Bladesworn - Defense Bladesworn

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Strike damage and Sustain

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on August 14, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A new take on the old power Bladesworn build using the Defense traitline to gain some new tools such as Resistance on dodge and regain some of the Stability access lost through nerfs.

Skill Bar

Axe/Pistol

Utility

Skill Variants

Weapons

• Warhorn over Pistol is a good option when you are likely to face heavy condi matchups but don't want to give up the sustain of Combat Stimulant. Escpecially useful against condi reapers and rangers to remove movement inhibiting conditions.

Heal

• Mending offers better condi cleanse and a damage buff at the cost of considerably less healing. Consider taking Peak Performance on Strength if chosen.

Utility

Viable choices for the optional slot:

• Dragonspike Mine is a low CD stunbreak that also resets the CD on Dragon Trigger, which makes it work as a burst CD/mobility tool too.

• Banner of Defense increases your sustain and group utility. One of your better options against condition specs too and you could even combo some Resolution with Break Step (Gunsaber #5).

• Endure Pain is useful especially if you expect to be plussed by heavy burst specs.

• Balanced Stance is a stun break that adds on-demand Stability access to the build and even mititages strike damage, although not as well as Endure Pain does.

• "On My Mark!" is a utility that can be used if you are confident in only needing one stunbreak. Adds more value to Rune of Soldier and the vuln + reveal can help you secure kills.

• Stomp is a somewhat niche but very versatile utility skill that acts as stunbreak, cc and provides some stability access.

Elite

The elite can be changed out but not very strongly recomended as Tactical Reload provides alot of damage and sustain expecially paired with Combat Stimulant.

• Battle Standard can be useful when you expect to be mostly teamfighting.

• Rampage very powerful tool for sustain or kill securing when paired with Peak Performance.

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Specializations

Variants

• Restorative Strength works well with Combat Stimulant and has synergy with Might Makes Right.

Variants

• Stalwart Strength trades signficant condi cleanse for more stab access as well damage.

Variants

• River's Flow increases your survivability but lowers your mobility. Becomes objectively better when playing with Warhorn, as Warhorn's Swiftness uptime makes the current trait unnecessary.

Equipment

Axe

Pistol

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Equipment Variants

Rune

• Rune of Fighter retains the toughness from the Soldier rune but trades the group cleansing for higher damage and more Might stacking.

• Rune of Divinity offers higher HP and general tankiness on top of a mix of offensive stats.

Sigil

• Sigil of Energy over Sigil of Intelligence can be taken when playing as a side noder. Might Makes Right provides alot of endurance so this sigil is only recomended for beginers or using the lowest sustain variant of this build.

Usage

General

• The role of this build can vary based on what traits are taken and what is needed by your team. All variants have the ability to take 1v1s and contribute to teamfights, but the default version presented here is designed to be a duelist.

Dueling

• When playing as a duelist you have strong kill pressure in 1v1s and significant ability to survive outnumbered (depending on the matchup).

• Your best matchups are duelists that rely on blocks for sustain such as virtuoso, other warriors, rangers and vindicators. Bad matchups are ones that have heavy boon corrupt and cc such as condi reaper.

• Weapon and gunsaber abilities are mostly chip damage and can be used as you see fit to presure the enemy and sustain yourself. The most important source of your damage is gunsaber 3 and your dragon slash.

• Stalwart Strength means that when you cc a target with gunsaber 3 or dragon slash you will gain stability reducing the enemies ability to counterpressure and giving you a 10% damage buff for the duration of the stability. The best skills to use with this damage buff in descending order of priority are pistol 5, gunsaber 2, gunsaber 4, axe 2 then axe 3. This is your main combo and where most of your significant damage comes from.

• Dragon slash is not only a powerful offensive tool but a powerful defensive tool. The cc, healing and stability it provides means a quick dragon slash can provide you sustain and interupt the enemies attacks allowing you to counterpressure.

• While quick dragon slashes can be valuable the most damaging and effective ones come from those that are charged up for a long amount of time. In order to do this you must know how to make use of your defensive abiltiies while charging up. Your first ability to defend yourself is Triggerguard which applies 2 seconds of aegis. Should be used reactively to the first source of cc you see coming your way. Next if you have taken Brave Stride you can use Flicker Step to teleport close to the enemy and gain stability. If the enemy dodges use your dragon slash (force or boost depending on if theyre in range) when the dodge animation finishes. If they attempt to cc you use dragon slash when the cc animation is finished. If they do nothing continue charging dragon slash until you have a good opportunity to land it.

• Dragon slash can also be used to gain control of nodes. Endlessly charging a dragon trigger can make enemies afraid to enter melee range so if done on an enemy node may allow you to decapture it. Your ability to do this will be lowered as the enemies skill increases.

Teamfighting

• When teamfighting you want to be on the frontlines of the teamfight. You will likely be the tankiest member of your team and as such you want to be drawing the focus of your team so your squichier dps' can put in work. Additionally you want to be peeling for your teamates when they are under pressure either via cleansing their conditions or by ccing the enemies that are pressuring them.

• Dragon slash is an amazing tool in teamfights that disrupts the enemies pressure that should be used almost off cooldown.

• Teamfights can often be a good situation to get a significanlty charged dragon slash in. When you are not under focus and your team isn't in huge danger charging a slash out of sight of the teamfight or out of range of the enemies damage can provide you massive prescence and even win you the fight.

• If you have support pay attention to when they give you stability as this is your chance to unleash massive damage through weapon skills or by charging a big slash (watch out for boon corrupt though!).

Sustain

• The following applies for both teamfighting and dueling.

• Your sources of sustain will vary based on the variant of the build you choose. All versions will gain sustain from using their dragon slash via Adrenal Health so you should use your dragon slash as often as possible. This means you shouldnt be overly worried about fully chargign it but isntead recongise the situations in which a charged dragon slash is possible and when it is instead better to use a lowly charged slash.

• When under pressure Cyclone Trigger is a very valuable skill. It gives you aegis and blocks projectiles allowing you to escape to a kite spot when heavily focused. The ability to regain a charge of this ability with Tactical Reload is a key reason why I recomend this elite option even when not using Combat Stimulant.

• Unshakable Mountain is an incredible source of sustain that allows you to sustain yourself via the use of offensive abilities. This skill means that you should not worry about overusing or spamming skills (Within reasons) as it gives you substantial amounts of barrier. This skill allows you to trade damage with enemies while your health pool remains mostly untouched.

• Condition cleanse is gained via the variations in the build discussed above. You must be intuitive in understanding the matchups you will face and what skills will be most useful. For example, when you do not trust your team and expect to be outnumbered for a long time Combat Stimulant is an incredible source of healing. As such if expect to be in this situation and needing additional cleanse then take warhorn offhand.