Introduction
Slayers have 2 very unique playstyle based on their engravings with a playstyle that builds up gauge steadily with the ability to dish out an absurd amount of burst damage with Punisher. On the other hand, Predator grants a tons of Attack Speed, Movement Speed , Crit Chance , Crit Damage and Max Mana Gauge over a long period of time. Master her rage, and take control of the battle.
Slayer's Burst Mode is similar to Berserker's where it grants 30% Crit Rate , 20% Attack Speed and Movement Speed but what makes Slayer's Burst Mode unique is that Slayer's Specialization stats scale her damage while in Burst Mode which grants her absurd amount of damage in combination with Punisher. Punisher also grants 20% Crit Rate to your Bloodlust, which is the highest damage skill in your kit if you have high Specialization stats. Along with that, there is no Exhaustion debuff, which means you can immediately start generating Fury as soon as Burst Mode ends. Though with all these benefits comes the downside of having a shorter Burst Mode window.
Both of the Slayer's builds require some level of mastery to do optimal damage as you are required to be Back Attack to maximize damage.
Do big numbers trigger your daily dose of dopamine? The Punisher spec will be perfect match!
This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 50 before transitioning to it. Check out the Slayer Leveling and 1-50 Leveling guides to reach Level 50.
Check out the Predator Slayer for an alternative Slayer playstyle. Check out the Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons guides for an introduction to their content.
Raid Skill Build
- Wild Rush is your mobility skill that helps you get a better position (back attacking).
- Wild Stomp is your Counter and also your party synergy Damage Amplification skill. It is also slotted with Swift Attack Prep to help speed up some skill casting outside of Burst Mode since it can be pretty sluggish.
- There are multiple different Fury Meter generator options you can choose from. But as the example shown here, Ground Smash can be useful for starters as this skill is not only 1 of the most Fury Meter gain generator skills, but it also has Tenacity. This helps to superarmor through certain attacks and saves you 1 tripod slot for other skills. The other variant of the build will be shown below in the Alternatives.
- Spinning Sword is potentially the highest Fury Meter gain skill if you use Squall. But most of the Fury Meter gains are backloaded, so Windswift is recommended for a faster animation for fewer mistakes. On top of that, it can be used as a re-engager and it still is the 3rd highest Fury Meter gain skill after Ground Smash with Windswift.
- Furious Claw is used as your backup Fury Meter generator if you miss a couple of generators to not delay your Fury Meter rotation. You can use in Burst Mode rotation for damage if you didn't use it to generate Fury Meter.
- As for your Main Damage skills they are: Brutal Impact, Volcanic Eruption and Guillotine. But Bloodlust(Z button/Identity 1 button During Burst Mode) is your highest damage skill in your kit, even higher than the Awakening Skill , so make sure to land it at the back precisely.
- Your Awakening Skill is Ragna Break as it has a faster animation than Execute.
Alternatives
- Flash Blade
- Flash Blade can replace Ground Smash but you have to use Furious Claw as a main Fury Meter generator skill, but this trade off gives you a much faster animation and very short cooldown skill to easily maintain Damage Amplification party synergy and your Adrenaline stacks.
- 1 Cycle variant is not recommended if you do not have 1780-1782 minimum Specialization stats and 5 Wealth runes(1 Legendary, 2 Epic, 2 Rare) along with Level 5 Focus on all skills that have the tripod/skill tree node. But this build sacrifices mobility with removal of Wild Rush for another Fury Meter generator to aim for 1 smooth Fury Meter rotation into Burst Mode immediately to use Bloodlust as much as possible. Further information of how the build functions is elaborated in the Skill Rotations and Gameplay section.
Skill Rotations and Gameplay
Theres 2 variations of Punisher which we will refer them as 1 Cycle and 1.5 Cycle builds. The 1 cycle build essentially generates enough Fury Meter within 1 rotation to go straight into Burst Mode. But it also has its cons, since Brutal Impact and Volcanic Eruption are still in cooldown as you enter Burst Mode. But the whole purpose of the 1 cycle build is the ability to use Bloodlust as often as possible since Bloodlust does not have a cooldown and gets reset every time you re-enter Burst Mode. The 1.5 cycle builds that spends a little more time generating before getting into Burst Mode allow you to use more of your damage dealing normal skills.
Fury Meter Rotations
- Ground Smash
- Flash Blade
With at least 1500 Specialization stats while having 1 Legendary , 1 Epic and 1 Rare Wealth rune and at least Level 4 Focus on Ground Smash and Spinning Sword.
You can do this Fury Meter opening with Ground Smash.
- Spinning Sword > Ground Smash > Wild Stomp > Spinning Sword > Ground Smash > Wild Stomp > Burst Mode
If you do miss any of the generators in the rotation, you can use Furious Claw as a back-up generator to not delay your opening rotation longer.
DPS Rotation
Here is the simplest explanation on how you should do your DPS rotation. Your Brutal Impact and Volcanic Eruption have really long cooldown, so getting into Burst Mode too soon means these skills might be still on cooldown. Thus, the 1.5 Cycle builds revolves around trying to sync the skill's cooldown to be usable every time when you enter Burst Mode. The 1 Cycle build gives little attention to that, since its main goal is to use Bloodlust as often as possible.
Due to Brutal Impact and Volcanic Eruption have really long cooldowns. It is better to use them early in Burst Mode to put them on cooldown as early as possible so that their cooldowns sync better for the next Burst Mode cycle. Bloodlust can be used at any moment, since it's cooldown gets refreshed every time you re-enter Burst Mode. Avoid using it at the last second of Burst Mode, since you risk not getting the bonus stats from Burst Mode.
- Wild Stomp > Burst Mode > Guillotine* > Furious Claw** > Volcanic Eruption > Brutal Impact > Bloodlust > Wild Stomp > Ragna Break > Furious Claw** > Guillotine*
If you are using Flash Blade for Damage Amplification , make sure to always apply the debuff before doing your damage skills, you have 7 seconds window with this skill instead of 10 seconds.
(*)Guillotine double cast inside Burst Mode is only doable if you have Level 5 Quick Prep and at least Level 9 Cooldown Gem.
(**)Furious Claw can be double cast inside Burst Mode if you did not use it for generating Fury Meter and you have Level 5 Quick Prep with at least a Level 7 Cooldown Gem to make it only 10 second cooldown for more breathing room to use other skills after.
For short burst windows like the one after a counter or a specific stagger break, you should prioritize bursting with these skills in order while in Burst Mode:
- Bloodlust > Ragna Break > Brutal Impact(*) > Volcanic Eruption > Guillotine
(*) You can cancel the end recovery animation with Spacebar as soon as you see the damage numbers appear to immediately perform the next attack. It saves you a noticeable amount of milliseconds. But be careful, try not to accidentally cancel it too early before the skill even does damage.
Stats Priority
Punisher Slayer's tremendous power scaling comes from stacking high Specialization stats, which provides her damage increase while in Burst Mode and also provides extreme amount of damage scaling to Bloodlust skill and awakening. 1 point of Spec provides 0.0143% damage increase while in Burst Mode, 0.17167% Bloodlust damage increase and 0.05464% Awakening damage increase.
- Standard stat spread: get Specialization stats on every piece of accessories with Swiftness only from Necklace, while for bracelet you want Specialization and Crit. The Swiftness from the Necklace provides Attack Speed and Movement Speed, which cap out with the help of Burst Mode and with a support in party (Yearning Set). This allows you to use Raid Captain bonuses.On top of that, the cooldown reduction from Swiftness helps with Brutal Impact and Volcanic Eruption massive cooldown. You want as much Specialization as you can get because of Bloodlust. It essentially makes it the highest damage skill in your kit when performing at the back of the target with Entropy Set.
Bracelet
Bracelets provide beneficial effects to yourself or to your party members depending on the rolls.
Note: Bracelets should not be your top priority to optimize since it'll be much more efficient to optimize your other gear first. Bracelets are costly! So slowly build towards a Main Stat and a Sub Stat. Anything else is extra!
Check out the Bracelet Guide for more details.
Possible Special Effects to Roll:
Optimal
Combat Stats(Specialization + Crit or Swiftness*)
Circulate
Hammer
Wedge
Fervor
Ambush
Precise
Alternatives
Basic Effect(Strength)
Assail
Superiority
Sawtooth Blade
Weapon Power
Harvest
Expose Weakness
Dagger
(*) Swiftness stat is not the most optimal here. 500 Swiftness adds 8% Attack Speed and Movement Speed, which is enough to cap Raid Captain. In the very near future, Kayangel Abyss Dungeon will unlock Level 3 set effects for your gear, which allows supporters to provide 12% all speed increase with their Yearning Set. But this is a viable option if you want to only roll 1 bracelet to share for both Punisher and Predator build, in case you plan to play both builds. Otherwise, Specialization + Crit is the optimal option for Punisher as basic skills has lower Crit Rate than Bloodlust.
Engravings
Class Engravings provide powerful stat boosts that dictate the playstyle of a class. Battle Engravings are generally used to increase damage. Below are the recommended Engravings for this build.
Check out the Engraving Guide for more details.
Starter Engravings
- Punisher grants 25% damage while in Burst Mode which stacks with the damage increase provides with stacking Specialization stats as well along with 20% Crit Rate increase to Bloodlust your highest damage arsenal, but with the 50% Burst Mode duration reduced meaning you have to get your damage out quickly before the duration expires which you'll lose a ton of your Burst mode stats bonuses. the -25% Fury gain is not as punishing as it seems to be if you have 1 Legendary , 1 Epic and 1 Rare Wealth rune , the 1.5 cycle builds works even with as low as 1500 Specialization stats if the skill's Tripods/Skill Tree Nodes Focus are at least Level 4s.
- Ambush Master provides the highest damage increase with no negative effects penalty attach to it compare to any of the engravings in game if you can manage good back attack uptime.
Add-On Endgame Engravings
- Raid Captain is easily cap with 8-10% movement speed from 500-583 Swiftness, 20% from Burst Mode, and pairing with a support with Level2-3 Yearning Set that grants the remaining 10-12% movement speed for max movement speed , totally 18% of the max damage increase provided from this engraving.
- Grudge* is another common DPS engraving for most classes as it has no positional requirement.
- Cursed Doll penalty can be a little uncomfortable for newer players but this is still a better option over Mass Increase since you want as little pre-buff setups as possible and get your cycles/rotations out as soon as possible.
- Adrenaline is better than Cursed Doll during 5 max level engraving phase as more Crit Rates gives more consistent damage across the board while Cursed Doll focuses on reaching the highest damage ceiling with Bloodlust but when you can afford getting the 6th extra luxury engraving ; entering Ancient Accessories phase , you can downgrade Adrenaline to Level1 or 2 while fitting Cursed Doll in the main 5s as you can further improve your setups with better future rolls from bracelets or getting lucky with a 9-7 or 10-6 ability stone. As we naturally seeks for further improvement whenever we get a chance anyway.
(*)These Engravings should only be used at Engravings Level 3.
Optimal Setups
Engravings are listed in order of priority from left to right.
Recommended
Pre-Ancient Accessories setup
Gear Sets
Check out the Gear Set Guide for more details.
Early Game
250-1100 gearscore
Providence Set
1250-1340 gearscore
Dimensional Set
Early Tier 3
1340 -1414 gearscore
Erupting Waves Set
Piercing Gaze Set
Craft any combination of the legendary gear sets listed above and try to push to 1415 as soon as possible.
Tier 3 Legion Raid Set
1415-1490-1580+ gearscore
Entropy Set
The name of your set will change with every higher tier gearset you acquire, but the set effect will remain the same. Look for the keyword of your set when recrafting it so you don't easily get lost.(e.g Entropy, Hallucination etc)
Sidereal Weapon
Recommended Sidereal Unity Effects for your Seraphic Transcendence Highlands are Thirain and Balthorr.
Check out the Sidereal Weapon Guide for more details.
Runes
Runes enhance skills by providing bonuses such as Attack Speed or Cooldown Reduction. Runes have limited availability and you cannot acquire them from the same source twice. For some runes there are 2 sources and as such, you can acquire two of the same rune. Therefore, it's important to place your Runes on skills wisely.
Check the Rune Guide for more details.
- Ground Smash
- Flash Blade
| Skills | Runes |
| Furious Claw | Wealth |
| Wild Rush | Quick Recharge Purify |
| Wild Stomp | Wealth Bleed Purify |
| Volcanic Eruption | Galewind |
| Guillotine | Focus Galewind |
| Brutal Impact | Galewind |
| Spinning Sword | Wealth |
| Ground Smash | Wealth |
- Bleed can be paired with Wild Stomp or Flash Blade to keep it permanently up for some extra tiny bits of damage through the course of the encounter.
- Wealth is important for this build as it helps smooth out your Fury Meter rotation to get into Burst Mode. Use higher grade runes if you have them.
- Galewind should be applied on almost all your damage skills to speed up their animations faster.
- Quick Recharge helps you with a chance of reducing the overall cooldown of skills.
- Purify can be slotted on Wild Rush or Wild Stomp as they're spam-able enough for high chances of removing a debuff.
- Focus is paired with Guillotine as the skill is near instant animation, thus it doesn't need to be paired with Galewind and you're able to reduce it's mana cost with Focus to solve the mana issues.
(*)Skill preference choices.
Gear Skill Tree
While Gems add benefits to skills, you can also increase the effects of Skill Tree themselves. Skill Tree levels go up to 5 and each level can increase the damage, cooldown reduction, or buff that they provide.
For more information on how to add equipment Skill Tree and how to get them, please visit our Skill Tree System Guide.
- Ground Smash
- Flash Blade
| Brutal Impact | Weak Point Detection Charge Enhancement Furious Greatsword |
| Volcanic Eruption | Released Fury Bloody Eruption |
| Guillotine | Quick Prep Furious Blow Flame Slash |
| Furious Claw | Quick Prep Burning Hands Driving Hit |
| Wild Stomp | Swift Attack Prep |
| Spinning Sword | Quick Prep Focus Windswift |
| Ground Smash | Focus Flame Spin |
(*) Skill preference depending whichever you took.
- Brutal Impact damage tripods/skill tree node are high priority as this your highest damage basic skills. Since you can't get tripods for Bloodlust.
- Summary Execution tripod can replace Brutal Impact in scenarios with high mobility bosses.
- Quick Prep on Guillotine is very Important to max it out as soon as possible as it opens up the option to double cast the skill inside your identity if you have a Level 9 or 10 Cooldown Gem on it.
- For the 1 Cycle build you are require to get Level 5 on all the Focus for any skill that has it and for 1.5 Cycle builds it is not a priority to get Level 5 as Level 4 is enough to make the builds function since you are generating half of the Fury Meter then wait for the skills to come back up from cooldown to generate the rest.
Gems
Gems grant bonus damage and cooldown reduction to specific skills. You can only equip 11 of these Gems at a time so it is recommended that you prioritize the Gems for your most important skills.
Please visit our Gem System Guide for more information like how to create higher tier Gems.
Attack Gems
Bloodlust
Brutal Impact
Volcanic Eruption
Guillotine
Furious Claw
Cooldown Gems
Brutal Impact
Volcanic Eruption
Guillotine
Furious Claw
Wild Stomp
Spinning Sword*
Ground Smash*
(*) These skills gems can be replaced with each other depending which skills you are using. Replace Spinning Sword with Ground Smash even if you are using both of them. Since Spinning Sword has privilege of Quick Prep.
- Bloodlust and Brutal Impact have the highest priority to get their Level 9 or 10 Attack Gems first as they are your highest burst damage skills in your kit then Volcanic Eruption and Guillotine next and then the others.
- Guillotine with at least Level 9 Cooldown Gem and having Level 5 Quick Prep will allow you to squeeze in 2 cast inside Burst Mode at the very beginning and at the very last second before Burst Mode ends.
Card Sets
Cards are an endgame system for maximizing your character. Below are the recommended sets for this class.
Check out the Card Guide for more details on how to obtain them.
Budget Card Set
Budget Card Set 2
This card set does not replace Light of Salvation set or Kazero's Legion Commanders set, but it can be use if you're new to the game and has set to get your Light of Salvation/Kazero's Legion Commanders set +18 or +30 yet.
Optional Card Set
Optimal Damage Card Set
Summary
- Punisher Slayer's damage comes from stacking really high Specialization stats as it boost their Bloodlust damage and gives them more damage increase while in Burst Mode.
- Punisher Slayer does not have Exhaustion Debuff after Burst Mode expires, so do not use your Fury Meter generator during your DPS rotation , so you can immediately start generating Fury when Burst Mode ends.
- Raid Captain is capped with the Swiftness from your necklace, 20% Movement Speed from Burst Mode and support's Yearning Set.
- If you have to do damage in a short burst moments, prioritize getting these skills out first in these order as they are your highest damage distribution skills ; Bloodlust, Ragna Break , Brutal Impact, Volcanic Eruption.
- Take your time to precisely land all your skills during Burst Mode at the back of the target as Ambush Master and Entropy Set gives you massive damage boost since all of your main damage skills have Back Attack modifier.
Credits
Written by Rei
Reviewed by Starlast