[PvP] Bladesworn: Time to Shine?

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

I've been playing BS almost exclusively the past few months, and I conclude that it is far stronger than most people give it credit for.  It holds up quite well in gold/low plat level play, and I'm sure it could do even better in more competent hands than mine.  It probably would struggle more at the very highest levels, as it can struggle when being hard focused by multiple players, but it should be more than playable for the vast majority of the player base.  And, with BS about to be buffed significantly in the May 2 patch, BS is primed to make a push for a spot in the meta.

 

Here are two of my favorite/most successful builds:

 

Defense/Tactics Bunker/Support Hybrid

 Probably the best build for ranked.  The sustain is otherworldly, and most of it will be further buffed on May 2 (i.e., warhorn buffs, shout heal buffs, Unshakeable mountain).  You anchor teamfights for your side, and provide a great deal of healing, barrier, boons, and condi cleanse--all while doing respectable damage and block-busting CC yourself.  I can outbunker most other bunkers in the meta (e.g., chrono and tempest), and outduel most classes, too.  It's a great all-around fighter, which is why it is so good in ranked where it can fill many roles depending on your team's needs.  

 

As mentioned above, the build struggles with hard focus by multiple players.  That's why I run balanced stance; the crit immunity and pulsing stab usually provide enough of a window for me to use DS Boost to get away, get my heals off, and reset.  It's not a perfect solution, but it works most of the time.

 

Strength/Defense Teamfighter

Easily the most fun way to play, IMO.  You give up your team support healing in favor of significantly better damage and endurance generation.  This makes it an arguably better duelist, too, at least vs power specs, as your extra dodges help you avoid their burst better and your big dmg can put them on the defensive more easily.  

 

Some tips:

1)  Make use of your ranged GS AA attacks.  With high might, your AAs hit for 1-2k+ fairly reliably; its enough to make most enemies burn defensive CDs or dodge, and it softens them up for...

 

2)  Artillery Slash.  This is your main damage dealer.  Unfortunately, its long cast time and slow projectile speed make it very unreliable if not used at fairly close range (~600).  Use it like Bull's Charge; bait the dodge with your auto attacks, then cast AS as they are starting to come out of their dodge.  Don't forget to use FGJ while casting to make sure it rocks them hard.

 

3) Don't use Blooming Fire.  The explosions often miss when you or your target are moving, causing it to do ~500 dmg.  It is theoretically possible for it to do more dmg than an AA, but it is so unreliable and has such a long cast time that you are better off just running through your AA chain in almost every circumstance (esp since the 3rd AA attack hits pretty hard).

 

4) Close with your enemy to attempt your axe combo, then use Breakstep and DS Boost to put distance between yourself and your enemies so you can resume the range battle. 

 

5) Using WH4 just before swapping to GS can help you get off a sneaky AS with the help of the quickness

 

6) Don't try to long charge your DT attacks.  You'll get interrupted much of the time, and the attacks are so telegraphed that good enemies will just dodge them.  Rather, rely on quick double-taps of F2>2  (DS Boost).  This is much harder to see coming/dodge, and it has such a huge hit box that you are likely to hit something.  The attack still hits for 2-3k usually, breaks blocks, interrupts skills, applies weakness, procs adrenal healing and cleansing ire, and creates space between you and your opponent so you can keep attacking them with ranged GS attacks.

 

7) Save your longer-charged DT attacks for when you're not being focused.  You'll often be left alone in team fights because a) a lot of people don't see BS as a threat, and b) because you're tanky AF.  This gives you an opportunity to hop out of the melee and get a 1-2s charge of your DT.  You can make a big difference in teamfights this way by plowing through the enemy team with an unblockable CC that hits for 5-7k that they never saw coming.  

 

8.) consider using DS Reach in teamfights where there is an enemy tempest so you are less likely to get stunned by their shocking aura.

 

9) The biggest counter to this build is Defense Spellbreaker, as its superior mobility and oppressive CC make it hard for you to keep your distance and do your thing.  If you know you're going to be dueling a SpB, it is better to drop WH in favor of Pistol (esp in light of the coming buffs) as the aegis on Pistol 4 can be used reactively to block their attacks/cc and the extra dmg pistol provides allows you to better counter pressure the Spb when they get close.  You want to keep the fight at range as much as possible and wear them down with GS auto-attacks and the occasional artillery slash.  Use quick DS-Boosts to break their blocks, apply weakness, and create distance so you can turn around and start auto-attacking from range again.  Rinse, repeat, and try not to get CC'd.  It's harder than it sounds 😞

 

Hope that helps.  I've had a blast playing BS lately, and I hope you will, too.

 

I'd love to hear your experiences and what you've found to work, as well.  Happy Hunting!

[oscuro.9720]

I’ve fought something similar. Not sure how good it was because it was my first day playing in a few months, but it seems like it would do well as a side node and the shouts give team utility. I’d love to fight your version of blade. 

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

18 minutes ago, oscuro.9720 said:

I’ve fought something similar. Not sure how good it was because it was my first day playing in a few months, but it seems like it would do well as a side node and the shouts give team utility. I’d love to fight your version of blade. 

Maybe once I get all my yummy buffs on Tuesday, sure 🤣😅

[Hotride.2187]

Pretty sure you can play anything in g3/p1 as long as you play it well and its not utter garbage (like, you made a build that doesnt work on purpose).

I've fought a bs here and there, it can be played well but its like anything else war has. Very slow and predictable. Its tanky, thats just about it. Definitely not fun to fight, its on the boring why-arent-you-dead-yet side of things. I'd rather fight a bunker ele or mesmer, there at least I have a chance of dying if the opponent plays well or I kitten up a bit.

[Zuko.7132]

4 hours ago, Hotride.2187 said:

Pretty sure you can play anything in g3/p1 as long as you play it well and its not utter garbage (like, you made a build that doesnt work on purpose).

I've fought a bs here and there, it can be played well but its like anything else war has. Very slow and predictable. Its tanky, thats just about it. Definitely not fun to fight, its on the boring why-arent-you-dead-yet side of things. I'd rather fight a bunker ele or mesmer, there at least I have a chance of dying if the opponent plays well or I kitten up a bit.

ya i don't think bladesworn will be good after this, but it will be more annoying.

[Lighter.5631]

just tanky, that's it.

does little.

takes forever to charge up flow and do dragon slash

the rest of the kits are meh

it is also slow compared to all the super speed now, slowest of 3 war elite specs now.

 

also extremely unfun to play as well.

new changes just going to make bladesworn more tanky. doesn't fix any problem

Edited April 30, 2023 by Lighter.5631

[Zuko.7132]

6 minutes ago, Lighter.5631 said:

just tanky, that's it.

does little.

takes forever to charge up flow and do dragon slash

the rest of the kits are meh

it is also slow compared to all the super speed now, slowest of 3 war elite specs now.

 

also extremely unfun to play as well.

new changes just going to make bladesworn more tanky. doesn't fix any problem

Dragon slash could stand to charge twice as fast in pvp. Blooming fire needs to be a usable skill.

[Zuko.7132]

7 minutes ago, Zuko.7132 said:

Dragon slash could stand to charge twice as fast in pvp. Blooming fire needs to be a usable skill.

I would love to see blooming fire be a ground targeted leap.

[Lighter.5631]

also what's bad about bladesworn is that.

it only has one burst skill

all other warrior has 2. 

 

imagine, just playing a base warrior/berserker/spellbreaker, you have 2 weapon sets but you only have 1 burst skill.

it's an extreme downgrade, especially with traits that proc off burst skills, you can burst, weapon swap, and burst again, for stacks.

and you even have full counter to triple burst.

 

you can't do that on bladesworn.

you get a full bar of skills in dragon trigger, but in the end, it's only one skill.

 

and gunsaber CD is generally high compared to all other warrior weapons and has very few impactful skills, you generally see yourself swapping to gunsaber doing nothing but AA. and making having 2 weapon swap pointless

also they need to make up their mind about gunsaber man. melee or range.

because it is an even clunkier range weapon then warrior rifle now after all these changes.

they can make cool melee for gunsaber but they refuse lol.

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Lighter.5631

[Zuko.7132]

4 minutes ago, Lighter.5631 said:

also what's bad about bladesworn is that.

it only has one burst skill

all other warrior has 2. 

 

imagine, just playing a base warrior/berserker/spellbreaker, you have 2 weapon sets but you only have 1 burst skill.

it's an extreme downgrade, especially with traits that proc off burst skills, you can burst, weapon swap, and burst again, for stacks.

and you even have full counter to triple burst.

 

you can't do that on bladesworn.

you get a full bar of skills in dragon trigger, but in the end, it's only one skill.

 

and gunsaber CD is generally high compared to all other warrior weapons and has very few impactful skills, you generally see yourself swapping to gunsaber doing nothing but AA. and making having 2 weapon swap pointless

also they need to make up their mind about gunsaber man. melee or range.

because it is an even clunkier range weapon then warrior rifle now after all these changes.

they can make cool melee for gunsaber but they refuse lol.

 

Dragon trigger should have a lower cooldown for sure since it's the only burst.

[Lighter.5631]

like blooming fire, they can just give it an arcing slice animation, do slash damage, then with a delay(like pistol 5), explosions happen along the path of the arcing slice in a circle..it would be a much more smooth skill instead of that buggy skill that goes on CD and not trigger if enemy position changed.

and not overstacking all the aegis and barrier on these boring clunky skills and hope it might work

Edited April 30, 2023 by Lighter.5631

[Lighter.5631]

also break step needs to be a leap, the explosion should launch you into the air

and you land on the ground and do explosion 180 radius aoe damage..

Edited April 30, 2023 by Lighter.5631

[Lighter.5631]

also they need to ditch the ammo system

it does not belong to warriors, warriors simply can not camp in one weapon to cast these long cast-time meh skills multiple times.

that's the reason why warrior needs fast hand(double weapon swap for bladesworn) to even be playable at all.

rifle needs actual real skills

 

and ammo promotes spamming. unfun.

 

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

Most of what you guys are saying is true; BS is janky, some of its skills are bad or just plain dysfunctional (blooming fire especially, but also the glitchiness of DS1 and DS3). But I think you're understating just how strong BS can be.

 

With high might (which you absolutely have, thanks to FGJ and restorative strength), your attacks absolutely slap. You can get 6k+ on your artillery slashes, for instance, and the double charge version is a long daze. There's also a ton of cleave dmg, as AS and cyclone trigger each hit multiple targets. Even your AAs get explosions on the later attacks and do respectable damage. And you can't underestimate the value of an unblockable, unblindable CC that can come in the form of a leap or ranged attack. Couple all of that with the fact that you are nearly impossible to kill 1v1, and you have a really strong bunker/team fighter and even a duelist.

 

The buffs to pistol and dragonspike mine are also going to be huge. The ammo skills on pistol4 effectively more than doubles the movement, aegis generation, and dmg potential from pistol 5. It's even moreso because, since it is an ammo skills, it should be reloaded by TR (which itself just got a massive CD reduction). The extra ammo on all of this also means more easy barrier generation (also buffed by 25%) through unshakeable mountain.  Heck, you can even take shield master in defense to turn all those aegises into projectile reflects if you feel so inclined.  There is so much potential here.

 

Then, dragonspike mine will be one of our shortest CD stunbreaks...and it resets DT. This may be part of the answer to BS's problem with only having one burst/having difficulty maximizing burst -related traits.

 

I get that BS plays clunkily and that it's not for everyone, but underestimate it at your peril.

 

On second thought, y'all keep hating on it, and whatever you do, DONT PLAY IT. That way maybe my favorite builds will stay off the nerf chopping block 🤣😅

Edited April 30, 2023 by CalmTheStorm.2364
Typo

[Blackthunder.8679]

When it came out, I hated it, I liked the samurai concept but really disliked how it played.

 

Then I forced myself into playing it and after some key binds swaps - Really Anet? With so much alt friendliness you haven't come with per character key binds - I started to get the hang of it, even with all its flaws.

 

But then they screw it for me with with the stab changes (the cd was bugged, fixing the cd would have been the only logical solution) and above all with the GSb changes.

 

First and you may find this odd was the noise pollution. Adding a loud explosion noise on every GSb ability just makes my head hurt and made this spec truly unplayable for me.

 

Second was the AR more then 50% dmg nerf. It was the only reliable dmg ability on the kit (a projectile, imagine that) doing 9-12k dmg now it's does 4-6k fully charged with a long cd.

 

Third was the stupid after cast animations introduced on every GSb ability and the inability to stow cancel that makes the specc looks like it's playing in slow motion compared to... anything else really.

 

And since Anet doesn't seem to go in a direction where they going to change any of the above this especc is going to stay in my recycle bin.

[Lighter.5631]

41 minutes ago, Blackthunder.8679 said:

When it came out, I hated it, I liked the samurai concept but really disliked how it played.

 

Then I forced myself into playing it and after some key binds swaps - Really Anet? With so much alt friendliness you haven't come with per character key binds - I started to get the hang of it, even with all its flaws.

 

But then they screw it for me with with the stab changes (the cd was bugged, fixing the cd would have been the only logical solution) and above all with the GSb changes.

 

First and you may find this odd was the noise pollution. Adding a loud explosion noise on every GSb ability just makes my head hurt and made this spec truly unplayable for me.

 

Second was the AR more then 50% dmg nerf. It was the only reliable dmg ability on the kit (a projectile, imagine that) doing 9-12k dmg now it's does 4-6k fully charged with a long cd.

 

Third was the stupid after cast animations introduced on every GSb ability and the inability to stow cancel that makes the specc looks like it's playing in slow motion compared to... anything else really.

 

And since Anet doesn't seem to go in a direction where they going to change any of the above this especc is going to stay in my recycle bin.

 

yea lol, only one burst skill, no stow, big aftercasts, clunky skills

really give this spec close to 0 skill ceiling.

[eXruina.4956]

9 hours ago, Blackthunder.8679 said:

I liked the samurai concept

 

really disliked how it played.

same here, loved the flavor. played the kitten out of it.

 

the only reason it saw any success in pve was because of the pay off.

 

and even in pve bladesworn falls off significantly and begins to underperform compared to other competitive dps specs in less than ideal situations, wether it be a lack of support, or when more complex and difficult mechanics come into play.

 

i did love that they made gunsaber ranged, but i really wish they kept the attack speed and coefficients. i feel like they really missed out on improving the spec.

 

that said i feel the the biggest flaw of bladesworn in competitive is charging dragon trigger and associated burst mechanics. its just unrewarding.

 

i mean seriously why even bother with such a tedious and unrewarding mechanic. when other classes can literally blow you up in under a second for no effort in comparison and at little to no risk.

Edited May 1, 2023 by eXruina.4956

[Zuko.7132]

15 minutes ago, eXruina.4956 said:

same here, loved the flavor. played the kitten out of it.

 

the only reason it saw any success in pve was because of the pay off.

 

and even in pve bladesworn falls off significantly and begins to underperform compared to other competitive dps specs in less than ideal situations, wether it be a lack of support, or when more complex and difficult mechanics come into play.

 

i did love that they made gunsaber ranged, but i really wish they kept the attack speed and coefficients. i feel like they really missed out on improving the spec.

 

that said i feel the the biggest flaw of bladesworn in competitive is charging dragon trigger and associated burst mechanics. its just unrewarding.

 

i mean seriously why even bother with such a tedious and unrewarding mechanic. when other classes can literally blow you up in under a second for no effort in comparison.

The risk reward ratio is definitely off.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

25 minutes ago, Zuko.7132 said:

The risk reward ratio is definitely off.

Ah, but the reward is style points and you all know it.

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

1 hour ago, Zuko.7132 said:

The risk reward ratio is definitely off.

As long as you're built for glass and are packing a bunch of might (like in the builds in the OP), even just a few charges can still hit for 4-5k on DS Boost... Not bad for an unblockable, unblindable CC leap attack.

 

I almost never attempt a full charge in PvP, and certainly not when dueling. The DS attacks serve more of a tactical use most of the time, with most of your dmg coming from GS AAs, AS, and cyclone trigger. Axe pistol (or maybe even sword pistol) will be a more significant source of dmg after the patch as well.

 

That said, it's not that uncommon to find yourself alone in a team fight with the opportunity to charge up DT for 1-2s and then flatten somebody who didn't see it coming. That never gets old 🙂

[Zuko.7132]

33 minutes ago, CalmTheStorm.2364 said:

As long as you're built for glass and are packing a bunch of might (like in the builds in the OP), even just a few charges can still hit for 4-5k on DS Boost... Not bad for an unblockable, unblindable CC leap attack.

 

I almost never attempt a full charge in PvP, and certainly not when dueling. The DS attacks serve more of a tactical use most of the time, with most of your dmg coming from GS AAs, AS, and cyclone trigger. Axe pistol (or maybe even sword pistol) will be a more significant source of dmg after the patch as well.

 

That said, it's not that uncommon to find yourself alone in a team fight with the opportunity to charge up DT for 1-2s and then flatten somebody who didn't see it coming. That never gets old 🙂

I think might should reward you, not be a necessity to get a respectable number on a burst skill.

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

1 hour ago, Zuko.7132 said:

I think might should reward you, not be a necessity to get a respectable number on a burst skill.

Yeah that's fair. I've written about this elsewhere, but warrior seems balanced around having high might, something that really hurts its build diversity overall.

 

While I think the builds in the OP are currently the best available for BS, I've also had some success with running Defense/Arms (mid, mid, top). The dmg isn't as high as with the strength version, but DS is a guaranteed crit, and you can run scholar runes over eagle because of that and the high fury uptime (and fury gives +30% crit chance thanks to Arms). The upside is that it gives you great flexibility in your utility slots. I like running Dolyak signet, signet of Stamina, and balanced Stance, although I would probably drop one of them in favor of the buffed dragonspike mine.

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKABcqdrllysYhsKmLW0OrRVA-zZILjMTg8LAbHAA

Having a lot of fun with this build in conquest/SH (not very good in the current 2v2 miniseason, however). More of a high-risk-high-reward gameplay style, but still has pretty good sustain and survivability. And it hits like a truck.

 

Enjoy!

[Zuko.7132]

48 minutes ago, CalmTheStorm.2364 said:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKABcqdrllysYhsKmLW0OrRVA-zZILjMTg8LAbHAA

Having a lot of fun with this build in conquest/SH (not very good in the current 2v2 miniseason, however). More of a high-risk-high-reward gameplay style, but still has pretty good sustain and survivability. And it hits like a truck.

 

Enjoy!

This is my high risk reward build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKgAcqlJwwYXsWWJOeXexSA-zZILjGTgMLATGAA Discipline is actually worth it imo with axe pistol and the extra flow helps with the new dragonmine. 

[Myror.7521]

@CalmTheStorm.2364 to be fair it is not the badest build. The only two things why I still do not like this e-spec when it comes to PvP:

 

1. It is clunky af and even for a warr spec. The fact you root yourself on a place without more defence than Just 1 Aegis for about 2 Seconds+  just to use a burst skill (that does as mutch deeps as any normal core burst Skill) that is also buggy (doesnt Hit sometimes for no real reason) and also is easy dodge able simply doesnt feel right in an Action comebad Style system. And this is Just only one aspect of that weapon .......

 

2. Its Main dmg and sustain comes per core traitline in Comb with its healskill and Axe as weapon