Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build Guide
Last Updated:September 30, 2024|Change Log
Welcome to the Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build Guide! This weapon combination is primarily a tank build that focuses on high amounts of Evasion, Health, and Damage Reduction to survive.
This build still outputs decent damage for being primarily a tank thanks to skills like Cleaving Moonlight, Thunderclouds Bombing and Piercing Attack. On top of this, with access to skills like Counter Barrier, Stalwart Bastion, and Shield Survival Technique you are incredibly tanky in any situation.
End Game Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build
If you're interested in PvP, check out our Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP Build Guide!
- High CC
- High Mobility
- High AOE DPS
- High Durability
- Low Cooldowns
- Low Range
- Gear Reliant
Skill Builds
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Take Cleaving Moonlight and Thunderclouds Bombing for consistent single target damage.
- Piercing Attack is another good source of steady damage on a short CD.
- A Shot at Victory provides extra burst to the build and also increases the damage of your other Sword skills for a short time.
- You take Lightning Throw due to its great synergy with Spectrum of Agony and the fact that it reduces the target's Defense.
Utility Skills
- Lightning Infusion provides synergy with Cleaving Moonlight and Thunderclouds Bombing while also reducing the target's Defense.
- Provoking Roar keeps mobs attacking you and also synergizes with Spectrum of Agony.
- Use Strategic Rush to reposition mobs, engage the enemy, and also as a mobility tool for yourself.
- Chain Hook is a great tool to reposition mobs and pull yourself to bosses. It also generates max aggro on a target, making it ideal for keeping threat on a boss.
- Counter Barrier provides great defenses to the build and decreases the Cooldown of Piercing Attack.
- Stalwart Bastion provides Damage Reduction to the entire team and is a great tool to survive certain boss mechanics.
Passive Skills
- Destructive Fang lowers the Defense of the target as long as you have applied Weaken: Thunderclouds.
- For a bit of added extra damage to the build, you take Assassin's Instincts and Wrathful Edge for Crit Hit and Crit Damage respectively.
- Spectrum of Agony provides steady damage when combined with your other DPS skills and also keeps enemies Taunted for the duration of its effect.
- Resilient Mind single-handedly solves your Mana problems in PvE.
- Morale Boost is a great tool to lower the Cooldowns of your abilities through skills such as Strategic Rush and Chain Hook.
- Impenetrable provides a solid Defense boost to the build at all times, only getting stronger the more targets you fight at once.
- Shadow Walker helps to provide situational survivability when procced. Keep in mind that this only activates with Dagger skills.
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Cleaving Moonlight, Piercing Attack, and Thunderclouds Bombing are taken for damage and to synergize with Thunder Spirit.
- Annihilation Blade adds a large amount of AOE burst to the build alongside boosting your other Sword skills.
- Lightning Throw is taken for its Defense debuff and the synergy it has with Spectrum of Agony.
- Take Shield Throw for additional AOE damage and added Heavy Attack Chance.
Utility Skills
- Lightning Infusion is taken to apply Weaken: Thunderclouds.
- Provoking Roar provides the majority of your damage in combination with Spectrum of Agony.
- Shadow Strike helps to proc the Shadow Walker passive and also allows you to move easier inside a group of enemies.
- Strategic Rush is used as a tool to group mobs and lower your Cooldowns with Morale Boost.
- Counter Barrier massively lowers the Cooldown of Piercing Attack due to the sheer number of enemies that you have hitting you.
Passive Skills
- Destructive Fang lowers the target's Defense as long as you have applied Weaken: Thunderclouds.
- For a bit of added extra damage to the build, you take Assassin's Instincts and Wrathful Edge for Crit Hit and Crit Damage respectively.
- Spectrum of Agony provides steady damage when combined with your other DPS skills and also keeps enemies Taunted for the duration of its effect.
- Resilient Mind single-handedly solves your Mana problems in PvE.
- Morale Boost is a great tool to lower the Cooldowns of your abilities through skills such as Strategic Rush and Chain Hook.
- Impenetrable provides a solid Defense boost to the build at all times, only getting stronger the more targets you fight at once.
- Shadow Walker helps to provide situational survivability when procced. Keep in mind that this only activates with Dagger skills.
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 for the Sword and Shield Dagger build.
- Upgrade the rest of your skills as you play the game.
PvE Gameplay and Skill Rotation
Opener
- Lightning Infusion
- Strategic Rush or Shadow Strike
- Provoking Roar
- Lightning Throw
- Piercing Attack
- Cleaving Moonlight x1
- A Shot at Victory
- Cleaving Moonlight x1
- Thunderclouds Bombing
- This rotation is designed to Taunt the boss as soon as possible, extend that Taunt duration with multi-hit skills, and dump out your burst damage quickly. After this, you should have no problems holding aggro for the entire fight.
- If you have high ping, you may not have time to weave skills in between the first and second cast of Cleaving Moonlight. It's fine to just use them both back-to-back.
Standard DPS Rotation
- Lightning Infusion
- Cleaving Moonlight x1
- Lightning Throw
- Piercing Attack
- Cleaving Moonlight x1
- Thunderclouds Bombing
- Your highest damage skill, Thunderclouds Bombing, relies on you getting 20 Thundercloud stacks from Lightning Infusion, Cleaving Moonlight and Lightning Throw.
- Keep in mind that using Thunderclouds Bombing consumes all Thundercloud stacks on the target to do bonus damage, but only gets the additional CDR from Cooldown ▼ when then target has 20 stacks.
- Piercing Attack isn't required to set up any special combos so spam it off CD.
Aggro Generation
- Piercing Attack
- Shield Throw
- Chain Hook
- Provoking Roar
- These are all skills you use to keep threat on a boss. Without high enough threat, the boss attacks whoever is doing the most damage, which most likely isn't you.
- While the other skills in this list increase your aggro greatly, Chain Hook maxes said aggro. This makes the skill effectively a second taunt to use just in case Provoking Roar falls off for whatever reason.
Defensive Options
- Shield Survival Technique
- Counter Barrier
- Stalwart Bastion
- Your main way of self sustain when doing dungeons is Perfect Blocking Fury Attacks.
- A successful Perfect Block heals you, grants you Damage Reduction and provides a % Max Health shield.
- Counter Barrier is mainly used for its increase to Shield Block Chance, which provides you with both defensive power as well as more damage through additional Heavy Attack Chance on Piercing Attack.
- Stalwart Bastion gives AOE Damage Reduction to your party and is best used to help survive certain boss mechanics.
Tips
- Before the pull, make sure to communicate to your party that you need time to get aggro on the boss. From experience, the average DPS player starts their rotation the second you move to the boss which can result in a "range check" where the boss shoots a special attack.
- When running dungeons, it's your job to gather mobs for the DPS players. Always try to be at the front and take care of any stragglers by repositioning them with Chain Hook.
- Save your Shield Survival Technique for blocking Fury Attacks. Spamming your block results in an empty stamina bar causing you to take more damage in the long run. The benefits of blocking Fury Attacks outweigh the damage you take from other types of attacks.
General AOE Combo
- Lightning Infusion
- Provoking Roar
- Thunder Spirit
- Shield Throw
- Lightning Throw
- Counter Barrier
- Piercing Attack
- Cleaving Moonlight x2
- Annihilation Blade
- Thunderclouds Bombing
- The main goal for this combo is to pull several mobs on top of you, Taunt all of them to get the bonus damage from Spectrum of Agony and AOE them all down.
- With a large amount of mobs on top of you,Piercing Attack gets a lot of extra Cooldown Speed from Counter Barrier.
- Use this whenever it's off cooldown.
Single Target
- Lightning Infusion
- Provoking Roar
- Cleaving Moonlight x2
- Thunderclouds Bombing
- Piercing Attack
- Most of the skills here have relatively short Cooldowns and are ideal for picking off stragglers after your AOE combo is finished.
Tips
- Farming large amounts of mobs at once can be quite dangerous. Be sure to use Shield Survival Technique to Perfect Block for your sustain.
- In the downtime between Cooldowns, make use of Strategic Rush in combination with the passive Morale Boost to get your rotation back up faster. Try to hit as many mobs as possible to get best value from the passive.
- The more tightly packed the mobs are when DPS'ing the easier it is for you to Perfect Block as well as land your AOE. Try to pin mobs to walls with Strategic Rush to periodically Stun them, making your life much easier.
Stat Priorities
Use the following stat priorities when playing a Sword and Shield / Dagger build in PvE:
- Primary Stat
- Strength
- Secondary Stat
- Dexterity, Wisdom, and Perception
You have 49 Stat Points you can freely allocate to any of the 4 primary Stats. Once you put 20 points into an individual Stat, it takes 2 points to increase the Stat by 1. Do not put more than 20 points into a Stat unless you are trying to reach a certain breakpoint.
You get bonuses for every 10 Stat Points you invest from 30 to 60. You invest your points based on acquiring these bonuses.
Consider Stat Points as a way to fine-tune your secondary stats, such as Attack Speed, Crit Chance, Evasion, HP, Hit Rate, and even CC Chance.
Mid Game
Once you start slotting blue gear pieces into your build, aim to get your Stat Points to the 50 Strength threshold for the 100 extra Heavy Attack Chance, with the remaining Stats going into Perception for the 5% Buff Duration..
End Game
With optimized end game gear, you can hit powerful Stat Point thresholds. We aim for 60 Strength for tmore Max Health and the the rest of your points into Dexterity and Wisdom for more damage.
PvE Gear Progression
If you're interested in PvP Gear Progression, check out our Sword and Shield / Dagger PVP Build Guide here!
Gear
Transition
Transition
Recommended
Solo Self Found
Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build
All these blue armor pieces are from the Story Codex Rewards. If you have completely different gear don't worry. You're not going to stay in this gear set for too long. You replace many blue armor pieces once you start doing Co-Op Dungeons. So don't trait any of your pieces until you look at the Early-Mid section of this gear progression.
Do not upgrade Special Resistance Tactical Armor. You should leave it at 0 for now.
You should do contracts immediately to acquire Contract Coins so you can buy Quality Lithograph: Weapons, Quality Lithograph: Armor, and Quality Lithograph: Accessories to craft Green Gear to complete Lithograph Book entries for Blue Gear.
- Make sure you have enough materials to craft by taking some contracts that reward you Rare Base Material Selection Chest and Rare Polished Crystal.
- If you happen to Crit craft an item (20%), sell the item on the Auction House for Lucent.
Gear Sources
- Berserk Charge Blade
- Shade Enforcer in Temple of Sylaveth
- Elite Resistance Knife
- Marksman's Arsenal
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Rustic Mother Nature Rings
- Elite Sharpshooter's Cloak
- Cloaks that Wield Victory
- Gallu Archer in Shattered Temple
Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build
This build is just a transition build using gear that can be acquired from doing your Co-Op Dungeons.
The goal is to hit 50 Strength for that extra 100 Heavy Attack Chance to speed up PvE. If you don't need that much Hit, consider moving points from Perception to Wisdom for more damage.
Dungeon Farming Priority
- Whatever blue armor pieces you wear don't matter for PvE, as they are placeholders until your End Game gear. Use whatever blue pieces you want.
- If you're curious, check it out in the End Game tab.
- Eternal Ring of Dimension
- Comes from Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest.
- Requires Dimensional Essence: Salvation.
- You need 10 Tokens from each Co-Op Dungeon to craft.
- Comes from Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest.
- Death's Abyss
- Karnix's Nether Sword
- Dark Destruction Iron Gloves
- Dark Worship Magic Gaiters
- Dark Warrior's Resistance Armor
- Darkness Distorted Plate Boots
- Dark Warrior's Visor
- Butcher's Canyon
- Duke Magna's Taunting Blade
- (Optional) Scales of Time Necklace
- Tyrant's Isle
- Specter's Frost Bracers
- Cave of Destruction
- Archpriest's Devotion
Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build
Your Mid End transition is where you start getting more Purple armor pieces. Some will also drop from Open World Dungeons.
Your Goals
- Target farm Purple Gear from Co-Op Dungeons.
- Craft Common Trait Unlockstone Bundle to unlock Traits for your gear.
- You want to hit 50 Strength for that extra 150 Heavy Attack Chance.
- You want 60 Perception for the extra Hit Chance.
Remember that Strength isn't a very good Stat investment until you can hit the 50 Stat breakpoint for the additional Heavy Attack Chance. Adding points to Dexterity and Wisdom at this point and then re-specializing your points into Strength later offers a smoother experience.
Gear Sources
- Shock Commander Plate Armor
- Precious Epic Equipment Selection Chest: Abyss
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss.
Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build
Alt Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build
As you approach End Game, you complete the build with Grand General's Victory and the Imperator Set. Field Boss loot takes a bit longer to acquire.
If you ever get Archboss weapons, you use them, but this End Game PvE build is more than enough to suit your needs.
Gear Sources
- Nirma's Corrupt Sword
Nirma
- Adentus's Barbaric Blade
- Adentus
- General's Fury Headgear
- Chernobog
- Grand General's Invincibility Gaiters
- Kowazan
- Gauntlets of the Field General
- Aridus
- Belt of Bloodlust
- Aridus
SSF Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build
- This setup allows you to acquire all the pieces yourself through grinding. You do not need to use the Auction House.
Guardians
Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds. These are the recommended Guardians for the Sword and Shield Dagger build.
- For PvE, use Shade Revenant Stheno as your primary Guardian of choice. It's the best guardian for dealing damage in an AoE and on single target, and for PvE that damage is all that really matters when it comes to guardians.
Summary
- Sword and Shield Dagger is an agile Evasion tank with great AOE damage potential.
- Is incredibly durable thanks to skills like Counter Barrier while also being able to dish out damage with Cleaving Moonlight and Thunderclouds Bombing.
- Be sure you are at the front of your party to gather mobs and engage the boss.
- Strength is your primary Stat of choice, with the other Stats just providing helpful bonuses.
Credits
Written by Grenton, Yaen, and Nymphellas
Reviewed by Tenkiei and Bloo