Introduction
Deathblades have two viable raid builds centered around each of their Class Engravings, Remaining Energy and Surge. This article focuses on the former, the Remaining Energy Deathblade.
Deathblades have an Identity Gauge called Death Orb Meter that you charge by using any Deathblade skill. Deathblades Identity Gauge is separated into 3 Death Orbs. As long as 1 Death Orb is filled, you can enter Death Trance, immediately reducing the cooldowns of all your skills and giving access to a new big damage skill Surge Skill.
Therefore, their playstyle revolves around using high damage charging skills to build Death Orb Meter as fast as possible. After using most of their damage skills to build their meter, they enter Death Trance to immediately reduce skill cooldowns. Right after, they use Surge Skill for big damage and end Death Trance. The whole process repeats itself, allowing Deathblades to have high sustained damage output.
Remaining Energy further reinforces this type of playstyle by granting Attack Speed, Movement Speed, and increased damage when using Surge Skill.
Deathblades, no matter the Class Engraving, are heavily reliant on Back Attacks and landing your skills. You want to make full use of your buff from applying Open Weakness and the Back Attack +10% Crit Rate. When Deathblades miss their big Death Orb Meter gain skills, it is extremely punishing. Your skills take longer to recharge, your damage rotation is slowed, and as a result your overall damage uptime is lowered.
This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 50 before transitioning to it. Check out the Deathblade Leveling and 1-50 Leveling guides to reach Level 50.
Check out the Surge Deathblade for an alternative Deathblade playstyle. Check out the Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons guides for an introduction to their content.
Raid Skill Build
- Spincutter has two important purposes. First it applies Open Weakness on the target, and second it acts as a movement skill and a gap closer.
- Dark Axel serves as a great repositioning tool as its level 10 Skill Tree High Axel allows you to jump over bosses. This helps you easily get into position to Back Attack.
- Soul Absorber, Void Strike, and Blitz Rush are your 3 main DPS skills. They are all Charge Skills and synergize well with the Super Charge engraving. The first 2 skills are great for Death Orb Meter gain.
- Moonlight Sonic is a good non-charging DPS skill and charges your Death Orb Meter.
- Earth Cleaver is generally used as the Counter and a short gap closer that also deals damage.
- Maelstrom provides a self-buff which increases Death Orb Meter gain for a short time. Additionally, the level 7 Skill Tree Dark Order provides an additional Attack Speed buff for party members.
- Flash Blink is used over Blade Assault due to its utility. You generate a decent amount of Death Orb Meter with a much faster skill animation time. Flash Blink also allows you to phase through bosses, providing you an efficient repositioning tool.
Alternatives
- Depending on how easy it is to reposition around a boss, consider replacing Dark Axel with Turning Slash for more damage. You don't really need Dark Axel if the boss model is small and easy to maneuver around.
Gameplay & Skill Rotation
- Deathblade playstyle revolves around Back Attacking for the 10% Crit Rate buff, while also constantly applying the Open Weakness debuff from Spincutter.
- Spending 2 Death Orbs to go into Death Trance reduces the cooldowns of all your skills by 30%, while spending 3 reduces them by 50%. Depending on how high your Specialization is, you probably just want to expend 2 Death Orbs to keep your damage rotation going.
- As long as your 3rd Death Orb is partially filled, using Surge Skill will grant you the 3rd tier buff that the Remaining Energy Engraving provides. Using Death Trance just as your 3rd Death Orb lights up, then immediately using Surge Skill to end Death Trance is an option if you don't have enough Specialization to hit 3 Death Orbs in one rotation. This logic can also be applied to 2 Death Orbs. You will still receive the 2nd tier buff as long as your 2nd Death Orb is partially filled.
- Main Damage Rotation
- Spincutter > Maelstrom > Soul Absorber > Blitz Rush > Earth Cleaver > Turning Slash* > Void Strike > Moonlight Sonic
- Death Trance at 2 or 3 Death Orbs and Surge Skill immediately afterward
- Short Burst Rotation
- Spincutter > Maelstrom > Soul Absorber > Void Strike > Moonlight Sonic
(*) If you took Turning Slash over Dark Axel.
Stats Priority
Remaining Energy Deathblades run high Specialization and Crit. High Specialization allows your skills to generate more Death Orb Meter, which allows you to generate at least 2 Death Orbs for higher skill cooldown reduction when entering Death Trance. Ideally, you want enough Specialization to hit 3 Death Orbs in one damage rotation for the 50% Cooldown Reduction. You should focus all your accessories on Specialization with Crit coming from your necklace only.
With at least 300 Specialization, a full skill rotation generates enough meter for 2 Death Orbs. This is assuming no Wealth runes, and you replaced Dark Axel with Turning Slash.
With at least 900 Specialization, a full skill rotation generates enough meter for 3 Death Orbs (assuming the same conditions above).
Aim for as high Specialization as possible for late T3 end game to further increases your meter gain and Cooldown Refresh effect from Death Trance to increase the frequent rate of your rotations.
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)
Circulate
Fervor
Hammer
Wedge
Ambush
Alternatives
Basic Effect(Dexterity)
Precise
Assail
Superiority
Sawtooth Blade
Weapon Power
Harvest
Expose Weakness
Dagger
Engravings
Class Engravings provide powerful benefits that can significantly change playstyle. 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
- Remaining Energy allows the Deathblade to maintain high damage uptime and receive free stats when ending Death Trance. This engraving is extremely efficient at level 1, and it is recommended that you keep it at that level for Tier 1 content. At Tier 3, it's recommended that you max it out to Level 3.
- Super Charge is an excellent engraving that compliments Deathblade well. 3 of Deathblade's main damage skills, Blitz Rush, Void Strike, and Soul Absorber and all charging skills. You will enjoy the increased Attack Speed of your skills in addition to the unconditional damage increase.
Add-On Endgame Engravings
- Master of Ambush is a great Engraving that synergizes with Deathblade fairly well. There is already a playstyle emphasis on Back Attacking with applying Open Weakness from using Spincutter. It can easily replace Grudge as you will always want to be Back Attacking.
- Adrenaline provides an easy source of Crit Rate in later Tiers when you have Cooldown Reduction jewels. This synergizes well with Deathblade as low cooldown skills will help upkeep the Adrenaline buff and Death Orb Meter Identity gain.
- Grudge* increases damage done while also increasing damage received. The engraving is a highly effective damage increase without needing specific positioning, making it worthwhile even with the penalty.
- Cursed Doll* is an alternative engraving you can equip instead of Grudge. This Engraving also provides a flat damage increase with no positional condition. You will want to be dodging boss skills anyway, so the penalty is not as bad as it seems.
(*)These Engravings should only be used at Engraving Level 3.
Optimal Setups
Engravings are listed in order of priority from left to right.
Option 1
Option 2
Gear Sets
These are the specific gear sets for each tier.
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 Flowing Piercing Wind are Thirain and Balthorr.
Check out the Sidereal Weapon Guide for more details.
Runes
Runes enhance Skills with extra bonuses. All Rune drops are account bound and have limited availability, so placement of Runes on the correct Skills is important. Below are the recommended pairings.
Check the Rune Guide for more details.
| Skills | Runes |
| Soul Absorber | Wealth |
| Moonlight Sonic | Wealth Galewind |
| Blitz Rush | Galewind |
| Void Strike | Wealth |
| Earth Cleaver | Overwhelm |
| Dark Axel | Protection Galewind |
| Maelstrom | Focus |
| Spincutter | Bleed Rage Quick Recharge Galewind |
| Turning Slash* | Protection Galewind |
- Galewind is ideal for speeding up your best damage dealing skills.
- Overwhelm is used to further improve the Stagger we apply with Earth Cleaver.
- Wealth increases our Death Orb Meter gain even further.
- Focus reduces mana cost of skills.
- Protection helps to absorb incoming damage while using your mobility skills.
- Bleed, Quick Recharge and Rage are solid options for Spincutter. This skill has a short Cooldown time, which increases the chance of triggering the attached rune's effect.
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.
| Soul Absorber | Swift Fingers Fist of Darkness Halve |
| Moonlight Sonic | Fist of Darkness Sustain Enhancement Shade Sonic |
| Blitz Rush | Vital Point Strike Charge Enhancement Shadow Rush |
| Dark Axel | Swift Fingers |
| Void Strike | Orb Control Fist of Darkness Dark Explosion |
| Earth Cleaver | Weak Point Detection Earth Explosion |
| Spincutter | Quick Preparation |
| Maelstrom | Orb Control Dark Order |
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
Soul Absorber
Moonlight Sonic
Blitz Rush
Void Strike
Surge Skill
Cooldown Gems
Soul Absorber
Moonlight Sonic
Blitz Rush
Void Strike
Maelstrom
Spincutter*
Earth Cleaver*
(*) Optional gems choices.
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
- Deathblades focus on Back Attacking because of the Spincutter's Open Weakness Skill Tree debuff and the free +10% Crit Rate.
- You want high Specialization to gain 2 to 3 Death Orbs in one skill rotation.
- Remaining Energy provide Deathblades with great buffs after using Surge Skill to end Death Trance.
- Your 3 main DPS skills Soul Absorber, Blitz Rush, and Void Strike all synergize with the Super Charge engraving, so make it a priority to get it to level 3.
Credits
Written by Rei
Edited by Yaen
Reviewed by Starlast
