Swords talents¶
The Swords tree is a per-weapon offensive-only tree for any weapon whose Skill == Swordsmanship (katana, longsword, broadsword, war axe, polearm, etc.). It synergises with the Lacerate PvM special attack — a passive 10% on-hit proc baked into every sword strike against creatures.
No defensive lane
Swords / Macing / Fencing trees ship as offensive-only. If you want defensive nodes (Iron Skin, Vigilance, Last Stand) you spend them in the shared Melee Defensive tree, which is shared across all melee disciplines.
The Lacerate baseline¶
Every Swords-skill weapon hit against a creature has a 10% baseline chance to proc Lacerate:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Proc chance (baseline) | 10% per hit |
| Stack duration | swing_delay × 4, clamped to [8 s, 16 s] |
| Max stacks on target | 3 |
| Per-stack effect | +8% to ALL proc-chance rolls against this defender (cross-special — boosts Macing Crush and Fencing Cripple too) |
| Bleed total damage | 175% of the proc swing's damage |
| Bleed duration | 15 s, 5 ticks of 3 s each |
| Bleed per-tick | 35% of proc swing damage |
So at 3 stacks: any incoming proc roll (yours or an ally's) gets +24% chance on top of its baseline. A 10% proc effectively becomes 34%.
Offensive path¶
T1 — Keen Edge¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 5 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect / rank | +5% sword-family damage vs creatures |
| Rank | Total bonus |
|---|---|
| 1 | +5% |
| 2 | +10% |
| 3 | +15% |
| 4 | +20% |
| 5 | +25% |
T2 — Open Wound¶
Prereq: Keen Edge.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 5 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect / rank | +4% Lacerate proc chance AND +2% flat sword damage |
| Rank | Lacerate proc | Flat damage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14% | +2% |
| 2 | 18% | +4% |
| 3 | 22% | +6% |
| 4 | 26% | +8% |
| 5 | 30% | +10% |
At 5/5, Lacerate procs on roughly 1 in 3 swings.
T3 — Cleave¶
Prereq: Open Wound.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive (on-hit) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Effect | Each sword hit splashes 30% of damage to EVERY creature within 2 tiles of the primary target, AND adds +5% flat damage to the direct hit. |
Cleave hits read "Your Cleave hits X for N" in the combat log. The splash is PvM-gated (won't hit players).
T4A — Riposte¶
Prereq: Cleave. Branch-exclusive with Headsman.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active (defensive window) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Cooldown | 45 s |
| Duration | 8 s |
| Effect | For 8 s, every melee strike landing on you triggers a free counter-swing with your equipped sword. PvM-gated. |
| Hotbar verb | riposte |
T4B — Headsman¶
Prereq: Cleave. Branch-exclusive with Riposte.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Effect | Your sword strikes deal +30% damage against creatures below 25% HP. |
T5 — Bladestorm¶
Prereq: Riposte OR Headsman. Capstone.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 3 pt |
| Cooldown | 90 s |
| Duration | 8 s |
| Effect | For 8 s, sword swing speed +60% AND Lacerate procs are guaranteed on every strike. |
| Hotbar verb | bladestorm |
During Bladestorm the Lacerate baseline 10% roll is force-replaced by a guaranteed proc — so every swing applies a fresh stack + a fresh bleed.
Build notes¶
- Keen Edge + Open Wound 5/5 + Cleave is the canonical 10-point opener: +35% direct damage, +30% splash, +30% Lacerate proc.
- Bladestorm is the only sword talent that can fire while another active is on cooldown — it doesn't compete for the hotbar with Macing/Fencing actives if you multi-weapon.
- Lacerate's stack bonus to other procs is the reason a sword/mace hybrid is potent: open a fight with a few sword hits to land 2-3 Lacerate stacks, then swap to a mace and ride the +16-24% Crush proc chance.