Optimized Samurai - Deep Dive Series - D&D 5e

The Samurai seems pretty straightforward, mechanically… let’s look deeper under the hood to see if we can find ways to optimize it!

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Show Notes so you don’t have to watch if you don’t want to:

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0:00 Intro
0:38 Bonus Proficiency
1:21 Fighting Spirit
3:50 Elegant Courtier
4:07 Tireless Spirit
4:43 Rapid Strike
5:13 Strength before Death
5:34 General Considerations
11:46 Outro

[kronosDking]

Elven Accuracy and Sharpshooter is pretty much all you need. The new Gunner and Piercer feats make this even better.

[AdamGertsacov]

I like that you recognize that there is a standard/easy build to optimize, and you go over it, but also go over the nuances of a harder build.

[lighthadoqdawg]

Oddly enough, one of the main quests in the game Ghost of Tsushima revolves around the main character going through a crisis of self when learning the ways of stealth and assassination. noting how dishonorable it is. but having to use it to ensure his own and others' safety when dealing with hostage situations where getting caught means death for who he wants to save.

I can see a samurai player doing a development like that when dipping into rogue, as like in DnD, the style lend to each other very well in just deleting targets.

[revenwolf]

Honestly, the first samurai build that comes to my mind really goes all in on the 1st round nova playstyle. I think the most optimal version of it would likely be a Custom Lineage (Alert) Samurai with a Gloomstalker ranger 3 dip for Wisdom synergy + Darkvision Bonuses + 1 extra attack per attack action in round 1 and later picking up GWM or SS. I suppose Assassin Rogue 3 could also be added to increase nova potential due to advantage/autocrit possibilities, but at that point the strategy seems to be so focused on getting surprise rounds that it's just a waste of effort in most parties as well as the redundancy of the self-generated advantage. I'd looking forwards to seeing your thoughts on this style of build. Regardless, great video as ever.

[geoxaga]

Shillelagh for a persuasive wise samurai that attacks with wisdom. Use reflavor quarter staff for a wooden katana and blunt damage. Get crusher for more chances for advantage, and fey touched for hunters mark to get more damage pur turn. Pole arm master and tough for bulk. If your level 20 and got a crit with one of your attacks with crusher, you can end up getting a total of 11 hit if using action surge and bonus action pole arm master hit. That plus a potential of 11d6 additional damage from hunters mark attacks.

[DnDAnalysis]

What do you think of gift of alacrity to buff initiative (+1d8 for 8 hours)? You can get it with fey touched. You could shore up an odd wisdom score, which is a good tertiary stat for samurai.

[GödekeMichels_]

Well one could interpret a sneak attack that is done in the open more as a weapon master hits the enemies weak spot. So sneak attacks not done by hiding but by flanking, shoveing the enemy to the ground or by the special ability seem to be perfectly servable to me.

[fredfredson]

If you want a servant type character you're actually multiclassing with three levels of fey wanderer to be a shillelagh tank. That gives you your wisdom modifier twice to persuasion AND expertise through ranger. Damage will be uncompetitive though.

[tuckr]

What about crossbow expert and a heavy crossbow? I think I would still take sharpshooter but could that be better than using a longbow?

[Nr]

The biggest problem of this subclass - which makes it actually really bad for greatsword builds - is that Fighting Spirit requires a bonus action to activate. If I'm making a greatsword build, I will always take the Great Weapon Master feat - which has a really underrated quality beyond the power attack, namely getting an extra attack as a bonus action if an enemy is downed or you got a critical hit on an enemy. And guess what makes both of those scenarios more likely: Having advantage on all of your attacks. Buuut: You cannot use another bonus action if you already used it to activate your Fighting Spirit. It should have been a free action . . .

[sadsackkvisling]

Aka The Weeb-Paladin aka The Pajama-Ranger

[ApexWolfStudios]

Wizards of the Swordcoast should have a finesse, and versatile katana in the game. It makes zero sense to have a samurai class without their classic weapon.

[Zulk_RS]

Actually I think Crossbow Expert might be good on Samurai. If you ignore the "dual wielding Hand Crossbow" gimmick and just pick up a Heavy Crossbow, you might actually get a better damage output with the 1d10+DEX damage. Plus I think the way Extra Attack works, even with one less attack due to using the heavy Crossbow, you actually end up with around the same damage if not more damage at higher tiers. So Elven Accuracy, Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter combined with the 1d10 from Heavy Crossbows and Extra Attack with the BA Fighting spirit might actually be a better combo than the Longbow samurai

[mikealike]

"Rogue and samurai multi class offer poor roleplay potential" never played ghost of tsushima huh?