Bladesworn - Power DPS

Part of the current metagame

Our curator decided this build is in the current metagame regardless of rating. The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Direct damage

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required:

This build was last updated on November 14, 2022 and is up to date for the November 29, 2022 game patch.

Overview

Bladesworn trades its second weapon set for a Gunsaber that combines ranged explosions with melee slashes. Most importantly, it gains access to the unique Dragon Slash burst skills - incredibly powerful single strikes that take a long time to prepare. As the Bladesworn is immobile this preparation, it can be challenging to manage against targets that move a lot, or can disrupt you. With so much of its damage loaded into the Dragon Slash, Bladesworn is incredibly strong if the player can perform them off cooldown, but even one missed Slash is a significant damage loss.

With Tactics, the Bladesworn can also provide some passive Quickness or Might generation for their subgroup, making them an excellent choice for filling in gaps in your boon uptime while still being top DPS.

Skill Bar

Axe/Pistol

Utility

Skill Variants

Healing

Depending on the encounter, you may find makes the opener more consistent, as it provides a bonus to flow generation for 15 seconds upon use. It is used in the same way as .
- In fractals, you can precast at a Mistlock then switch to to gain the benefits of both.

Template Code

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Specializations

Trait Variants

The grandmaster trait in Tactics can be used to fill in gaps in Quickness via , or Might via .
offers a different rotation that trades burst for better long-term damage.

Equipment

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Axe
Berserker

Pistol
Berserker

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

In strikes where the boss gets Exposed, or at Keep Construct, it would be more beneficial to swap the for a .
- In this case, you should swap your food to (or ascended versions)

Consumables

Food

or ascended versions

Utility

- for a cheaper alternative

Usage

Fierce as Fire Rotation

There are two openers you can use for Bladesworn. The higher damage opener immediately starts with Dragon Slash - Force, but requires getting into combat at just the right time to avoid having to delay later parts of the rotation. The other opener has a slightly delayed Dragon Slash - Force which allows a bit more time for flow to build up and makes it easier to line up cooldowns.

If possible, you can pre-cast Blooming Fire, Artillery Slash and Break Step to build up stacks of . Pre-cast both charges of , , an additional charge of , and your healing skill.

Burst Opener

Axe/Pistol 1

⇒ ⇒

Gunsaber 1

Dragon Slash - Force
Artillery Slash x2
Cyclone Trigger
Swift Cut ⇒ Steel Divide ⇒ Explosive Thrust x2
Cyclone Trigger

Axe/Pistol 2

Gunsaber 2

Dragon Slash - Force
Flicker Step back into melee range
Dragon Slash - Force
Spam all charges of Artillery Slash
Proceed to Loop

Regular Opener

Start on your Gunsaber.

Axe/Pistol 1

⇒ ⇒

Gunsaber 1

Axe/Pistol 2

Gunsaber 2

Dragon Slash - Force
Flicker Step back into melee range
Dragon Slash - Force
Spam all charges of Artillery Slash
Proceed to Loop

Loop

Use and off cooldown.

Axe/Pistol 1

⇒ ⇒

Gunsaber 1

Axe/Pistol 2

- only if you're fast enough that you have time

Gunsaber 2

Dragon Slash - Force
Flicker Step back into melee range
Dragon Slash - Force
Spam all charges of Artillery Slash
Return to start of Axe/Pistol 1

Video example (using To the Limit)

General Tips

Both openers follow the same broad structure as the loop, so learning the loop first might be helpful.
While charging , you can use Triggerguard to generate extra charges of , to ensure you are at 10 stacks for Dragon Slash - Force.
- If there is any danger of you getting interrupted while in , you can forgo this step so they are available for defence.
Dragon Slash - Force alone is over half your total damage, so it is essential not to delay . If necessary, you can skip some of the Axe skills in your rotation if it is already available.

Lush Forest Rotation

An alternate rotation uses to trigger frequent cooldown reductions and get in more Dragon Slashes. By trading in , your Dragon Slashes won't hit as hard and thus it is less bursty, but higher long-term damage. Due to the nature of Bladesworn, the better rotation will depend on which most reliably lets you finish a phase with a Dragon Slash. Very fast players will also need to ensure they are getting every trigger of they can so that skills will be off cooldown in time, but slower players may actually find it more forgiving. Finally, this rotation has no need to precast ammo skills which might be appealing.

Opener

Pre-cast both charges of , , and .

Start on your Gunsaber

Blooming Fire or Break Step to get an initial cooldown reduction
Dragon Slash - Force
Flicker Step back into melee range
Triggerguard after one second - casting earlier will not trigger due to the ICD
Dragon Slash - Force
Cyclone Trigger
- don't cast too quickly as it can cancel Cyclone Axe
⇒

Gunsaber Loop

Triggerguard - skip if using in Gunsaber
Dragon Slash - Force
Cyclone Trigger - only if was used while on Axe
Flicker Step - skip if using in Gunsaber
Dragon Slash - Force
Filler 2 - If fast enough, you will have a short amount of time before you can Sheathe your Gunsaber, so we fill it with DPS skills while also triggering once (by using whichever skill is at max charges). The number of skills used depends on whether was used that loop. Performed correctly, you should loop between the following three fillers:
1. Cyclone Trigger ⇒ Artillery Slash ⇒ Cyclone Trigger
2. Artillery Slash - on loops where no occurs
3. Artillery Slash x2 ⇒ Cyclone Trigger

Axe/Pistol Loop

⇒
Return to start of Gunsaber Loop

General Tips

Throughout the loop, you want to use off cooldown. Performed correctly, it should occur at the following times (corresponding to the fillers in the Gunsaber loop):
1. Immediately after
2. Just before
3. Skip a loop
Unlike the rotation, let reach maximum charges, then use both to trigger . You should always be able to do this just after using .
You want to let Triggerguard and Flicker Step reach maximum charges as well. This limits your ability to use them reactively, but you should still do so if it prevents missing a Dragon Slash.
- To help, you can use the cast time of to run back into position rather than relying on Flicker Step when it is used after

Rotation example

Bladesworn - Power DPS

Contents

Overview