Greatsword / Rapier PvP Build

Brimstone Sands

A super mobile, hard hitting light armor build that has a very involved and flashy playstyle! With both fantastic single target and AOE damage options, this build also does a great job moving quickly across the battlefield which perfect for a full melee setup.

I think this build also has a very high skill ceiling and is well worth spending the time and money on! Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did!

Check out a video guide with gameplay for this build!

This build is fundamentally a DEX scaling build, but it does benefit a lot from the first 50 points in both STR and INT. If you favor the Greatsword over Rapier for damage you could always move those 50 INT points over to DEX, but since I favor Rapier burst this is the best setup for me!

I recommend at least 150 or even 200 CON with this build, as you are doing a lot of melee combat in light armor.

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, due to the prevalence of Greatsword.

Strength

50: +10% damage to melee weapon light & heavy attacks. +10% mining speed.

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.
250: +10% bonus critical hit damage on stunned, slowed, or rooted enemies. +10% yield increase when skinning.

Intelligence

50: +10% critical hit chance. 5% chance for 1 Azoth when harvesting.

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

The perfect Greatsword for this build would be: Energizing Counter to offer a ton of stamina on demand, Trenchant Strikes being BIS for Greatsword heavy attack damage, and finally an Attunement perk. I have some serious gear limitations on my (Ironman) account so that BIS weapon is a ways away for me still! Opal is a perfect damage gem for Greatsword but you can always use the Runeglass of your choice here too!

The Rapier would ideally be: Penetrating Backstab or Rogue, Attunement, Keenly Jagged, with any Runeglass elemental gem that adds the damage over time. The theme here is to have as many damage effects and dots ticking on your opponent as possible to take advantage of the crazy stamina sustain it gives Rapier (See Controlled Breathing Rapier passive below).

Ideally for general armor perks you want to have Resilient and Freedom, with either Shirking Fortification or Healing as the 3rd perk.

Shirking Energy on the legs 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!

Omnidirectional Evade is also a great perk to have on your armor or even Rapier!

Health + Shirking Empower are the necklace perks of choice, with Divines or Stamina Recovery being the 3rd perk if you can get them!

The Champions Ring is great for the max Stamina it gives, and the doubling up of two damage perks with it. You have lots of good ring options from brimstone drops that work well here too!

Healthy Toast and Refreshing Toast are the best Earing perks for healing in PvP, ideally I would have Regeneration as the 3rd!

I chose the Cannon Heartrune because of my accounts limitations again, but I do really like this ranged ultimate on a full melee build as it does catch people by surprise. Both the Grasping Vines and Detonate Heartrunes are excellent options for this build.

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 - 2/3 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!). The empower that this skill applies give you a decent damage boost too!

Rapier

Flourish And Finish - 3/5 Upgrades

A perfect skill for a full melee Rapier build, offering two staggers, mobility, grit and extra reach to help stay on top of opponents!

You can always use Riposte here if you want, but I do think that Flourish is a better option for this type of build!

Evade - 5/5 Upgrades

Rapier’s bread and butter. Evade is perfect for canceling quick light attacks on the end of all your combos, is an excellent defensive / mobility option, and has a super short cooldown!

This skill is so useful for almost everything you can do with Rapier, so get practicing those combos!