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Spear / Dagger PvP Build Guide

Last Updated:January 6, 2025|Changelog

Welcome to the Spear / Dagger PvP Build Guide. Shadowdancer is the premiere AoE Damging option for all melee weapon enthusiasts! Javelin Inferno paired with Thunder Spirit has massive AoE potential when throwing the Javelins into clumps of players!

You aren't just a glass cannon though, as you have multiple defensive abilities / passives as well! Unyielding Sentinel provides a solid barrier as well as increased Resistances or Heavy Attack Chance depending on your playstyle. Camouflage Cloak provides an incredible escape tool or can be used offensively to position safely near the group of enemies. Shadow Walker offers an incredible boost to your Evasion as well. Played to its fullest potential, you're an incredible asset to your team.

End Game Spear / Dagger PvP Build

If you're interested in PvE, check out our Spear / Dagger PvE Build Guide!

Pros
  • High AoE Burst
  • High Survivability
  • Mid-Range Burst Potential
Cons
  • Lacks Mana Sustain
  • Susceptible to Melee Peels

Skill Builds and Rotations

Large Scale PvP
Single Target PvP

Normal DPS Version

Death From Above Engage Version

  • Dagger's weapon mastery, Master of Evasion, gives you an additional 105 Evasion while you have a dagger as your active weapon.
    • To capitalize on this bonus, always set your dagger as your primary weapon when moving around in PvP.
  • Death From Above is a great long-range engage tool so long as the entire party / guild can follow up, if not, stick to the Normal DPS Version.
  • Javelin Inferno is only usable once Ember Stacks are obtained.
    • First, isolate stragglers away from their guild and / or monsters to get Ember Stacks with Explosive Fury before engaging.
    • Additional Ember Stacks are obtained while killing players with any Spear Skills.

Priority Buff

  • Unyielding Sentinel is important for increased damage during the burst window.
    • Use the Skill Specialization Sentinel's Bastion to instantly gain the Heavy Attack Chance buff.
  • Lightning Infusion and Thunder Spirit are to be used at the same time when chucking your Javelins as they add additional AoE Damage.

Offensive Tools / Burst

  • Javelin Inferno is the main source of damage in this Spear / Dagger PvP Build in Large Scale.
    • The Javelin bounces back and forth a few times between enemies so long as there are additional enemies near the target. Don't waste this skill on an isolated target.
    • Avoid targeting Endurance users as the damage is ultimately lowered without landing Critical Hits.
  • Combined with tossing your Javelins, Phoenix Barrage is another fairly strong skill to use on multiple targets.
    • The cone of damage is surprisingly large and with Heroic Polearm of the Resistance, it can reach closer to 12m+ Range!
    • Use Abyssal Cleave before to ensure the target gets hit by the entire duration of this skill alongside outputting additional damage thanks to Abyssal Cleave's Skill Specialization, Critical Cleave.
  • Rising Slash can be used as either a gap closer, or to explode the Ignite and Burst Stacks you have on an opponent to secure the kill and make sure the target doesn't get away!

Defensive Tools

  • Sentinel's Bastion is a great tool for surviving during fights where there isn't a healer around.
    • While increasing damage output is good, sometimes surviving is more important.
      • Use this offensively / defensively at your own discretion.
  • Always use mobility skills like Block Blade, Shadow Strike, Gale Rush, or even Rising Slash to proc Shadow Walker.
    • You always want to upkeep high Ranged and Magic Evasion to reduce the chances of getting hit by stray Flash Waves and other AoE Skills from Bow/Staff users.
  • Use Camouflage Cloak at your discretion. Only you can determine when to use it offensively or defensively.
  • Phantom Smokescreen is great to use to block enemy AoE and even Chain Hook from enemy tanks!
    • This skill can also be used to help teammates as the smokescreen affects party members too.
    • If you find yourself caught or in a bad position, using this skill can help give you time to find a way out.
    • This helps to buy time for your teammates to notice and for skills to come off cooldown.
    • Evading attacks here also proc Assassination Stance.
      • If you decide to use that Passive, consider replacing Assassin's Step for it.

Alternative Skills

  • Nimble Steps is great to help reduce the chance at being CC'd however, for more Offensive Passives try the following.
    • Mortal Wrath, Retaliatory Strike, or Malice Surge

Slaughtering Slash Version

Thunderclouds Bombing Version

  • Thunderclouds Bombing can be an excellent finisher, however it scales off the Dagger's Weapon Damage which isn't always that high depending on the build you use so Rising Slash can help to server as an alternative method of finishing off an opponent instead by exploding your Ignite and Burst Stacks.
    • There are times the target can break free from your CC before being able to use Thunderclouds Bombing as well which is another reason to use Rising Slash as it's capable to be used from range.
  • Rising Slash does however jump to other opponents, so another alternative is removing the Skill Specialization, Slaughtering Slash.
    • The tradeoff is more time for the opponent to react / get healed as you have to cast it twice to explode the Ignite and Burst Stacks.

Priority Buffs

  • Unyielding Sentinel is important for increased damage during the burst window.
    • Use the Skill Specialization Sentinel's Bastion to instantly gain the Heavy Attack Chance buff.
  • Lightning Infusion should always be used before engaging to ensure higher chances of landing Critical Hits throughout the combo.

Damage Combos

Full Combo

  1. Lightning Infusion
  2. Shadow Strike
  3. Ankle Strike
  4. Culling Arc
    • Both attacks.
  5. Abyssal Cleave
  6. Phoenix Barrage
  7. Thunderclouds Bombing or Slaughtering Slash

Partial 1 CC Combo

  1. Lightning Infusion
  2. Shadow Strike
  3. Abyssal Cleave
  4. Phoenix Barrage
  5. Thunderclouds Bombing or Slaughtering Slash

Ember Stacking AoE Combo

  1. Lightning Infusion
  2. Shadow Strike
  3. Ankle Strike
  4. Explosive Fury
    • Use multiple attacks.
  5. Gain distance.
    • If there are multiple enemies, don't stay near the opponent as the next skill can be spammed from range.
  6. Javelin Inferno

Additional Skills

  • Knife Throwing can be added to help reduce Healing on a target.
  • Tempest Strike can be added as a way of removing some pressure when you find yourself to be the focus of multiple Melee opponents at once.

Skill Prioritization

Active Priority

Passive Priority

PvP Gear Progression

Acquiring Gear pieces and upgrading them is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. If you enjoy both PvE and PvP content, use these Spear / Dagger PvP Builds for PvE as well. Hover over the items to see multiple / alternative gear sources!

If you're interested in PvE Gear Progression, check out our Spear / Dagger PvE Build Guide here!

  • The next time these builds are entirely revamped is once T2 Epic gear is announced.
    • No more changes are planned for these builds made to this gear until T2 gear is released.
    • This doesn't mean I won't add gear.
  • With 2-Star Dungeons and Material Transmutation out, every piece of armor / accessory is accessible. Thus, there aren't any "No Field Boss" gear versions.

Rune Building Philosophy (Click Me!)

Bellandir, Junobote, Shaikal, or Heroic Spear (Click Me!)

Early Mid
Game
End Game
Ranged / Magic Evasion
End Game
Melee Evasion
End Game
Archboss

Early Game Spear / Dagger PvP Build

Mid Game Spear / Dagger PvP Build

Trying to PvP with blues at this stage of the game invites constant death. You want to transition as fast as possible to your Mid Game Spear / Dagger PvP Build. This will let you stand somewhat of a chance against other players until you reach End Game gear.

Fully trait your blue gear before transferring over to purple gear. A fully traited blue piece will give you 960 Blessings for you to use. You can use a trash blue gear piece and fill it up with cheap traits before transferring it over to a purple piece in the same slot.

Transition Blues

  • You don't see many blue accessories or a blue cloak here in these builds. That's because most of them are not worth using. Before transferring to a purple piece, you can fully upgrade and trait out any trash blue accessory.
  • If you want to skip directly to purple armor pieces and weapons, fully upgrade and trait out the cheapest blue you can find.

Your Goals

  • Do contracts immediately to acquire Contract Coins so you can buy Quality Lithograph: Weapons, Quality Lithograph: Armor, and Quality Lithograph: Accessories to craft Green Gear to complete Lithograph Book entries for Blue Gear.
    • This is also done to purchase Precious Epic Lv. 1 Weapon Selection Chest and receive the Heroic Polearm of the Resistance.
  • Farm accessible gear by doing Open World Dungeons.
  • Trait those accessible gear.
  • Extract traits from gear to sell in the Auction House for Lucent.
  • Turn valuable gear into Lithographs and sell them in the Auction House.

Stats

  • Your Ranged / Magic Evasion with Master of Evasion and Shadow Walker grants the ability to reach 1700+ Evasion.

Traits

  • Trait this gear as best as you can. You don't need to go hard until you start acquiring Purple Gear.
  • If transitioning to Purple Gear immediately, fill up a blue item with cheap traits before transferring.

Dungeon Gear Sources

  • Lequirus's Wicked Thorns from Cave of Destruction
  • Amber Dimensional Band
    • Precious Epic Accessory Selection Chest
      • Requires Recipe: Dimensional Essence: Salvation to craft.
    • You must do each Co-Op Dungeon at least 3 times to acquire enough tokens to craft it.
  • Shadow Harvester Boots
    • Carmine Rage Island
    • Avolos Tracker in Sanctum of Desire
  • Phantom Wolf Gloves
    • Voidwastes
    • Demonhoof Butcher in Syleuss' Abyss Floors 5/6

Open World Dungeon Gear Sources

  • Shadowed Crypt
    • Hermit's Shroud from Dark Enforcer
      • Precious Epic Equipment Chest: Shadow
      • Cloak that Protected a Hero
  • Sanctum of Desire
    • Shadow Harvester Tunic from Avolos Tracker
    • Shadow Harvester Boots from Avolos Tracker
  • Saurodoma Island
    • Duskblood Gloves from Reptilian Lancer
    • Phantom Wolf Breeches from Reptilian Soldier

Full Offensive Damage
Heroic Spear / Dagger PvP Build w/ Runes

Balanced Damage w/ High Hit
Shaikal Spear / Dagger PvP Build w/ Runes

Rune Synergy Options

  • Critical Hit Damage Reduction for more defense.
  • Shield Block Penetration Chance for more damage against Sword and Shield heavy comps.
  • Attack Speed for more damage.

Full Offensive or Balanced Damage w/ High Hit Builds

The Full Offensive Build results in consistently higher damage output at the expense of Hit. Most players opt for more Ranged / Magic Evasion builds in Large Scale which allows the Hit sacrifice. Should you find yourself missing often, switch to the Balanced Damage w/ High Hit Build as you gain over 1000 Hit.

Defensive and Support Runes

This is interchangeable depending on what you need and your server meta.

  • Use Ranged Evasion Runes if your server is heavy on Longbow users.
  • Use Magic Evasion Runes if your server is heavy on Staff users.
  • 3 Skill Damage Resistance Runes can be used in place of Hit Runes on the Belt and other places so long as the Hit Chance is high enough for your server without Hit Runes.

When you get a Rare Chaos Rune: Ring with a good stat, replace the Support Rune in your Rings.

PvP Stats and Traits

  • Hit Chance, Critical Hit Chance, Heavy Attack Chance, Skill Damage Resistance, Skill Damage Boost, and Evasion are your most important traits.
  • Master of Evasion and Shadow Walker lets your Ranged and Magic Evasion reach anywhere between 1800 - 2000.
    • This lets you evade nearly 40 %- 50% of Ranged and Magic skills versus someone with 1000 Hit Chance.

Gear Sources (Click Me!)

Melee Evasion - Higher HP Version
Spear / Dagger PvP Build w/ Runes

Melee Evasion - Higher Hit Version
Spear / Dagger PvP Build w/ Runes

  • This build is mainly for Arena PvP and Small Scale PvP where Melee users dominate.
  • With Master of Evasion, you reach over 2000 Melee Evasion.
  • Master of Evasion and Shadow Walker lets your Ranged Evasion reach closer to 1600 - 1800 as well.

Defensive and Support Runes

Most defensive runes here have Melee Evasion slotted. Feel free to use Ranged Evasion Runes if you feel you need more.

When you get a Rare Chaos Rune: Ring with a good stat, replace the Support Rune in your Rings.

Gear Sources (Click Me!)

Heroic Spear PvP Build w/ Runes

Engage with Bellandir PvP Build w/ Runes

Guardians

Guardians are special transformations that add offensive or defensive buffs or attacks to your character for 30 seconds. These are the recommended Guardians for this class in PvE and PvP situations.

  • Pale Nemesis Hartach is a strong Guardian to force enemies to drop target as you get kills.
    • This helps survivability and grants opportunities to reposition after each kill should the need arise while playing Shadowdancer.
  • Lady Knight Kamarshea is a great defensive Guardian for PvP due to its shield.

Summary

  • Shadowdancer provides fantastic AoE potential with Javelin Inferno and Thunder Spirit.
  • There is an emphasis on taking advantage of enemies playing close together as opposed to attacking an individual target when tossing your Javelins.
  • Target stragglers isolated from the enemy mainball to gain Ember Stacks before bursting enemies.
  • Constant use of Shadow Walker by using Block Blade roll is crucial to staying alive in any form of PvP.
  • The ideal stat breakpoint for any Spear / Dagger PvP Build you should achieve is 70 Dexterity, 50 Perception and 50 Strength.

Credits

Written by Bloo
Reviewed by Nymphellas and Tenkei

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