Carving Sword Solo PvP Build

Overview

Weapon: Sword

Focus: Melee DPS

Mode: Open World, Corrupt Dungeon and Mist (Solo)

Strengths

• High Burst Damage
• Versatile
• Easy to play
• Good Mobility

Weaknesses

• Easy to counter
• Low Self-sustain

This build is up to date for the November 6, 2024 Horizons Patch #1.

Overview

This Elder's Carving Sword build has is a very popular and straightforward build. It offers good mobility and quick burst damage that can take by surprise newer players. It remains highly mobile thanks to the use of Fearless Strike that not only offers you great mobility but also lowers an enemy's defense. The build performs very well in solo PvP scenarios like mists or corrupted dungeons while maintaining great mobility to run away from groups that try to gank you.

Equipment

Main Hand Weapon

Elder's Carving Sword

Head

Elder's Fiend Cowl

Alternatives ⇅

Cape

Elder's Undead Cape

Alternatives ⇅

Armor

Elder's Mistwalker Jacket

Alternatives ⇅

Shoes

Elder's Soldier Boots

Alternatives ⇅

Potion

Major Healing Potion

Alternatives ⇅

Food

Redspring Eel Stew

Keep in mind: Gear shown in this build is meant as a reference. Choosing the correct tier of gear is very tricky as there are many variables. Some of them being your budget, your spec and minimum Item Power requirements of your guild if used for ZvZ.

You should always check prices based on IP of the items. For example, a masterpiece quality 4.3 Elder's Cryptcandle could be cheaper while providing roughly the same IP as an 8.0.

Usage

Elder's Carving Sword

Heroic Strike — Your main damaging and mobility skill. Try to always use it on cooldown even if you have to use it on mobs or critters while chasing your targets. Every time you successfully hit a mob or a player, you will receive a Heroic Charge up to 3, increasing your auto-attack and movement speed!

Splitting Slash — This is your go-to CC skill and the skill you will use most when trying to catch and root people. The attack goes in a line and anyone caught by it will be rooted and receive damage.

Consider using Blade Cyclone for PVE encounters in the mists but you shouldn't try to use this in PVP. Keep in mind that the damage of Blade Cyclone is increased if you have at least 1 Heroic Charge.

Fearless Strike — Both a damage and mobility skill in one. You should use this to close the distance between yourself and fleeing enemies or to decrease enemy defenses so you can have an easier time killing them by following up with damage from both Heroic Strike and Splitting Slash. Keep in mind that the defense pierce is increased based on the amount of Heroic Charges you have. Try to use this with 3 charges if possible!

Deep Cuts — This passive adds a bleed to your target every 4 attacks and significantly increases your DPS. While Heroic Fighting is usually a good choice for swords, the Elder's Carving Sword doesn't rely as much on building charges before doing damage.

Elder's Mistwalker Jacket

Mist Cloud — Use this skill as your main defensive ability and to dodge high damage skills like Death Curse or Deathward Climax. You become completely invulnerable during this effect but you are also slowed down a bit during the duration and you can cancel it any time you wish but it normally lasts 5 seconds.

Balanced Mind — This passive not only increases your damage output but also provides a slight defense boost. Since every bit of damage matters for this build, it's an obvious choice.

Elder's Fiend Cowl

Purge — Use this skill to purge buffs off your target. Always inspect your target before using the Purge as you should try to remove the most important buffs when you see them. You mainly want to use this right as an enemy used their sprint, allowing you to maintain superior mobility and denying them the ability to kite.

Aggression — This passive increases your damage and even offers a small boost to your defense which is important as we have plenty of attack speed anyway.

Elder's Soldier Boots

Rejuvenating Sprint — This is one of the most popular runs to use and the Elder's Soldier Boots are equally popular choice for solo PvP. It regenerates a bit of your HP every time you use it and has a decently low cooldown while the Elder's Soldier Boots are quite cheap.

You can also try using Elder's Knight Boots instead as it offers you a bit of extra resistance and gives you a shield if you use the Shield Charge skill.

Toughness — This defensive option is preferred for a bit of extra defence but you can use Courier if you run out of weight and need a bit extra to carry more loot.

Elder's Undead Cape

Vanisher — Be aware that this automatically toggles on when your HP falls below 15% and it turns you invisible. There is no way to stop this from happening so do your best to not trigger this on mobs. You should use this to reposition or even fully retreat if you are losing the fight and want to save your gearset.

A more aggressive choice is either Elder's Thetford Cape or Elder's Avalonian Cape, offering you extra damage.

Rotations

Damage Burst ↴

• Use Heroic Strike to catch and stick on your enemy while using Splitting Slash to lock them down and force a fight, auto-attacking as much as possible to trigger Deep Cuts. You should use Fearless Strike as either a follow-up and defense pierce or to catch up with fleeing enemies while also doing good damage.

Consumables

Major Healing Potion — The potion allows you to sustain yourself while trading damage with your enemies. Its a great standard choice but you can also use Major Gigantify Potion if you are facing an enemy that has high burst skills.

Redspring Eel Stew — This is the best food to use as as it increases your damage and also lowers your cooldowns. However, try to use a 6.1 version which is much cheaper than a Deadwater Eel Stew with similar benefits.