About the Shadowblade

The Shadowblade works similar to the popular Darkrunner but with more CC/CC resistance.
Also the Shadowblade is squishier than the Darkrunner.
Before I start with the tactics I'll tell you the pros and cons!

Pros

- High burst damage
- Many CC Skills
- CC resistance
- If played right can kill almost every other class in 1v1
- Strong mobility

Cons

- Squishy
- Hard to master
- If skills fail, lacks extreme damage
- dead if CCed first
- needs to close the gap fast

Equipment

The main stats of a Shadowblade are Strength (DMG) and Agility (Crit).
So the Crafted lighting type of gear is what you need.

Weapon

Normally you go with a leather armor (crit bonus) and a 2h weapon or dual wield.
I'll give you a quick explanaiton of the advantages and disadvantages of each weapon.

2h Choice

If you want to go with a 2h weapon you should take a nodachi. It comes with a lightning type (so strength + agility is available) and also a nice attack speed - the passive effect also gives you a higher crit chance. The Flame (Strength) and Gale (Agility) types are easier to get 'cus the lightning type is the one available for upgrading.

Another powerful choice is the Obsidian Nodachi.
The + X% Crit Damage make it one of the (if not the) best weapon choice if you want to go 2h.
Also it has Strength and Agility so that's covered.

You could also go for the 2h Axe. It comes with a lighting type as well and can make the enemy bleed.
Bleeding gives +37% damage so it's a good choice.

All other weapon types don't come with a lighting type so you should choose one of the above!

For starters: Get the Hasla 2h Axe and then aim for getting an epherium nodachi (or better).

Dual Wield Choice

If you go dual wield you should go with a Katana in the Main hand (Fast weapon + higher crit chance).
Katanas come witha lightning type as well.

Another decent awesome choice is the Obsidian Katana - it gives you also magic attack and hence you deal damage with focal concussion.
If you go with a obsidian Katana, you should swap with either (if you want to keep the AoE) or (eneverate has some awesome combo possibilities!

Personal Choice

I personally don't go with either of the above variants.
For those of you that are interested:
In my main hand I use the Obsidian Katana and in the offhand it's the Obsidian Shield.
The Obsidian Shield is the BEST shield in the game and with ayanad the damage output of most classes increased drasticly so I really like the extra health and defense.

Tips'n'Tricks

There are also 3 nice things to know about fighting:

1. You can swap weaons even if you are stunned. Meaning: you can equip a shield if you get stunned to reduce the damage! SO always take a shield with u and make equipping it possible with the Hotkeybar.

There are 2 really impressive honor weapons (sold by the weaponsmith).

2. The Nodachi: It comes with an active skill that will let you go berserk (+25% Atatck Speed and Damage but also +70% recieved damage). If you set the timing right (swap to this nodachi, use the active, swap back) after you put your enemy to sleep u can kill them easier - be aware of the enemys class and equipment as they might be able to break you CC-Chain and then u are defenseless.

3. The Dagger: Especially if you go with dual wield u can consider using this dagger either with weaponswapping or as ur offhand. It will apply bleed to the enemy (using it while the enemy is stunned/tripped will not break the CC (same goes for the Banshee's Wail fear). And bleed will increase the damage of by 37%!

Armor

You will go with a leather armor as your main armor. The crafted leather armor has a lightning type so everything is good.
The set bonus even gives you more movement!
The leather armor gives you a higher critical chance so everything is good here as well.

Also there are 3 intersting Auroria leather items:
Auroria Beldame Belt - 1m more range for . A good one. I personally use it.
Auroria Beldame Guards - removes 50% of the delay for the sleep of . This one will make much stronger. I can highly recommend it!
Auroria Promise Boots - 3m more range for Shadowstep. useful against ranged classes.

Keep in mind that your strength will be pretty low if you use all three Auroria parts so you might consider using flame chest/pants.

There are also tow other really strong items (hard to get).
The gloves from a worldboss called "Meina" (you will need 1-2 raids to kill it) - they give you more damage for and are leather!

The head piece from the 10 Person Sea of Drowned Love - backstab damage +4% is nice and the cmbo effect will increase ur movement speed and critical rate.

Jewelry

For the earrings go with the crafted flame type. It gives you strength (more damage) and evasion (helpful in larger group PvP) and the gale type that will icnrease your parry rate (use those if you skilled )

The necklace allows you two choices:
Either the flame type with strength which will increase your health or the gale type with agility which will heal you for 4% of the damage you take.
Also the Halcyona one is a strong chocie as well.

The rings have three intersting types as well. Again it's up to you:
Gale - agility + armor ignore
Flame - strength + attack speed
Life - spirit + skill damage

Just keep in mind that the attack speed of the flame rings are only stacking partwise so you should wear only one flame ring. Never two.

If you have the chance to get the Dream Ring. It's one of the best you can get. But very hard to become.

Additional note

As you are at least 33% a mage and are using spells you might also want to get your spirit up so you will hit more of the stuns - if you fail one of them u are msot likely dead. So aim for a high magic accuracy (for example get yourself a Nodachi with Spirit and take a Lighting or Flame Bow for the stats)

Luna Stones

Head: Honorbold Intuitive Lunafrost - +20% Stealth detection (bought from the honor merchant)
Chest: Honorbold Warrior's Lunafrost - 3% recieved damage - from the honor merchant
Hands: Honorbold Precision Lunafrost - 24% Critical Damage (24% of you normal 50% - so real 12%) - also from the honor merchant.
2h Weapon: Honorbold Ruler's Lunafrost - +3% Skill Damage - from the honor merchant
Feet: Flawless Assassin's Lunafrost - +5% Movement speed - crafted (alchemy)

For all other Armor/weapons simply sue the ones with stat improvments like +7 Strength/Agility/Spirit.

Luna Gems

Bow and Flute/Lute: Vivid Fire Lunagem: Strong Blow - +3 Physical Attack - crafted (Handicrafts)
Chest - Lucid Gale Lunagem: Flexibility - +320 Resilience - honor merchant
Hands: Vivid Earth Lunagem: Esoteric - +1.5% Parry rate - crafted (handicrafts)
Legs - Lucid Earth lunagem: Mastery - +235 Toughness - honor merchant
Feet Vivid Earth Lunagem: Celerity - +2% Movement Speed - crafted (Handicrafts)
2h Weapon - Lucid Gale Lunagem: Fidelity - +280 Focus - honor merchant

For all other slots usethe +50 p-def or m-def lunagems (handicrafts).

Skills

In this part I'll explain my skill choice:
We will go with the "autoattack" from Battlerage because it can trip the enemy if they are snared. snares and you will use it often so these two skills are a must-have!

is adecent choice for some extra damage if you go pure melee.

gives you buffs if you stand at the area. You will be moving constantly so skip this skill!

: You could use this one instead of frenzy.

: just no.

gives a CC break. Take it.

: our MAIN damage output.

good for 1v1 fights. Not so good in open PvP. But you can skip the animation of with it. Take it!

: As I said fast damage. This skill will increase it. So a good choice.

: a good gap closer in 1v1 and nice damage in group fights.

: Not only a gap closer but it removes shackle as well. crucial!

We don't deal magic damage so skip all the damage skills - exception: u use the obsidian katana, then tale either or .

. Can remove a debuff and give you more magic resistance.
If used after it will silence the enemy - that means 4sec a mage can't do anything!

: Makes you immune against sleep and fear. One of the mainreasons for the witchcraft tree.

: Sleep your enemy. Just in case you failed some of your important skills this can make up some time to either escape with or to wait the extra few seconds for a cooldown!

: AoE fear and stun? OP!

: short stun and then a buff remove (note: removes ONLY 1 buff!!!) - take it.

: stun. Not much else to say. Can be blocked by the enemy with .
Take it anyways and use it after you stunned him with or if he got no .

good for a quick escape.

takes to long for using and gives no CC. Not needed.

even if you are not an archer this will give a 21% damage boost, also has a range of 25m! So you can easily use it before charging in!

: selfexplaining.

/: no...

: Another good damage source if used properly. Can initiate the silence combo for .

: movement. You want to reach these archers don't you?

: Gap closer and teleport in one skill. Good for starting or leaving a fight!
Also it gives a quick movement increase!

: Good damage, ranged, and applies debuffs. any more questions?


Now the passives. We'll skip most of the shadowplay and witchcraft passives for the sole reason of not having endless skill points and the battlerage passives are crucial for us.

even if we don't dual wield this will still give a 8% higher crit chance! We need the crit.

Most people go with and it's a good choice. In most fights you will not see this trigger unless u have a good parry rate. I personally use a lot of parry so it's a strong choice. You can use it instead of .

. The cc decrease is useful but not really that important.
The movement speed is! Take this or .

: We are trying to crit the enemy very often so this will be up most of the time. -2000 armor isn't that much but still helpful.

: 15% more damage is self explaining.

: A good choice to increase your crit chances.

Now we have 1 skillpoint left. You can choose between the following passives:
- damage increase
/ - the one u missed earlier. see above.
- if you prever evade over parry this is your choice or if you just want a little bit higher survival chances.

Combos

The most important combos are:
>>> : Trip (keep in mind that the defence tree has a buff that prevents tripping)

/ >>> : More damage and again a trip!

>>> : If not immune to sleep and fear this will give you time for the sleep to start.

>>> : Silence the enemy

>>> : Damage boost

>>> >>> : Applies "Shaken" - only use this against classes like tanks. Otherwise u'll need the gap closer in other situations.

A good way to initate a 1v1 fight to nuke the enemy down is:

(debuff) >>> (gap close) >>>( fear to be save >) (fast stun + buff remove) >>> (increase the stun time) >>> (first damage) >>> (Main damage)

This will most likely take 50-100% of the enemys health. Now you could continue with to remove another buff (can be used before as well if you need to remove a buff first). Then if you need a bit time: .
But if the enemy is almost dead take him down with for example >>> (and trip him to keep cc up) or just as it can't be dodged.
Some tanks will still be alive after this but the redoubt buff should be removed so keep CCing him with trip to buy time for the cd of you skills or take him down with !

But this is just one possible combo. I recommend you to test a bit around to find others.
This one is risky as well as you would use all of your CC skills so if the enemy is still alive he has free roam for a few seconds.

5v5 / Group fights

There are certain things you need to know about playing a Shadowblade in 5v5 Arena or other group fight situations:
The Shadowblade MUSN'T engage - you are way to squishy to engage a fight and even if you can succeed with you'll most likly have enemys with ! So do NOT engage.
It's your primary role to continue the CC-Chain your group starts and "remove" one enemy.
You will jump in (most likely with ) then cast and vaporize your primary target (for example a healer with cloth armor) and then quickly escape either with or .
You could also go for Kamikaze - jump in cast all your skills and then simply die. This will force your enemy to focus you and gives your team the edge.
Also you could upon people who stand slightly outside of the group and kill those - but be careful you might be spotted!

There is not much you can/should change your skills.
You could remove as it will make you jump from enemy to enemy and your position will be completly random. You are unlikely to survive this skill.
Also will kill you once the stun kicks in so use it with care - or simply switch it.
Skills that could be useful are:
- AoE Damage
- stronger movement and hence you are more likely to survive
- take one enemy away from the group and quickly kill him

After you engaged your target the combos are the same as in 1v1 situations as it's your duty to force one of the enemys into one of these situations.

Counter Measures

In this section I'll give you hints on how to fight certain commonly seen classes.
(This section is solely for 1v1 situations!)

Primeval

Fighting a Primeval is pretty easy. At least if you got your Auroria gear mentioned in the Equipment section. Simply buff yourself with then use (more damage!) (to reduce the damage of the Primevals attacks), behind him and use . Only Primevals that outgear a lot will be able to win in the around 3.5seconds this combo takes until it kicks in.
After the Primeval is sleeping simply kill him with the common damage combo:
>>> >>> >>>

Stone Arrow

Fighting a stone arrow is similar to fighting the primeval.
It's just a bit harder 'cause you need to pay attention for Redoubt. If the stone arrow uses redoubt either try to remove it with or or simply escape the fight and go stealth until redoubt runs out.

Darkrunner

You have two ways of fighting a Darkrunner:
Either you engage and stunlock him ( >>> | >>> ) or you wait for him to engage and then stun him with the moment the uses //. The later of the two way is a certain stun if you get the timing right. Again don't forget as it will reduce all physical damage for 4sec (and keep an eye out if the enemy uses it! If so you need to delay him with stuns like )

Blighter

To win against a BLighter you need to stunlock him (same way as you would go against a Darkrunner), but keep in mind that you might be force to get 2 como rotations done to kill a Blighter (hence use stealth at the end of the first combo - also don't use if you aren't sure if you can kill the enemy with one rotation as it will end your stealth with the 1 damage the enemy takes once it's effect ends)

Abolisher

Very similar to fighting the Blighter, just keep in mind that the Abolisher is slower and you can escape Redoubt by simply keeping a distance! Also you will need two combo rotations if you don't outgear the Abolisher a lot. Also keep in mind that Shrug-it-off makes it impossible to stun the ABolisher (don't even try if Shrug-it-off is used).

Dreambreaker

You will have a very hard time against Dreambreaker.
First of all: if you engage you need to end it so take measures that the Dreambreaker will be stunned immediately! ( will NOT allow you a permanent CC-Chain start).
A good start is to use >>> >>> >>> and then sneak up on behind and use - then chain your CC as usual. YOu can also try a risky engage with >>> >>> >>> - if you get the feeling of this combo you can use this to win 95% of the fights with the right setup of enemy buffs (just try it and you'll get the hang of it!)
Tip: use to increase your damage (the Dreambreaker will start hand-to-hand combat and hence hit you with white hits and Defence skills. Also it will decrease the damage you take from the spells.
Also getting a quick >>> combo will win the fight for you.
Fighting Dreambreaker requires quite a lot of training.

Daggerspell (and similar mage builds)

To fight daggerspells you need to get quite a bunch of Buffs on you to decrease the chance of getting removed - winning once it's removed is nearly impossible.
Again the >>> combo will win this fight if you see a good chance to use it. Don't use before the Daggerspell used as it will simply deny it's used if used in the right moment.

Last words

I'm still working on this build so feedback is appreciated :)
If you need some more adivce feel free to ask me here at arche-base or ingame (Server: Nui, Faction: Pirate, Name: Kuroda) as I'm online around 6-18h a day :)
If I'm on your enemy faction (most likely): U can still send a mail to the enemies and you can whisper every faction while you are in the arena (as long as the other person is not).