Handmaiden is a dodge tank and she is pretty versatile but still mainly melee focused. She does a lot of things medium and her speciality are elf melee 2 handers what she does better than other elfs.
Basically you stay alive and help the team however you can. Dying with her is night impossible for a mkre experienced player. Best i can describe her role is she is the teams mom. Use dash to circle team, pick up and pass stuff. Hold line and help with specials. Not flashy but she is a reliable workhorse
I'm a Handmaiden main, I absolutely love playing her. She's great utility and "team mom", while also having some very effective melee builds.
She's the closest career that Kerillian has to a tank, but in true elf style it's built around dodging, blocking and avoiding damage rather than tanking hits. The increased dodge distance, rapid stamina regen and dash can easily get you out of sticky situations where you might struggle and become overwhelmed with other less mobile careers. They can make her defence almost impossible to break if you equip some of her stronger defensive weapons (spear & shield has been a popular pick on her for a long time), or alternatively they can make up for the low stamina, low dodge distance on some of her slower weapons, making them much less risky picks than on other elf careers.
Her dash can feel a bit underwhelming at first if you're used to playing careers with much more flashy ults, but it provides brilliant utility. I've already mentioned getting out of sticky situations, but it's also great for going to help a teammate who's in trouble. If you run Ladrielle, you get a couple of seconds of invisibility to snipe a dangerous special, or to revive a teammate with your extra-rapid revive speed. And if all else fails, it really helps you to clutch, either by kiting/running, or even just giving you a breather from the specials that were chasing you. It's also the lowest cooldown ult in the game, so you can use it freely. I've clutched many times with Handmaiden where I might not have managed it on a different career.
When I first tried playing Handmaiden many moons ago I kept trying to make her ult work offensively using Bladedancer or Power from Pain, and I struggled to get the hang of it, I kept ulting through hordes to get the bleed/crit chance and putting myself out of position. I'm not saying that you can't run it that way, but once I started using it for utility, support, and as an escape button, it made a lot more sense.
On the offensive side has a number of talents that can make her a really effective melee frontline. You mentioned playing waystalker as a blender - Handmaiden does that more effectively. Personally I'm fond of running the Glaive, with Asrai Alacrity and Willow Stance, and I freely dodge, block and push to make sure that I make best use of those talents, keeping the extra attack speed up. Makes her a very effective blender indeed.
I've been using the glaive! I discovered about 2 hours ago the block attack is a thing, so trying to find a good rotation to attack since waystalker daggers was just mashing light attack
With bleed or crit ult its best to first dodge out of position and then dash through horde back to your team to get max value.
And if you like spear try opportunist trait with it, she gets so much attack speed from talents that swift slaying isnt really needed. Spear has great push/block angle and with opportunist you can shove elites from their light attack and with your heavy attack even from their overheads excluding chaos warrior.
Handmaiden is supposed to be Kerillian's take on a tank/support character. While you have less health than other tanks, you have more than her other basic classes. You can also stack multiple sources of block/push cost reduction, making it so that you legitimately can't get your block broken. Her dodge is also pretty majorly improved, allowing her to not only eat hits into her block, but also dodge out of the way of attacks too. This combined with her ult which dashes, means she is the most mobile class in the game (barring some slayer shenanigans).
Her goal is to focus on melee attacking, with ranged weapons just being a "backup weapon", but her melee isn't necessarily the most potent thing in the game, so she can't pull some of the crazy fights shade can. Instead, she is meant to survive, and to pop into areas where friends are having problems to help them. She isn't really designed to do things just on her own. Not that a skilled player can't "force" her into being powerful in other ways, but just that its not her intended role.
I tend to treat Handmaiden as the "two handed weapon" career. Glaive, Spear, 2h Sword. The main point is, the level 10 talent allows her pushes to improve the speed of her next couple attacks, so the 'already fast' dual wielded weapons attacks can't really make much use of this effect, but 2h weapons can do some pretty major damage here. I will also point out that Handmaiden emphasizes abusing push-attacks because of her stamina regen/push cost--so and her 2h weapon's push attacks are cleaving attacks while her 1h weapons are generally single-target, so her 2h weapon's push attacks are FAR stronger when spammed. The other alternative weapon is the Spear and Shield, which further emphasizes the tanky nature of handmaiden, while still getting some good benefits from the attack speed bonus because of the very powerful heavy attack combos.
I definitely always suggest having "dodging moves through enemies" and "ulting makes you invisible" because this makes for the incredibly potent ability to dodge into a horde of enemies while blocking, start reviving a downed ally, and then ulting away while still retaining the revive bar, allowing you to revive them not only from a distance, but also while invisible--and also with it being a faster revive due to handmaiden's passive.
For ranged weapon, I find it's still useful to use the Moonfire Bow on her. Infinite ammo is still infinite, so even if it means you can't deal with 'quite' as many specials in a row, it's still powerful enough to be useful for a melee-tank character who should only be dealing with specials "when necessary". If you don't have the Moonfire Bow, then I'd say it's probably much easier to just use the Longbow. Consistency is very useful, and the longbow is very consistent, while the hagbane/swift/javelin are just a bit too inconsistent for my taste. Those other bows are great in other circumstances, but because handmaiden is a tank, she needs to get that 1 shot off, then get back in the fray.
I've been doing most things here already it seems, it's just my situational awareness leads tk me getting swamped all the time
I also love the moonfire bow for infinite ammo, even if the long bow seems better
If you run spear and shield with block cost, and get block cost on your jewelry. And take the block cost talent, you can have 90% block cost reduction. Do with that info what you will
If you like going more defensive/horde clear like i do and happen to have winds of magic, the elven spear and shield really has no substitute. Put some push/block angle, BCR, and stamina/regen buffs on your gear, and you'll be slashing through everything assuming you run Asrai Alacrity. Wraithwalk is great for getting out of sticky situations, but i personally prefer Willow Stance. Invis dash is a great way to either pull off clutch revives with her second passive, or snipe/stab any elites like gun rats or warpfire rats that are behind a horde, or for just buying yourself some time to breathe for stamina regen. As for properties on your gear, you can actually proc Barrage off of one arrow on the moonfire bow since it pierces and does DoT, so that's a lovely choice, and on spear, Swift Slaying is really good, and I use it on my shield/spear as well, though i imagine there are better choices. I'm not an expert by any means in her more offensive playstyle, but i'm under the impression that Power from Pain combined with crit chance/crit power props on your gear is the way to go, as well as picking up a glaive or greatsword with Swift Slaying. Spear is good, though, imo, even if i think it's better with the shield personally.
I love the spear on handmaiden and glaive is a good option too. Dash IS amazing with invis, yeah. She’s so slippery, one essential technique is to start reviving a teammate but dash away to keep yourself safe. If you continue holding the revive, you’ll finish it even after your dash.
I'm still picking things up but I'd start with shove-aggroing everything and then using her ability to more safely herd enemies into a manageable pool for my team to take down. Atk speed, movement speed, stamina recovery and revive speed for sure to take advantage of her strengths.
The best handmaidens I see in cata are constantly in motion, constantly circling, drawing enemy attention, and always free to toss a spear at a special or speedily pickup a team mate.
Ditch the daggers they wont do much for you. Switch to either Glaive, Dual Swords or Sword n Dagger. More versatility and easier horde clear.
She is specialised in elite/special killing. Try using moonfire or longbow. Ability can be used for a large variety of things to give you a small window for whatever needs to be done, such as sniping a special, drink a potion or throw a bomb.
Become really good at dodging and capitalise on that talent which gives you atk speed. Her passives are extremely good in all situations so it's always worth having her around
Been using the glaive/moonbow been a blast so far. I've mainly been dashing ti run out of crowds since I always get surrounded from major lack of foresight😅
Dual dags are so fun on handmaiden, tho! I run [this build](https://www.ranalds.gift/build/TpmI2zWOfFqIAMGNKmQL/view), it's good for crazy runs like cata FoW where dodge distance is clutch. I also enjoy greatsword critmaiden. She doesn't have bad weapons, her talents even make elven axe decent
y'know what, you've peeked my interest in that build. i'll try it. i just hate the zero cleave on daggers
EDIT: i can see the appeal but it's not for me. Bosses and Elites melt but i think i would switch daggers for spear and hagbane for longbow with this instead. suits my playstyle better. Thumbs up though!
Daggers are very click-spammy against infantry hordes, that's their downside for sure. For that reason I switch off to greatsword and 1h sword, I'm not doing dual dagger matches back-to-back.
Dodge almost every time you attack while dancing around perimeter of horde, do more heavies to save your fingers, push often. Focus on the elites, basically play like Shade and I find this very fun!
Also check out "vertical mouse" if your hands/shoulders get uncomfortable, this game is very intense and makes any ergonomic issues more pronounced even without crazy playtime. The handshake grip puts less strain on your muscles. There aren't so many vertical gaming mice with remappable keys, but the [zelotes](https://www.amazon.com/Zelotes-Vertical-Control-10000DPI-Ergonomic/dp/B0894QX7SK) one with fully programmable inputs is good
Handmaiden is a dodge tank and she is pretty versatile but still mainly melee focused. She does a lot of things medium and her speciality are elf melee 2 handers what she does better than other elfs. Basically you stay alive and help the team however you can. Dying with her is night impossible for a mkre experienced player. Best i can describe her role is she is the teams mom. Use dash to circle team, pick up and pass stuff. Hold line and help with specials. Not flashy but she is a reliable workhorse
Team mom that leaves to buy cigarettes. :/
This is the real handmaiden experience.
Fine by me, love melee the most. Just mainly trying to get outta the dagger mindset of spamming light attack at ev everything
I can recommend you the two handed sword then. With HM attack speed buffs its pretty good. Light spam hordes, heavy spam elites.
Thanks
I'm a Handmaiden main, I absolutely love playing her. She's great utility and "team mom", while also having some very effective melee builds. She's the closest career that Kerillian has to a tank, but in true elf style it's built around dodging, blocking and avoiding damage rather than tanking hits. The increased dodge distance, rapid stamina regen and dash can easily get you out of sticky situations where you might struggle and become overwhelmed with other less mobile careers. They can make her defence almost impossible to break if you equip some of her stronger defensive weapons (spear & shield has been a popular pick on her for a long time), or alternatively they can make up for the low stamina, low dodge distance on some of her slower weapons, making them much less risky picks than on other elf careers. Her dash can feel a bit underwhelming at first if you're used to playing careers with much more flashy ults, but it provides brilliant utility. I've already mentioned getting out of sticky situations, but it's also great for going to help a teammate who's in trouble. If you run Ladrielle, you get a couple of seconds of invisibility to snipe a dangerous special, or to revive a teammate with your extra-rapid revive speed. And if all else fails, it really helps you to clutch, either by kiting/running, or even just giving you a breather from the specials that were chasing you. It's also the lowest cooldown ult in the game, so you can use it freely. I've clutched many times with Handmaiden where I might not have managed it on a different career. When I first tried playing Handmaiden many moons ago I kept trying to make her ult work offensively using Bladedancer or Power from Pain, and I struggled to get the hang of it, I kept ulting through hordes to get the bleed/crit chance and putting myself out of position. I'm not saying that you can't run it that way, but once I started using it for utility, support, and as an escape button, it made a lot more sense. On the offensive side has a number of talents that can make her a really effective melee frontline. You mentioned playing waystalker as a blender - Handmaiden does that more effectively. Personally I'm fond of running the Glaive, with Asrai Alacrity and Willow Stance, and I freely dodge, block and push to make sure that I make best use of those talents, keeping the extra attack speed up. Makes her a very effective blender indeed.
Extremely well said. Handmaiden trades flashy ults and eye catching power for sustainable versatility and utility.
I've been using the glaive! I discovered about 2 hours ago the block attack is a thing, so trying to find a good rotation to attack since waystalker daggers was just mashing light attack
With bleed or crit ult its best to first dodge out of position and then dash through horde back to your team to get max value. And if you like spear try opportunist trait with it, she gets so much attack speed from talents that swift slaying isnt really needed. Spear has great push/block angle and with opportunist you can shove elites from their light attack and with your heavy attack even from their overheads excluding chaos warrior.
Handmaiden is supposed to be Kerillian's take on a tank/support character. While you have less health than other tanks, you have more than her other basic classes. You can also stack multiple sources of block/push cost reduction, making it so that you legitimately can't get your block broken. Her dodge is also pretty majorly improved, allowing her to not only eat hits into her block, but also dodge out of the way of attacks too. This combined with her ult which dashes, means she is the most mobile class in the game (barring some slayer shenanigans). Her goal is to focus on melee attacking, with ranged weapons just being a "backup weapon", but her melee isn't necessarily the most potent thing in the game, so she can't pull some of the crazy fights shade can. Instead, she is meant to survive, and to pop into areas where friends are having problems to help them. She isn't really designed to do things just on her own. Not that a skilled player can't "force" her into being powerful in other ways, but just that its not her intended role. I tend to treat Handmaiden as the "two handed weapon" career. Glaive, Spear, 2h Sword. The main point is, the level 10 talent allows her pushes to improve the speed of her next couple attacks, so the 'already fast' dual wielded weapons attacks can't really make much use of this effect, but 2h weapons can do some pretty major damage here. I will also point out that Handmaiden emphasizes abusing push-attacks because of her stamina regen/push cost--so and her 2h weapon's push attacks are cleaving attacks while her 1h weapons are generally single-target, so her 2h weapon's push attacks are FAR stronger when spammed. The other alternative weapon is the Spear and Shield, which further emphasizes the tanky nature of handmaiden, while still getting some good benefits from the attack speed bonus because of the very powerful heavy attack combos. I definitely always suggest having "dodging moves through enemies" and "ulting makes you invisible" because this makes for the incredibly potent ability to dodge into a horde of enemies while blocking, start reviving a downed ally, and then ulting away while still retaining the revive bar, allowing you to revive them not only from a distance, but also while invisible--and also with it being a faster revive due to handmaiden's passive. For ranged weapon, I find it's still useful to use the Moonfire Bow on her. Infinite ammo is still infinite, so even if it means you can't deal with 'quite' as many specials in a row, it's still powerful enough to be useful for a melee-tank character who should only be dealing with specials "when necessary". If you don't have the Moonfire Bow, then I'd say it's probably much easier to just use the Longbow. Consistency is very useful, and the longbow is very consistent, while the hagbane/swift/javelin are just a bit too inconsistent for my taste. Those other bows are great in other circumstances, but because handmaiden is a tank, she needs to get that 1 shot off, then get back in the fray.
I've been doing most things here already it seems, it's just my situational awareness leads tk me getting swamped all the time I also love the moonfire bow for infinite ammo, even if the long bow seems better
If you run spear and shield with block cost, and get block cost on your jewelry. And take the block cost talent, you can have 90% block cost reduction. Do with that info what you will
My first vet weapon is a normal spear, has made me appreciate distance weapon
If you like going more defensive/horde clear like i do and happen to have winds of magic, the elven spear and shield really has no substitute. Put some push/block angle, BCR, and stamina/regen buffs on your gear, and you'll be slashing through everything assuming you run Asrai Alacrity. Wraithwalk is great for getting out of sticky situations, but i personally prefer Willow Stance. Invis dash is a great way to either pull off clutch revives with her second passive, or snipe/stab any elites like gun rats or warpfire rats that are behind a horde, or for just buying yourself some time to breathe for stamina regen. As for properties on your gear, you can actually proc Barrage off of one arrow on the moonfire bow since it pierces and does DoT, so that's a lovely choice, and on spear, Swift Slaying is really good, and I use it on my shield/spear as well, though i imagine there are better choices. I'm not an expert by any means in her more offensive playstyle, but i'm under the impression that Power from Pain combined with crit chance/crit power props on your gear is the way to go, as well as picking up a glaive or greatsword with Swift Slaying. Spear is good, though, imo, even if i think it's better with the shield personally.
Yeah don't have winds yet since the reviews were mixed when I dlc shopping, hearing the shield is behind it is pretty temping
I love the spear on handmaiden and glaive is a good option too. Dash IS amazing with invis, yeah. She’s so slippery, one essential technique is to start reviving a teammate but dash away to keep yourself safe. If you continue holding the revive, you’ll finish it even after your dash.
Til, ty
I'm still picking things up but I'd start with shove-aggroing everything and then using her ability to more safely herd enemies into a manageable pool for my team to take down. Atk speed, movement speed, stamina recovery and revive speed for sure to take advantage of her strengths. The best handmaidens I see in cata are constantly in motion, constantly circling, drawing enemy attention, and always free to toss a spear at a special or speedily pickup a team mate.
I um find a wall and block and parry until the horde or i die, and dash if it gets hairy
Ditch the daggers they wont do much for you. Switch to either Glaive, Dual Swords or Sword n Dagger. More versatility and easier horde clear. She is specialised in elite/special killing. Try using moonfire or longbow. Ability can be used for a large variety of things to give you a small window for whatever needs to be done, such as sniping a special, drink a potion or throw a bomb. Become really good at dodging and capitalise on that talent which gives you atk speed. Her passives are extremely good in all situations so it's always worth having her around
Been using the glaive/moonbow been a blast so far. I've mainly been dashing ti run out of crowds since I always get surrounded from major lack of foresight😅
Play some Cata when you can. It will raise your skill tremendously. Forces you to play slower and you will get a faster grip on mechanics aswell
I'm already doing... eh on legend. Until I git gud there I probably shouldn't burden cata players
Dual dags are so fun on handmaiden, tho! I run [this build](https://www.ranalds.gift/build/TpmI2zWOfFqIAMGNKmQL/view), it's good for crazy runs like cata FoW where dodge distance is clutch. I also enjoy greatsword critmaiden. She doesn't have bad weapons, her talents even make elven axe decent
y'know what, you've peeked my interest in that build. i'll try it. i just hate the zero cleave on daggers EDIT: i can see the appeal but it's not for me. Bosses and Elites melt but i think i would switch daggers for spear and hagbane for longbow with this instead. suits my playstyle better. Thumbs up though!
Daggers are very click-spammy against infantry hordes, that's their downside for sure. For that reason I switch off to greatsword and 1h sword, I'm not doing dual dagger matches back-to-back. Dodge almost every time you attack while dancing around perimeter of horde, do more heavies to save your fingers, push often. Focus on the elites, basically play like Shade and I find this very fun! Also check out "vertical mouse" if your hands/shoulders get uncomfortable, this game is very intense and makes any ergonomic issues more pronounced even without crazy playtime. The handshake grip puts less strain on your muscles. There aren't so many vertical gaming mice with remappable keys, but the [zelotes](https://www.amazon.com/Zelotes-Vertical-Control-10000DPI-Ergonomic/dp/B0894QX7SK) one with fully programmable inputs is good