The Samurai is to become the first new class introduced in nearly six years and the first new heavy armor class since the Paladin was first introduced in January, 2010. As a katana class that wears heavy armor as opposed to leather, the Samurai class marks the first time that any type of weapon was paired with a second armor type (the other weapon types are paired exclusively with one type of armor). The Samurai is currently unavailable in Production builds and is slated to be released in time for 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 them to do considerable damage with each individual shot. A wisdom cap of 60 allows the Samurai to recover mana quicker than most classes. On the other hand, their speed, dexterity, and vitality are all average (cap at 50, 50, and 40, respectively). The Samurai also possesses lower HP than the other heavy armor classes (average and cap are 625 and 720, instead of the usual 675 and 770). The Samurai’s stats and equipment give them considerable 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 that the Samurai has to risk tanking hits in order to land hits. Heavy armor makes range anxiety less of a problem for Samurai. The nature of the katana options allow for the Samurai to fulfill a variety of playstyles.
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, the 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 the 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 katana.
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 them 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 (the spread of the shots reduces its “true” range to 1.37 tiles) 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 known as 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 by 20 points). The drawback to the waki is that they are less effective in confined areas (especially if there is a wall to the left of your line of aim). It is best to use the highest tiered waki available, as lower tiers do not inflict Exposed nor are they as mana efficient for the damage.
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. 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, however, has inferior SPD, DEX, and WIS caps compared to Ninja, which ultimately makes them both slower and gives them inferior DPS. The Samurai is the only heavy armor class that lacks both a high VIT cap and some form of healing ability. As a result, they are more reliant on health potions, healing pets, and other players to keep them alive in rough situations.
In spite of their drawbacks, 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 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. The waki’s high damage and defense-reducing effect both help to compensate for some of the Samurai’s lack of DPS. 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 is a big help to any group. Lower enemy defense means each shot will deal more damage to an enemy affected by the waki’s Exposed status effect, 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 reduce enemy defense to negative numbers, allowing for even more damage to be done in a short amount of time.
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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.
