7.05+ Standard Lv.100 SAM Guide 

Written by Tyci  / Ty Ci (Goblin)

If you have any questions feel free to ask in the Balance Discord’s #sam_questions channel or join my Discord server.

Overview

Samurai is an excellent choice for players looking for a melee job with a low barrier to entry, high rotational flexibility, and the potential of one of the highest skill ceilings in FFXIV. It focuses on delivering large hits of damage through its cooldowns while being able to distribute and manipulate its resources (Kenki and Sen) allowing Samurai to scale strongly off of other party member’s raid buffs. We have one damage over time ability that we must maintain throughout the fight (Higanbana) and our playstyle consistently cycles through long burst periods. If you’re a player that enjoys the ability to not only deal large amounts of damage, but also support your raid by means of playing into raid buffs - Samurai is the job for you!

Resources

• 2.08 GCD Standard Loop Video Demo: 6:30min fight demonstration following something similar to the 2.08 rotation planner
• 2.14 GCD Meikyo Acceleration Loop Video Demo: 8:30min fight demonstration following something similar to the 2.08 rotation planner

• Video Guide (update coming soonTM) that essentially puts this guide into video format and gives some other examples.

• Rotation Planner gives the ability to spreadsheet and visualize any rotation. This planner was created by Jahaudant and updated for Dawntrail by Reicsa. It requires Microsoft Excel.

• XIVAnalysis is good for checking general mistakes and an improved timeline of a fight.

• Gear Planner (coming soon) simulates predicted DPS based off gear, great for creating a set.

Skills Overview

Quick Note About Skill Names

In this guide, we will be referring to skills as if you are level 100. Some of the skills in this guide will have different versions at lower levels, and upgrade with traits at higher levels. The skills that are affected are as follows:

Global Cooldown Actions (GCDs)

Iaijutsu

Off-Global Cooldown Actions (oGCDs)

Role Actions

Core Concepts

Resources

⦿ Sen is one of Samurai’s three primary resources and is tracked through the “Sen Gauge.”

Sen is generated by using finisher abilities from one the three primary GCD Combos:

Each combo finisher generates one of the three different types of Sen:

• Yukikaze gives Setsu (Snow).
• Gekko gives Getsu (Moon).
• Kasha gives Ka (Flower).

While there are three different types of Sen, they can individually be thought of as prerequisites for using a final “finisher combo” which is spent on an ability called Iaijutsu. Iaijutsu is an ability which changes into a new weaponskill depending on how many Sen the Samurai has stored. This ability can be used after obtaining 1, 2, or 3 different Sen, with each corresponding amount of Sen being spent on a different weaponskill.

Note: The corresponding Iaijutsu weaponskill does not depend on which “type” of Sen has been generated. However, abilities like Tenka Goken and Midare Setsugekka require two or three different types of Sen in order to use them. Or in other words, a Midare Setsugekka cast requires a Setsu, Getsu, and Ka to be generated before your Iaijutsu will turn into Midare Setsugekka. Any duplicate Sen will just overwrite the previous one at no benefit.

⦿ Meditation is another resource of the three that we have and is pretty straightforward - Every time you use an Iaijutsu, you generate one stack of Meditation which is represented by the three diamonds under your Kenki gauge. Once you have three stacks of meditation, you can use Shoha to consume all your meditation stacks to deal damage to all enemies in a straight line. Shoha should be used under raid buffs if/when possible as it deals a large amount of damage to your target, but meditation stacks should not be allowed to overcap.

⦿  Kenki is our last primary resource we have, and allows us to accumulate resources for use of Hissatsu: Shinten, Hissatsu: Senei, Zanshin, Hissatsu Gyoten, Hissatsu: Yaten, Hissatsu: Kyuten, and Hissatsu: Guren.  Below is a table listing every ability that generates Kenki along with their associated Kenki cost or gain.

It’s important to note that all of our Kenki spenders are Off-Global Cooldowns (oGCDs) that can be used in between each Global Cooldown (GCD). This allows us to “weave” our oGCD Kenki spenders between our GCDs to avoid overcapping on Kenki.

Personal Buffs/Cooldowns

⦿ Fugetsu grants us a flat 13% damage increase for 40 seconds. This is a personal damage buff that we must maintain throughout a fight and can be refreshed by using Jinpu or Gekko. Fugetsu should be naturally maintained by following a standard rotation and is usually lost during downtime or broken combos. This buff can also be refreshed during uses of Meikyo and is the reason the standard opener begins with Meikyo → Gekko (i.e. to get the Fugetsu buff rolling as fast as possible).

⦿ Fuka grants us a 13% reduced GCD and autoattack delay for 40 seconds. This is a personal “speed” buff that we must maintain through a fight and can be refreshed by using Shifu or Kasha. Fuka should be naturally maintained by following a standard rotation and is usually lost during downtime or broken combos. This buff can also be refreshed during uses of Meikyo and is the reason the standard opener utilizes Meikyo to get this buff out as quickly as possible after Fugetsu has been applied. This is what speeds GCD speed up to the 2.14/2.15 (from 2.47/2.48 respectively) range that you see in the BIS list. 

⦿ Tengentsu grants us a 10% damage reduction for 4 seconds via a buff that we gain upon its use called Tengentsu. Upon taking damage from an attack this “shield” will pop, giving us a buff called Tengentsu’s Foresight. This gradually heals for 200 cure potency over 9 seconds, gives you 10% damage reduction for 9 seconds, and also gives you 10 Kenki.  Tengentsu therefore incentivizes us to use it as much as possible by rewarding us for using our own personal mitigation.

⦿ Meikyo Shisui, or Meikyo for short, is our personal buff that allows us to use three combo finishers and generate their corresponding Sen without having to go through a full combo sequence. It has two charges and we utilize this ability to not only get our personal buffs rolling in the opener, but also as a damage cooldown every minute.

Upon the use of Meikyo, we will gain two buffs. Our Meikyo Shisui buff, which allows us to use our finishers without need for their combo sequence, and an additional buff called Tendo.

• Meikyo Shisui (buff) allows us to use our finishers without need for their combo sequence
• Tendo turns Tenka Goken and Midare Setsugekka into the higher potency “Tendo” versions of themselves

⦿ Tendo is a new personal buff in Dawntrail that will only be granted to the player after Meikyo is used and it turns Tenka Goken and Midare Setsugekka into significantly higher potency “Tendo” versions of themselves. Once Meikyo is used, Midare Setsugekka will be converted into Tendo Setsugekka and Tenka Goken will become Tendo Goken.

Note: Higanbana does not have a Tendo ability tied to it, so if you use Meikyo before you Higanbana your Tendo buff will not transform your Higanbana into a new ability and the Tendo buff will not be consumed upon the use of Higanbana.

⦿Tsubame-gaeshi is an ability that can only be used when you have the Tsubame-gaeshi buff. This buff is obtained by casting an Iaijutsu like Midare Setsugekka or Tenka Goken. Tsubame-gaeshi “mimics” your previous Iaijutsu cast by turning Tsubame-gaeshi into a usable “Kaeshi” ability of the previously casted Iaijutsu.

• Tsubame-gaeshi (buff) allows us to use the “mimicked” ability that replaces Tsubame-gaeshi (ability)

For example, if your Iaijutsu cast is Midare Setsugekka, you will gain the Tsubame-gaeshi buff, which will then turn your Tsubame-gaeshi ability into Kaeshi Setsugekka.  You will then have 30 seconds to use Kaeshi Setsugekka before your Tsubame-gaeshi (buff) falls off and your Tsubame-gaeshi (ability) goes back to being unusable. You can use this to your advantage to carry or “smuggle” Kaeshi Setsugekka into later burst windows as you will see in later parts of this guide.

These same principles apply to our “Tendo” abilities, so similarly, if we use Tendo Setsugekka our Tsubame-gaeshi will turn into Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka.

Note: Higanbana does not have a Tsubame-gaeshi ability tied to it, so if you use Higanbana your Tsubame-gaeshi will not turn into a usable action AND you will NOT gain the Tsubame-gaeshi buff.

⦿ Ikishoten is a 2 minute cooldown that gives us 50 Kenki, grants us access to a new, high potency, off-global cooldown called Zanshin, and grants us access to a high potency global cooldown called Ogi Namikiri . Upon the use of Ikishoten we will receive two buffs called Zanshin Ready and Ogi Namikiri Ready which allow us to use these two abilities.

Ikishoten is therefore similar to Meikyo in a way since it “unlocks” other high potency abilities (Ogi Namikiri, Kaeshi Namikiri and Zanshin) and like Meikyo, we want to carefully consider how we use Ikishoten around our burst windows. Since Zanshin costs 50 Kenki to use, Ikishoten ends up being a “Kenki neutral” ability and should be utilized inside of raid buffs after Kenki has been depleted to 50 or less (more on this below in optimization sections).

Note: Once Ogi Namikiri is used, the Ogi Namikiri Ready buff will be consumed and our Ogi Namikiri ability will turn into Kaeshi: Namikiri; a follow-up instant cast GCD with the same potency.

Standard Opener

Opener

Notes:

• It is recommended for Meikyo to be used at -14s on the countdown to maximize possible uses.
• Avoid using your Gemdraught (Pot) in the same weave as any other oGCD.
• Raid buffs typically go out around 5-7 seconds into the fight (around the first Yukikaze/Tendo).
• Get Senei on cooldown as fast as possible while still making sure it lands under raid buffs

Standard Burst

One of the most important steps to learning Samurai and playing optimally is understanding and getting confidence with execution of our burst windows. With the raid buffs being extended to 20s in Dawntrail, this gives us a bit more time to fit extra potency in these buffs. However, buffs such as Astrologian cards still being 15s still puts us in a position where we need to be mindful of the decisions we make in these burst windows.

We have two versions of our burst, the odd (1m, 3m, 5m…) windows and even (2m, 4m, 6m…) windows. The below sections will go over some examples of what these windows should look like, but keep in mind that these are not definitive solutions for your GCDs/oGCDs.

Odd Burst

This is a burst window that happens every odd minute or is better identified by its absence of 2-minute cooldowns. This window is easier to execute than the Even Window, since there are a lot less abilities we will cram within the window.

Generally every odd minute burst window should consist of x2 Kaeshi Setsugekka, x1 Midare, x1 Higanbana, x1 Meikyo, x1 Tendo Setsugekka, x1 Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka and x1 Senei with x4-5 Shintens.

Examples:

This example represents a typical odd minute burst for the Standard Loop. Upon exiting the Cooldown Phase with three Sen, we will enter our Odd Burst by using the Kaeshi: Setsugekka we held from our previous Midare Setsugekka. This Burst example also holds the Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka for after our Higanbana reapplication in order to keep our DoT rolling.  This ideally allows us not only stay aligned, but it also puts us in a position to have a lot of potency for an Astrologian Card.

Note: You can move Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka before or after Higanbana to reapply your DoT 1 GCD earlier or later. This example is used frequently in the Standard Loop, however, the Meikyo Acceleration Loop (MAL) moves the Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka before Higanbana to keep the DoT refresh aligned. This is a good fundamental to understand in case you ever need to delay your Higanbana by 1 GCD without actually delaying your rotation OR move your Higanbana 1 GCD forward in a rotation like MAL.

Even Burst

This is a burst window that occurs every even minute or is a window that has all of our 2-minute cooldowns available. The Even Burst window is much like our Odd Burst, but stronger because we will also be bursting within 20s Raid Buffs and have Ikishoten, Ogi/Kaeshi Namikiri, and Zanshin available to us.

We should try to fit x1 Kaeshi Setsugekka, x1 Tendo Setsugekka, x1 Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka, x1 Higanbana, x1 Ogi Namikiri, x1 Kaeshi Namikiri, and if possible 3-4 high potency finisher combos like Gekko and Kasha for a total of x9 GCDs in raid buffs. For our oGCDs we should be aiming to fit x1 Senei, x1 Zanshin, x2 Shoha, and at least 3-4 Shinten. The first Shoha should be held from the cooldown GCDs between the previous odd minute and current even minute burst window.

The Even Infographic below will give an example of how and when to use your cooldowns/resources in a standard buff setting.

Example:

This example starts the even burst window with a Gekko to finish out our last Sen from our Cooldown Phase. We then use a Meikyo to change our Midare into a Tendo Setsugekka to front load the burst window as well as delay our Higanbana reapplication. Shoha can be seen being used at the front of our burst with another one being used after Ogi Namikiri to ensure extra potency in raid buffs. Ikishoten is used after we dump enough Kenki to not overcap upon its use and it is purposely placed a few GCDs within the burst window to avoid the need to pre-spend Kenki before the even minute window.

Note: Our rotation should align such that the GCD’s highlighted by the “Raid Buffs” region in this example catch 20 second raid buffs (roughly 9 GCDs). In the following sections we will discuss how to piece together our rotation to make this happen.

Between Bursts and Other Tools

Before we dive into piecing together the sections above to flesh out a full rotation, I’d like to touch on a few other fundamentals to understand.

Kaeshi Smuggling

The changes made in Patch 7.05 to Tsubame-gaeshi now allow us to “carry forward” a charge of Kaeshi Setsugekka or Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka. As you saw in the burst examples above, all of the burst windows start with a Kaeshi: Setsugekka before going into the rest of their burst. This Kaeshi: Setsugekka comes from the Midare Setsugekka that we cast in the middle of our Cooldown Phase and is brought forward to our Odd and Even Minute Burst Windows via what is called Kaeshi Smuggling.

Cooldown Phase

Outside of our opener and burst windows, we will fill out most of our rotation with GCD combos in order to generate Sen and spend them on Midare Setsugekka. This time between burst windows is known as the Cooldown Phase and you will be rotating through the Gekko, Kasha, and Yukikaze combos. These will allow us to generate each unique Sen and pool Kenki for the next odd or even minute burst window.

A standard Cooldown Phase looks like the following:

• Starts AFTER the final Kaeshi Setsugekka in a Burst Window
• Holds or “Kaeshi Smuggles” the Kaeshi Setsugekka from the Midare Setsugekka in the middle of this phase
• Sen order can be adjust as necessary to accommodate boss positionals

Meikyo Acceleration

This section is touched on in further detail in the upcoming Meikyo Acceleration Loop section, however I’d like to take some time to preface that section so you can get an idea of what to expect.

Meikyo Acceleration is a fundamental tool Samurai can utilize to “accelerate” our next Iaijutsu cast forward by (surprise) using Meikyo. This is a tool at our disposal that is usually utilized for a number of reasons, but it is primarily used for one of two things:

1. “Removing” the GCDs at the end of our Cooldown phase in order to enter our burst window more quickly.
2. “Removing” the GCDs lost from downtime

Below is an example of a standard GCD sequence:

SEQUENCE #1

The below examples are typical uses of Meikyo Acceleration:

SEQUENCE #2

SEQUENCE #3

Note: The back half off our Cooldown Phase (i.e. the GCDs after the Midare Setsugekka in the middle of our Cooldown Phase) continue to get consumed by Meikyo GCDs

These examples of Meikyo Acceleration are the core of learning how to execute the Meikyo Acceleration Loop and ADHOC/Spreadsheet Rotations as they utilize fundamentals that can be applied to all kinds of different situations that you may come across as a Samurai..

Yuki-bana

Alternatively, Samurai can accelerate their rotations without Meikyo as well, but in the form of Higanbana re-application. In a standard rotation, we use Meikyo and the GCDs it grants (particularly Gekko and Kasha) to re-apply Higanana. However, if we utilize the Yukikaze combo (Gyofu + Yukikaze) without using Gekko, Kasha, or Meikyo - we can bring our rotation forward by 1 GCD. This is because instead of using 2 GCDs to gain Sen via the Gekko or Kasha combo to reapply Higanbana, we use 1 GCD thanks to the Yukikaze combo only requiring Gyofu.  This is often referred to as a “Yuki-bana” in the community and is the same method we see in the example sequence below:

Note: While this does allow you to backload your odd minute burst window, be mindful with your oGCDs. If you decide to hold your Kenki for the latter portion of this burst window, Senei will end up drifting for your later bursts.

Yuki-bana is something you would typically see in an Odd Minute Burst window as there is no risk of griefing raid buffs and the Meikyo that we typically use in the Odd Burst has much more flexibility. This also allows us to backload the Odd Burst allowing Astrologians to place their cards accordingly.

Common uses:

• Making up a lost GCD from downtime
• Used in scenarios where you know you will lose a Setsugekka cast at the end of the fight due to kill time (i.e. Speed Run/Spreadsheet environments)
• Freestyle/ADHOC Samurai

In summary, Yuki-bana is not something I would typically ever recommend outside of a controlled environment and my personal suggestion is to avoid using this tool unless you are fully aware of the ramifications.

Basic Rotations - Piecing it all Together

Choose Your Playstyle

Samurai’s rework in Patch 7.05 opened our rotation wide open for creativity and innovation, but at the moment we can really break our rotation down into three playstyles.

1. Standard Loop (~2.08 GCD)
2. Meikyo Acceleration Loop (~2.14 GCD)
3. ADHOC/Fillerless/Spreadsheet/Freestyle/Other (whatever GCD you’d like - prefs slower)

The Standard Loop offers a faster GCD speed while also allowing you to perform a static loop. This rotation is a great start point for beginner Samurai or gamers that are looking for a consistent rotation they can use to learn the core concepts of the job. This is the “default” playstyle I would personally choose to learn regardless of your experience with Samurai as I believe it will teach you most of the techniques necessary to manipulate and optimize your rotation in Patch 7.05.

The Meikyo Acceleration Loop offers a standard GCD speed while also allowing you to perform a somewhat static loop. However, this rotation applies principles that can build upon your fundamentals of Samurai to increase your DPS, while also teaching you how to be more flexible.

ALL of the playstyles listed above - Standard Loop, Meikyo Acceleration Loop, and ADHOC/Spreadsheet - are viable and competitive and we’re going to break down each method to show you how you can apply these principles to a fight so you can pick the playstyle that is right for you.

Standard Loop

Samurai’s rotation can be simplified, yet still effective by performing a cyclical rotation that is often referred to in the community as a “Loop”. If you are familiar with the loop for Samurai from previous patches/expansions, this loop isn’t much different from before except now we don’t have to use filler! This is executed by utilizing a 2.08 GCD speed as the additional Kaeshi Setsugekka casts that we gain throughout burst and cooldown phases.

The Loop can be thought of as a series or a flowchart:

⦿ Simple Full Loop - This is a visualization of a full loop cycle.

Note: Click this hyperlink for a video example of an 6:30min Meikyo Acceleration Loop at 2.08 GCD

 Below are the main ideologies and principles of how we chronologically construct a looping rotation as a Samurai:

1. Start with the Opener
2. Opener finishes then we enter our Cooldown Phase
3. Cooldown Phase finishes then we enter our Odd Minute Burst
4. Odd Minute Burst finishes then we go back into our Cooldown Phase
5. Cooldown Phase finishes then we enter our Even Minute Burst
6. Even Minute Burst finishes then we go back into our Cooldown Phase
7. Cooldown Phase ends then we enter Odd Minute Burst again and begin cycling

⦿ Opener - this is the standard opener we saw in the Standard Opener Section above.

⦿ Cooldown Phase - this is our standard GCD combos in order to generate Sen for Midare Setsugekka.

⦿ Odd Minute Burst Window - this will be familiar as it’s the example we saw in the “Odd Burst” section.

⦿ Even Minute Burst Window - this will also be familiar as it’s the example we saw in the “Even Burst” section.

Note: This Savage raid tier is fairly unforgiving with regards to being able to maintain full uptime, so applying this rotation to these fights will put you in scenarios where you have to use tools like Meikyo Acceleration in order to make up for lost GCDs.

Meikyo Acceleration Loop (MAL)

The second rotation we are going to discuss is called the Meikyo Acceleration Loop or “MAL”.  MAL is very similar to the Standard Loop, however it uses a slower skill speed of 2.14. This delays the rotation over time therefore making our Burst Windows and Higanbana reapplication naturally drift. Obviously, neither of these are ideal so we utilize a technique called Meikyo Acceleration to force our bursts and DoT reapplication to be earlier. And to do this, we must first understand how Meikyo works as an ability in detail.

How MAL uses Meikyo Acceleration

In the previous Meikyo Acceleration section, we gave standard examples of Meikyo Acceleration. Now, we’re going to break down how we utilize these in this MAL, so let’s look at those sequence examples again within the context of MAL. Remember - these sequences are at the END of your cooldown phase/START of your Burst Windows.

SEQUENCE #1

• Used to build up to the first Setsugekka cast in the 1 minute and 2 minute window.
• Requires 8 GCDs to build for Tendo Setsugekka.
• Uses all combo GCDs without Meikyo.

SEQUENCE #2

• Used to build up to the first Setsugekka cast in the 3 minute and 4 minute window.
• Uses Meikyo after Yukikaze and Kasha to generate Getsu quickly via Gekko.
• Requires 6 GCDs to build for Tendo Setsugekka (as opposed to the 8 from Sequence #1, so 2 less GCDs)
• Ends with 2 Sen.

SEQUENCE #3

• Used to build up to the first Setsugekka cast in the 5 minute and 6 minute window.
• Uses Meikyo after Yukikaze to generate Getsu and Ka quickly (via Gekko and Kasha) 
• Requires 4 GCDs to build for Tendo Setsugekka (as opposed to the 8 from Sequence #1, so 4 less GCDs)
• Ends with 1 Sen.
  

So let’s now talk about how this pieces together to form the rotation that we call the Meikyo Acceleration Loop

How to Loop with Meikyo Acceleration

While Sequence #1 from the Meikyo Acceleration section is what we would typically see at the end of our Cooldown Phase or as we enter a Burst Window - this sequence isn’t feasible to continue to utilize as an end to your Cooldown Phase once we exit the 2 Minute Burst Window. This is because our rotation is 2 GCDs “slower” than it should be to properly align with raid buffs and refresh Higanbana on time. Therefore, after every Even Minute Burst Window the Odd AND Even Burst that follow must be “accelerated” forward 2 GCDs by using Meikyo Acceleration to stay properly aligned with raid buffs and DoT reapplication. And if we work through the various Meikyo Acceleration sequences at the proper times, we can loop our “Meikyo Accelerated” rotation by following the “Simple Full Loop” that we saw in the Standard Loop section and applying the principles of Meikyo Acceleration.

 To save you from scrolling up, here is the “Simple Full Loop” flowchart again as a reminder:

Note: Click this hyperlink for a video example of an 8:30min Meikyo Acceleration Loop at 2.14 GCD

Therefore, we can simply follow the flow chart above using the standard opener while applying the Meikyo Accelerated Sequences to the end of our cooldown phases/start of our burst windows. The tables below show what Meikyo Acceleration technique to apply before each burst window in order to achieve a Meikyo Accelerated Loop.

APPLYING SEQUENCE #1

This is used to enter the 1 minute burst and the 2 minute burst.

Note: After this 2 Minute Burst window our rotation will be 2 GCDs behind or 1 Sen behind upon entering our 3 Minute Burst.

APPLYING SEQUENCE #2

This is used to enter the 3 minute burst and the 4 minute burst.

Note: After this 4 Minute Burst window our rotation will be 4 GCDs or 2 Sen behind upon entering our 5 minute Burst.

APPLYING SEQUENCE #3

This is used to enter the 5 minute burst and the 6 minute burst

Note: After this 6 Minute Burst window our rotation is now 6 full GCDs or 3 full Sen behind. Also as a side note, these are the exact same sequences we saw in the Meikyo Acceleration section. This is simply showing how to apply them.

The end result is a rotation that applies the principles of Meikyo Acceleration in order to create a rotation that loops every 6 minutes. After our 6 Minute Burst finishes (i.e. after the Kaeshi-Namikiri) we simply Gyofu ->Yukikaze into using our second charge of Meikyo. This allows us to spend the three stacks of our Meikyo buff on Gekko and Kasha to make up the three Sen that we are now behind at this point in the rotation. The rotation then resets itself to the 1 Minute Burst example from Sequence #1 allowing us to restart our loop before entering the 7 Minute Burst window.

ADHOC/Fillerless/Spreadsheet/Freestyle/Other

I left this as the last segment in the Basic Rotations section primarily because there are a lot of questions around “What is ADHOC?”, “What is Freestyle?”, “What is Fillerless?”, “What is Spreadsheeting?”, etc.

I’m not going to refer to these as “rotations'' as they are primarily just varying playstyles that are all trying to accomplish similar tasks. Therefore I will also not be including a mapped out rotation as all of these playstyles try to incorporate various techniques and concepts that you have learned (or will learn) throughout this document.

So to help define these playstyles and hopefully answer the questions above…

ADHOC and Fillerless playstyles are the same thing. They usually fall into the same category - sacrificing anything and everything (even raid dps/alignment) for your own damage and can be thought of as a more thought-out form of Freestyling. ADHOC at this point in Samurai’s history, is really no different from the Meikyo Acceleration Loop. It applies the same principles of Meikyo Acceleration, except executing an “ADHOC rotation” implies a more “freestyle” or “freeform” play style allowing you to choose when and where you want to apply Meikyo Acceleration or Yuki-bana. Even though it has the implication of “Freestyle” it is meant to be more calculated and premeditated as the entire purpose is to understand when and how to utilize various techniques and concepts to a given situation.

Freestyle usually refers to going with the “vibes” and just playing the job how you would like without much consideration of the consequences of your own actions or worrying about the theoretical perfect potency gain of your next GCD.  This is not to say that doing such will necessarily gain you DPS, but if you like pressing buttons this may be the play style for you. A common form of “Freestyle” usually arises after you are…raised…in a fight after you die.

Spreadsheet is the king of all of these playstyles as it is not only what validates any and all rotations, but it also is how we calculate the highest possible damage in a given situation for any specific kill time. This type of rotation is literally determined by mapping out every single GCD and oGCD within a specific fight timeline.

ADHOC and Spreadsheeting build upon the principles and techniques we discussed throughout this document in order to prepare and execute various sequences for an unknown or known killtime.

• Both of these playstyles require a firm understanding of Meikyo Acceleration - which we discussed in the last section.
• Both playstyles utilize tools like Yuki-bana
• And most importantly - both of these playstyles understand the fundamentals and core concepts of playing Samurai
• These playstyles are not to be confused with Freestyle as these playstyles pride themselves in a firm understanding and meaning of every GCD/oGCD usage.

Downtime

Handling downtime on Samurai can be very situational, but there are some general rules of thumb that we can utilize to help prepare ourselves for these moments.

First and foremost we need to establish the differences between short and long downtime.

⦿ Short Downtime - downtime where we are unable to continue to roll our GCD (or hit the boss) and we must either utilize tools like Enpi or ultimately eat the downtime and cast nothing as we will not have enough time to Meditate.

During short downtime, we should prioritize trying to continue to roll our GCD by utilizing the long range on our Iaijutsu, Namikiri, and Tsubame casts. This allows us to continue our rotation without adding any additional or “filler” GCDs. However, in the event that we must disengage and we do not have the ability to do such, we would ideally disengage with a Yaten into an Enpi and then continue our rotation while understanding that we will now be a GCD behind. In this scenario, we can utilize GCD acceleration as discussed in the “Meikyo Acceleration Loop” section in order to realign.

⦿ Long Downtime - downtime where we are disconnected from the boss for extended periods of time (usually in transition phases or between bosses in an Ultimate).

During long downtime, we first need to establish (and if possible try to manipulate beforehand), what GCD we are going to enter the downtime with. In an ideal world, we enter downtime with a Setsu Sen from Yukikaze and position ourselves to be able to “re-open” after the downtime with a Meikyo in order to quickly get our buffs reapplied with Gekko and Kasha. This will allow us to exit the downtime with a Tendo Setsugekka, Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka, and we can use the remaining stack of our Meikyo to gain one more Sen and re-apply Higanbana.

This “ideal” scenario would look something like the following:

While this scenario is ideal, it’s not always going to line up like this. Therefore, we need to make sure to understand why we are doing what we are doing in the first place, so below is a generic “checklist” that you can utilize to determine how you should handle different lengths of downtime for your specific scenario.

Notes:

• Determine what GCD you’re going to enter the downtime on and try to make sure you are ending on a combo finisher. This will give you the opportunity to not waste any GCDs and at least gain another Sen.
• If you have 3 or more seconds of downtime where you are able to plant; use Meditate to generate extra Kenki and Meditation stacks.
• If you are entering the downtime with 2 Sen; try to make sure they are Setsu and Ka (Yukikaze and Kasha).
• It is almost always better to get your Midare out as soon as possible upon exiting down time so that you can get your buffs reapplied.

Some fights may have downtime that happens while your cooldowns are coming up. Your options are to use CD’s before or after the downtime segment. The decision comes down to two factors:

1. Will holding lose you a usage by the end of the fight?
2. Will you remain aligned with the party for the rest of the fight if you held or did not hold?

Unfortunately the decision may not always be clear. Our major 2 minute cooldowns and DoT remaining aligned is important for raid damage, but losing an entire usage of your cooldowns is also a huge loss. Ideally you remain aligned and don’t lose a usage of cooldowns OR you remain aligned and have used CDs pre-downtime to gain a usage by the end.

Improvement

Keep Your GCD Rolling

An important note for all job classes, it is crucial that a player always keeps their GCD rolling to maximize their damage. To put simply, if you’re able to press a Global Cooldown (GCD) and aren’t, then you’re not keeping your GCD rolling. Every moment your GCD is not rolling is damage that you’re losing out on by the end of the fight. Hitting something is usually better than hitting nothing at all.

As melee, we may need to disconnect from the boss. While we have a ranged GCD - Enpi - we still should try to avoid it.

Positionals

Positionals follow the same logic. It is better to use a GCD without hitting the positional requirement than it is to clip and hit a GCD with the positional requirement. Or if you’re at the flank of the boss, and need to hit Gekko next, take note of where that gcd overlapped with in the fight and if possible - begin building a Kasha instead of a Gekko for that moment. Don’t forget - True North is an amazing tool to utilize in situations where you are caught off guard by the direction of the boss or scenarios where you want to not worry about being in position for a positional.

This is a way to visualize positionals. Positionals are potency requirements tied to striking a specific “position” of a target. These can be defined as Rear and Flank positionals and are usually tied to GCDs for most melee. Note how the center of the Flank positionals are labeled with an arrow. Also note how the rear positional is “cut out” from the target indicator. These are two ways to quickly identify where you are while fighting a boss and can be a great way to keep track of bosses with very large hitboxes.

Don’t forget that you have two charges of True North! It is a great habit to get into using this ability as much as necessary.

Note: Samurai has two positionals

Use Your Cooldowns, But Be Responsible

A common mistake amongst new Samurai players is they prioritize sending all of their cooldowns as they come up and forget about the niche that Samurai excels at - feeding raid buffs. While the guide above was written with raid buffs in mind and should put you in a position to naturally align yourself, I understand that during the learning process we can all get into habits that are hard to break. And while the habit of using your cooldowns as they come up will ensure you never lose a use in a fight, make sure to practice due diligence to feed raid buffs with your cooldowns when and where you can.

Note: Drifting your cooldowns to align with raid buffs can make you lose a use. Part of the enjoyment and fulfillment as a Samurai player comes from satisfying both ourselves and our party by making sure we don’t lose a use and are properly feeding raid buffs. It’s all about balancing the pros and cons for your given situation.

Tengentsu Usage

Tengentsu is an extremely powerful ability that’s value can not be understated and at a high level differences in Tengentsu “procs” can cause a massive difference in damage output. Tengentsu gives 10 Kenki which is 100 potential potency. In a random fight example of 10+ Tengentsu uses, that could add up to the equivalent of an entire Tendo Setsugekka’s worth of potency! On top of the damage gains, Tengentsu may allow you to greed mechanics because of the 9s of 10% damage resistance. Most fights are pretty scripted so look out for points where you can get an extra usage.

Kenki Maintenance

Throughout our rotation we will be building resources and spending Kenki as needed. Optimally, it is best if we pool our Kenki as high as possible without overcapping for buff windows, then dump as many Shintens as weave space and resources provide.

Overcapping Resources

Like most jobs, Samurai’s damage primarily comes from its cooldowns and its resources. Overcapping is the idea of losing value within a gauge, a timer, or even stacked cooldowns - due to capping it to its max value.

1. Never overcap on Kenki; our resource gauge. Always use Shinten or Gyoten to burn Kenki before hitting this point, even if it’s before a burst window.
2. Be mindful of your Meikyo stacks. Stacking to 2 Meikyo stacks is potential Iaijutsu or Tendo loss, which is a damage loss.
3. Don’t overcap on Shoha stacks, as our maximum is 3. Use Shoha before casting your next Iaijutsu.
4. Make sure to use your Kaeshi Setsugekka before your next Midare cast!

The Little Things That Add Up

Below is a quick cheat sheet to what separates good Samurai from great Samurai.

• Get your Kenki as close to 100 as possible prior to entering a burst window.
• Hold Ikishoten for during raid buffs and use it after you’ve spent some Kenki in raid buffs.
• Hold Shoha for raid buffs. You should generate one Shoha before each burst window as well as an additional one during your even minute burst window amounting to 1 Shoha per odd burst and 2 Shoha per even burst.
• Properly align your major cooldowns with raid buffs.
• Properly align your hard hitting finishers like Gekko and Kasha to land in raid buffs if possible.
• Utilize Tengentsu as often as possible to gain extra Kenki throughout a fight.
• In Dawntrail, Senei is easy to drift or lose track of. Make sure to keep it on cooldown, but in raid buffs.

Further Optimization

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This section of the document will evolve as new methods and techniques emerge during Dawntrail, allowing us to adapt to different fights and mechanics.

Opener

Samurai's opener remains consistent in most situations as building towards Tendo Setsugekka is typically the most efficient method for applying self-buffs and initiating burst sequences. Variations in this opener are nuanced and usually result in a minor loss or gain.

Some common areas where you would see a change in opener would be fights where the first set of raid buffs are held. Speed teams use this technique for fights with non-standard kill times and in most cases, this would again usually result in us performing a standard Meikyo opener, but holding cooldowns for when raid buffs go out. Sometimes however, these scenarios can prompt us to utilize an early Higanbana application that we overwrite shortly after to try to gain a meditation stack as well as some extra ticks before we re-apply Higanbana in the late opener. Another example would be fights with early phasing or downtime. Often in these scenarios you may opt to lead with Higanbana as your second GCD following Gekko, or even skip Higanbana altogether.

Manipulating our Rotation

Not to continue to bore you all with yet ANOTHER Meikyo Acceleration discussion, but I wanted to quickly re-emphasize the importance of being able to manipulate your rotation on the fly. This is truly what ADHOC Samurai bases its fundamentals on and where ADHOC Samurai really defines its playstyle in a world where you don’t know your kill time.

As we discussed previously and as you’ve probably already figured out by playing Samurai in content, there are a lot of opportunities for us to manipulate our rotation in order to adjust for the mechanics thrown at us.

To give you a quick breakdown, here are our current options and their applications:

Second Potion Window

Aside from the Tincture (AKA potion) we use in the opener, all fights in this tier allow us to use at least one additional potion before the boss dies since the cooldown on our potion is 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Therefore, we should plan to use a second potion accordingly. This usually does not involve using our second potion as it becomes available since that would typically occur prior to entering our 5 minute Burst window, but rather it opens the option for us to use the second potion for our 6 or 8 minute Burst Window.

A good example to look at is the 6 minute window of the Meikyo Acceleration Loop as this window is a prime example of a standard second pot window:

As we know from the Meikyo Acceleration Loop section, this is the point of the rotation where it “resets” and we are forced to use two charges of Meikyo here in order to keep our rotation looping and to ensure we aren’t overcapping on Meikyo charges. We can use that to our advantage to make sure we get two uses of Meikyo under our pot as well as land as many finishers (such as Gekko, Kasha, Yukikaze) and Midare/Tendo Setsugekka as possible not only within our pot, but also within raid buffs. This pot/even minute window should contain the same cooldowns as a standard burst window and ideally raid buffs would go out right as the first Shoha goes out (before the first Tendo Setsugekka).

However, this  is not the “end all be all” for how to handle our 2nd pot window in MAL, but it does offer a nice standard approach that can offer a consistent option for those looking for something a bit more structured rather than just randomly sending Tincture.

For example, we may choose to not use Higanbana during our Pot Window while also using a Meikyo stack on Yukikaze to end up with something like the example below:

This would be just one example of how we could choose to end a fight on a Pot Window and End of Fight Decisions are another great way to further optimize your rotation.

End of Fight Decisions

As we just saw, another way to consider how to approach our second pot window is to consider when the boss is going to die. In that example we chose to not reapply Higanbana… but why? What are the opportunity costs? And ultimately, how do we assess our situation?

For example, if we were expecting the boss to die at the end of the 6 minute burst window, we could opt to not reapply Higanbana before during our burst and instead invest that Sen in building for another Midare Setsugekka (it takes roughly 42 seconds for Higanbana to be more potency than another Midare Setsugekka cast) or gain extra Kenki by investing that Sen into a GCD which will in turn give us the potency of the GCD + the potency from the Kenki said GCD generates. Or alternatively, we could choose to send the Higanbana to gain a use of Shoha as an extra usage of Shoha + the potency of Higanbana’s reapplication + the potency of the few DoT ticks you will get may end up making it worth while for you to use a Higanbana just before the boss dies. All of these decisions are choices to be made and it is especially important to consider these decisions when you are in a spreadsheet or consistent environment where you know your kill time.

In our “End of Fight 2nd Pot Window Example”, had we opted to reapply Higanbana, it would have been applied just before the Ogi Namikiri cast. And if we were to adjust our Potion properly for said Higanbana and take another look at that adjusted example our Pot Window would’ve looked like this:

Note: We’re ignoring Kenki for the time being to focus on the GCDs and Shoha usages (Meikyo and Pot usage is there for reference).

Going over the main highlights of this example we see:

• No extra Shoha usage (ends on 1 Meditation stack)
• Roughly 400 potency from Higanbana (200 from “Hit” + 200 from “Ticks”)
• “Loses” 15 Kenki for Higanbana reapplication
• Ends on high potency Tendo cast.

And comparing that to the “End of Fight 2nd Pot Window Example” from the previous section with no Higanbana reapplication:

Note: Again, we’re ignoring Kenki for the time being to focus on the GCDs and Shoha usages (Meikyo and Pot usage is there for reference).

• Same amount of Shoha usages and Meditation stacks (i.e. there would be no gain from forcing a Higanbana for Shoha)
• Same GCDs EXCEPT for the extra Yukikaze that takes the place of Higanbana (340 potency vs ~400 potency from Higanbana)
• “Gains” 15 Kenki
• Ends on Gekko

Therefore, we can can conclude that for this comparison the option to not use Higanbana (i.e. the “End of Fight 2nd Pot Window Example w/o Bana) resulted in two main differences:

1. The choice to not apply Higanbana resulted in a roughly 60 potency loss from changing Higanbana to a Yukikaze.
2. The choice to not apply Higanbana resulted in a 15 Kenki gain over the choice to reapply Higanbana.

And assuming we are able to actually zero out our Kenki properly - the result for this comparison would lead us to choose to not reapply Higanbana at this specific kill time since 15 Kenki is 150 potential potency resulting in a comparison of 490 potency vs 400 potency - and that’s before we even take into account the Hagakure Gekko that we could execute at the end as well if the gave you enough time to do that as well.

But the considerations don’t end there and I could go on and on about this for well….. a really long time, because this is how we compare and contrast various rotations for the most important aspect of your damage - kill times. Ultimately if you want an “absolute” answer as to whether or not something is a gain you need to spreadsheet the differences while applying fundamental understandings of Samurai.

Which leads me to the next section…

Further Increasing Your DPS

The DPS gain for your rotation has one major constraint…

(thank you Perfect Balance for this image)

Killtime is the biggest constraint you should be working around when creating rotations due to permutations that can be performed to achieve optimal damage gains.

Ideally you want a fight to end at the highest peak point of your burst window. This means in the example we just covered in the previous section - the GCDs we end on also matter. At the end of the day it all comes down to understanding your situation.

If you have 6 minutes and 30 seconds to kill a boss, and you KNOW the boss will always fall at said time… What GCDs are you doing to maximize damage and kill at 6:30… or faster? 

Study the fight you are doing and try different things until you have a firm understanding of what’s going on.

If you’re reaching this level on Samurai, mapping rotations, creating spreadsheets, and having a solid foundation of the fundamentals of Samurai and its nuances will become paramount. While there is no true “correct” way to play Samurai, we must understand our environment/fight instance and ultimately how to adapt our job to fit said environment. Always look back and understand the basics, continue building upon the foundation that you have built, and remember what separates “good” Samurai from “great” Samurai.

Fight-specific tech and combo sequences will be determined as we progress together as a community in Dawntrail and assuming I remember to do it…. I will add them to the guide.

Area of Effect (AoE)

To keep things short and sweet as this is something you shouldn’t really have to worry about outside of dungeon content (unless they have AoE fights in future savage/ultimate content), below is a brief overview of our AoE priorities. We can break this section into a two target and three+ target rotation priority.

Two Targets

Rotation: Rotationally nothing really changes here. If the targets are going to live for 30 or more seconds - apply Higanbana to both targets and continue your standard single target rotation that we covered in the Basic Rotation section. Continue to spend your Meikyo charges on Gekko and Kasha and use your Kenki on Zanshin and Shinten. The only difference from an oGCD standpoint is that we want to prioritize Guren over Senei as it is a potency gain on two targets.

Three+ Targets

Rotation: For our three or more target rotation we will prioritize using Oka and Mangetsu with our main gcd combo in order to build Sen to spend on Tenka Goken and Tendo Goken. Our Kenki priority will switch to Zanshin, Guren, and Kyuten.

•  In a three target scenario we want to use our Meikyo charges on Gekko and Kasha.
•  In a four or more target scenario we will use our Meikyo charges on Oka and Mangetsu.

FAQ

⦿ How much ping do I need to double-weave?

The threshold is around ~40ms.

⦿ Wait, Samurai has positionals?

Yep! We have two: Gekko (rear positional) and Kasha (flank positional)

⦿ What is Iai-weaving?

Iai-weaving is weaving oGCDs in between your Iaijutsu abilities(Midare Setsugekka/Tendo Setsugekka/Tenka Goken/Higanbana/Ogi Namikiri). Iaijutsu, once you unlock the level 74 Trait Enhanced Iaijutsu, allows you to weave 1 oGCD after the Iaijutsu cast at slow enough GCD tiers.

⦿ Why is there a Hissatsu: Gyoten in the opener?

Hissatsu: Gyoten is the same potency per Kenki as Hissatsu: Shinten. If there was no Hissatsu: Gyoten in the opener, we would end the opening burst window with 10 extra Kenki.

⦿ What Race should I play?
        Play whatever you want.

Change Log

August 1, 2024: Updated for 7.05.

July 16, 2024: Updated for 7.01.
June 27, 2024: Created guide for Dawntrail.

Credits and Contributors

Content - Boxer, Zheng, Flare

Design - Eve