Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvE Build Guide
Last Updated:September 30, 2024|Change Log
Welcome to the Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvE Build Guide! This is the big brawler Tank in Throne and Liberty. The build leverages the strengths of both weapons for a ton of extra Health and Heavy Attack Chance.
Sword and Shield / Greatswords has some of the best AoE farming potential in the game due to passives like Spectrum of Agony and active skills that can cleave off each other such as Frost Cleaving and Ice Tornado.
For bossing, Greatsword provides one of the strongest buffs in the game Devoted Sanctuary. As a tank, you not only redirect 70% of your group's damage taken to yourself, but you can also significantly increase your party's damage all in one skill.
Due to the high cooldowns in this weapon combo, you make use of Morale Boost and Collison skills such as Strategic Rush to be able to lower your cooldowns.
End Game Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvE Build
If you're interested in PvP, check out our Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvP Build Guide!
- High HP
- High AoE Damage
- High Burst Damage
- Long CDS
- Heavy Attack Reliant
Skill Builds
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Always use Gaia Crash before Guillotine Blade to make use of the additional Attack Speed.
- Guillotine Blade is your big single target burst skill.
- Piercing Attack is your spammable single target Sword and Shield damage skill.
- This lets you easily hold Aggro/Threat and use it on cooldown.
- Weave in Cruel Smite when Piercing Attack is on cooldown to ensure you keep your threat high on the boss.
Utility Skills
- Devoted Sanctuary offers 50 more Base Damage to your party while you adsorb 70% of their damage taken.
- DaVinci's Courage buffs your party.
- The Max Health given by DaVinci's Courage acts as a heal for all your party members.
- Chain Hook groups mobs together and can be used as a gap closer against bosses.
Passive Skills
- Resilient Mind and Victor's Morale are phenomenal Passive skills that allow you to sustain your Mana during long boss encounters.
- Vital Force and Robust Constitution offer free stat boosts.
- Indomitable Armor and Aegis Shield provide you with a ton of defense rating with zero additional effort.
Alternatives
- If you find you are not hitting your Gaia Crash often enough you can opt for Death Blow instead for a pure single target option.
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Frost Cleaving and Ice Tornado are your two big AoE skills.
- Annihilating Slash is another AoE skill you use on higher health mobs.
- Weave Cruel Smite into your rotation while your hard hitters are on cooldown.
- Piercing Attack is your spammable frontal AoE cleave.
Utility Skills
- When Specialized Willbreaker becomes a full AoE skill that lowers the defense of all the mobs around you. This will happen normally as you group and AoE mobs down.
- Use Strategic Rush to reset your cooldowns alongside the Morale Boost passive.
Passive Skills
- Morale Boost is one of your most important passives. This is used to reduce the cooldowns of your skills when using Collision Skills
- Raging Frenzy provides a significant Skill Damage Boost depending on the amount of mobs that are around you.
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.
PvE Gameplay and Skill Rotation
Opening Rotation
- DaVinci's Courage
- Piercing Attack
- Devoted Sanctuary
- Provoking Roar
- Willbreaker
- Gaia Crash
- Guillotine Blade
- Piercing Attack
- Cruel Smite
- Pre-buffing with DaVinci's Courage gives you and your party increased Attack Speed at the start of the fight.
- It's important to weave in Piercing Attack and Cruel Smite where you can maintain boss Aggro.
Single Target Burst
- Gaia Crash
- Guillotine Blade
- Piercing Attack (Optional)
- Cruel Smite (Optional)
- Always use Gaia Crash before Guillotine Blade the additional Attack Speed buff.
Defense Shred
- Provoking Roar
- Willbreaker
- These two abilities come off cooldown at the same time. Be sure to use Willbreaker last to gain the most value from the uptime of the debuff.
Tips
- If your Provoking Roar falls off the boss immediately recast it to maintain aggro on the boss.
- Certain boss fights have mobs you need to kill. As a tank you must stay in melee range as most bosses do a party wide AoE when their target is not within melee range. Chain Hook is used to group up these mobs while staying in melee range, it also maxes out the boss's Aggression, forcing the boss to attack you. Use this in the event that you mismanaged your cooldowns and lost boss aggro.
AoE Combo
- DaVinci's Courage
- Willbreaker
- Provoking Roar
- Frost Cleaving
- Annihilating Slash (Optional)
- Ice Tornado
- This is your basic AoE Combo.
- Use Annihilating Slash when mobs have higher HP.
- This rotation gives you the buff from DaVinci's Courage for the added Damage Reduction and Attack Speed for the entirety of your combo.
Tips
- Save Strategic Rush to help reset your cooldowns with the Morale Boost passive.
- Use Chain Hook to round up any ranged mobs you were unable to group.
- Stalwart Bastion is used for additional Damage Reduction if some pulls get spicy.
Stat Priorities
Use the following stat priorities when playing a Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvE Build:
- 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.
Strength not only adds maximum Weapon Damage but also increases your Max Health and Defense. This is your single most important Stat as a tank.
Early to Mid Game
You want to reach 30 Strength for the extra Health and Defense. 30 Dexterity will give you more damage to speed up Dungeons.
Mid to End Game
The ultimate goal here for defense is reaching 60 Strength for the additional 900 Max Health and Heavy Attack Chance. 40 Perception will give you 5% additional Buff Duration. Your last goal is to reach 30 Dexterity. Put points into Wisdom if you want more Mana Regen.
Gear Progression
If you're interested in PvP Gear Progression, check out our Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvP Build Guide here!
Game
Transition
Transition
Recommended
Solo Self Found
Sword and Shield / Greatsword 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.
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
- Deadly Single Edge Two-Handed Sword
- You can replace with Elite Resistance Broadsword.
- Living Armor Foot Soldier in Syleus's Abyss 3F-4F
- Lethal Fortune Ring
- Rustic Mother Nature Rings
- Elite Sharpshooter's Cloak
- Cloaks that Wield Victory
- Gallu Archer in Shattered Temple
- Dark Assassin in Shadowed Crypt
- Elite Resistance Plate Armor
- Shiny Metal Armor
- Gallu Knight in Shattered Temple
- Armadillo in Moonlight Desert
- Elite Tracker's Belt
- Sources of Abdominal Strength!
- Evil Eye in Manawastes
Accessory Sources
You don't need specifically these accessories. They're just good transition items until you get the accessories you want.
- Sophia's Strength Necklace
- Complete Syleus's Abyss 1F-2F Exploration Codex.
- Sophia's Strength Bracelet
- Complete Temple of Sylaveth Exploration Codex.
Sword and Shield / Greatsword 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 / Greatsword PvE Build
As the certain progresses, more Milestones will unlock. This means you can acquire more Purple gear.
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
- Shock Commander Plate Armor
- Precious Epic Equipment Selection Chest: Abyss
- Abyss Conqueror's Necklace
- Craft Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss.
Karnix Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvE Build
Nirma Sword and Shield / Greatsword 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.
- General's Fury Headgear completes your Imperator Set for the extra 150 Heavy Attack Chance.
- Grand General's Command Visor completes your Grand General's Victory for the extra Damage Reduction.
If you ever get Archboss weapons, you should probably use them, but this End Game PvE build is more than enough to suit your needs.
Karnix vs Nirma
It's up to you which one you prefer.
- Karnix's Nether Sword gives more Health.
- Nirma's Corrupt Sword gives more Block Chance.
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
Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvE Build
- This setup allows you to acquire all the pieces yourself through grinding. You do not need to use the Auction House or Substance Transformation.
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.
- Shade Revenant Stheno is THE DPS Guardian in PvE. No other explanation is required.
- Lady Knight Kamarshea is a useful Guardian while you learn new dungeons. It helps in dangerous situations as an emergency button to survive mechanics that deal a significant amount of damage. Not many other situations arise where this is necessary.
Summary
- Both Sword and Shield and Greatsword have passives that complement each other perfectly making for a highly effective PvE tank build.
- The bossing build revolves around buffing your team with Devoted Sanctuary while also dealing punishing single target damage.
- The AoE farming capabilities of this combo are extremely high. With a very large health pool and a great ability kit, open world farming will be a breeze.
Credits
Written by Grenton
Reviewed by Tenkiei, Yaen