This build is up to date for the January 20, 2025 patch.
Overview
This Sword and Dagger build is designed for PVE and acts as a tank that does considerable damage through its dagger skills even though the build remains considered off-meta. It can do well in both open world and dungeons, dealing good damage to single mobs and allowing you to farm in the open world with ease. This is the perfect build for those looking for a challenge and a different approach to Throne and Liberty, playing a unique off-meta build over classic tanks like Sword + Greatsword or Wand.
Attributes
PRIMARY
Strength
+
Dexterity
SECONDARY
Perception
+
Wisdom
With the unique stats and attributes system in Throne and Liberty, it can be difficult to determine exactly where to invest your attribute points at each stage of the game. This is because gear pieces provide attributes just like leveling up does, meaning everyone will have a different number of attribute points depending on what gear they are wearing at the time.
Given this variation, it's best to reset your attributes regularly to adjust to the new gear you acquire. Aim to reach the achievement effects, which provide extra benefits at milestones like 30, 50, and 70 points.
Your attributes priority with this build should be strength and dexterity, as it grants you high max HP and improves your defensive stats, providing ranged, magic, and melee defense, as well as health regen. Your secondary priority should be wisdom and perception as they increase your cooldown speed and damage.
Skills
Depending on which Dungeon/Dimensional Trial you might run, consider using
Rare Roaring Steak,
Rare Thrilling Papillote, and even
Rare Scorpion Tail Fritters to make it easier and also deal a lot more damage.
After leveling, you should have enough books to level up all your damage skills like 
Cleaving Moonlight, 
Knife Throwing and 
Brutal Incision. Don't forget the taunt skills either as 
Provoking Roar and 
Shield Strike are very important for your performance.
Once you have all your skills upgraded to purple, you should be in a good enough place to not have isuses in PvE and deal good damage even solo while farming mobs. Make sure that you also invest into getting your 
Shield Survival Technique as it is one of your main defensive skills for any Sword & Shield Build.
With Passives, your main damage passives are 
Wrathful Edge and 
Assassin's Instincts while 
Destructive Fang is fantastic to boost your damage when attacking enemies affected by 
Inject Venom. Upgrading 
Spectrum of Agony to Epic would also increase the damage you do when using Provoking Roar but shouldn't be a main focus.
Equipment
Blade of the Resistance
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Primary
Daggers of the Resistance
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Mask of the Resistance
Max Health
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Deadeye's Cloak
Mana Regen
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
Heroic Armor of the Resistance
Melee Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Max Health
Gauntlets of the Resistance
Melee Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Mana Regen
Trousers of the Resistance
Max Health
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Glade Stalker Boots
Max Health
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Necklace of Clarity
Skill Damage Boost
Mana Regen
Bracelet of Conquest
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Violent Signet
Max Health
Skill Damage Boost
Buff Duration
Ring of Precision
Max Health
Skill Damage Boost
Belt of Deftness
Skill Damage Resistance
Max Health
These are the first items you should strive for through the leveling period as they are very easy to get and upgrade or trait as needed. However, you shouldn't try to trait these items too much as you won't be spending too much time playing with this setup before you start changing pieces into the Midgame. The green accessories however are very easy to trait as you can craft many of them quickly in order to get the correct traits so you should consider traiting them until you change into purples. The same goes for the blue ring as you keep it for a long time.
Karnix's Netherblade
Heavy Attack Chance
Max Health
Hit Chance
Primary
Lequirus's Wicked Thorns
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Elusive Hexweaver Hat
Cooldown Speed
Magic Evasion
Melee Evasion
Supreme Devotion
Mana Regen
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
Heroic Armor of the Resistance
Melee Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Max Health
Gauntlets of the Field General
Ranged Evasion
Melee Evasion
Added Attack Speed
Ruthless Enforcer Leggings
Melee Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Max Mana
Sabatons of the Field General
Movement Speed
Melee Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Clasp of the Conqueror
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Bracers of the Primal King
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Amber Dimensional Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Violent Signet
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Butcher's Belt
Max Health
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
This is the gear you should transition to once you're leveled to 50 and start grinding gear. It is comprised of gear you can get either from dungeons or by completing Litographs, they are relatively easy to trait up and you will spend most of the time wearing this set before advancing into the late game so traiting these items is very important and should be your main focus.
Nirma's Sword of Echoes
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Primary
Lequirus's Wicked Thorns
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Shadow Harvester Mask
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Cooldown Speed
Supreme Devotion
Mana Regen
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
Phantom Wolf Tunic
Max Health
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Gauntlets of the Field General
Ranged Evasion
Melee Evasion
Added Attack Speed
Shadow Harvester Trousers
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Magic Endurance
Sabatons of the Field General
Movement Speed
Melee Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Clasp of the Conqueror
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Bracers of the Primal King
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Amber Dimensional Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Band of Universal Power
Skill Damage Boost
Buff Duration
Mana Regen
Belt of Bloodlust
Max Health
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
While runes can be applied to different types of gear, you should make sure that you invest into the gear pieces that you plan on using for a long time. However, if the build you are using uses the same items between Mid Game and End Game, you can invest into adding runes to them as early as you get the items.
This is the current endgame gear you should aim for, and while it isn't easy to acquire, it offers great power without the need of acquiring archboss gear pieces. However, items like 
Tevent's Fangs of Fury or other archboss weapons are superior but difficult to acquire for the majority of players. If you do manage to get the archboss weapons for your build, feel free to use them over the weapons shown here.
Nirma's Sword of Echoes
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Primary
Lequirus's Wicked Thorns
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Shadow Harvester Mask
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Cooldown Speed
Supreme Devotion
Mana Regen
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
Phantom Wolf Tunic
Max Health
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Gauntlets of the Field General
Ranged Evasion
Melee Evasion
Added Attack Speed
Shadow Harvester Trousers
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Magic Endurance
Sabatons of the Field General
Movement Speed
Melee Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Clasp of the Conqueror
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Bracers of the Primal King
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Amber Dimensional Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Band of Universal Power
Skill Damage Boost
Buff Duration
Mana Regen
Belt of Bloodlust
Max Health
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
Nirma's Sword of Echoes
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Primary
Lequirus's Wicked Thorns
Heavy Attack Chance
Critical Hit Chance
Hit Chance
Shadow Harvester Mask
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Cooldown Speed
Supreme Devotion
Mana Regen
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
Phantom Wolf Tunic
Max Health
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Gauntlets of the Field General
Ranged Evasion
Melee Evasion
Added Attack Speed
Shadow Harvester Trousers
Magic Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Magic Endurance
Sabatons of the Field General
Movement Speed
Melee Evasion
Ranged Evasion
Clasp of the Conqueror
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Bracers of the Primal King
Max Health
Skill Damage Resistance
Debuff Duration
Amber Dimensional Band
Skill Damage Boost
Max Health
Buff Duration
Band of Universal Power
Skill Damage Boost
Buff Duration
Mana Regen
Belt of Bloodlust
Max Health
Debuff Duration
Skill Damage Resistance
Weapon Masteries
Sword
Dagger
You should be aiming to reach and unlock masteries (the corner nodes) as soon as possible as they usually make the largest impact in the build. While minor nodes shouldn't be forgotten, make sure to unlock masteries as fast as possible before spreading out and spending into less important nodes.
Artifacts
Greedseeker Talistone I
Damage: 10
Hit Chance
Heavy Attack Chance
Melee Heavy Attack Chance
Ancestral Armor Solarstone
CC Chance
Stun Chance
Bind Chance
CC Chance
Abyssal Beast Talistone III
Max Health: 1750
Max Stamina
CC Resistances
Healing Received
Abyssal Beast Talistone II
Defense: 200
Endurance
Magic Endurance
Magic Heavy Attack Evasion
Greedseeker Lunarstone
CC Resistance
Collision Resistance
Weaken Resistance
CC Resistances
Ancestral Armor Talistone IV
Max Health: 1750
Endurance
Magic Heavy Attack Evasion
Melee Hit Chance
Rotations
Boss Bread & Butter Rotation ↴
- Begin by buffing yourself with Inject Venom so all your attacks deal poison damage and later also boost your Brutal Incision damage. Engage the boss with
Shadow Strike and maintain aggro with Provoking Roar. Your DPS rotation begins with Knife Throwing to apply more poison and deal some damage while Shield Strike is used to continue controlling aggro followed by Cleaving Moonlight and Brutal Incision.
- This is your single target Dagger DPS rotation and can be used to clear out mobs and farm on your own. Begin by buffing with Inject Venom then transition into 2x Cleaving Moonlight followed by Knife Throwing to stack up Inject Venom stacks. Use
Piercing Strike then 
Annihilating Slash 2 times before using Brutal Incision to finish off the enemy.
Counter Barrier: Use this as you draw aggro and need to remain alive, it is your main defensive cooldown!
Strategic Rush: Main mobility skill, you can also use it to stun enemies by ramming them into terrain.
Provoking Roar: Couple this with Spectrum of Agony and another damage ability like Annihilating Slash for AoE damage into enemy groups.
Stalwart Bastion: Use it to boost yours any your team's defenses and to help with certain high damage mechanics that would otherwise wipe your group in a dungeon.
Camouflage Cloak: This is your get-out-of-jail-free card. You can use this to drop aggro or to move through a group of enemies without being detected. You can also use this in Death's Abyss to open one of the side rooms leading to the last boss while your team goes into the other room.
Other Berserker Builds
PvPEasyBruiserFrontline
PvPModerateBruiserFrontline
