Tree of Savior Forum

[Guide] Top DPS Dual-Stance Fencer

Class and Rank Swordsman
#1

What is Dual Stance Fencers?

Simply speaking, dual stance fencer is a build that utilizes two stances and takes advantage of the synergy between both stances: 1. Shield + Spear for tanking; 2. Rapier + Dagger for dpsing. To properly swap between 2 stances, it is highly recommended you bind your weapon swap to one key that suits your comfort while not interfere with your combo. For me in keyboard mode, I bind weapon swap to “0” on the number pad.

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Dual Stance Fencer : Stats and Combo

Tank Stance

  1. You benefit from finestra which increase your block by 20% at lv9 while tanking.
  2. Your spear throw with a Geras spear has an aoe attack ratio of 14 which 9 from initial skill, 3 from finestra and 2 from Geras spear itself. Spear throw is a 0 cd skill that can be spammed at point blank which contributes greatly to a party when grinding since you can swashbuckling and spear throw to hold aggro.

*Note: my current spear throw attributes is at lv31

Here is an example of spear throw with Geras Spear:

Spear throw in Evac:

DPS Stance

  1. You benefit from Rapier Mastery: Aggression which adds 15% dmg when you are in DPS stance with a rapier and dagger.
  2. You benefit from spear lunge, preparation and Attaque Coquille for buffing yourself with x2 next pierce damage while debuffing enemy to take more pierce damange. Debuff wise, spear lunge > Attaque Coquille, as it makes enemy take 50% more pierce damage which is huge when combined with preparation, meanwhile, Attaque Coquille only makes enemy take 400~500 more pierce damage at most or potentially more for boss.
  3. You benefit from Peltasta attributes Guardian: Evasion which adds 18% evasion. Guardian does not require a shield to activate.
  4. You benefit from Fencer Skill lunge which boosts your evasion greatly, namely 100% at lv10 lunge.

Below is the evasion comparison with / without buffs:

Base Evasion
https://imgur.com/peFlTBa

Evasion with Guardian
https://imgur.com/EOjrlEL

Evasion with Guardian and Lunge (at lv12)
https://imgur.com/7vqPjih

As you can see, in my build, I am favoring Str over Dex, as you can reach cap Evasion with decent leather set and high lvl of lunge. As Ktos is buffing Str stats, heavy str build might become more relevant as it comes to iTos.

Here is the planned stats at lv280 as you get 35 bonus stats from statue as well quests. With 25k base hp and buffed evasion could potentially prep you more in end game content like ET or and grind party at a higher lvl map.

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https://imgur.com/fZ7nkqq

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DPS Stance Combo and Example

Dual Stance Fencer Solo lv200 Boss:

Meta Build Fencer Solo lv200 Boss:

With Spear Lunge stabbing:

Without Spear Lunge stabbing:

VS Blue Siphon:

VS Truffle:

Gear wise: You should aim for Superior Bandit Set, Venier and Karacha dagger for DPS stance, Geras Spear and Aias for Tank stance. Accessory should be x2 sissel and max petamion.

In short, why go dual stance fencer?

  1. You will be very capable tank as you can hold aggro and contribute to party grinding via 0 cd big aoe skill instead of just holding c.
  2. You will be very capable single target burst dmg dealer as your buff and debuff makes every boss / mob paper thin. You will do a lot of burst damage in a fairly short amount of time.
  3. You are bored with meta cookie cutter build and want to challenge yourself with something new and practice to fast swap weapon to use every bit of your gear to your greater advantage.
  4. Potentially future-proof, you can go Shinobi for amplified kunai attack (clone x5 and prep x2) or whatever fencer 3 class could bring.

Thank you for reading through this guide, this my first time making a guide, comments and criticism are all welcome.

7 Likes
CC FEEDBACK, SWORDIE sucks
Hoplite(at least c1) is viable to Fencer
Hoplite(at least c1) is viable to Fencer
Guide to Fencer / Doppel / Bullet Marker [PVE]
Hoplite(at least c1) is viable to Fencer
#2

Once weapon swapping does not cause screen freezing this could be funny xD

#3

I have high doubt about this build

  1. Stances require you to use certain kind of weapons. Switching means the buffs or debuffs go away with it.
  2. Hop and Fen have 0 synergy except they are specialized in Pierce damage. I would rather have some sort of Strike and Slash damage in my build for more versatility.
  3. Tbh, 2 Veniers seem cheaper than a good Spear and a Venier
#4

Weapon Swap is really broken. But if you put Weapons in Hotkey Shortcuts, it equips faster and this makes using various weapon do not interfere on general gameplay.
But i still prefer the Auto Swap system that Archer have, maybe one day Swordsman can use their Two-Handed Spear, Rapiers w/ Dagger and Two-Handed Swords only when needed without dropping their shields like Archers do with their Cannons and Muskets. :’(

1 Like
#5
  1. This isn’t the case with every buff/debuff, though. Only finestra. You can see in the videos that you don’t lose the spear lunge debuff for example.
  2. They don’t have 0 synergy. This is just what people like to say. Stabbing is pretty decent. You can also use the pierce skill. The only huge downfall is no finestra. With a typical fencer build favoring evasion, this kind of works itself out because then you don’t get the evasion penalty. Strike and slash damage in your build? Attaque Coquille (although not the best uptime/dps) is strike, and flanconnade is slash. You have at least slash covered with this build.
  3. If you follow what is used in this guide, you pick up a geras spear. These are much, MUCH cheaper than veniers.

My input is I don’t like having to rely on lunge to reach evasion cap (you need 1300+ to cover all cases end game by the way). Lunge only has like a 25% uptime. Also this is an ideal build if you ever have ping issues. If you have really low ping then Attaque Composee outdpses stabbing easily. However there’s likely only a small percentage of players that can take advantage of that, and even less that are doing so with fencer. Most are probably playing QS.

1 Like
#6

Auto Swap system that Archer have

This.
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ GIFF AUTOSWAP TO SWORDSMAN IMC ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ GIFF AUTOSWAP TO SWORDSMAN IMC ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ GIFF AUTOSWAP TO SWORDSMAN IMC ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

#7
  1. Losing the advantage of Finestra is a huge downside already. That’s why most people choose Cosair, Cata or Dragoon
  2. Hoplite and Fencer have 0 synergy with each other due to their skills require different type of weapon to work with. Hence their synergy is bad, better take another class that use spear or its skill can be used with a spear. Flanconnade damage is sub-par, Attaque Coquille is pretty much the same; both skills are used for their utility but not damage. Your build primarily favor Pierce and Pierce only.
  3. I don’t check what I have 0 interest in and what I can farm. I already have enough mats for 1 Venier. Now all that left is the Recipe

Finally, your build is creative and I really like that part. Not everyone like meta builds but you can not ignore the fact that meta builds are the most efficient builds.

Freaking position lag still follows us to TOS, I have enough of this sh!t since RO already. That’s what I hate about Hoplite, stabbing the air for fun

#8

  1. The lack of finestra critical rate can easily be made up with gear and/or stats. The AoE attack ratio sort of can as well but I don’t really see a need for AoE attack ratio in most fencer builds anyway. I’d say the block rate is also negligible as well.

  2. They don’t though. Not all of them anyway. Also flanconnade deals pretty good damage. I almost never find myself using it for utility, and use it for damage when fighting something slash weak. The skill damage of flanconnade is actually higher than composse, but composse benefits from aggression. If you’re fighting something slash weak, flanconnade becomes more DPS than compossee (even if you only have 1 point in it vs 5 compo). It only has a slightly higher execution time (1.1 seconds instead of .6). Flanconnade is plenty good for damage when you actually need slash. It’s a 0 second cooldown skill that hits twice with a quick execution time. Pretty hard to say something like that has bad damage. If it matters, I play the standard sw->pelt->barb 3->fencer 2. The barb skills for versatile damage are fine, but they have pretty long cooldowns. Flanconnade easily solves this problem.

  3. Well now you know!

#9

This.
༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ GIFF AUTOSWAP TO SWORDSMAN IMC ༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ

You don’t want it. It lags 5x more than manually swapping equipment slots, and 10x more than putting equipment in hotkeys.

#10

i don’t see the point. everyone playing swordsman is either a cataphract or hoplite; play with one of them, mix your debuffs together. weapon swapping is a pain, but doing that in the middle of a skill rotation… but, if you’re having fun.

#11

I assume you haven’t seen very many swordsmen then

#12
  1. 30% Block, that’s huge. 100 crit rate is huge while 39 evasion is negligible. Your status info showed 142 crit rate, so 100 crit rate would be a 70% boost. Huge, isn’t it?

Tbh, Spears are vastly superior to Rapiers. AOE attack ratio, bonus damage, attack range, blah blah. Honestly, why do you think AOE attack ratio items are so expensive? I bet you know already

  1. Lv1 Flanconnade use 30 SP. 30 SP? Really. And there is something like Oblique shot. You can’t spam Flanconnade all night.

Barb 3 seems to be more about burst DPS rather than constant DPS. Barb skills hit hard and hit fast. And there is Hexen Dropper from Cosair, more fun to the party.

In conclusion, I believe your build has bad efficiency, even compared to standard Swordie builds. Thankfully, this is a discussion, not a ultra serious referendum. I also believe this build can tackle PvE contents just fine. Gods! Who dares forbid you to have fun anyway

#13

I think you are confusing me as the author of this guide for most of your points. I am not. So I’ll address/modify the points that don’t refer to a specific build, because those stats are not mine.

I don’t consider 30% block huge because the only way you are getting block rate is if you use a shield or have someone stone skin you or something. The author of this guide has 272 block rate. Finestra would put that at 353. To make block useful, you would typically have to hold down C. holding down C gives you 550% block + your characters level. So 30% doesn’t seem very significant to me in the grand scheme of things.

It would be - 78 evasion. Not the worst penalty but still pretty significant when you’re trying to reach the cap. If I remember correctly in an end game scenario, 78 evasion is around 7-9%.

It would also be +150 crit rate. This is about +22-23% on something with 120 critical resistance (assuming you have at least 120 crit rate lol). Also depends on your gear. However you can reach a point where it’s better to have more damage over crit rate with end game gear. This would come from the rest of hoplites abilities.

Hexen dropper requires corsair 2. I haven’t seen any fencer go corsair 2. This is because you have to give up fencer 2 for it.

Flanconnade is incredibly easy to spam. I don’t know how some fencers seem to not be able to pull this off. I can infinitely use lv 5 (7 with venier) compossee so there’s no way I can’t infinitely use lv 1 (3 with venier) flanconnade.

This…is all I can really address in your post given what I said in the beginning. I also don’t endorse this build, but it really does not have bad efficiency.

#14

Oh, I forgot. That’s because you don’t have an avatar

#15

It’s an interesting build. It’s also easy to bind your specific weapon to a specific skill in the hotkey notepad file which makes switching way faster.

#16

oh? do you mind sharing how / make a tutorial? thanks in advance.

#17

Edit: it’s not letting me copy paste my sht hold up.

#18

QUICKSLOT.jpg1208×1080 946 KB

This is one of the prime examples of binding multiple skills to a hotkey of the weapon.

Now if you set up your spear weapon is on your key 4 from your truffle video
and if your spear lunge is theoretically on your Z key from your truffle video also… This will how you would keybind your spear weapon to automatically swap for a spear lunge.

Example.PNG1599×835 163 KB

The yellow line is the entire line where your number 4 key is. It has a DOWNSCP. You copy what’s on inside the quote and paste it on the UPSCP of the skill you’re intending it to bind to. The blue highlight is what it looks like in your case. Then just save the file and do this while ToS is not running.

4 Likes
#19

Thank you so much! I will try it out and see if I can get it to work.

#20

No problem. Try it when you wear a rapier. Then just put a spear weapon where your spear throw is and put your spear lunge where your Z is. Spam Z and it should automatically swap from rapier to spear simultaneously doing a spear lunge. Then if you want to do it for rapier then just pick a slot and do it as well.