Why you should listen to me: elf/dark-elf stsf is kind of my bread and butter. I play that shit like Torak plays APs.

The below is on warrior vs warrior engagements:

Igbah and Humbert were tough, but there's a serious difference in playstyles between STSF dexy sword spec and giant basher and how to fight STSF dexy sword spec and giant basher.

I seriously don't get it. Giant bash spec KILLS people, stsf dexy sword spec you have to kill yourself on them. They have NO lagging moves past trip. They cannot keep you in a fight.

Also, elf sword spec is the ULTIMATE anti-gank tool. A huge pet peeve of mine is watching people jump on Liantae/Altariel etc. When I was Artenel two or three of my groupmates tried to jump on a fight with Liantae. I was fleeing and yelling at them to flee not because I was super honorable or something but all you're doing is exponentially making everyone eat more ripostes and have trouble landing targeted damage skills on her. And you have to land targeted damage skills to beat elf sword spec. Two people fighting an dexy sword spec max, then if you have more people in the group, have someone wait a room away and be spamming to engage when they flee.

People seem to fall in this ritual of "I use these skills in this order when I'm in a PK and that's how I win." But you have GOT to be more fluid, you can't treat every character in CF the same way and people are fighting STSF dexy warriors like they'd fight other warriors.

The difference is, most warriors aren't relying on the passive melee. They're relying on a sequence of skills, or layering up maledictions etc. So the counter for that is to lag them so they can't use those skills that will turn the fight in their favor. But that DOES NOT WORK when fighting stsf dexy sword spec. STSF dexy sword spec has no burst damage, no big spec moves, nothing. They're relying completely on passive melee rounds and your dumb ass sticking around long enough until you essentially kill yourself on them.

Cranialing dexy elf sword spec isn't doing anything but giving elf sword spec an erection because he knows you're content to let him chew you up in melee for two more rounds.

For instance, as Gloiyme (a brief stint as a mino nexus mace spec I had recently) Liantae came at me. She was already nightreaver by this point with her buff suit. Screw boneshattering, screw cranialing, screw all of that. That's not going to win the fight against dexy elf sword spec. Drum. Drum wins that fight. She tripped me, ate me up in two melee rounds, and I dropped a 5 hitter on her. She was convulsing and if Zianne hadn't sent her home she would have, in all likelihood, been dead.

Stop trying to get cute with elf sword spec, you aren't going to out finesse them, they're built around finesse. Play to your strengths. See how much dam redux they have. If they have too much for you to kill them in 2-3 burst moves, pull back and re-engage in 5-10 ticks when they aren't as well protected. Don't just sit around letting them rip you apart until you can't flee.

Newer thoughts below,

Warrior builds that 'counter' elf stsf:

Polearm or staff spec warriors. Aoirse did okay from what I saw, but nothing overly buff. That said, he was also a rager which I think is weaker vs other warriors at hero. A well played Maran polespec can kill stsf delf. The issue is that maran polespec can't be a dumbass and think bashspam is going to beat stsf delf. Polearms + staff/spear specs are a bitch and a half to face as any sword spec, and that holds true for elf/delf. They're hard as hell to riposte, it just doesn't happen, and you have good hard targeted damage. Get a good polearm, enlarge for even better defense because bash isn't winning that fight, chop them until they die and rely on cutoff to make them die. If your chop isn't hitting for at least a mangles flee out and wait 4 ticks and re-engage when preps fall.

Dagger/maledict specs will eat them up IF they don't have the stat gear to cover it. With my elf/delf stsf warriors I have a very specific (attainable) set in mind when I hero. That set is +15/20 str/dex. If they have the gear, your maledictions are likely pointless. So mace spec? Don't boneshatter or cranial. Drum. Axe spec? Always pincer. Seriously, that shit is the answer. Once again, if you're not hitting hard enough to kill them in 3 pincers, back out and wait for some prots to drop before re-engaging.

It's really hard to keep aura/shield on tap as an elf stsf spec. Weapons eat inventory space and a good warrior has enough weapons to exploit every vuln. Even Xeneth who is h2h likely has a shit ton of daggers clogging up that inventory. Even stripping down and going lean I can usually only afford to keep 3/3 aura/shield potions on me at a time. And I'm VERY hesitant to use them in a simple 1v1.

I, for one, think you're vastly underestimating how tough shaman can be against dexy elf stsf, Torak, but we've already debated that so it is what it is. I didn't play Duvlek long enough to face off with hero elf stsfs so I don't have a frame of reference for facing the current stsfers but, unless the warrior has calming the tempest (and to me that only makes it an even playing field) a shaman is winning that fight 90% of the time.

Anything that can trap + direct damage. Invokers come to mind if they lay their trap out intelligently and execute well.

Dependent on the conjurer I've either steamrolled or been steamrolled.

Transmuters, again, it is dependent. They're either speedbumps or they're crazy buff. That said, I haven't been scared of a transmuter since Scion closed so YMMV.

Druids can be really tricky since I can't protect versus alignment, but again, I'm probably only concerned about druids if they're Amora-caliber or if I don't have easy access to non-metal weapons(one of the few vulns I'm not packing at hero usually). Xeneth is the ultimate anti-druid since h2h + sigil means that the druid is taking obscene damage from him.

Assassins with martial trance can actually hang reeediculously well. Seriously, martial trance is craaaazy strong. They're not unbeatable, but I do a gut check and evaluate a lot of things if I'm going up against a suitably tranced assassin.

I basically agree with the rest of your assessment. Orcs are tough, I agree, and a good shifter can do more than you think simply because the elf hp pool is low and rng is everything. If my parry shits the bed and I take two-three melee hits that I'm not expecting then as an elf I don't have the HP to just swallow that. That miscalculation can mean I'm dead.