Strider's Defense

Evading an attack grants quickness. Sword skills gain reduced recharge. — In-game description

Strider's Defense

Specialization

Skirmishing (trait list)

Tier

Master

Type

Major

Training cost

5 Hero points

“

5

Strider's Defense

Evading an attack grants quickness. Sword skills gain reduced recharge.

 Quickness (3s): Skills and actions are faster.

 Quickness (10.5½s): Skills and actions are faster.

 Recharge Reduced: 20%

— In-game description

Related skills

Weapon skills that are improved by this trait

•   Stalker's Strike — Dagger
•   Pounce — Sword
•   Serpent's Strike — Sword
•   Swoop — Greatsword
•   Counterattack Kick — Greatsword
•   Quick Shot — Short bow
•   Warclaw's Engage — Spear
•   Predator's Ambush — Spear

Bundle skills that are improved by this trait

•   Fleeting Zephyr — Cyclone Bow

Utility skills that are improved by this trait

•   Lightning Reflexes — Survival
•   Griffon Stance — Stance
•   Whirlwind — Squall

Profession mechanic skills that are improved by this trait

•   Chomp
•   Devourer Retreat
•   Smoke Assault

Pet skills that are improved by this trait

•   Retreat — Devourer

Notes

	Skill	Traited recharge
Sword	Pounce (PvE)	6	→	4.8
	Pounce (WvW)	8	→	6.4
	Serpent's Strike (PvE)	8	→	6.4
	Serpent's Strike (WvW, PvP)	16	→	12.8

Version history

For a detailed trait history, see here.

Patch	Changes
June 27, 2023	Strider's Strength: This trait replaces Strider's Defense. Gain power and gain additional power when wielding a sword. Gain might when evading an attack. Guild Wars 2 Wiki note: Strider's Defense has been removed from the game.
February 25, 2020	Competitive content update: (Competitive split) Reduced quickness duration from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds.
October 02, 2018	This trait no longer requires rangers to wield a sword to gain quickness when evading.
May 16, 2017	This trait no longer has a chance to destroy projectiles on melee attack. It has gained new functionality: when you evade an attack, gain quickness for 3 seconds.
January 26, 2016	This trait's chance to destroy projectiles while executing a melee attack has been increased from 25% to 50%.
June 23, 2015	Specialization update: Updated this trait to reflect the introduction of the specialization mechanic. This trait has been moved to the Master tier. Increased trigger chance to 25%. Added: Your sword skills recharge 20% faster.
September 09, 2014	Increased the chance to block projectiles while executing melee attacks from 15% to 20%.
April 15, 2014	Strider's Defense has been added to the game.

Trivia

• The name and previous functionality of the trait, destroying projectiles on a melee attack, may refer to the character Aragorn (also known as Strider) from The Lord of the Rings, as a reference to a scene from the film where he deflects a thrown dagger by striking at it mid-air.