Ultimate Guide to Swashbuckler AAs (Part 3 of a Series)

Part one of this series described the Strength Line of the Swashbuckler’s Rogue Tree. Part two of this series described the Agility Line and Stamina Line.  This part of the series will focus on the Fencer’s Wisdom Line and the Thief’s Intelligence Line.

Wisdom Line:

The Wisdom Line of the Rogue AA tree is called Fencer’s Wisdom. Like the Strength Line, the first AA points placed in this line increase a swashbuckler’s wisdom by eight points each. Once a swashbuckler has put four points into the Wisdom Line, the following AA abilities are available.

• Lunge Reversal - With Lunge Reversal activated any time the swashbuckler parries, deflects, blocks, or ripostes an incoming attack, Lunge Reversal inflicts a pretty high amount of damage on the enemy.
• Freehand Reversal - Once a swashbuckler has put four points into the Lunge Reversal AA, a swashbuckler can (i) riposte more incoming attacks (1% for the first AA point) and (ii) double attack on a certain percentage of melee attacks (6% per AA point).
• Unencumbrance - Once a swashbuckler has put four points into Freehand Reversal, the next AA ability available in the Wisdom Line is Unencumbrance. Unencumbrance gives a swashbuckler a chance double attack on a certain percentage of melee attacks (44% with eight AA points).
• Couled - Once a swashbuckler has put four points into Unencumbrance and a total of 22 points into the Wisdom Line, a swashbuckler can increase his slashing, piercing, ranged, parry and defense skill by 8.6 each.

Wisdom is a great line for a Swashbuckler.  In fact, this is the first AA line that I maxed out on my Swashbuckler.  I found that it great improved my soloing ability and pvp ability.  Once I completed this line, I maxed out the Strength Line.  The Wisdom - Strength combination is very popular for Swashbucklers on my pvp server.

Intelligence Line:

The Intelligence Line of the Rogue AA tree is called Thief’s Intelligence. Like the Wisdom Line, the first AA points placed in this line increase a swashbuckler’s intelligence by seven points each. Once a swashbuckler has put four points into the Intelligence Line, the following AA abilities are available.

• Boot Dagger - The Boot Dagger ability inflicts a medium amount of damage on the enemy and place the Swashbuckler into stealth.  The swashbuckler must be flanking or behind his enemy to use this ability.
• Thief’s Prowess - Whenever a swashbuckler is damaged he has a chance to cast Prowess (4% chance for the first AA point) which reduces his threat level so that the enemy stops attacking him and attacks another group member.
• Evasiveness - Once a swashbuckler has put four points into Thief’s Prowess, the next AA ability available in Intelligence Line is Evasiveness. This AA ability (i) improves the Swashbuckler’s Evade combat art improving his hate reduction and (ii) decreases the swashbuckler’s hate gain.
• Feign - Once a swashbuckler has put four points into Evasiveness and a total of 22 points into the Intelligence Line, a swashbuckler can gain the Feign ability. Feign allows a swashbuckler to (i) feign death and (ii) prevents enemies from casting AOE spells and combat arts.

I am not a fan of the Intelligence Line.  Except for the Feign ability, I think that it is a waste.  However, the ability to feign death could be awesome for soloing named mobs.  A swashbuckler with Stealth and Feign could get into a lot of places that no one else could.

Please stay tuned to Part 4 of this series where we will begin to explore the Echoes of Faydwer Swashbuckler AA Tree.