Greatsword / Hatchet PvP Build
Brimstone Sands
A powerful Greatsword damage build that has a ton of mobility and can be very hard to lock down and kill. This build spends a lot of time in Onslaught stance and has very hard hitting heavy attacks, while also having a very hard hitting close ranged option with the Hatchet.
When you mix Greatsword and Hatchet’s utility it makes this build very mobile and very annoying to kill. The high risk of Greatsword’s Onslaught stance pairs perfectly with the undeath save from Hatchet.
I found this build to be very strong in PvP.
Check out a video guide with gameplay for this build!
You have a few options for how you want to build this guy, I liked the 150 STR 200 DEX setup because you get to take good advantage of various damage perks and also keep that very strong 150 DEX roll cost reduction.
You could also go for 300 STR and 50 DEX if you instead want to take advantage of all that GRIT. I also think that 100 STR and 250 DEX could yield some pretty good damage results!
I recommend at least 150 or even 200 CON with this build, as you are doing a lot of melee combat.
The resists of the build are mostly setup for OPR, favoring Thrust resist. This patch I think having a bit more slash resist would be better then having the extra fire resist, die to the prevalence of Greatsword.
Strength
50: +10% damage to melee weapon light & heavy attacks. +10% mining speed.
100: +5% slash damage. +20 encumbrance.
150: +50% stamina damage from melee weapon light and heavy attacks. -10% decrease in weight of mined items.
Dexterity
50: +10% chance to critical hit. +10% skinning speed.
100: +5% thrust damage. +20% haste for 3s after skinning.
150: Dodges cost 10 less stamina. -10% decrease in weight of skinned items.
200: +10% bonus backstab and headshot damage. +10% skinning speed.
Constitution
50: All health consumables 20% stronger. +10% logging speed.
100: Increase max health by 10% of your physical armor. -10% reduction on durability loss for tools.
150: -10% to critical damage taken. -10% decrease in weight of logging items.
Equipment
A perfect Greatsword for this build, Energizing Counter offers a ton of stamina on demand, with Trenchant Strikes being BIS for Greatsword heavy attack damage. The attunement perk is the icing on the cake for damage! I like the energized Opal here as stamina sustain is a massive deal for Greatsword, and since heavy attacks cost stamina you will always have that damage boost active.
Empowering Rending throw plus Keen Speed make this a fantastic ranged damage and mobility Hatchet. Vicious is alright as the 3rd perk, Enchanted or an attunement would also be great here.
Ideally for general armor perks you want to have Resilient, Shirking Fortification / Healing, and Freedom. Since Hatchet has a stun escape with Berserk, having Resilient with both Shirking Heals and Fortify would be the dream defensive piece.
Shirking Energy is always a must for any Light Armor PvP build, even after the nerf in Brimstone.
Having Relentless Freedom Rush on your gear is a huge deal for this builds movement and survivability!
Health + Shirking Empower are the necklace perks of choice, with Divines or Stamina Recovery being the 3rd perk if you can get them!
The Legate’s Ring offers this build the unique Keen Awareness and Slash Damage combo. The life stealing on top also helps this build in melee exchanges! This ring can be farmed from chests in Brimstone.
The Earing of this build is a perfect healing Earing for PvP, Mana Toast being especially useful as Mana potions have a very short cooldown!
The Cunning Grasping Vines Heartrune was my choice here, the life steal and immobilize gives this build an ability to apply a ton of pressure to lots of targets, or slow them down so you can escape. You can use your Heartrune of choice here, I myself did not use it very much in the footage (to much time on a fresh start world lowbie)!
Food is always great to pack on more Attribute Points, and as always use Health, Regeneration, and Mana Potions too!
Active Skills
Greatsword
Calamity Counter - 3/3 Upgrades
A very powerful counter skill that gives Greatsword the ability to absorb a ton of attacks, this skill can do a decent amount of damage and can apply a ton of bleeds too!
The counterattack also has quite a bit of AOE and reach and can be used right away, this makes it a decent offensive skill that you can chain at the end of a heavy attack.
Steadfast Strike - 3/3 Upgrades
I really like how much range this skill has, its long reach coupled with the stagger makes it a very good finisher move. Steadfast also hits quite hard, and if you land the first hit’s stagger you are guaranteed the next hit. If you use this skill while in Onslaught stance it will hit even harder.
The bleeds and stamina sustain that this skill gives are also very useful. You can almost completely refill an empty stamina bar with the total 40 stamina from both hits and the base regen during the skills animation.
Relentless Rush - 3/4 Upgrades
A very hard hitting gap closer that can apply a slow and even a root if your in Onslaught stance.
Though this skill doesn’t move you super far, it is still great for closing gaps or escaping from traps (thanks to the Relentless Freedom perk on my boots!). The empower that this skill applies give you a decent damage boost too!
Hatchet
Rending Throw - 1/4 Upgrades
A huge part of dealing good throwing Hatchet damage is using Rending Throw with the Empowered Rending Throw perk on your Hatchet. That’s a 10% Rend and a 30% damage increase if you hit.
The low cooldown of this skill is great and you can quickly shoot out the Rending Throw right after a normal thrown axe attack, this combo can actually do quite a lot of damage.
Social Distancing - 3/3 Upgrades
A fantastic utility skill that gives you an easy escape with a speed boost, slow, and a root in the right circumstances.
Like Rending Throw you can cancel a normal thrown Hatchet attack with this skill. You can also use dodge right after this skill to cancel the backwards momentum, making it a viable offensive root on a running opponent.
Berserk - 5/5 Upgrades
One of Hatchets best utility skills, does a ton of things and can be used for many different situations. You can use berserk to remove roots and run away, or break out of a stun early, making it a top tier defensive skill.
Berserk also provides a ton of healing power, and the damage boost is really nice too. You should try to use Berserk as often as you can as it lasts quite a long time and has a relatively short cooldown for how powerful it makes you.
