My Sam/drg Q

[Skoal]

Here is my situation. I am leveling my sam (currently 31) and I don't know when I will stop. I started using drg for the att bonus and Jump. Once I hit 30 I switched to war for berserk. After seeing how my poelarm is usually higher or the same level as my GK since I have 8/8 polearm merits, I was thinking. SAM/DRG or SAM/WAR for the 30's. With Lance belt I am losing +2 Str and getting back +1 DEX from switching out belts. On the other hand I am gaining +5 polarm skill which would push me to 103 compared to my 95 GK skill atm. I am sure my GK skill will catch up and I will keep it capped.

War has:
Berserk
Def Bonus
Resist Virus
Provoke

DRG has:
Jump
Att Bonus
Lance belt (+5 polearm skill)
Wyvern Earring +5% haste
Wyvern Mantle +6 att

Thoughts?

[Feba]

Re: My Sam/drg Q

Personally, I'd go with DRG, simply because Jump is hella fun. I'd say it depends on your situation though. If you're going with pick up parties, provoke can be very useful to keep a less-than-good tank from causing the party to wipe.

[Amberly]

Re: My Sam/drg Q

/drg for the extra tp build every few min also. Hmm, MORE tp on a sam.... you can have this.

[Temagori]

Re: My Sam/drg Q

At the lower levels it is much more reasonable to sub DRG over WAR or THF. Eventually, however, you will see more benefit from /WAR or /THF.

Personally once you get to the higher levels I would recommend /THF so you can use your WS mroe freely with the hate controlling skills of SATA. I have had plenty of SAM becoming MP sinks, while leveling my SCH, because they didn't understand that spamming WS /WAR with berserk etc they were doing too much damage for the tank to maintain enmity.

This can be fixed with /THF, but most assuredly /DRG is a fun choice for the Jumps.

[Malacite]

Re: My Sam/drg Q

I'd say stick to DRG sub (unless the party needs a 1st voke for SATA) until about 37 when you're done fighting bats. Then go back to /WAR and GKT.

Berserk is just that good. However, by the mid 50's and on you can start using /DRG again. Berserk will be even better by this point (also keep in mind you don't have to sub DRG to use a spear) at level 50 there's a nifty little weapon called Soboro Sukehiro.

This thing is what really makes /DRG shine, especially at 75 when you have all that lovely haste gear available. Here's what you can look forward too;

Walahra Turban (5) + Wyvern Earring (5) + Swift Belt (4) + Byakko's Haidate (5) + Fuma Sun-Ate (3) = 22% haste! With merits and the Hachiman gloves, you'll also end up with a 6-hit TP build.

Here's where it gets really awesome; Soboro can strike 2-3 times, and it does this fairly often. The multi-strikes can happen off of both Jump and High jump! Thus, with a 6-hit TP build you can very easily use Sekkanoki and/or Meditate in conjuncton with the jumps to do self-light and self-darkness skillchains!