Guildrun Class Guide: How to Play Duelist

The Duelist class focuses on Attack Speed, making them great at applying on-hit Debuffs. It's one of the more versatile classes in the game due to its wide range of mechanics, so there's lots of synergies to take advantage of, if you keep an eye out for opportunities.

There's plenty of room to get creative with Duelists, so allow us to highlight some examples as we dive in and explore each of the heroes.

Disclaimer: This guide is based on the Guildrun Demo, so please keep in mind that everything is subject to change as new patches get released.

Duelist Mechanics: Stall, Rush, Debuffs, Crit, Shard

Duelist heroes naturally have good scaling due to their Debuffs and Stall effects. They excel in longer fights where they can benefit from the Attack Speed, often making them a great choice as the primary or secondary DPS on your team.

It can often be a good idea to pick up some Stall or Rush relics when affordable, as they can set the groundwork for future synergies. Even if you don't commit to playing a Duelist, these are useful to have on many different teams.

Even if you opt for another class to be your carry, you may find use swapping in a Duelist for the boss fights. Their persistent scaling and Debuff utility can often solve issues that are more challenging for burst-centric heroes. So don't be afraid to keep one on the bench if needed.

Irini

• Base Class: Duelist
• Multiclass: None
• Starting Ability: Limitless
• Specializations: The Electric, The Mighty, The Olympic

Irini is naturally built to scale in combat thanks to her starting passive Limitless. This makes her a powerful threat during longer fights, even without items.

• The Electric — Absurd burst potential if you have enough sources of Stall and Rush. Since it counts every trigger throughout the game, it can even be picked up late into the run.
• The Mighty — This offers even more Attack Speed scaling on top of Limitless, and can be a great asset alongside other Duelists (either in play or on the bench).
• The Olympic — Zeus's Thunder is a great item, but you'll need to get this early in order to complete the Quest ASAP. Afterwards, you can respec Irini and still keep the item!

Karsu

• Base Class: Duelist
• Multiclass: Warrior
• Starting Ability: Snowpiercer
• Specializations: The Falling Snow, The Warband, The Frostbite

Karsu is a ranged backliner that's most known for her Frost capabilities. Due to the random targeting of Snowpiercer, she's best utilized as a boss killer, where she can stack up Frost to no end.

• The Falling Snow — A great enhancement for Snowpiercer. Doubling the arrows creates a much larger burst of Frost once cast.
• The Warband — Offers a nice trio of stats as a Backup bonus, but only has potential if you can acquire it early into the run.
• The Frostbite — Grants Frost to auto attacks alongside Warrior synergies. Another solid choice to improve her role as a debuffer.

Nyx

• Base Class: Duelist
• Multiclass: Assassin
• Starting Ability: Ferality
• Specializations: The Keen-Eyed, The Wild, The Spark

Nyx has the unique ability to refresh ALL of their Rush triggers, making them great with items like Nimble Boots and Viscera Collector. It's an excellent way to build up Irini The Electric.

• The Keen-Eyed — A great low commitment Backup option for Duelists and Assassins, especially since no prior scaling is required.
• The Wild — If you're building Nyx more for offense than utility, this has pretty strong snowball potential alongside Ferality, assuming you can trigger on-kill the recasts.
• The Spark — One of the premium ways to stack up Stall triggers (hello again Irini), as you get three-in-one with this spec. It also has excellent Debuff utility via Burn, Frost, and Poison.

Tilly

• Base Class: Warrior, Duelist
• Multiclass: None
• Starting Ability: Luxurious
• Specializations: The Stylish, The Sharp, The Elegant

Tilly is a great opening unit thanks to her passive Shard generation at C-Rank. This provides a reliable source of Shards early on, since it triggers on auto attacks instead of on-kill.

• The Stylish — Often more niche in usage, but has real potential if you have a strong way to generate a lot of Shards (ex. Acceleration Filigree).
• The Sharp — Great zero commitment Backup utility for Duelists and Warriors.
• The Elegant — The obvious choice if you're investing items into Tilly, allowing her to deal impressive AoE damage that scales equally with Attack, Magic, and Attack Speed.

Pimenta

• Base Class: Tank
• Multiclass: Duelist, Mage
• Starting Ability: Pepper Spray
• Specializations: The Spicy, The Seasoned, The Lover (Pimenta)

Pimenta The Spicy has excellent utility as a Debuff stacker, assuming you have reliable sources for her to take advantage of. Frost is the obvious choice as it'll effectively scale your team's damage output while weakening the enemy. Give her some Attack Speed and she'll put in the work.

Reyna

• Base Class: Warrior
• Multiclass: Vanguard, Duelist
• Starting Ability: Triple Threat
• Specializations: The Champion, The Brawler, The Boxer

Reyna hits hard and fast when spec'd into The Boxer. This combined with the lasting Shields from Triple Threat allows her to function as pseudo Tank if needed.

Sal

• Base Class: Mage
• Multiclass: Duelist, Warrior
• Starting Ability: Permafrost
• Specializations: The Breezy, The Lover (Sal), The Brisk

Sal provides powerful scaling to Attack Speed and Magic, for both Mages and Duelists. As long as you have a fast-applying debuffer, The Breezy can singlehandedly solve scaling. Note that this also works with items like Searing Lance, which go hand-in-hand with Duelists.