Why Riftblade? S tier st-aoe-melee-ranged dps with unmatched self- and spotheals.
When Riftblade? Always and every time.
When not Riftblade? Before having the 1h Eternal.
1h or 2H? 2x1H all the way. 25-30% of your damage comes from having ~2 main hand auto attacks/ sec.
Requires the Warchanter and Tempest dlc.
I will cover the flexible default- as well as a raw dps approach based on the exact same build.
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64: Only run Ethereal Strikes if you squeeze for +1% dps. Precision Strikes are far better for being unkillable.
63: Energy Reserves only to buff Avatars but never as default.
You can run the very same spec for bis dps and bis solo play! It may be the best mmo spec period in combining flexibility, survivability and high damage.
-> Prepare to spend some playtime with it. Every time you think you got it down, there are new details.
Riftblade is like learning the Piano- to play jazz on it. A 'controlled improvisation'.
-> You may find a lot of people who can throw you an 'easy Riftblade- no effort'. This post is not for that.
Some basics: Your main finishers are off global cooldown (Bursts).
Using a Burst will store the effect on yourself for 15 seconds and needs its damage portion to be applied through the next attack.
This allows you to use Bursts way ahead of time and even apply them through ranged attacks.
Your Eternal Weapon is active for 10 seconds and you will want it to line up with your combo points & cooldown timings.
Instead of 'just spamming', a proper Riftblade wants to manage External up- and downtimes.
Taking the time to learn it properly for once really pays off with a demigod.
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Deep Breaths. Costs 100 power to force procc your Eternal, reduces your power regeneration to a crawl and allows you to use Stand Tall! for free ogcd power drain as well as Seasoned Strike at 1 sec gcd.
Whole reason why Warrior is so bad free to play.
Legendary Blade of the Ascended. Buffs all Blade buffs with various effects. The effects important for us are
1) After activating a finisher, your auto attacks are a lot faster.
2) Attacks can randomly reset your teleports
Avatar buffs. With the 63 Mastery Energy Reserves you can have two of the 4 active together. However this mastery gives us power proccs which is terrible for us.
-> Select the mastery and save, apply two Avatar Buffs, select the Mastery Runner's Training and Save. You will keep both Avatar Buffs, get a run speed and lose the power proccs.
Since Avatar of the Rift is a no brainer, we just combine it with ONE of the other 3 depending on situation:
Avatar of Wind. Just a very reliable 10% run speed buff that always has value Avatar of Water. Take flat 10% less damage. This one sees the least use. Mainly as a safety precaution- but Riftblade selfheals, general mobility+ Teleports are usually better than being slow + a little bit more sturdy.
-> If you REALLY need to survive something, run the Berserker trinket. It's also easier to switch out. Avatar of Flame. Damage taken proccs some damage back. It's damage is not significant enough to drop Avatar of Wind most of the time. Only when going for absolutely every damage%, it can add 1% total dps.
Avatar Buffs will overwrite the oldest Avatar buff so be very careful to have Avatar of Rift active in any case.
Enhanced Conductivity. After hitting a target, it takes 2% more damage from you. Super unexciting and weird but 2%.
Empower. 10% more damage from ranged attacks. This affects Shock Pulse aswell as Rift, Stone and Flame Spear
Fork. Toggle to have everything with a 'spear' name hit 4 additional targets. This also affects your interrupt Wind Spear. The toggle reduces spear damage so keep it off by default. (Penalty is not 50% as advertised but ca. 25%)
Elemental Touch. Fully passive but worth mentioning. Every direct ability damage tick that is not a finisher proccs bonus damage. This damage get supercharged with an active eternal and may already be over 10% of your damage + a huge factor for your aoe.
Your Finisher:
Rift Burst + Burst Synergy, 15 sec cd each. Simply your hardest hitting Burst available. Always combine it with Burst Synergy. A 3 point Rift Burst then makes your next 3 attacks apply a 3 point Rift Burst.
The tooltip can be misleading, reading as if it makes your next Burst act like a 3 point finisher- but it simply trippels your Burst stacks ready to use.
Burst Synergy stacks have an internal cooldown of 1 second. So if you have 2-3 stacks and have multiple abilities hitting at once (aoe or delayed effects) it will only apply to one of the stacks.
This is important since we can combine delayed abilities with travel time and directly impacting ones. Not being careful can have you sit on 3 attack points and a stack left, blocking consecutive Bursts.
As a legendary, it buffs all Bursts by 65% for 20 seconds.
Only followup rift Bursts can benefit from this 65% bonus.
This makes Rift Blades rather weak on their opener damage and make poor use of Omnox- unless you time your prepull to have the last 5 seconds of the 65% running at pull.
Burst Synergy is more expensive than Rift Burst, being extremely power starved and not careful can lead to Rift Burst activating before Bs- which is bad lol.
Will procc Scald when Flame Spear or Fiery Burst are on the target.
Icy Burst. Basically a weaker Rift Burst without cooldown. But Legendary Icy Burst now gives up to two auto attacks/ sec bonus damage for 15 seconds, based on whatever buffs got calculated into Icy Burst.
A flat 42k bonus from your Eternal or the 65% from Rift Burst will buff every single of the proccs for the 15 seconds.
This is the reason why 2x 1H weapons and a higher Eternal weapon are so fundamental for Riftblade. We also want Tempest (Reaver) for their passive effect to allow auto attacks to happen from range. Icy Burst's proccs quickly make over 20% of our damage just by buffing Icy Burst correctly, having an active target and facing it.
Will procc Scald when Flame Spear or Fiery Burst are on the target- but only the initial hit.
Fiery Burst, 15 sec cd. Simple Fire dot for 15(21) seconds. This usually is a low priority placeholder/ filler. Applied without Eternal or even less than 3 points, it's status is 'to provide Scalds and be better than nothing'
Storm Burst/ Earth Burst, 8sec cd each. Basically weaker Rift Bursts but hitting 5 targets. It will not multiscale. So an aoe attack still only applies one effect which hits 5 targets.
Rift Storm, 30sec cd. Only Riftblade Finisher with a global cooldown. Applies a short range aoe effect around you, hitting up to 5 targets 8 times over 8 seconds. It can be used while having a Burst stored on yourself and will also apply Burst effects on target.
With its 1 second tick interval, it can be used as a simple 1 attack point throw away just to apply 3 stacks of Rift Burst as efficiently as possible after being disconnected for a longer time.
Though be careful using single target Bursts with aoe attacks, it applies the Burst randomly onto any of the targets hit.
Builders:
Rift Strike, 15 sec cd. The only Reason Riftblade ever wants to come back into melee. With all important abilities being usable from range, Rift Strikes +25% damage for 20 sec requires one gcd/ 20 sec melee range.
Frost Strike. Simple melee attack that debuffs the target for 15 seconds, increasing it's damage taken by Rift-, Frost-, Searing- and Thunder Strike by 30%.
-> The debuff is supposed to also increase damage taken by Rift Blade Bursts by 10% but this effect NEVER worked- so its debuff is only for consecutive melee hits and a lower priority.
Searing Strike. Better damage than Frost Strike but no buffs or effects whatsoever. A Lot of people simply skip this and use Frost Strike as base attack. Takes a lot of attention for minor gains.
Thunder Strike. Travel time. Aoe attack that is called Strike but in reality fires delayed projectiles onto 5 nearby enemies.
Flame Spear, 4sec cd. Travel time. Initial damage and 10(16) second dot. Allows Rift- and Icy Burst to procc Scald.
Stone Spear, 8sec cd. Hard hitting instant spear on 20m range.
Rift Spear, 30sec cd. Travel time. Hard hitting spear that damages enemies in it's path. Great base damage but best used with Fork, where your target +4 close enemies are hit by a spear which each damages everything nearby.
Every single damage tick procs a full Ethereal Touch. Never use Rift Spear without eternal running and target a centered mob in a clumped up pack. With Eternal, Elemental Touch may do half the damage of this nuke easily totaling > 20 mil.
Shock Pulse/ Seasoned Strike. Able to be used as fallback builder from range. Will want to use two hits early and then one at least one every 29 seconds to keep the 2 stacks of Legendary Tactics.
Shock Pulse does more base damage and Seasoned Strike gets 1 sec gcd from Deep Breaths.
Utility:
Rift Walk, 30-0 sec cd. Acts like a ranged builder attack that teleports you to your target. Planar Blade can reset it.
Rift Travel, 45-0 sec cd. Off global cooldown- ground effect teleport. Planar Blade can reset it. Very powerful tool to close gaps, teleport past deadly aoes, towards allies or away with 'run out' mechanics. Great way to completely bypass movement slowing effects.
With a 99% movement slow but something to attack, you may cover half a dungeon faster than running anyway.
When more confident, you can maximize your melee uptime like no other, simply ogcd port out of any danger.
I'm With you! Extremely powerful target heal that costs a lot of power and gets 1 second gcd with Stand Tall! Generates 1 combo points and is a great tool to provide very reliable spotheals on the fly or simply drain power/ farm attack points without a target.
Stand Tall!, 4sec cd. Only usable with Deep Breaths. Off global cooldown healing buff that also ticks heals when applied, takes a lot from your eternal buff and is quite expensive to use. Great utility to buff passive heals for 3 minutes onto someone, force the initial tick onto yourself or someone, chew away excess power to control your eternal or apply it to increase the healing taken by I'm with you!
Jolt, 6sec cd. Off global cooldown self heal over 6(12) seconds that costs a lot of power. Takes a lot from your eternal for powerful passive self heals or as a way to control your eternal uptime with its expensive ogcd cost.
Wind Spear, 8sec cd. Simple ranged interrupt which however turns 5 targets with Fork. When not needed, its 10 power cost can be useful to control your energy.
Rift Barrage, 1 min cd. Ground target aoe 3 sec stun for 8 enemies. Powerful in Pvp otherwise barely used. ----------------------------------------------------------------
#AOE finisher - note that Bs and RB are switched up so that BS can affect a following Storm Burst. Just use this when RB/ Bs are on cooldown if you want to keep them synced.
^ What does this one do? ANY Warrior can give you a 15 second 25% damage transfer, intercepting 25% of your damage taken onto them. However, if they take too much damage from the link, only YOU can deactivate it!
If you ever happen to play with someone going the extra mile, it's only fair to have an option to help them out and cancel it.
NORMAL RbT - Flexible survival powerhouse for any situation.
Spoiler:
For the sake of a guide I spend quite some time making a more block-type approach to present all abilities in their ideal role.
We will want to run a 15 second "Block" based on the cooldown of Rift Burst.
This is divided into 3 segments. A, B and C with their following builders 1 2 and 3 granting fresh attack points.
Which builder follows which finisher can be important, that's why a segment starts with a Finisher.
Attack points are easily obtainable at all times through the Warchanter heal 'I'm with you!'
A being Rift Burst with the 3 builders that apply it.
B is a Burst ideally with Eternal uptime and 3 high power builders.
C has a chance to not have the eternal for it's builder and is responsible to control the eternal downtime + ensuring buffs for the next Rift Burst.
A 1 & A 2 Need to have no travel time. So no Flame Spear, Rift Spear, Thunder Strike (or Reaver Soul Sickness). You may not apply Jolt and Stand Tall! for healing reasons during A 1 or the layered power drain dangers to mess things up.
A 3 aka the last stack of Rift Burst can have travel time if you are in melee range.
B 1 2 3 Then can have whatever attacks. B 1 & 2 can even be I'm with you!.
C 1 2 3 Can be all the low priority stuff like Shock Pulse for Legendary Tactics.
I like to use a Flame Spear as the last builder before Rift Burst. This way we are not dependent on Fiery Burst for the 4 main (Eternal infused) water Bursts to get Scald and we can also toss a lot of power starvation into the Flame Spear button.
Making C a reliable 4.5 sec eternal activator can be easily done by making a Flame Spear button with no cheap attacks and some additional Stand Tall! starvation goodness. You can throw in manual Jolts to guarantee the right timing.
As long as your eternal reliably re activates during C block, you're fine.
Advanced: Try to keep it as late before Rift Burst as possible so it lasts into the C burst, doubling your chances to catch Wild Storms- Icy.
-> Your soultree unlock Surging Energy gives your builder wildly different power costs. That's why I want to prioritize cd's for 'starvation'.
God that's a lot? Check the graph below for a simple macro based pattern which follows those rules:
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Those are only 5 buttons for great results.
With Macros:
Prepull at 1-3 ap: You can use I'm With you! on yourself to get combo points at all times.
At pull->
Icy Burst ->
- #FS x3 - run into melee range or teleport with Rift Travel to be able to have it use Rift Strike.
A - Press the #BS macro for 3 combo points
B - Icy Burst > #Main macro for 3 combo points
C - Fiery Burst > #FS macro x3 (this ideally chunks away your power so that the eternal activates for the next Rift Burst.
Same opener with single ability breakdown:
3 attack points with I'm With you!
Pull with 50-100 power and no Eternal effect running.
A - Burst Synergy+ Rift Burst > Stonespear > Rift Strike > Frost Strike
B - Icy Burst > Frost Strike > Frost Strike > Frost Strike
C - Fiery Burst > (Stand Tall!) Flame Spear > Stonespear > Frost Strike (Stand Tall!)
First milestone should be to hold 1.3m on a dummy with nothing but weapon stones.
Then push yourself to 1.45-1.52m
But - do not get too caught up! The Riftblade skills that matter do not develop on target dummies but rather by jumping into cold waters over and over again.
Why not solo speedrun an SPE for good sports?
Nice example for a good use of RB's girthy toolset is to have one RB soloing the tdnm Tarjula souls on the other side of the room while it handles its own healing + pillars as furthest character. After being targeted for pillars, it takes ca. 13 seconds until impact.
You can also straight up Dps carry while self healing on Titan X. Running 1.6m+ on the add phases while healing slow jumpers.
But this type of gameplay does not develop from target dummies (or exploiting eoa).
Note that the gearshift to switch flexible teamplay to raw st dps is with 'Dogwater' below.
Every Riftblade player has his/her very own style of doing things- it really is Jazz after all.
Rather than relying on someone's auto macros, be ready to have every single ability reliably at your disposal at all times. Either by knowing by heart what your macros will fire next or simply having things separately.
> You generally want to use the 64 Mastery
Precision Strikes by default. It makes your Jolt last a lot longer than its cooldown, Fiery Burst with 21 sec cover 1.5 blocks and Flame Spear 16sec makes you completely Fiery Burst independent. Amazing value for anything solo or chaotic with the enhanced uptimes taking a lot of stress away.
Ethereal Strikes is only used for max st dps when you have a reliable healer and want to ultimately squeeze any % possible
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DESTROYER 1 - Highest parsing dps comes from Warrior
Spoiler:
There are ways to get a double Warrior Eternal bonus for your attacks.
Benchmark is 1.75-1.87m dps on a dummy right now, you can do the math on raid performance.
Riftblade guides are tough. The ideal approaches are quite the opposite of what you can dump onto a new guy. However ''Hit x for y seconds'' like a caveman very much deletes the immense potential available.
A Lot of people literally use Frost Strike 'spam macros' with Stand Tall! and by pure luck (Eternal lineups, Rift Burst crits)- it can achieve 'good enough' results. Not knowing what exactly is happening while rawdogging 'spam' macros is a decision everyone has to make for him/ herself.
Let us know your tricks, alternative approach and results!
Credits to Waasem2k (for the og Warchanter based RB), Jsjoe (Tempest RB), Ditran (general clarifications in this post)
Last edited by Shas_ on Sun May 26, 2024 1:37 pm, edited 11 times in total.
BOO wrote: ↑Fri May 03, 2024 5:23 am
Can we get the pics back in this or at least a link to the spec
I'm aware. discord suddenly deleted all my embedded links and the Ghar upload feature heavily downscales them. Looking for a permanent solution to link to hd images.
Since it affected ALL posts, it takes some time to get things fixed but will do RB next.
Is your Paragon post unfinished? Because it's also mising images (and doesn't mention TTB). fyi
BOO wrote: ↑Fri May 03, 2024 5:23 am
Can we get the pics back in this or at least a link to the spec
I'm aware. discord suddenly deleted all my embedded links and the Ghar upload feature heavily downscales them. Looking for a permanent solution to link to hd images.
Since it affected ALL posts, it takes some time to get things fixed but will do RB next.
Is your Paragon post unfinished? Because it's also mising images (and doesn't mention TTB). fyi
I've updated the board settings for attached pictures. Can you give it a try again and let me know how it goes? Sending me examples of what you are seeing would be helpful in the future.
Thanks!
Your resident Ghar Captain.
Anadriel@Greybriar | Clowd@Greybriar
BOO wrote: ↑Fri May 03, 2024 5:23 am
Can we get the pics back in this or at least a link to the spec
I'm aware. discord suddenly deleted all my embedded links and the Ghar upload feature heavily downscales them. Looking for a permanent solution to link to hd images.
Since it affected ALL posts, it takes some time to get things fixed but will do RB next.
Is your Paragon post unfinished? Because it's also mising images (and doesn't mention TTB). fyi
I've updated the board settings for attached pictures. Can you give it a try again and let me know how it goes? Sending me examples of what you are seeing would be helpful in the future.
