I've done over a hundred true solos on Cata, in many of which I ran Deathwish. As Witch Hunter Captain I true soloed Deathwish Onslaught on Cata 1, Enchanter's Lair on Deathwish, and Convocation of Decay before Fatshark nerfed its event. In the fifth Onslaught Series season I took part in team Nocomms (no voice chat) and we placed third. LordGiggles and I won the Onslaught Series duo tourney. On YouTube and Discord I go by Velsix. All links save one lead to content of Witch Hunter Captain with Rapier.

Deathwish increases enemy stagger resistances: https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1835393505
Onslaught ups the enemy counts: https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1619024877

• Short videos of techniques:
  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdICmR5vUF_vcbvDoWXivCvnNPDgsCgrd
  
• Commentaries of my true solos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdICmR5vUF_sDHB2FQTh2rvt5rcVxQf2B
  
• My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2SikWFpcGuf42qj7H0vA1Q/featured

I ran Deathwish in this guide's videos and showed my key inputs in them. I use shift for tagging, spacebar for dodging, and mouse middle button for weapon special attack.

The next four sections detail basics.

• Please note they changed the hitbox of the Rapier's charged attack. See here https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/rapier-charged-attack-hitbox/79348 for more details. A belated note: aiming a tad to the right seems to work better than aiming to the left now.
  
  2024/02/10 update: My mod fixes the charged attack hitbox of the Rapier: https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3157538419

• Pressure refers to a scenario's danger. A team fighting a horde faces low pressure; two players fighting a horde with waves of elites, a boss, and specials faces high pressure.
  
  
• Aggro capacity refers to the count of enemies targeting a player that will force them to block, kite and play defensively.
  
  
• Density refers to the count of enemies within an area. We write high density to refer to enemies overlapping.
  
  
• Some sequences of attack will increase movement speed, such as Light 1 > Block Cancel with Mace & Sword.

• Killing Shot works with ranged attacks at any distance.
  
  
• Save for Chaos Warriors, Wargors (Banners), bosses, and lords, all enemies count as mansized; Killing Shot instantly slays Maulers, Bestigors etc.
  
  
• Witch Hunter Captain has two unlisted perks: *Power of Sigmar, which increases headshot damage bonus by 25%; and Sigmar's Charm, which increases crit chance by 5%.
  
  
• The Rapier swings faster than any of Saltzpyre's other melee weapons. It can crit fish with light attacks to proc Killing Shot.
  
  
• Eternal Guard only works on attacks that both come from the front and would cost one half of a stamina shield to block before the game calculates Block Cost Reduction and a weapon's innate block cost. The game considers where the player's camera faces as the front while reviving, not the player model's direction; turn the camera to face attacks while reviving.

• Both Witch Hunter Captain and the Rapier have a high aggro capacity and perform excellently under pressure. The Rapier's headshot damage scales well with his headshot damage bonuses. It pairs well Heretic Sighted's attack speed, his high Swift Slaying uptime from his crit chance, and Charmed Life; this setup has one of the highest aggro capacities of all career and weapon combinations—especially on Deathwish; it can sneak in attacks when others would take damage. But, this does depend on one's ability to quickly read a multitude of attacks from overlapping enemies.
  
  
• Kill most in the way then revive/rescue to clutch if the enemies would otherwise break one's block; Witch Hunter Captain lacks a movement ult, stagger, and power and so must rely on dodge range, Animosity, and killing for mobility.

* Weapons have their base damage and a headshot damage bonus. A sword might have 10 base and 5 bonus headshot damage; it would deal 15 on a headshot. Power of Sigmar and Deathknell only increase bonus headshot damage, while Assassin scales from the total damage and to stagger state 2 on crit or headshot.

• To preserve stamina and safely fight hordes, do Push Attack > 4x Light Attack and dodge side to side every three or four attacks. Add pushes as needed to stop incoming strikes.
  
  
• When targeting elites standing inside a horde, one should evaluate if they should also provide crowd control for allies; to do so, mix in pushes/Push Attacks between charged attacks.

Thought Kerillian's weapons were fast? The Rapier is so fast and deals so much critical damage it's safe to assume Saltz' is more elf than she.

We may view the Rapier as a safe low-damage weapon, but this very safety enables aggressive gameplay, which Witch Hunter Captain furthers. Eternal Guard and the Rapier's strong block allow one to take risks against a horde, but only if one evades envelopment and heeds incoming attacks.

The Rapier's block and high move speed while blocking (90%) may tempt one to hold block oft, but I encourage all to time blocks to parry and to take risks to deal more damage, which both increase attack uptime and mobility. Offence lessens the need for defence; in this, while the Axe & Falchion and Billhook plod along and block, the Rapier cuts ribbons across the fields and slays many a foe. The Billhook in particular will require one to block far more often than either sans others assisting; that is true when under any high pressure, such as when faced with seven or more Stormvermin alone sans ult at the ready. Axe & Falchion will manage to hold several elites at bay with the right sequences but lacks reach for picking targets within a group.

Note: At a high headshot percentage of 35%, the Rapier outputs one of Witch Hunter Captain's highest single target dps values, with only the Billhook's Heavy Stab > Animation Cancel chain damaging monsters more, and Axe & Falchion having better combo breakpoints and better overall dps with Flense. An enemy's health and armour type will affect a weapon's dps output; in most cases, all three weapons deal high damage regardless.

The Rapier has:

• 6 dodges.
  
• 1.25 dodge range.
  
• A 0.25 inner block angle block cost. Most weapons have a 0.5 inner block angle cost. Lower is better.
  
• A 2.0 outer block angle block cost; most weapons match this value.
  
• A 90 degree push/block angle, which most weapons share.
  
• 6 stamina (3 stamina shields) like most weapons.
  
• Half-cost pushes that have low stagger strength and require investment to stagger an elite.
  
• A 15% movement speed reduction (from 100% to *90%) while blocking. Many weapons have a reduction of 25%.
  
• Above average reach for a fast one-handed weapon.
  
• Fantastic attack speed.
  
• Very low stagger on all attacks except for the special attack.
  
• High headshot damage but low bodyshot damage.

* Thanks to VernonKun for the correction from 85% to 90% block speed.

• The Rapier has three light attacks in its light chain and a Push Attack. The Push Attack moves faster than the other lights. Lights 1 & 2 match each other. Light 3 upsweeps and chains into Light 2. I refer to each as:
  — Light 1 (L1)
  — Light 2 (L2)
  — Light 3 (L3)
  — Push Attack (PA)
  
  
• The Rapier's charged attack has three animation that visually differ but mechanically equal one another. All the same, it has two charge states damage-wise: I refer to the partial charge as C1 and the full charge as C2.
  
  
• To use the Rapier's sidearm pistol, press press the special attack keybinding. I refer to the sidearm attack as the Rapier's special attack and its pistol attack.

The next three sections detail the Rapier's attacks.

• Each sequence/chain has a Push Attack and Block Cancel version.
  
• The lights slow movement by a small amount.
  
• Doing a push attack will cause a weapon swap delay aft the push attack ends. To skip the delay, perform a light attack or block aft the push attack.
  
• L3 upsweeps, but has a slightly more shallow angle than the other lights.
  
• Block Cancelling refers to blocking during or aft an attack to reset to the initial attack choices. This introduces a small moment one cannot re-raise their block in.
  
• One can use the Push Attack to reset to L1. Like for most push attacks, one cannot block cancel during the Rapier's Push Attack.

• 2x Light > Block Cancel (2LB) and Push Attack > 2x Light (PA2)
  
• 3x Light > Block Cancel (3LB) and Push Attack > 3x Light (PA3)
  
• 4x Light > Block Cancel (4LB) and Push Attack > 4x Light (PA4) etc. (such as PA5/5LB)
  
• Infinite Light Chaining (ILC)

The below video shows the above light attack chain as chapters except for ILC, which I believe explains itself.
https://youtu.be/XLI7W7MNK2U
Note: I've bolded the important/best general attack chains. I recommend mixing attack sequences together. A good mix is Push Attack > 2x Light Attack > Block Cancel > 2x Light and repeat from the start (PA2 into 2LB).

Sequences with block cancels always deal more dps to enemies the Rapier cannot stagger or cleave even when said enemies are staggered.
Chains with push attacks will deal more damage if the given enemy being staggered allows the Rapier to cleave an addition enemy. The Block Cancel version of a sequence generally heightens risk more than Push Attack version of it.

2LB/PA2 deals the most damage of all the sequences. Note the Push Attack version (PA2) does only slightly more damage than PA4 yet greatly ups stamina usage. Both versions of this sequence require the most frequent pushing/block cancelling.
PA2 is fairly safe, for the push controls crowds on stagger-able enemies, whereas 2LB exposes the player more, but 2LB is the highest raw dps chain, and the jump from PA2 to 2LB is much higher than the jump from PA4 to PA2.

3LB/PA3 does slightly higher dps than PA4 and slightly less than PA2. It's between PA2 and PA4 in terms of what it achieves.

4LB/PA4 is a safe default attack sequence that causes few points the player cannot raise block in and has greater raw dps than ILC in most cases.
The Push Attack version of this chain will allow stamina to recover to full with but 30% Stamina Recovery, even while at 40% attack speed, while the Push Attack versions of other sequences will not so do as consistently.

When enemies stand on a slope, ILC's third light can score multiple headshots. Normally it deals the least damage of the chains. Yet perhaps one will turn to face a horde at an angle to use this sans a slope?

Note: damage falls or climbs a small amount between most of the chains, such as from 4xPA to 3xPA, but these differences can be the difference between a single elite or three marauders blocking a path and ending a run or dying before they cause trouble.

Switch between the two levels of charged attack. The first releases quicker; the second damages more. The Rapier has reached the second when Saltz' arm/the Rapier starts to shake.
https://youtu.be/Q7ZeHcmNuMg
As with all charged attacks, the animation prevents blocking, performing a light, and switching to another weapon after releasing till it finishes.

• Use the second level against armour if one will also manage to avoid taking damage while doing so. Use the first otherwise; lights when charges would let enemies hit. Use the Push Attack if lacking time, pushing as a blow hits one's guard to get the Push Attack itself out immediately afterwards.

Note: Lights damage more than the second level charged attack on Cataclysm 3 at 20% crit chance against all save Chaos Warrior, Wargors, berserkers, and monsters/lords, for Killing Shot scales well with that the difficulty ups the hits to kill. Though chaining lights on regular elites safely ends them, partials will, in my opinion, better entertain. I advise performing lights half the time, first level charges a third of the time, and the rest of the time, full charges. Do what one best guesses will work, even if it risks more.

Barring Killing Shot's synergy with Cataclysm 3, second level charged attacks will deal the most single target damage versus all targets, followed by 1st Level Charged Attacks and then by 2x Light > Block Cancel.

Both levels of charged attack delay blocking afterwards, but not light attacking. Inputting a light after a charged attack finishes, and then blocking, bypasses the delay. Credit to the fantastic player J_sat for telling me about this technique.

The charged attacks boost movement speed at 20% and higher attack speed. Dodging at the end of a charged attack skips the charged attack's slowing movement at the end, creating a large dodge-like movement. This helps one fight foes that spam attacks with limited tracking, such as Chaos Warriors' overheads, especially in high volumes found in Chaos Patrols. This technique can further work as an out-of-combat movetech, which I show below:
https://youtu.be/tsEYkwZyRqc
Note: this move tech at high attack speeds may rapidly deplete dodges.

The first level of the charged attack releases quicker than any other charged attack in the game, and works under high pressure. The first level is faster than even two of the Rapier's lights.

The Rapier's sidearm pistol can be used with the special attack keybinding. It does less damage than a shot from Brace of Pistols and has significant damage dropoff at distance as well as a small delaying from pressing the button to it firing but can kill several types of enemy at close range or do worthwhile damage on headshot.

While this cannot be seen in the linked videos as I activated Deathwish, the sidearm has high stagger strength and can safely stagger Maulers. It costs no ammunition and can be fired infinitely, but there is a small cooldown period after firing it.

It can be used while blocking.
https://youtu.be/E4xds0blDnk
It can be used in tandem with a ranged weapon, with the Rapier sidearm damaging an enemy for the ranged weapon to finish it off and vice-versa,
https://youtu.be/nBXDolVTtF8
It can trigger Killing Shot at any distance like a ranged weapon.
https://youtu.be/DNP7ewJz3b4

The next five sections cover how to fight hordes, positioning, mobility, tactics vs specific enemies and how to headshot with the Rapier.

Generally dodge near the end of an enemy's swing. Not too late, otherwise the swing will hit. High dodge range broadens the time dodging will work in.

Practice dodging side to side instead of away from hordes. This will lower the count of running attacks but not prevent them all. Dodge away diagonally from flanking enemies surrounding oneself.

Dodge several times to evade rapid successions of enemy attacks but note the dodge range of the Rapier will decrease after quickly dodging six times; not dodging will restore the count.

Pushing with the Rapier increases movement speed slight.

See the Mobility heading under Charged Attacks for details on the move tech of Rapier's charged attack.

The Rapier's innately lower frontal block cost, half-cost pushes, and Witch Hunter Captain's Eternal Guard perk enable Rapier to fight hordes head on to hold a line. Kite towards low or medium density when fighting mixed hordes sans support to skirt and trim.

The Rapier cleaves fewer Chaos enemies, against whom I recommend clearing escapes and kite paths. The Rapier holds ground against the lower mass of Skaven.

Stay at a spot to clump the horde then escape at the last moment. This will mostly clear the rest of the area of enemies or at least reduce enemy spread. I further explain this at the start of my commentary of my Enchanter's Lair Deathwish Cataclysm true solo: https://youtu.be/uD6iVziYsC8?t=13
Defend more against higher horde densities; push clumping enemies more.

Move near a count of enemies the Rapier will cleave each of which but not to more than such save to soak aggro; this will ensure it damages as many as possible at minimal risk. The Rapier will cleave one staggered marauder on Cataclysm 1. Taking further risk by holding ground against denser clumps of horde will aid your allies, particularly those of the ranged variety.

Focusing on all foes works but follow the order of specials, elites, and monsters or horde most often; this, context changes. For instances: After specials, focus monsters down if the others kill elites well and monsters poorlier than oneself, such as when by the side of a Grail Knight with Execution's Sword sans Virtue of Audacity. Slay hordes if the team already kills monsters well, such as when with a Ranger Veteran wielding a Masterwork Pistol. To focus on cutting a path through a surrounding horde would better work than killing elites.

This sections advises tactics to fight specific enemies with videos to demonstrate.

Use second-level charged attacks to damage lone Chaos Warriors and try to fight them frontally or from their sides to more consistently score headshots. Aiming to the top left of one's head will most often hit the head.
https://youtu.be/X0RIVWYqYpc
Use the same attack and the dodge movement technique of the charged attack when fighting multiple Chaos Warriors to punish the poor tracking of their slow overheads.
https://youtu.be/DB4SFXnTIf4
The technique reduces the movement slow down at the end of a charge attack which makes me appear to be sliding.

Massed Stormvermin will easily whelm one's block. The move tech helps, but further mix in light attacks to keep Swift Slaying up and to faster proc Killing Shot.
https://youtu.be/VQqZWCX6E2k
2x Light > Special Attack, Push Attack > Light > Special Attack, and Push Attack > 2x Light all lower a Shielded Stormvermin's shield. Double pushing works too but costs more stamina. Hitting the shield last with the Special Attack will send the stormvermin into a longer stagger animation if one hasn't turned Deathwish on; however, the Special Attack will, in total duration, stagger one longer if it hits it after its shield has dropped.
https://youtu.be/jJu-ynZWp-E
Push Attack > Partial Stab headshot will swiftly kill a lone Shielded Marauder. Lights attacks better work against groups of five or more of them.
https://youtu.be/h98kcaLEzSU
Flick slightly to the left after hitting a Marauder with the first Light to hit again.

Riposte will ease attacking between the attacks of all bosses, for Riposte guarantees Swift Slaying procs. Higher attack speed enables striking in increasingly smaller windows of opportunity. The videos below don't show Riposte.
Dodge dance to avoid the Rat Ogre's stationary attacks. Walk backwards and inwards at 40% or more attack speed. It often won't attacks if the player simply walks backwards at high enough movement speed.
https://youtu.be/xxM1xT8ep5g
The mobility of the Rapier lets its wielder gracefully avoid the Stormfiend's attacks and swiftly manoeuvre behind the Stormfiend to strike its vulnerable controller.
https://youtu.be/MYjdfjS2f_w
Perform a light between each slam of the Chaos Spawn's running triple slam. Perform one light after the first slam of the quadruple slam running attack (a precisely-timed Push Attack poses less risk).
https://youtu.be/_TTqXLG5Iic
Attacking with the partial charged attack between each slam of the Spawn's triple running slam works but the timing is difficult and near impossible as a client.
https://youtu.be/XPHF1QDuJJw
Fighting the Minotaur is similar to fighting the Chaos Spawnm but consistenter. Standing by a wall and under the Minotaur, which prevents its attacks hitting, is the only way to keep it in place with melee but is somewhat cheesy.
https://youtu.be/9DDnUJHBRYE
Use the Rapier's movement speed during a charged attack to avoid almost all of the Bile Troll's attacks.
https://youtu.be/jgQe40RkHOw

Generally aim slightly above the head of an enemy. If the enemies move closer, aim further up.

The hitboxes of most attacks are imperfect. They do not match the weapon model precisely. For example, the Rapier's charged attack is more like a plank of wood lying on its wide side. Keep this in mind for the next heading below.

For an attack to count as a headshot, the attack's hitbox must not collide with anything on the way to the head of the enemy. This means hitting the pauldrons of a Chaos Warrior will prevent an attack from hitting their head and counting as a headshot.

While neck hits will triggers effects such as the Exec's headshot sound, they do not generally count as headshots, but there are exceptions. Please see Royal w/Cheese's Headshot and Common Hitbox linked at the end of this section for more details.

A technique called dragging can be used to land otherwise impossible/difficult headshots. This technique is more effective for slower attacks, and is useful for the Halberd's Heavy Stab, but can still be used to limited effect with the Rapier's charged attacks. Aim above the head of an enemy and release the charged attack. Just before the attack's damage frames end (when this is can only be learnt by feel or with debug tools) and drag the Rapier down into the enemy's skull. This will count as a headshot.

Movement, either through move techs/weapon attack movement or dodging, can be used to reposition a small distance for a better angle relative to a target to get a headshot. Charmed Life can aid in this.

For further headshot guidance and detailed anaylsis of various attack types as well as other headshot related information, I recommend checking out Royal w/Cheese's Headshot and Common Hitbox guide:
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2436880241

The next two sections cover build details. Just below are links to my builds.

My WHC build: https://www.ranalds.gift/build/CSLnCoqxHvAflXcmNaJa/view
This a versatile offense focused build that deals good damage with enough skill. If the player uses BoP on all types of specials, they should pick Scrounger. If they are comfortable with only using BoP on ranged specials and using the Rapier for Assassins/Packmasters and sometimes Leeches, they should switch Scrounger to Conservative Shooter.

My other builds can be seen here, including non-WHC ones: https://www.ranalds.gift/user/YKy58uO4ltN6RZXm7elDm4QInh32/view

Which talent works best?

Flense gives the best overall damage by far. Even at a 100% headshot % Flense still does more damage to single targets with Rapier light attacks than Deathknell does. On groups, it's not remotely close damage wise—Flense wins easily.

• The Rapier has high berserker damage. As Flense has relatively low berserker damage, Deathknell leads to better berserker damage because it works with the Rapier's actual damage. Deathknell is more effective vs Chaos Warriors and the superarmoured heads of Maulers, while Flense does little to superarmour.
  
• Deathknell is useful for hitting some breakpoints, and since it benefits ranged attacks pairs well with Brace of Pistols, letting it hit one shot headshot breakpoints on specials on Cataclysm 1 and makes it usable on Cataclysm 3.
  
• Deathknell benefits Rapier charged attacks more than Flense does at a 35% or higher headshot %, so for those who want to use the Rapier's full moveset and not only chain lights, Deathknell is a good pick.
  
• Killing an enemy immediately with Deathknell's frontloaded damage can sometimes be more useful than Flense's higher but delayed damage. This can be noticeable when kiting.

I use Deathknell and rarely if ever use Flense even though I've learnt Flense is superior. This makes my runs more difficult than they need be. The talent you choose is your choice.

Riposte is the overall weakest of the three. Since it requires parrying an enemy strike, an enemy mustn't be staggered or killed before that happens, further entailing purposefully not dodging the attack instead. It falls behind the other two damage-wise, although it does deal with *some types of boss well, provided the Witch Hunter has aggro.

• These are the Minotaur and the Chaos Spawn, which both have combos that one can block without taking damage and have guaranteed/quite easy to bait multi-hit combos, unlike the Rat Ogre, which will not do its running triple combo frequently and whose other attacks will deal significant damage through one's block.
  
• It functions against a Bile Troll if the player has their own back to a wall to make the knockback from the Troll's swings irrelevant; the Bile Troll's damage through block is minor. But if the Bile Troll is crouching/leaning over, such as when it is in a short tunnel, dodge instead of blocking, for its strikes will deal high damage through block.
  
• Against a Stormfiend, Riposte requires a close wall to mitigate the knockback of its melee attacks.
  
• The crit Riposte gives can proc Swift Slaying. When Swift Slaying is up, it is possible to more consistently land higher damage attacks between the swings of the Minotaur, Chaos Spawn and the Rat Ogre's running triple slam. Swift Slaying uptime is not 100% vs the Minotaur and Chaos Spawn normally even at 20% crit chance on Witch Hunter with Rapier, so Riposte makes boss damage versus them better.

Riposte does have some uses as a frontline talent, and can reach some stagger breakpoints with Rapier, but they require significant investment. These breakpoints are possible because Riposte grants free critical pushes until the crit attack is used or the 2 second timer ends, and critical pushes have higher stagger strength than normal pushes.

Despite its description, Riposte works on ranged attacks, including the Rapier's pistol special. It can be used to proc Scrounger for ammo sustain, or to safely score a Killing Shot instant kill with the pistol special while blocking.

For an instance of fighting a Minotaur with Riposte: https://youtu.be/GP6zfhRe2e4

• Fervency
  Gives melee crits for six seconds but removes the crit chance for ranged attacks and allies. It works well against bosses and single targets, particularly when bursting Bile Trolls down during regen phases. A player can use charged attacks during Fervency sans risking critting but a few times, which can occur with Unending Hunt/base Animosity; Fervency works for fighting Chaos Warriors, as Killing Shot does not proc on them and the Rapier's charged attacks kill them faster than its lights.
  
  
• Unending Hunt
  Grants 40% ult cooldown reduction if Animosity hits 10 or more enemies. While this sounds as if it would always proc, it does not, and it brings less value than Fervency when fighting a boss without a horde; however, its frequency raises a team's sustained damage over a run.

For the Rapier on Cata 3, thp on headshot/crit generates more thp than on cleave, for the mass increases results in the Rapier cleaving little. On Cata 1, thp on headshot/crit generates more thp from Rotblood hordes, but less than cleave does from Skaven and Beastmen.

The Rapier benefits from high attack speed as such easens scoring headshots; higher attack speed lowers the time a player must track an enemy's head for due to the attack landing sooner. I recommend Attack Speed and Crit Chance on the Rapier instead of BCR and Crit Chance, for 30% BCR on Necklace lets the Rapier block a CW overhead without guard-breaking (the extra BCR is often unneeded).

Wild Fervour edges out in total team dps, but Heretic Sighted lets the WHC get away with high risk attacks, indirectly raises mobility, and hastens BoP's alt fire.

Due to its strong block and half-cost pushes, the Rapier needs not Cast Away to frontline and control crowds. Charmed Life allows one to reach teammates quickly, handle large groups of enemies with little time spent blocking, kiting, and movement speed techs; but as the Rapier can push six times, Cast Away generates heaps of stamina over time, enabling heavier frontlining and pairing well with Riposte.

5% move speed on Trinket extends the effective range of the charged attack; this aids lancing somewhat but requires sacrificing Stamina Recovery or Crit Chance, which may prevent frontlining and lessen dps respectively. 5% move speed does little on its own, and Witch Hunter has no other sources of move speed.

Assassin ups the Rapier's damage more than Mainstay does; the Rapier only benefits from Mainstay's 2nd stagger level bonus on horde enemies with its normal attacks, or on mansized elites with its special, and Assassin greatly boosts the Rapier's crits and headshots.


P.S. I have a newfound respect for Royal w/Cheese because creating guides involves far more effort than I'd predicted.