Blades Tree:

Bladed Combat:

Thrust:

Blade Speed:

Vital Points:

Blade Mastery:

Riposte:

Double Slash:

Rend:

Whirling Blades:

Coup de Grace:

Blade Specialization:

Heavy Armor Tree:

Glancing Blow:

Body Slam:

Inner Strength:

Deflection:

Absorb Impacts:

Hard Headed:

Endurance:

Valiant Warden:

Shields Tree:

Deflect:

Bolster Balance:

Angles:

Redirection:

Shield Preservation:

Stand Your Ground:

Tactics Tree:

Easily the most versatile tree in the game, there's something for everyone and most skills in the tactics tree are helpful to most players whether they're a swordswoman, mage, archer, or tamer. Right behind - or possibly even tied with - the Blades tree for the best tree for any serious swordswoman as most all skills in Tactics will solve some problem you're having whether it's with speed, damage, offense, defense, focus issues... you name it and Tactics has the answer.

Healthy:

This innate raises the maximum hit points of your adventurer by one hit point per one level of Healthy. This skill is very important upon starting out as it will greatly increase your survivability in combat for relatively little experience. However, this innate is one of the most expensive skills so each hit point becomes extremely expensive at higher levels until you'd be better off leveling strength, upgrading equipment, or simply raising your adventuring level to increase your hit points further. Experience costs are 133k for 60, 347k for 70, 900k for 80, 2.3m for 90, 6.1m for 100, 16m for 110, and 41m for 120.

Armor Preservation:

This innate decreases the durability loss that your armor receives, -20% durability loss at level 100 Armor Preservation. Due to the relatively small gains of the skill, the cost of leveling this innate, and the lack of combat effectiveness, I wouldn’t recommend leveling it past 80. Experience costs are 107k for 60, 278k for 70, and 721k for 80.

Defensive Stance:

This is easily the best non-magic defensive skill in the game and using it will often be the difference between a quick death and a hard-fought victory. The skill increases the effectiveness of many other defensive buffs such as Parry, Glancing Blow, Fortify Defenses, Deflect, etc. but also had the downfall of decreasing your move rate and attack speed. Defensive Stance is best utilized in your deck as a locked glyph that you always have active, or use immediately upon starting a fight against high damage melee enemies. Tactics Specialization has the benefit of decreasing the attack speed penalty when using Defensive Stance at only -10% at level 80 Tactics Specialization. Due to the low cost of this skill, and its ability to make most other defensive skills better, I'd have this as your highest buff skill. Experience costs are 467k for 90, 1.2m for 100, 3.1m for 110, 8.2m for 120, 21m for 130, and 55m for 140. Tip: Try combining Defensive Stance, Parry, Glancing Blow, Fortify Defenses, and Deflect into a tanky swordswoman who can take on and wear down most high hit point opponents with Rend.

Train Strength:

Being one of the handful of innates that grant strength, it is a must have for any swordswoman. Every additional one strength increases carrying capacity, blade damage by 0.33%, your hit point total by 2-3 HP, as well as resistance to immobilizing effects such as stuns. Along with Train Dexterity and Trail Intelligence, this innate is extremely costly to level however so you'll need to consistently be checking what the cheapest source of strength is going to be between Train Strength, Endurance, and Bulwark of Earth but as every two levels of Train Strength give one strength and only every eight levels of Endurance, and Bulwark of Earth give one strength, Train Strength is often the best value. Experience costs are 267k for 60, 694k for 70, 1.8m for 80, 4.7m for 90, 12m for 100, 31m for 110, and 82m for 120.

Parry:

A situational defensive buff that when successful, avoids some damage from melee attacks and some close-quarters magic attacks such as Stone Fist equal to the total amount of parry damage reduction on all equipped weapons. Parry is best utilized in your deck as a locked glyph used immediately before fighting quick attacking melee users (especially when using Riposte immediately after a successful Parry), alongside Offhand Attack for the increased parry modifier from Offhand Defense and from using Offhand Attack if you have Tactics Specialization as well as the additional parry damage reduction from the second equipped weapon. Benefits are non-existent against archers and most magic attacks. The parry bonus is tripled for the initial two seconds after using the skill so whenever you see some liches about to using their spinning attack or get jumped by 15 elite skeletons, use Parry for a high chance at parrying all/most attacks during that time. Tactics Specialization increases the time you receive the triple parry bonus to four seconds at level 80 Tactics Specialization. This skill is very inexpensive with experience costs of 467k for 90, 1.2m for 100, 3.1m for 110, and 8.2m for 120. Due to the low cost of this skill, I'd have this one of your highest buff skills, around twenty levels below Defensive Stance. Tip: Against polearm users, shields don't block so try dual-wielding weapons and using a deck high in Parry, Offhand Attack, Thrust, and Riposte to agitate and slaughter them.

Weapon Preservation:

This innate decreases the durability loss that your weapons receive, -20% durability loss at level 100 Weapon Preservation. Due to the relatively small gains of the skill, the cost of leveling this innate, and the lack of combat effectiveness, I wouldn’t recommend leveling it past 80. Experience costs are 107k for 60, 278k for 70, and 721k for 80.

Berserker's Stance:

An amazing buff that when active, increases attack speed, move rate, and strength although decreases your damage resistance by 50 - usually down to zero - so that you take the full damage from all incoming physical and ranged attacks, but has no downside from fighting mages damage resistance doesn't mitigate most magical damage. Berserker's Stance is best utilized in your deck as a locked glyph that you always have active or immediately before a fight with weaker mobs or against mages as the increased move rate helps to keep pace with them. Also can be used if you prefer more of a blitzkrieg style of demolishing your opponent before they have a chance to fight back. Tactics Specialization has the benefit of adding a bonus multiplier to all critical hits when using Berserker's Stance, 75% at level 80 Tactics Specialization. Due to the low cost of this skill, how high you level it depends on your playstyle as it is a dangerous skill to use but is extremely useful against some opponents so I personally would have it at the same level as Defensive Stance. Experience costs are 467k for 90, 1.2m for 100, 3.1m for 110, 8.2m for 120, 21m for 130, and 55m for 140. Tip: Always have either Defensive Stance or Berserker's Stance in your deck and times, or - along with Parry, Glancing Blow, and Fortify Defenses - lock both and switch to Defensive Stance when you're in terrible.



Heavy Lifter:

This innate increases carrying capacity which is extremely useful when carrying around multiple weapons and different sets of armor as it allows you to be more flexible in the field. Carrying various sorcery warding chests, swords, and jewelry allow you to better handle fire mages, however carrying an additional necromancy warding set allows you to better handle the occasional death mage you may come across. If you're flagged for player-vs-player (PVP) combat or are venturing into a PVP zone, it's usually beneficial to have sorcery, gaiaism, tempestry, necromancy, and theurgy warding equipment on you at all times, JUST WATCH OUT FOR THIEVES! Due to the relatively small gains of the skill and the cost of leveling this innate, I wouldn’t recommend leveling it past 100. Experience costs are 278k for 70, 721k for 80, 1.9m for 90, and 4.8m for 100.

Offhand Attack:

A very good combat glyph that when used in an unlocked deck slot costs zero focus and has a non-existent cooldown so another glyph - such as Thrust - can be used immediately afterward. The glyph does relatively low damage when compared to other combat glyphs but using it will keep your focus usage low for longer fights as it replaces a more focus expensive, and longer cooldown glyphs you would otherwise use. Another benefit of using offhand is that all masterworks and enchantments on equipped one-handed weapons stack so while a two-handed sword may have 6 strength and +17% Thrust damage, dual-wielding two one-handed swords can be twice that. Tactics Specialization has the benefit of applying a non-stacking parry modifier for ten seconds that resets each time Offhand Attack is used, +10 parry modifier at level 80 Tactics Specialization. Every additional ten levels give an additional 3.225% damage to the glyph. You'll want Offhand Attack to be your highest level attack glyphs at around ten levels behind Thrust and Rend. Experience costs are 467k for 90, 1.2m for 100, 3.1m for 110, 8.2m for 120, 21m for 130, and 55m for 140. Tip: The damage from Offhand is only determined by the base weapon damage of the weapon equipped in your off hand and not from what school that weapon is from. This means a blades user can have a spear (the highest damage one-handed weapon class at 7-22) equipped in their offhand although you will lose the stacking ability of all blade specific masterworks but still receive the non-blades specific masterworks such as weapon damage, critical hit damage, critical hit percent, etc. so play around with other options.

Fortify Defenses:

This defensive buff increases your adventurer's damage avoidance for 30 seconds, +15 damage avoidance at level 100, giving a greater chance of glancing a physical attack and only take 1/3 of the damage from that attack as well as granting an extremely large critical hit protection if used immediately after being on the receiving end of a critical hit. Fortify Defenses is best utilized in your deck as a locked glyph used immediately before most fights or immediately after getting hit with a critical attack. Tactics Specialization has the benefit of increasing the duration of both the damage avoidance and critical hit protection buffs, double the duration of both effects at level 80 Tactics Specialization. Although the cost of this skill is low, I'd have this around twenty to forty levels below Defensive Stance as the main benefit of Fortify Defenses from the critical hit protection which is already more than sufficient even at level 80 although cheap damage avoidance can he had up to around level 120. Experience costs are 467k for 90, 1.2m for 100, 3.1m for 110, and 8.2m for 120. Tip: Have your finger on the Fortify Defenses skill when fighting a dragon and use after receiving the first critical attack so he can't continue to mercilessly slaughter you.



Offhand Defense:

This innate increases your adventurer's parry modifier when a weapon is equipped in your offhand, +5 parry modifier at level 100, allowing you to parry more attacks. Due to the relatively small gains of the skill and the cost of leveling this innate, I wouldn’t recommend leveling it past 100. Experience costs are 278k for 70, 721k for 80, 1.9m for 90, and 4.8m for 100.



Offhand Power:

This innate increases your adventurer's Offhand Attack damage with every ten levels giving an additional 2.5% damage to the Offhand Attack glyph. Experience costs are 278k for 70, 721k for 80, 1.9m for 90, and 4.8m for 100, 13m for 110, and 33m for 120. Tip: For cheapest Offhand Attack increase per experience spent, you'll want to keep this skill twenty levels lower than Offhand Attack.

Tactics Specialization:

For any blade specialized swordswoman who doesn't dally in taming or the magical arts, Tactics Specialization is a fairly easy chose to choose as your second specialization. Benefits at level 80 include halving the attack speed penalty of Defensive Stance to only -10%, increasing the duration of the initial triple parry modifier from two to four seconds after using Parry, adding a 75% bonus multiplier to all critical hits when using Berserker's Stance, applying a non-stacking +10 parry modifier for ten seconds that resets each time Offhand Attack is used, doubling the duration of both the damage avoidance and critical hit protection buffs for Fortify Defenses, halving the damage resistance penalty for Reckless Stance, and decreasing the movement speed penalty when using Passive Stance by 2/3. Is EXTREMELY spendy with experience costs of 3.6m for 80, 9.3m for 90, and 24m for 100. Only a crazy person would take this innate above 100 and 80 will do you just fine.

Subterfuge Tree:

Engage Opponent: A situational skill that quickly closes vast distances on enemies. Engage Opponent is best utilized in your deck as a locked glyph along with Body Slam for a second distance-closing attack against quicker foes such as mages and archers who are trying to stay out of range. Due to the relatively small gains of the skill and perfectly acceptable effectiveness at lower levels, level 60 will work just fine and leveling it past 80 is a luxury. Experience costs are 107k for 60, 278k for 70, and 180k for 80, 467k for 90, and 1.2m for 100. Tip: If you're a very efficient and impatient mob grinder, Engage Opponent will allow you to cross huge chasms and even allows you to climb levels so long as you can target a mob to activate the skill.



Trip: This skill knocks an opponent down for a short period of time but it's main use for a swordswoman is that it combines with Rend for the combo Hamstring which does the same approximate damage as Rend but also applies a move rate debuff to the target. Trip is best utilized in your deck as a locked glyph in a deck that contains unlocked Rends so that they can be combined and used in combat against non-undead enemies. The level of the combo Hamstring is determined by averaging the level of Trip and Rend with every twenty levels at 81, 101, and 121 adding an additional "tick" (two seconds) of damage to the target. It is best to keep Trip at either 40-60 levels lower than Rend but I'd recommend not leveling Trip above 81. Experience costs are 29k for 61 and 198k for 81.



Train Dexterity: Being one of two innates that grant dexterity (the other being Moon Worship), it is a must have for any swordswoman. Every additional 1 dexterity increases chance to dodge an attack, chance to hit, and chance to land a critical hit by 0.05%. Along with Train Strength and Trail Intelligence, this innate is extremely costly to level. Experience costs are 267k for 60, 694k for 70, 1.8m for 80, 4.7m for 90, 12m for 100, 31m for 110, and 82m for 120.



Poison Weapon:



Silent Movement: A great skill for ensuring you always get the opening attack in a fight. Silent Movement is best utilized as a locked glyph in a deck so you can easily stealth immediately before or immediately after demolishing a mob with a sneak attack. The skill is reasonably expensive and fairly effective at even lower levels, so leveling it to 80 or 100 will suit you well. Experience costs are 360k for 80, 935k for 90, 2.4m for 100, 6.3m for 110, and 16m for 120. Tip: The percent stealthed that you are affects sneak attack damage so while it does charge slowly, a 5-stack of Silent Movement or utilizing Embry's Harp will increase your sneak attack greatly.



Armor Weak Points: This is one of the two skills - Vital Points being the other - that give straight critical hit percent (i.e. 6 percent is actually 6 percent and not rolled into a formula). Increases are only 0.65% more for every additional ten levels however due to the low cost of the skill and the massive DPS bonus higher critical hit chance gives; it is well worth the cost of taking this skill fairly high. Unlike the relative inexpensiveness of Vital Points, Armor Weak Points is very costly to level. Experience costs are 1.1m for 84, 2.7m for 94, 7.1m for 104, 18m for 114, and 33m for 120 (at which time you'll be at 7.5% crit). Tip: For cheapest critical hit percent per experience spent, you'll want to keep this skill sixteen levels lower than Vital Points.



Safe Fall:



Sneak Attack: A great skill when used correctly that does very good damage - slightly less than Thrust - when behind mobs and an extreme amount of damage when both stealthed and behind. Sneak attack is best utilized as a locked glyph in a deck when you're running around stealthed so you can easily charge up a 5-stack and unleash it into a mobs back OR as your first attack after body slamming and sliding behind a mob. Every ten levels give an additional 3.225% damage to the glyph. The skill is reasonably expensive and fairly effective at even lower levels, so leveling it to 80 or 100 will suit you well however if you're a master rogue, leveling to 120 can net you an additional 100 or more damage on your most savage attacks. Experience costs are 360k for 80, 935k for 90, 2.4m for 100, 6.3m for 110, and 16m for 120. Tip: Try using a Swashbuckler as it gives +25% to sneak attack damage and for extra good measure, use a weapon in your offhand that gives additional crit damage (such as a rock maple/bronze spear) for even more savage attacks.

Focus Tree:

Heightened Awereness:

This innate raises the maximum focus of your adventurer by one focus per level of Heightened Awareness. This skill is fairly important upon starting out as it will greatly increase the amount of damage you’ll be able to do to enemies. However, this innate is one of the most expensive skills so each one focus becomes extremely expensive at higher levels until you'd be better off leveling Train Intelligence, upgrading equipment, or simply raising your adventuring level to further increase your focus. I wouldn’t recommend raising this skill above 100 unless you’re also a caster and are using focus-costly spells. Experience costs are 133k for 60, 347k for 70, 900k for 80, 2.3m for 90, and 6.1m for 100. Tip: If you’re having focus issues, try going with a dual-wield build and throwing some unlocked zero focus cost Offhand Attacks in your deck ( NOT locked Offhand Attacks as after the first use it begins costing focus). Also, try limiting the rate at which you use locked glyphs as the focus cost can get over 100 focus if you spam certain locked glyphs too often (i.e. budget your focus!).



Train Intelligence:

Being the

only

innate that grants intelligence, this innate is extremely useful for any swordswoman as most of your damage will come from using glyphs as opposed to auto of free attacks so the more focus the more DPS. Every additional one intelligence increases your focus total by 2-3 focus as well as some casting-specific bonuses if you also cast magic. Along with Train Dexterity and Trail Strength, this innate is

extremely

costly to level however as every two levels of Train Intelligence give one intelligence which only equates to 2-3 focus so you'd be better off leveling Train Intelligence, upgrading equipment, or simply raising your adventuring level to increase your focus further. I wouldn’t recommend raising this skill above 100 unless you’re also a caster and are using focus-costly spells. Experience costs are 267k for 60, 694k for 70, 1.8m for 80, 4.7m for 90, 12m for 100.

Inner Calm:

This innate decreases the cost of all glyphs by a small amount however even this small amount can add up over a long fight. This is a very costly innate to level however, and the gains diminish immensely and experience cost increases greatly at higher levels. The highest you’ll probably ever want to level this innate is 113 and even then this is only if you have Thrust and Rend to 140 and 141 respectively as it will decrease the focus costs of both of those glyphs from 16 to 15. Experience costs are 278k for 70, 721k for 80, 1.9m for 90, 4.8m for 100, and __m for 113. Tip: It is nearly impossible to see at what level raising Inner Calm to will lower the cost of many of your glyphs but this can be tested in offline mode by altering the same game file. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check with a tech-savvy friend to see if they can help you out by testing it for you.