The Duelist is one of the strongest early-to-mid game classes in Sword X Staff, offering a fast-paced playstyle focused on high damage, critical hits, and attack speed. However, choosing the right relics and pets can make a huge difference in how effective your build becomes.
Many players simply equip their highest-rarity relics without paying attention to elemental synergies or set bonuses. While this can work early on, optimizing your relic and pet setup will significantly improve your damage output and prepare you for your eventual transition into the Berserker class.
This guide covers the best relic elements, recommended relic sets, and the strongest pets for Duelists.
Best Element for Duelist
Your ideal element depends on how far you’ve progressed through the game.
Early and Mid Game: Fire Element
For most Duelists, Fire is the strongest element when you first unlock the class.
The reason is simple: many of the Duelist’s early damage options work extremely well with Fire-based relic bonuses and skills.
Fire relics are also easier to obtain than some of the stronger late-game alternatives, making them a practical choice for progression.
Why Fire Is Strong
Fire relics provide:
- Critical Rate bonuses
- Accuracy boosts
- Additional damage bonuses
- Powerful set effects
Many Fire-based relic combinations offer excellent overall performance while remaining relatively accessible.
Best Late-Game Element
Dark Element
As you approach the end of the Duelist progression path and begin preparing for Berserker, Dark becomes the preferred element.
This is largely because of the powerful legendary skill:
Darkness Descends
This skill deals significant damage and scales exceptionally well with Dark-element relic bonuses.
Since Darkness Descends is a legendary ability, newer players won’t unlock it immediately. However, once you do obtain it, shifting your relic focus toward Dark becomes much more attractive.
Best Fire Relics for Duelist
When equipping relics, remember that your top slots receive additional stat bonuses. The strongest relics should always occupy those positions whenever possible.
Star Cleaver
Star Cleaver is one of the best Fire relics available for Duelists.
Its Critical Hit Rate bonus directly supports the class’s damage-focused playstyle.
Flamethrower
Flamethrower provides additional Accuracy while also contributing toward Fire set bonuses.
Accuracy becomes increasingly valuable as enemies become stronger and harder to hit consistently.
Ouroboros
Ouroboros grants additional Block Rate and works exceptionally well within Fire-focused setups.
While Duelists primarily focus on offense, the extra survivability can be surprisingly useful during difficult encounters.
Lotus Flame Set
The Lotus Flame set is one of the strongest Fire-oriented relic combinations.
Key benefits include:
- Increased Critical Rate
- Additional damage bonuses
- Powerful awakened set effects
If you’re building around Fire, this is one of the best sets to pursue.
Best Dark Relics for Duelist
Once Darkness Descends becomes a major part of your build, Dark relics start pulling ahead.
Requiem of Endless Night
This relic works extremely well in Dark-focused builds and serves as a strong foundation for end-game setups.
Obsidian Key
Obsidian Key is one of the strongest Dark relics available.
It increases Dark-element attack power and directly improves the damage output of Darkness Descends.
Imperial Relic
This relic provides additional Speed, which remains one of the Duelist’s most important stats.
Faster attacks mean more damage opportunities and smoother combat flow.
Obsidian Relic
The Obsidian Relic offers a percentage-based Attack increase.
Percentage attack bonuses generally scale extremely well, making this one of the strongest relics for maximizing damage.
Understanding Relic Summoning
One important thing many players overlook is that relic pools change depending on the world you’re currently summoning from.
Each world contains different relic sets.
Check Available Relics Before Summoning
Before spending resources:
- Open the Relic Summon menu.
- Click the book icon.
- View the available relics for that world.
- Plan your summons accordingly.
This can save a lot of resources and help you target the specific relics needed for your build.
Best Pet for Duelist
Mythic Exchange Pet (Best Overall)
The strongest pet currently available for Duelists comes from the Exchange Shop’s Mythic selection.
This pet offers:
- AoE damage
- Defense reduction effects
- Excellent scaling
- Strong late-game performance
The defense reduction is particularly valuable because it increases the damage dealt by both you and your skills.
Why It’s the Best
Unlike many pets that simply provide stat boosts, this Mythic pet actively contributes to combat while also weakening enemies.
This makes it valuable throughout the entire Duelist progression path and likely remains optimal for Berserkers as well.
Drawback
The main downside is cost.
Free-to-play players will need to save a significant number of Summoning Crystals before obtaining it.
Best Free-to-Play Pet
For players who don’t have the Mythic pet yet, the recommended alternative is the Legendary event pet that increases:
- Attack
- Speed
These are arguably the two most important stats for Duelists.
Why It Works
Duelists rely heavily on fast attacks and high damage output.
A pet that directly improves both stats provides immediate value without requiring a complicated setup.
For most free-to-play players, this will likely be the best pet available until enough resources are saved for the Mythic option.
Best Budget Alternative
Terragon
Terragon is another solid option if you lack both the Mythic pet and the recommended Legendary pet.
Its skill:
- Deals physical damage
- Has a 50% chance to reduce enemy attack by 25%
This makes Terragon particularly useful for difficult encounters where survivability matters more than raw damage.
When to Use Terragon
Terragon works best when:
- Fighting bosses
- Tackling difficult content
- Struggling with survivability
- Learning new encounters
While it won’t provide the same offensive power as the top pets, the defensive utility can be extremely valuable.
Recommended Duelist Setup
Early Game
Element: Fire
Relics:
- Star Cleaver
- Flamethrower
- Ouroboros
- Lotus Flame pieces
Pet:
- Attack/Speed Legendary Pet
Late Game
Element: Dark
Relics:
- Requiem of Endless Night
- Obsidian Key
- Imperial Relic
- Obsidian Relic
Pet:
- Mythic Exchange Pet
For most Duelists, the best progression path is to focus on Fire relics early and transition into Dark relics once Darkness Descends becomes available. Fire provides excellent early-game damage and critical bonuses, while Dark offers superior scaling for late-game content.
When it comes to pets, the Mythic Exchange pet stands at the top due to its powerful defense reduction and AoE damage. However, free-to-play players can still perform extremely well using the Attack and Speed-focused Legendary pet until they accumulate enough resources to unlock the Mythic alternative.
Following this setup will give your Duelist the strongest possible foundation while also preparing you for a smooth transition into the Berserker class later in your journey.
