TSW blade abilities

Melee Abilities

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Blades
Method	Technique	Wind through Grass	Tearing of Sky	Crossing River's Edge	Running of the Jagged	Sharpening the Senses	The Cutting Artist
Delicate Strike	Immortal Spirit	Grass Cutter	Fatal Flourish	Bamboo Cutter	Brandish	Tipped Scales	Forked Paths
Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability
1 ap	1 ap	9 ap	9 ap	9 ap	9 ap	9 ap	9 ap
Instant Instant Builds 1 resource for each weapon equipped. A single target attack that deals 48 physical damage.	Whenever you penetrate, you gain a heal over time effect, which heals you 10 every second for 5 seconds.	Instant Instant Builds 1 resource for each equipped weapon. A single target attack that deals 45 physical damage, or 55 physical damage if the target is Afflicted.	Whenever you apply an Afflicted you gain a 1 stack of the Penetration Rating effect, which increases your Penetration Rating by 30 per stack for 8 seconds. This effect can stack up to 10 times.	Instant Instant PBAoE: Applied to 5 enimies in a 5 metre radius around you. Builds 1 resource for each Equipped weapon. A PBAoE Frenzy attack that deals 32 physical damage.	2.5sec 10sec Channelled every 0.5 seconds for 2.5 seconds. Consumes all Blade Resources. A channelling Focus attack that deals 38 physical damage per hit. While you channel, you take 5% less damage per resource spent. This abiity generates additional hate.	Whenever you hit an Impaired target, you gain a heal over time effect that heals 22 every second for 6 seconds.	Instant Instant PBAoE: Affects up to 5 enemies within a 5 meter radius around you. Builds 1 Resource for Each equipped weapon. A PBAoE attack that deals 32 physical damage. For every affected that that is Afflicted, upi are healed for 8.
Delicate Precision	Blade Torrent	Twist the Knife	Spiral of Death	Sudden Return	Brandishing Support	Saving Grace	Enervate
Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability
1 ap	1 ap	12 ap	12 ap	12 ap	12 ap	12 ap	12 ap
Increases the Penetration Chance of "Delicate Strike" by 10%.	Instant Instant PBAoE: Affects up to 5 enemies in a 5 metre radius around you. Builds 1 resource for each equipped weapon. A PBAoE Frenzy attack that deals 32 physical damage. This attack generates a high amount of hate.	Whenever you penetrate you also gain 1 stack of a beneficial effect, which increases all damage dealt by 3% for 10 seconds. This effect can stack up to 3 times.	Instant 20sec You teleport to the target and hit up to 5 enemies in a 5 metre radius, dealing 81 physical damage. The target must be at least 3 metres away.	Whenever you penetrate, you also perform an additional hit for 18 physical damage.	"Brandish" also increases your Defense Rating by 25 per resource spent while you channel. Its recharge time is reduced by 5 seconds.	Instant 20sec Charge: 15 metre charge to your defensive target. You charge to a defensive target and give it a beneficial effect causing the next attack against it to deal 50% less damage.	Whenver you are glanced, you cause the attacker to become Afflicted with a damage over time effect that deals 12 physical damage every second for 5 seconds.
Balanced Blade	Perfect Storm	Chop Shop	Incision	Five Petal Lotus	Matador	Stave Off	Crimson Theatre
Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability
1 ap	1 ap	16 ap	16 ap	16 ap	16 ap	16 ap	16 ap
Instant Instant PBAoE: Affects up to 5 enemies in a 5 metre radius around you. Consumes all Blade Resources. A PBAoE attack that deals 60 physical damage. Builds 2 Blade Resources for if any affected target are Impaired.	"Blade Torrent" also causes the target to become Afflicted with a damage over time effect that deals 7 physical damage every second for 8 seconds.	2.5sec Instant Channeled every 0.5 seconds for 2.5 seconds. PBAoE; Affects up to 5 enemies in a 5 meter area around you. Consumes all Blade Resources. A channelled PBAoE Focus attack that deals 26 physical damage.	Whenever you penetrate, you also cause the target to become Afflicted with a damage over time effect that deals 10 physical damage every second for 3 seconds.	Instant Instant TAoE: Applied to 5 enemies in a 5 metre radius. Consumes all Blade Resources. A TAoE attack that deals 60 physical damage.	Instant Instant Builds 1 resource for each equipped weapon. A single target attack that deals 46 physical damage. Also gives you 1 stack of the Defense rating effect, which increases your Defense Rating by 30 per stack for 8 seconds. This effect can stack up to 5 times.	Whenever you are glaced, there is a 10% chance that your attacker becomes Impaired and unable to act for 5 seconds.	Instant 10sec Consumes all Blade Resources. Places an area at your feet that lasts for 10 seconds. Every second it will hit up to 5 enemies in a 5 metre radius, dealing 4 physical damage. This ability generates additional hate.
Expose Weakness	Martial Discipline	Seven and a Half Samurai	Trial by Swords	Fortunate Strike	Exposed	Point of Harmony	Perseverance
Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability
2 ap	2 ap	21 ap	21 ap	21 ap	21 ap	21 ap	21 ap
Whenever you apply Impaired, you gain the Minor Penetration Chance effect, which increases you Penetration Chance by 10% for 8 seconds.	Instant 45sec You gain the Major Defence effect, which increases the chance that attacks against you will glance by 50% for 6 seconds.	Focus abilities are 7.5% more effective.	Instant 45sec A single target attack that deals 91 physical damage and causes the target to become Impaired and unable to act for 3 seconds.	Whenever you hit an Afflicted target, there is a 10% chance you will perform an additional hit that deals 21 physical damage.	Whenever you are glanced, you hit the attacker, dealing 49 physical damage.	3sec 80sec Channelled: Every 0.5 seconds for 3 seconds. A channelled heal that heals you for 5% of you maximum health each hit.	Whenever you activate a Frenzy ability, you are healed for 8 health.
Dancing Blade	Regeneration	Destiny	Double Dash	Clearing the Path	Binding Wounds	On Guard	Steel Palace
Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability
3 ap	3 ap	27 ap	27 ap	27 ap	27 ap	27 ap	27 ap
2.5sec Instant Channelled: Every 0.5 seconds for 2.5 seconds. Consumes all Blade Resources. A channelled Focus attack that deals 39 physical damage.	"Major Discipline" also gives you a heal over time effect, which heals for 57 every second while it is active.	Instant Instant Consumes all Blade Resources. A single target attack that deals 55 physical damage. If the target is Afflicted, it also applies a damage over time effect that deals 13 physical damage every second for 4 seconds.	Reduces the recharge time of all Dash abilites by 25%.	Instant Instant PBAoE: Applied to up to 5 enemies within a 5 meter radius around you. Consumes all Blade Resources. A PBAoE attack that deals 57 physical damage. This attack penetrates any Afflicted targets it hits.	Instant Instant Consumes all Blade Resources. A single target attack that deals 81 physical damage. If the target is Impaired, it becomes Afflicted with a damage over time effect that deals 7 physical damage every second for 10 seconds. This ability generates additional hate.	Whenever you apply Impaired, you also gain 1 stack of the Defence Rating effect, which increases Defense Rating by 30 per stack for 8 seconds. This effect can stack up to 10 times.	Instant PBAoE: Affects 5 enemies in a 5 metre radius around you. Consumes all Blade Resources. A PBAoE attack that deals 59 physical damage. If any affected targets are Afflicted, you gain the Minor Ward effect, which reduces all damage received by 7.5% for 8 seconds.
Sharp Blade	Surging Blades	Destiny Fulfilled	Steel Echo	Voracity	Finish the Movement	Sling Blade	Shadow Play
Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability	Passive Ability	Active Melee Ability	Passive Ability
4 ap	4 ap	34 ap	34 ap	34 ap	34 ap	34 ap	34 ap
Increases damage dealt by Blade abilites by 10%.	Instant 15sec Column Dash: Dash forward 10 metres, affecting up to 5 enemies in a 6 metre wide column along the way. A column dash attack that deals 58 physical damage.	Whenever you hit a target that has the Damage over Time effect from "Destiny", the effect is removed, dealing 55 physical damage.	Instant 60sec You gain a beneficial effect that causes all you Blade attacks for 10 seconds to perform an additional hit dealing 31 physical damage. This additional hit is treated as a full hit.	Increased Penetration Chance of Frenzy abilites by 7.5%.	Whenever you finish channelling a Focus ability, you gain 1 resource for your primary weapon.	Instant 15sec Throws a blade at the target dealing 93 physical damage and causes the target to become Afflicted with a damage over time effect that deals 6 physical damage every second for 5 seconds.	"Crimson Theatre" also grants you the Minor Defence effect, which increases the chance that attacks against you will glance by 10% for 8 seconds.
Stunning Swirl	Fluid Defense	Four Seasons	Flight of Daggers	Master's House	Silver Streak	Sixth Sense	The Art of War
Active Melee Ability (Elite)	Passive Ability (Elite)	Active Melee Ability (Elite)	Passive Ability (Elite)	Active Melee Ability (Elite)	Active Melee Ability (Elite)	Passive Ability (Elite)	Active Melee Ability (Elite)
7 ap	7 ap	50 ap	50 ap	50 ap	50 ap	50 ap	50 ap
Instant 30sec PBAoE; Affects up to 5 enemies in a 5 metre area around you. A PBAoE attack that deals 92 physical damage. Affected targets also become Impaired and unable to act for 3 seconds.	Whenever you receive a glancing hit, you gain the Major Ward effect, which reduces the damage you take by 7.5% for 6 seconds. Whenever you penetrate, you gain a beneficial effect that increases all damage dealt by 5% for 10 seconds.	2.5sec 30sec Channelled every 0.5 seconds for 2.5 seconds. A channelled attack that deals 31 physical damage each hit. The damage dealt increases by 5% for each hit, and all hits will penetrate. The last hit will cause the target to become Impaired and unable to act for 3 seconds. This ability has a 15 metre range.	Whenever you attack, you build a Flight of Daggers counter. When the counter reaches 5, you will hit up to 3 enemies in a 5 metre radius around you, dealing 46 physical damage. Affected targets also become Afflicted State with a damage over time effect that deals 10 physical damage every second for 5 seconds.	Instant 45sec Creates a 15 metre radius area at your feet, which lasts 10 seconds. While you are inside this area, your movement speed is increased by 25%, damage is increased by 20%, and you are immune to root and snare effects.	Instant 45sec Gives you a beneficial effect that lasts 8 seconds. You receive a 100% resistance to Hindered and Impaired. Silver Streak increases movement speed by 10%. Whenever you hit, you heal for 1.5% of your maximum health. Whenever you hit, you gain a Minor Defence effect, which increases the chance that attacks against you will glance by 10% for 8 seconds.	Whenever you are glanced, you build a Sixth Sense Counter. When there are 6 counters, your next attack will perform an additional hit that deals 248 and heals you for 10% of your maximum health.	Instant 30sec PBAoE: Affects up to 5 enemies in a 5 metre radius around you. A PBAoE attack that deals 92 physical damage and causes each target hit to be forced to attack you for 5 seconds. targets hit also become Impaired and unable to act for 1 second. For each affected target, the next 2 attacks against you will glance

another tsw guide keeper

Yokai's guide to build mechanics and build philosophyhttp://yokaiblog.wikidot.com/guides:build-mechanics

 

Note: Those of you who've seen my earlier version of this guide that was posted on the official TSW forums might wonder "where are your charts in this version?". I've dispensed with the charts for two reasons: 1) The ability descriptions are a moving target. Funcom will be changing and rebalancing their 580+ abilities for quite some time. 2) Honestly, you don't need them. You just need to know roughly what each weapon type's general attributes are, and you need to use the in-game Search panel to find specific keywords. Trust me; charts will push you into "analysis paralysis". It's much easier, and just as effective, to approach builds in a more organic fashion. Also, this guide has been streamlined and modified quite a bit from its original version.

Fold Table of Contents Intro The basic mechanics Inventory management and decks The central theme of any given build/deck Which combat stats to use for build themes? The basic "character" of each weapon type Understanding passives and how they multiply synergies Understanding builders and consumers Understanding "state" abilities Understanding "SubType" abilities Useful Subtype passives Understanding Triggers Synergy combos The concept of a "synergy combo" Affliction combos Affliction > Penetration Booster and Weaken Stacker Weaken combos Weaken > Hit Booster Weaken > Crit Damage Booster Hinder combos Hinder > Crit Chance Booster Hinder > Weaken Stacker Hinder > Debuff Cleanser and Buff Purger Hinder > Penetration Booster Yokai's advice regarding your "first build or two" The things you will absolutely need on your first vertical progression Ability to apply the "Corrupted" debuff Ability to apply 10x stacks of Weakness Ability to have a completely non-Affliction build Avoid specializing in Impairment and Hindering Evade, Defense, and Self-Heals are your best friend during initial vertical progression Yes but what would Yokai do?

Intro

Build mechanics in TSW are deep; far deeper than any other MMO to date, with the possible exception of EVE Online. What makes the build mechanics so deep is not the classless system with 580+ different abilities to choose from, but the amazing sophistication of the possible synergies between abilities.

The basic mechanics

You can have multiple builds (or more properly, decks) available to recall for use from the Gear Manager interface at literally any time except when you are actually "in combat". By default, you get 5 gear manager slots for free, and you can eventually unlock an additional 3 slots.
Each such build (deck) comprises:

• Your equipped gear, which comprises two weapons and seven talismans.
• Your "7/7" set of abilities: 7 active abilities and 7 passive abilities.
  • The 7 actives can be chosen only from your two equipped weapons.
  • The 7 passives can be chosen from ANY weapon. This is VERY important to finding and creating the strongest synergies.

Every time you update your deck in any way (just found a better talisman or two, or learned a new ability and found you like it really well, etc.), you should select that deck in your Gear Manager interface and click Overwrite to update that deck accordingly.
To load any of your saved decks, open the Gear Manager, select that deck, and click Load. All your gear and abilities are swapped out accordingly.

Inventory management and decks

Inventory management with regard to swapping out different decks is currently a bit cumbersome. I strongly recommend the following best practices to keep your sanity until Funcom has time to streamline the deck management system.

• Keep your inventory window open when you swap decks. This enables you to visually see where the gear items that were removed (and not used in the new deck) are actually being placed in your main inventory window. You can then drag them into a side bag or their own row of the main inventory window to keep better track of them.
• Instead of the preceding technique, I like to use four minibags for all my best gear that is actually used in decks, and I first drag all my current gear items into their respective bags before swapping a deck. When the new deck loads up, all the unused gear items are already in their respective bags, nice and neat. The four bags I use this way are:
• My weapon bag. It contains all of my current best weapons for each of my builds.
• My Tanking Talismans bag. It contains a full set of all my current best Tanking talismans.
• My DPS Talismans bag, which contains a full set of all my current best DPS talismans.
• My Healing Talismans bag, which contains a full set of all my current best Healing talismans.
• (If you don't know what I mean by these three "types" of talismans, go read my Talisman's guide.)

The central theme of any given build/deck

The strongest deck designs are tightly focused, and based around amplifying only 2-3 combat stats. The basic approach is very simple:

1. Pick two weapons that have active abilities that revolve around your chosen 2-3 stats that you want to amplify.
2. Look through all the passive abilities available in the entire Ability Wheel for any passive that can synergize with both your chosen 2-3 stats AND with the attack subtypes (Frenzy, Strike, Blast, Focus, etc.) that your two weapons specialize in.
3. One of your active abilities should always be a resource builder that will build resources for both weapons. This should be the hardest-hitting builder you've unlocked so farand ideally it should also be listed as a subtype so that you can proc a subtype synergy or two with every single builder attack in your combat rotation.
4. Two of your active abilities should always be the hardest-hitting resource consumers you've unlocked so far and ideally also listed as subtypes so you can proc a subtype synergy with every consumer. One of these consumers should be for weapon 1, and the other consumer should be for weapon 2.
5. The remaining four actives should be considered as "utility" slots and you can use nearly anything you like, but it's typically very useful to dedicate one of them for use as a multi-target (AOE/Cone) builder (for both weapons), because you must often deal with swarms.
6. As for your 7 passive slots, the whole trick here is to find those passives you've unlocked that will do three very specific and simple things:
   • Do they somehow "pump" (boost) one or more of the combat stats that your build theme revolves around?
   • Do they somehow proc extra damage or proc a boost to one of your chosen combat stats when you use an attack subtype that one or both of your weapons specialize in?
7. By now you should have chosen 7 actives and 7 passives, but it's time for one more "fine-tuning" pass based on the states (Afflicted/Weakened/Hindered/Impaired) that your two weapons can apply.
   • Every weapon can easily apply Affliction or Weaken, but Hinder and Impair are harder to apply and reapply during a fight (they're usually on long cooldown timers and applied mostly by elite actives).
   • If you find any actives or passives that do something useful when you hit a target that is Afflicted or Weakened (per your chosen two weapons), consider replacing one of your 7/7 choices so far but only if the synergy with Affliction/Weakened is stronger than one of your synergies for your chosen combat stats or attack subtypes. This advice might not make much sense at first, but as you gain more experience you'll see the usefulness of prioritizing stats and subtypes over states.
   • If you find any actives or passives that do something useful when you hit a target that is Hindered or Impaired, these might be very useful in your build, or not useful at all. The reason for this is due to how infrequently you can actually apply Hinder/Impair, and how short the duration of such states typically are. It's certainly worth reviewing for synergies with Hinder/Impair, but typically you'll find far more bang for the buck by looking for other synergies instead. There are always some notable exceptions to this general guideline, though, and it totally depends on the theme and specific weapons used in your build.
8. The final aspect of your build is to decide on the exact mix of talisman types you need to support the theme of your build. This is an art in itself, and you should read my talisman guide to fully understand what to do in this step.

Those basic steps, done in order, will always lead to a very strong build without too much thrashing, confusion, or "analysis paralysis".

Which combat stats to use for build themes?

Combat stats fall into three broad categories:

• DPS: Critical Rating+Critical Power, Penetration Rating, and Hit Rating
• Tanking: Defense Rating, Evade Rating, Block Rating, Physical Protection, Magical Protection, and high HP pool
• Healing: Heal Rating

Note: For the tanking stats, the two Protection Types and Block Rating are the weakest of the bunch. I'd strongly advise prioritizing Defense and Evade up to the point of diminishing returns, and flesh out the rest only after that.
When choosing offensive/defensive/healing stats to choose for the core theme of your build, the role you're playing suggests some best stats to focus on:

• If soloing, you probably want to focus on either:
  • Mostly DPS-oriented abilities, with a mix of DPS and Tanking stats on your gear.
  • Mostly DPS-oriented abilities, with at most 2-3 Healing abilities, with a mix of DPS and Healing stats on your gear.
• If tanking for a small group, you'll want to focus on either:
  • 50/50 Tanking/DPS-oriented abilities, with a mix of 50/50 Tanking/DPS stats on your gear
  • 30/20/50 Tanking/Healing/DPS-oriented abilities, with a mix of 30/20/50 Tanking/Healing/DPS stats on your gear.
• If tanking for a large group, you'll want to focus on either:
  • 70/30 Tanking/DPS-oriented abilities, with a mix of 80/20 Tanking/DPS stats on your gear and a very large HP pool.
  • 50/20/30 Tanking/Healing/DPS-oriented abilities, with a mix of 50/20/30 Tanking/Healing/DPS stats on your gear and a very large HP pool. You probably also want to make Assault Rifle the "healing" part of your build, because only Assault Rifle can put out DPS while also healing yourself.
• If healing for a small group:
  • 40/60 Healing/DPS-oriented abilities, with a mix of 50/50 Healing/DPS stats on your gear.
• If healing for a large group
  • 80/20 Healing/DPS-oriented abilities, with a mix of 70/30 Healing/Tanking stats on your gear. (with that 30% of tanking stats including high-HP "Tanking" talismans for extra health pool on yourself if you grab aggro).

The basic "character" of each weapon type

The actives and passives for each weapon tend to each focus on one role (tanking, healing, or support), one "common" state (Afflict or Weaken), one "uncommon" state (Hinder or Impair), usually only one or two combat stats, two specific attack subtypes, and a general set of special buffs. Each weapon also has a general range that its attacks can reach.
Blade

• Role: Tanking (defense [meaning more glances and fewer crits against you])
• Range: Short
• Common state: Afflict
• Uncommon state: Impair
• Combat stats: Penetration Rating, Defense Rating
• Attack subtypes: Focus, Frenzy
• Buffs: Def+, Glance+, Hate+, Runspeed+, Self-Heals, AOE taunts, Hinder Resistance

Hammer

• Role: Tanking (block)
• Range: Short
• Common state: Weaken
• Uncommon state: Impair
• Combat stats: Crit Rating, Defense Rating, Block Rating
• Attack subtypes: Strike, Blast
• Buffs: Crit+, Block+, Resource+, HP+, Damage+ (for builders), KB/Stun duration+, CC Immunity

Chaos

• Role: Tanking (evade)
• Range: Short
• Common state: Weaken
• Uncommon state: Impair
• Combat stats: Hit Rating, Defense Rating, Evade Rating
• Attack subtypes: Burst, Frenzy
• Buffs: Evade+ Resource+, Hate+

Blood

• Role: Healing (shield/bubble) (unique in that consumers can be fueled with your own HP instead of only by resources)
• Range: Long
• Common state: Afflict
• Uncommon state: Impair
• Combat stats: Crit Rating, Penetration Rating
• Attack subtypes: Focus, Chain
• Buffs: (coming soon)

Assault Rifle

• Role: Healing (damage leech) (requires doing damage to an enemy to heal, cannot heal out of combat)
• Range: Long
• Common state: Afflict
• Uncommon state: Hinder
• Combat stats: Hit Rating, Heal Rating
• Attack subtypes: Burst, Frenzy
• Buffs: Heal+, Grant leech effects to teammates

Fist

• Role: healing (direct heals)
• Range: Short
• Common state: Afflict
• Uncommon state: Impair
• Combat stats: Hit Rating
• Attack subtypes: Burst, Blast
• Buffs: Glance- on targets, Heal+, Move+, and Blast+

Elementalism

• Role: Support (DPS buffs and Turret Summons)
• Range: Long
• Common state: Afflict
• Uncommon state: Hinder
• Combat stats: Hit Rating
• Attack subtypes: Strike, Chain
• Buffs: Damage+, Hit+, Crit+, Hate-, Resource+

Shotgun

• Role: Support (Traps, CC, and Turret Summons)
• Range: Medium
• Common state: Weaken
• Uncommon state: Hinder
• Combat stats: Penetration Rating, Defense Rating
• Attack subtypes: Strike, Blast
• Buffs: Pen+, Def+, Resource+

Pistol

• Role: Support (Debuffs, Buffs, Pet Summons)
• Range: Medium
• Common state: Weaken
• Uncommon state: Hinder
• Combat stats: Crit Rating
• Attack subtypes: Focus, Chain
• Buffs: Crit+, Runspeed+, Damage+, Heal+, CC/Debuff Immunity

Understanding passives and how they multiply synergies

Creative use of passives is the main thing that separates weak or "okay" decks from very strong decks.

• You can use ANY passive from ANY weapon at ANY time, regardless of the two weapons you actually have equipped. Quite often, some really strong synergistic passives for one weapon are found in the Ability tree for another, different weapon.
• Some of the strongest passives are those that trigger off of an attack subtype. Look for all passives that say Strike, Burst, Blast, Focus, Chain, or Frenzy. These are the ones with huge potential, and their existence explains why often weak-looking actives in the Teir 2 cells are actually very strong (because they can cause these particular passives to proc their effects).
• Many passives can be used to create a "bridge" between one state or subtype and another. For example, there are passives that turn critical hits on an Afflicted target in into Chain hits (which can then in turn automatically trigger a Chain-based passive). Or there are such passives that do things like applying Weaken every time you land a non-glancing hit on an Impaired target.

Important: Passives do NOT react to each hit (or "tick") of a multi-hit active. For example, if you use a Focus attack that ticks 5 times over 2 seconds, you get only one chance to trigger passives from the use of that attack. Not 5 chances.

Understanding builders and consumers

Some abilities "build resources" and are called builders. Others "consume resources" and are called consumers. Depending on your weapon type, some resources are built on yourself (visible just above your health bar), or they're built on each target you're attacking (floats above their head). Melee weapons like hammer start out fully built with 5 resources ready to pop with a consumer as your opening attack in each new fight. (This helps tanks do some front-loaded damage to build hate faster than teammates, or can simply be used to apply more overall DPS.)
Most builders do so for both weapons at the same time, but some (usually the healing builders) will build only for one weapon. Pay attention to this when choosing your builders, because it's always more efficient to use builders that build for BOTH weapons at the same time.
It's also most efficient to have one good consumer for EACH weapon in your deck, and to pop them back-to-back once you've built up 5 resources for each. Only after blowing both of your consumers should you go back to building.
Many abilities are written in a manner that does not suggest that more resources = more damage for the consumer. IMO this is a quality issue with the tech writing for the ability descriptions. In my testing, I've found many such consumers where clearly 5 resources made them do more damage than with only 1 resource, so assume this pattern as a general rule of thumb even if the ability description doesn't explicitly say something like "does X damage for each resource".
Finally, a nuance of timing your builders and consumers is that you don't always need to build to 5 resources before popping a consumer. For example, two of the elemental consumers require only 2 resources and 3 resources, respectively. (of course, with 5 resources on the target, you could pop them back to back). Another example is that the *difference* between X damage for 1 resource and Y damage for 5 resources isn't large enough, such that it's actually higher DPS (damage per *second*) to spam builder > consumer > builder > consumer with only one resource each time. And yet another example is that sometimes a target is near dead and you're confident that two resources will finish him off.

Understanding "state" abilities

In TSW, "states" are temporary flags put on either your offensive target or yourself (or any of your teammates). The states are reflected in the UI with those four small bars immediately beneath the HP bar for yourself, teammates, and your currently selected target. When a state is toggled on for anyone, many abilities will REACT to that specific state by doing something interesting. Broadly speaking: Afflicted states are applied along with a DoT, Weakened states are applied along with a damage-reducing or hit-reducing debuff of some sort, Hindered states are applied along with a snare or root, and Impaired states are applied along with a stun, knockdown/knockback, or silence.
It is very important to understand that many of these typical MMO effects (roots, stuns, debuffs, DoTs, etc.) can also be applied by various weapon abilities WITHOUT ALSO APPLYING A STATE. Generally speaking, when an ability can apply a state, the state name is clearly listed in the description of the ability.

Understanding "SubType" abilities

In TSW, "subtypes" are specifically the shape of a weapon attack:
Strike is a single-target attack (but not every single target attack is a "strike"). Burst is a single-target attack that comprises multiple small hits, each with their own independent hit/reaction roll. Focus is a channelled attack over time, that ticks more damage the longer you sustain it. Frenzy is typically a circular AOE of some sort. Blast is usually a cone-shaped multi-target spread in an arc in front of you. And Chain is a single target attack that subsequently spreads to other nearby targets.
As with states, it is very important to understand that not all attack shapes are also subtypes. For example, not every single-target attack is also a "Strike", not every AOE is also a "Frenzy", and not every cone is also a "Blast".
Finally, you will hear the term "multi-hit" a lot. This refers to three specific subtypes that each generate multiple smaller hits per target over a short span of time, rather than one single instant hit per target:

• Multi-hit: Focus, Frenzy, and Burst.
• Single-hit: Strike, Blast, and Chain.

Useful Subtype passives

There are a handful of passive abilities for each of the six subtypes. Most of these are in my opinion too lackluster to influence your choice of weapons based strictly on their subtypes. However, there are a few notably strong subtype passives that might bear close examination, because they offer some fairly compelling arguments for using the corresponding weapon type:

• Frenzy subtype (Assault Rifle, Blade, Chaos)
  • Voracity (Blade 34 AP): All Frenzy abilities have a +7.5% Penetration Chance. That's pretty huge!
  • Shoot 'Em Up (Rifle 21 AP): All Frenzy abilities apply a medium DOT for 5 seconds. At Skill 10 with green 50/50 DPS/Heal talismans, for example, this DOT ticks for roughly 35-ish damage per second, which can really help if you're in a cycle of Anima Shot x5 > Fire at Will x 1 for spam healing or ranged tanking. Anima Shot at that same skill/gear hits for roughly 65 damage each, so this one passive effectively boosts the damage output of your Anima Shot spam by +50%. That's huge! Another way of looking at it is that this passive's DOT hits just a wee bit harder than Incision (Blade 16 AP), which lasts for only 3 seconds.

• Strike subtype (Shotgun, Elemental, Hammer)
  • Violent Strike (Elemental 21 AP): All Strike abilities have a +7.5% Critical Chance. That's pretty huge!
  • Strike Force (Shotgun 12 AP): All Strike abilities have a +7.5% Penetration Chance. That's pretty huge!
  • Wrecking Crew (Hammer 21 AP): All Strike abilities have a +20% Crit Damage boost. That's pretty huge!

Understanding Triggers

Note that I didn't use "trigger ability" in the title of this section. That's because there are no abilities that cause a trigger. (But there are abilities that cause states and subtypes to be applied.) Triggers are instead any general condition that some abilities (especially many passives) can react to.

Synergy combos

The concept of a "synergy combo"

Just like in trading card games (TCGs), the core theme of most strong decks (builds) center around one or more ability combos that the deck is built to set up and execute as often as possible during a fight. For example, there are ways to guarantee application of an Afflicted state on your target, and there are other passives that will do useful things when you subsequently hit that now-afflicted target. Such abilities, when used together to achieve one or more synergistic effects, are collectively known as a combo.
This section lists only the guaranteed combos that can work with any equipped weapon types. There are many other ways to create the trigger conditions than the ones I list below, but they are not as reliable or consistent. There are also many other possible (and interesting) combos, but since they cannot be produced with 100% reliable consistency, I don't include them in my list. For example, there are many nice combos that can be triggered off of a penetrating hit or off of a critical hit, but since you cannot control/predict pens and crits with 100% consistency, I don't include such combos. However, it's certainly worth looking for and exploiting such combos if you are using a crit-heavy or pen-heavy build.
Notes:

• There are no guaranteed, reliable ways to trigger the Impaired state with any weapon, so there are no "Impair combos" listed here.
• Since hit types like crits and pens are not 100% predictable, I don't list any combos based on hit type here.
• I don't list any attack subtype-specific combos here (such as combos that can be triggered with any Burst attack or with any Focus attack, etc.), because all of these will limit your weapon choice in some way. However, there are many good subtype combos to be found and employed, so I encourage you to use the Search blade of the in-game Ability Wheel to browse through all passives that can be triggered from each subtype.

Affliction combos

Affliction is one of the easiest states to inflict on your target due to one simple 16 AP passive from the Fist tree: Bloodsport. With Bloodsport in your deck, every single successful hit (re)applies Affliction plus a stacking DOT that does a medium amount of DOT damage every second. If you glance, one stack is removed, so this key passive isn't as useful if you're fighting red or orange targets, but certainly against yellows and easier, you can keep Affliction applied most of the time. There are other passives that can also trigger Affliction (primarily from the Blades, Blood, Elemental, and Rifle trees) that might be easier to unlock at first, but Bloodsport should be one of your high-priority unlocks just because it's so useful to making any two weapons able to trigger Affliction and therefore use any of the following Affliction combos:

Affliction > Penetration Booster and Weaken Stacker

Trigger: Any non-glancing hit from any weapon type
Passives: Bloodsport (Fist 16 AP), Dark Potency (Blood 2 AP), Iron Maiden (Blood 12 AP), 12 Gouge (Shotgun 12 AP)
Synergy flow:

1. Your first hit triggers Bloodsport to apply Affliction and start stacking DOTs
2. Your subsequent hits on the now-Afflicted target each trigger:
   1. A 1x stack of the Penetration Rating buff (from Dark Potency), granting you +150 Penetration Rating at 5x stacks.
   2. The Minor Penetration Chance buff (from Iron Maiden), granting you +10% Penetration Chance.
   3. Your Penetration now happens often enough that 12 Gouge will quickly stack the Debilitated debuff (from 12 Gouge) plus the Weakened state on your current target, reducing their damage output by 30% at 10x stacks.

Weaken combos

Weaken is also an easy state to apply to your target regardless of your weapon types:

• The Affliction > Weaken Stacker combo described above (Bloodsport + 12 Gouge) is the easiest way to Weaken your target with any weapon at all.
• The Hinder > Weaken Stacker combo describe further below (Close Quarters + Bad Break) is another dependable method, but it requires you to attack from within a 3m range of the target, and one of the passives in the combo is an expensive 50 AP elite.

Naturally, since all of these Weaken combos are triggered by either a basic 2-passive Affliction combo or a 2-passive Hinder combo, it's easy to combine any of these Weaken combos with your favorite Afflicton combo or Hinder combo.

Weaken > Hit Booster

Trigger: Either the Affliction > Weaken Stacker combo or the Hinder > Weaken Stacker combo
Passives: Fixation (Chaos 9 AP), Fever Pitch (Chaos 34 AP)
Synergy flow:

1. Your trigger combo applies the Weakened state to the target.
2. Your subsequent attacks on the now-Weakened target each trigger:
   1. A 1x stack of the Improved Hit Rating buff (from Fixation), granting you +150 Hit Rating at 5x stacks.
   2. A 10% chance to trigger the Major Hit Chance buff (from Fever Pitch), granting you +50% reduced chance of dealing Glancing hits against the target. Normally I wouldn't consider a 10% chance effect to be worthy of a "guaranteed" combo like this, but this particular buff lasts a whopping 12 seconds, so you have a damn good chance of keeping it running nearly full time after you first trigger it. (Should trigger once in every 10 hits, on average, and lasts for a duration of 12 hits, on average.) Less useful/dependable in very short fights but quite strong in longer-running fights.

Weaken > Crit Damage Booster

Trigger: Either the Affliction > Weaken Stacker combo or the Hinder > Weaken Stacker combo
Passives: Punishment (Hammer 9 AP)
Synergy flow:

1. Your trigger combo applies the Weakened state to the target.
2. Your subsequent attacks on the now-Weakened target applies a 1x stack of the Improved Critical Power Rating buff, granting you +250 Crit Power Rating at 5x stacks.

Hinder combos

Hinder > Crit Chance Booster

Trigger: Any non-glancing hit from any weapon type made in melee distance to target (within 3 meters)
Passives: Close Quarters (Shotgun 50 AP), Hothead (Pistol 1 AP)
Synergy flow:

1. Every hit made within 3 meters of the target triggers Close Quarters to apply the Hindered state. (The fact that the snare itself is subject to diminishing returns is of no consequence. You're not using this for the snare.)
2. Hothead reacts to the application of Hinder by itself applying the Minor Critical Chance buff to yourself, for a +10% Critical Chance. Basically, you can keep this buff up permanently as long as you keep making melee-distance hits at least every 8 seconds.

Hinder > Weaken Stacker

Trigger: Any non-glancing hit from any weapon type made in melee distance to target (within 3 meters)
Passives: Close Quarters (Shotgun 50 AP), Bad Break (Pistol 9 AP)
Synergy flow:

1. Every hit made within 3 meters of the target triggers Close Quarters to apply the Hindered state. (The fact that the snare itself is subject to diminishing returns is of no consequence. You're not using this for the snare.)
2. Bad Break reacts to the application of Hinder by itself applying 2x stacks of the Corrupted debuff plus the Weakened state on your current target, reducing their self-healing output by 50% at 10x stacks.

Hinder > Debuff Cleanser and Buff Purger

Trigger: Any non-glancing hit from any weapon type made in melee distance to target (within 3 meters)
Passives: Close Quarters (Shotgun 50 AP), Exploitation (Pistol 9 AP), Perjury (Shotgun 34 AP)
Synergy flow:

1. Every hit made within 3 meters of the target triggers Close Quarters to apply the Hindered state. (The fact that the snare itself is subject to diminishing returns is of no consequence. You're not using this for the snare.)
2. Exploitation reacts to the application of Hinder by itself cleansing you of one (randomly chosen) debuff.
3. Perjury reacts to the application of Hinder by itself purging the target of one (randomly chosen) buff.

Hinder > Penetration Booster

Trigger: Any non-glancing hit from any weapon type
Passives: Close Quarters (Shotgun 50 AP), Beanbag Rounds (Shotgun 9 AP)
Synergy flow:

1. Every hit made within 3 meters of the target triggers Close Quarters to apply the Hindered state. (The fact that the snare itself is subject to diminishing returns is of no consequence. You're not using this for the snare.)
2. Beanbag Rounds reacts to the application of Hinder by itself applying the Minor Penetration Chance buff to yourself, for a +10% Penetration Chance. Basically, you can keep this buff up permanently as long as you keep making melee-distance hits at least every 8 seconds.

Yokai's advice regarding your "first build or two"

I debated a long time whether to give specific advice about early builds. There are soooooo many "good" builds possible and the game is in some ways very forgiving about less-than-optimal builds, especially if you often run around with a duo partner.
But frankly, a lot of the "horizontal flexibility" of The Secret World can only be experienced fully after you've developed an early two or three weapons to Skill 10 and have built some decks that you can always fall back on when you need something strong and dependable for tougher situations.
And more importantly (and this is something that only closed beta testers got to see), you will start encountering certain mob types in the 2nd Egypt zone and continuing into Transylvania that are very strong against certain weapons and builds. If your first two or three weapons and corresponding decks aren't able to deal with these, you'll be forced to either skip a lot of content (and hate certain zones) or else you'll find yourself going back to earlier zones to grind up the weapon skills and abilities you'll need to deal with them.

The things you will absolutely need on your first vertical progression

Your "first" vertical progression is the trip from Skill 0 to Skill 10 in your first two or three chosen weapons. Once you get to Skill 10 in these and have a few good decks for these, you can can then afford to branch out horizontally and start skilling up other weapons and building more different types of decks.
You will specifically need to deal with certain "problem" mob types during this first vertical progression:

Ability to apply the "Corrupted" debuff

In Blue Mountain, you will meet one boss type in three different places who is essentially impossible to kill unless you can stack her with 10x stacks of the Corrupted debuff, which comes only from certain Pistol actives and passives. To successfully land each stack, you must make a non-glancing hit.

• This strongly suggests that Pistol should be one of the early weapons you skill up, at least to the Skill 4 or Skill 5 you'll need to make enough non-glancing hits on this boss.
• Of course, you can simply skip the one action mission (a solo instance) that contains this boss, and avoid her in the two places she appears in the zone. But you'll meet other mobs like this again in Egypt and Transylvania, so…

Ability to apply 10x stacks of Weakness

In the first Transylvania zone, you'll meet lots of vampires. And they all get much stronger and harder to kill if you do not apply 10x stacks of any type of Weakness debuff within the first 20 seconds of the fight.

• This strongly suggests that a weapon that can efficiently and reliably stack a Weakness debuff with every hit should be one of the early weapons you skill up. Chaos, Hammer, Shotgun, and Pistol all fit this bill nicely, but…
• There is a combo of two passives: Bloodsport (Fist 16 AP) and 12 Gouge (Shotgun 12 AP), which can make any weapon capable of stacking Weakens on a target. It's not quite as quick and reliable as what you can do with the above-listed weapons that specialize in Weakness, but in most cases it will get the job done in time.

Ability to have a completely non-Affliction build

In the second Transylvania zone, you'll meet many mob types that get stronger and harder to kill if you Afflict them. This doesn't mean you need to avoid the weapon types that specialize in Affliction (Blades, Blood, Fist, and Rifle), but you should be sure to develop and test a build that doesn't rely on Affliction to get the job done, by the time you reach this zone.

Avoid specializing in Impairment and Hindering

Of the four states, both Impairment and Hindering are the least useful during your initial vertical progression, for a variety of reasons:

• These states are often applied only by Elite abilities.
• These states are only on skills with long cooldowns, so can be applied only once or twice in typical easier fights.
• Nearly every elite mob (especially in the special Skill 10 "lairs" in each zone) is immune to both of these states. The state will be applied and passives will trigger off the application, but the actual effect of these states (root/snare/stun/knock, etc.) will be ignored by these special mob types.
• Most dungeon bosses and mini-bosses are also immune to both of these states.
• Many normal mobs in Transylvania are immune to these states or do something nasty if you hit them with one of these states.

Don't get the wrong idea: these two states can be very useful in some cases, especially if several members of a team rotate application of them. And even if you're soloing, a really strong opening attack to soften up a tough set of normal mobs can be to use a combo like Whiteout (Elemental 50AP active) plus Toxic Earth (Elemental 50AP passive) to root an entire pack and do lots of front-loaded damage between those two skills plus your ranged nukes before they ever get to you.
And there are a few passives (such as Close Quarters (Shotgun 50 AP) that can proc Hinder much more frequently (which is useful for some buff combos), but this comes at a cost of diminishing returns. For example, with Close Quarters, the first application will snare for 4 seconds, the 2nd application will reapply snare for only 3 seconds, the third for only 2 seconds, and so on down to only a second or less. After 10 seconds this cycle resets and the full 4 seconds will be applied on the subsequent application, and the cycle of diminishing returns repeats.

Evade, Defense, and Self-Heals are your best friend during initial vertical progression

I'll say it plainly: The damage mitigation that you get from Block, Magical Protection, and Physical protection is very inferior to the mitigation you get from Evade and Defense. Not that you should ignore the other ones entirely, because scaling and diminishing returns often means that stacking a little of everything creates a stronger overall mitigation than over-investing in only two particular stats. (Although min-maxers, especially in PvP where burst damage is everything, tend to feel that it is worth it to over-invest only in Evade and Defense.)
But where I'm going with this thought is that on your first vertical progression, you'll be better served to focus on weapons and builds that can give you some significant boosts to your Evade Rating, Evade Chance, Defense Rating, and (Minor) Defense (Chance). Especially if you plan to main tank any dungeons along the way.
This clearly points to either Blades or Chaos as being a strong choice for an early weapon. Blades specializes in Defense buffs, and Chaos specializes in Evade buffs.
Both of these weapons also have strong offensive buffs too: Blades specializes in Penetration buffs, while Chaos specializes in Hit buffs.
Another very strong type of mitigation is self-healing. If you plan to do your first vertical progression mostly as a soloist, then there is absolutely no question that you'll have an easier time of it if your second weapon is a healing weapon. Sure, you can do okay with a pure DPS build or a Tank/DPS build, with no dedicated healing weapon, but you will have a harder time of it in places and you will die a little more often.
Of the three healing weapons and types, I'll say it plainly again: Fists is the weakest of the three, because Fists are HOT-based and HOTs cannot keep up with the incoming damage rate of a swarm or hard-hitting "orange-con" enemy nearly as well as Blood or Rifle can do. Fists are great on a dedicated healer as one of their healing weapons, or in a team as a second healer or off-healer, but as a primary healing skill (especially when soloing), it's quite lackluster compared to the other two healing weapons.
So both Blood and Rifle are equally good for your first vertical progression if you choose to run with healing as your second weapon type. But it can be very subjective to say which of those two is better. They look and feel very different. My observation is that:

• If you like to stay at range and kite as long and often as possible, then Rifle might feel "better" to you. And frankly, there is a leech heal multipiler combo you can unlock pretty quickly that doesn't even require you to kite at all. Perhaps the main thing about Rifle that is "nice" is that it's the only heal that can do damage while it's healing you.
• Blood is a more "tanky" feeling type of heal weapon.
• Blood will definitely feel weaker than Rifle until you unlock a 50 AP passive called Clotting. However, if you can afford to fit that elite in your passives for the deck, then the various blood barriers/heals like Blood Shield and Hermetic Rites start doing some really heavy lifting for you.
  • Important: I should caution you, though, that Clotting works only on yourself. In other words, it's great for soloing with Blood as a healing skill, but it's essentially useless for healing a partner or teammates. This is another reason I recommend Rifle over Blood: if you plan to ever be able to really help out a partner or teammates instead of soloing full-time, then I strongly recommend you take Rifle first and foremost as your healing weapon during your initial vertical progression.

Yes but what would Yokai do?

Well, for what its worth, I've tested nearly everything with a fully unlocked ability wheel and Skill 10 in all weapons. I'll definitely be launching with:

• Blade/Rifle for my character, also keeping Pistol skilled up not too far behind. My duo partner will be launching with Elemental/Blood on her character.
• If I encounter "spare" SP along the way to Skill 10 in Blade/Rifle and Pistol, I'll be putting any such extra SP into Chaos. Not necessarily for dungeon/lair tanking, but for PvP (Blade/Chaos).
• Only after Blade, Rifle, Pistol, and Chaos are at Skill 10 will I start branching out horizontally.

Can you tell I really like Blades?

• Matador and Crimson Theatre plus Shadow Play for nice Defense buffs
• Brandish plus Brandishing Support for a nice 25% ward for 2.5 seconds, plus another Defense buff.
• Lots of juicy Penetration buffs (and Penetration-oriented actives like Clearing the Path and Delicate Strike plus Delicate Precision are just right up my alley.

But this is personal preference based on playstyle considerations and certainly isn't a one-size fits all recommendation. And it is a very close toss-up between Blade/Rifle versus Blade/Blood for soloing, but what clinched it for me was not having to wait as long to get all the Rifle unlocks needed to make leech-healing reasonably effective. I'll be giving up magical damage until I get Chaos caught up with the first three, but that's not the end of the world by any means. Some mobs are easier if you can pick and choose your damage type, but none require you to use one particular damage type to get the job done.
Easter Egg: So, have you read this far? Have you read this entire looooonnnnngg guide? Good for you, lol. Here's your reward for effort: I've gotten many emails asking me to repost my original "Community Decks" page or to at least post the Blade/Rifle/Pistol build that I mentioned I'll be starting with for my initial vertical progression. Well, I still feel that all you really need to know are the basic combos I list above and the few rules of thumb I list above, but sure, why not? So here you go: Yokai's Starting Build(s)

Important TSW info

Yokai's starting builds from : http://yokaiblog.wikidot.com/yokaibuilds

Not so much a single "build" per se, but all the core actives and passives to unlock first. These can all be combined and interchanged in various ways to create a standard Affliction-Pen-Weakness build, a non-Affliction build, a non-Weakness build, a high-def ranged tanking build, and a special build that can stack the Corrupted debuff quickly, and so on.
At the end I'll list a few of the specific decks I'll be building out first, showing how I combine these various abilities to meet different needs throughout the initial vertical progression.
All abilities are listed in priority order of acquisition (within each respective weapon).

Fold Table of Contents Abilities to purchase first Blade/Rifle/Pistol Blade Actives Blade Passives Rifle Actives Rifle Passives Pistol Actives Pistol Passives Shotgun Passives Blood Passives Chaos Passives Fist Passives Basic decks to build towards First: DPS/Heal Hybrid Second: Speciality Corrupted Debuffer Third: Ranged Tank Fourth: Specialty Non-Affliction Fifth: Specialty Non-Weaken Hey! What about Anima Shot? Isn't that better than Anima Burst? Hey! What about Fatal Florish? Isn't that Better than Dark Potency?

Abilities to purchase first

Blade/Rifle/Pistol

Blade Actives

• Delicate Strike (1 AP) - ST builder that does more damage than Matador, with the ability to add a +10% Penetration Chance to every attack (made from Delicate Strike) from the passive Delicate Precision
• Crimson Theatre (16 AP) - Useful DOT AOE, with the ability to add +10% Minor Defense from the passive Shadow Play
• Matador (16 AP)- Great ST builder that stacks the Improved Defense Rating buff for a total of +150 Defense Rating at 5x stacks
• Clearing the Path (27 AP) - Great Frenzy AOE consumer with 100% guaranteed Penetration on all Afflicted targets
• Brandish (9 AP) - ST Focus consumer that provides a -25% damage ward while channeling (2.5 seconds), buffed even further with +125 Defense Rating from the passive Brandishing Support

Blade Passives

• Delicate Precision (1 AP) - Adds +10% Penetration Chance to Delicate Strike
• Shadow Play (34 AP) - To get the Minor Defense effect from casting Crimson Theatre
• Incision (16 AP) - Medium DOT added to any Afflicted target you penetrate, lasting 3 seconds
• Enervate (12 AP) - Getting glanced Afflicts a medium DOT on the attacker for 3 seconds
• Brandishing Support (12 AP) - Adds +125 Defense Rating while you channel Brandish (2.5 secs)
• Voracity (34 AP): All Frenzy abilities have a +7.5% Penetration Chance. That's pretty huge!
• Flight of Daggers (50 AP elite) - Strong added AOE damage to 3 enemy targets plus a medium DOT added to them for 5 seconds

Rifle Actives

• Anima Burst (16 AP) - Basic spam heal builder with a damage component. Because it is a Burst attack, every shot retriggers another 5 seconds of Healing Sparks, which is a medium HOT. This is what you spam when you or someone else is in trouble, and fitting in a Shot of Anima every time it becomes available (even if you're not up to 5 resources yet).
• Fire at Will (1 AP) - Great Frenzy AOE damage consumer to prevent rifle resources from going to waste when you don't need a larger heal with Shot of Anima
• Shot of Anima (9 AP) - Big heal consumer, typically used to consume 5 built up rifle resources created while doing blade-oriented damage. Just popping this off after every Blade Consumer will often be adequate healing without needing to spam Anima Burst at all. Note that when you are spam healing someone in trouble, you don't want to wait for 5 resources. Instead, use it as often as it comes off of cooldown. It's actually more healing per second that way.

Rifle Passives

• Increased Dosage (12 AP) - Makes Shot of Anima a much larger direct heal, removing the leach buff aspect of Shot of Anima. That's okay, because the leech component is pretty much total crap. Sorry, but it is.
• Leech Therapy (9 AP) - Adds about as much additional healing as a single Anima Shot every time you hit an Afflicted target with Anima Burst.
• Shoot 'Em Up (21 AP) - Makes your standard Blade/Rifle Frenzy consumers Afflict all targets with a medium DOT for 5 seconds

Pistol Actives

• The Business (1 AP) - Just a simple builder on its own, but coupled with the Magnum passive, every non-glancing attack Weakens the target with a stack of the Corrupted debuff.
• Shootout (1 AP) - Just a simple consumer for when you are needing the Pistol/Rifle build.
• Above the Law (1 AP) Just a simple GTAOE DOT to substitute for Crimson Theatre when you are needing the Pistol/Rifle build
• Deadly Aim (2 AP) - What's not to like about a +40% Crit Chance for 8 seconds when you're stuck with needing the Pistol/Rifle build?

Pistol Passives

• Magnum (1 AP) - Makes every non-glancing attack with The Business apply 1x Corrupted Debuff, for a total of -50% Heal/Leech/Barrier effectiveness on the target at 10x stacks.
• Exploitation (9 AP) - Synergizes with Close Quarters to cleanse yourself of one (randomly chosen) debuff. Good for stripping poison DOTS and the like off yourself before they do too much damage.
• Hothead (1 AP) - Synergizes with Close Quarters to provide a +10% Crit Chance buff nearly full-time.

Shotgun Passives

• 12 Gouge (12 AP) - Makes every Penetrating attack on an Afflicted target also Weaken them with 1x stack of the Debilitated debuff, for a total -30% reduction in damage output at 10x stacks. This is like having a 30% evade buff at all times.
• Close Quarters (50 AP elite) - Makes every attack made within 3 meters of the target (re)apply the Hindered state. This works with diminishing returns on a short timer, so there will be a few hits in every long cycle where Hinder will not be applied, but overall you can keep applying Hinder during 85% of the fight, and therefore trigger all sorts of Hinder-based synergies for 85% of the fight. This passive is *key* to creating a strong "Specialty Non-Afflict" build that can be helpful in certain areas of Transylvania.
• Perjury (34 AP) - Synergizes with Close Quarters to purge the target of one (randomly chosen) buff. Limited use for PvE because many mobs have buffs that cannot be purged, but situationally useful in PvP depending on the nature of your PvP build

Blood Passives

• Dark Potency (2 AP) - Makes every attack on an Afflicted target give you 1x stack of the Penetration Rating buff, for a total +150 Penetration Rating at 5x stacks.
• Iron Maiden (12 AP) - Makes every attack on an Afflicted target give you the Minor Penetration Chance buff, for a total of +10% Penetration Chance.

Chaos Passives

• Fixation (9 AP) - Makes every attack on a Weakened target give you 1x stack of the Improved Hit Rating buff, for a total +150 Hit Rating at 5x stacks.
• Fever Pitch (34 AP) - Makes every attack on a Weakened target give you a 10% chance to gain the Major Hit Chance buff, for a +50% reduced chance of dealing Glancing hits against the target (duration 12 seconds).

Fist Passives

• Bloodsport (16 AP) - Makes every attack Afflict the target with small stacking DOT up to 3x stacks. If you glance, one stack is removed. This works with AOE attacks to Afflict every target hit by the AOE.
• Healing Sparks (21 AP) - Reacts to every Burst ability (such as Anima Burst, your mainstay spam heal for Rifle) by triggering a nice medium-sized HOT for 5 seconds.

Basic decks to build towards

There are some nuanced variations you can make to all of the following five builds, which is one of the reasons I started out with a shopping list of very useful abilities in the section above.
The variations you might choose to make depend on whether you're soloing or grouping, and whether you're tanking, dpsing, or off-healing. But it's decisions and nuances like these that make this game great. Basically:

• In all the builds below, Leech Therapy is not used by default, but you might in fact want to swap it in:
  • If tanking or off-healing, you typically want both Healing Sparks and Leech Therapy for maximum healing output that can rival the best that Fist has to offer. This means tossing out Dark Potency to make room for Leech Therapy.
  • If soloing or dpsing, you don't need as much healing output, so keep Dark Potency and run without Leech Therapy.

First: DPS/Heal Hybrid

This deck is suitable for 85% of the content, especially throughout all the Soloman Island and Egypt zones. So it gets built first, and all the listed abilities are the highest priority to unlock first. The focus of this deck is fast DPS burndown with Affliction and a large number of Penetrating hits. Weakness is easy to toss in this particular deck with one single passive (and is the equivalent of 30% evade in this form), so why not? BTW, since this build features a passive that will stack a Weaken debuff pretty quickly, you're covered for the Vampires you'll find in Beseiged Farmlands.
Note: Leech Theraphy is your least important passive. If you feel like you have enough healing without this passive, substitute in any other passive you like, such as Incision for even more DOT damage or Shadow Play for that nice +10% Defense buff.

• Weapons: Blade/Rifle
• Talismans: 50% DPS, 50% Healing, emphasis on Hit, Pen, and a little Crit Rating too
• Actives:
  • Blade: Delicate Strike (high Pen builder), Clearing the Path (100% Pen PBAOE consumer), Crimson Theatre (constant PBAOE DOT + Hate), Matador (high Def builder when I need more mitigation than normal)
  • Rifle: Anima Burst (heal spam when needed), Fire at Will (TAOE consumer when no main heal needed), Shot of Anima (main heal consumer)
• Passives:
  • Rifle: Increased Dosage (Makes Shot of Anima a very large heal)
  • Fist: Bloodsport (Afflicts every single target you hit, even AOE targets), Healing Sparks (adds a significant HOT to every Anima Burst)
  • Blood: Dark Potency and Iron Maiden (to stack Penetration Rating and Penetration Chance)
  • Shotgun: 12 Gouge (to apply Weaken and the -30% damage debuff on the target)
  • Blade: Delicate Precision (to make my primary builder have a +10% Penetration Chance)

Second: Speciality Corrupted Debuffer

This deck is useful for some very specific content in Blue Mountain, and again later in City of the Sun God, and again later in some Transylvania situations. Basically, you will run into the occasional mob who is impossible to kill unless you can seriously debuff their self-healing/shielding ability. Two very cheap Pistol abilities come to the rescue here, and the only catch is that your Pistol skill must be high enough that you won't glance too often (because glances won't apply the Corrupted debuff).
Note: Leech Theraphy is your least important passive. If you feel like you have enough healing without this passive, substitute in any other passive you like, such as Incision for even more DOT damage or Shadow Play for that nice +10% Defense buff.

• Weapons: Pistol/Rifle
• Talismans: 50% DPS, 50% Healing, emphasis on Hit, Pen, and a little Crit Rating too
• Actives:
  • Pistol: The Business (builder + Corrupted debuffer), Shootout (ST consumer), Above the Law (constant PBAOE DOT), Deadly Aim (Crit Chance booster once the target is fully debuffed and ready to burn down)
  • Rifle: Anima Burst (heal spam when needed), Fire at Will (TAOE consumer when no main heal needed), Shot of Anima (main heal consumer)
• Passives:
  • Rifle: Increased Dosage (Makes Shot of Anima a very large heal)
  • Fist: Bloodsport (Afflicts every single target you hit, even AOE targets), Healing Sparks (adds a significant HOT to every Anima Burst)
  • Blood: Dark Potency and Iron Maiden (to stack Penetration Rating and Penetration Chance)
  • Shotgun: 12 Gouge (to apply Weaken and the -30% damage debuff on the target)
  • Pistol: Magnum (to make my primary Pistol builder apply the Corrupted debuff)

Third: Ranged Tank

This deck is primarily for running with a duo partner or group and playing the main tank or off-tank role in less challenging group content. You won't be main tanking Nightmare dungeons with this. Or will you? LOL. BTW, this build also features the passive that stacks Weaken to deal effectively with the Vampires in Beseiged Farmlands.
Note: 12 Gouge is your least important passive, since you're probably running with a group and one of them is probably applying Weaken and the -30% damage debuff to whatever you're hitting. If you feel like you need even more healing (especially some small team healing for people fighting near you), substitute in Leech Therapy in place of this one. Or if you're in good shape for healing because you have lots of off-healers or a great main healer, then sub in any other useful passive. Maybe Dark Potency for additional penetration? Maybe Incision for extra DOT to help keep your hate nice and high?

• Weapons: Blade/Rifle
• Talismans: 20% Tanking 30% DPS, 50% Healing, emphasis on Hit, Pen, and a little Crit Rating too. Can also run just fine with 50/50 DPS/Healing in many cases too, especially for simple duo-ing.
• Actives:
  • Blade: Matador (high Def builder), Brandish (high ward ST consumer) Clearing the Path (100% Pen PBAOE consumer), Crimson Theatre (constant PBAOE DOT + Hate)
  • Rifle: Anima Burst (heal spam when needed), Fire at Will (TAOE consumer when no main heal needed), Shot of Anima (main heal consumer)
• Passives:
  • Rifle: Increased Dosage (Makes Shot of Anima a very large heal)
  • Fist: Bloodsport (Afflicts every single target you hit, even AOE targets), Healing Sparks (adds a significant HOT to every Anima Burst)
  • Blood: Iron Maiden (Penetration Chance)
  • Shotgun: 12 Gouge (to apply Weaken and the -30% damage debuff on the target)
  • Blade: Shadow Play (to make Crimson Theatre apply a +10% Minor Defense buff), Brandishing Support (to make Brandish also apply +125 Defense Rating while channeling it)

Fourth: Specialty Non-Affliction

Once you hit Transylvania, you start seeing areas where in general, Afflicting any target is bad news and should be avoided. So, since one third of the total healing power from your Rifle is dependent on hitting an afflicted target, it makes sense to adapt the Ranged Tank deck for this specific build. The extra Defense can help make up for the loss of some self-healing output. This build also features a passive that repeatedly cleanses you of harmful debuffs, since a common nasty thing such mobs tend to do is to hit you with mean poison DOTs.

• Weapons: Blade/Rifle
• Talismans: 20% Tanking 30% DPS, 50% Healing, emphasis on Hit, Pen, and a little Crit Rating too. Can also run just fine with 50/50 DPS/Healing in many cases too, especially for simple duo-ing.
• Actives:
  • Blade: Matador (high Def builder), Brandish (high ward ST consumer) Clearing the Path (100% Pen PBAOE consumer), Crimson Theatre (constant PBAOE DOT + Hate)
  • Rifle: Anima Burst (heal spam when needed), Fire at Will (TAOE consumer when no main heal needed), Shot of Anima (main heal consumer)
• Passives:
  • Rifle: Increased Dosage (Makes Shot of Anima a very large heal)
  • Fist: Healing Sparks (adds a significant HOT to every Anima Burst)
  • Blade: Shadow Play (to make Crimson Theatre apply a +10% Minor Defense buff), Brandishing Support (to make Brandish also apply +125 Defense Rating while channeling it)
  • Shotgun: Close Quarters (to apply Hindered state to the target often enough to keep most 8-second buffs that trigger from hitting a Hindered target up nearly full time)
  • Pistol: Hothead (to synergize with Close Quarters to keep a +10% Crit Chance buff up nearly full time), Exploitation (to synergize with Close Quarters to repeatedly cleanse yourself of debuffs, which most of the mobs you'll need this build for will hit you with often)

Fifth: Specialty Non-Weaken

Once you hit the second and third zones in Transylvania, you start seeing areas where in general, Weakening any target is bad news and should be avoided, or at the very least some mobs are immune to Weakens. In this case, you can simply adapt either the standard DPS/Heal Hybrid build or the Ranged Tank build by removing the passive 12 Gouge, and replacing it with any other passive of your choice.

Hey! What about Anima Shot? Isn't that better than Anima Burst?

• The effective spam rate of the two abilities is the same, due to the one-second global cooldown timer.
• Anima Shot does more damage but less healing per use. In my skill 10 50/50 DPS/Heal test rig, the heal component is roughly 70-ish and the damage component is roughly 110-ish.
• Anima Burst does more healing but less damage per use. Heal component is roughly 110-ish and damage component is roughly 70-ish.
• Where Anima Burst really outshines Anima Shot, however, is in its synergy with Healing Sparks. With my test rig, Healing sparks was ticking for 25-ish per second. That is a smaller amount per second if you're heal-spamming than Leech Therapy will do (around 60-ish), but Leech Therapy happens only once per spam, while Healing Sparks keeps ticking away for 5 seconds if you're doing other things such as building/consuming with your Blade, recasting Crimson Theater, etc. So overall, Healing Sparks does more heavy lifting for you, because each application potentially adds 125 health over five seconds.

Hey! What about Fatal Florish? Isn't that Better than Dark Potency?

The in-game description for Fatal Florish is incorrect. It's buff only stacks to 5x max, so there is zero difference between FF and Dark Potency, other than DP is much cheaper to acquire.

look at me

I like my T34