newbie SAM 75 set upFollow

Sam seems to have quite a few choices at 75 and I am at loss as what to pick in certain spots. Hopefully I can get some help here.


Anyway, planning to have 4 GK merits. Will use sam for some merits and some endgame stuff. Store TP wise I got rajas. For neck I got PCC and Chivr. wonder which should I use. I either have or will get WS gorget. Need check. Back I got Forager, waist WS Warwolf?

Head: for WS, I got Askar (no shura), or should I go Wyvern Helm for that 1 extra Str?

Bodies I already have: askar, hauby, KO, Shura. I assume Askar better for TP? what about WS?

Legs: Haidate, but no shura. Not doing sky so wont have it. What's the best AH WS piece? Or I can try Askar if it's better than any AH piece.

Feet: Askar, Fuma, I assume Fuma for TP? for WS, is there any AH piece better than Askar? (Doing salvage but god knows when usu feet would drop).

Hands: Dusk for TP? O. Kote for WS? or should I get AF+1 hands for ws? Or is there better AH choices for either TP or WS?

Grip: got pole and axe, and I can get Rose also. Don't know which to put there.

I am mostly confused by the Hachiman set. I have no clue that based on the gears I have, which piece of Hachiman would be better choice than what I have.

I am not doing ZNM so that line of gears will be out of question for me.

Thanks for any help.

Edited, Nov 18th 2009 12:37am by icebabyisme

So Sam totally ditch O. Kote at 75 and go for Str (even with -dex), how bad is O.kote at 75?

Hachiman for TP after merits, hmm that's interesting. Why not dusk the haste route?

Yeah I forgot I got Rutter boots. That's prolly better than my mithra RSE and Askar.

Thanks for the leg suggestion. Damn I have thrown away all those Sam af+1 item whenever they random dropped to me (sam af+1 legs more attainable than shura for me).

Nice I got all 3 gorgets you listed here but Shadow. Thanks a lot for the help. I think what confuses me most is the choice between sTP and Haste in some slots. My impression from some reading is that after merits Sam need 11 sTP for 6 hits. I will do that math later.

Because of caps/WS buffs we don't need atk or acc on WS for almost all mobs, so for WS it's all about STRSTRSTR. For tp your priorities should be 1) enough sTP for a 6-hit 2) haste/acc/DA. Doing well as a SAM is less about increasing melee dmg and more about getting as many WS as possible, so +atk gear like Okote isn't really used.
You need to keep enough sTP for 6-hit with as minimal sacrifice as possible, which generally necessitates using Hachiman kote or hachiman feet for tp phase. DMG wise they are negligibly different I personally recommend Hachiman kote because it lets you be more flexible with WS gear*, prevents 99% tp BS if you simultaneously WS+hit with some builds, and doesn't have that sh*tty -movement.


*ex: rajas+kote+JT+merits for 48sTP works out to 17.0tp/hit = 85.0 tp in 5 hits (11.5*1.48 = 17.02 rounded down to the nearest tenth = 17.0) 15/11.5= 1.31 (round up to nearest sTP), aka you can WS in anything
vs: 46 sTP = 16.7 tp/hit * 5 hits = 16.5tp needed on WS aka you need to WS in (16.5/11.5=) 44 sTP (merits+JT+rajas+ 4 more)

pole beats axe


If you're going to sacrifice a slot + rose for sTP, ring2 -> Ecphoria Ring or ranged-> white tathlum is a better choice than loosing PCC (PCC->chiv being -5acc +3STR). IIR it works out ever so slightly better than the builds we listed above.