[Swordmaster] Builds, hints and tips.

[Karl]

Hello all, what would be the best armor / jewels / weapons at this state of the game for a 2h sm?

I read a lot around but couldn't find a good answer from anyone

Thanks

Hiya mate, it's all about how you wanna play, kinda ☺
I'm 2h but not pure dps but tanky with some punch. I've got 3 piece anni, 2 piece ruin. Jewels are 3 piece Genisis (dps) and one INF reward. 2 h is Redwind.


K

[7rere7]

My giant post was deleted and forgot to save it.

Love SM. Hate feeling subpar. Still love spamming ether dance, Gusting Winds on Tor Anroc, and Wings-of-Heaven'ing across the battlefield.
Anyways.

-SM is extremely selfish and isn't a threat when running Path of Vaul/full tank. It doesn't have the group utility or tools for it, besides 3 sec kd (specced) and Dragon's Talon (Compare to Crippling Strikes please). Recommend a heal debuff, "Destroy Confidence"/strip 3 enchantments tactic from KotBS, or something else to help the SM be a threat S/B while keeping more inline with their in-your-face disrupt role even when tanky. One-trick pony WW bot isn't fun.

Black Guard, destro's selfish tank, has a significant armor debuff, tons of stat debuffs, a heal debuff, specced aoe snare, game's best super punt, and a CORE 5 SECOND KD, among a few other things. That is how you be a threat without needing group buffs or utility even when running full defense.

-1.4.9 SM and BO changes would be nice.

-A friendly leap for SM and BO has been brought up before. Would love it, and it would be a great trade-off for not having a super-punt. Would give SM a more unique role of being more immune to super punts or quickly get to the front lines where they should be.

Not against a positive utility upgrade for a SM but a heal debuff or a super punt / snare ....lets just give every class a heal debuff and super punt !

SM has enough single target utility : Moral decrease ....damage decrease -20% ,(without shield) . Against group a small aoe punt , blade enchantment stat steal !
SM's are spoiled 25% parry ability , spirit damage ignoring armor ,very good disrupt and parry tactics. Only tank with a 20% all healing increase and two tatics that give attacks less chance to be defended against ,(melts tanks )!

Blackguards have basic damage type ,deserving a heal and armor debuff ,not any different from a Ironbreaker !

[Infinity]

Having concentrated on PvE to boost myself to T4 as fast as possible, my renown rank was very low when I hit 40. I wasn't that effective using the regular Khaine Ether Dance GWM/BA build for 2h burst since my gear (precursor greens/Redwind weapon) and renown points were lagging so much I was dying too quickly to be useful, and while my ED burst was decent the setup required (WoH, Taunt, BS) often took too long in the face of Destro's one-million-melee train.

I've since respecced to this build: http://waronlinebuilder.org/#career=sm; ... 7:;0:0:0:0:

It's a wet towel build in terms of damage, going full utility/survivability instead. This has been useful in PuG scenarios since Order often lack a proper frontline. Dazzling Strike/Crushing Advance/Crashing Wave/Taunt are all excellent for annoying healers. Keeping up Intimidating Blow with the -25% crit tactic and Dragon's Talon on MDPS also helps a lot. Since staying alive isn't that hard, Wings of Heaven sees plenty of useage in all kinds of situations.

You won't top any damage charts, but you make an excellent flag runner/base capper in Scenarios because of how tough and annoying you are to pin down; that combined with the fact that many PuG teams completely ignore the objectives means I've carried a few to victory almost alone.

I still intend to return to loldps when I'm able to equip better gear and get Crashing Wave into the Khaine build via RR/set gear mastery points.

[DonCarlos]

Question: What interrups does a SM have?
I see:
* Taunt - as any tank
* Whispering Wind (if specced for)
Does:
* Crushing Wave (if specced for) or
* Gusting Wind
* Blurring shock (with forcefull shock tactic)
interrupt casters?

[blaqwar]

Forceful movement interrupts casts as long as the target actually moves (it doesn't have immovable). So yes, Gusting Wind and Forceful Shock will interrupt casts on a knock-back. Same with Crashing Wave and Whispering Wind, they will interrupt as long as the target isn't immune to CC. In addition to those both Taunt and Crushing Advance will always interrupt a target unless it's immune to interrupts (I believe Focused Mind makes you immune to interrupts? Not sure).

[worship]

Hi,

Can i ask 2 questions? Sorry if they were already mentioned here before...

First time playing SM, wanna go 2H:
1) Should i use any Weapon Skill stats as SM? Talismans, Renown, gear, etc? Or ignore this stat at all? What is the proportion of physical skills to Spirit skills in an average rotations at 40?
2) As a selfish solo 2H tank - who is more all-sufficient: BG or SM? Who feels better in pug RVR/SC in terms of damage+survivability?

Thanks.

[blaqwar]

1. SMs are one of the tanks that can completely ignore weapon skill because of how many of their abilities deal spiritual damage. There are only a few damage relevant abiltities that deal physical damage, most of them have a secondary effect and you won't be using them for dealing damage as much.

If you are a defensively focused SM with S&B a bigger portion of your damage will be physical since most of the defensive abilities (Vaul) are physical damage (Eagle's Flight, Intimidating Blow with Lingering Intimidation, Crushing Advance and Quick Incision from Khaine as well as Shatter Enchantment) but stacking weapon skill will still not be worth it and you should focus on survivability/STR instead.

TL;DR: Weapon skill isn't useless for SMs but definitely not worth focusing on in any situation.

2. SMs are indeed a very selfish tank, 2H or S&B, similar to BGs but at this stage of the game SMs have the upperhand over BGs, both as 2H and S&B (although tehnically BGs can be the most survivable tank as S&B in a weird kind of a durability focused spec).

SMs will do more damage when solo because they'll be dealing mostly spiritual damage and they can debuff spiritual resistance to 0. Using Ether Dance with Great Weapon Mastery, Balanced Accuracy, PE tactic, some crit and with the Blurring Shock debuff on a resist debuffed target is probably the most burst a tank can dish out right now at this Anni/Merc state of the game outside of morale abilities.

They'll also be more survivable in a group setting when using a 2H because of the core avoidance ability Wall of Darting Steel. When solo in PuG RvR/SC I'd argue 2H BGs can be more survivable because of their self-heal and potentially insane toughness, which help immensely when there's a lack of focus fire (typical for PuG settings). But I don't think that spec deals much damage even when 2H.

TL;DR: SM over BG right now. Maybe once BG mastery trees get tweaked a bit and more gear comes out the two careers will equal out somewhat.

[Thamor]

When I played live, SM's who specced for solo dps where the worst tanks. Whispering winds for party play. And best SM is with dps AM synergy, that is when both shine ^^

[worship]

TL;DR: SM over BG right now. Maybe once BG mastery trees get tweaked a bit and more gear comes out the two careers will equal out somewhat.

Thanks a lot! It seems that SM fits my playstyle well.

[shaggyboomboom]

Just got my SM to 40, running full ruin.
http://waronlinebuilder.org/#career=sm; ... 3:;0:0:0:0:
Either running rugged instead of PE or BA.

Opinions?