Swords Leveling & Perks Guide: And

Master the Swords skill in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II! Learn how to level up fast, discover the best perks like Slice and Dice, and understand sword uses and effects to dominate combat.

Alright, let's talk about swords in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. They're your bread and butter, the most common weapons you'll be swinging around. You've got your Hunting Swords, Short Swords, Longswords, and Sabres – all falling under this umbrella. The big draw here is their speed; they're the most agile weapons in the game. However, don't get too comfortable! Heavily armored enemies can be a real pain, making it tough to pierce their defenses. So, my advice? Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Make sure you've got another weapon type handy, just in case swords aren't cutting it.

When you start looking at the Perks for swords, pay close attention to the descriptions. A lot of them are specific to certain sword types. There's no point in grabbing a sweet Sabre Perk if you never plan on using one, right? Focus on the weapons you actually enjoy using. Honestly, getting good with Longswords is always a solid bet, especially since you'll snag a really good one for free later on.

Leveling Swords

Leveling up your Swords skill is pretty straightforward, just like any other combat skill. Equip a sword, go find some folks to fight, and watch that XP roll in. Since swords are so common, you'll get your hands on one pretty quickly. Then, it's just a matter of exploring the Trosky region and looking for trouble.

If you're specifically hunting for bandits to grind XP, here's a pro-tip: use Fast Travel often. Seriously, whenever you fast travel, there's a good chance you'll get ambushed by bandits or stumble into some other nasty surprise. For the sake of leveling, embrace these roadside challenges and put them to the sword. It's a quick way to rack up some sweet, sweet XP.

Your final options for leveling up your Swords skill involve the trusty Skill Trainers and Skill Books. With Skill Trainers, it's simple: find them, pay them some Groschens, and learn new ranks. You can find out how much each rank costs below:

You'll often find Skill Trainers by exploring new areas, and some will even become trainers after you complete a quest for them. Gules, for example, a former bandit now serving Lord Semine, will train you up to Apprentice rank after you finish the Bandit Leader quests. Alternatively, the Scribe in Troskowitz sells Skill Books, which you can read to boost your skills.

Best Swords Perks

Every time your Swords skill hits an even level (like 6, 8, 10, and so on), you'll earn a Perk Point. Each of these milestones unlocks new Perks. While you can eventually grab every single Perk, it takes a huge amount of investment. So, you'll want to focus on the most impactful ones first. Here are the Perks I'd recommend unlocking as soon as you can:

Slice and Dice

When you're in the thick of it with swords, you want to chain together quick strikes. The Slice and Dice Perk makes each consecutive hit in a combo deal more damage, as long as the enemy doesn't block, dodge, or parry it. Stack this with other Perks, and you'll be dishing out some serious hurt.

Magister Dimicator

This one's similar to Slice and Dice. When you successfully complete a combo (you can find the button inputs for combos in their own section), you'll get a +5 bonus to your Swordsmanship skill for a whole 30 seconds. That's a good chunk of time in a fight, and you can keep refreshing the buff by landing another combo, which will become even easier.

Opening Strike I and II

The core of sword combat is aiming for parts of your opponent that aren't being guarded. The Opening Strike Perks make it harder for your opponent to block altogether each time you land a hit on an uncovered zone. This makes it way easier to keep the pressure on once you land that initial strike.

Tendon Slicer

Sticking with the combo theme, when you land a successful combo (which the Perks above help you achieve), you'll reduce your opponent's Agility and Strength. This makes them much less of a threat and gives you the opening you need to finish them off. With all these combo-focused Perks working together, you'll likely be taking down enemies in no time after landing just one good combo.

List of Swords Perks

Here's a look at all the Perks available in the Swords tree, along with their requirements: