Samuel Rodrigues is a skilled swordsman who employs a fighting style similar to that of Raiden thought it is hinted that he's had considerable formal training compared to Raiden's "self taught" technique. It's been noted by Bladewolf that he's been acting unusual since this mission started. It is suggested that he's used his influence within Desperado to try and arrange a fight with Raiden before the end.
Combat
Sam is a tough opponenet who won't be phased by your attacks most of the time. Unless you specifically see him get dazed, he's not off balance and will quickly follow up with an attack. This even goes for counter attacks. If you hit him with a counter, DO NOT ENTER BLADE MODE. Set up for another counter immediately instead because he will almost instantly attack again.
At first, most of his attacks are part of a combo so make sure you block everything before attacking. He also has a couple of simple attacks like a roundhouse kick and a dash attack. The roundhouse isn't particularly dangerous but it's very likely to catch you off guard. You have to watch for him to turn away a little and that's your cue to defend. The Dash attack is much more obvious because he'll be quite a distance away. He almost always performs it if there's too much distance.
After you get him below 70% health, he'll dash at you and try to attack you. Parry the attack and you'll be prompted for a Blade Mode strike. Hit the sword from his hand and he'll start fighting without a sword.
At this point, his fight style will change dramatically but as long as you are patient, you can beat him here quite easily. The most important thing is to not Ninja Run towards him because he will reverse it on you for decent damage. He still retains his dash attack as well but his attacks are faster and there's less of an advertisement when he's about to attack. If you try to hit him with a Heavy attack, he'll attack and stop you well before your blow has a chance to land.
What this boils down to is that you want quick attacks and you want to attack from just out of his range. Ninja Run until you are just out of range, take a step forward, hit him with an attack from just out of range and then turn it into a combo. This will usually knock him back. At this point, prepare for his dash attack or close in if he doesn't do it. From here, repeat the process until he grabs his sword again at about 45%.
Sam becomes much more dangerous at this point. His Dash attack could be just one attack but he can chain them together into multiple dash attacks and because of how quickly he does it, it can sometimes be hard to see him do it. The Dash attack also does a lot of damage and will knock you down so it's safe to always assume that it will be three dash attacks in a row and to simply defend from the opposite side for each consecutive attack.
He also has a jumping attack which is similarly difficult to defend against. The trouble with this attack is that if there's anything near you, it can sometimes be hard for the camera to see him when he reaches the hieght of his jump... which is also just before you want to defend. Watch for that jump and pay extra close attention to it because this attack will do massive damage if it lands. Provided you parry this attack, however, he'll be wide open for a combo. It's a dangerous attack but it's the most beneficial as long as you're paying attention
Otherwise, this fight will perform the same as before. Just remember that he has a lot more range than he did earlier and you'll be fine. Get him down to about 5% health and you'll again have a chance to disarm him. Do so successfully to kill him.
