Samurai
The Shadowbringers Samurai Compendium
by Jahaudant
An in-depth look at the changes from 4.X to 5.X and further optimizations to endgame PVE on Samurai.
Gearing
Updated for 6.05
Meld Priority
Rotation
Click the image for a visual guide for the Samurai opener and rotation. For more notes on the various openers, use the link below.
Samurai Sim & Rotation Planner
by Jahaudant
Want to test possible rotations, techs or alterations, or map out an encounter’s GCD order for visual aid/practice? The Samurai Rotation Planner can do all that and more!
For a download link please visit our DPS Tools discord. Most tools here require Microsoft excel!
Melee Uptime Guide
Log Analysis
xivanalysis is a fantastic site for an overview of your endgame encounter performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Embrace your inner weeb
High ping is bad, not unplayable. Go slower and stick to single weaves if you notice consistent clipping when double weaving. As a rule of thumb you should be able to double weave until 100ms on all recommended SkS ranges.
- Refer to the Opener page for more info on Loop, Filler and Tsubame.
- Filler GCDs are necessary to keep our rotation looping at level 80, not before.
- They range from 2-4 GCDs depending on your SkS and you need Hagakure to efficiently “eat” them.
- Implement whenever you want outside your burst as long as you don’t drop buffs.
- If you don’t use Filler GCDs you’ll find yourself executing a Midare and waiting 4-8s for Tsubame to come off cd.
- Use Hagakure as part of your loop and situationally post-downtime to achieve a clean reopener aligned with party buffs in raids/trials.
- Can also be used to reset at awkward Sen before dungeon bosses.
- Level 52 trait introduces positionals
- Gekko from the back, Kasha from the side.
- Use excess Kenki on Shinten on single target & Kyuten on 3+ targets.
- Float between 20-40 Kenki if you’re not confident.
Kaiten does not work on {!Tsubame}, {!Senei}, {!Guren},
Use Kaiten exclusively on every
- Get and keep your buffs up first!
- Use AoE weaponskills & {!Kyuten} on 3+ targets.
- Use single target weaponskills (
Yukikaze combo +Gekko /Kasha combo),Tenka Goken andHissatsu: Shinten on 2 targets. Hissatsu: Guren is significantly better thanHissatsu: Senei on 2+ targets.
Use only on combo finishers and don’t break combos!
At level 80 treat Meikyo as a 60s cd and use it as part of your loop.
Slightly worse than your average potency/GCD and thus only good if it grants you a GCD you would otherwise lose.
Enpi breaks combos, so map this out wisely.
- Seigan’s potency/Kenki is 14.7 compared to Shinten’s 12.8, so you will see a small gain per use. The DPS gain however is very minimal, likely amounting to single digit DPS gains per use.
- Don’t stand in avoidable AoE just to use this.
- Merciful Eyes is semi-helpful during prog, yet more or less useless outside of it.
TL;DR: Only in very specific scenarios, for example a re-opener with 3 Sen & 100 Kenki.
There’s no such thing as the best opener. Pick whichever lines up the best for boss mechanics.
42s.
Kaeshi: Higanbana doesn’t apply a separate DoT, it overwrites the existing one. It’s trash and Square Enix should be ashamed.
We no longer use Meditate in our opener and instead use it exclusively for downtime.
Use Shoha every 3 stacks (sometimes between Midare and Tsubame).
