Samurai Subjobs

Samurai/Warrior

SAM/WAR is the most common combination when you're levelling Samurai up until 60. The Provoke ability of the Warrior is often used by the Samurai to take hate off the tank when he/she is in danger. The Berserk ability also gives Samurais that extra oomph with each hit, and with weapon skills. It's recommended that you use Berserk before you do a weapon skill, if it's available. At 50, when Double Attack becomes available, the Warrior sub becomes a way to boost TP quickly with Double Attack.

In parties after 30, when Thieves gain the ability to stack Sneak Attack and Trick Attack (SATA), Samurais are often used as the first provoker (first voke) in parties when a THF is present. The Samurai will provoke at the beginning of the fight so that the Thief can line up behind the main tank and use SATA to do high damage and pull hate onto the tank.

If there is a Thief in your party, expect to do a lot of weapon skills as a SATA partner, most commonly Tachi: Enpi » Viper Bite = Distortion. This provides an Ice or Water magic burst opportunity, and makes use of some of the strongest weapon skills.

Once you hit 60, you'll probably use Thief as your sub job more frequently than Warrior in your exp parties. Some parties might still ask you to sub Warrior, however, if there is another Thief or SAM/THF present, and the party lacks a more acceptable first voke.

At end-game, SAM/WAR again becomes a strong sub-job choice as merits and end-game gear can push this job to higher damage limits.

Samurai/Thief

SAM/THF is not a very useful combination until you reach level 60. Before that, SAM/WAR is more common and provides more benefits. Get your thief up to 37 anyways, though, because once you turn 60, most parties will prefer that you sub Thief.

The best thing about SAM/THF is Sneak Attack/Trick Attack (SATA). SATA should be used before weapon skills at least once per fight to maximize your damage. Add SATA to your macros as follows (substitute whatever WS you are using):

Samurais who are subbing Thief don't get quite as much benefit off of Trick Attack as a true Thief does (damage isn't multiplied, only hate is transferred), but it's still useful. I would recommend creating multiple macros for the Weapon Skills you are using &8212; one with SATA, one with Sneak Attack only (for when you don't want to transfer hate or don't have a SATA partner), and one without any SA or TA abilities at all (for use when SATA isn't up, or you want to save it).

If you have Thief subbed but aren't using SATA to control hate, you only need to use Sneak Attack when performing Weapon Skills. Sneak Attack will up your damage making your Weapon Skill critical, and will almost never miss. However, Trick Attack will do nothing except transfer hate to the person in front of you, if there is one. Don't waste time with TA if you aren't using it.

Subbing Thief has the added benefit of Treasure Hunter, which increases the drop rate of items. This is great for you when soloing or farming, and for both you and your party. The Steal ability of the Theif also helps you, especially when you can steal Silver and Gold Beastcoins from Goblins and other Beastmen. There's good Gil to be made in EXP parties in the later levels with this ability.

Samurai/Ranger

Samurai/Ranger is another option. Samurais have good Archery ratings, and with the potential damage of the Sidewinder weapon skills in high levels, coupled with the fast TP gain of a Samurai make SAM/RNG a solid choice.

Samurais using a Ranger sub often use the Soboro Sukehiro great katana. This GK ocassionally hits 2–3 times, which builds TP quickly. Although this great katana does less damage than some of the end-game weapons, most of the damage dealt by a SAM/RNG comes from Archery weapon skills anyways. The Soboro is a rare/exclusive level 50 GK that drops from the Unstable Cluster in Riverne - Site B01.

Samurai/Ninja

Samurais subbing Ninja don't have access to their full damage potential, and this usually isn't the best choice. Utsusemi abilities (shadows), however, could be useful for fighting solo, in small parties without a real tank or for HNM battles.

Samurai/Ninja also has the advantage of having two blink-like abilities. Utsusemi and Third Eye (with Seigan) do not stack, but they can be used in rotation. This also has the benefit of protecting the Samurai when suffering from Silence or Amnesia.

In TP Burn parties, such as those common in Caedarva Mire, subbing NIN might be a good option if there's no clear tank in your party, or if you're among other Samurais. That way, you can do your weapon skills early on and stay alive while others follow through with their skills. Usually mobs are killed quite quickly in TP Burn parties so a tank isn't quite as important — but since most of the better Samurai gear sacrifices defensive traits, having shadows is not a bad idea. This kind of setup is more common for merit parties at 75.