[Grandpa]

The Sayakensa is another item that was added a long time ago and has fallen to the way-side in terms of usefulness and has definitely seen little to absolutely no use in the years after it was added. I know many long time players have been straight-up confused as to what I was talking about when I mentioned the name, often confusing it for the Sayakana. It was never too great to begin with, but with so many better options or options that do similar things but better... I'm sure I'm not the only person that thinks it could do with an update.

As it stands now, 10%+ critical chance isn't bad at all, nor is the boost to kensei skills. But now that the Great Reckoning has happened and because of Sanctity, everyone has at least some resistance to Dark damage, and in fact, Dark resistance is far more commonly run into than Slash resistance. Going against anyone with any amount of points placed into Sanctity, you'll be going against several different resistances by default, but because of the Dark damage type, another one is stacked on. Personally, I think the Dark damage is fine, and works thematically for the item, but it would be interesting if it offered some kind of ability to ignore Dark resistance gained by points of Sanctity earned through Aptitude at least.

Other than that, the item also causes you to lose two Vitality. I only know of a few items that cause you to lose stats, and not without some pretty hefty gains in return. I genuinely don't think the Sayakensa as-is deserves the minus two Vitality tacked onto it when having the Dark damage modifier is already weakening your attacks.

My main ideas are either: A. Keep the minus two Vitality, but make it so there's some kind of Bypass for dark resistance; or B. Toss out the Vitality loss.

I'm sure there are more ways this item can and possibly should be buffed, given that it's a rare 9* item, and a hand-slot one, at that, but these are my ideas for now.

[Ryuzaki]

As someone who has builds that will absolutely gimp any kensei who runs this item (read, 100% dark res+), I honestly think giving it a toggle skill would be the way to go.

As you can imagine, putting all the effort into using an item that effectively gimps your HP, for a super thematic damage type that is unfortunately the easiest in the game to resist. (Vampires get resist naturally, moreso with essence, there are 2 different items that offer 30% resistance to dark as well, 100% isn't even hard to achieve, it's trivial) is a bit of an absolute killer. Sure, you could argue "You got hard countered, git gud", but when it comes to something where you're going for a fun little niche, and are ultimately shat on by anyone with SAN, or carapace, or fangs, or boots, or a shield, or a fancy Onigan fucking necklace. Not nice.

A toggle skill, that lets you either switch the damage off, or something that lets you bypass dark resistance would be brilliant for it, and I could see what is otherwise a relatively useless item get some use with these changes.

Also, more sheathes when, and can we PLEASE get them considered accessories, not off-hand? Last I checked, you wear a Saya on your belt. We're not all Vergil.

[Autumn]

In my opinion the Sayakensa should add 50% Dark ATK as a secondary damage instance to Kensei skills, its not like before GR where hexer could be used to boost the damage by 10%, unfortunately Sayakensa in its current state is just a relic of the past.

running dark damage on your katana hits makes you assuredly lose damage, as everyone has elemental resistance from base aptitude SAN, at least in this way you still run the risk of hitting a resist proc but also you don't actually lose a huge chunk of your damage as a result.

I also think removing the -2 vitality is a solid option, negative stats don't do us a whole lot these days.

[Snake]

I believe Sayakensa should have a penalty attributed to Light Resistance instead of VIT.

Maybe a debuff that whenever you damage someone with your Katana, it reduces your Light Resistance by 5%, up to a maximum of LV5, but anyone you attack and damage with your Katana receives a debuff to their Dark Resistance by 10% per LV.

It's hard to decide if it should be a big number, since 100% Darkness Resistance is possible, but that might help. Still believe if you proc 'Resist!' on Darkness, it shouldn't lower your momentum.

[PantherPrincess]

I personally would change the dark damage completely into something like magical pierce or slash damage instead. Seems more fitting for the item in my eyes. I'd also tack down the -2 vit to -1.