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Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build Guide

Last Updated:November 17, 2024|Changelog

Welcome to the Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build Guide! Greatsword / Dagger at first glance may seem like just another Bruiser archetype however, thanks to passive skills like Vital Force and Cold Warrior its damage output can be high, closer to a Melee Assassin.

Once fully built, Greatsword / Dagger can reach over 300 Skill Damage Boost and 500+ Heavy Attack Chance!

Combining the increased damage from a Greatsword's skills with the increased Critical Hit and Critical Damage from Dagger's skills, you have no problem keeping up in DPS alongside other weapons.

End Game Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build

If you're interested in PvP, check out our Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build Guide!

Pros
  • High Mobility
  • High Damage Buffs
  • Multiple CC Abilities
Cons
  • Combo Oriented
  • Longer Attack Animations

Skill Builds

Some skills appear different in the Tooltip due to its Skill Specialization.

  • Frost Cleaving = Gaia Crash
  • Lightning Infusion = Inject Venom
  • Cruel Smite = Valiant Brawl
  • Thunderclouds Bombing = Brutal Incision
  • Thunder Spirit = Umbral Spirit

Active Skills

Damage Skills

  • Death Blow - This is best used after any skills that grants additional Skill Damage Boost to maximize your Damage.
  • Guillotine Blade - This is the heaviest hitting skill in your kit!
  • Cleaving Moonlight - This is your spammable damage skill. Don't use the 2nd attack of it so that you can maintain the Attack Speed buff.
  • Thunderclouds Bombing - One of your heaviest hitting skills, be sure the target has 20 stacks of Thunderclouds before using this skill.
  • Valiant Brawl - The skill specialization Cruel Smite adds an additional AoE attack.

Buffs/Debuffs

  • Lightning Infusion - This is needed to gain increased Critical Hit against a target due to passives and to increase the damage of some of your Dagger's damage Skills.
  • DaVinci's Courage - This should be used off cooldown every chance you get!
  • Willbreaker - This debuff allows everybody in the party to increase their damage on a target. Perfect for Challenge Modes when you're up against the clock!
  • Stunning Blow - You should always use this skill before your major damage skills due to the added Skill Damage Boost from the Skill Specialization.

Passive Skills

  • Vital Force - Greatsword builds tend to lean towards having higher Health, so you get the best of both worlds. Tankier and more damage thanks to this passive!
  • Cold Warrior - With the combination of Stunning Blow this passive is a no brainer!
  • Robust Constitution - This synergizes well with Vital Force.
  • Murderous Energy - When you're using Lightning Infusion it only makes sense to increase your DPS by using this skill.
  • Wrathful Edge - Dagger allows for high Critical Hit, so there's no reason not to take this.
  • Assassin's Instincts - Because you're sacrificing some Dexterity Stat Points for increased Health and Heavy Attack in Strength, this helps maintain high Critical Hit.
  • Destructive Fang - This skill works well with Lightning Infusion since your uptime on Thunderclouds is almost 100%.
  • Assassin's Step - This can be replaced with Victor's Morale for increased Mana Regeneration when killing mobs in the Open World.
  • Victor's Morale - This can be replaced with Assassin's Step when fighting monsters in the Open World and also helps with Mana Regeneration when killing Bosses that'd normally take some time.

Skill Prioritization

  • This is a general list of skills used across all forms of content that's recommended to upgrade.
    • Should there be a skill here that you don't ever plan to use in your build, skip it.
  • Use Quality Skill Growth Books to upgrade your skills from Green to Blue in the order shown below. Once all skills below are Green, use the rest on other skills used in the builds above.
  • Use Rare Skill Growth Books to upgrade your skills from Blue to Purple in the order shown below. Once all skills below are Blue, use the rest on other skills used in the builds above.
  • Prioritize getting all these skills to blue first before getting them to purple. These are universal skills you always use.
  • Upgrade the rest of your skills as you play the game.

Active Skill Priority

Passive Skill Priority

PvE Gameplay and Skill Rotation

Greatsword / Dagger revolves around rotating your buffs into your DPS skills. Daggers have higher Attack Speed, so keeping them out may allow you to get additional attacks off in-between skills.

Bosses/Dungeon Mobs

Buff Phase

  • DaVinci's Courage
  • Thunder Spirit
  • Lightning Infusion

Damage Phase

  • Willbreaker
  • Frost Cleaving
  • Stunning Blow
  • 2nd Hit of Lightning Infusion
  • Fatal Stigma
  • Death Blow
  • Guillotine Blade
  • Thunderclouds Bombing
  • Cleaving Moonlight
  • Valiant Brawl

Tips

  • Use your buffs whenever they come back up to ensure the highest possible damage output on your damage skills.
  • Be sure to have 20 stacks of Thunderclouds before using Thunderclouds Bombing to maintain the highest damage possible.
  • Having high Attack Speed allows you to get your damage off quicker because it lowers the time of the animations resulting in more skill activations per second.
  • Against regular mobs, you can just use one or two buffs into a damage skill to kill.

Stat Priorities

Use the following stat priorities when using this Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build Guide:

  • Primary Stat
    • Strength
  • Secondary Stats
    • Dexterity and Perception

You have 49 Stat Points to distribute however you see fit, and gear gives additional stat points that you cannot change. It's free to reset the Stat Points so that you can "respec" whenever you need to as you progress and swap out items. Above are the main Stats you should prioritize with the given builds in this Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build Guide.

Greatsword / Dagger gains a number of buffs when stacking HP. The Greatsword's skills and passives also allow you to reach high amounts of Heavy Attack Chance. Due to these reasons, Strength is one of the most valuable Stat Attributes to stack.

Mid-Game

Your first goal is to hit 50 Strength. We care mainly about increased Damage so getting 50 Strength does that with higher HP which synergizes with Vital Force. 50 Strength also increases your chances of Heavy Attacks. 50 Dexterity is your next step so that you can reach a high amount of Critical Hit and Attack Speed if you have some Rune Synergies on your accessories. Without Rune Synergies, you're capped at 49 Dexterity which is okay because you still have high Critical Hit. Then toss some points into Perception until you reach 40, this grants increased Buff Duration which works on skills like DaVinci's Courage and Precision Dash.

End Game

With Purple Gear in the End Game, we can reach all of our desired Stat Breakpoints. 60 Strength for the added HP, and Heavy Attack Chance. 60 Dexterity grants increased Critical Hit, Bonus Damage, and high amounts of Attack Speed before using our buffs. 40 Perception grants increased Buff Duration so it's worth taking, and then if you get extra points, you can toss them into Wisdom until you get around 29 - 30 Wisdom for increased Mana and Maximum Weapon Damage.

Gear Progression

If you plan on PvPing in the future, just use the PvP gear shown in our Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build Guide for PvE. Unless you're going for record clears, you can use the PvP gear to clear all content.

Early Game
Early - Mid Game
Transition Build
Mid - End Game
Transition Build
End Game Build
No Field Boss
Alternative Build

Story Gear for Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build

If you followed our Leveling Guide for Greatsword / Dagger, you may have some of these pieces already.

Most of this gear is replaced very quickly so don't stress too much and just use whatever you've got to work towards the Mid Game builds.

Early - Mid Game Transition
Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build

As you progress further into the game, you gather more gear with additional Stats to boost your raw damage. It's also more costly to trait due to the low supply in the early game.

You might find yourself still using green accessories and know THAT'S OK.

Slowly transition to Blue Gear or Dungeon Gear as you play the game and get the drops.

Gear Sources

  • Elite Resistance Broadsword or Elite Resistance Knife  is obtained from the Main Story Quest.
    • Whichever one wasn't obtained, can be receive by completing their Lithograph Book entries.
      • Bigger, Better Greatswords
      • Sharp Blades that Cut Through Darkness
  • Elite Resistance Visor
    • Chapter 6 Main Story Quest Reward
    • Complete Overhead Protection Lithograph Book entry
    • Sandworm in Sandworm Lair
    • Orc Brawler in Fonos Basin
  • Elite Gladiator's Cloak
    • Orc Spearmaster in Akidu Valley
    • Living Armor Foot Soldier in Syleus's Abyss 3rd and 4th Floor
  • Dark Destruction Iron Gloves
    • Death's Abyss Co-Op Dungeon
    • Cave of Desperation Co-Op Dungeon
  • Special Resistance Tactical Armor
    • Chapter 10 Main Story Quest Reward
    • Gallu Archer in Shattered Temple
    • Complete Armor of Unfaltering Protection Lithograph Book entry
  • Elite Resistance Leather Pants
    • Chapter 8 Main Story Quest Reward
    • Complete Slayers' Reliable Pants Lithograph Book entry
    • Hermit Crab in Daybreak Shore
    • Kotori in Purelight Hill
  • Moonlight Grace Leather Boots
    • Chapter 9 Main Story Quest Reward
    • Complete Power that Pushes Through Lithograph Book entry
    • Specter's Abyss Co-Op Dungeon
    • Cave of Destruction Co-Op Dungeon
    • Sluggish Zombie in Ruins of Turayne
  • Lethal Fortune Ring
    • Complete Rustic Mother Nature Rings Lithograph Book entry
    • Cursed Wasteland Co-Op Dungeon

Mid - End game Transition
Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build

  • This build is just replacing older gear with T1 Epic items that are found in Co-Op Dungeons and/or completing Lithograph Book entries.

Gear Sources

  • Focusing on obtaining Weapons first will be a huge upgrade in Damage.
    • Magnaduke's Berserk Blade
      • Butcher's Canyon Co-Op Dungeon
    • Lequirus's Thorny Edge
      • Cave of Destruction Co-Op Dungeon
    • If luck isn't on your side just craft them with Dimensional Essence: Salvation Tokens by doing all the T1 Dungeons.
      • Each Weapon requires 2 of these to craft.
  • Eternal Ring of Dimension
    • Craft Recipe: Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
  • Archpriest's Devotion
    • Cave of Destruction Co-Op Dungeon
  • Plate of the Field General
    • Death's Abyss
  • Specter's Frost Bracers
    • Tyrant's Isle Co-Op Dungeon
  • Clasp of the Conqueror
    • Craft Recipe: Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss

End Game
Greatsword / Dagger Build

  • This build optimizes your damage by increasing Critical Damage and the frequency of Melee Heavy Attacks.

Gear Sources

  • Adentus's Barbaric Blade
    • Drops from Adentus Field Boss
  • Unshakeable Gold Ring
    • Demonhoof Trackers in Syleus's Abyss 5th and 6th Floor
  • Tycan's Bloodlust Belt
    • Drops from Aridus Field Boss
  • Reaper's Black Mask
    • Drops from Adentus Field Boss
  • Breeches of the Executioner
    • Drops from Abyss Specter in Shadowed Crypt
    • Craft Recipe: Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Shadow
  • Shadow Harvester Grips
    • Temple of Slaughter Co-Op Dungeon

End Game
Greatsword / Dagger Build

  • This setup allows you to acquire all the pieces yourself through grinding. You do not need to use the Auction House or be in a guild for any of these items.

Gear Sources

  • Butcher's Belt
    • Butcher's Canyon Co-Op Dungeon
  • Heavenly Arbiter Mask
    • Butcher's Canyon Co-Op Dungeon
  • Reaper's Concealing Shroud
    • Avolos Trackers in Sanctum of Desire
  • Ebon Roar Greaves
    • Temple of Slaughter Co-Op Dungeon

Guardians

Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds.

  • Lady Knight Kamarshea - This guardian lowers your cooldown while also giving you a damage shield equal to 50% of your maximum Mana. This is a strong defensive guardian whenever you're struggling to survive.
  • Shade Revenant Stheno - This guardian launches projectiles every second that can Crit and Heavy Attack! Since you're stacking so much Heavy Attack Chance, it's a clear decision to choose this Guardian!

Summary

  • Greatsword / Dagger allows you to play like a Bruiser and/or a Melee Assassin in Throne and Liberty!
  • Greatsword's skills allow you to stack very high amounts of Heavy Attack Chance, Hit, and Skill Damage Boost!
  • Dagger's Passives allow you to have a high amount of Critical Hit.
  • You gain increased damage even when stacking HP thanks to Vital Force.

Credits

Written by Bloo
Reviewed by Dredscythe

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