Guild Wars 2

In both PVP and PVE?

I got into trying it out because I don’t like having a Shield on my back. First time I attempted Offhand Sword, I gave up using it for a week – losing the Shield’s heals felt very debilitating!

During that week, I gradually became less reliant on the Shield’s heals after getting more familiar with Revenant. I found myself wishing I was more free to use Shield 5’s blocking effect, and some form of interrupt outside of Jade Wind.

So I switched back to Offhand Sword and so far, it seems like it’s working well. Being able to block more frequently (and on the move) feels quite liberating, and Sword 5 is a decent damage nuke combined with an interrupt and blink retreat that allows a comfortable switch to Hammer.

How does everyone else feel?

I mostly do WvW with some PvP. I like offhand sword because the block allows movement and has a shorter cooldown than the shield block. Clever opponents will wait out your immobile shield block and prepare to hit you hard right as it finishes. And of course, when zerging, using shield #5 at the wrong time can cause the whole enemy zerg to surround you and wait for it to end, so it doesn’t really save you.

However, offhand sword #5 is generally useless in my opinion. I rarely use it. It can be useful for pulling an enemy off of a stomp or res….but usually I’ll just use jade winds or heavy dps pressure instead.

fluidmonolith.3584:

I mostly do WvW with some PvP. I like offhand sword because the block allows movement and has a shorter cooldown than the shield block. Clever opponents will wait out your immobile shield block and prepare to hit you hard right as it finishes. And of course, when zerging, using shield #5 at the wrong time can cause the whole enemy zerg to surround you and wait for it to end, so it doesn’t really save you.

However, offhand sword #5 is generally useless in my opinion. I rarely use it. It can be useful for pulling an enemy off of a stomp or res….but usually I’ll just use jade winds or heavy dps pressure instead.

Would you say Sword #5 is more useful than Shield #4?

I was playing S/S but gave up on the offhand sword very quickly; it was only good for the block in SPvP but Axe OH gives much better control, AoE, and has a very useful extra gap closer.

In PvE there’s no reason to use OH sword at all, ever.

Yeah, OH Sword is interesting, but ultimately it doesn’t add anything I’d use much. I go sword/axe and really enjoy it. The damage is solid and it adds a lot of mobility.

sunnypsyop.3025:

In PvE there’s no reason to use OH sword at all, ever.

To be fair, you can use Sword #5 to pull the bomb in South lane of Tarir. I imagine there are other places where a controlled pull is quite useful. So not quite ‘ever’.

I completely forgot about Axe! I am very familiar with Axe #4, but how does Axe #5 do in PVE and PVP? I remember not liking it because the range and intensity of the pull isn’t particularly strong.

The only use ive personally found for OH Sword is Chak Gerent.

Because both of the Axe’s attacks will degrade the break bar, which you want to avoid at Gerant, it means im basically fighting with 1 hand, so I swap to OH sword for the block.

much as I would love to use a sword off hand, it just isn’t good, I literally find Shield/axe by far a lot better, axe does a fairly amount of damage and gap closer on 4# skill, while 5# has an interrupt that sucks the enemy in it.

initially i didn’t like sowrd OH, but i’ve started using it more last week and now it has grown on me. Shield is AMAZING don’t get me wrong for the #5: that saved my life SO MANY times. But now that I’m really used with rev, I’ve valued more the sword #4 (lower cd + movement). Sword#5 is decent in breaking bars.
Still if i feel I don’t need the defence I’ll go with axe since is a bit more damage and I still have the breakbar ability with axe#5.

So, in the end, my feeling is good right now. As always you must use the right wep at the right time, and sword has his right times

OH Sword is kinda meh. Unless you really want that block. Axe 4 is great for gap closing and shield has good utility.

I love me some OH axe.

Sword 4 is a nice skill. Sword 5 is barelly useless.

Sword #4 The block is fine, but Shackling Wave ’s range (300) is too short. Needs to be increased to 400 to be practical. (Based on my play as Ele D/D)

Sword #5: Grasping Shadow needs to be redesigned. It should shadow step you back regardless of if the attack succeeds or not. The range of the attack itself needs to be increased from 130 to 300.

The maximum distance you would move is 600. – This is less than or equal to thief shadow steps.
The maximum distance the target would move is 900. – This is less than or equal to pulls of other classes like Engineer and Necromancer.

Ok, offhand Axe is incredible! It has a much better interrupt, and the gap closer + nuke on Axe #4 is what I didn’t know I needed!

Taldren.7523:

Sword #4 The block is fine, but Shackling Wave ’s range (300) is too short. Needs to be increased to 400 to be practical. (Based on my play as Ele D/D)

Sword #5: Grasping Shadow needs to be redesigned. It should shadow step you back regardless of if the attack succeeds or not. The range of the attack itself needs to be increased from 130 to 300.

The maximum distance you would move is 600. – This is less than or equal to thief shadow steps.
The maximum distance the target would move is 900. – This is less than or equal to pulls of other classes like Engineer and Necromancer.

this is a good idea

Taldren.7523:

Sword #4 The block is fine, but Shackling Wave ’s range (300) is too short. Needs to be increased to 400 to be practical. (Based on my play as Ele D/D)

Sword #5: Grasping Shadow needs to be redesigned. It should shadow step you back regardless of if the attack succeeds or not. The range of the attack itself needs to be increased from 130 to 300.

The maximum distance you would move is 600. – This is less than or equal to thief shadow steps.
The maximum distance the target would move is 900. – This is less than or equal to pulls of other classes like Engineer and Necromancer.

Yeah both skills definitely need a range increase. However, I think OH Sword would be so good if Shackling Wave was an aoe around your character as this would allow you to snare multiple pursuers and let you have some survivability by giving you room to breathe.