[Sword Master] DPS Swordmaster

[Jaycub]

If you want to play a proper "DPS" SM, as in your are still tanky enough to guard anyone and not die easily you should focus on. This is just my philosophy on DPS oriented tanks and what I have seen work playing my BG/SM, it's not the word of God.

Parry (unlimited) > Wounds (~7k) > Spirit Res (~650) > Str (unlimited) , Toughness can sort of be ignored as it isn't going to mitigate any guard damage and you are really only worried about getting bursted down before you are able to be healed up. Parry works on guard so it is for obvious reasons your best defensive tool. Spirit res needs to be 650 BASE not w/ buff to compensate for spirit res debuffs from sorc and magus, 2H tanks are prime targets for these classes, and just in general if you build weak, premades will often opt to focus you first as killing a weak 2H tank is often easier than killing a guarded DPS.

I believe the aggravation proc on the duelist set was nerfed to no longer stack w/ baseline taunt... which is a good bit of nerf to the set, maybe a mix or even full dev is superior now?

This is the RR spec that I use: http://waronlinebuilder.org/#renown;300 ... 2000000000 , The higher you spec into a particular stat the less efficent it gets, it's not too noticeable on stats... but on flat avoidance it very much is. Though I put the full 20 points into parry as I see that as our most important stat.

2H khaine is fun, but like Penril has already said Hoeth is the superior build ATM, the only thing khaine does better is ST burst via Ether Dance. Shields are also in general superior to 2h in terms of the trade off between mitigation and damage, so using S/B gives you more lenience on stat distribution which ultimately lets you stack more str which essentially makes up for the wep DPS difference between 1h and 2h, while being just as tanky if not more.

[peterthepan3]

Two types of DPS SM - the sustained and the burst.
Sustained is more Hoeth/WW, on which others have commented.

I prefer burst SM, which is pure Khaine.
Get both the great weapon tactic and crit tactic, and either use rugged or potent enchantments (after testing it, it deals wonders with ether dance - thanks Eiger!)

Always make sure blurring shock is on the enemy, and that they are spirit res debuffed. Try to pop a taunt before you use ether dance. rinse and repeat.

[peppex91]

Y, Eiger was right
Got persuaded too
PE was better all-around then CoT but it's on par vs armored (having 0 WS at least).

[Reva]

If all you're interested in is damage ED is the bread and butter of the DPS SM.

In Khaine pick up ED and GWM and dump everything else into hoeth to increase your debuffs and dazzling strike damage. Run heavens blade as it stacks with WoH. If you've got support: FO, GWM, EB or PE enchantments. (You will need definitely need support running this set up as you are made of paper but the results will surprise you)

Never forget to shatter and taunt.

Ideally at RR70 you can pick up WW as well but we're a while away from that yet.

[peppex91]

U can't skip BA imo... i'd rather skip GWM.
I'd swap PE with BA and then will have the same ideal dps spec
Be ready for the FO bashing (some ppl thinks it's a "self-terminating" key in every situation).

[Reva]

BA is a great tactic, but for me, I preferred the 10% increase to base damage and then stacked crit where I could.

FO is also fun, it just adds a new dimension to the gameplay, yes it drastically reduces your survivability, and turns you into a mock mdps, but when running it's not necessarily your job to keep you alive, that falls to your healers and tanks. Playing it smart, not over extending and proper positioning you can become somewhat of a credible threat.

Drawing fire and detaunts that would otherwise be directed at your teams DPS. It's a very niche role.

[peterthepan3]

I would only ever go FO if I had a guard myself.

[th3gatekeeper]

Two types of DPS SM - the sustained and the burst.
Sustained is more Hoeth/WW, on which others have commented.

I prefer burst SM, which is pure Khaine.
Get both the great weapon tactic and crit tactic, and either use rugged or potent enchantments (after testing it, it deals wonders with ether dance - thanks Eiger!)

Always make sure blurring shock is on the enemy, and that they are spirit res debuffed. Try to pop a taunt before you use ether dance. rinse and repeat.

LOL you just described my exact build/playstyle... Once we can get both the crit tactic AND WW I think thats arguably best... But we need 1 more level cap inc for that.