Bushido - The Way of The Samurai

Hello everyone! As part of the community here on FFXI AH, I would like to see every job have one of these comprehensive guides that help both mid range and high level players better understand their jobs, gear, and roles in end game Final Fantasy XI.

The goal of this guide is to help fellow players understand everything Samurai related.

There are several extremely knowledgable players on the forums (this one specifically as well) so I will be looking to them for input as well. Please feel free to add any important information and help me compile the best guide possible ^_^!

Table of Contents
I. Samurai Overview
II. A Samurai's Role
III. Equipment and Weapons
IV. Sub Jobs
V. Samurai, Store TP, and You
VI. Utilizing Your Skills
VII. Conclusion

Section I - Samurai Overview

Warriors from the East. Demon Killers. Samurai are experts in wielding the Great Katana and manipulating Tactical Points, allowing the player to unleash a flurry of skills on their enemies quicker than any other class in Vana'diel.

Job Abilities

[Level 1] Meikyo Shisui
(1:00:00 recast - 30 second duration)

Grants the player 300 TP upon use. Allows all weapon skills used during the duration to cost 100 TP. The player is unable to gain any TP unless it is from Meditate or Items. Damage modifiers are based on Total TP at the time of executing the Weapon Skill, not based on TP Consumed (100).

The first Weaponskill used under Meiko Shisui will cost 100TP but will be calculated as a 300TP Weaponskill.
The second Weaponskill will again consume only 100TP but will be calculated as a 200TP Weaponskill.

Enhanced by Saotome Sune-Ate +2 (aug) reducing TP consumed by 25 under the effect of Meiko Shisui, however at least 100TP is still required to perform the Weaponskill.

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[Level 5] Warding Circle
(5:00 recast - 3 minute duration)

Grants "Demon Killer" effect for all party members in range. When used as Samurai Main Job, this ability gives a 15% damage bonus/15% damage resistance against Demons.

Enhanced by Myochin Kabuto/+1 granting an additional 50% duration and 2% to respective bonuses
Myochin Kabuto/+1 is only needed upon activation.

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[Level 15] Third Eye
(1:00 recast Seigan Down, 0:30 recast Seigan Up - 30 second duration/until removed)

Anticipates the next physical attack directed at you. With Seigan active, multiple attacks can be anticipated (higher chance to wear off the longer it is active). More on this later!

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[Level 25] Hasso
(1:00 recast - 5:00 duration)

Grants a bonus to attack speed, accuracy, and STR stat when using two-handed weapons, but increases recast and casting times.

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[Level 30] Meditate
(3:00 recast - 0:15 duration)

Grants 20% TP per tick up to a maximum of 100 TP. When used as a sub, grants 12% TP per tick for a maximum of 60 TP. Can be enhanced heavily with gear.

Enhanced by Myochin Kabuto/+1 adding 1-2 ticks or 120-140 total TP gained

Enhanced by Saotome Kote/+1 adding an additional tick or 20 total TP gained

Enhanced by Saotome Kote +2/(aug) adding an additional 2-3 ticks or 40-60 total TP gained

When Myochin Kabuto/+1 is paired with Saotome Kote +2/(aug) the total TP gained is 180-200

Myochin Kabuto/Saotome Kote are only needed upon activation

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[Level 35] Seigan
(1:00 recast - 5:00 duration)

Grants a bonus to "Third Eye" when using two-handed weapons, but increases recast and casting times.

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[Level 40] Sekkanoki
(5:00 recast - 1:00 duration or until next Weapon Skill)

The next weapon skill used will cost 100 TP regardless of current total TP. Damage modifiers are based on the 100 TP used. TP Bonus weapons do not affect weapon skills used under the effect of Sekkanoki.

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[Level 65] Konzen-ittai
(3:00 recast - 1:00 duration or until next Weapon Skill)

Readies enemy for a skillchain.

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[Level 75 - Merit] Shikikoyo
(5:00 recast)

Share TP above 100 with a party member. The Samurai retains more TP with further merits.

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[Level 75 - Merit] Blade Bash
(3:00 recast)

Delivers an attack that can stun the target and occasionally causes Plauge.

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[Level 77] Sengikori
(3:00 recast - 1:00 duration or until next Weapon Skill)

Grants a bonus to skillchains and magic bursts initiated by your next Weapon Skill.

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[Level 87] Hamanoha
(5:00 recast - 3:00 duration)

Lowers accuracy, evasion, magic accuracy, magic evasion, and TP Gain for Demons.

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[Level 95] Hagakure
(3:00 recast - 1:00 duration or until next Weapon Skill)

Grants Save TP (40) and a TP Bonus (100) to your next Weapon Skill.

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Traits

Resist Blind (grants a small resistance to blind)
Obtained at level 5 with increasing tiers at 25, 45, and 65

Store TP (Increases the amount of TP gained by each attack)
Obtained at level 10 with increasing tiers at 30, 50, 70, 90
Respective values are 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30

Zanshin (Occasionally grants an additional attack)
This is the defining Job Trait for Samurai and has 2 different functional effects which will be further explained in the Job Ability section
Obtained at level 20 with increasing tiers at 35, 50, 75, and 95
Respective values are 15%, 25%, 35%, 45%, and 50%

Demon Killer (Occasionally Intimidates demon's)
Killer Effects are incredibly potent when utilized, however due to the lack of effective gear to enhance the trait its largly a minor bonus. It is unkown if Samurai gets succesive tiers of this trait.

Skillchain Bonus (Increases the damage of skillchains created by the Samurai)
Obtained at level 78 with increasing tiers at 88 and 98
Respective values are 8%, 12%, and 16%

While Samurai is regarded as the master of skillchains with the ability to repeatedly skillchain with almost any weapon or job as well as itself in quick succession, Dancer gets 2 succesive tiers of this trait reaching 23% Skillchain damage bonus at level 97.

Merited Traits

(obtained at level 75)

Ikitoshen (increases the TP gained by a Zanshin attack)
Grants an additional 3 TP per merit before Store TP is added
Formula: Zanshin TP = [base weapon TP + (3 x Ikitoshen merits)] x Total Store TP
Assuming 437 delay (masamune/amano) [11.1 + (3 x 5)] x 1.88 = 49.068 Floored to 49
49 ADDITIONAL
Enhanced by Saotome Kabuto +2 (aug)
Adds 1% critical hit rate to Zanshin attacks per Ikitoshen merit

Also worth noting:

Ikkishoten may be useless unless it doubles your TP before sTP. 460 Delay gives 12 TP, exact same as 4/5 Ikki merits. If your delay is higher, you should do 5/5 merits or calculate how much extra sTP you need so you don't get stuck at just under 100 TP.
Thank you to Castanets/Ichito of Phoenix for this~

Overwhelm (obtained at level 75)
Grants a damage bonus to Weaponskills performed face to face
Adds a straight % to qualifying Weaponskills
5% per merit for the first 3 and 2% for the last 2 merits
Overwhelm is NOT present for Ranged Weaponskills regardless of orientation

--- HUGE Thanks To Jassik for the Trait Breakdown Section as well as help on the Job Ability Section---

Merits

Recommended merit build: 5/5 Store TP, 5/5 Meditate. 5/5 Overwhelm. 5/5 Ikishoten. Do 4/5 Ikis and 1/5 Blade Bash if your stunners are fail faces.

Group 1
Third Eye Recast - Shorten recast time by 2 seconds.
Warding Circel Recast - Shorten recast time by 10 seconds.
Store TP Effect - Increases amount of TP stored by 2.
Meditate Recast - Shortn recast time by 6 seconds.
Zanshin Attack Rate - Increases Zanshin attack rate by 1 percent.

Group 2
Shikikoyo - Shares TP above 100 with a party member. Supplement TP shared by 12%.
Blade Bash - Delivers an attack that can stun the target and occasionally cause plague. Requires a Great Katana. Increase plague duration by 15 seconds.
Ikishoten - Increases amount of TP gained with a Zanshin attack. Increase TP gained by 3.
Overwhelm - Grants a damage bonus to weapon skills performed face-to-face with an enemy. Increase damage bonus by 5% for the first three points, and by 2% for the final 2 points.

Section II - A Samurai's Role

What role does a Samurai fill in a party?

Damage Dealer
A Samurai's primary and most effective role is dealing high frequencies of damage. Samurais are considered one of the big three in the current end game in regards to DDs.

Samurai is extremely effective at outputting high bursts of damage with their various abilities and traits that allow them to use Weapon Skills more frequently than any other job. Most of your damage will come from spamming Shoha/Fudo/Kaiten.

Tank
Tanking in FFXI has become folklore at this point but can still be necessary in some low-man events.

With the proper gear sets, Samurai can be very effective as a tank with and without the use of Seigan/Third Eye. Seigan/Third Eye becomes even more effective with Unkai Kabuto/Saotome Haidate and other complimenting pieces of gear. More on this later.

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[Archive] Bushido - The Way Of The Samurai (A Guide)

Job Abilities

Traits

Merited Traits

Merits