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!
- High Mobility
- High Damage Buffs
- Multiple CC Abilities
- Combo Oriented
- Longer Attack Animations
Skill Builds
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.
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.
- Valiant Brawl - While considered a damage skill, the Skill Specialization allows it to act as a buff too! Be sure to use it before any of your main 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
- Use Quality Marind Ore to craft Quality Passive Skill Growth Book and Quality Active Skill Growth Book
- Use Rare Marind Ore to craft Rare Passive Skill Growth Book and Rare Active Skill Growth Book.
- 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.
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're interested in PvP Gear Progression, check out our Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build Guide!
Story Gear for Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build
Do not sacrifice your Green Gear for your Blue Gear during the Early Game while leveling. Most often, it's easier to trait out Green Gear instead of Blue Gear during the early stages of the game.
If you can get Special Resistance Tactical Armor to +9 when you first reach 50, it is worth using in PvE. This item's effect provides more value than the traits that'd come with a Blue Armor Piece when it comes to PvE Content.
Mid Game 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 as you play the game.
- All of this gear aside from Tycan's Bloodlust Belt can be farmed in Open World and Co-Op Dungeons.
- Tycan's Bloodlust Belt can be obtained through Substance Transformation.
No Rune Synergies or Resonance
With Rune Synergies and Resonance
- This build optimizes your damage output by increasing your Critical Hit Damage and granting high amounts of Melee Heavy Attack.
- Some pieces here can't be farmed in the Open World or dungeons which means you need to get Boss Drops, use the Auction House, or target those items through Substance Transformation.
- Slaughterer's Collar can also be acquired by completing the Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection entry in your Lithograph Book.
- This set takes some time to complete, so take it slow! It's not a race!
No Rune Synergies or Resonance
- 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.
- You have to make use of the Substance Transformation system for Slaughterer's Collar, Transcendent Magic Ring, and Tycan's Bloodlust Belt but there's a 40% chance in Conversion Tier 2 for Epic Accessories.
WARNING - The following content is from the Korean version of the game, there is no release date for this content for the Global version. If you want to see what you need for the future, peruse at your leisure.
(**Read the warning!**) T2 Greatsword / Dagger PvE Builds
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