Samurai: 5-Hit Polearm, 17% Haste

Food: the key
Carbonara (+6 Store TP)

TP Setup:
Engetsuto (+1 Store TP)
Pole Grip
Lightning Bow
Scorpion Arrow
Walahra Turban (5% Haste)
Haubergeon
Hachiman Kote (+8 Store TP)
Byakko's Haidate (5% Haste)
Fuma Kyahan (3% Haste)
Chivalrous Chain (+1 Store TP)
Swift Belt (4% Haste)
Fowling Earring
Spike Earring
Woodsman Ring
Ecphoria ring (+1 Store TP)
Amemet Mantle +1

WS Setup:
Engetsuto (+1 Store TP)
Pole Grip
Lightning Bow
Scorpion Arrow
Optical Hat
Haubergeon
Hachiman Kote (+8 Store TP)
Royal Knight Breeches
Hachiman Sune-ate (+5 Store TP)
Chivalrous Chain (+1 Store TP)
Potent Belt
Fowling Earring
Minuet Earring
Woodsman Ring
Woodsman Ring
Amemet Mantle +1

*note: this takes you to 99% TP, I assumed +1 TP from penta hits was reasonable*

This is my thought on a somewhat entry level 75 set. Its missing a lot of pieces like askar and brutal earring that would make it easier to pull off, but it has great potential. the 480 delay is what really makes this build viable.

The carbonara is key, it saves you from using H. Domaru to TP in.

This isn't a viable option, since pole sam is used pretty much on birds only, and do you want to be spamming carbonara?

Just 5/5 Stp merits and finish sea and get a Rajas.

Usukane sune ate, and forget the carbonara

Good luck hitting anything using carbonara for your Store TP. (and ouch on your wallet since I assume you mean this for birds? otherwise... why?) To effectively use polearm you need to spam sushi (crab is cheap). Don't ask for madridal, you're only gimping the other DD.

This is why Usukane feet and Raja's are so good for SAM.

Spamming sushi is fail. Spam kaboobs and get Madrigal as one of your four songs. IF you get other DD's that are not Pole sams they will live with double march and minuet IV.

Oh I forgot, my advice is for those rare occasions when you dont have 4 pole sams 2 brds and an outside healer then.

2 Bards or brd/cor is a must for bird xp pts. You don't need more than 3 DD's.

A bird pt w/o 2brd or brd/cor isn't worth going to.

If you only have one brd or cor, then I'd prob just use GKT.

Thats the most HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE thing I've ever heard...

If you're gonna say that, then you might as well say if its not a DRG burn then why fight birds...

That doesn't make sense. Sam only has a B rating in Pole, so it is extremely dependent on Gear and Support. If you lack in either your damage is going to suffer badly.

My Sam can beat 99% of Drg's anyway, so I'm not sure where you got that from.

You said, if you dont have 2 BRDs/CORs then a pt isn't worth going too... which is HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE...

Trust me, nothing will compaire to a DRG burn on Colibri, if you think otherwise, then you are very very very wrong.

how is 2 brds/cor a must? o.O most merit parties don't have 2.

I am not very very very wrong. 3 Sam/War using Poles with great gear and 2 brds will crush 3 Drg/Sam with great gear and 2 brds. I've parsed against great Drg's and won easily. Sam's tp gain with the correct support using pole is pretty much broken. Double March, Haste, Hasso, 22% DA rate, 5/5 Meditate Merits, Sekkanoki, on top of a 5 hit build is wild.

I don't usually join most merit pts, but if I do, and I'm on sam then I'll just use my A+ weapon.

BRD, COR is an amazing merit combo.

Stupid polearm. We really need a higher cap on combat skill merits. I dislike not being able to max like 8 weapons :[

If you're rocking 1 healer and 2 supports, there's no reason whatsoever you should be touching Hasso except for maybe popping it on pre-WS once seigan/TE timers have recycled. SAMs make awesome tanks, it's silly to waste efficiency and MP in exchange for Hasso. I'd take issue with the idea that spamming crab sushi is somehow HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE while dumping madrigal on other DDs who won't fully benefit from it isn't? Even with great gear on polearm sam you'll be hitting for somewhere between 50 and 70% acc cold depending on the individual and in most cases a single madrigal won't even bring you up to a comparable rate with other A-class weapon DDs. Missing even 1 of your penta hits is going to drop damage considerably, so trying to swing some half-*** 80% acc is just settling for mediocrity.

If you are fortunate enough to get a BRD+COR merit, the whole idea is making the party efficient enough to maintain chains and keep exp roll on everyone, not outparse. Aside from that, being overly dependent on support jobs just means you're probably going to do pretty badly in any merits without ideal setups.

I've pulled chain 300+ as single brd with 4 random DD's and a rdm... besides, there's only so many birds and with a set respawn time, you can only kill them so fast before you've killed them all and have to stand around waiting for respawns = chain breaker.

Erm... thats not a DRG burn... DRG burn is 5xDRG/Mage + BRD...

IMO, the good ones do..

Most times, 4 DD + BRD + RDM just puts too much stress on the BRD and\or RDM to sustain(sp?) long time parties. They get burned out after an hour or so. And then there's the occasional deaths cause the RDM you picked up just isn't as good as you wish him to be.

2x BRD or BRD+COR + RDM and 3 DD makes it all more enjoyable for everyone involved.

As for SAM\WAR vs DRG\SAM, in a dual BRD pty,SAM\WAR wins out because of a few simple reasons; 5 hit combos, 140%+ Meditate, Sekkanoki, Berserk, Double Attack, Overwhelm and so on. Things that jumps and high jumps, wyverns and even higher skill can't compensate for over the life of the party.

Totally agree. There always seems to be a disconnect between efficiency and chaining, and the middle+bottom camps aren't always going to both be open to fill in the gaps.

oh and herroo Luci! lol

This setup can't touch 3 sam , 2 brd, 1 rdm

This is so wrong its not funny. Orrr, you can full time Hasso and kill ***so quickly it doesn't matter. Your right Sam is an excellent tank, and I tank often on Sam, but wtf are you tanking in a merit pt.

Also, on the issue of "MP effiency", that only exists if you actually have to stop and wait on MP to refill. If you never have to stop then it doesn't matter how much MP the healer is using. A good rdm and a good brd/whm is more than enough MP to cover 3 Sams that never use Seigan once.

To the bolded part. Pole Sam is part of an ideal setup. If I get into a setup that isn't ideal I just use my A+ 304 skill weapon. My Pole Sam is made for the perfect situation and when in that perfect situation its godly and very little else in the game can touch it damage wise.

TP Setup:
Tomoe
Pole Grip
Lightning Bow +1
Scorpion Arrow
Walahra Turban (5% Haste)
Haubergeon
Hachiman Kote (+8 Store TP)
Byakko's Haidate (5% Haste)
Usukane Sune-ate (7 sTP and 2%Haste)
Peacock Charm
Swift Belt (4% Haste)
Brutal 1 sTP)
Bushy
Rajas (5 sTP)
Amemet Mantle +1

TP in that, land 2 hits of penta and you can WS in anything you want (as long as it has keep the brutal and rajas (but you were gonna use them any way for any good WS build)).

You lose 1% haste, but gain a whoooole lot of acc. IMO without rajas and Usukane Sune-ate or Askar Korazin you have to make too many compromises. You really need to reach a poinat where you can WS in anything, or your damage is going to be too constrained.

If you happen to have Usukane Haramaki, you can use that full time and use dusk gloves.

Since this is somewhat on the topic of store tp and I admittedly know next to nothing on the subject, does anyone know off-hand how much war/sam needs for 6 hit with 504 delay?

I think I've read somewhere it can be done with rajas + chiv chain and brutal earring, would that be correct?

Yes for a true 6 hit from 0 tp and 6 swings. This is really only a concern if you are using Martial and SC spam. If you are using RR and KJ, as long as you can land 2 out of 3 hits, then you only need rajas and brutal.

Mkay. lol Kill ***so quickly it doesn't even matter, sounds practical. /takes notes. So dumping cure3s and 4s continually because no one's negating any dmg is cool, and MP efficiency has no effect on the rate of MP you're burning in comparison to the rate you're getting it refreshed? The only time I've ever used hasso in merits is either with a SCH using SS-ga or a support team saying they're bored. To each his own, apparently.

As for the actual topic, without the bolded STP pieces Argettio listed, 5-hit builds seem to have to sacrifice way too much. Usually it involves an Askar body which is just destroys acc on an already bad acc situation.

I like to party.

As I stated above a good rdm and brd/whm can easily keep up with the HP beign drained.

5 hit builds for Pole and Gkt are different. 6 hit is the ideal for Gkt because of 450 delay, but Pole's like Tomoe are 480 and you are spamming a 5 hit WS, which makes 5 hit the target.

Using my normal 6 hit build from GKT, I achieve 5 hit with my Tomoe.

This is why I stopped joining merit parties like a year ago.

Build your own pt's and only invite people you know.

Makes meriting alot easier.