Swordsmanship Skill
Swordsmanship is the warrior branch that turns you into a master of the blade. It covers a huge range of weapons, one handed and two handed alike: every kind of sword, axe, scythe, cleaver and so on. To raise Swordsmanship you have to attack with a weapon that belongs to the skill. The higher your skill, the better your chance to hit. It caps at 100 (120 with a PS). Lumberjack and Tactics will also help you push your damage higher.
If you had to place Swordsmanship somewhere, it sits right in the middle: not as fast as Fencing and not as slow as Mace Fighting. Compared with all the other warrior skills, Swordsmanship is the one that supports the widest range of character builds.
Depending on what you prefer, you can build any of the following characters and take your opponents down with different strategies:
- By training Poisoning on a Swordsmanship character, you can play it much like Fencing. With a Butcher Knife or Cleaver you get fast swings and you can poison your opponent with the "Infectious Strike" special move.
- By training Lumberjacking on a Swordsmanship character, you can build a very strong character. With the Hatchet, Battle Axe and the rest of the axe family you can land very high damage hits. Lumberjacking grants a 20% damage bonus.
- You can play a Swordsmanship character as what people call an "armor ignore" build. Using the "Armor Ignore" special move of the Longsword, Katana or Broadsword, you can drop your opponent in an instant. Played this way, Swordsmanship feels a bit like Mace Fighting.
- By training Chivalry on a Swordsmanship character, you can build a Paladin. Chivalry has a system of its own and its spells are aimed at improving your performance in combat, which makes life easier for a Paladin, the mounted warrior.
- By training Magery on a Swordsmanship character, you can build a Warlock. A Warlock uses magic and melee at the same time and can attack enemies with both spells and the blade, which turns it into a killing machine. It is not easy to play, though, and it takes real practice.
- By training Necromancy on a Swordsmanship character, you can build a Necromancer. You can take advantage of the way Necromancy spells cripple your opponent and drain life directly. On top of that, your weapon and shield (if you carry one) will not drop into your backpack while you cast.
Setting Your Stats:
Let me say up front that these settings always depend on your own skill, your strategy and your preference. There is no single correct answer when it comes to stats. Still, it is worth going over the basics as a guide for less experienced players. You will of course also have to adjust for the extra stats your suit and jewellery give you, and this is exactly where the bonus stats from a suit become important.
If you are going to play Swordsmanship as a pure melee warrior, setting Dexterity to 125 is the best choice. The remaining 100 points should be shared between Strength and Mana. Since Strength is the primary stat for Swordsmanship, it is a good idea to keep it a little higher.
If you are going to combine Swordsmanship with any caster skill (Chivalry aside), Dexterity can be dropped a bit. But the balance has to be right: it should not make your character sluggish, and it should not leave you running out of the Mana you need for casting. This is a very fine adjustment, so it is best made once you have played your character enough to judge it properly.