Top Swordsage Maneuvers

[skywalker]

I'm looking for help from those who have experience playing martial adept classes, what are your personal, all around top 5 maneuvers/stances(level 3 or lower) for swordsages?

[Arbitrarity]

The concentration/save ones from diamond mind are always good, for swordsages, particularly mind over body.

[Tokiko Mima]

Balance on the Sky stance and Shadow Blink from Shadow Hand are always good to have loaded. I also like Hearing the Air from Diamond Mind, but I tend to fight a lot of fights where Blind Fight is useful.

[Arbitrarity]

"Level 3 or lower"

I find most lvl 3 or less Desert Wind to be less than great, though I have fun with Fire Riposte, and high IL Burning blade can be OK. Burning brand can be good for just barely reaching things, and overcoming DR.

Emerald Razor is nice for hitting, and the aforementioned save replacers.

Feigned opening can be useful.

Shadow blade technique is generally worse than emerald razor, but nice for getting critical hits. Cloak of deception and shadow jaunt are quite useful. (Interesting. A swordsage can remain invisible indefinately, but can only take a 5 ft step, using cloak of deception).

Stone bones is good for low level combat, and sudden leap is good for manuvering.

High AC builds can find Pearl of black doubt to be quite amusing, and island of blades duplicates the second feat in a chain. Blood in the water is open to all sorts of abuse, and even without, is really handy (Twf'ing keen kukris, with Raging Mongoose and Time Stands Still?).

[lord_khaine]

something that does looked good on paper, but unfortunately hasnt been testet yet is the combination of Pearl of black doubt and Mobility, where you first provoke AOE by moving past people, then hope they dont hit because of the +4 dodge bonus from mobility.

[Fax Celestis]

Pearl of Black Doubt's worth goes up exponentially if you acquire miss chance somehow.

[Dausuul]

I'm looking for help from those who have experience playing martial adept classes, what are your personal, all around top 5 maneuvers/stances(level 3 or lower) for swordsages?

Shadow Jaunt - Not very useful in combat most of the time (though in specific circumstances it can be a lifesaver), but incredibly handy out of combat. 50-foot teleport with no limit on uses per day? Yes please. (Later on you can get Shadow Stride, which is excellent both in and out of combat. I actually like Shadow Stride better than Shadow Blink; by that level I have way too many other things to do with my swift actions.)
Burning Blade - Excellent maneuver because it stacks with absolutely frickin' everything. Use it with a strike for extra damage. If TWFing or if you have iterative attacks, use it for bonus damage on each attack.
Assassin's Stance - 2d6 sneak attack is always handy, especially for a combatant as mobile as the swordsage.
Mountain Hammer - This is a solid damage-dealer, and it has the extra benefit of ignoring hardness. You become the Destroyer of Inanimate Objects. This can be amazingly useful. With this and Shadow Jaunt, you become a god of dungeon crawling.
Mind Over Body - Swordsages get good Will and Reflex saves, and their most important stats are usually Dex and Wis, so they don't have to worry much about mind control and fireballs. However, poison is usually a problem... the ability to substitute a Concentration check for a Fort save is absolutely vital. Keep this on hand at all times unless you're certain you aren't facing opponents that can target your Fortitude.