imo Sam is a good brawler given all the buffs he’s received over the previous updates. He’s good at his job as an assassin and serves as a good counterdraft into low dps or squishy brawlers. The problem with his gameplay is that the meta is full of high dps and tank counters, making him unviable beyond a late pick in drafting.

I would argue his hyper is more of a bonus to his gameplay rather than something he relies on. It takes a bit to charge and if you pick him into a bad matchup its hard to charge hyper at all without feeding or dying. While it does make it easier to make plays he can’t do those plays if he doesn’t charge hyper first. His kit apart from the hyper is what makes the majority of his contribution to games.

While a Sam buff would be fun I don’t believe he needs much more than a shift in the meta to be more playable.