Tree of Savior Forum

[Review][Mini-Guide] Swordsman: All classes and best builds

Depends on if you are PvPing or not.
In pvp Magic Def is required vs mages…

But I know that you are speaking mainly from a pve perspective

For both.

Just look at when everyone was running around with exploited characters. Even having over 1,000 SPR did nothing for magic defense to reduce magic damage, it was pretty much the same.

Idk…
Cloth armor and it’s mastery seems to do a lot in pvp for me.

I still kinda want a fencer build w/o Barb tho…
I just can’t find a good one

Just as an example:

  • Roxona Robe: +18 magic defense
  • Roxona Pants: +18 magic defense
  • Roxona Boots: +5 magic defense

I am too lazy to go around and look for the best cloth armor to stack magic defense. But you are gonna have like 150~ magic defense from equipment. Cloth Armor Mastery gives you +25 magic defense at max level while using 4 cloth pieces.

Now, look at how terrible SPR is for trying to stack magic defense:

100 SPR = 20 magic defense
500 SPR = 100 magic defense
1,000 SPR = 200 magic defense

Your average damage build will deal between 3k~5k damage per second, but good builds deal over 8k damage per second and I am sure they will deal even more at Rank 7.

So if they deal 8,000 damage per second, and you only have 200 magic defense, then it is 7,800 damage per second. No difference at all.

The only help you get from the Cloth Mastery is the 10% reduction from magic attacks while using a full set, which would make that 8,000 -> 7,200 + your 200 magic defense then it is 7,000. Still, not any meaningful difference there.

The math is just not there.

Maybe I was fighting a bunch of troll “full con” mages then.
But I already said that SPR was for block pen in pvp, not for the m.def
Again… I speak from experience when I say that w/o block pen, you are gonna have a hard time hitting anyone who took at least c1 paltasta.

I mean don’t get me wrong they aren’t impossible to hit by any means.
But it’s hell for melee attackers when your skills get blocked

Also I feel like dmg variants are lower in pvp

@Cathexis So my next question would be, is level 5 swash buckling really enough? As the game progresseses I wanted at least a tank, with the DPS to proceed solo, as well as tank in any party situation.

Lvl 5 Swash is good(literally the only thing people want as well as shield attributes) however isnt this ultimately a similar situation with c1 linker. Many people will pick up pel1 and get chosen for parties for, just that. With level15 Swashbuckling I would always have a gaurnteed place in parties. Rodelero is just what I’m most familiar with and I love their skillset of focusing on offensive shield techs.

I actually like the build you posted and if my mind-set is off just tell me where.

So how much SPR are you going to invest? The math isn’t there either for block penetration either, although not as bad as magic defense:

1 SPR = 1 Block Penetration
30 SPR = 30 Block Penetration

I don’t have the exact number but I am sure I had over 1,500 block when manually blocking (not sure about the amount when I was using Aias). You are gonna miss a lot of your attacks if anyone with a shield is pressing C, no matter what.

Block Penetration helps against passive block, but most of it will come from your level and equipment as the formula is: Level * 0.5 + SPR.

Even then, builds that invest in CON for PvP can easily get over 600 passive block when using Aias (this includes Wizards, Clerics, etc). You would need to spend A LOT of points into SPR for you to be able to get through that easily.

It makes no sense to invest points into SPR for Block Penetration as a Swordsman, since you get no other benefit (SP doesn’t really count) and you lose more from doing so.

And for reference: Aias (that is block rate * 2, +164 critical resistance and 8% chance to reduce damage by 50%).


@dog_593

You will always have a guaranteed spot in a party with Peltasta C1 (as long as they need a tank in the party).

Sure, Swash Buckling level 15 is nice to have, but you are giving away too much for it and in my opinion it is not worth it. It would only be good if you are running in a party 24/7, which is unlikely as sometimes it is just faster to level up solo.

Level 5 Swash Buckling is more than enough in my opinion. Plus at high levels, everyone deals so much damage that everything on the screen dies really fast and you are gonna have to manually pull mobs anyways (because Swash Buckling is gonna be on cool-down).

You are even gonna have party members who don’t care about that at all, since everyone is so strong already, and will just roll through mobs with or without Swash Buckling and they will even help pull mobs into the AoEs. At least that was my experience running the level 190~200 dungeons daily during the icbt2 with multiple people and different parties. Pretty funny.

But yeah, don’t worry about that too much, people are just gonna get the first tank they find for their party.

Then how do you suggest I beat even a passive block if I don’t have any SPR?..
Makes no since to even PVP if you can’t counter things that prevent you from attacking
Especially if I’m using fencer…
We will sit there for years trying to hit each other…

With a team this is not so much a problem but 1v1 matches do exist…
And in a 1v1 I’m just not seeing how a swordie is supposed to beat anyone.
M.def and SPR seemed to help me out a lot before so unless they changed something…
I’m not seeing how it’s useless.

Are you sure that’s x2?..

Welcome to Tree of Savior’s 1v1 PvP: Where Clerics are the kings, Wizards are the queens and Swordsman and Archers live through hell.

I am not sure what kind of PvP you experienced, but I dueled a lot of level 200 people who all had the best equipment for their character (Aias, Max Petamion, Gladiator/Sissel, awakened items, etc). PvP changes a lot when everyone is using the best equipment.

PvP in Tree of Savior is in a bad shape right now. It is not balanced.

The developers right now are more focused on fixing bugs, optimizing the game, releasing more content, etc. Once they are done with that, then they are going to balance PvP.

So I wouldn’t worry about PvP too much until then.


Yep. Here is a video that thailehuy took with Aias: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmKQsWxc1Ps

@Cathexis
So are all shields with ^2 and ^3 block rate x2 and x3?..

Idk I never really had problems in pvp before.
I feel like the variants change in pvp, even if they don’t show in the status window.
Because I did fine on swordies and archers before.
But recently everyone’s telling me that the only things you can use to defend yourself in pvp are useless…
I just don’t understand what changed.

Every shield on the game is only ^1. Aias is ^2 and Wall Guard is ^3, but it reduces movement speed by -1, and it also doesn’t have the chance to reduce damage by 50% like Aias. So Aias is the best shield in the game, at least currently.

Nothing changed.

I think your perception of PvP is different since you thought “oh hey, this helps” but never really actually sat down to do the math and confirm that it indeed was making a difference.

It was always this way, you only have to do the math and verify for yourself. That is why lots of people don’t like the way the game is currently balanced, and there are many threads/posts suggesting a change in how stats work in the game.

Tree of Savior is still a very undeveloped and needs lots of work on many different areas of the game.

@Cathexis
Idk if that makes me REALLY good or REALLY lucky with pvp xD…

Because as said I never really had problems with pvp…

I think it makes you someone who didn’t get enough meaningful experience during the icbt2.

If you never had Aias on your character, and never fought against someone else using Aias, then you are already missing a big part of Rank 6+ PvP.

It also changes when people actually know how to PvP and know what other classes can do so they are more experienced. But this requires context and videos (with context) and stuff, so saying “oh but I dueled x and won” or “I never had problems in PvP” are not good arguments to use, as they have no context and data to back them up.

That is why I prefer to simply use the math in the game, anyone can do it by themselves and verify if it is correct.

@Cathexis
Rude :confused:
People ofc had it but it never made a huge difference from my experience.
(Maybe because of the block rate nerf?)
However not a whole lot of ppl had it most didn’t feel like grinding for gear, it was only a beta.
I always had enough Dex to dodge melee’s and archers.
You kinda see a charge animation for mages so…
You kinda just get back when you see it…

Also you mentioned that one of the Rodelero c2 skills gives full magic immunity but I don’t see an attribute anywhere for that…

It is not rude. I never said your experience is bad or that you are an unskilled player.

What I said is that there is a difference between blindly going into PvP and actually testing PvP. This means documenting both opponent’s builds, then test several duel instances between them, use reset scrolls to change the build, then test some more and see what changed or didn’t change. Repeat multiple times to acquire the best testing data while being backed up by theory that the formulas in the game provide.

That is what “meaningful experience” means, really going in deep and test the game with context in each scenario.

Slithering does that, but it is not in the description because of who knows what reason.

WHY WOULD THEY LEAVE OUT SUCH AN IMPORTANT PEICE OF INFORMATION!?
XD!..

@Cathexis Hi, I want a swordsman build that use 2H sword as his main weapon and I’m wondering what kind of build should I go for. I understand I can switch weapon but I like 2H sword very much so I don’t think I’ll like the 1H Sword + Shield combo. Is C1 Swordsman > C3 Highlander > C1 Barbarian > C2 Doppelsoeldner good? And which skill should I add? Thank you.

replace barb with peltasta
and have a shield + sword in your weapon swap for taunting mobs

sword > highlander c3 > pelt > doppel C2
its the most meta build with one of the highest damage outputs.
the order you get pelt doesnt really matter for me its best if you get it at the 127-130ish mark when you start heading to demon pris

I find that getting Paltes at rank 2 makes early grinding easy with taunt and guardian
And it makes you a must pick for grinding the lvl 90 dungeon.

meh grinding the 90 dung is not bad, but it slows down people who are rushing,
the early levels go fast as heck with exp cards already
but if your a 1st timer and want to experience content then yea pelt at rank 4 is good, especially with these new zones in orsha being packed with mobs.

for me i found it best to get to 130 then boss rush the 90 dungeon for those sweet meme daggers lol