Welcome to the Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build Guide! If you played Archeage this is the Darkrunner of Throne and Liberty! 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 is high even while stacking large amounts of HP.
With the ability to engage from over 24m and having access to 2 Binds, 2 Stuns, and 1 Prone, there's nobody you can't lockdown and kill, making for the perfect Melee Assassin. Oh, and did I mention Precision Dash isn't even considered a Fury Attack so no pesky "Perfect Block" notices!
End Game Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build
If you're interested in PvE, check out our Greatsword / Dagger PvE Build Guide!
- High HP
- High Hit
- High Mobility
- High CC Potential
- High Heavy Attack
- High Skill Damage Boost
- Combo Oriented
Skill Builds
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Brutal Incision - This is the closest thing to an execute you have! Use it as a finisher after dealing 60-70% damage to your opponent's health!
- Guillotine Blade - This should be used almost exclusively after landing a Stun due to its cast time.
- Gaia Crash - Perfect skill to use after the initial CC due to the additional buffs you can gain afterward. For Large Scale PvP you can use the Skill Specialization Frost Cleaving for added AoE.
Mobility / Utility
- Precision Dash - This is a perfect skill to catch players from far away! Within a second, you can easily close a gap from over 30m away!
- Camouflage Cloak - Perfect for navigating the battlefield potentially unnoticed but also as a partial CC Cleanse!
- DaVinci's Courage - While this can be used offensively, you can also use it whenever you're low health for a quick emergency heal!
CC
- Stunning Blow - Fairly fast animation. Great to use after Shadow Strike.
- Ascending Slash - With enough Attack Speed, players with higher ping have difficulty blocking this when followed up directly after Precision Dash.
- Devastating Smash - This is your ranged Stun! This is one of the easier skills to dodge.
- Shadow Strike - Use this to setup your Stunning Blow because with decent Attack Speed, it can be hard for players to react and block in time.
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.
- Shadow Walker - This skill is perfect to help you increase your Ranged and Magic Evasion.
- 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 you to maintain high Critical Hit.
- Raging Frenzy - In almost all types of PvP, there are 3+ enemies so you can almost guarantee this is procced outside of 1v1's.
- Assassin's Step - This is a great way to assist in disengaging with the added Move Speed!
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.
- These are universal skills you use in all scenarios.
- Upgrade the rest of your skills as you play the game.
PvP Gameplay and Skill Rotation
Greatsword / Dagger has multiple different ways of securing kills. Your playstyle doesn't change too much between Large Scale and Small Scale PvP. In Large Scale your positioning is key! Getting caught out alone or before your guild engages can be very detrimental.As a potential engage, you can take advantage of the chaos and land AoE stun with Devastating Smash which can result in your group getting a big push towards winning the fight. In Small Scale PvP it's easier to spot the animation for the AoE Stun, these single target combos tend to be more successful.
Ranged AOE Stun Engage
- DaVinci's Courage
- Devastating Smash
- Frost Cleaving
- Guillotine Blade
- Increase your engage distance to over 24m+ away!
- First use Precision Dash to jump to the enemy frontline.
- Then use Devastating Smash to jump into the backline.
Single Target Prone Combo
- Precision Dash or Shadow Strike
- Ascending Slash
- Frost Cleaving
- Brutal Incision
- If these damage skills are on cooldown, use Death Blow and Guillotine Blade.
Single Target Stun Combo
- Shadow Strike
- Stunning Blow
- Valiant Brawl
- Death Blow
- Chain any of these combos after the other together when fighting tankier targets.
- Guillotine Blade is a great alternative skill to use when the target is stunned as well.
- Be careful of your surroundings because this skill does have a wind-up time.
Tips
- The Dagger's Weapon Wastery named, Master of Evasion gives you an additional 105 Evasion while you have a dagger as your active weapon. To capitalize on this bonus, set your dagger as your primary weapon during neutral portions of the fights.
- Combine skills from both combos to prevent being stuck waiting for cooldowns.
- Use DaVinci's Courage and Camouflage Cloak at your own discretion. Only you can determine when to use it offensively or defensively.
- Camouflage Cloak can still be used offensively, but be careful not to get yourself in a precarious situation when it's not up.
Stat Priorities
Use the following stat priorities when playing a Greatsword / Dagger build in PVP:
- Primary Stats
- Strength,
- Secondary Stats
- Perception, and Dexterity
At level 50, 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 49 Stat Points so that you can "respec" whenever you need to as you progress and swap out items. Above are the main Stats to prioritize.
You get bonuses for every 10 Stat Points you invest from 30 to 60. You invest our points based on acquiring these bonuses.
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.
Early Game
This gear is the same as your leveling gear. If you want to learn more about the leveling process, check out our Greatsword / Dagger Leveling Guide! Your first goal is to hit 30 Strength for the added HP. Next, you get 40 Dexterity for increased Weapon Damage and Attack Speed. After that, you can put the rest of your points into Perception to help with some added Hit. However, early on, most players won't have much Melee Evasion.
Mid Game Gear
Your first goal is to hit 50 Strength. Higher HP 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, Attack Speed, and Movement Speed. Then toss some points into Perception until you reach 40, this grants us increased Hit and Buff Duration which works on skills like DaVinci's Courage and Precision Dash.
End Game
At Purple Gear, you can reach all of our desired Stat Breakpoints. First, 60 Strength for the added HP, and Heavy Attack Chance. Next, 60 Dexterity grants increased Critical Hit with a decent amount of Attack Speed before using our buffs. Last but not least, 50 Perception gives increased Hit, Buff Duration, and Range which further increases the potential range of engagements you do.
Gear Progression
Early Game Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build
- Optimal blue gear is hard to trait early in the game launch. Green gear is much easier to trait offering better PvP gear for the early game.
Mid Game Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build
Melee Evasion Focused
Mid Game Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build
Ranged Evasion Focused
Trying to stack a lot of Melee Evasion can be difficult. While not everybody is properly geared, players who understand how to gear, or just Greatsword users who use Willbreaker, can have nearly 800-1000 Hit during the Mid Game. This is a substantial amount that could negate your Melee Evasion and render it almost useless. For these reasons, it's strongly recommend going the Ranged Evasion focused build since you can use Shadow Walker to further increase your Ranged and Magic Evasion.
If your server is filled with Melee users and/or players who don't know how to gear properly, Melee Evasion could be more useful. At this stage of the game, you want to have at least 1500 - 1700+ Melee Evasion to make it worthwhile.
- Slaughterer's Collar can be obtained by completing the Marienne's Recommended Necklace Collection in your Lithograph Book.
- Tycan's Bloodlust Belt can be obtained by using Substance Transformation. 1- 2 Hours of farming Open-World Dungeons can get you enough materials to do multiple Accessory focused Tier 2 Conversions.
- All other items in these builds are obtained from grinding either Open-World or Co-Op Dungeons.
No Rune Synergies or Resonance
With Rune Synergies and Resonance
- This build optimizes your damage output giving you increased Critical Hit Damage, and high amounts of Melee Heavy Attack.
- Your priority targets are Ranged and Magic users, so it's recommended to build defenses around them such as Ranged and Magic Evasion.
Alternatives
- If your server's meta is full of Melee users, you can use Melee Evasion builds such as this one.
Melee Evasion Alternative Build
No Rune Synergies and Resonance
Melee Evasion Alternative Build
With Rune Synergies and Resonance
End Game No Boss Greatsword / Dagger PvP Build
No Rune Synergies or Resonance
- This build's primary purpose is to allow you to PvP without using the Auction House or attending Guild Bosses. Everything here drops from Open World and Co-Op Dungeons or obtained through Substance Transformation.
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 PvP Builds
Guardians
Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds. You'll have a few options for Guardians when it comes to PVE.
- 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 find yourself struggling to survive.
- Pale Nemesis Hartach - This guardian allows you to go stealth after killing somebody within 5 seconds. This can be incredibly useful before you receive your Tevent's Massacre Blade to avoid aggro.
Gameplay
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 high amounts of Heavy Attack Chance, Hit, and Skill Damage Boost!
- Dagger's Passives allow you to have a high amount of Critical Hit and Critical Hit Damage.
- Precision Dash isn't considered a Fury Attack so you can bind somebody without the risk of them performing a "perfect block"!
Credits
Written by Bloo
Reviewed by Dredscythe