Samurai are the followers of the warrior code Bushido. These great Katana yielding martial arts specialists live and fight by the rules of the far Eastern art. As an Advanced Job, the Samurai is only available after you have reached level 30, and completed the Samurai Quest (starts from Norg).
With their excellent fighting abilities, the Final Fantasy XI Samurai are considered at par with the Monk with regards to their damage dealing ability.
Their Great Katana is a rival of the Great Swords used by the Paladins, however, if you are up against a great sword, rest assured that the Katana has ample damage dealing ability to out do the Great Sword.
FFXI Samurai are really special against demons. They have job-specific skills to tackle different types of demons. Designer-made stuff in Vana'diel!
As the primary TP providers, the FFXI Samurai can be extremely good as team mates and skill chain initiators.
Low armor and defense is a problem with the FFXI Samurai. Those who don't know the Samurai art assume them to be tanks, which is exactly what they are not.
The Final Fantasy XI Samurai's role is to use melee skills against the enemy, not just to cause damage, but primarily to generate TP by making hits. This allows for optimum skill chains, making the party's Mages far more effective and deadly.
As a FFXI Samurai, you should be able to become a skill chain organizer. Keeping an eye on the TP bar. Forming the skill chains at just the right time is dependent on the FFXI Samurai. If you don't know how to do your job then your party is likely to mess up the skill chains more often than not.
While picking out a sub job keep in mind the fact that FFXI Samurai depend a lot on their agility and dexterity. Agility is double the importance of dexterity (a generalized Samurai rule), so if there is an option to choose between the two, you know which one to pick.
Samurai/Warrior is a very good combo. The Warrior capabilities of Berserk and Double attack weigh heavily in favor of the choice.
Samurai/Thief isn't too far behind the above in its benefits. The agility and dexterity added to the FFXI Samurai stats, and the job abilities of the thief, are enough to recommend the job at all levels.
If you'd rather go for finesse, then Ranger wouldn't be a bad option at all. The long ranged weapons would aid in bringing down the enemy much quicker, and from a distance. You'd look classy all the way. Only try this if you have Ranged Attack skill capped or you'll be wasting lots of time and energy missing all the shots, and your mates won't be very polite in telling you just how 'classy' you look!
The power is not important for Final Fantasy XI Samurai (though they have plenty of it) instead the important factors for a Samurai are his agility and dexterity, so races that support those stats fare well as FFXI Samurai. Mithra are the top scorers in those departments, so have a go as one if you feel like it.
The Hume are average at the job, the Taru could actually do well. Though FFXI Samurai are thought to be melee that'd need more HP, but the really important thing is to 'land' blows rather than score high, so they could actually make a good choice. Just a thought.
| Race/Specs | HP | MP | STR | DEX | VIT | AGI | INT | MND | CHR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hume | 31 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Elvaan | 33 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| Galka | 36 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Mithra | 31 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Tarutaru | 27 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
Job abilities mean special strengths which are unlocked after the required number of levels are completed. These can be reused after a specific amount of real-life time has passed (re-use time for each ability is different).
| Ability | Level | Re-Use Time(min) | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meikyo Shisui | 1 | 120 | For 30 seconds, the weapon skill cost drops dramatically to 100, and the TP bar fills to 300% |
| Warding circle | 5 | 5 | Boosts party defense against demons for 3 minutes |
| Heart Eye | 15 | 1 | Thwarts the next physical attack |
| Meditate | 30 | 3 | Replenish 100TP in 10(sec), i.e. 20TP every 2 sec |
