Best Final Fantasy Tactics Samurai Build – The Ivalice Chronicles

Categories: Final Fantasy Tactics, Best FFT Builds

This guide covers the best abilities, gear, and stat growth to make the most of the Samurai job (class) in Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles.

Table of Contents

• Samurai Job Overview
• Job Progression Path
• Ability Progression
• Key Abilities to Take
• Best Gear Choices
• Best Party Members
• General Tips and Combat Strategies
• Samurai Build Frequently Asked Questions

Samurai Job Overview

The Samurai job and build is a hybrid melee style that blends spellcasting and physical power. Unlike other melee jobs in FFT, the Samurai has massive area effects through its iaido techniques and non ranged physical attacks delivering not only damage but buffs and and bestowing physical healing as well. This makes the Samurai a unique end game build that is useful at the highest levels of combat.

However, the Samurai’s damage has a major downside, and that’s the user’s Katana can break. They are also expensive and you need to not only unlock the skill, but keep one (or ideally more), on you so if they break, you can continuing using the skills.

Lastly, your Samurai will need to have high movement through equipment or Movement skills. It’s imperative that you reach targets clustered together, moving behind enemy lines, to make use of abilities, including one that makes them confused. Usually turn one you buff your team, and turn two go for a pack of enemies. In the right hands, the Samurai is one of the best overall builds in FFT, but takes some practice with positioning and late game items to make it work.

Below we walk you through how to setup your Samurai build in FF Tactics.

Related

• All Builds FF Tactics Remaster
• Ultimate Jobs Guide FF Tactics Remaster
• FFT Best Abilities To Learn First
• Best Party Composition in FFT Remaster
• Best Stat Growth for FFT Remaster

Samurai Job Progression Path

The Samurai requires you to reach Knight level 4, Monk level 5, and Dragoon level 2. There are multiple routes to go, but we are going to break this up into two chunks. The first being, reaching the Monk and leveling awhile for utility. The second has you accessing the Samurai as your primary job by leveling weaker jobs like Archer and Thief. Keep in mind, a high bravery unit is best if possible for the most destructive power.

Monk Route (step one)

• Squire Level 2: Stay as a Squire for awhile and don’t progress ASAP. You want to learn Throw Stone to hit targets early and early JP. JP Boost to power through abilities. Counter Tackle and Movement +1 help fill in your missing abilities early. Then, you can learn Focus to power grind with one ability. You can move on at this point and focus on reaching Monk ASAP.
• Knight Level 3: Your goal is to reach Monk fast so you can bypass the Knight entirely unless you want to Rend (Destroy) weapons. Just reach level 3 quick and grind the Monk for a long time.
• Monk: spend a ton of time here learning Chakra, Revive, Aurablast, Shockwave, Counter, and eventually First Strike. The Monk can be used for as many levels as you want because of it’s great stat boost. Once you have range, healing, etc, then move to route two. It’s advised you spend time grinding up the weaker jobs and NOT bring them to tough story fights.

Samurai Route (access job)

• Archer Level 3: now you must swap back to an inferior job the Archer and power level it quickly. Go to the Mandalia plains and fight over and over with JP Boost equipped so you don’t have to use it in a tough fight. The only ability worth learning here is Concentration and or Aim +1 if you have the JP.
• Thief Level 4: next, you swap to Thief for four levels with some decent abilities. You first want to unlock Steal Gil since it’s only 10 JP and it gives you an ability to use immediately. Next get Steal Heart which is OP early in the game. Then, save up for Movement +2 which you can use for the entire game. Keep in mind, you will likely want the Dual Wield support ability from the Ninja. Therefore, it’s best to take the Thief to level 5 so you can eventually use the Ninja and get this skill.
• Geomancer: While you don’t need the Geomancer for the Samurai, but it’s wise to level it up so you can access Ninja and grab the Attack Boost Support ability. Save up 400 JP and get Attack Boost then move to Dragoon.
• Dragoon Level 2: The Dragoon will be a stop gap since the Samurai has great abilities and utility. However, this is a good job as a tank style. The Dragonheart reaction is great for one-on-one hardcore story fights but that’s about it.
• Samurai: You’ve reached the Samurai, now it’s time to grab a bunch of useful abilities! We list the prioritizes below.

Samurai Ability Progression

Depending on when you unlock the Samurai, will determine which abilities to unlock. Remember that these activate abilities require you to have the item in your inventory. If you progress to the Samurai quickly, most likely the outfitters won’t even have Masamune or Chirijiraden weapons. Therefore, alter the list below depending on your progress in the main story of the game. The overall idea is to unlock a buff / damage ability so you have something for each scenario. Also make sure to grab multiple Katanas in case one breaks in combat.

Progression for Samurai Job specific abilities:

1. Muramasa – Strong AoE damage + chance to Confuse enemies. Excellent offensive and crowd-control tool.
2. Masamune – Grants Haste and Regen to allies in range. Top-tier party buff, essential for speed control.
3. Kiyomori – Grants Protect and Shell to allies; great early survivability tool.
4. Chirijiraden – Ultimate Iaido skill, dealing massive non-elemental damage to all enemies.
5. Murasame – Heals all allies in range (based on caster’s MA), channeling an effervescent life force that keeps your party standing through prolonged fights.
6. Kikuichimonji – Mid-range magic attack, quick and reliable.
7. Kotetsu – Early offensive AoE with Dark damage; good for early Samurai levels.

Samurai Key Abilities to Take

This Samurai build assumes you’re playing primarily as a Samurai job with the Monk as a secondary. Your secondary isn’t as important on this build since the Samurai can heal and debuff. Therefore, feel free to mix and match depending on your party composition and what you need. However, the Monks no MP, instant revive and ranged damage compliments the Samurai’s massive AOE.

• Iaido (Samurai): huge AOE, massive debuffs, damage, and healing!
• Martial Arts (Monk): the Monk as your secondary ability slot ensures you can heal, revive, and cleanse. Monk also has AOE Shockwave if multiple targets in a line.
• First Strike (Monk): while First Strike doesn’t work against ranged targets, it ensures you can blast almost any character that tries to hit you in melee. However, you will need other options in spellcaster, heavy ranged fights.
• Dual Wield (Ninja) – allows you to attack twice if you have two weapons equipped.
• Movement +3 (Bard): the best movement ability however the Bard is annoying to unlock and there are other options for you.

Best Samurai Action Abilities

• Iaido (Samarui) – your job focused on AOE damage, status effects, and buffs.
• Martial Arts (Monk) – great utility and damage from the Monk. Stick with this job for awhile until you unlock most of it’s abilities.
• Fundamentals (Squire) – Your first starting job and it’s useful for awhile and becomes progressively more powerful. Unlock the basics as it can be useful to have in the secondary ability while grinding JP with Focus and JP Boost.
• Other Jobs – You mostly only want to use other jobs while grinding or to progress to the list above. Most of the other jobs won’t have near the power but some contain one or more abilities useful to unlock in specific situations.

Best Samurai Secondary Abilities

• Martial Arts (Monk) – By far the best secondary ability set. Once you learn Chakra and Revive, you mainly use Monk as a secondary job the entire game when not playing the Monk. Alternatively, you can use Fundementals and Focus when power leveling and grinding.
• Time Magicks (Time Mage) – while you’re not a spellcaster, unlocking the Time Mage and Haste can be a game changer to speed up your actions, especially making your jumps land faster.
• Battle Arts (Knight) – the Rend and destroy equipment option is helpful in certain encounters. A good Thief who can steal is also helpful as an alternative.

Best Samurai Reaction Abilities

• First Strike (Monk) – this will absolutely shred any attacker with damage before they attack. Also, they won’t activate their attack! So even if you don’t kill them outright, it’s a 100% counter to any melee attacker. Downside is, it won’t work on range spells or spellcasting so you need additional options.
• Auto-Potion (Chemist) – triggers a potion of lowest quality when hit in combat. Massive auto-heal makes you much harder to kill. Use X-Potions on Wiegraf fight to survive initial attack.
• Blade Grasp (Samurai) – Allows you to evade nearly any physical attack with high Brave. One of the best defensive reactions in the entire game.
• Dragonheart (Dragoon) – Auto-Reraise makes you one of the hardest units to permanently take down.
• Counter (Monk) – returns damage to user helpful at start. This is a better alternative to Counter Tackle and it’s worth the 300 JP early on.
• Counter Tackle (Squire) – grab this right away and move onto Counter with Monk quickly.

Best Samurai Support Abilities

• Dual Wield (Ninja) – allows you to attack twice if you have two weapons equipped. Use if you like physical attacks regularly vs Iaido spells.
• Magick Boost (Black Mage) – if you spend most of your time casting spells rather than physical damage, boost your MA. You’ll want a balance of both, but lean into MA for huge damage if playing a hybrid caster.
• Attack Boost (Geomancer) – decent support ability if you don’t have access to Dual Wield or don’t want to grind.
• Concentration (Archer) – ensures, attacks always hit their target. This is 100% useful on boss fights where they have extremely high evade chance.
• JP Boost (Squire) – purely for grinding and power leveling JP. Use this mainly when grinding or playing fights that aren’t that difficult to beat.

Best Samurai Movement Abilities

• Movement +3 (Bard) – by far the best, but super annoying to unlock. Teleport from the Time Mage is another option but also 3,000 JP and a spellcaster Time Mage required. Therefore, you’re likely to use Movement +2.
• Movement +2 (Thief) – great all around movement and it’s not annoying to get in the progression chain of Dragoon.
• Jump +3 (Dragoon) – Improves vertical mobility even further.
• Ignore Elevation (Dragoon) – Negates terrain restrictions; excellent quality of life.

Best Equipment Choices for Samurai Job

Your Samurai gear choices depend on your playstyle. Your spells (abilities) like Muramasa use Magic Attack (MA), while physical damage dealing uses PA. Some items can boost both. The simplest is to optimize for PA with a touch of MA for decent spellcasting, while prioritizing maximum hp so your Samurai can stay in the fight long enough to deliver repeated Iaido effects. Use your Iaido spells for buffs and status effects, and hammer enemies with melee weapons using dual wield. Therefore our suggestions below are based on that idea:

Beginner Gear/Mid-Game Gear (Chapter 1-3)

Advanced Gear/End-Game Gear (Chapter 4+)

Best Party Members for Samurai

While playing the Samurai, you will fit the role AOE damage dealer. You want another melee unit, Dragoon that can tank enemies. Additionally, pick two spell casters for support and one flex character which could be a special character or a Thief. Below are our suggestions:

1. Samurai + Monk (you): your role is AOE in melee range. Get into stacks of enemies and drop huge Iaido nukes on them.
2. Dragoon + Monk (tank): This front line tank will have incredible survivability to pair well with your AOE damage dealing Samurai.
3. Black Mage or Summoner: This is your primary area-of-effect (AoE) damage dealer, tasked with hitting as many enemies as possible. While Black Mage is a beginner job, it’s extremely strong throughout all of the game. You can pair with Time Mage for utility, White Mage for healing, or even Items and Throw Items from the Chemist for ease of play.
4. White Mage or Time Mage: This character provides crucial buffs, healing, and support. A White Mage focuses on healing and defense, while a Time Mage can offer powerful buffs and debuffs.
5. Ninja + Thief: The final spot is flexible. Leveling up a Ninja and Thief gives you massive turn one potential and the ability to steal weapons and armor.

Samurai Build Tips and Combat Strategies

The Samurai excels when positioned near the center of your formation, where their Iaido abilities can reach the widest number of allies and enemies. Since most of these abilities are instant and ignore Faith, the Samurai thrives in reactive, turn-based skirmishes where quick support and burst AoE are key. Begin each fight by activating Masamune to grant Haste and Regen to your party, effectively setting the pace of battle in your favor. Follow up with Kiyomori for Protect and Shell to reduce incoming damage. This combination ensures your team stays fast and resilient while you assess the field. Once your buffs are active, switch to offensive Iaido like Muramasa or Kikuichimonji to pressure groups of enemies from a safe midline position.

The Samurai’s balance of physical and magical power means you can adapt to any encounter. Against tightly packed enemies, Muramasa’s Confuse effect or Kotetsu’s Dark damage can break formations and disrupt mages. When facing long, attrition-heavy battles, Murasame becomes your go-to healing tool, often outperforming White Magic due to its instant cast and lack of charge time. Because Samurai abilities consume Katanas, inventory management becomes part of your strategy, stockpile duplicates before difficult missions and use weaker blades like Asura or Kotetsu early to preserve stronger ones for boss fights.

Defensively, First Strike, Auto-Potion, or Shirahadori are your best bets to survive incoming damage. Combine one of these reaction abilities with heavy armor and Regen from Masamune, and your Samurai can absorb incredible punishment. For positioning, Move +2 or Teleport allows your Samurai to maintain ideal spacing, close enough for AoE support but far enough to avoid being swarmed. In large battles, prioritize keeping your Samurai slightly behind faster units like Ninjas or Dragoon so you can react instantly with healing, buffs, or a counterattack Iaido.

Samurai Build Frequently Asked Questions

How does the Samurai’s Iaido ability work in FFT Remaster?

The Samurai’s Iaido command lets you unleash mystical sword techniques tied to specific Katana in your inventory. Each ability has an area-of-effect and can heal, buff, or damage depending on the weapon used. There’s a small chance the Katana will break when performing a Iaido, so you’ll need to carry extras. The abilities are instant, ignore Faith, and can’t be reflected, making them among the most reliable skills in the game.

What makes the Samurai class unique compared to other jobs?

The Samurai stands out for its hybrid nature, combining strong magic-like effects with the durability of a heavy armor fighter. It can use Iaido for AoE buffs and attacks without charging time, while still wielding high-power Katanas in melee combat. Its blend of offense, defense, and utility makes it one of the most flexible and rewarding jobs to master.

Is the Samurai worth leveling up early in the game?

No. The Samurai requires multiple advanced jobs to unlock and performs best in the mid-to-late stages of the story. Early on, the cost of replacing Katanas and its unlock requirements make it impractical. However, once unlocked, it quickly becomes one of the strongest and most self-sufficient jobs available.

Which Iaido abilities should I prioritize first?

Start by unlocking Masamune for Haste and Regen buffs, it’s invaluable for speeding up your team. Then focus on Murasame for AoE healing and Muramasa for powerful area damage. Kiyomori is another good early pick since Protect and Shell reduce incoming damage. As you progress, add Chirijiraden as your ultimate AoE nuke.

How should I gear my Samurai for maximum effectiveness?

For melee-focused builds, equip high-power Katanas like Muramasa or Chirijiraden and pair them with heavy armor for survivability. Hybrid or support-focused Samurai should use Robes of Lords or similar magic-boosting gear to enhance Iaido power. Accessories like the Bracer or Genji Gauntlet help round out either playstyle with extra offense or defense.

How does the Samurai perform in endgame content?

The Samurai excels in endgame due to its high durability, instant-cast AoE abilities, and ability to buff or heal the entire party. It’s particularly effective in long or multi-wave fights where Masamune and Murasame can keep the team sustained indefinitely. With proper gear and support setup, a Samurai can carry both offensive and defensive roles effortlessly.

Do Iaido abilities scale with stats or Faith?

Iaido abilities are unique because they rely on the caster’s Magic Attack (MA) but are unaffected by Faith, meaning they always perform consistently regardless of Zodiac compatibility or spiritual alignment. This makes Samurai extremely reliable in all situations where magic users might suffer from Faith penalties or mismatches.

How do you prevent losing Katanas during battle?

Unfortunately, there’s always a risk of breaking Katanas when using Iaido. The best solution is to stock multiples of each important Katana before major battles. If you want to completely prevent losses, equip Maintenance as a support ability on other characters to protect their gear, though it won’t stop Katana breaks from Iaido itself.

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