Swordsman Archive

Ok, Im 75k exp away from my last box to complete master swordsman. It actually has been fun, went a lot faster than I expected and Im very impressed with what Im able to do. I went out with just short of master pistoleer and just short of master TK, hunting FS guys, and they both were on their backs most of the time with me finishing them off again and again.

I read through the posts here for tricks, ideas and whatever and I keep seeing people talk about using their powerhammer for bleeds. I do the exact opposite. I use my fastest, most accurate sword to get the bleeds on them, and then switch to my power hammer to do headhit3.

Does the damage done by the weapon on the stroke equate to the strength of the bleed? So if I hit strongly with a power hammer for 1000 dmg lets say, that bleed would be 1000 a pop? Is the bleed amount fixed or is it variable in a range? And folks use the powerhammer to get the max bleed amount in the range? For both 1 and 2?

Sorry to be so close to master swordsman and not know something so basic. I've done it almost entirely on my own, I don't see many of us out there. So thanks to any folks who can chime in and help me out,

Dog - stb Master Swordsman, Master Brawler, TK/Fencer

from my experience in other professions bleeds are a set factor, no matter what damage modifiers you have the bleed is gonna take the same DoT. i use the fastest most accurate weapons i have then switch to my power hitter. i'm not sure if this is different with swordsman.

Doesn't matter what you apply the bleed with - it always comes out the same.

This is why I carry a VERY fast 2H curved sword and an exceptionally fast Carbine(both highly accurate - had them specially made)in my inventory as well as my primaries. They're connected to macros which switch them in, tag both of my bleeds in their damage type, and switch them out. Then I use my primary carbine and cleaver for the rest of the work.

It usually goes down such that in a group fight I have most of the enemy fighters bleeding in at least one stat before the end - frequently in both, as I take whatever chance I can to inflict a bleed if I'm able.

tag both of my bleeds in their damage type

Which bleeds do which type of damage?

It's been my experience that the strength of the initial bleed hit = amount of bleedingon each tick. So for the strongest bleed, you would want to use the powerhammer.

Ok, thanks for diving in, but we;re getting answers on both sides. I carry a fast, accurate 2 handed for applying bleeds myself, then switch to power hammer, but I kept reading post after post saying to use the power hammer for applying bleeds.

I tried it last night applying bleeds with my power hammer. Aside from it taking forever and I kept missing on one of them, I couldn't notice any difference in the bleed speed, but thats partly because the poor things I kept hitting with my hammer kept dying :-) I'll have to apply the bleeds next time then just sit back and heal and watch.

Dog

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Rickoxo wrote:

Ok, thanks for diving in, but we;re getting answers on both sides. I carry a fast, accurate 2 handed for applying bleeds myself, then switch to power hammer, but I kept reading post after post saying to use the power hammer for applying bleeds.

I tried it last night applying bleeds with my power hammer. Aside from it taking forever and I kept missing on one of them, I couldn't notice any difference in the bleed speed, but thats partly because the poor things I kept hitting with my hammer kept dying :-) I'll have to apply the bleeds next time then just sit back and heal and watch.

Dog

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tonite I am going to try applying bleeds with my very fast 2h sword and see. The best tactic is 2 aplly both bleeds and then wait for the dripping blood to show and compare. I plan on trying that with some pickets tonight. Please post back your results...I am very curious about this. I DO KNOW that I never miss applying bleeds with my 2h curved sword but I will miss on occasion with the PH so I usually just use the 2h curved to apply both bleeds, equip the ph and spam head hit.

Bleeds are definitely affected by the damage rating of a weapon so it's always best to use the hardest hitting weapons for bleeds if you want the most bleeding. That is unless swordsman is different than the ranged professions I've played, but I doubt that.

Bleeds do the same amount of damage as the hit that you used to set them did.

For example.

I hit use Mind Hit 1 for 800 damage.
I use Mind Hit 2 for 1500 damage.

20 seconds after bleed was applied it ticks for 800 damage and the other one ticks for 1500 damage.

Now let's suppose that first bleed only did 50 damage. You aren't satisfied with that crap bleed. You use it again, and this time hit for 1100 damage. Much better. The 1100 damage bleed will replace the 50 damage bleed and tick 20 seconds after the new one has been applied.

In actual PvE vs. Pikets , using my mind bleeds while they were knocked down I have stacked both mind bleeds to tick for upwards of 8000 damage.

Ok, if this is the case, a couple of swordsman on a krayt dragon and a few riflemen with them? It could get ugly for the krayts. Probably not gonna knock the sucker down, maybe, but not likely. But even without that, some nice shot rifleman bleeds and two or three swordsman stacked bleeds of 5k or so every 20 seconds? That poor sucker is gonna bleed out quick.

So is the 20 second interval fixed or am I making that up? I thought someone said that. I'm gonna go mess around tonight a bit and see if I can confirm all this potentially great news :-)

Dog

The greater the weapon damage the great the potential bleed. For added damage apply the beed after you (or someone else) knocks the mob down. Also, bleeds are uneffected by AP and resists.

Isis

the time between ticks in a bleed is set, but the damage is not. it is better to apply a bleed with a power hammer since a power hammer can do more damage and thus the bleed will be more powerful. it will bleed at the same rate yet will do more damage (unless u get a very low hit with a ph and a very high hit with another weapon). Well, happy hunting, and have a good holiday.

Maybe it's just a fluke, but in my own experiments it really didn't matter how strong the weapon was except in determining the rate of bleeding. The ultimate bleed strength was the same either way.

But I miss a lot more if I don't use special high-accuracy weapons, and that comes at the price of lower damage. And really, given the size of player HAM bars even when highly buffed, just landing the bleed is enough to pretty much do the job.

Someone asked about the bleed types. As a Carbineer/Swordsman, I have two different types. There are two Mind Bleeds for Swordsman, and two action bleeds for Carbineer. If I apply all four of them to a target in PvP,my enemycan't special or heal their bleeds without just hastening their fall. And then it's just a matter of launching the final deathblow, when they're down to one hit in two different categories. If I apply all 4 of my bleeds and then hop into Center of Being mode, I can pretty much win every fight I'm in...