Guild Wars 2

Im kinda stuck between offhand sword or pistol any ideas which might be alittle better? I really like the swordsman cause he stays ontop of my target but sometimes the Duelist is nice when i use feedback and just plain rang

thank you ahead of time

If you use them in conjunction with fields, use a Duelist (also, if you’re berserker, Duelist can be better since it stacks critical bleeds), however Swordsman can hit faster and harder, so if you’re more shatter-oriented, go Swordsman.

Neither, focus.

Honestly, the call is yours. Feel free to torch if you so wish (although I believe we’re all in agreement that that particular phantasm leaves a lot to be desired).

Since projectiles were changed to 20% chance, Duelist isn’t as much of a clear choice over Swordsman as it would’ve been. I find pistol flows with scepter more so you don’t have to step out to summon your Duelist in a less risky location.

iSwordsman is the answer. Why?
1.It’s is close to the enemy, but far enough not to get hit.
2.Hits hard and fast.
3.Even if there is AoE when you summon one, it will be able to hit due to evading attacks when leaping.
4.If you want burst, wait until the iSwordsman jumps and hits and then hit F1 before the phantasm leaps away —> 3(4)xMind Wrack burst.

Block is much better than a stun bullet. Why?
1.Not all attacks can be interrupted with a stun (foe is evading while damaging, like Blurred Frenzy).
2.Not all foes can be stunned (defiant, stability).
3.All attacks can be blocked. Simple as that.
4.The block hits hard and summons a clone, which you can shatter.
5.If the foe doesn’t hit, but you used the block, don’t worry: Daze your foe.

I don’t like focus. Why?
1.Phantasm need a long time to cast the spell and it can die, only making ~2k dmg, not the full amount.
2.It can’t move, it thinks it is a ranged phantasm.

Combo for focus requires a bit more timing. lay down temp curtain start summoning warden hit 4 again (its instant can be done during other abilities.) By this time warden has summoned and the enemy is pulled you can simply ileap swap immob. The iwarden is the highest damaging phantasm we have its only downside is it doesn’t move but that’s why it works well with temp curtain.

the number #4 also is on a very short cd which is also good

iSwordman:
- Atk every 5 sec
- Single Hit. (All Hit, All Crit, All non crit or All Miss)
- Stay near target. If lucky ur enemy must rotate camera to kill it.
- Block is useful vs Thief/ 1vs1 battle.
- Block damage single hit. Nearly as iSwordman damage
- Can Hold for 5sec with 3sec Invul + 2sec Block when vs Thief

iGunner:
- Atk every 7,5sec
- Multiple Hits
- Spawn near u. Very easy to get killed
- Stun 2sec, Very Good on mass pvp.
- Need a target for 2sec Stun. Which sometimes hard when vs Thief(Rendering issue)

Hope this help

Something is easy missed and so in this discussion. The oh sword can be traited in dueling tier 1 and often is so for the mainhand sword, for same trait you get the oh cd,s traited aswell. To trait pistol you need to go deep (30) in dueling as you have clone on dode on 20 and its a mandatory.

Basicly unless you spec 30 in dueling you might gain more from a sword, still if you go deep dueling pistol with inc range offer a super preassure on enemy plus offers range cc.

Note im talking about wvwvw here.

/Osicat

If you aren’t shattering your clones, definitely go with Swordsmen. Duelist has a much slower attack speed (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Haste for reference) increasing the chances it’ll only get one attack in before being killed.

Normally I’m not a fan of Phantasmal Haste, but a 3.8 second cooldown on the swordsman attack is noticeable. My swordsmen hit for around 5.5k in a group (Full Berserker + Ruby Orbs). With three up thats 16.5k damage every 3.8 seconds.

Illusionary Riposte also hits like a truck. Jump into something bad and chain it after a blurred frenzy.

I’m using this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAscRlwzipHVzoGa9ICKFYn3RShqlalegbXIvB

I do use shatter and love the damage output. Im using Osicat’s build atm. I feel like the duelist does good esp with “feedback” (very beast). Duelist seems good for burst but gets hit one time and is dust. The swordsman does decent damage and stays in melee rang so when I shatter it doesent take a 5 mins to get to target and love to watch ppl panic when myself and clones are all over them.

@kandolo.2574 btw your build is similar what i was running pre Osicat, very fun build