Guild Wars 2

Here’s a fun little build / experiment I’ve been using for WvW and sPvP.

It revolves around a single weapon set only (gasp!), namely S/D, and offers a manner of “relentless duelist” playstyle. You use a Sword in the first set Main-Hand, Dagger in the second set Off-Hand, then switch whenever possible in combat. This limiting / halving of your available weapon skills seems silly at first, but it revolves around three core ideas:

1. Initiative Regeneration on Weapon Swap (via Quick Pockets)
2. Easy timing of guaranteed Criticals via Sigil of Intelligence in combination with retaining chain combos (see below)
3. High enemy control via Steal Daze / Poison / Boon Removal / Self-Healing / Initiative Regeneration

The really interesting aspect of this setup is that weapon skills remain in their current chain state if switched to the same set; for example, your Flanking Strike or Larcenous Strike will stay available in their respective state on a weapon switch, which makes it very straightforward to time and land those “hard hitters” with a guaranteed Critical Strike thanks to the Sigil while also restoring Initiative for continued evasive moves. The same applies to C&D and the third autochain combo, Crippling Strike, which make up the S/D’s most powerful attacks.

While it’s kind of gimmicky (it dies to Condition floods rather easily even with Shadow Return spam and doesn’t have the on-demand Stealth or Burst of D/P), it feels like an approach that is very much in control of small engagements despite the solitary weapon set. The layout works with D/D and D/P as well (S/P being too stationary for this to really end up effective), however S/D makes the best “rationed” use of your Initiative Pool offering both evasive abilities and offensive counters that go from otherwise unavailable (due to spent Initiative) to guaranteed on a simple weapon switch.

I know I’m not reinventing any wheels with this (perhaps making square wheels instead), but have you ever experimented with single weapon sets? If so, how did it go for you, and did you feel the tradeoff was too huge?

This has been used for a while now, not really new but still effective. I recommend using sigil of energy on both swords for dodges for days. Its one of the most effective builds in sPvP which is why there is so much qq on S/D.

I was messing with this build about 6 months ago. Watched some vids on it from some top ranked player. Its pretty effective but wasn’t my thing