Info on sam/rng

[Sinoske]

Any high level sam/rng that can tell me about the job combo. Of course I havn't seen any on my server but it seems like a very interesting combo. Samurais are second best with bow's and meditate sidewinder..... Also a lot there is a lot of sam gear with +ranged accuracy boost. There has to be something behind this job combo. Any help appreciated.

[Seul]

I myself am not a sam/rng, but I've wanted to try this combo (still kinda do) for a while now. But after doing a lot of research, ultimately sam/rng isn't an effective combo. Here are a few things holding it back:

1. The skill ranking. Yes, Samurai has the second highest bow skill of any job, but at higher levels (when sam/rng gets sidewinder), the difference in skill becomes a hinderance. From level 1-60, there really isnt a big, noticable difference between a weapon with an A- skill and one with a C+ skill (which is what sams have in bow). But, past 60 the difference in skill levels becomes greater and greater. Its small at first, but by the time you reach lvl 70, your bow skill is 36 levels behind. And in higher levels, its important to use A skills in order to hit the enemies. Also, the fact that it is a lower skill means that your WSs would miss a LOT more. And since sidewinder tends to miss a lot on its own, a sam would be missing even more.
2. Skilling the bow. In order to keep the bow skill capped, you'd have to use it A LOT. It's easy for a ranger to cap the bow skill because it is his main weapon and he pretty much uses it exclusively. But in order for a sam to keep the skill capped, he'd have to use it almost as much as a ranger would. That would decrease your effectiveness in a pt.
3. The cost. The best bows are expensive, and so are the best arrows. Not only that, but sams arent able to equip the best equipment when it comes to bows. So there's yet another handicap.

Sam/rng does have a few benefits. The accuracy bonuses affect both range and melee, so thats a plus.

So, the only way I'd recommend someone attempt to be a sam/rng is if they have a 70+ ranger already. You dont have to worry about capping your skills and you have an intimate knowledge of ranged weapons.

[Ashtyr]

To put it bluntly, it sucks. the Ranger traits for Ranged Accuracy seem to have zero effect for a Samurai; as a Ranger, I am able to hit the enemy 4 out of 5 times with an arrow. As a Samurai however, it becomes 1 out of 5 times. Not only that, but the damage you deal becomes pitifully low - you're better off with your melee attack in most cases. Stick with a Warrior or Monk for your sub.

[Straith]

Ranger sub seems like one of those quirky job combo's that might just work, but probably not as consistantly as a war sub. It has potential, but Seulgaist did a pretty good job of explaining why it probably won't outdo /war. That being said, I still plan on trying it someday.

It would only be useful in the 60ish+ range when you got sidewinder WS, barrage, etc... and the bow would mainly just be used for that. It will never work as a low level sub where you try to shoot arrows in place of katana swings.

As it stands, /rng is really the only alternative to /war that might maybe possibly kinda be useful in some ways to samurai. Really the only reason I want to try it here and there later on and compare it to /war. Don't really see any point in /mnk at all.

[Waya]

I just got my sam and rng adv. jobs and have been lvling both for the past few days. I can tell you that this combo isn't bad at low levels, i've seen little difference in the damage my sam does with a bow an with a great katana. The extra Weapon skill is a nice bonus and sharpshot helps keep your ranged attacks hitting, But there aren't enough benefits to this combo to cover the cost. My advise is to just go sam/war til your level 30 and then try using ranger as a subjob after that. I'll let you know how this combo works out when i hit the level cap. ^_^"

[FeralisCallidus]

Don't really see any point in /mnk at all.

Focus and Boost.

[Straith]

Boost -is- pretty pointless, and if you think giving up passive attk +beserk+double attack+passive def+defender+warcry+provoke for focus is worth it, to each his own I guess. I stand by my statement.

I don't really see any point in /mnk.

[FeralisCallidus]

Boost -is- pretty pointless, and if you think giving up passive attk +beserk+double attack+passive def+defender+warcry+provoke for focus is worth it, to each his own I guess. I stand by my statement.

You obviously don't get it.

A point to subbing monk: Focus

I NEVER said it was a better sub than Warrior, now did I?

[krycis]

No need to get your undies up in a bundle.

But yes, there is a point to taking MNK as a sub, just not as convincing as the reasons to take a /WAR.

[Straith]

Apologies to anyone I offended, but I call it like I see it. Most of my opinions and statements come from common sense and taking into account all the information, and is sometimes very generalized. I'm not saying that monks have no useful skills at all to offer, but I am being practical. Maybe I am too liberal with the term pointless. I suppose it could be argued that a summoner sub for a paladin would have a point in mana regeneration. I'd still call it pointless.
Instead of nitpicking details (much like someone taking half a line out of an entire post to pick apart and argue on), I tend to look at the big picture. I'll see if I can toss an example up here to explain where I am coming from without getting too abstract.

High level samurai , skilled player, spamming penta in an exp party. The samurai has a point, he is doing damage to the mob. However, another samurai with Gkatana sets two simple renkei's with MB's, and his group's damage output and exp greatly outdistances the first samurai's group. I would at this point have to call the samurai spamming penta to be pointless, because with hardly any more effort, his group (here's that big picture thing again) could be performing much better.

I am not against unorthodox job combinations. People can play however they want, and I encourage that. The truth of the matter though is that most of those people who go into vana'diel and just do what suits them do not come to these boards. People who want info, idea's, and a leg up on the game come to these boards... I expect even moreso soon enough with the PS2 release around the corner.

On that note, I try to give the most honest and helpful opinons I can about things. The fact of the matter is (read through the last years worth of posts in this section to refresh your memory if you need to) /war is really the only truely viable sub for samurai at least the first 60 levels of the game, if not all of it. Anything else starting out hurts a persons chance of getting groups, their own performance, and the performance of their group. And that seems rather pointless to me. I'm not going to sit here and advise to people that there are points to a monk sub on a samurai when that information will most likely only hurt them.

So yes, in the grand scheme of things, when you are choosing which starter job or sub job to level up for your samurai, picking monk is pointless unless you have a burning need to see /mnk after your main job.

[icesharc]

Here is my experiance playing SAM/RNG.

Bows do alot of damage, we all know that, and I've noticed that the samurai weapon skills aren't that great, but more importantly, the RNG weapon skills do alot of damage. I have a RNG that I level up outside of playing SAM so I don't have to worry about maxing my skill with the bow. And I don't use the bow like most people do. Here is how I use the bow in battle.

I play the whole fight like most of your samurai do, but when I build up my tp I do Sharpshot and the weapon skill at the same time. I don't use the bow for anything else. Even my ranger had trouble hitting with some of the weaponskills with capped bow skill when he didn't use sharpshot. I use RNG sub simply so I can get the bow weaponskills and sharpshot. It allows me chain with more combonations because at lower levels samurai don't get a fire based element to go with fast blade.

After you get a few levels you can also put out some money to purchase +agil items to help out with that accuracy problem.

Overall from what I've seen SAM/WAR still offers more benefits than any of the other jobs out there. Playing the RNG the way I do though allows you to not spend much money at all and still get alot of the key benefits of being a RNG.