Shadow Daggers Bladedancer Guide

Skills

Passives

Passives provide powerful effects that dictate the playstyle of a Class and its Masteries. Remember that you can allocate Passives on the first half of all Masteries regardless of the one you chose.

1. Since we're almost always moving Evasion is a huge damage reduction buff.
2. With the right gear and the Haste buff from Agility we can spend a lot of time well over 100% Movement Speed, making the damage buff from this node very strong.
3. Blood Dance and Melee Damage Leeched as Health from gloves are our primary sources of sustain so get this passive as soon as possible.
4. Crit Multi is hard to come by so All In is a huge damage buff. Shadow Daggers always crits so there's no downside here.
5. Swift Assassin and Once provide extra benefit since Shadow Daggers has both Melee and Throwing tags.
6. While Pursuit is a decent damage buff, the main benefit it provides is Movement Speed.
7. Thanks to Focus Fire and Wound Maker we don't need to worry as much about taking Dodge or Critical Strike Avoidance modifiers in the Monolith of Fate.
8. Perfection stacks provide large buffs to damage as well as Armor and Dodge from Confidence. We also take one point in Exuberance to double our stack generation.
9. If you play hardcore, investing in Death's Door is always an option for additional DR. Note that unlike stamina the DR from this node only kicks in once you're already at low health. This means it won't protect from potential one shots when you're above the low health threshold.

Gameplay

To maximize both our damage and defenses we want to keep moving as much as possible. This means a healthy dose of Shift and Synchronized Strike while using Smoke Bomb strategically when we're safe from getting hit.

Skill Usage/Rotation

• Stay on the move and use Shift on cooldown
• Use Synchronized Strike against tanky enemies and packs. Make sure to use the skill directly on top of them for maximum Shadow Daggers stacks. When in extended fights against enemies with DoTs make sure to use it at least every 4 seconds to maintain Crimson Shroud stacks from Crimson Storm.
• In extended fights, find a safe spot near enemies to cast Smoke Bomb. Try to stay in the Smoke to gain damage from Smoke Blades.
• If the enemies become overwhelming, use Decoy to taunt them and buy some time.
• If mana is getting low use Shift a few times in a row before using Synchronized Strike again.

Mapping

• Run to the objective using Shift on cooldown. Most of the enemies nearby will be killed from Shadow Cascade and Umbral Blades. Shifting near enemies will make it easier for Umbral Blades to find its target.
• Use Synchronized Strike on Rare enemies along the way. This should one shot them most of the time.
• Upon reaching the objective:
  • If it's a single enemy cast Smoke Bomb then continuously cycle between Synchronized Strike and Shift until they are dead.
  • If it's a group follow a similar strategy by using Smoke Bomb on cooldown near large groups or tanky enemies, then target enemies with your Synchronized Strike/Shift rotation. If you run low on mana Shift a few times in a row without using Synchronized Strike. If you start to feel overwhelmed at any point use Decoy.

Bossing

• Use Smoke Bomb on cooldown as long as it's safe to do so.
• Synchronized Strike into the boss and then immediately Shift away. Continuously do this as long as you have enough mana.
• If you're low on mana Shift a few times without using Synchronized Strike until your mana refills.
• Use Decoy in emergencies when you need a breather or to keep adds off of you.

Advanced Skill Tips

• Shadowslip from Shift gives us invulnerability while Shifting. This can be used to strategically avoid telegraphed attacks
• Multiple Umbral Blades cannot hit the same target, so when fighting large groups of enemies try to spread them around to maximize damage.
• Incapacitate from Shadow Cascade is our primary source of Frailty. Make sure powerful enemies maintain max stacks by using Synchronized Strike and Shift near them. One rotation will be enough to apply three stacks.
• Don't underestimate the power of Smoke Bomb. Along with applying Shadow Daggers it is also a major source of Armor Shred through Eroding Fumes and Swirling Fog and gives us a huge damage buff through Smoke Blades. On top of that, we get an immediate stack of Silver Shroud from Moonlight Bomb which guarantees we Dodge the next attack. The dodge can be used strategically to avoid telegraphed attacks and push DPS instead of disengaging.

Learn about the Gear, Gear Progression, Empowered Blessings and Idols for the Shadow Daggers Bladedancer Build.

Gear

Gearing in Last Epoch revolves around finding Items and then using the powerful Crafting System to enhance them. As long as an Item has Forging Potential left, players can upgrade or modify their Affixes up to Tier 5. However, the powerful Exalted Tier Affixes are drop only and can't be modified by players.

Using the correct Item Bases allows you to make use of their amazing Implicits, this is fundamental for gearing efficiently. Combine Implicits, Passives, Idols and Blessings to cap your Resistances and other defensive layers, while fitting as much Health related Affixes into your gear as possible. Plan ahead for your next upgrades and consider the final Empowered Blessings of your build while gearing. Finish up by farming Uniques with Legendary Potential and Sealing Affixes into Exalted Items to unleash all of your build's power!

Here are the Stat Goals for this build:

Gear Progression

Blessings

Idols

Idols grant your character bonuses when equipped in the dedicated Idol Container. Unlock all the slots of your Idol Container by completing the Campaign and some of its Side Quests. Remember that some Idols are Class specific and you won't be able to equip them with other non-compatible Classes.

Other useful Idol Affixes

• Increased Stun Chance
• Increased Stun Duration
• Health
• %Health
• Vitality
• Armour
• Physical Resistance
• Cold Resistance
• Elemental Resistance
• Lightning Resistance
• Necrotic Resistance
• Poison Resistance
• Void Resistance
• Increased Armour Shred Effect
• Chance to Shred Armour on Throwing Hit
• Chance to Shred Armour on Melee Hit
• Dodge Rating if Hit Recently
• Mana Efficiency with Synchronised Strike

Build Scaling

This build is focused around consistent and fast paced movement with lots of large Shadow Daggers crits clearing everything in our path. The playstyle needs high Movement Speed and Dodge because when we're going fast and not getting hit we're at our best with all of our buffs up. We also want to ensure that we're taking the right stats to scale Shadow Daggers so Flat Damage, Crit Multi, and Physical Penetration with Shadow Daggers are what we push for.

Loot Filter

Loot Filters are critical in Last Epoch. Making sure you highlight all the related valuable Item Bases, Affixes, Uniques and Idols is crucial to ensure your character's progression. As your gear gets better, remember to hide the rules that are no longer useful to avoid screen clutter.

Here is the Endgame Loot Filter for this build:

Video Guide

Summary

Overall Shadow Daggers Bladedancer is a great build that can deal with all the content in the game and clear it faster than almost any other build in the game.

• Go very fast without sacrificing damage or survivability. The faster you go, the better!
• Fully embrace the playstyle of the build and enhance it with every component, making full use of the Evasion, Asuvon's Pact, Perfection and Confidence Nodes that reward you for going fast and not getting hit.
• Assassinate your enemies from up close!
• Use Decoy to distract and group your enemies. Take advantage of this to reposition and DPS.
• Take advantage of Smoke Weaver, Wings of Argentus and Siphon of Anguish to really turbocharge the playstyle.
• Shift can save you from incoming Damage. Time it perfectly for the Damage Immunity!

Credits

Written by McFluffin.
Reviewed by Lizard_IRL, Aristotelian