WAR - Sword Master

The Cabal, my guild moved and found a new server to play in. We're in Vortex playing Order.

As we goofed around last weekend testing out different servers for scenario queue times and server wait queue times, I made a female dwarf IB named Rosie and paired it with Rachelray, another female dwarf Rune Priest. I got them to Rank 8/7 but then when the guild announced that Vortex will be our home, I just had to reroll and not keep Rosie + Rachelray.

By this time, I felt burnt out playing IB, so I rolled Sword Master and Arch Mage combo. I'm not liking the Arch Mage for healing, so after Rank 6/5, I decided to re-roll a Rune Priest with my Sword Master.

Semihrage, Sword Master, Rank 10
Nynaeave, Rune Priest, Rank 9

Anyway, I wrote up a quick class review:

Rune Priests owns in healing bar none.
Rune Priest has the best means to spike/burst heals.
A Rune Priest can spec damage but it is still gimp damage, imo.

It sucks to solo as Rune Priest, and you will always hope there's a tank around to put Guard on you.


Ironbreaker is a solid tank class that can last in battle, and is capable to dish more damage the longer he's in the fight due to the Grudge mechanic.

There is no current mirror class for the IB, so he's a unique class for the Order.

The IB has more tools to protect one other character via Oath Friend mechanic. Abilities that increases Toughness, Armor, and Strength goes a long way for squishy class such as healers/casters.

Add the standard tank Guard ability, and some cc such as Snare, Knock Down, and Knock Back, an Ironbreaker + any healer can last.

Damage wise, Grudge points builds up during the fight to deal more damage. One of the most damaging combo is stripping the target's Armor by 75%, using an ability that ignores armor, and Taunt which does 30% damage for a few seconds.

Sword Masters is another tank but I did not play this class higher in the teens. From reading the SM's abilities, the mechanic revolved around stripping Spirit Resistance and dealing Spirit damage to a lot of targets.

The fighting mechanics on the SM is chain-based abilties, meaning Hit 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd finisher.

I'm currently playing the SM now after rolling 2 IBs in the mid teens, and one up to Rank 20. I can tell that the SM does more damage from the combo "chains" abilities.

At Tier 1 levels, I can mow down a squishy faster with a SM than I could with the IB simply because the combo chain does more damage, while the IB's early ability are more buffing (+Toughness, +Strength, +Armor) and a Grudge that does some Dot.

Warrior Priest I played back in beta and it looked good on paper to be paired with an Iron Breaker. The extra buffs from the IB's Oath Friend mechanic helps the Warrior Priest stay in battle so that his Heal Over Time works.

From my little experience with WP, being able to swing in battle allows you to use your damage and healing abilities most efficiently. But without a shield, a WP cannot last long in focus fire in the front lines.

A WP uses either a 2H Hammer, or a 1H with a book. The damage and healing abilities mirror the Disciple of Khaine, but the DoK dual wields.