The Samurai - Swordmaster Melee Build in Dune Awakening

If you are starting to reach the mid-late game, you're going to want to start thinking about builds and how you can optimize your character to deal with the harder challenges in the game, such as Deep Desert PVE.

One build that is extremely powerful is this Swordmaster-focused build. It's so good that I've been using this build to solo-clear group content in the Deep Desert.

The great thing about this build is that you can actually get one of the weapons (which is integral to the build) for free!

Quick Links:

• Overview & Playstyle
• Strengths & Weaknesses
• Weapons, Armour & Equipment
• Abilities, Techniques & Skills

Overview & Playstyle

As the name suggests, this build will turn you into a heavily armoured sword-wielding warrior. This is not a nimble ninja build, but we will still have excellent mobility thanks to the Abilities and Passives we take later.

The build involves constant movement, waiting until you have the right opportunity to move in on your next target with a Knee Charge or Shigawire Claw. The build relies heavily on the use of stagger Abilities to allow us to close the gap on heavily armoured enemies.

Because we are using Heavy Armour, we will try and maximise movement and manoeuvrability from our Abilities rather than from Dash (which will cost a lot of stamina) but don't be afraid to use it if required.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Weapons, Armour & Equipment

Melee Weapon - Replica Pulse Sword > Regis Sword > Jolt-sword

Absolutely central to this build is of course your melee weapon which will be a sword. The best possible sword you can equip is the Replica Pulse Sword. This is a Mk6 Unique sword so you have to find the unique schematic for it in the Deep Desert. You can check out the Deep Desert Companion to see if it's in the Deep Desert loot tables this week.

The great news however is that even if you don't have access to Mk6 swords yet, is that you can still obtain an excellent sword, the Jolt-sword, for free by completing the Swordmaster Advanced Trainer quest line. You'll receive it as a reward when you complete the final quest.

Ranged Weapon: Dunewatcher > Thufir's Best > Regis JABAL Spitdart

The poison sniper ('Spitdart') is one of the strongest weapons in Dune Awakening. It has very high damage, high range and it's poison is excellent for PVE content. It's only downside is that you will need to reload often and it is costly if you miss your shots.

The Dunewatcher is the best sniper rifle in the game and is a Mk6 Unique Schematic, so again check out the Deep Desert Companion to see if it's in the Deep Desert loot tables this week. Otherwise, Thufir's Best which you get as a free reward for completing the Mentat Advanced Trainer quest line is second best.

Although it's a melee build, if you do find yourself in a PVP situation, a couple of headshots with the Spitdart and you're opponent will be downed. It's also excellent for thinning the ranks in Deep Desert Testing Stations, especially against the unshielded troopers.

Armour

We're going to be using Heavy Armour for this build which might seem counterintuitive for a melee, sword-based build. However, the Heavy Armour provides incredible survivability and unless you are focusing mostly on PVP content, you'll find that it's pretty rare you are taking melee damage in PVE. Most of the danger will come from the unshielded troopers and the ranged heavy mobs, so dart mitigation is our friend here.

This armour will make our dashes expensive however, so where possible try and make use of your Abilities to move around the battlefield, but don't be afraid to dash if you do need to get to safety. Finally Heavy Armour obviously provides no heat protection so make sure you are stocked up with plenty of water at all times!

Equipment & Other

There's only a few of core pieces of equipment you need for this build and these are the same for any build really, as follows:

• Full Suspensor Belt
• Holtzman Shield (highest tier you can craft)
• Power Pack (highest tier you can craft)

The Full Suspensor Belt is essential for general movement and navigating combat situations.

I probably don't need to tell you how important the Holtzman Shield is but this is critical for survivability. The higher the level of the Power Pack, the faster our power is generating for our shield the longer our Holtzman Shield will last.

As with all builds, make sure you always have:

• Water (highest tier Literjon you can craft and keep it stocked up)
• Medkits (or bandages will do otherwise)
• Vehicle Fuel Cells (try and keep at least 2 full vehicle fuel cells with you at all times)

Abilities, Techniques & Passive Skills

Your Abilities, Techniques & Skills are what really allows this build to shine.

You can check out our Swordmaster Advanced Trainer quest guide if you haven't completed it already. It will allow you to upgrade your skills to Level 3 once you get around half way through the quest chain.

Naturally how many points you are able to deploy will depend on your level in the game, so just upgrade each of the central abilities and passive skills to the highest level you can, and keep upgrading them as you go.

Abilities

Core Abilities:

• Swordmaster (The Way Tree) - Knee Charge OR Crippling Strike
• Bene Gesserit (Weirding Way) - Weirding Step
• Trooper (Tactical Tech) - Shigawire Claw

For PVE content, the most critical ability is Knee Charge. This build is our primary gap closer, but it also staggers the enemy and at Level 3, deals a huge amount of damage (325). You will want to get this to Level 3 as fast as possible for the higher damage and reduced cooldown. With the Battle Hardened Technique, this ability has a 7 second cooldown and only costs 15 stamina.

For PVP content, you might want to consider swapping out Knee Charge for Crippling Strike. This ability is insanely strong in PVP thanks to its ability to rapidly deplete your opponent's stamina bar. They will also be forced to dash away immediately thanks to the stagger that it causes.

Weirding Way is an exceptional ability for us because it not only allows us to teleport huge distances to catch lone enemies off guard, but it also allows us to guarantee a charged attack against shielded enemies before they respond.

Shigawire Claw is excellent for mobility and either closing the gap, or escaping, but it also staggers enemies to allow for us to break through shields with a charged melee attack.

Techniques

Core Techniques:

• Swordmaster (The Will Tree) - Battle Hardened
• Swordmaster (The Way Tree) - Disciplined Breathing
• Swordmaster (The Blade Tree / The Will Tree) - Dance of the Blades OR Thrive on Danger

Battle Hardened is an incredible Technique that is useful in almost all builds. A 30% cooldown reduction on our abilities allows us to continuously stagger opponents and reduces Shigawire claws cooldown to <6 seconds when used to escape or travel.

Disciplined Breathing increases our stamina recovery by 20% when at max level, this is huge considering this is a stamina-dependent build.

Dance of Blades is pretty self-explanatory. We get a 20% damage boost (at level 3) for 10 seconds after killing an enemy with a blade. This makes dealing with groups of enemies much easier. Choose this if you are planning to push PVE content, such as Deep Desert testing stations.

Thrive on Danger is our survival/defensive Technique. When our health is low we get significantly enhanced health regeneration but more importantly 30% lower stamina costs and 50% reduced poise damage - making it much easier for us to escape. Use this if you do not plan to push PVE content where you'll be facing waves or groups of enemies.

Passive Skills

We are going to want the following passive skills, in order of importance:

• Swordmaster (The Blade) - Long Blade Damage (+15% long blade damage)
• Swordmaster (The Way) - General Conditioning (+20% max stamina)
• Swordmaster (The Way) - Optimized Hydration (+25% hydrated stamina bonus)
• Bene Gesserit (Body Control) - Vitality (+55 max health)
• Swordmaster (The Blade) - Blade Damage (+9% blade damage)
• Bene Gesserit (Weirding Way) - Blade Damage (+9% blade damage)
• Swordmaster (The Way) - Field Medicine (20% Healkit instant regen bonus)
• Bene Gesserit (Body Control) - Self Healing (+30% healing effectiveness)
• Swordmaster (The Will) - Solid Stance (9% reduced poise damage)
• Swordmaster (The Way) - Prescient Strike (double attack after ability) (requires Prescience/Spice activation)

You'll note that the above list doesn't include any of the great Planetologist passives (like enhanced mining + compactor yields). Split between the above and Planetologist as desired dependent upon the content you are looking to tackle.

General note on builds: Once you reach max level in Dune Awakening, or get close to it, you'll have almost 200 Skill Points to spend across all the Skill trees. At this point you will have enough Skill Points to ensure you cover pretty much all bases, including ranged, melee and economy/planetology. However, to reach that point will typically require 200-300h+ of gameplay so for many of you, you'll want to know where to place your limited Skill Points for maximum effect. Our Build Guides are for those players, as well as providing useful information regarding weapons, armour, equipment and skills.

Good luck out there!