Level 50

Level 50 Opener

Rotate through your combos and smash that Midare button. Use Meikyo for Gekko and Kasha past the opener. Refresh Higanbana as close to 0 as possible.

Level 52

Introduces Kenki Gauge and Hissatsu: Shinten. Use it when you want and be sure not to overcap.

Level 60

Level 60 Opener

Once you begin accruing Kenki to spend on Shinten, the opener should look like this.

Level 62

Introduces Kenki gain to all of your combos, mash that Shinten button harder to prevent overcapping.

Level 68

When first introduced Hagakure is only really used in dungeons to try and clean up leftover Sen, it does not see a real rotational use until levels 76 through 78 with the introduction of Tsubame-gaeshi and the reduction of your GCD.

Level 70

Level 70 Opener

By level 70 your opener should be utilizing your new skills you’ve picked up along the way and look similar to this, still getting buffs up early and following up with a quick Higanbana.

Level 74

At this level you get Tsubame-Gaeshi, which is a follow-up to your used Iaijutsu. It shows up after you press either Midare Setsugekka or Tenka Goken, and you can use it at any time as long as it’s before your next one. Higanbana does not have a follow-up with Tsubame, and so using it does not make you lose the one you have.

Level 76

Enhanced Meikyo Shisui is one of the most drastic changes to your rotation at this point. Having two charges greatly improves our flexibility with handling fights, as well as having all of the necessary Sen we need for burst windows. From this point onwards, the job’s gameplay will mostly feel the same, and up until Dawntrail, we’ll only get a few new buttons, so this is a good starting point to get your good habits in practice, like using Meikyo Shisui charges for Gekko & Kasha over Yukikaze.

Level 80

Level 80 Opener

The opener should feel familiar by this point! At level 80 you finally get your meditation gauge, which lets you use the very powerful oGCD Shoha whenever you get 3 meditation stacks. Each iaijutsu you use is going to give you one, and at level 90 a new skill that is separate from iaijutsu will also give you one. Regardless of that, you should probably get used to the foundations of the job from this point onwards, it doesn’t change much from here!

Level 90

Level 90 Opener

At this level, the core of Samurai gameplay is pretty much set in stone. Every 2 minutes, you get two very powerful GCDs, Ogi Namikiri and Kaeshi: Namikiri, which give you 1 meditation, letting you use more Shoha than you were using back in Level 80. Most of the concepts you can find in the Samurai Guide will also apply to this level, since from this point onwards we’ll only get upgrades to our existing skills and only one new oGCD ability.