Swordmaster

"Revered throughout the Imperium, Swordmasters of the fallen Ginaz School still represent the pinnacle of fighting prowess in the Known Universe."

Swordmaster
Focus	Close-quarters & aggressive tactics
Starter Class	✅ Yes
Skill Trees	The Blade, The Will, The Way
Trainers
Basic	Arno· Pinnacle Station
Advanced	Seron Varlin· Harko Village

The Swordmaster discipline is one of the available archetypes for characters to begin as in Dune: Awakening, or to learn later on through gameplay. This line of training encourages close-quarters & aggressive tactics.

Training

Basic Trainer

Arno can teach you Swordmaster Basics, found in Pinnacle Station

Advanced Trainer

Seron Varlin is the Swordmaster Trainer, found in Harko Village

Skills

Total Cost: 144 Skill Points

The Blade

Skills in this area affect your parrying, retaliation, and damage output with bladed weapons.

Name	Type	Description	Cost (pts)	Cooldown (s)	Duration (s)	Stamina	Notes
Precise Parry	Passive	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.	3/3/3	—	—	—	Damage Mitigation: 10%/15%/20% Requires Prescience.
Eye of the Storm	Ability	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.	2/3/4	20/18/16	—	15	Damage: 20/65/140
Foil	Ability	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, their damage output is reduced.	2	12	10	15	Weapon Damage: 120%, Enemy Damage: -50%
Long Blade Damage	Passive	Your training with long blades such as swords and rapiers gives you increased damage with those weapons.	1/3/4	—	—	—	5% / 10% / 15% per level
Dance of Blades	Technique	Defeating an enemy with a melee attack empowers your next melee attack for a brief period. The skilled Swordmaster dances between opponents, keeping their damage high.	2/3/4	—	10	—	Damage: +10%/15%/20%
Retaliate	Ability	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.	2	12	6	15	Weapon Damage: 120% / Bleed: 4
Blade Damage	Passive	You've learned the difference between a cut and a slice, a point and an edge. You do more damage with bladed weapons.	1/3/4	—	—	—	3% / 6% / 9% per level

The Will

Skills in this area affect your defensibility, damage mitigation, and resistances.

Name	Type	Description	Cost (pts)	Cooldown (s)	Duration (s)	Stamina	Notes
Thrive on Danger	Technique	When you are low on health, you regenerate health faster, receive less poise damage, and reduce all stamina costs for actions.	2	—	—	—	Stamina Costs: -30%, Poise Damage: -34%, Health Regen: +200%, Regen Delay: -75%
Solid Stance	Passive	As your training increases, you have learned to avoid being knocked around by enemy attacks. You can take more poise damage before being staggered.	1/3/4	—	—	—	Poise Damage -3%/-6%/-9%
Confidence	Passive	Every time you attempt a difficult attack like a sprint attack or a slow blade, you gain increased confidence, which reflects as damage mitigation.	1/3/4	—	—	—	Damage Mitigation: 15%/20%/25%
Bleed Tolerance	Passive	You have become harder to bleed due to a combination of training and resistance. Bleeding status takes a longer time to build on you.	1/3/4	—	—	—	Bleed Tolerance: 15%/25%/35%
Reckless Lunge	Technique	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.	2/3/4	—	—	—	Damage Mitigation: 30%/40%/50%
Deflection	Ability	You enter a defensive stance, deflecting darts that are fired at you. This ability lasts as long as your stamina holds out.	1	12	—	2	Stamina drains while active.

The Way

Skills in this area affect your crowd control abilities, sustainability, and resource management.

Name	Type	Description	Cost (pts)	Cooldown (s)	Duration (s)	Stamina	Notes
Prescient Strike	Passive	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 hit twice, reflecting two possible versions of the future converging in a single spacetime.	3	—	—	—	Second strike damage: 70% of initial. Requires Prescience.
General Conditioning	Passive	Your extensive physical training has increased your maximum stamina.	1/3/4	—	—	—	Max Stamina: +15/20/25
Desert Conditioning	Passive	You have trained yourself to deal with the rigors of the desert, decreasing your max stamina loss while dehydrated.	1/3/4	—	—	—	Dehydrated Stamina Limit: 15%/25%/35%
Crippling Strike	Ability	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. The Swordmaster understands there is a difference between a duel and a war.	2	20	7.5	30	Damage: 50, Dash Cost Multiplier: 3
Disciplined Breathing	Technique	When you focus on your technique and breathing, you can recuperate your stamina reserves more quickly.	2/3/4	—	—	—	Stamina Recovery: 10%/15%/20%
Inspiration	Ability	You inspire yourself and your companions to greater heights, increasing the damage of your melee attacks.	2/3/4	30/25/20	14/18/23	15	Melee Damage: 25%/30%/35%
Field Medicine	Passive	You recover more health immediately when using healkits due to your excellent conditioning.	1/3/4	—	—	—	Healkit Instant Restoration: 10%/15%/20%
Optimized Hydration	Passive	Your body knows how to make optimal use of water, so you have additional stamina reserves when well-hydrated.	1/3/4	—	—	—	Hydrated Stamina: 15%/20%/25%
Knee Charge	Ability	You propel yourself forward into battle with a terrific knee charge into the enemy. Deals damage and severely staggers your opponent, but costs stamina.	1/2/3	15/12/10	—	15	Damage: 120/160/325, Poise Damage: 120/140/160