DPS Blade Dancer guide

Version: 1.0
Initial draft. Will add pictures for ease of reading in the future.


Introduction
Ah, the awesome blade dancer. Blade Dancers are the AoE freaks of melee DPS. While Samurai AoE may hit a bit harder, BD AoE hits much farther, wider and with Bard, will do more havoc. BDs have quite a few buffs that are short duration and short cooldown. Many players overlook the potential of a BD. Not many gear them as they do not have a rush and 2 of their 3 AoEs have very short range, which are hindering factors in PvP. Luckily, this is a PvE guide.

Pros:

• Total of 3 AoEs (2 class, 1 shared)
  
• 3 multi-hit moves with decent cooldown (1 needing bard)
  
• Short cooldown moves
  
• Well rounded set of buffs
  
• Powered by bard
  
• Naturally evasive

Cons:

• Powered by bard
  
• Squishier than MA
  
• Lackluster Class bonus (5% movement speed) which IMO isnt that great in PvE but PvP movement speed is a plus

Certificates
Beng 1h melee, it is optimal to at least have 4 orange certs for the 8% 1h weapon bonus. Some good certs are:

• HP
  
• Crit rate
  
• Crit damage
  
• Agility
  
• Eva
  
• Phys Resistance

The remaining slots is up to you. There is a 2 cert combination that increase Dance of War's duration to 28 seconds, essentially making it a perma buff. It requires the orange Eva/Crit rate certs.

Some good non-orange certs are:

• Crit rate
  
• Crit damage
  
• Attack speed
  
• Ele/Physical resistance

AOE Potential
BDs have roughly similar AoE potential on a small/condensed group compared to a mage. This is due to the cooldown issue of the AoE. 3, 4, 6 second cooldown leaves a second or two in between rotations. Not a big issue as most geared parties clear mobs quick. Best to use flashy charm, superstar, and normal attacks between the rotations.

Normally, a rotation such as Dancing Blade -> Flashy Charm-> Fury Hit -> Superstar -> Firebird -> Normal attack -> Fury hit -> should give you a decent pace, while normal attacking heavier mobs or clearing a heavily wounded one.



Bard
BDs get quite a nice boost with a bard present. Below are the changes:

Super star: 100%-50% becomes 100%-75%
Dancing blade: 100%-40%-20% becomes 100%-60%-40%
Firebird dance: 100% becomes 150%

Single target DPS
There's a huge misconception that BDs are good in AoE but suck in single target DPS. This is extremely ignorant and completely off the truth. With the recent addition of +14 weapons, an ideal build BD has the same p-attack with an ideal geared MA...with multi-hit skills, an array of buffs to add to. MAs are soon to be limited with the cap at 99999, while a 99999 BD can surpass the cap with triple/double hit moves, something MAs lack. This doesn't outclass MA, as MAs can now focus on being extremely good offtanks with cap Def, resistances, something BDs cant boast.


Glyphs
BD is best played with 2 active BD glyphs: Firebird and Song of patience. Firebird for mobbing and trash mobs, Song of patience for bossing. Firebird increases the reach of firebird dance by 10ft. Song of patience includes a 10 physical resistance bonus while active, which I believe since I last tested works on your party mates as well, which is a huge bonus to the tank (will verify).


Below is a +14/+10 cestus/sword BD, with legendary achievements done, 4 cert orange, party buff, fire meteor, and war potion.