Guild Wars 2

Looking for some hints for using sword and dagger – I tried it out and the survivability of my build increased by far.

Useful tips – when to use the evade skills of both weapons? and Lightning Reflexes. or does it just come with learning other classes movement and skills.

With the weapon skills the utility skill and the 2 dodges = 5 dodges plus high endurance regen

It’s all about telegraphing the enemy’s movements and anticipating their skills.

I use s/d and it is great offensively as well as defensively. You have 2 poison abilities you can apply to significantly boost your DPS by reducing your foe’s healing.

One tip: don’t spam your sword 3 and dagger 4. Save them for when you see a heavy enemy attack coming or when you are immobilized. I like the combination of dagger 4, sword 2 (leap away, leap towards) then sword 3 (often followed by dodge for creating some distance and to get protection).

second tip: when fleeing, deselect target and use sword 3 , which will often turn you around while evading, which allows you leap away with sword 2 which also is as an evade. Then turn around and get your second leave with sword 2.

Sword and Dagger is awesome in CoE i use it there mostly, its actually not bad in most boss fights.

Personally Sword is a death sentence in PvP and WvW as it locks you in (auto attack off doesn’t help on Asura characters as their animations are in the air for the whole attacks)

I use sword/dagger a lot and I trait for added damage while flanking. I spam sword #3 not just for the evade but to maintain a flanking position as targets shift around. I use dagger #4 if sword #3 is on CD, although the shift is a lot less. I use sword #2 only as an emergency escape.

When approaching targets, I always open with dagger #5. It is a ranged attack that cripples so allows both me and my cat to close in and stay on target.

When using all these evade and movement skills, it is very important to be aware of what environmental elements are around you. Sword #3 can easily place you behind an obstacle or drop you off a ledge if used at the wrong time. Sword #2 is potentially worse as the leap backwards has a longer distance. Try to avoid being too close or having your back to any ledges or cliffs

Bredin.5368:

One tip: don’t spam your sword 3 and dagger 4. Save them for when you see a heavy enemy attack coming or when you are immobilized.

Does the evade on sword 3 work when immob? If so, cool, learn something new everyday.

I’d like to try sword/dagger, but I find the buffs on horn too powerful to give up.

Kilger.5490:

Bredin.5368:

One tip: don’t spam your sword 3 and dagger 4. Save them for when you see a heavy enemy attack coming or when you are immobilized.

Does the evade on sword 3 work when immob? If so, cool, learn something new everyday.

I’d like to try sword/dagger, but I find the buffs on horn too powerful to give up.

All evades work when immobilized. You don’t move, but they still miss you. Horn 5 is great! However, depending on your build, if you solo or if others in your group keep up fury, the offhand dagger is superior to horn in terms of damage done and, importantly, applying poison on a short cooldown. That is a 33% reduction in heals—which can make much more of a difference than the horn buff for bursting someone down.