Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvP Build Guide
Last Updated:October 7, 2024|Change Log
Welcome to the Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvP Build Guide. As a tank, you brawl in the thick of it with your guild. Most people would refer to Sword and Shield / Greatsword when they think of a "Traditional Tank" in Throne and Liberty. A walking juggernaut that frontlines and provides a ton of utility to their party through Damage Reduction and AoE CCs such as Devastating Smash.
With Greatsword passives like Vital Force and Robust Constitution, stacking Health allows you to increase a plethora of your Stats allowing you to do your job better than other tanks.
End Game Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvP Build
If you're interested in PvE, check out our Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvE Build Guide!
- High Damage
- Stong AoE CC
- Extremely Tanky
- Melee
- CC Magnet
- Low Self Sustain
Skill Builds
This Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvP Build focuses on being a "Bruiser" or Frontliner for your group. You go going toe-to-toe with your enemies, setting up kills for your team with constant stuns and hooks, and you can secure your own kills with the high damage skills that Greatsword offers.
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Frost Cleaving is a very strong AoE.
- Death Blow is a low cooldown skill with great single target damage.
- Guillotine Blade with the charging Damage collection Skill Specialization hits hard.
- Additionally, adding the Area Damage AoE Skill Specialization adds great cleave to the skill.
- Piercing Attack is your lowest cooldown damage skill, with a frontal cleave.
- It can be used in rapid succession if you are being hit and have Counter Barrier active.
Utility Skills
- Counter Barrier is your bread and butter defensive.
- It allows you to reset the cooldown on Piercing Attack increases your shield block chance and reflects damage to your attackers.
- Chain Hook is a great way to isolate and lock down ranged DPS players and peel for your team.
- Stalwart Bastion gives you bonus Move Speed and provides a very strong Damage Reduction buff to yourself.
- Precision Dash is your number one mobility skill. It allows you to move toward the enemy ball and connect with them quicker than most tanks.
- Additionally, you can use this to escape a dicey situation.
- Stunning Blow is a single target stun.
- Use this to peel for your team or lock down a kill target.
- Strategic Rush is another mobility skill; however, this also allows you to push and charge enemies into walls or off of terrain.
Passive Skills
- Greatsword has access to one of the strongest passives in the game. Vital Force increases your Hit, Skill Damage Boost, and Stun Chance based on your Max Health.
- As a tank, you get hit a lot, so Indomitable Armor increases your defenses while active.
- Slotting in Robust Constitution complements Vital Force.
- Your Heavy Attack Chance is particularly high on Greatsword, as Cold Warrior gives you a massive damage bonus against targets you Stun with Stunning Blow.
- Resilient Mind provides you with a little bit of self sustain available to the SNS/GS build.
- Impenetrable is similar to Indomitable Armor however it scales based on the number of enemy targets around you.
- The biggest downside of a SNS/GS tank is being CCed. Gerad's Patience allows you to gain a healthy amount of CC Resistance just by blocking passively or using your defense skills.
- Aegis Shield is simply a Stat passive. With Counter Barrier up, you get increased value from this passive.
This Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvP Build is essentially the "Bodyguard Build." Your job here is to make good use of Devoted Sanctuary to not only buff your party's damage but also redirect 70% of the damage your party takes back to yourself. Using this and the rest of the kit lets you lock down your enemy, and allows your party to fight longer.
Active Skills
Damage Skills
- Annihilating Slash offers a 60% slow with a massive range that also does good damage.
- Should you get Queen Bellandir's Blade as well, then you have a ton of CC baked into one skill.
- Guillotine Blade is used to finish off lower health targets or capitalize on CC effects that you or your party inflict on enemies.
Utility Skills
- The main skill that makes this build come online is Devoted Sanctuary.
- Use this when your party engages in a fight to keep your DPS and Healers alive longer and boost their effectiveness in combat. This is your single most important cooldown in this build.
- Immortal Pride with the All Defense ▲ Specialization, your Ranged/Magic/Melee Defense is boosted significantly.
- DaVinci's Courage provides your team with additional Attack Speed, Max Health, and Health Regen.
- The Specializations turn it into a Damage Reduction buff.
- Use this in conjunction with Devoted Sanctuary.
- Provoking Roar can be used to Taunt a target to peel and save a teammate's life. When a target is Taunted, they cannot use single target skills on anyone else. This is incredibly oppressive as it prevents Healers from using Swift Healing or Healing Touch on their allies.
Passive Skills
- Raging Frenzy provides you a Skill Damage Boost as long as you are within 5m or 3 or more enemies.
- SNS/GS has some cooldown issues. There are not many spammable skills, and thus Morale Boost becomes a very powerful tool, especially in the Bodyguard build.
- Colliding targets with Strategic Rush provides a decent amount of Cooldown Reduction to use your skills more consistently.
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
Single Target Rotation
- Precision Dash or Chain Hook
- Stunning Blow
- Death Blow
- Ascending Slash
- Guillotine Blade
- This allows you to lock 1 target down for a long period of time.
- Death Blow is buffed by Stunning Blow.
- Knocking the target down with Ascending Slash allows Guillotine Blade to hit harder.
AoE Rotation
- Devastating Smash
- Frost Cleaving
- Counter Barrier
- Piercing Attack
- Devastating Smash into Frost Cleaving allows you to lock down a clump of enemies as well as deal a lot of AoE damage.
- You use Counter Barrier on cooldown here to reset the cooldown of Piercing Attack as you are continually getting hit.
Engage Rotation
- DaVinci's Courage
- Devoted Sanctuary
- Immortal Pride
- Stalwart Bastion
- Devastating Smash
- Provoking Roar
- Annihilating Slash
- Counter Barrier
- Piercing Attack
- The name of the game here is to get your Devoted Sanctuary up before you engage. You want to get your personal defensives rolling as well as to not die from the redirected damage. Then after you charge in and get your Taunt and Slow off, you are now just using Counter Barrier to reset Piercing Attack for your main sources of damage.
Tips
- As the SNS/GS player, you dictate the tempo of your fights in most engages. Look for CC to follow up on, using Devastating Smash on top of a clump of players that just got slept on is a great way to secure kills for your guild or group.
- As a frontliner, you can stay in the fight much longer than DPS and even some other Tanks. Use this to your advantage by looking to constantly harass enemy DPS players. Always look for hooks, stuns, and the ability to potentially Strategic Rush enemies off terrain or into walls.
Stat Priorities
Use the following stat priorities when playing a Sword and Shield / Greatsword build in PVP:
- Primary Stats
- Strength, Perception, and Dexterity
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.
Dexterity not only adds maximum Weapon Damage but also increases your Crit Chance, Evasion, and Attack Speed. Increasing Dexterity is your best method of increasing your damage output. Wisdom is the next best stat for improving your Weapon Damage. Each added point into Wisdom also provides extra Cooldown Speed and Mana Regen.
Early to Mid Game
In PvP, Hit and survivability are incredibly important. So, with full green and blue gear, you want 30 Perception for the 100 extra Hit and 30 Strength for the 750 extra Max Health. Additionally, as a Greatsword user increasing your HP with Strength allows you to also increase your Hit, Skill Damage Boost, and Stun Chance from Vital Force.
As you progress further, you'll be able to hit 50 Strength for that 100 extra Heavy Attack Chance.
Mid to End Game
At End Game, you start working towards hitting the 60 Strength and 60 Perception breakpoints. They're essential because 60 Strength offers more Max Helath, and 60 Perception offers more Hit. With Adentus's Barbaric Blade, you can even hit 70 Strength if you wanted to.
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 as well.
If you're interested in PvE Gear Progression, check out our Sword and Shield / Greatsword PvE Build Guide here!
Game
Transition
Transition
Early Sword and Shield / Greatsword 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.
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
- Dark Assassin in Shadowed Crypt
- Elite Resistance Plate Armor
- Shiny Metal Armor
- Gallu Knight in Shattered Temple
Sword and Shield / Greatsword 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 on the Auction House.
Stats
- You reach high Melee Endurance and Max Health.
Traits
- Only pieces you can easily grind in Open World Dungeons are fully traited.
Dungeon Farming Priority
Do each Dungeon so you can craft the Ring below.
- Sapphire 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.
- Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
- After getting the Ring, there are two major dungeons you are target grinding.
- Death's Abyss
- Karnix's Nether Sword
- You can also pity craft Recipe: Karnix's Netherblade using 2 Dimensional Essence: Salvation instead of relying on RNG.
- You must do each Co-Op Dungeon at least 5 times to acquire enough tokens to craft 2 Dimensional Essence: Salvation.
- Optional Gear to Equip
- Gloom Guard Gauntlets
- Dark Warrior's Resistance Armor
- Gloom Guard Greaves
- Gloom Guard Sabatons
- Gloom Guard Winged Helmet
- Karnix's Nether Sword
- Butcher's Canyon
- Duke Magna's Provoking Warblade
- Cursed Wasteland (Optional)
- (Optional Boots Replacement) Flying Dragon Claw Leather Boots
Open World Farming Priority
- Ant Nest Open World Dungeon
- Corrupt Witch's Hat from Worker Ant
- Elusive Hexweaver Pants from Acid Ant
- Sanctum of Desire
- Alacritous Invoker Gloves from Avolos Hydromancer
Sword and Shield / Greatsword 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.
Here you can hit 60 Strength for that extra Max Health.
Gear Sources
- Cave of Destruction
- Beast King's Gilded Bracers
- Saurodoma Island
- Greaves of the Infernal Herald
- Reptilian Fighter
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Tyrant
- Greaves of the Infernal Herald
- Syleus's Abyss 5F-6F
- Shock Commander Plate Armor
- Precious Epic Equipment Selection Chest: Abyss
- Unshakeable Gold Ring
- Demonhoof Tracker
- Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Abyss
- Shock Commander Plate Armor
Karnix Build With Trait Resonance
Nirma Build With Trait Resonance
Equip Transcendent Magic Ring if you ever get it.
Nirma vs Karnix
- Nirma's Corrupt Sword
- More Shield Block Chance
- Less Max Health
- Karnix's Nether Sword
- Less Shield Block Chance
- More Max Health
Either way, both builds focus on completing the Grand General's Victory and Imperator Set for their 2 set effects. The Imperator Set is more important as it grants you an extra 150 Melee Heavy Attack Chance.
Gear Sources
- Nirma's Corrupt Sword
Nirma
- Adentus's Barbaric Blade
- Adentus
- General's Fury Headgear
- Chernobog
- Shock Commander Sabatons
- Kowazan
- Gauntlets of the Field General
- Aridus
- Belt of Bloodlust
- Aridus
Alternatives
- Archboss weapons such as Tevent's Despair Blade and Queen Bellandir's Blade are easy slot ins as well. Due to the difficulty and price of getting them, however, the are not included in the suggested build.
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 in both PvE and PvP situations.
- Green Ranger Elowen is your go-to. Keeping targets in place for the rest of your guild or group is incredibly valuable. Additionally, when the Guardian is active you gain 500 additional Critical Hit against any target you hit that is rooted by Green Ranger Elowen.
- Another option is Vampire Slayer Ezekiel. He increases your Magic/Ranged/Melee Defense by 400 and deals damage equal to 0.6% of your Max Health to enemies within 2.5m of you. You are healed by 20% of the damage dealt. This is definitely more situational and usually is not run with SnS / GS, however it is a second Guardian you can look at if you don't need the root from Green Ranger Elowen.
Summary
- Sword and Shield / Greatsword is what most people would refer to when they think of a "Traditional Tank" in Throne and Liberty.
- Focused on being the frontliner for your guild, you dictate the tempo of your fights.
- Devastating Smash is one of your key engage skills, stunning enemy players and creating opportunities for your team to capitalize on.
- Your end game gear focuses on acquiring the General Set and Grand General Set as well as traiting Endurance.
Credits
Written by Grenton
Reviewed by Yaen