Swordmasters are very versatile and can do everything, tanking, buffing, dpsing, and even healing! Which is amazing, so what do I mean when I say swordsmaster (SM) problem ?
Well the problem with people playing SM is exactly that, they are playing a SM! No kidding, they can do anything, and they do, forgetting that they are playing a tank, and that their tank job comes first.
Its better to play a tank and use SM tools to enhance your performance than focusing on the SM tools and forgetting your are a tank.
1 – The Whispering Winds (WW) overemphasis :
This goes for SM but also for warband/guild leaders planning groups around 2 SM in order to provide constant WW.
The 100% WW uptime won’t happen.
– the 2nd SM can be CCed when it’s their turn to WW which will happen often vs destro aoe CC
– the tank job should have priority over WW. It’s better to switch guard and save a teamate than pressing WW and having only 5 ppl left standing in your group. It is also very often better to challenge than WW.
The 100% WW is good, but not good enough to put it above the tank job. If you are not convinced, think about destro : would you take 2 choppas to have 100% Chop Fasta (CF) uptime for your melee squig and shaman, having only 1 tank in the group ? You wouldn’t I guess, because the tank toolkit is more important than the CF uptime.
2 – The Healing SM :
SM is capable of a very good amount of healing with 2 heal tactics plus a healing wounds buff proc.
At least on the scoreboard, because your wounds buff will show as healing there even if it healed for zero. It is very hard to know how much “real” healing you provided due to that.
You can test the 100% certain healing you have done by slotting the two heal tactics and using another proc.
It will usually be lower than your damage done, yes, less healing than the damage a SnB tank does, it’s very bad.
But then there is the healing done by the wounds buff which exists, but is not known.
It is low aoe healing, which is NOT solving any problem order has, with all the +%healing available to order, group healing is usually more than enough, what’s lacking is often the cross spot healing, and SM healing sadly won’t save anyone getting focused.
Add to that the fact that healing is always overrated and the healing SM loses A LOT of it’s appeal.
Is healing mandatory ? Yes.
Is is very good ? Yes.
Is having a little bit more good ? Likely not.
Healing is useful in 3 situations :
– preventing death, and I mean litterally, keeping someone above 0% health.
– keeping someone above the “snared” condition that comes with very low health.
– avoiding the X% life threshold where people start playing defensively. “X” because it’s different depending on the person.
A SM healing someone 1% life in the majority of cases isn’t useful at all, it achieves nothing.
And last but the most important : if more healing would be the answer, you’d pick a third healer in each group. The fact that you don’t and prefer playing 222 is because it performs better.
Professor Cake :
My opinion is that the healing build is very good in 1 situation and good in 2 others.
Very good : in oRvR facing a low amount of single target dps. Stacking several healing SMs in that situation is very good, sadly it doesn’t happen often, there are many st sorcs/SH hiding behind warbands.
Good :
– in sc with no healer in your party. Good luck with that tho…
– when no Warrior Priest in your party. Wounds iniments are far less used order side than destro side and the wounds buff is very, very good. That helps the healing SM in that situation. What I prefer is not to run a healing build but use this buff in that situation.
In the majority of cases, the healing SM is underperforming. The wounds buff counts as healing on the scoreboard but doesn’t heal for the amount listed since not everyone in your group need healing at all times. Important note : you start fights throwing axes to start building morale faster, so the 1st proc will heal for 0 since noone lost any hitpoint at that time, and then you are locked out of another proc for 10sec.
It also needs 2 tactics (half your tactics!!) to function and prevents you from :
– using lingering intimidation tactic which is amazing
– having a single target punt or KD
– debuffing opponents offensive stats
– buffing your group almost every stats
– slotting Rugged (equivalent of 6.67 talismans), Isha’s Protection or Discerning Offense
– speccing into Hardy Concession
If you factor the damage taken increase while forgoing the above points, it’s not even sure the very low amount of real healing done by the spec is a positive.
So far, adding the healing done to the protection done, I have yet to see a single SM reaching higher numbers than I do (in a real fight, not a “i go in front of the keep and hold the line to fluff numbers” situation), because I get so much protection the weak healing they do cannot compete.
My advice is to spec and play for protection, which is your job, rather than trying to be a weak healer.
3 – The damage SM :
SM is capable of very good damage with a good damage type (spirit), good burst, goodish dots, a gap closer morale and a good defense mechanism (Wall of Darting Steel) they got everything.
What they lack is a single target punt, and facing any competent players, without a punt kills almost never happen. On some maps, and with some ranged dps in your group, you can position yourself beetween your target and their tank and aoe punt to good effect but it’s an exception, do not count on it too much.
The damage SM shines in a coordinated setup with a good punter. There it can apply high pressure and be a real menace.
It’s also very good when facing below average opponents, be it gear, skill or composition problem.
Otherwise it’s not that good and many SM come to that conclusion and go SnB to access that sweet single target punt.
Cake’s Thoughts :
Swordmasters are good tanks and that is their spot in groups. Not buffer/healer/dps/whatever (they actually can be taken as dps, but that’s not the point of this entry).
They are the best defensive tank in cities (at least on the scoreboard, which is misleading but still gives some info), and you should focus on getting the most out of it instead of trying to do other things and being a mediocre tank as a result.
Cake's Plan 