The Swordmaster and group utility part 3

In part 2, I talked about how to build a spec for group support. In this part, I'm going to give specs that I use to support my group when Whispering Winds is useful to the group. All of these variations will use Heaven's Blade as the main blade enchant except for the last one.

Full support spec

This spec completely guts my dps. Shield use is optional here. The idea of the build is to target a healer/caster, use Whispering Winds, and then rotate Sapping Strike, Intimidating Blow, and Dazzling Strike 3 times. It is very difficult for an opponent to cast anything, and anything that gets off won't crit as much. For RR60, take out Protection of Hoeth.

CC extreme version 1

CC extreme version 2

This gives both a silence and a knockdown to play with. I only run this when I don't have anyone else in the group who can get that CC for less mastery points, like an IB or Engineer or Knight. Version 1 gives Lingering Intimidation. Version 2 gives Protection of Hoeth. RR60 version takes neither of those two.

This spec I usually knockdown or silence on one target as a feint, then have my group FF a second target that I knockdown or silence when I get back up to Perfect Balance. Don't do that every time of course or the enemy will get used to it.

Healing support shield version

Healing support 2h version

I haven't run this one in awhile since I lack the good hp regen gear (curse you crappy ToVL drop rates). This is a spec that lets you get anyway with overextending a little bit. If my group's heals are a little weak, it helps a little in that regard. This works well in a 3 tank, 2 dps, one healer setup when I am not the guy assigned to protect the healer. I ran with this kind of group for 8 hours one day without losing once. Nobody thought to try to kill the tanks first. The other two tanks were squishier than the dps in that group.

Hybrid spec

I run this a lot. I prefer more burst damage over more consistent damage, so I take BA over GWM. Parry is too easy to circumvent in RvR. I can also take Crashing Wave instead of WW if WW doesn't help my group much. It's a good balance. If I have a Knight around who is debuffing resistances, I'll run Nature's Blade here instead of Heaven's Blade. I like it and it gets the job done most of the time. If it doesn't, I'll use one of the 5 specs above.


In the next part, I'll go over builds I use when Whispering Winds is not well suited to supporting my group.