Berserker - Sword + Dagger PvE Build
- High DMG (for a Tank)
- High sustain
- High mobility
- High skill ceiling
- Long cooldowns
- Off-meta
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
Strength
Dexterity
Perception
WisdomYour 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
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
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.
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.
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.
Weapon Masteries
| Provoke & Counter | Melee Defense |
 |
Health Regen |
|
Decayed Sword God |
|
Max Health |
|
All Evasion |
|
Impregnable Stance |
|
Buff Duration |
|
Damage Reduction |
|
Indomitable Spirit |
| Boss | Melee Hit Chance  |
|
Damage |
|
Undefeated Perseverance |
|
Max Health |
|
Stun Resistance |
|
Desperate Evasion |
|
Mana Cost Efficiency |
|
Melee Hit Chance |
|
Subjugator's Punishment |
| Collision | Max Health |
|
Melee Hit Chance |
|
Calculated Rush |
|
Damage Reduction |
|
Weaken Chance |
|
Steely Physique |
|
Damage |
|
Melee Defense |
|
Blade of Rage |
| Disguise | Ranged Defense |
|
Health Regen |
|
Debuff Immunity |
|
Mana Cost Efficiency |
|
Cooldown Speed |
|
Master of Evasion |
|
Buff Duration |
|
Ranged Defense |
|
Strong Will |
| Poison | Melee Hit Chance |
|
Off-Hand Weapon Attack Chance |
|
Enfeebling Terror |
|
Mana Regen |
|
Buff Duration |
|
Sorrowful Silence |
|
Mana Cost Efficiency |
|
Melee Hit Chance |
|
Shrewd Judgment |
| Assassination | Melee Critical Hit Chance |
|
Damage |
|
Ambidexterity |
|
Melee Critical Hit |
|
Cooldown Speed |
|
Deep Grudge |
|
Damage |
|
Skill Damage Boost |
|
Maddening Excitement |
Dagger: Max out Poison for cooldown speed then invest the remaining 6 points into Assassination for additional critical damage and off-hand weapon activation rate.
Sword: Max out Boss for extra defenses against all bosses while the remaining 6 points can go into Provoke & Counter to boost your shield block chance. It is generally better to invest the 6 points into Provoke & Counter first to get the shield block chance early on.
Rotations
- 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.
Comments
We are seeking an experienced Build Admin for Throne and Liberty with a deep understanding of the meta across most weapons and game modes. Get in touch with Galaxian on Discord if you're a good fit for the role or know someone else who is. This is a paid position.
