If you are starting to reach the mid-late game, you're going to want to start thinking about builds and how you can optimize your character to deal with the harder challenges in the game, such as Deep Desert PVE.
One build that is extremely powerful is this Swordmaster-focused build. It's so good that I've been using this build to solo-clear group content in the Deep Desert.
The great thing about this build is that you can actually get the weapon (which is integral to the build) for free!
Quick Links:
- Overview & Playstyle
- Strengths & Weaknesses
- Weapons, Armour & Equipment
- Abilities, Techniques & Skills
Overview & Playstyle
As the name suggests, this build will turn you into a heavily armoured sword-wielding warrior. This is not a nimble ninja build, but we will still have excellent mobility thanks to the Abilities and Passives we take later.
The build involves constant movement, waiting until you have the right opportunity to move in on your next target with a Knee Charge or Shigawire Claw. The build relies heavily on the use of stagger Abilities to allow us to close the gap on heavily armoured enemies.
Because we are using Heavy Armour, we will try and maximise movement and manoeuvrability from our Abilities rather than from Dash (which will cost a lot of stamina) but don't be afraid to use it if required.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Extremely high single target damage
- Highly effective against shields when piloted correctly
- Tanky thanks to Heavy Armour
- Great manoeuvrability despite Heavy Armour
- Excellent for PVE content
Weaknesses
- Difficult to play & master
- Requires constant movement and excellent use of Abilities
- Groups of enemies can be challenging, especially when they include flamethrower mobs
- Highly stamina-dependent, need to manage resources carefully
Weapons, Armour & Equipment
Melee Weapon - Jolt-sword
Absolutely central to this build is of course your melee weapon, the Jolt-sword. The great news is that you can obtain this weapon for free by completing the Swordmaster Advanced Trainer quest line. You'll receive it as a reward when you complete the final quest.
The reason we use this is because the Jolt-sword has silly damage. It does 110.2 damage per hit which is only slightly below the damage dealt by the Regis Sword (127.0) which is the highest tier sword you can craft in the game. Obviously if you have the Plastanium Ingots and Spice Melange to craft the Regis Sword, use that instead, but for most people that aren't yet at the end-game, the Jolt-sword will be your weapon of choice.
The other reason the Jolt-sword is so good is that it's unique ability provides a small stamina boost on parry, and stamina is critical to this build.
Ranged Weapon: Drillshot FK-7
The Drillshot FK-7 is one of the best ranged weapons in the game because it has very little downsides. It has high damage, high range and it can pierce shields. It's only downside is that you will need to reload often due to the chamber size (2) and it is costly if you miss your shots.
Anyway, we won't be using our ranged weapon much, but it can be useful if you are fighting against large clumped up groups and you want to thin the ranks a little - maybe by taking out the flamethrower enemy from a distance.
Craft the highest tier version of this weapon that you can.
Armour
We're going to be using Heavy Armour for this build which might seem counterintuitive for a melee, sword-based build. However, the Heavy Armour provides incredible survivability and gives us a much greater margin of error for when we get staggered or concussed.
This armour will make our dashes expensive, so where possible try and make use of your Abilities to move around the battlefield, but don't be afraid to dash if you do need to get to safety. Finally Heavy Armour obviously provides no heat protection so make sure you are stocked up with plenty of water at all times!
Equipment & Other
There's only a few of core pieces of equipment you need for this build and these are the same for any build really, as follows:
- Full Suspensor Belt
- Holtzman Shield (highest tier you can craft)
- Power Pack (highest tier you can craft)
The Full Suspensor Belt is essential for general movement and navigating combat situations.
I probably don't need to tell you how important the Holtzman Shield is but this is critical for survivability. The higher the level of the Power Pack, the faster our power is generating for our shield.
As with all builds, make sure you always have:
- Water (highest tier Literjon you can craft and keep it stocked up)
- Medkits (or bandages will do otherwise)
- Vehicle Fuel Cells (try and keep at least 2 full vehicle fuel cells with you at all times)
Abilities, Techniques & Passive Skills
Your Abilities, Techniques & Skills are what really allows this build to shine.
You can check out our Swordmaster and Trooper Advanced Trainer quest guides if you haven't completed them already. They'll allow you to upgrade your skills to Level 3 once you get around half way through each quest chain.
Naturally how many points you are able to deploy will depend on your level in the game, so just upgrade each of the central abilities and passive skills to the highest level you can, and keep upgrading them as you go.
Abilities
Core Abilities:
- Swordmaster (The Way Tree) - Knee Charge
- Swordmaster (The Blade Tree) - Eye of the Storm
- Trooper (Tactical Tech) - Shigawire Claw
All of these abilities are critical for the build. Most critical is Knee Charge. This build is our primary gap closer, but it also staggers the enemy and at Level 3, deals a huge amount of damage (325). You will want to get this to Level 3 as fast as possible for the higher damage and reduced cooldown (10 seconds at level 3).
Shigawire Claw is excellent for mobility and either closing the gap, or escaping, but it also staggers enemies to allow for us to break through shields with a charged melee attack.
Eye of the Storm deals out huge damage that can be enough to burst through enemy shields. Against unshielded enemies it is usually enough to one-shot them.
Techniques
Core Techniques:
- Swordmaster (The Way Tree) - Disciplined Breathing
- Swordmaster (The Blade Tree) - Dance of the Blades
- Swordmaster (The Will Tree) - Thrive on Danger
Disciplined Breathing increases our stamina recovery by 20% when at max level, this is huge considering this is a stamina-dependent build.
Dance of Blades is pretty self-explanatory. We get a 20% damage boost (at level 3) for 10 seconds after killing an enemy with a blade. This makes dealing with groups of enemies much easier.
Thrive on Danger is our survival/defensive Technique. When our health is low we get significantly enhanced health regeneration but more importantly 30% lower stamina costs and 50% reduced poise damage - making it much easier for us to escape.
Passive Skills
We are going to want the following passive skills, in order of importance:
- Swordmaster (The Blade) - Long Blade Damage (+15% long blade damage)
- Swordmaster (The Way) - General Conditioning (+20% max stamina)
- Swordmaster (The Way) - Optimized Hydration (+25% hydrated stamina bonus)
- Bene Gesserit (Body Control) - Vitality (+55 max health)
- Swordmaster (The Blade) - Blade Damage (+9% blade damage)
- Bene Gesserit (Weirding Way) - Blade Damage (+9% blade damage)
- Swordmaster (The Way) - Field Medicine (20% Healkit instant regen bonus)
- Bene Gesserit (Body Control) - Self Healing (+30% healing effectiveness)
- Swordmaster (The Will) - Solid Stance (9% reduced poise damage)
- Swordmaster (The Way) - Prescient Strike (double attack after ability) (requires Prescience/Spice activation)
Good luck out there!
