFXI, any melee attacker has access to weapon skills, but
when considering how worthless it is to use them as a mage, Samurai does not
add anything to this aspect of battle.
***
Tanks- Because most tanks do attack (they may as well since they're engaged
with the enemy... usually you don't have a choice anyway) subbing Samurai is
not at all useless. Unleashing weapon skills is a decent enough way to build
hate towards your character, though it's not as good as Provoke. You'll be much
better off subbing Warrior, but if you want to be a more offensive tank (yes,
an oxymoron, I know) this is definitely one of the better options. You still
get Demon Circle and Heart Eye, both defensive abilities.
*
Healers- Obvious. You'll probably never even attack the enemy as a healer, let
alone use your weapon skills.
*
ENers- Perhaps if you relied on melee attacks to inflict statuses and whatnot
on the enemy, or if you could somehow release enhancement magic from your
weapons, this would be viable, but since FFXI doesn't have any jobs suited to
play that role, this is not a very good combo.
If you're a Beastmaster, or are playing solo for any reason, remember that
you'll have to be a one-man army, so anything you want done you'll have to do
yourself. Keep that in mind while choosing a sub for soloing. Because you're
no longer focusing on doing one thing, you'll need a sub that makes up for your
main's shortcomings.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/09. / WEAPON SKILLS /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
Weapon skills can be likened to magic for your weapons. As you inflict
damage, your Tactical Point (TP) bar will fill. Be warned your TP will deplete
while you rest (and when you change weapons, or go to another area). As a
Samurai, weapon skills are your best friend, for without them, the damage you
deal will be largely inadequate.
To use a weapon skill, you'll need at least 100 TP-- any extra TP that you
have after that will still be spent, but it will also improve the effects of
whichever weapon skill you use (sometimes the WS will do more damage, or if
there was a chance for some added effect, the chances of that happening will
increase). Generally, it's best to use your weapon skills as soon as you can.
As I'll discuss with further detail in a later section, the only weapons you
should really ever use are the Great Katana, the Pole Arm, and maybe the Bow.
No other weapons really have any use, and you'll probably never use any weapon
skills with the bow. For that reason, I'll only list the weapon skills of the
GK and the PA.
Great Katana- at level 70, your Great Katana skill should max out at 251.
(Lvl 80= 300)
I've decided to include the elements of the weapon skills for skillchain
purposes, but seeing as I don't have all of that information yet, I can't.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/10. / SKILLCHAINS /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
Skillchains-- otherwise known as "renkei"-- are incredibly useful in any
party scenario. It'll be difficult to get repeat invites if you don't learn
how to execute them. To execute a skillchain, you'll need to use certain weapon
skills about 2-4 seconds before/after another party member's weapon skill. Only
certain weapon skills work with others to create skillchains. This section is
dedicated to describing which skillchains a Samurai can participate in.
Each skillchain has one or two elements. There are also different levels of
skillchains (Lvl. 1, Lvl. 2, and Lvl. 3). Once you successfully execute a
skillchain, an "extra attack" will activate which will deal its elemental
damage to the target. It's best, of course, to use a skillchain which will deal
the type of damage your target is weak to. Below you'll find a chart which
provides the names of the extra attacks which occur when a skillchain is
executed successfully, as well as the elements of those attacks. Note that
Level 2 renkeis may have one or two elements at the same time, and they are
typically stronger than Level 1 renkeis.
Before we get to that, I should mention that there is also an effect called
a "magic burst" which adds even more damage than a skillchain. Essentially, if
a mage casts a spell which is of the same element as the skillchain (at the
right time) the spell's effects will be amplified by several times. For the
most part, it is the responsibility of the mage to deal with magic bursting,
but it will require communication on your part so that the mage will be
prepared to time their attempt just right. If you'd like to learn more of the
specifics of skillchains/renkei/magic bursts, Master LL has a guide on GameFAQs
which I suggest you take a look at.
Lastly, we have to talk about the unique ability of the Samurai-- Samurais
can execute skillchains on their own, without any help from party members, and
they are the only class with that ability. To execute your own skillchain,
you'll have to employ your 2-hour ability, Wise Reflection. By doing so, you
can use three weapon skills consecutively. This damage, sadly, does not make
up for the Samurai's overall lack of power (there are better 2-hour abilities
that are strictly damage-dealing), but it comes in very handy in an emergency
situation, or when you want to kill something a little faster for an experience
chain.
Here we go!
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
Element | | | |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dark | Compression | Gravitation | Dark |
Earth | Scission | Gravitation | Dark |
Ice | Induration | Distortion | Dark |
Water | Reverberation | Distortion | Dark |
Light | Transfixation | Fusion | Light |
Fire | Liquification | Fusion | Light |
Lightning| Impaction | Fragmentation | Light |
Wind | Detonation | Fragmentation | Light |
How do you execute a Lvl 3 skillchain? Well, I could tell you, but that would
ruin all the fun (for me)!
P.S.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To execute a P.S., or personal skillchain, you have to employ your 2-hour
Meikyo Shisui ability, which will allow you to consecutively unleash three
weapon skills.
According to DranoK's Skillchain Calculator (Version 2.21), two level 70
Samurais should be able to execute the following skillchains. Please keep in
mind that this program does not accomodate which skillchains that Samurais can
execute by themselves, so many of these combinations will probably not work,
but until I can verify which ones actually do work (I only remember a few of
them-- too few to bother listing) this will just have to suffice. At the very
least, you can use this information to give you some ideas of skillchains which
MAY work with your 2-hour ability. If not, maybe you know another high level
Samurai and you can execute some of these together. Whichever end of the
spectrum you're on, I hope you can put this to at least a little bit of use.
*For those of you at a low level, I'll throw you a little bone-- the first
combination, Tachi:Enpi + Tachi:Enpi DOES yield a Distortion, so you can use it
from very early on.
Remember that this is only a list of possibilities. There's a system to
skillchains which limits which combinations will work, and I am ~guessing~ that
this calculator will at least rule out combinations which can't work, so
perhaps this list at least throws some of the ideas out that won't work for
you. Again, I'm not sure. Of course, I'll welcome any confirmations or
contributions for the time being, as I figure they'll at least be more reliable
than what I have so far.
By the way, once you've found the personal skillchains that you like, you may
want to set a macro for them, provided you have room. Don't let that make you
lazy, though. If you never do skillchains manually then you may find yourself
having a hard time whilst in parties where you have to try new skillchains. Be
sure that you have the timing down before you slip into auto-pilot.
Here it is! A complete list of all the great katanas, polearms, and bows that
can be used as a Samurai... well, hopefully. As always, if you find something
wrong/missing, please just let me know. Eventually I may add Swords, Daggers,
and Clubs, but as they really don't add much to the class, there's also a good
chance that I won't. I hope to whatever diety may exist as a god in whatever
asgard of this universe or another there is, that you will stray away from
using those weapons as a Samurai.
Lvl Name Damage Delay Stats How to Obtain
--- -------------- ------ ----- ----- ---------------------
01 Stone Arrow 05 120
01 Wooden Arrow 05 120
07 Bone Arrow 09 120
14 Iron Arrow 14 120
17 Beetle Arrow 12 90 RACC+5
24 Silver Arrow 19 120
45 Fire Arrow 29 120
45 Ice Arrow 29 120
45 Lightning Arrow 29 120
As you can see, there's really not much to think about as far as using GK. For
the most part, just get the highest level one you can use. If you're a fast
leveller, then you might be able to afford skipping every other one.
Polearms will require you to be a little more thoughtful, but you shouldn't
have much trouble choosing the strongest one for your level.
Lastly, Bows aren't too much to think about either. Get the one with the best
RACC you can use so that when you're pulling you might actually hit your
target.
This section will eventually (I hope) contain a list of armor that can be worn
by the Samurai. It's a big task, but it must be done. :|
This will probably be the last thing I do, since it's such an overwhelming
task.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/13. / AF EQUIPMENT /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
AF Equipment, or Artifact Equipment, is special equipment which is custom
made to strengthen a particular job class. Each job has its own set of AF
Equipment, which is generally the best equipment for that job. If you've ever
played some of the older Final Fantasy games which utilized the job system, you
should recognize this equipment because it is modeled after its predecessors.
If you'd like to see a picture of the Samurai AF Armor, you can try this URL,
which is clearly the work of a genius.
Yes, unfortunately the AF Armor for the Samurai is very ugly. If you like it,
more power to ya, but I don't really care for it at all (I prefer to take off
the helmet, and then it's tolerable). Maybe Square-Enix will decide to make
another set of AF Armor for each job... wouldn't that be nice? They couldn't do
much worse, at least.
Anyways, here is the list of AF Equipment for the Samurai as well as their
effects. (I'll be adding the "how to obtain" info later on, so for the moment,
please don't email me questions concerning that.) By the time you're strong
enough to use these, you ought to have some idea of how to get them anyway.
AF Great Katana
Level Needed: 42
Damage: 56
Delay Time: 450
Other Effects: STR+1, AGI+1.
AF Body Armor
Level Needed: 58
Defense Plus: 41
HP Plus: 10
Other Effects: VIT+3, Dark Resistance +15, TP growth may increase if damaged.
AF Head Armor
Level Needed: 60
Defense Plus: 20
HP Plus: 10
Other Effects: MND+5, Demon Circle effect up, Silent Concentration effect up.
AF Leg Armor
Level Needed: 53
Defense Plus: 30
HP Plus: 15
Other Effects: STR+3, Earth Resistance +10, Parry Skill +5.
AF Hand Armor
Level Needed: 56
Defense Plus: 15
HP Plus: 15
Other Effects: DEX+4, Hate+2, the effect of eating Rice Balls* increases.
AF Foot Armor
Level Needed: 52
Defense Plus: 13
HP Plus: 20
Other Effects: Fire Resistance +10, Evade+5, Hate+5.
Samurai AF Armor (Complete Set)
Damage: 56
Delay Time: 450
Defense Plus: 119
HP Plus: 70
Stat Bonuses: STR+4
AGI+1
DEX+4
VIT+3
MND+5
Dark Resistance +15
Earth Resistance +10
Fire REsistance +10
Other Effects: Evade +5
Parry Skill +5
Hate +7
TP growth may increase when damaged.
Demon Circle effects increase.
Silent Concentration effects increase.
Effect of eating Rice Balls* increases.
*Here are the effects of a Rice Ball without the AF Armor:
HP+10, HP Regen+1, DEX-1, VIT+2
(Currently I am unaware of how exactly the AF Armor enhances these effects.)
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/14. / FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
DON'T BOTHER ASKING questions that are already answered in the guide, and also
DON'T BOTHER ASKING questions which already have a section set aside, even if
it has no information currently-- I will get to that later.
Other than that, I hope I do such a good job with this FAQ that no one has
any questions. Zzzzzzzzzzz... Huh? Oh, sorry, I must have been dreaming.
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/15. / CONTACT INFO /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
Please read the following before sending your questions or contributions:
For questions--
Please note that I am not obligated to respond to any recieved emails, so if
I take an hour, a day, a month, a year, or for-never, to respond to your email,
do not continually email me in regards to the same question. Sometimes I'm much
to busy to concern myself with the petty details of a video game. Also note
that the more specific you are in describing to me what exactly you want to
know, the more easily I'll be able to give you an answer. Questions that will
recieve no response include but are not limited to:
Any kind of flaming, insulting, and other unconstructive crap like that.
Questions that are already answered in this Guide.
Questions that apply to a section that has yet to be added.
General information not relevant to the content of this FAQ.
For contributions--
I will not acknowledge you as a contributor unless you specifically say that
you would like to be acknowledged within the FAQ (be sure to include the name
which should recieve credit for the contribution). Provided you offer the
appropriate information, I will most likely give you credit; however, there are
some circumstances under which I will not, such as:
The contribution is very small.
A very large number of people contributed the same information.
I already have the information (I'll probably thank you for the confirmation)
I don't use the contribution (obviously).
Please keep in mind that I am not in any way obligated to acknowledge anyone as
a contributor (information cannot be copyrighted), but provided it seems
reasonable to do so I will. You can send me information even if you are unsure
of its truthfulness, but be sure that you mention that you are unsure. Those
who knowingly and purposefully send false information will recieve a terrible
verbal smiting from right here in my very own chair. All contributors can be
found in the "Special Thanks" section.
Questions and Contributions may be sent here:
FFXIguide@hotmail.com
__________________/___________________________________________________________
/16. / SPECIAL THANKS /
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/___________________________________________________________/
/
Thanks to-
Me, for the writing this guide, because no one else probably will. :*(
My dear mother-- I know, having me for a son is thanks enough. =)
Paul-- You're ugly, stupid, and I hate your guts, but you let me hog your
computer for the entirety of my visit, so I guess you don't suck SO
bad. ;)
My two younger brothers-- if you hadn't taken over the gaming consoles I'd
never have found the time to make this guide. = O
Square-Enix-- You stole my life and replaced it with an artificial demon-pool
filled with psychopaths and monsters. Thank you.
White Mages-- Bless you all to pieces.
Omnislash-- Big thanx for all the confirmations, contributions, and
information he sent.
Jackall47-- Nutha big thanx to him for sending massive confirmations,
contributions, and info as well.
Another thanks to all of you who sent in smaller (but necessary and important)
confirmations, contributions, information, corrections-- you know who you are.
This Guide is Copyright (C) by RPGenious. This guide may be reproduced and
distributed with my permission (which I will almost always give provided
you contact me first). Posting, reproducing, or distributing this guide without
my permission is a breach of copyright law and punishable by fine for punitive
damages (so please just contact me first-- I try to keep updated versions
available to those who wish to use my guide and I won't be able to do so if I
can't contact you in return.)
Currently the following sites and/or persons have my approval:
GameFAQs
These sites have requested permission to host my FAQ. They have my permission
to do so, but they may choose not to (I'm not registered as a contributor with
them):
Neoseeker.com
FAQs.IGN.com
DLH.net
