DRK/SAM

[Ceiyne]

It seems like every time DRK/SAM comes up on this board, most people don't seem to like it. I was wondering if someone could explain the reasoning behind this attitude. Here is my thinking on why I prefer DRK/SAM for merit parties (not speaking of anything other than merit parties right now ^^).

If I merit as DRK/WAR, I do more damage than DRK/SAM, but I pull hate frequently and require a lot of curing.

If I merit as DRK/NIN, then I do less damage than DRK/SAM. As a consequence I don't pull hate as much but the shadows are nice for things like Puk's AOE move.

If I merit as DRK/SAM, I do damage nearly as good as I do on DRK/WAR. When I pull hate I can flip over to Seigan/Third Eye. I might get hit once as I'm doing it, but only once. For most of what I'm casting in merit, the magic casting penalty doesn't really hurt me all that much (if I'm not in a position to cancel Hasso/Seigan before casting).

To me, it seems like DRK/SAM is a great middle ground for merits, striking a balance between doing damage to the mob and damage mitigation.

[vagus]

i've xped with many drk/sam using GS and its quite effective in xping.

[Martinius]

drk/sam when played well is incredibly powerful. when played poorly it's just an mp sponge. i've seen it work very effectively with scythe in merit pts actually. im sure gsword as well, just speaking to my own experiences.

and yes, to the OP, you're right, the ability to know when to pop on seigan and hasso is the difference, not the 60tp every three minutes(tho that certainly helps).

[Ceiyne]

If it matters, I like to use Scythe. ^^

[Demitrius]

Yeah, it's all about when you pop your two stances. A good player can use Hasso for TP and WS then pop Seigan to suck up damage and counter, without sacrificing accuracy and STR when it's needed. A less proficient player will just wind up WSing with Seigan on (/NIN with less reliability) and getting hit with Hasso up (may as well be /WAR). So it's all about how you play it.

[ringthree]

The same concept applies for DRG.

I prefer /SAM on my DRG, because DRG can generally build TP faster with jumps and Zanshin/Store TP/etc help with this more than just Double Attack. An A+ weapon and a bard helps you to eat meat, and the additional haste and accuracy from Hasso helps this also.

But I get shouted down by DRG's about this because Berserk is apparently the greatest thing since sliced bread. This is from people that wear tiny amounts of haste and giving up good gear for it, but don't appreciate the huge haste bonus from Hasso.

[Seditedi]

Yea I pt'ed with a DRK/SAM... a worthless sub in the hands of a player that sucks at it, he ended up sponging more MP than anyone else in the party because he didn't have the common sense to pop Seigan and Third Eye when needed.