Return of Reckoning

Dear fellow SW,

I have been asked to write a guide for SW. I don't have the time, so I decided to start incrementally and share builds that are viable, efficient, and fun (except one, but you will see below).
If you are looking for a good guide I suggest checking Nidva's SW guide.

The list is non-exhaustive, I didn't put all the variants I have tested, it will come (maybe) over time (when I have time).
I will update this page only when possible.
[Edit 1] Updated Skirmish/Scout: The 6th man build details
[Edit 2] Updated Scout/Assault: Swizz Murder build details

If you have any questions/suggestions, feel free to post here or PM in-game: Swizzbeats (or my alt: Swizz or Nineoneone) or leave a message in THK's discord (Three Hundred Kings).

Note: current ROR builder has Swift Strike in the "Assault" tree instead of Merciless Soldier

List of builds:

• Scout/Skirmish: Festershima

• Scout/Skirmish: Hawk Eye

• Assault/Skimish: Hattori Hanzō

• Assault/Skirmish: Skirssault (Hybrid)

• Scout/Assault: Swizz Murder

• Skirmish/Scout: Make AoE Rain

• Skirmish/Scout: The Flayer

• Skirmish/Assault: The Shotgun

• Skirmish/Assault: The Flash

• Skirmish/Scout: The 6th man

• Scout/Assault: Swizz Easter Troll Carrier

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Scout/Skirmish: Festershima
Info: Festering Arrow Build
Stats objectives: stack crit%/bal

Festershima (RR70+)

+2 Sov
Festershima (Sovereign +2 skill points)
Alt build: switch either masterful aim or Instinctive Aim for Bull's Eye to increase your %crit.



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Scout/Skirmish: Hawk Eye
Info: Main Eagle Eye spec
Stats objectives: stack crit%/WS/bal
+40/70
Hawk Eye (RR70+)

+2 sov:
Hawk Eye (Sovereign +2 skill points)

Alt: Pre Sov, you might want add more sustain with Keen Arrow.


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Assault/Skimish: Hattori Hanzō
Info: (almost) only melee spec. Works on most targets
+40/70
Stats objectives: stack melee crit%/strenght/armor > 4k
Hattori Hanzō (RR70+)

+2sov:
Hattori Hanzō (Sovereign +2 skill points)


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Assault/Skirmish: Poker (Hybrid)
+40/70
Info: Hybrid - Range to Melee finisher
Stats objectives: stack range crit%(gear)/melee crit(renown)/ws
Poker (RR70+)

alt: replace bull's eye or no respite by wrist slash

Poker (Sovereign +2 skill points)
alt: replace powerful draw by bull's eye if you favor melee gameplay


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Scout/Assault: Swizz Murder
Info: My signature build - you play range skills in melee range i.e < 20 feet. Main stance: Assault to 1) not explode 2) get WS bonus 3)bonus +15 damage 4) have instant Eagle Eye

How to play it:
1. The purpose of this build is to stay in the 20 feet range so that No Quarter + Expert Skirmisher can activate correctly.
2. Do not necessarily stay in Melee Range, short-range is still a slight advantage against melee.
3. Keep in mind that, unlike other classes, the SW does not have any form skill base regen, so the intent is to bet on your escape mechanisms and tankiness. This is why I suggest having close to (above better) 4K armor and more than 30% parry and/or dodge/disrupt rate.
4. To increase your survival, Shadowstep is your best friend. In this case, it is also a gap closer to chain Eagle Eyes. When possible, Shadowstep is to be preceded by Vengeance of Nagaryhe. Even though you loose a bit of VoN time effectiveness, you save an in-between skills sequence GCD, providing consistent DPS for the time window
5. You have the choice in terms of CC with Exploit Weakness (Stun) or Opportunistic Strike. The latter is more efficient against melee as it last 4 seconds, however, the first is more interesting because your target does not move while stunned
6. Keep Whirlin Pin as your escape or your next Shadowstep available (yeah sometime SSteping to a healer, pet or tank is your best option). Also, remember that Swift Strike gives super-speed for a short time, so it is also another mean to jumpstart your "strategic retreat"
7. Use Hunter Fervor when possible, as Eagle Eye is costly in AP especially if Steady Aim is Activated. Also, prepare AP Pots!

Amor & Tali: Focus on Bal -> Armor -> Weapon Skill
Renown Points: %range crits -> Weapon Skill -> -% chance to receive crits (Futile Strike)
Obviously, for both, try to balance it according to your RR level.

+40/70
Stats objectives: stack range crit%(gear)/ws
Swizz Murder (RR70+)

+2 sov:
Swizz Murder (Sovereign +2 skill points)

Alt switch: Instinctive Aim with Bull's Eye

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Skirmish/Scout: Make it Rain
Info: Standard AoE Build
Stats objectives: stack range crit%/bal
+40/70
Make it Rain

+2 sov:
Make it Rain

Alt: Use Keen Arrow is still good at saving GCD. If you have AP issues, use Clever Recovery or Repleneshing Strike. Guerilla training is better for a highly mobile (FOTM) party.



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Skirmish/Scout: The Flayer
Info: Single Target range assassin build. Keen Arrow is an important part of the build
Stats objectives:

+40/70
The Flayer (RR70+)


The Flayer (Sovereign +2 skill points)



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Skirmish/Assault: The Shotgun
Info: Build for heavy pressure. Need guard. Best with SM/Whispering Wind for cooldown reduction
Stats objective: range crit%/bal/ws

+40/70
The Shotgun (RR70+)

+2 sov:
The Shotgun (Sovereign +2 skill points)

Alt: if you have a SM/WW, replace split arrow by bull's eye or keen arrow


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Skirmish/Assault: The Flash
Info: Build for speed and try to build uncatchable (stay alive = more damage overall)
Stats objective: range crit%/bal/-disrupt/parry

+40/70
The Flash (RR70+)


+2 Sov
The Flash (Sovereign +2 skill points)

alt: Trade Powerfull draw with Bull's eye





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Skirmish/Scout: The 6th man
Info: Range Support build. Goal is to support your main DPS while buffing the rest of your party/wb to get into the enemy's defense. Best in keeping fort

How to play it:
The goal of this build is to buff the group while keeping decent sustained damage. You not carrying here, but you are still a very annoying damage dealer, with good mobility. Your priority arrows are Shadow Sting, and Spiral Fletched Arrow to trigger Debuff Defenses/Buff Crit.
The play style of this build could be summarized in Muhammad Ali's quote "Fly like a butterfly, shadow sting like a bee"

1. Pierces Defence drop the defense of mdps first and tanks. In skirmish, the AoE capacity of Spiral Fletchd Arrow, Lileath Arrow, Barrage, and Flame Arrow increases the chances to apply the debuff to a maximum number of targets. You can feel the difference in keeps defenses and offenses actually.
2. Leading Shots is for buffing +% crit chances both offensively and defensively (heal crit). It is even more beneficial for a White Lion because you need excellent gear to maintain high damage consistently.
3. Keen Arrow is to increase the duration of Broadhead Arrow and Flame Arrow, mostly for AoE Ailment for Shadow Sting distribution and extends Takedown, and here you can perma snare one of your opponents. Pops VoN, Shadow Sting is undefendable. It also saves you GCD as BHA is still your bread and butter skill to either set Shadow Sting and/or your burst sequence. But again, increased Flame Arrow duration + 10 feet increase radius with VoN is nice.
4. Split Arrow is self-explanatory.
5. Eyeshot is excellent both offensively and defensively. Try to save VoN to combine with Eye Shot so that the cooldown is significantly reduced. Offensively The 50 debuff init is very good to assist the main assist.

Stats objective: range crit%/ws/-crit%

+40/70
The 6th man (RR70+)

Alt: replace Keen Arrow with Bull's eye or Guerilla Training. If you run out of AP frequently, use instead Clever Recovery.

+2 Sov
The 6th man (Sovereign +2 skill points)


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Scout/Assault: Swizz Easter Troll Carrier
Info: This is a variant of "Swizz Murder". It is a Troll build when played solo. This build does not work by default. Unless you have a guard and pro heal bot, it is only for big(gest) numbers. The investment for the team is heavy. But there is an easter egg for the pro team.

+40/70
Swizz Easter Troll Carrier (RR70+)

+2 Sov
Swizz Easter Troll Carrier (Sovereign +2 skill points)

Alt: The "right" team composition is the easter egg

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Note: might be some errors in builds links. I did this list quickly, so feel free to inform me if you spot one.

Have fun

Thank you! Nice work, appreciate it very much

Like it very much, thanks.

Thanks for this mate!!!

question where can i find Nidva's SW guide?

Thank you for posting your Swizz Murder build. I am have a ton of fun with it!

Hi, very nice post. Many interesting stuff. Thanks for that !

I'll bring my two cents on this, as I think it may help some SW, especially to be more desired in wb, especially in cities.

I most of the time play in guild 12 or 18 men, sometimes wb if we get lucky. I am atm RR79, full inv.

My build is very close to the AOE rain, with a difference that I think is fundamental : In our wb, we play now with one SW in each group (yes !), playing with the Leading shot tactic. This tactic brings +8% crit flat on crit to all the groupmates, including healers, which is very very strong (especially when we know the high number of procs on crit, for example in RP). As an AOE fighter, I give a nearly permanent +8% crit to my group.

In our build, this +8% crit stacks with +5% crit from KOTBS. So, there is a +13% crit for everybody, except the SW, as we do not benefit from the +8%.

So, of course, the price of this is one tactic slot and then lower dps for the SW and less DB (remains still really good). But imo what it brings is clearly really valuable in a wb meta. We ran some tests and our wb was really much more effective when having a leading shot SW in each group. Also, when lf a wb for cities, giving the information of AOE SW +8% group crit is close to magic

My build atm : https://builder.returnofreckoning.com/c ... ,3953,3952


One last question for you Swizz, what build (and gameplay style) would you recommend for ranked (solo) ? I would like to start to try ranked but I know that ranked are very competitive and that obviously my build won't be an option. I'm thinking about it but still haven't a clear vision yet. (Assault + scout ?)

mryay wrote: ↑Sun May 23, 2021 12:19 pm
If you are looking for a good guide I suggest checking Nidva's SW guide.

Hello.

Could you share a link to this guide?

Thank you.

Scout/Skirmish: Festershima
Info: Festering Arrow Build
Stats objectives: stack crit%/bal

RoR.builders - Shadow Warrior - Festershima

+2 Sov
RoR.builders - Shadow Warrior - Festershima

Alt build: switch either masterful aim or Instinctive Aim for Bull's Eye to increase your %crit.



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Scout/Skirmish: Hawk Eye
Info: Main Eagle Eye spec
Stats objectives: stack crit%/WS/bal
+40/70
RoR.builders - Shadow Warrior - Hawk Eye

+2 sov:
RoR.builders - Shadow Warrior - Hawk Eye

Alt: Pre Sov, you might want add more sustain with Keen Arrow.

between festershima and eagle eye, which is most performing in scenarios? i notice fester build eschew WS while Eye does not. is because we base all our output to fester arrow?

Greywolfamakir wrote: ↑Mon Jun 07, 2021 9:33 am

mryay wrote: ↑Sun May 23, 2021 12:19 pm
If you are looking for a good guide I suggest checking Nidva's SW guide.

Hello.

Could you share a link to this guide?

Thank you.

I pinged Nidva. He told me he is gonna publish a new one. The old one was already really good. So let's wait

wich one of these build do you think its better for leveling?