Swordmasters are decently durable tanks that have what's considered the biggest damage potential of the tank careers at this stage of the game's life (but people will be quick to point out that's likely to change later on). What's special about the career is that it loses the least durability compared to other tanks when playing with a 2-handed weapon as opposed to a shield and a blade (S&B). This comes from a chanelled ability called Wall of Darting Steel that boosts your defenses while being channeled (you get this ability at Career Rank 40).
If you want a spec that will suit you you'll need to provide more information. What tier are you in, are you in T4? What is your playstyle, do you prefer ORvR or scenarios? Group play or solo play?
Here's what usually people go for:
(Some of these specs require Career Rank 40 and either Renown Rank 40 or full Ruin/Mercenary/Annihilator set, which gives you an extra mastery point in one of the mastery trees)
1. Khaine/Vaul -
Straightforward spec focusing on damage and burst, two-handed weapon required
You get 2 very strong damage tactics which synergise well with one of the best SM abilities, Ether Dance. Ether Dance (or ED for short) is a channeled ability that hits 5 times in 3 seconds, capable of triggering any damage effects/tactics/critting five times. It's probably the most burst damage any tank career is capable of.
Properly set up by:
- Slotting all your damage tactics (Great Weapon Mastery, Balanced Accuracy) and a tactic that deals damage over time every time your blade enchantment triggers (Potent Enchantments, it also deals damage immediately upon triggering)
- Debuffing your enemies spirit resistance with Wrath of Hoeth and/or Heaven's Blade (blade enchantment)
- Debuffing the enemy with Blurring Shock (a debuff that "shocks" your target for damage whenever you crit)
- Using Ether Dance and seeing the numbers fly off the screen in that 3 second window.
In Vaul you spec into a 3 second knockdown with a secondary effect of making yourself and your group members immune to knockdown/stagger/silence/disarm for 4 seconds. This gives you some much needed crowd control which allows you to manipulate the enemy and save your allies.
2. Hoeth/Vaul -
Utility focused spec, can be played with a two-handed weapon or a shield
The high point of this spec is Whispering Wind which unleashes two hits, silences the enemy for 4 seconds and allows your and your groups' cooldowns to finish 5 seconds faster for abilities used within 10 seconds. This allows for some crazy chaining of powerful abilities that would otherwise have a short cooldown. But it requires a coordinated group of suitable careers/specs to take full advantage of. Naturally it's not a bad damage dealing ability but that's not where its power lies.
You also get Crashing Wave (CW) in Vaul because it's one of the abilities that allow you to truly play as a tank. In short, Crowd Control is king and most specs will incorporate CW in their build.
There are a few points that aren't allocated because they're quite situational and up to personal preference:
- There's Perfect Defenses in Vaul, which is invaluable if you're playing a more defensive spec and like pushing into the enemy lines and drawing enemy fire but will require a shield to take full advantage of.
- Protection of Hoeth is an absorb shield that helps you avoid damage on demand, very useful in all situations.
- Aethyric Armor increases your armor but won't stack with other armor increasing buffs, including potions, so if you're planning on using those (they give more armor at this stage of the game but they do require PvE farming) speccing into this ability probably won't be worth it because you're only gaining a 5% disrupt chance.
- Blessing of Heaven and Bolstering Enchantments heal group mates either passively or when they hit your target. The healing isn't very strong and your stats won't improve it so it's not amazing, but it is something that helps your group if you're planning on group play.
3. Vaul/Hoeth -
Quirky Shield and Blade build that I've seen people run on live AoR but I've only heard it being talked of here on RoR.
This isn't something that a lot of people would consider a real spec since it doesn't deal a lot of damage and it doesn't provide much utility to the group. It's a solo spec that's meant to outlast the opponent by using tactics and abilities that increase your defenses, shield you and even provide some healing. It's a "why won't this guy die" spec with a weakness to being crowd controlled, kited and ignored (since you don't do much damage) because unlike other tank durability specs this relies on active defenses (hitting the enemy and using your abilities) as opposed to the advantage of raw stats and passive avoidance.
It's probably not something you're looking for but I thought I'd include it cause it's interesting (and it somewhat works).
Usually Swordmaster specs will be some variation of the first two specs, depending on the players' needs and playstyle. Although a Khaine/Vaul cookie cutter spec is pretty straightforward and not something that can necessarily be improved upon. The playstyle of that spec however, is probably trickier than some more defensive specs because of balancing assisting with damage and durability/tanking (effectively using Guard, Crowd Control, mitigation abilities, disrupting enemy lines and not over-extending), something that separates us from Melee DPS careers.
Wow this turned into a long post, hope some of this will be useful. I should extend and repost this on my blog.
. Anyways, I'm planning to create a swordmaster, I'm fine with being a tank or a dps but honestly, I would rather to kill a lot in PVP if thats possible with that class. What choices do I have using this class? Just want to see some great builds
