[SwordMaster] Seeking advice for solo play and 2 hander

[Khotek]

So I would like to think I am confident with my performance with the SwordMaster class, I try to solo and do small scale and have great success running a dps build built around using a shield and 1 hander. I feel very strong fighting other melee classes and feel that the class does have decent burst damage for a tank. I guess I am at the point where I really want to try and make a 2 hander work and I have played around with the old school ether dance stuff and while the dps is pretty substantial in my opinion for a tank I really feel very squishy and have to be supported with a guard. Which is fine i mean cross guarding tank duos are a real thing and very strong under some circumstances.

I have also dipped off into going hoeth and vaul spec with a 2 hander and while my dps dropped I did have more surviability with the 2 hander but I felt i might as well be running my shield and 1 hander again as my dps did not pick up all that much considering what I gave up in the defense department.

I do believe that probably the most optimal set up for dps SM is with shield and 1 hander, as you still have good dps and the still have passive block and high parry, I just wish I could run the 2 hander and not be gimp for solo play. Maybe I am doing something wrong or could be a L2P issue. What do you fine gents have to say about it, any recommendations, any builds I should try out that maybe I am not seeing yet? Would love to take any advice. Or maybe I should not waste my time and continue with what im doing now because it works lol.

[Enyr17]

Well, I have literally ONLY used a 2hander on my SM since his creation, and over the course of hitting max level I have done tons of different builds, but there are a few consistent things about them.

As far as renown goes, Maxing Deft Defender, and Quick Reflexes nets you quite a fair bit of defensive stats, sitting currently at about 25% for parry, dodge, and disrupt. 30% parry if I have great weapon mastery slotted.

As far as Mastery goes, aside from the typical Khaine/Hoeth builds there's a few I tried that are quite alot of fun.
http://waronlinebuilder.org/#career=sm; ... 2:;0:0:0:0:
This is a Hoeth/Vaul build, picking up WW and CW making you an insane CC machine, while still outputting great damage. This build makes you a great duelist in the aspect you can outlast most enemies from having great natural disrupt, and our classes innate parry. If you feel casters are the least of your worries, you can ignore Calming Winds, and opt for Protection of Hoeth, which is by and large one of the best Normal balance abilities we have access too.

http://waronlinebuilder.org/#career=sm; ... 0:;0:0:0:0:
This is my Khaine/Vaul build I rock currently, having CW to set up a nice window you can unleash a taunted ED into always catches healers off guard. Way more damage focused, your're still decently tanky, but if you don't use EF and DT effectively (Spamming ED) you're gonna have a bad time. Key to this build is to keep BS up as much as possible and try your best to play in Improved and Perfect balance as much as possible (which you should be doing anyway.) Becuase the damage BS does in conjunction with a multi hit ability like ED is crazy strong, not to mention it being all spirit damage.

Which pretty much sums up a lot of points, you can't ignore things like EF and DT cause you have no shield, as they save your ass when your facing down 3 choppas and that one crazy SH who wants to melee. Also let's not forget WoDS, proper usage of this ability can really screw over enemy damage output, like having 100% parry with EF up.

Also, don't be afraid to try out different tactics/abilities, as they may just bring a build together. Things like Sapping Strike, Redirected Force etc.

[TenTonHammer]

Ok so lets flip the script for a moment, what advice do you have for some one whom is dueling a 2H sm?

Trying to fight through WoDS is hard

[Gachimuchi]

So I would like to think I am confident with my performance with the SwordMaster class, I try to solo and do small scale and have great success running a dps build built around using a shield and 1 hander. I feel very strong fighting other melee classes and feel that the class does have decent burst damage for a tank. I guess I am at the point where I really want to try and make a 2 hander work and I have played around with the old school ether dance stuff and while the dps is pretty substantial in my opinion for a tank I really feel very squishy and have to be supported with a guard. Which is fine i mean cross guarding tank duos are a real thing and very strong under some circumstances.

If you are stacking avoidance(like you should be) and if you aren't running focused offense(like you shouldn't be) and finally have capped spirit resistance, you should have no trouble at all surviving with 2H SM, which is easily the most survivable 2H tank in the game because of Wall of Darting steel. If you are Khaine/Hoeth you also get an on-demand absorb bubble. When you make the comparason of 2H vs SnB, you have to figure out what you gain from one or the other and weigh them appropriately. Going 2H swordmaster allows you to pick up substantial amount of extra damage and not losing that much defense because of the above.

I have also dipped off into going hoeth and vaul spec with a 2 hander and while my dps dropped I did have more surviability with the 2 hander but I felt i might as well be running my shield and 1 hander again as my dps did not pick up all that much considering what I gave up in the defense department.

You also need to factor in the extra auto-attack damage you gain with a two-hander. Mine crit for 800-900 regularly.

I do believe that probably the most optimal set up for dps SM is with shield and 1 hander, as you still have good dps and the still have passive block and high parry, I just wish I could run the 2 hander and not be gimp for solo play. Maybe I am doing something wrong or could be a L2P issue. What do you fine gents have to say about it, any recommendations, any builds I should try out that maybe I am not seeing yet? Would love to take any advice. Or maybe I should not waste my time and continue with what im doing now because it works lol.

For solo play, two hander IS better. Eagle's Flight + parry from items and renown make you invulnerable to melee. You will struggle against ranged but that's being a tank for you.

I don't really agree with Enyr's builds... any build using Whispering Winds needs to be in a premade group setting where you can make maximum usage of the cooldown reduction. Otherwise you're just gimping yourself not going for Ether Dance. The Khaine/Vaul one is one I have tested myself and it preforms very well. An added bonus is Crashing Wave actually hits harder than any other ability you have(Ether dance does more damage obviously but not in a single-timestamp). I personally find all % reduction AP tactics useless. I haven't tried balanced accuracy since SM is not really crit-dependent, I will some time in the future.

http://waronlinebuilder.org/#career=sm; ... 0:;0:0:0:0:

Vaul/Khaine build is basically the same, just swap bubble for crashing wave. Use Nature's Blade when you're in a group with KoTBs in Hoeth/Khaine spec and Heaven's Blade when you aren't. I tend to only use NB when I'm Vaul/Khaine. The DoT tactics are great, and irreplaceable. Same for great weapon mastery so everything else past that is gravy. I like Discerning Offense since it allows me to eat SnB tanks like they're a melee DPS. 10% block strikethrough from the 2H +10% more and +10% parry strikethrough is nothing to sneeze at.

[Enyr17]

I might try Discerning Offense for a bit, never really played with it before. As far as BA goes, definitely give it a shot man, keeping up Blurring Shock and you do a surprising amount of burst.

EDIT:Well you certainty were right about Adept Movements, didn't really notice the AP reduction at all really, the more you know!

[Etty]

As far as renown goes, Maxing Deft Defender, and Quick Reflexes nets you quite a fair bit of defensive stats, sitting currently at about 25% for parry, dodge, and disrupt. 30% parry if I have great weapon mastery slotted.

Thanks for the tip, been looking around for this information.

[Blackadder]

I'll hijack the thread a bit here, I hope it's ok.
I just entered T3 with my swordmaster, do you veterans recommend going up khaine straight away? Should I pick the tactics up now or wait? I use EA and rugged right now

[Mithdraz]

I personally went Hoeth, that armor buff plus the insta bubble really helped keep me alive to drop CC's on the bad guys, plus more time to spam my attacks.

[Blackadder]

Yeah, i started out with Hoeth, still have my shield, at least until I find a good 2hander. Not sure when to switch to Khaine (if ever?)

[anarchypark]

WoDS and GWM tactic
If u don't need one of these 2 skills SnB might better
SnB have both elements( dps ,tank ) same time
With 2h u have to turn on WoDS to become tank
and lost dps in that time
With luck u can parry/disrupt powerful attacks like KD,frenzy,sorc crit
then back to dps
Little bit stronger at one but not same time