New to SAM have some questionsFollow

1st off let me say, I'm not the one leveling SAM. A friend has been asking questions about whats good at 75 vs not good. One thing i want you guys to keep in mind is that he doesn't have alot of money to spend on SAM being his 1st 75 job.

I've used advice from other SAM's to piece together what i though was some decent yet cheap gear to get. Gear

As for Grips, and Ammo items im not too sure what you can get for <100k thats decent.

Next question on the agenda is how to merit Cat 2 on SAM.
Shikikoyo
Blade Bash
Overwhelm

All these seem pretty OP, Overwhelm seems like something you want 5/5 but between Shikikoyo and Blade Bash seem nice its just how to balance the recasts.

Anyone who can lend some knowledge would be nice, like in the terms of Polearms or how to build penta thrusts builds and it would be appreciated.

For Grips, he'll want either a Pole Grip or a Rose Strap, depending on the situation. Since he doesn't have a Rajas Ring (I'm assuming he doesn't given the gear you have listed on that page), he can get a six hit build with full Store TP merits, a Rose Strap, Hachiman Kote, and an Ecphoria Ring (though between the Store TP on the Chiv. Chain and the Brutal Earring he may not need the Store TP from the Ecphoria Ring, but I'm too lazy to do the math for it). Having a six-hit build will benefit him far more than 2% Double Attack from the Pole Grip, but once he does get a Rajas Ring, he'll want to swap the Rose Strap in for a Pole Grip.

Going with the gear shown and that he's wanting to keep it decently cheap, I would recommend this for his TP and WS sets.

TP

Hagun/Rose Strap (Pole Grip)/Blank/Tiphia Sting (Smart Grenade)
Turban/Chiv Chain/Fowling Earring/Brutal Earring
Haubergeon/Hachiman Kote/Woodsman Ring/Woodsman Ring (Rajas Ring)
Amemet +1/Swift Belt/Byakko's/Fuma

WS

Hagun/Rose Strap(Pole Grip)/Blank/Tiphia Sting (Smart Grenade)
Wyvern/Chiv Chain/Fowling Earring/Brutal Earring
Haubergeon/Alkyoneus's/Ruby Ring/Ruby Ring(Rajas Ring)
Smilodon +1/Warwolf Belt/Myochin Haidate/Hachiman Sune-Ate (Rutter)

For an ammo piece, if he doesn't have the gil to get a Tiphia Sting, he could do the quest for the Smart Grenade, which has a hidden effect of +4 Attack. However, it can still be thrown, so it's something to be careful about.

After Overwhelm (which really any Samurai should merit to full) it's more of a personal preference really. I like having Shikikoyo for the sake of being able to set someone else up to Weaponskill (also comes in handy if you're in a party with a Dancer), but something like Blade Bash could also come in handy for those situations where you need to stun something but no one else is available to for one reason or another.