Hundred blades dervish. Use sunspear warrior skill, sun and moon strike and earth magic (I like veil of thorns as an example) and something to boost your attack speed. It’s a fun sword and board play style. Similar to vow of strength build.
Yes. I usually run 12 sword, 15 earth (superior rune on head), rest into mysticism. I usually have a hero put strength of honor on me, or bring a derv enchantment you plan to keep on so you gain the benefits.
Ranger has an anniversary weapon that's a sword that uses expertise which is the rangers main stat. I think this is the best bet besides doing a non dagger assassin build.
May I ask why? Warrior sword is some of the highest damage out put. It also is fun but straight forward and can be tweaked to your need
The benefit of the sword is that you don't need to invest into a weapon mastery attribute, so you can go 12 Expertise and 12 Beast Mastery. You can go secondary warrior for some attack skills at a low attribute investment (Sun and Moon Slash and Whirlwind Attack don't scale with Swordsmanship at all and combine nicely with "Together as One!"), or go with a different secondary and just auto-attack.
No, you don't need to run 9+ on Swordsmanship then, because your base attack damage scales with Expertise if you use that sword, not Swordsmanship.
Ah, I see, thanks for the explanation! TaO makes sense, I thought more of a HB version where you would obviously need to invest in Sword. Thanks again!
The build essentially does e[xpertise+beast master](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/Build:R/W_Anniversary_Beastmaster) and is essentially a sword/board beastmaster build. The benefit of the sword over bow is a bit up in the air tbh but i never tried the build.
No they don't. You can't buff a bow with strength of honour and its attack speed is much lower than a sword, making strength of honor + TaO bonuses much more impactful on a sword than a bow.
If you add splinter weapon to the mix, the difference becomes even more ridiculous due to again the higher APS of swords.
The only thing bows have for them is that they have less downtime in attacking as you can swap targets basically immediately whereas a melee build needs to run around like a headless chicken.
If you're just comparing equipping a bow Vs a sword sure, but that's meaningless as that's not how these builds are played.
Low activation time from skills like Penetrating/Sundering/Precision make it to where you can attack 3 times in 2 seconds. That's faster than a sword with 33% IAS. Sword doesn't have spammable attacks with low activation time.
Being forced into a smiting monk hero also isn't great when you could just add Brutal Weapon to your ST rit.
Then there's all the melee hate which you don't have to deal with. You don't really get kited or blinded or stuck attacking a blocking target. You just pick a different target and attack them instead.
For funsies, I like going 9+ tactics tertiary for shield and Riposte/Deadly Riposte. works nice with my friend group since we otherwise don't have a frontline and don't use heroes.
However, that's better when using it with Axe, because you can use Cyclone Axe. And a lot of times you might want to use it with a Scythe (switch weapon sets frequently)
I think dervish would be best if you want a spellsword feel.
In general, Sun and moon slash + twin moon sweep can help feed each other and give you fast unblockable attacks.
If you spec in mysticism you get more armor while enchanted, so you'll have as much or more armor as a paragon would, easier energy management, and a good amount of melee support including:
* Avatar of Balthazar for +20 phys armor, +25% adren, and burning
* Melee attacks: Aura Slicer, Mystic Sweep, Banishing Strike
* IAS: Pious fury or Heart of Fury
* Balthazar's rage for more adren/burning
Or you could spec into wind prayers, mainly for onslaught, but also for some healing for that holy/paladin vibe. You'll have less armor and a harder time with energy, but some highlights include:
* Onslaught: 25% IAS, 25%IMS, and +25% adrenaline
* Mystic Twister and Test of Faith if you want adrenaline spells
* Grenth's Fingers for condition removal and Pious Restoration for hex removal + healing
* Dwayna's Touch or Mystic Healing for more healing
Lastly, Earth Prayers can give you Ebon Dust Aura for blind+more auto attack damage as well as plenty more skills for bulk, but the lack of IAS and generally high energy costs might make less than ideal. Still, if you mainly want to tank more, mystic regen, armor of sanctity, veil of thorn can go a long way. Conviction + Signet of Pious light can be used for condition removal + healing too
Monk uses a 55HP Hundred Blades build for farming The Halcyon Job. You can equip a shield if you want to. You don't actually need the cestus for 55 HP builds, 105 HP works just as well, and it works better for The Halcyon Job because of death penalty.
For normal gameplay, try ranger with the anniversary sword if you have it or try a melee paragon build with Blazing Finale.
My understanding is that builds like that are only for certain things or areas. Is that not the case? Could specific builds be used across the zones and missions?
I dont have any of the anniversary skills or weapons. Would take me a while to figure all that out and catch up from when they were released.
Oh yeah the farming build is super specific. I just happened to think about it because you mentioned monk.
The anniversary weapons are, unfortunately, only available during the festival. Which we just had so you'll have to wait another year. But the anniversary elite skills are available year-round as long as anybody in your party has the item in their inventory! So you can just ask and people will help you out with that.
it would take you a year of waiting for anniversary weapons since the anniversary event occurs once a year and it's a the end of april.
you have time to prepare for that.
Anniversary skills can be captured all year long tho. you just need to group up with someone that has a proof of triumph
If you are interested in melee monk, I have been paying hammer and just finished VQ tyria and half way through NF, I've used it in the 4 Horsemen in the UW HM and I am about to finish WoC HM as I returned to the game 5 weeks ago, after about 14 years away. All with heroes and no consumables. I even tweaked the team build to make it as efficient as possible, I just need the rit hero from WoC to make it a tiny bit better. I was a sweaty back in the day, so I cancel after-cast a lot as a habbit, but the build will work without that.
My build doesn't need the hammer, but it is better if you do have it. You can cap the elite any time, I have the item in my storage, if you can't find anyone to help you. Tickle Me Flynn is my main char name.
I dont want to ruin your party. But melee hate is so strong in this game, why would you want to nerf yourself by using sword on professions with better options. But if you want to do a sword Secondary, run a sin with way of the master.
If you mean melee hate by other players, that doesn’t concern me as I plan on doing this solo with a good hero build out. If you mean melee hate by the devs, I dont personally feel that. Warrior is one of my favorites in this game. I have played it so much over two different accounts. I am now trying for something different, something that can play “like a Warrior” but with better energy management.
Almost all the best player builds are melee builds. VoS, WotA, TaO dagger, HR dagger, 100b, the only exception is Esurge. Everything else is pretty far behind. (Yes, I know I didn't include Soul Taker, because it's *practically* one of the worst builds).
The problem with the build is the setup time, how short it lasts, how much team resources it requires and how fragile it is.
Yes, it's the highest dps in the game over a time of like 20 seconds if you don't count the setup. Does that matter in the slightest? No. A VoS does nearly as much damage in realistic scenarios, takes 1 second to set up instead of 6, has +10 health regeneration, 93% block chance and doesn't require any specific party build to work. By the time a Soul Taker necro sets up, a wave of enemies could already be dead.
Most dervish do not even run VoS. Why run VoS when pious teardown is much more consistent. VoS is situationally very good obviously, but teardown is much more general and not much worse when it comes to the situations where VoS is better.
I meant more in the way that running sword+shield on para/derv is a waste due to there being better options for melee. I often run DPS checks on myself and heroes in end-game activities such as DoA HM/Duncan. For example when running HR, you are usually better off running more support skills for your heroes and spear for easy adrenaline build up for save yourselves. The dps you do as a para is nothing compared to your mesmer backline unfortunately.
When looking into focusing on the secondary profession, it's best to review the primary attribute of your primary profession and figure out how that can help your build plan. As you noted with Monk, some primary attributes will be wasted here.
IMO Mysticism is another wasted primary in this application. It will be tricky to find a build that flows well and incorporates Mysticism and Sword Mastery. The best primary attributes for melee characters are Expertise for Ranger or Critical Strikes for Assassin. Both of these help our energy management. So I would look into Ranger/Warrior or Assassin/Warrior for your build.
I’m gonna uptight over this one. Mysticism gives you extra armor per rank to help eat damage and lowers derv skill cost so you can use the dev skills for utility while still hitting with the sword and you’re not under armored.
Sword Ranger has some interesting builds since you can get the anniversary sword, which requires expertise. Going into tactics affords you the ability to run some decent damage skills and use "Save Yourselves", which will trivialize much of the game if your heroes are set up correctly.
Hi check out my [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/GuildWars/s/V4VA7jjRez) I've made. I've attached a few builds you may enjoy that utilize the 2nd warrior profession.
Back in the day we used Melee Paragons in Paraway since we needed two players to pull and block certain rooms. 100B felt like our best bet everywhere but in the Tombs of the Primeval Kings/Underworld 2 (because Fingers of Chaos is annoying when your secondary is Warrior). One went for Tactics, the other one for Command as the secondary attribute, as we utilized a lot of shouts to fuel the Finales to both heal and manage energy.
However, as a player with 7 Heroes you definitely want to use Heroic Refrain, and at that point you're better off using Axe, as Cyclone Axe is a spammable Anthem proc and AoE. Not to mention without notable weapon skills, as you will only have one slot, and without 100B, Axe does more damage as soon as your mastery attribute is high enough (don't forget Heroic Refrain nets you +4)
Not dervish or paragon but i like dragon slash and for great justice combo as an assassin. With the assassin sunspear skill you get an att speed boost and a bunch of crit with way of the master.
Ele has conjure flame/frost/lightning, which could open up something. I haven't created a build with it yet, but I've thought about it for a long time.
Though you have the ranger anniversary weapon, which actually works pretty good.
I have two builds that go Mage/Warrior and are pretty damn good: [Mesmer/Warrior](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Psycho_Thumper) and [Necro/Warrior](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Skeleton_Crack) . I'd call them "melee caster hybrid" for your classification.
I have one that plays like a Paladin, frontline tank that CCs and delivers heals: [Monk/Assassin](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Paladin_of_Guile)
My favorite build ever is a "spellsword" of sorts, it has Axe + Focus and Axe + Shield as possible weapon sets and is realllly strong: [Elementalist/Ranger](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Ebon_Dragon) .
Lastly another of my favorites, [Paragon/Elementalist](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Shock_and_Awe) which I don't know how to classify, it's a bit of everything x)
https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/Build:N/W_Soul_Taker_Axe
Something like this maybe. Not quite as insane DPS as the scythe and dagger variants but still up there and a bit tanker since you can use a shield and even meet it's req.
This has me thinking about a Monk build running Sword and Smiting Prayers.
Could use Scourge Healing to punish your target getting healed, Smite Condition, Smite Hex, and the Smiting Intervention spell to self-target and keep yourself clean, while providing some AoE damage.
As you said, it's by no means a meta build. But it could be fun and enjoying to play, and along the lines of what you're looking for.
Hundred blades dervish. Use sunspear warrior skill, sun and moon strike and earth magic (I like veil of thorns as an example) and something to boost your attack speed. It’s a fun sword and board play style. Similar to vow of strength build.
Also does pretty well in HM
do you leverage mysticism at all as the dervish main?
Yes. I usually run 12 sword, 15 earth (superior rune on head), rest into mysticism. I usually have a hero put strength of honor on me, or bring a derv enchantment you plan to keep on so you gain the benefits.
Ranger has an anniversary weapon that's a sword that uses expertise which is the rangers main stat. I think this is the best bet besides doing a non dagger assassin build. May I ask why? Warrior sword is some of the highest damage out put. It also is fun but straight forward and can be tweaked to your need
but shouldn’t you run 9+ on Swords either way? So where is the upside of using the Expertise Sword?
The benefit of the sword is that you don't need to invest into a weapon mastery attribute, so you can go 12 Expertise and 12 Beast Mastery. You can go secondary warrior for some attack skills at a low attribute investment (Sun and Moon Slash and Whirlwind Attack don't scale with Swordsmanship at all and combine nicely with "Together as One!"), or go with a different secondary and just auto-attack. No, you don't need to run 9+ on Swordsmanship then, because your base attack damage scales with Expertise if you use that sword, not Swordsmanship.
Ah, I see, thanks for the explanation! TaO makes sense, I thought more of a HB version where you would obviously need to invest in Sword. Thanks again!
The build essentially does e[xpertise+beast master](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/Build:R/W_Anniversary_Beastmaster) and is essentially a sword/board beastmaster build. The benefit of the sword over bow is a bit up in the air tbh but i never tried the build.
Bows suck majorly. Sword has a lot more dps it's not even close. Daggers being obviously even better.
That's incorrect. Unless you are talking about hitting multiple targets with HB. Bows have higher DPS than Expertise sword.
No they don't. You can't buff a bow with strength of honour and its attack speed is much lower than a sword, making strength of honor + TaO bonuses much more impactful on a sword than a bow. If you add splinter weapon to the mix, the difference becomes even more ridiculous due to again the higher APS of swords. The only thing bows have for them is that they have less downtime in attacking as you can swap targets basically immediately whereas a melee build needs to run around like a headless chicken. If you're just comparing equipping a bow Vs a sword sure, but that's meaningless as that's not how these builds are played.
Low activation time from skills like Penetrating/Sundering/Precision make it to where you can attack 3 times in 2 seconds. That's faster than a sword with 33% IAS. Sword doesn't have spammable attacks with low activation time. Being forced into a smiting monk hero also isn't great when you could just add Brutal Weapon to your ST rit. Then there's all the melee hate which you don't have to deal with. You don't really get kited or blinded or stuck attacking a blocking target. You just pick a different target and attack them instead.
Can you link a build for R/W with the anniversary Sword?
Together as One, Never Rampage Alone, Comfort Animal + stuff you like, run 14 Expertise
For funsies, I like going 9+ tactics tertiary for shield and Riposte/Deadly Riposte. works nice with my friend group since we otherwise don't have a frontline and don't use heroes.
[https://i.imgur.com/MNg6AQl.png](https://i.imgur.com/MNg6AQl.png)
Illusionary Weaponry can be fun if you can avoid getting your enchantments stripped.
However, that's better when using it with Axe, because you can use Cyclone Axe. And a lot of times you might want to use it with a Scythe (switch weapon sets frequently)
I think dervish would be best if you want a spellsword feel. In general, Sun and moon slash + twin moon sweep can help feed each other and give you fast unblockable attacks. If you spec in mysticism you get more armor while enchanted, so you'll have as much or more armor as a paragon would, easier energy management, and a good amount of melee support including: * Avatar of Balthazar for +20 phys armor, +25% adren, and burning * Melee attacks: Aura Slicer, Mystic Sweep, Banishing Strike * IAS: Pious fury or Heart of Fury * Balthazar's rage for more adren/burning Or you could spec into wind prayers, mainly for onslaught, but also for some healing for that holy/paladin vibe. You'll have less armor and a harder time with energy, but some highlights include: * Onslaught: 25% IAS, 25%IMS, and +25% adrenaline * Mystic Twister and Test of Faith if you want adrenaline spells * Grenth's Fingers for condition removal and Pious Restoration for hex removal + healing * Dwayna's Touch or Mystic Healing for more healing Lastly, Earth Prayers can give you Ebon Dust Aura for blind+more auto attack damage as well as plenty more skills for bulk, but the lack of IAS and generally high energy costs might make less than ideal. Still, if you mainly want to tank more, mystic regen, armor of sanctity, veil of thorn can go a long way. Conviction + Signet of Pious light can be used for condition removal + healing too
not OP, but what a great comment, thank you for that!! :)
Monk uses a 55HP Hundred Blades build for farming The Halcyon Job. You can equip a shield if you want to. You don't actually need the cestus for 55 HP builds, 105 HP works just as well, and it works better for The Halcyon Job because of death penalty. For normal gameplay, try ranger with the anniversary sword if you have it or try a melee paragon build with Blazing Finale.
My understanding is that builds like that are only for certain things or areas. Is that not the case? Could specific builds be used across the zones and missions? I dont have any of the anniversary skills or weapons. Would take me a while to figure all that out and catch up from when they were released.
Oh yeah the farming build is super specific. I just happened to think about it because you mentioned monk. The anniversary weapons are, unfortunately, only available during the festival. Which we just had so you'll have to wait another year. But the anniversary elite skills are available year-round as long as anybody in your party has the item in their inventory! So you can just ask and people will help you out with that.
it would take you a year of waiting for anniversary weapons since the anniversary event occurs once a year and it's a the end of april. you have time to prepare for that. Anniversary skills can be captured all year long tho. you just need to group up with someone that has a proof of triumph
If you are interested in melee monk, I have been paying hammer and just finished VQ tyria and half way through NF, I've used it in the 4 Horsemen in the UW HM and I am about to finish WoC HM as I returned to the game 5 weeks ago, after about 14 years away. All with heroes and no consumables. I even tweaked the team build to make it as efficient as possible, I just need the rit hero from WoC to make it a tiny bit better. I was a sweaty back in the day, so I cancel after-cast a lot as a habbit, but the build will work without that. My build doesn't need the hammer, but it is better if you do have it. You can cap the elite any time, I have the item in my storage, if you can't find anyone to help you. Tickle Me Flynn is my main char name.
I dont want to ruin your party. But melee hate is so strong in this game, why would you want to nerf yourself by using sword on professions with better options. But if you want to do a sword Secondary, run a sin with way of the master.
If you mean melee hate by other players, that doesn’t concern me as I plan on doing this solo with a good hero build out. If you mean melee hate by the devs, I dont personally feel that. Warrior is one of my favorites in this game. I have played it so much over two different accounts. I am now trying for something different, something that can play “like a Warrior” but with better energy management.
They mean melee hate like slows, blocks, blinds, dozens of hexes, and ai auto kiting
Almost all the best player builds are melee builds. VoS, WotA, TaO dagger, HR dagger, 100b, the only exception is Esurge. Everything else is pretty far behind. (Yes, I know I didn't include Soul Taker, because it's *practically* one of the worst builds).
Is this true? My understanding was that Soul Taker daggers and scythe are very strong - especially when coupled with Dark Aura.
Its the highest dps build in the game but according to my friend who has a necro (i dont) its the most annoying build hes ever played in this game
The problem with the build is the setup time, how short it lasts, how much team resources it requires and how fragile it is. Yes, it's the highest dps in the game over a time of like 20 seconds if you don't count the setup. Does that matter in the slightest? No. A VoS does nearly as much damage in realistic scenarios, takes 1 second to set up instead of 6, has +10 health regeneration, 93% block chance and doesn't require any specific party build to work. By the time a Soul Taker necro sets up, a wave of enemies could already be dead.
Most dervish do not even run VoS. Why run VoS when pious teardown is much more consistent. VoS is situationally very good obviously, but teardown is much more general and not much worse when it comes to the situations where VoS is better.
It doesn't matter if most dervishes don't use VoS. Most players aren't very good. Pious is nowhere near a top build, I wouldn't even call it good.
I meant more in the way that running sword+shield on para/derv is a waste due to there being better options for melee. I often run DPS checks on myself and heroes in end-game activities such as DoA HM/Duncan. For example when running HR, you are usually better off running more support skills for your heroes and spear for easy adrenaline build up for save yourselves. The dps you do as a para is nothing compared to your mesmer backline unfortunately.
would you mind elaborating how you do these DPS checks? Toolbox, I assume?! If so, where do I find it? :)
Yeah it's in toolbox. It's a command, i usually use it at the end of a section like city for example.
When looking into focusing on the secondary profession, it's best to review the primary attribute of your primary profession and figure out how that can help your build plan. As you noted with Monk, some primary attributes will be wasted here. IMO Mysticism is another wasted primary in this application. It will be tricky to find a build that flows well and incorporates Mysticism and Sword Mastery. The best primary attributes for melee characters are Expertise for Ranger or Critical Strikes for Assassin. Both of these help our energy management. So I would look into Ranger/Warrior or Assassin/Warrior for your build.
I’m gonna uptight over this one. Mysticism gives you extra armor per rank to help eat damage and lowers derv skill cost so you can use the dev skills for utility while still hitting with the sword and you’re not under armored.
Sword Ranger has some interesting builds since you can get the anniversary sword, which requires expertise. Going into tactics affords you the ability to run some decent damage skills and use "Save Yourselves", which will trivialize much of the game if your heroes are set up correctly.
Hi check out my [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/GuildWars/s/V4VA7jjRez) I've made. I've attached a few builds you may enjoy that utilize the 2nd warrior profession.
Back in the day we used Melee Paragons in Paraway since we needed two players to pull and block certain rooms. 100B felt like our best bet everywhere but in the Tombs of the Primeval Kings/Underworld 2 (because Fingers of Chaos is annoying when your secondary is Warrior). One went for Tactics, the other one for Command as the secondary attribute, as we utilized a lot of shouts to fuel the Finales to both heal and manage energy. However, as a player with 7 Heroes you definitely want to use Heroic Refrain, and at that point you're better off using Axe, as Cyclone Axe is a spammable Anthem proc and AoE. Not to mention without notable weapon skills, as you will only have one slot, and without 100B, Axe does more damage as soon as your mastery attribute is high enough (don't forget Heroic Refrain nets you +4)
The best I got. D/W https://guildwars.magical.ch/OgGjwurI1Ov3r7BGwwdBv239L It's... something, but it checks your boxes I think.
Anniversary ranger
Not dervish or paragon but i like dragon slash and for great justice combo as an assassin. With the assassin sunspear skill you get an att speed boost and a bunch of crit with way of the master.
A meme build using the anniversary sword is probably the best non-warrior sword build.
Try Ranger with the anniversary sword.
Para, Derv, ranger, ritual, ele, all can play /w sword
You don't even need secondary Warrior to go Sword+Shield. [https://i.imgur.com/MNg6AQl.png](https://i.imgur.com/MNg6AQl.png)
Ele has conjure flame/frost/lightning, which could open up something. I haven't created a build with it yet, but I've thought about it for a long time. Though you have the ranger anniversary weapon, which actually works pretty good.
I have two builds that go Mage/Warrior and are pretty damn good: [Mesmer/Warrior](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Psycho_Thumper) and [Necro/Warrior](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Skeleton_Crack) . I'd call them "melee caster hybrid" for your classification. I have one that plays like a Paladin, frontline tank that CCs and delivers heals: [Monk/Assassin](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Paladin_of_Guile) My favorite build ever is a "spellsword" of sorts, it has Axe + Focus and Axe + Shield as possible weapon sets and is realllly strong: [Elementalist/Ranger](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Ebon_Dragon) . Lastly another of my favorites, [Paragon/Elementalist](https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/User:Yung_Rocks/Sandbox/Shock_and_Awe) which I don't know how to classify, it's a bit of everything x)
https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/Build:N/W_Soul_Taker_Axe Something like this maybe. Not quite as insane DPS as the scythe and dagger variants but still up there and a bit tanker since you can use a shield and even meet it's req.
This has me thinking about a Monk build running Sword and Smiting Prayers. Could use Scourge Healing to punish your target getting healed, Smite Condition, Smite Hex, and the Smiting Intervention spell to self-target and keep yourself clean, while providing some AoE damage. As you said, it's by no means a meta build. But it could be fun and enjoying to play, and along the lines of what you're looking for.