Guild Wars 2

SAMURAI CLASS

Usable Weapons:

Sheathed Sword (A new weapon that is a sheathed sword that uses Iaido-type attacks. Sheathed swords take the form of katanas, umbrellas with hidden blades, and sword canes)
Fan (New offhand weapon)
Mainhand Sword
Offhand Sword
Longbow

The Samurai class is a new class concept designed for Cantha and the opening of the Dominion of Winds. The samurai is a master of bladed weapons and calls upon the power of ancestral spirits to aid him or her in battle.

MECHANICS

Ancestral Spirits:

Ancestral Spirits are the main source of power for samurai. Each samurai calls upon the ancient teachings of four great ancestral spirits in order to aid them in battle. The spirits are as follows:

KIRIN : The spirit of the celestial Kirin, which grants the Samurai power over restoration and purity.
KUNNAVHANG : The spirit of an ancient dragon which grants the Samurai power over slashing winds.
TOGO : The spirit of the Legendary Ritualist Master Togo which grants the Samurai power over ancestral flames.
SILVERWING : The spirit of the Legendary Blademaster which guides the Samurai’s weapon with secret techniques.

When the Samurai is guided by an ancestral spirit, an untargetable and undamagable vision of the spirit can be seen communing alongside the player. As the Samurai uses certain attacks that siphon spirit energy, the Spirit grows in power from level 1-3 as the Samurai builds Spiritual Power through the use of Siphons and Traits. Spiritual Power enhances the effects of certain Samurai abilities through the use of Spirit Draws. Each ancestral spirit gives the Samurai a new set of weapon skills just like elements do for Elementalists. A Samurai cannot weapon swap, but instead they can swap Ancestral Spirits like an Elementalist swaps attunements.

Spirit Siphon:

Spirit Siphons are basic attacks that draw spirit energy into an ancestral spirit as they land blows on enemies or affect allies. Spirit siphons are how Samurai upgrade the power level of their ancestral spirits from 1 to 3 for Spirit

Draw attacks. When Spirits are swapped, they lose all levels of Spiritual Power. There are traits that allow a player to keep levels of spiritual power when swapping ancestral spirits.

Spirit Draws:

Spirit Draws are special attacks that allow the player to hold down the button and Siphon energy from their ancestral spirit into their weapon. Charging a spirit draw alters the effect of the attack. Spirit draws can be charged to level 3.

Possession:

Posession attacks cause the Samurai consume the ancestral spirit and all of its levels to immediate invoke in a powerful effect that varies based on the spiritual power level of the spirit. This causes the spirit to disappear for a short while before it is reformed by the Samurai. A Samurai cannot spirit swap after a possession until his or her ancestral spirit returns (unless traited). The animation of the possession shows the Samurai consume the spirit and then perform the attack while imbued with the spirit’s power.

Oaths:

Oaths are unique slot skills that a Samurai can use to gain passive buffs each time they fulfill a criteria (such as a successful block, counter, dodge, strike multiple enemies with a line or cone, swap ancestral spirits X times, use X possessions, etc.). Once a Samurai has fulfilled a certain number of demands for an Oath, they are able to activate it in order to trigger a powerful effect and reset the counter back to zero. Each time the Samurai fulfills an Oath counter, they gain a small passive buff. When an Oath is activated, the Samurai loses all buffs. Certain traits can cause the Samurai to retain these buff stacks for a limited time after activating an oath.

(Cont.)

EXAMPLES OF WEAPON SKILLS (Main-hand Sword)

Mainhand Sword (with Silverwing Spirit)

1-Standing Slash > Jaizhenju Strike > Spirit Thrust
Deals a 3 hit combo that causes a Spirit Siphon on the third hit.

2-Sun Slash > Moon Slash
Causes burning on the first strike to all enemies in a forward arc, the second hit causes 2 seconds of blind.

3-Spirit Leap
Spirit Draw. Leap Finisher.
Level 1- Leap at the target with a singular thrust.
Level 2 -Leap at the target with an arcing slash that hits up to 3 targets.
Level 3 -Leap at the target with an aoe slash that hits all targets around the Samurai and activates a blast finisher.

Mainhand Sword (with Togo Spirit)

1-Ancestral Flame
Blows a cone of blue flames out that strikes the enemy multiple times and causes vulnerability on the third tick.

2-Ancestral Rage > Spirit Howl.
Spirit Siphon. Creates a orb of spiritual energy that attacks the target, granting might to nearby allies and siphoning spirit power. The secondary attack detonates the orb to inflict burning on the target.

3-Ancestral Hunger > Spirit Wail.
Spirit Siphon. Creates a orb of spiritual energy that attacks the target, weakening them and siphoning spirit power. The secondary attack detonates the orb to chill the target.

Mainhand Sword (with Kunnavhang Spirit)

1-Arcing Wind
Spirit Siphon. Shoots a blade of wind ot that bounces to up to three targets and is mid-ranged. Builds spirit energy faster when it hits multiple targets.

2-Gust
Spirit Draw.
Level 1-Fires a large arc of wind at the target.
Level 2-Fires an arc of wind at the target which causes bleeding and has extended range.
Level 3-Fires an arc of wind that has max range, causes bleeding to the primary target and explodes into a tempest on contact, dealing periodic aoe air damage and leaving an air combo field.

3-Windmill Strike
Spirit Siphon. Makes an evasive strike at the enemy that deals damage then grants swiftness to the Samurai. Grants spirit energy that increases if the Samurai moves more after using the skill.

Mainhand Sword (with Kirin Spirit)

1-Pure Strike > Pure slash > Cleansing Thrust
Spirit Siphon. Removes a condition from an ally on the third hit, removing conditions causes it to build spirit energy faster.

2-Ancestral Guardian > Forceful Spirit
Summons a shield guardian that grants aegis to nearby allies but not to the Samurai. The samurai goes into a counter stance and if he blocks, he heals nearby allies. Pressing the button again causes the Shield Guardian to strike the enemy, causing a short 1 second stun.

3-Spirit Charge
Causes the Kirin spirit to charge the enemy and gore them, knocking them back.

(Cont.)

WEAPON SKILLS (Cont. with concepts for an Offhand Fan as a new weapon)

Offhand Fan (with Silverwing Spirit)

4-Rules of Engagement
Spirit Siphon. Forces the enemy into a duel of honor for 7 seconds, causing them to move slower the further they are away from the Samurai. The skill also causes the Samurai to build spirit energy faster the further the enemy is away.

5-Silverwing’s Sight
Possession. The ancestral spirit of Talon Silverwing possesses the Samurai, causing the next X attacks to crit. The amount of crits depends on how much spiritual power the Samurai used in activating this skill.

Offhand Fan (with Togo Spirit)

4-Spirit Razing > Razing Surge
Combo field fire. Creates a wall of flame that deals fire damage and burns enemies that cross it. Pressing the button again causes the wall to surge forward in an explosive wave, dealing fire damage to enemies in its path.

5-Master’s Ritual
Possession. Combo field fire. The spirit of Togo becomes an ash urn at the Samurai’s chosen location for 30 seconds. The Ash urn can be picked up by any player and allow Togo’s spirit to possess them, granting the following skills:
-Channeled Bolt: Deals air damage.
-Essence Surge: Deals air damage and weakness.
-Ancestral Fury: Emits a blue flame blast from the urn holder that deals damage to enemies around the urn holder then throws a projectile at a target that does additional fire damage (Gw1 Pheonix).
-Spirit Razing > Razing Surge (Same as above skill)
-Ancestral Pyre > Throws the urn at a location, pulling all of the enemies in the target area into the throw location to deal initial damage and burning. Combo field fire.
*The time that Togo’s Urn is stays in play after being picked up depends on the Samurai’s spirit power used when the Urn was summoned.

Offhand Fan (with Kunnavhang Spirit)

4-Gale
Spirit Draw. Throws a gust of air out in a cone that knocks back and interrupts enemies.

5-Typhoon
Possession. Combo field air.
The spirit of Kuunavhang possesses the Samurai, causing them to become a typhoon that flings random projectiles around the area that deal bleeding and grants swiftness to nearby allies. The amount of time the typhoon stays in play

depends on the spirit power that the samurai had before possession. Only the level 3 Typhoon flings projectiles.

Offhand Fan (with Kirin Spirit)

4-Extinguish.
Spirit Draw. AoE removes 1 condition from allies in a cone, damages enemies and heals for a small amount for each condition removed. Will always fire in the direction the character is facing, regardless of target.

5-Healing Miasma
Possession. The spirit of Kirin possesses the Samurai, causing them to emit a cloud of miasma that grants regeneration to allies and poisons enemies. At level 3, the miasma grants protection. The miasma stays in play depending on the

amount of spiritual power the Samurai used to activate the skill.

HEALING SKILL EXAMPLES

Spiritual Harmony: Heals the Samurai for an amount based on the stored spirtual power that he or she has.

SLOT SKILL EXAMPLES

Air Bending:
Combo field air. Creates a combo field that increase allied projectile range by 20% and increases ranged damage.

Oath of Fealty:
The Samurai undertakes a protective Oath and gains +toughness for each successful dodge or counter. When the Samurai has fulfilled this oath 10 times, all nearby allies gain protection for X seconds and this Oath loses all charges.

ELITE SKILL EXAMPLES

Against Impossible Odds:
For 10 seconds the Samurai takes 50% less damage from all sources and parries all incoming attacks, dealing damage back to the attackers. The samurai also reflects all targeted ranged attacks but is still vulnerable to AoE. This was Shiro’s Elite in Guildwars 1.

Weh No Su:
The Samurai calls upon all four spirits to possess him or her at the same time, becoming a Celestial Warrior. For 20 seconds the Samurai changes appearances to a ghostly mist Samurai wielding a giant translucent katana and gains the following skills:
-Zen Strike (x3):
A 3 strike combo that deals high cleave damage and burns the enemies on the third strike.
-Darkmoon Slash: Deals and aoe strike in a forward cone that blinds enemies for 3 seconds. Light Combo field.
-Shogun of the Mists: Summons two Honored Zaishen Spirits to attack the enemy, inflicting cripple and bleeding. One has a bow that cripples, the other one uses a sword that bleeds.
-Inescapable Strike: Teleports the Samurai to the target inflicting damage and a short root. Any enemies between the Samurai and its target in a line take damage and are inflicted with bleeding.
-Celestial Strike: Performs an extremely slow 3 second cast strike that deals massive single target damage but the samurai is immobile during the cast.

TRAIT LINES

Zen
Improves the Samurai’s concentration, allowing the Samurai to charge Spirit Draws faster and unleash attacks more frequently. Also improves mastery with the longbow.
+Power
-Charge duration for spirit draws.

Swordsmanship
Improves the Samurai’s Mastery of melee combat, improving sheathed sword and sword abilities as well as evasionary tactics.
+Precision
+Critical Dmg.

Fealty
Improves the Samurai’s devotion to his or her self and her allies. Improves survival abilities, Oaths, and control abilities.
+Toughness
+Boon Duration

Harmony
Improves the Samurai’s Master of healing abilities and skills (mostly associated with the Kirin Spirit). Improves fan weapon abilities.
+Healing Power
+Vitality

-Ancestral Secrets_
Improves the Samurai’s understanding of ancestral power, reducing the CD of ancestral possessions, how long their effects stay in play, and improves spiritual power gain.
+Condition Damage
+Spiritual Energy gain rate

CONCLUSION

Anyhow, I thought this was an interesting class concept and perhaps some of the ideas may be useful to the Devs.

I like the thought that has gone into this, detailed and well planned. I love samurai but would hate to see a class based on it Also I would like to see the game reach xmas before they even mention an update relating to new classes or areas. I give you an A1 for effort mate, hopefully the devs take some notes and i’m glad it’s not another rant that the rit kitten is class is gone, you have some great ideas, well done.

Very well thought out. I would love to see a class that is like this, but I don’t think that a Samurai is very oriented around the lore. Other than that, this looks like a really fun class and rather unique and I hope the devs pay look at this and consider it.

Agreed, the name Samurai is distinctly Japanese, not Canthan, otherwise, good detail work. The Assassin from GW1 has some good lore behind it that would probably fit, although it doesn’t have a cool fantasy name.

A hybrid class of the Ritualist and Assassin would be a great fit for this- the connections to ancestral spirits makes it ripe for it.

I think this idea could be built upon, but if they do, i’d like to see Guardian be re-designed to compliment it.

Any class that has some relation with Asian culture: samurai, ninja, martial artist would do really great for the Cantha Expansion.
Any class with some African culture in it: ritualist, voo-doo master, summoner would do really good for the Elona Expansion

anyway, congrats for this idea. The devs should take notes from it

well I’ll give you an A for effort but overall the class gets an F.

The reason Samurai fails as a class is because a Samurai is basically a warrior. I can see A-net adding in new skills, armors, and weapons with Cantha (possibly a new class) but as far as playing a samurai I’d say get some samurai style armor and play a warrior.

… ¦D
My opinion on this matter is pretty much summed up in this video.

This seems to be a warrior/assassin hybrid. I love asian culture and would love to see something like this in game, but it would have to be more distinctive I think.

What’s this thing people have about if something existed in Japan then it isn’t normal or natural and must be treated as a very distinct and different than if it came from any other country.

You apparently don’t feel the need to differentiate between knights, cavaliers, paladins, bogatyrs, youxia… to your mind they are all exactly the same thing. But you have JAPANESE nobles who wear armor, ride horses and fight with swords and bows and then suddenly you treat it as a different animal and ignore how the majority acted and instead look at the most extreme actions of a few individuals of that caste then extrapolate that all had that particular trait.

Samurai are NOTHING more than knights. Not a lick of difference more than there was between the kinds I listed above. If you could get past your insane, unfounded bias of Japanese people not really quite being normal, regular human beings then you might become clear-headed enough to see that. Or, at least if you read up on what real samurai did and read up a bit more on the knights as well instead of basing everything on really bad racist American stereotypes, you might see how the similarities vastly outnumber the differences which are primarily only superficial at that.

I strongly believe that classes must:
- Fit all races.
- Fit within all existing starting areas, so people can make them in the existing content instead being restricted to a new starting area like in GW:Factions and GW:Nightfall.
- Have a name that is ‘generic’ and not linked to a region.
A Canthan samurai doesn’t.

I like the concept but not the name. It would be like wanting berserkers, vikings, carolians, minutemen or anything like that. Its already there up for grabs in the shape of other generic classes. Real world names for special classes belong outside the game.

Maybe a Spiritwarrior would be a fitting name. But slimfitting it to a region wouldnt be right, all races should be able to roll one.

I think this class could work. But the name would be something along the lines of Myrmidon or Swordmaster. They would be locked to two handed, one handed, shortbow and longbow. Maybe even that sheathed blade as a new weapon class.

This seems like a combination of Warrior, Elementalist, Necromancer, and Guardian. Which seems awesome to me, if done correctly.

Sounds great. But a lot of wasted time. Cuz they’ll never do it. (I still have my hopes though :-))