Introduction

Hi, my name is Byaku (_byaku). I'm playing a variety of classes and decided to make a Duelist guide because there is none. If you have any questions, make sure to read the guide before asking in Discord. Thank you!

Skills

Vandar:

[Double Slash]: Your [CM3] enhanced skill. Pretty bad by itself, doesn’t do much damage but is quick. Lets you use [Phase Blade]. More on [Phase Blade] in a later section.

[Kanna Therapy]: Free 20% heal on effectively 54 seconds CD. Abuse it!.

Treasure Hunter:

[Arrow Sword]: Decent damaging skill that grants you one bubble upon landing a hit. It is the last priority in your bubble gaining skills, but can be prioritized for its movement properties. You can avoid getting hit simply by micro repositioning.

[Ripple Effect]: You will be spamming this skill a lot. Short cast time, decent damage and should be used off CD, as it grants you a bubble upon hitting an enemy.

[Pale Burst]: Another quick skill with decent damage, but not as quick as [Ripple Effect]. Grants a bubble upon landing a hit. Careful, as the second portion of the animation can be interrupted with any skill. Let it fully play out first before casting other skills. Also has decent range.

[Flush]: Your best friend. Huge range, huge damage, fast and grants a bubble upon landing a hit. This skill has to be used perfectly off CD if possible. It is also your trigger [[Awakened Passive] Requiem]. More on how to use it in the Tips & Tricks section.

[Execution]: Huge damage, very high priority, but slow in casting. Grants 1 bubble upon landing a hit. This skill is a parry, but from experience it seems like it blocks a single hit with no follow-up I-Frames. More on that in the Tips & Tricks section.

[Requiem]: Another good friend of yours. Never cast the normal version. Instead only use it after [Flush]. If used after [Flush] the skill turns into a full I-Frame and grants you 5 bubbles regardless of hitting a target. More on that in the Tips & Tricks section.

[Blading Edge]: Your lifesaver. 10 seconds CD as well as an animation cancel. Lets you cancel any animation, as long as you are touching the ground (including getting stunned or knocked back). Abuse it!

[Rearrange]: Insane skill. After [Tumble] or using the [[Awakened Passive] Double Sidestep] by pressing the [Special Action Button] you can prolong your I-Frame even further on low CD. More on that in the Tips & Tricks section.

[Falling Arms]: Doesn’t do much damage, but lets you reposition. Does not provide any I-Frames, but counts as aerial. Niche skill.

[Kanna Inject]: Your secondary buff. Make sure it’s up 24/7.

Duelist

[Phase Blade]: Your bread and butter skill, as well as the highest DPS skill in your spread. Requires 7 bubbles to cast. Can be used by inputting [Special Action Button] after the following skills: [Double Slash], [Arrow Sword], [Ripple Effect], [Pale Burst], [Flush], [Execution], [Requiem], [Lightning Rod], [Harmattan]. Inputting [Normal Attack] during the flurry of hits will cancel the skill into an instant dash, but for half the damage. More on that in the Tips & Tricks section.

[Lightning Rod]: Big carry skill. Loads of damage and fast. Possesses deceptively short range, so make sure you close the gap if you use it after [Phase Blade]. Grants 1 bubble upon landing a hit.

[Incrimination]: Your short duration buff. Grants 15% Light Attribute bonus and gives you passive bubble generation (1 bubble every 2 seconds for a duration of 20 seconds) and also increases [Phase Blade] damage by 30%, so make sure to spam it while inside. Careful to not overcap on bubbles.

[CM]: Grants 50% AGI. Landing a Main Skill on an enemy recharges the cooldown of [Requiem] (once per skill) as well as reducing Main Skill CDs by 5 seconds.

[CM2]: Grants [Blading Edge] the Light Attribute. Restores 1.5% HP on hit.

[CM3]: Enhances [Double Slash] to Light Attribute, increases its damage by 500% and changes its animation.

Awakening

[[Awakened Passive] Duelist]: Enhances [Lightning Rod] and [Execution].

[[Awakened Passive] Requiem]: Makes [Requiem] usable as an instant skill after [Flush], granting 5 bubbles on cast.

[[Awakened Passive] Double Sidestep]: Pressing [Jump] as well as a directional key after [Sidestep] gives you the ability to cast a long range shadowstep with I-Frames.

[[Awakened Passive] Incrimination]: Enhances [Incrimination].

[Aircraft]: By either inputting [Jump] after a skill, jump into the air doing moderate damage. Good filler if you are out of bubble generating skills. This skill is not an I-Frame.

[Harmattan]: Can be used after inputting [Normal Attack] after either [Blading Edge] or [Aircraft]. Full I-Frame from start to finish and also recharges [Requiem] upon landing a hit.

Build & Crests

Build

Unified FD

Crests

[Phase Blade] DMG

[Requiem] DMG

[Lightning Rod] DMG

[Flush] DMG

[Ripple Effect] DMG

[Pale Burst] DMG

[Arrow Sword] DMG

[Phase Blade] +1

Tips & Tricks

Bubble System

Duelist’s bubble system revolves around quarks. These can be attained by the following skills: [Arrow Sword], [Ripple Effect], [Pale Burst], [Flush], [Execution], [Requiem], [Lightning Rod], [Incrimination]. [Requiem] will reward you with 5 bubbles, but requires you to use the instant version after [Flush]. [Incrimination] gives you passive bubble generation (1 every 2 seconds).

You can hold up to 10 bubbles in total, but only 7 are required to cast [Phase Blade]. Make sure to not overcap on bubbles, especially during [Incrimination]. Make sure to cast your Main Skills off cooldown in the priority provided in the following section. Use [Phase Blade] once your bubbles are in the range of 7-10.

Skill priority

Your skill priority is as following:

[Phase Blade] when in danger of overcapping bubbles and you have a proper opening for you to use it -> do it.

[Flush] Use off CD if possible. If [Requiem] is still on CD make sure to spare [Flush] until [Requiem] is available. You can accelerate its CD recovery by using both [Aircraft]/[Blading Edge] + [Harmattan]. Otherwise use it at highest priority.

[Requiem] only in conjunction with [Flush].

[Lightning Rod]

[Ripple Effect] might even move above all other skills depending on how many bubbles you have and how big the opening window is, as the skill is very fast.

[Execution] Try using it by landing a parry or while waiting for the boss to get out of invulnerability.

[Pale Burst] might even beat [Execution] in priority as it has good range and is faster, but only for bubble gain.

[Arrow Sword] might beat some of the skills in priority due to its ability to let you reposition while doing damage and gaining bubbles.

[Aircraft] + [Harmattan] use it for I-Frames or for repositioning. Recharges [Requiem] by 10 seconds very quickly.

[Blading Edge] + [Harmattan] same story as with [Aircraft] + [Harmattan].

[Double Slash]/[Falling Arms] you can, but meh. Both have very low impact. Although [Double Slash] lets you follow up with [Phase Blade].

Miscellaneous

Phase Blade

Your bread and butter skill. Leaves you very vulnerable, but provides high [Super Armor]. Make sure to use the forward motion on the initial step, as well as horizontal slash preceding the transition into the final slash to reposition out of danger. Don’t be afraid to cancel it with [Normal Attack], even if it is half damage. Better surviving and landing as much of the skill as possible than dying or whiffing completely. Make sure to also use the forward movement to position yourself so you don’t dash too far.

Requiem

After using [Flush] you will have ~4 seconds to use [Requiem Instant]. In this timeframe you have exactly enough time to cast one full [Phase Blade]. If you get the chance to use [Flush] -> [Phase Blade] -> [Requiem] do it, especially during [Incrimination], to make sure to not overcap on bubbles. This combo is very risky, because it takes a large amount of time. Don’t even try using any other skills outside of [Phase Blade] in between if you are already committed to [Phase Blade]. You will run out of time to cast the instant. Use this combo with care.

Execution

Perfect to use while the boss is coming out of invulnerability. Learn the timings, so you get an effectively 0 animation time [Execution].

The parrying part of the skill blocks exactly one hit. Either use it to block attacks, which you know have only a single hit, or attacks where your [Super Armor] (and HP-bar) lets you tank even through multiple hits. This skill also has insane range, make sure to use that.

Blading Edge/Aircraft + Harmattan

Even if these skills are not very strong, weaving them in between combos is mandatory. Each of these skills reduces [Requiem] by 5 seconds for a total of 10 (20 if both are used) seconds. Using these at least once per rotation [Flush] usage will guarantee you to have [Requiem] available by the time you use your second [Flush].

I-Frames

[Sidestep]
[[Awakened Passive] Double Sidestep]
[Rearrange]
[Blading Edge]
[Harmattan]
[Requiem Instant]

Rotation

Skill Spread