Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP Build Guide

Last Updated:September 30, 2024|Change Log

Welcome to the Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP Build Guide. The Sword and Shield paired with a Dagger creates a flexible and powerful build in Throne and Liberty, ideal for players who want to combine strong defenses with agile, high-damaging attacks and engages.

With the Sword and Shield, you can group enemies with abilities like Strategic Rush or Chain Hook creating chaos on the battlefield by disrupting enemy raids and forcing them to react to your movements. The Dagger adds an element of surprise with skills like Camouflage Cloak, Shadow Escape, Block Blade, and Assassin's Step, allowing you to make quick, sneaky attacks that can catch enemies off guard.

This combination gives you the versatility to hold the frontline, soak up damage and control engagements with skills like Shadow Walker, Phantom Smokescreen, Stalwart Bastion, Counter Barrier, Skillful Evasion, and Impenetrable. Meanwhile, Immortal Pride, Gerad's Patience, and Aegis Shield increase make you hard to kill. Whether starting a fight from the front or diving into the heart of an enemy raid, this build allows you to switch between defense and offense. This is perfect for outmaneuvering opponents and breaking up enemy formations.

End Game Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP Build

If you're interested in PvE, check out our Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build Guide!

Pros

Stealth
High Mobility
High Survivability
High Single-Target Burst

Cons

Low AoE CC
Low AoE DPS
Harder to Learn
High Burst Combo Cooldown

Skill Builds

Large Scale PvP

Small Scale PvP

Small Scale PvP VS Bow

Active Skills

Block Skills

Use Shield Survival Technique to restore Health while blocking and significantly increase your Damage Reduction while in Block stance. This Block synergizes well with a high Damage Reduction Stat to greatly reduce multi-hit attacks.

Damage Skills

Cleaving Moonlight is used as a small AoE ability when engaging.
Brutal Incision delivers a powerful blow when enemies are below 50% Max Health. Weave it towards the end of your burst combo.
Annihilating Slash is a strong AoE attack that also reduces enemies' Movement Speed by 60%.
- When used after Provoking Roar, you deal increased damage since Provoke counts as a Weaken.
Strategic Rush does fantastic AOE damage when combined with Counter Barrier reducing its Cooldown.

Utility Skills

Camouflage Cloak allows for sneak engages where enemies don't see you coming, and it helps you back out of a fight if needed.
Phantom Smokescreen blocks all Melee, Ranged, and Magic projectiles.
- Pair it with Assassination Stance to guarantee a Cooldown reset on Camouflage Cloak
Provoking Roar inflicts Provoke, preventing enemies from changing targets or using single-target abilities. It's great for peeling allies.
Counter Barrier is your bread and butter defensive skill, with the ability to reset the Cooldown of Piercing Attack and increase your Shield Block Chance while reflecting damage.
Stalwart Bastion increases you Move Speed and provides a strong Damage Reduction buff.
Strategic Rush can be used to charge enemies into walls or terrain, stunning them.
Use Shadow Strike to engage clumped enemies or help you escape sticky situations.

Passive Skills

Assassin's Instincts boosts Critical Hit Chance permanently.
Shadow Walker grants an insane boost to Magic and Ranged Evasion with mobility skills like Shadow Strike or Strategic Rush.
Skillful Evasion adds Magic and Ranged Evasion when surrounded by enemies within 3 metres.
Resilient Mind is great to restore Mana and Health.
Impenetrable works similarly to Indomitable Armor, however, it scales based on the number of enemy targets around you.
Gerad's Patience increases CC Resistance passively, which helps to counter your biggest weakness: vulnerability to Crowd Control.
Aegis Shield is simply a Stat passive.
- With Counter Barrier up, you get increased value from this passive.
When using Strategic Rush, you activate Morale Boost which greatly reduces your ability Cooldowns per enemy hit.

Alternative

Swap Immortal Pride for Chain Hook to peel for allies and to have another Collision ability that proccs Morale Boost.
Exchange Morale Boost for Wrathful Edge to increase your damage output when landing a critical attack.
Swap Gerad's Patience for Assassination Stance if you're not building high Resistances. Alternatively, you can swap it for Morale Boost.

Use this version of the Small Scale and Arena PvP build if you are not fighting a lot of Longbow users using the Devoted Shield passive since Thunderclouds Bombing will continuously procc it.

Active Skills

Block Skills

Does not change from the previous tab.

Damage Skills

Use Cleaving Moonlight for solid AOE damage and to proc the Shadow Walker passive.
- This skill also applies Weaken: Thunderclouds to lower the target's Defense and increase the damage of Thunderclouds Bombing.
Piercing Attack is a strong single target skill that sends a cone of damage behind your target. The Cooldown is lowered by Counter Barrier
Lightning Infusion allows all skills to apply Weaken: Thunderclouds for a set amount of time.

Utility Skills

Ankle Strike prones your target, allowing you to set up your other combos.
- This skill also goes through Block, making it a good counter for Sword and Shield players.
Strategic Rush is used to reposition yourself and to push enemies around. If you push an enemy into a wall they become stunned for a set time.
Chain Hook is used to pull high value targets to you, applying a Bind.
Camouflage Cloak is a great way to engage enemies unseen and can also be used to break Bind.
Counter Barrier gives you increased Shield Block Chance and does Reflect damage within a certain range.
Stalwart Bastion provides massive Damage Reduction, which has good synergy with high defense builds as well as Counter Barrier.
Shadow Strike is a great engage tool used to lock down high priority targets. It also applies Silence and Bind.
Take Provoking Roar to Taunt targets, making it so they can only target you. This also prevents them from using skills like Swift Healing as well.

Passive Skills

Use Wrathful Edge to increase your Critical Damage.
The remaining skills do not change from the previous tab.

Use this version of the Small Scale and Arena PvP build if you are fighting a bow user to counter the passive Devoted Shield.

Active Skills

Block Skills

Use Shield Survival Technique to restore Health while blocking and significantly increase your Damage Reduction while in Block stance. This Block synergizes well with a high Damage Reduction Stat to greatly reduce multi-hit attacks.

Damage Skills

Cleaving Moonlight is used as a small AoE ability when engaging.
Brutal Incision delivers a powerful blow when enemies are below 50% Max Health. Weave it towards the end of your burst combo.
Knife Throwing provides a large Slow and Healing reduction to the target.
Strategic Rush does fantastic AOE damage when combined with Counter Barrier reducing its Cooldown.

Utility Skills

Camouflage Cloak allows for sneak engages where enemies don't see you coming, and it helps you back out of a fight if needed.
Chain Hook is used to pull high value targets to you, applying a Bind.
Provoking Roar inflicts Provoke, preventing enemies from changing targets or using single-target abilities. It's great for peeling allies.
Counter Barrier is your bread and butter defensive skill, with the ability to reset the Cooldown of Piercing Attack and increase your Shield Block Chance while reflecting damage.
Stalwart Bastion increases you Move Speed and provides a strong Damage Reduction buff.
Strategic Rush can be used to charge enemies into walls or terrain, stunning them.
Use Shadow Strike to engage clumped enemies or help you escape sticky situations.
Ankle Strike prones your target, allowing you to set up your other combos.

Passive Skills

Assassin's Instincts boosts Critical Hit Chance permanently.
Shadow Walker grants an insane boost to Magic and Ranged Evasion with mobility skills like Shadow Strike or Strategic Rush.
Skillful Evasion adds Magic and Ranged Evasion when surrounded by enemies within 3 metres.
Resilient Mind is great to restore Mana and Health.
Impenetrable works similarly to Indomitable Armor, however, it scales based on the number of enemy targets around you.
Gerad's Patience increases CC Resistance passively, which helps to counter your biggest weakness: vulnerability to Crowd Control.
Aegis Shield is simply a Stat passive.
- With Counter Barrier up, you get increased value from this passive.
Use Wrathful Edge to increase your Critical Damage.

Alternative

Swap Immortal Pride for Chain Hook to peel for allies and to have another Collision ability that proccs Morale Boost.
Exchange Morale Boost for Wrathful Edge to increase your damage output when landing a critical attack.
Swap Gerad's Patience for Assassination Stance if you're not building high Resistances. Alternatively, you can swap it for Morale Boost.

Skill Prioritization

Use Quality Marind Ore to craft Quality Active Skill Growth Book and Quality Passive Skill Growth Book.
Use Rare Marind Ore to craft Rare Active Skill Growth Book and Rare Passive 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.

PvP Gameplay and Skill Rotation

PvP Rotations

Pre Buff

Counter Barrier
Stalwart Bastion
Shield Survival Technique

Use this rotation when you notice a lot of ranged DPS are aiming at you. This ensures you can tank over 10 enemies on your own.
Use Immortal Pride if needed.
You can also use Strategic Rush and Shadow Strike to reposition or get out of danger when needed.

Stealth Bomb

Camouflage Cloak
Shadow Strike
Provoking Roar
Counter Barrier
Piercing Attack
Annihilating Slash
Cleaving Moonlight
Spam Piercing Attack as it comes off CD while Counter Barrier is active

This combo allows you to deal lots of AoE burst damage to unsuspecting enemies.
Use Strategic Rush to create a tighter clump of enemies before starting your DPS rotation. Always push enemies towards your allies so they can assist in bursting them down.
Use Phantom Smokescreen if you're getting focused by a lot of ranged DPS players.

AoE Skills

Provoking Roar
Piercing Attack
Annihilating Slash
Cleaving Moonlight
Strategic Rush

These skills are all helpful in delivering AoE burst damage or improving your ability to destroy enemies.

Tips

Strategic Rush can be used to Stun enemies when pushing them against a solid object.
Use Brutal Incision to deliver a powerful blow to enemies with low health.
If you are using Assassination Stance, use Phantom Smokescreen to quickly reset the cooldown of Camouflage Cloak.

Stat Priorities

Use the following stat priorities when playing a Sword and Shield / Dagger build in PVP:

Primary Stats
- Strength 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 our points based on acquiring these bonuses.

Early to Early-Mid Transition Game Gear

From Early to Mid Game, your goal is to hit several breakpoints. The first two are 30 Strength for the extra Max Health and 30 Perception for the extra Hit. Put the rest of your points into Dexterity.

Mid-End Transition to End Game Gear

As you transition to End Game, you want to hit the 60 Perception breakpoint as soon as possible for another Hit boost. Afterward, you aim for 50 Strength to get the 100 extra Heavy Attack Chance.

PvP Gear Progression

Acquiring Gear pieces and upgrading them is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. If you enjoy both PvE and PvP content, just use these sets for PvE too.

If you're interested in PvE Gear Progression, check out our Sword and Shield / Dagger PvE Build Guide here!

Early
Game

Early - Mid
Transition

Mid - End
Transition

End Game

Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP 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
Lethal Fortune Ring
- Rustic Mother Nature Rings
Robert's Focus Bracelet
- Complete Temple of Sylaveth Exploration Codex
Sophia's Strength Bracelet
- Temple of Sylaveth Exploration Codex

Triple Evasion
Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP Build

This set is what you PvP with for the very first weeks of launch. At this point in time, not many players will be especially geared.

Your Goals

Farm accessible gear by doing Open World Dungeons.
Trait those accessible gear.
Extract traits from gear for Lucent.
Turn important Purple Gear acquired from Co-Op Dungeons into Lithographs and sell them at the Auction House.

Stats

You reach high Melee Evasion. Normally, this would be pretty bad at End Game, but not many people will have high Melee Hit at the current point in the game.
Your Ranged Evasion and Magic Evasion is much to be desired, but that's just the scenario this early into the game. You try and do your best to supplement those stats with Shadow Walker.

Traits

Only pieces that you can easily grind in Open World Dungeons are fully trained.

Dungeon Priority

This section was optimized, so you do not have to rely on Co-Op Dungeons to get your gear. Do each Dungeon so you can craft the Ring below.

Amber Dimensional Band
- Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
  - Requires Recipe: Dimensional Essence: Salvation to craft.
- You must do each Co-Op Dungeon at least 3 times to acquire enough tokens to craft it.
Death's Abyss
- Karnix's Netherblade from Cave of Destruction

Gear Farming Priority

Daggers of Undead Severing
- Craft this item using Death Soul Shard. You craft it at the Weapon Crafter Arless, who roams the path between Nesting Grounds and Vienta Village.
- Farm Syleus's Abyss 1F-2F for Death Soul Shard.
- This weapon will be your stat stick as you can easily fully Trait it with minimal cost.
Ant's Nest
- Elusive Hexweaver Hat from Worker Ant
- Elusive Hexweaver Pants from Acid Ant
Temple of Sylaveth
- Elite Retainer's Belt from Shade Wizard
Shadowed Crypt
- Hermit's Shroud from Dark Enforcer
  - Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Shadow
  - Cloak that Protected a Hero
Sanctum of Desire
- Alacritous Invoker Gloves from Avolos Hydromancer

Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP 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.

Gear Sources

Lithograph Book
- Special Resistance Hawk Hood
  - Black Boars in Purelight Hill
  - Crown Blessed by Moonlight
  - Precious Blessing Pouch
Cave of Destruction
- Lequirus's Thorny Edge
- Beast King's Gilded Bracers
Tyrant's Isle
- Ghost Wolf Alter Ego Armor
Sanctum of Desire
- Phantom Wolf Breeches from Reptilian Butcher and Reptilian Soldier
  - Precious Epic Equipment Selection Chest: Abyss
Syleus's Abyss 5F-6F (Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss)
- Unshakeable Gold Ring from Demonhoof Tracker
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace

Nirma Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP Build

Karnix Sword and Shield / Dagger PvP Build

Both builds are viable, making the choice between them a personal preference. Keep in mind that swapping Karnix's Nether Sword to Nirma's Corrupt Sword causes you to lose a large amount of Max Health in favor of higher Shield Block, so weigh your options carefully.

Weapon Options

Nirma's Corrupt Sword offers a higher Shield Block Chance.
Karnix's Nether Sword offers more Max Health.

Gear Sources

Nirma's Corrupt Sword from Nirma
Gauntlets of the Field General from Aridus
Tycan's Bloodlust Belt from Aridus

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 this class for PvP.

Green Ranger Elowen is your main Guardian that can be used to accomplish great AoE CC plays by using Shadow Escape into the middle of enemies clumped together and following up with Green Ranger Elowen to instantly Bind them all.
- You can also use Camouflage Cloak to sneak into the middle of an enemy clump before activating this Guardian.
Lady Knight Kamarshea helps as an emergency button to survive situations where you are overwhelmed by several players or caught in a CC chain.

Summary

This build focuses on combining strong defenses with agile, high-damage attacks using Sword and Shield for strong CC and Dagger for stealth and survivability.
Combining defensive skills like Counter Barrier, Stalwart Bastion, and Immortal Pride, with Dagger skills such as Phantom Smokescreen and Shadow Walker, ensure that you are one of the most difficult builds to defeat.
Ideal for frontline tanking, holding enemies, and achieving strong sneak engages.

Credits

Written by Grenton, Yaen, and Eli
Reviewed by Tenkiei and Bloo