The Samurai is to become the first new class introduced in nearly six years and the first heavy armor class in over eight years. The Samurai is currently unavailable in Production builds and is slated to be released by or on the next Month of the Mad God. See their stat gains, averages, and caps here.
The most exceptional stat that the Samurai possesses is an attack cap of 75. This allows it to do considerable damage with each individual shot. A wisdom cap of 60 also allows the Samurai to recover mana quicker with which to make use of their ability, the wakizashi (or waki for short). On the other hand, their speed, dexterity, and vitality are all average (cap at 50, 50, and 40, respectively). The Samurai also possesses the lowest HP average and cap of all heavy armor classes (625 and 720, as opposed to a sword class’s 675 and 770).
As a katana class that wears heavy armor as opposed to leather, the Samurai class will mark the first time that any type of weapon was paired with a second armor type; as the game developers were using the same weapons with the same armor (Bows with Leather, Staves with Robes, etc) Heavy armor makes the Samurai more resilient than the leather-wearing Ninja, but at the cost of lacking the benefit of leather armor’s dexterity bonuses. The Samurai’s stats and equipment give them increased survivability, at the cost of having inferior damage per second.
The Samurai’s weapon of choice is the katana. Katana are similar to swords except that they have weaker damage, longer range, and most importantly, the ability to pierce enemies. Piercing makes the katana very effective against closely clustered enemies and bosses that surround themselves with damage-soaking minions. The drawback to the katana is that they have a relatively short range, meaning Samurai has to risk tanking hits in order to land hits. Heavy armor makes this less of a problem for Samurai in particular. The nature of the Katana options allow for a variety of playstyles to be tried.
The Muramasa and Masamune are the best tiered katana, dealing high damage to multiple enemies due to the Samurai’s high ATT cap. With a range of 4.75 tiles, Samurai can stand a decent distance from enemies while still doing heavy damage.
The Ray Katana is an untiered katana that drops from the Eye of the Dragon. This katana has a 6.12 tile range, allowing the Samurai to fight from much farther away than tiered katana allow and gives Samurai the longest range of all heavy armor classes. However, the bump in range comes with a price of significantly lower (albeit consistent) damage output than most other katanas.
The Doku No Ken is an interesting untiered katana that can be found in the Crawling Depths. The Doku is probably the most practical katana for the Samurai. It has a range of 5.2 tiles and a 120% rate of fire. Its DPS curve follows the Masamune very closely; it has a slightly higher DPS than Masamune against enemies below 40 defense, but thereafter loses its edge by a similarly small margin. Its increased range can make it an upgrade over tiered katana. The shots fired from the Doku travel in a wavy pattern similar to a staff’s shots, which for some players makes it more difficult to land hits in certain situations. The shots true up in the middle and at the end of their range, allowing you to attack at maximum range without drawback.
The Void Blade is an odd katana that can be found in the Toxic Sewers. In a similar vein to the Wand of the Bulwark, it has a slow rate of fire but high per-shot damage. Its DPS is higher than all tiered katana as well as the Doku. However, the catch to this powerful DPS is that this katana has a range of 0. The projectiles fired by this katana float in place for roughly 4.2 seconds before disappearing, and any enemy that runs into it will take massive damage (although one shot will not hit the same enemy twice). This katana is very effective against enemies with certain predictable movement patterns, such as fast chaser enemies. It has the potential to make short work of certain dungeon bosses such as Limon the Sprite Goddess, and it can also kill many godlands and quest enemies in a single hit! In short, if you can manage to exploit enemy movement patterns and stack projectiles for maximum damage, this is a great swapout.
The Sullen Blade is a unique katana that fires 3 projectiles in an arc pattern, similar to that of tiered bows. It potentially has the most DPS of all katana. However, it possesses a very short range of 3.75 tiles (made even shorter due to the spread of the shots) and lacks the ability to pierce. It has the edge in DPS against single targets over the Void Blade up to about 40 defense. Its ludicrous DPS is particularly useful in the hands of a Samurai as their heavy armor makes it slightly safer to approach enemies and unload a devastating shotgun of firecrackers. Do be wary of your circumstances; getting up close to enemies capable of lethal attacks (such as Oryx 2) is not recommended. This katana is dropped by Feargus the Demented.
The Samurai’s ability is the wakizashi (or waki for short). The Waki allows the Samurai to perform perpendicular slashes that intersect with the crosshair (up to a reach of 4.8 tiles). Tier progression gives the waki increased damage and the ability to inflict a debuff on enemies called Exposed (which reduces enemy defense).
As a katana class, the Samurai draws immediate comparisons to the Ninja. The advantages that Samurai has over the Ninja include the ability to wear heavy armor and a superior ATT cap. However, the Samurai is missing out from the Dexterity boost from a leather armor; if you don’t care about the ability of the class; the Ninja may be better in certain situations due to the Dexterity boost it can gain from it’s leather armor. The Samurai, however, has inferior SPD, DEX, and WIS caps compared to Ninja, which ultimately makes them both slower and gives them inferior DPS. The waki do relieve some of the Samurai’s DPS deficit, however. The Samurai is the only heavy armor class that lacks a high VIT stat. This makes them more reliant on health potions, pets, and other players to heal them in rough situations.
In spite of their natural lack of vitality, the Samurai is arguably the least disadvantaged by their weapon’s short range of all melee classes. Sword classes such as the Warrior need to get much closer to their target to land hits and incur a greater risk of tanking shots, while the Ninja needs to rely on his immense speed to dodge enemy shots as his low vitality and inferior defense make him more prone to damage. In that respect, the Samurai provides a stopgap combination of the attack range available to Ninja and the relative tankiness of a heavy armor class, while sacrificing DPS compared to other melee classes. A Samurai should take as much advantage of their weapon’s range as possible, as they are not as tanky as other heavy armor classes.
The ability of the Samurai to cripple their enemies’ defense provides a substantial advantage to any group. Lower enemy defense means each shot will deal more damage to an enemy affected by the new, exclusive status effect Exposed, and this increase in damage will add up rapidly in large groups. The Exposed debuff can be combined on enemies with armor breaking (provided by a Knight that has an Ogmur shield) to further cripple enemies’ ability to withstand damage.
(info needed)
The Samurai stands as a middle ground between the tankiness of a sword class and the attack range of a katana class. If you simply want a safe melee class that has a piercing weapon, can do fairly decent damage, and can provide benefits to a group, then the Samurai is for you.
