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Dune: Awakening
Swordmaster Class Guide
The Swordmaster is one of five playable classes in Dune: Awakening that focuses on close quarter combat. Learn more about the Swordmaster, their skills and mechanics, and whether to start with this class!
| All Swordmaster Guides | |
|---|---|
| Storm Swordmaster Build | Swordmaster Class Guide |
Swordmaster Overview
Starting Ability, Focus, and Description
| Swordmaster | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Starting Ability | Knee Charge |
| Focus | Close Quarter Aggression |
| Skill Trees | |
| The Blade | Improve your effectivity with long blades |
| The Will | Improves overall defense |
| The Way | Applies damage and survivability buffs to yourself |
Revered throughout the Imperium, Swordmasters of the fallen Ginaz School still represent the pinnacle of fighting prowess in the Known Universe.
All Swordmaster Skills
The Blade Skill Tree
| The Blade | The Will | The Way |
 |
||
| 1 |
Blade Damage (Swordmaster)
|
You've learned the difference between a cut and a slice, a point and an edge. You do more damage with bladed weapons.
Lv. 1: Blade Damage 5% Lv. 2: Blade Damage 10% Lv. 3: Blade Damage 15% |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |
Dance of Blades
|
Defeating an enemy with a blade empowers your next attack with the blade for a brief period. The skilled swordmaster dances between opponents, keeping their damage high.
Lv. 1: ・ Damage Boost 30% ・ Duration 4 Lv. 2: ・ Damage Boost 40% ・ Duration 4 Lv. 3: ・ Damage Boost 50% ・ Duration 4 |
| 3 |
Retaliate
|
You enter a heightened state of awareness and when next attacked in melee, you parry and counterattack with a savage riposte that bleeds and damages your enemy.
Lv. 1: ・ Cooldown 12 ・ Stamina Cost 15 ・ Weapon Damage 120% ・ Bleed 4 ・ Duration 6 |
| 4 |
Long Blade Damage
|
You training with long blades such as swords and rapiers gives you increased damage with those weapons.
Lv. 1: Long Blade Damage 10% Lv. 2: Long Blade Damage 15% Lv. 3: Long Blade Damage 20% |
| 5 |
Eye of the Storm
|
You pirouette with your blade, becoming a whirlwind of piercing damage that cuts everything around you. While seemingly chaotic, the swordmaster maintains calm - the eye at the heart of the storm.
Lv. 1: ・ Cooldown 20 ・ Stamina Cost 30 ・ Damage 20 Lv. 2: ・ Cooldown 18 ・ Stamina Cost 30 ・ Damage 65 Lv. 3: ・ Cooldown 16 ・ Stamina Cost 30 ・ Damage 140 |
| 6 |
Foil
|
You enter a heightened state of awareness and when next attacked in melee, you parry and counterattack with a precise strike that damages their arm and numbs them. For a short period of time, their damage output is reduced.
Lv. 1: ・ Cooldown 12 ・ Stamina Cost 15 ・ Weapon Damage 120% ・ Enemy Damage -50% ・ Duration 10 |
| 7 |
Precise Parry
|
When your blood is infused with melange, your parries expose additional weaknesses in the defense of your enemies. Their ability to mitigate damage is decreased.
Lv. 1: Damage Mitigation -25% Lv. 2: Damage Mitigation -35% Lv. 3: Damage Mitigation -40% |
The Blade Skill Tree and How to Unlock
The Will Skill Tree
| The Blade | The Will | The Way |
 |
||
| 1 |
Deflection
|
You enter a defensive stance, deflecting darts that are fired at you. This ability lasts as long as your stamina holds out. |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |
Bleed Tolerance
|
You have become harder to bleed due to a combination of training and resistance. Bleeding status takes a longer time to build on you.
Lv. 1: Bleed Tolerance 15 Lv. 2: Bleed Tolerance 25 Lv. 3: Bleed Tolerance 35 |
| 3 |
Reckless Lunge
|
Lunging at an enemy will often provide them with an easy opening to attack, but you have learned to turn a lunge into an advantage. Sprint attacks provide bonus damage mitigation for a short while after a lunge.
Lv. 1: Damage Mitigation 30% Lv. 2: Damage Mitigation 40% Lv. 3: Damage Mitigation 50% |
| 4 |
Solid Stance
|
As your training increases, you have learned to avoid being knocked around by enemy attacks. You can take more poise damage before being staggered.
Lv. 1: Reduce Poise Damage 10% Lv. 2: Reduce Poise Damage 15% Lv. 3: Reduce Poise Damage 20% |
| 5 |
Confidence
|
Every time you attempt a difficult attack like a sprint attack or a slow blade, you gain increased confidence, which reflects as damage mitigation.
Lv. 1: Damage Mitigation 15% Lv. 2: Damage Mitigation 20% Lv. 3: Damage Mitigation 25% |
| 6 |
Thrive on Danger
|
When you are low on health, you regenerate health faster, receive less poise damage, and reduce all stamina costs for actions.
Lv. 1: ・ Stamina Costs -30% ・ Increase Health Regeneration 200% ・ Reduce Poise Damage 50% |
The Will Skill Tree and How to Unlock
The Way Skill Tree
| The Blade | The Will | The Way |
 |
||
| 1 |
Knee Charge
|
You propel yourself forward into battle with a terrific knee charge into the enemy. Deals damage and severely staggers your opponent but costs stamina.
Lv. 1: ・ Cooldown 15 ・ Stamina Cost 30 ・ Damage 50 ・ Poise Damage 100 Lv. 2: ・ Cooldown 12 ・ Stamina Cost 30 ・ Damage 160 ・ Poise Damage 130 Lv. 3: ・ Cooldown 10 ・ Stamina Cost 30 ・ Damage 325 ・ Poise Damage 160 |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |
Field Medicine
|
You recover more health immediately when using healkits due to your excellent conditioning.
Lv. 1: Healkit Instant Restoration Bonus 10% Lv. 2: Healkit Instant Restoration Bonus 15% Lv. 3: Healkit Instant Restoration Bonus 20% |
| 3 |
Optimized Hydration
|
Your body knows how to make optimal use of water, so you have additional stamina reserves when well-hydrated.
Lv. 1: Hydrated Stamina Bonus 15% Lv. 2: Hydrated Stamina Bonus 20% Lv. 3: Hydrated Stamina Bonus 25% |
| 4 |
Crippling Strike
|
You move in, striking at a low angle to cut your enemies below the knees. For a while after being hit, your enemies are slowed and their dashes require more stamina. While not the most honorable of attacks, the swordmaster understands that there is a difference between a duel and a war.
Lv. 1: ・ Cooldown 20 ・ Stamina Cost 37.5 ・ Damage 50 ・ Dash Cost Multiplier 2 ・ Duration 7 |
| 5 |
Disciplined Breathing
|
When you focus on your technique and breathing, you can recuperate your stamina reserves more quickly.
Lv. 1: Stamina Recovery Rate 10% Lv. 2: Stamina Recovery Rate 15% Lv. 3: Stamina Recovery Rate 20% |
| 6 |
Inspiration
|
You inspire yourself and your companions to greater heights, increasing the damage of your melee attacks.
Lv. 1: ・ Cooldown 30 ・ Stamina Cost 15 ・ Duration 14 ・ Blade Damage 25% Lv. 2: ・ Cooldown 25 ・ Stamina Cost 15 ・ Duration 18 ・ Blade Damage 30% Lv. 3: ・ Cooldown 20 ・ Stamina Cost 15 ・ Duration 23 ・ Blade Damage 35% |
| 7 |
General Conditioning
|
Your extensive physical training has increased your maximum stamina.
Lv. 1: Max Stamina 15 Lv. 2: Max Stamina 20 Lv. 3: Max Stamina 25 |
| 8 |
Desert Conditioning
|
You have trained yourself to deal with the rigors of the deserts, decreasing your max stamina loss while dehydrated.
Lv. 1: Dehydrated Stamina Limit 15% Lv. 2: Dehydrated Stamina Limit 25% Lv. 3: Dehydrated Stamina Limit 35% |
| 9 |
Prescient Strike
|
When your blood is saturated with melange, you see multiple ways in which to damage your enemies. After using any swordmaster ability, your next strike will strike twice, reflecting two possible versions of the future converging in a single spacetime. |
The Way Skill Tree and How to Unlock
Swordmaster Gameplay
Melee Specialist
The Swordmaster is a resilient, close-combat specialist, built for players who favor an aggressive melee playstyle. Its Skill Trees focus on parries, enhanced survivability, and powerful long-blade strikes. With Knee Charge, you can quickly close the distance and dominate up close.
Swordmaster Tips
Invest in The Will and The Way
These Swordmaster Skill Trees boost damage mitigation, stamina and health recovery. Investing skill points into these Skill Trees improve survivability, enabling you to tank through enemy attacks.
Get Long Blades Immediately
Due to Swordmaster's passives, it is recommended to rush getting long blades such as the Standard Sword in Vermilius Gap. Having long blades as early as possible maximizes your damage, making fighting easier.
Gap Close With Knee Charge
As a melee combatant, Knee Charge is a great combat tool for reaching enemies a considerable distance away. Make sure not to charge in recklessly though, as you might get yourself surrounded!
Should You Start with Swordmaster?
Early Survivability and Straightforward Gameplay
Starting off with Swordmaster will grant you access to defensive passives that help greatly with survivability. If you prefer fighting up close, the Swordmaster is a great starting class, especially with its starting ability, Knee Charge.
Overall, the Swordmaster takes a bit of skill to truly make it work, but its defensive capabilities give you a greater margin of error—and it's undeniably one of the coolest classes in the game.
Dune: Awakening Related Guides
List of All Classes
 Bene Gesserit |
 Mentat |
 Planetologist |
Swordmaster |
 Trooper |
- |
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Swordmaster Class Guide
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