Introduction: **Updated for 3.0b on the PRIVATE server 1/7/2019**

Background:

For starters, my name is Blaqklight and I am currently playing on the private server: ArcheRage. I am currently a member in a guild called from the west faction.


I've been playing the game since closed alpha and have well over 7k hours. I started on Ezi (ded too soon) as a pirate, moved to Nazar (evo lel) to join the west, lead a pirate guild on Ollo for six months (ded server), switched to Morpheus (fuck you, Tim), then finally ended on Hanure (plate aids) before quitting legacy servers. Now I'm back, playing on the private server. Since the game originally came out I've mainly played 6 different classes: Darkrunner, Primeval, Trickster, Cabalist, Blighter, and Shadowblade. I first wrote this guide back on the legacy servers for the 2.9 update. I will be continuously updating it here, for as long as I play on the private server.

The Class:

Shadowblade (SB) is similar to Darkrunner (DR), but with less mobility and many more CCs. Since you lack Mirror Warp and Teleportation from the Auramancy skillset, it can make getting out of some sticky situations rather difficult. Instead, you have the ability to fear your targets off of you, paralyze them mid-attack, and silence them with your combos. Who needs to run away when no one can attack you?

Most guides will tell you that SB is another "glass cannon" class, but it doesn't have to be. All of this is based off of your preferred gear. Flame sets will give you less survivability than Obsidian ones, which is all based on your personal playstyle. For this guide I am going to offer two different paths that you can take for gear/weapons, and will weigh the pros and the cons of each below.

Updates:

I've gone through and updated the guide for the private server's current version, which is a modified 3.0b. Biggest switch out of skills in the tree lies with the addition of

and the removal of

.

prevents the caster from being slept for feared for 60s, which means that you cannot be leeched. Also, it has been proven that Delirium effects from

proc bleed effects, which nullifies all of our stuns and fears. Make sure you do not have this skill.

Also, we've switched out

for

. Having an additional sleep/slowdown to force melee classes to pop their

early is fantastic. Weave this skill into your combos and force that pop to faceroll them later when

is on CD. Meme strong.

[Updated 1/7/2019] We've also now switched out

for

again. Simple reason being that the cast time for

is a bit too long, making it awkward to get off in 1v1s. Rather, following a combo of

into

, targets are now shackled AND silenced for the duration, making it much harder for them to do any damage to you (especially mages). Since

only shackles physical skills, adding

will prevent any skills of any kind.

How to Gear: Dos and Don'ts

Main Weapon(s):

You have two options here, you can either dual wield or go 2H, as this class works with both. Given the gigantic buff that 2H weapons got in the 3.0 patch, I elected to go down this route on legacy. So far on the private server, 2H Longspears seemed to be the meta until the announcement of the pending 3.5 update. With 3.0b upon us and 3.5 looming, I've decided to Dual Wield. I'm currently using an Epic Ayanad Shortspear and an Epic T6 Obsidian Dagger. The weapon passive for Shortspear is increased physical penetration chance and I find that this is incredibly helpful when fighting other SBs, DRs, or other classes of the like. The hidden passive on the dagger is increased attack speed, which usually puts me in the 600-900 range depending on if I've got a secret gift popped or not (400 honor in the honor shop). I would *not*recommend a greataxe due to the passive bleed chance, as this will ruin your fears and stuns by waking them up with damage the second after you cast it. As mentioned before, Longspear seems to be a meta on the private server, but I elected to stay away from it due to the attack speed changes in 3.0. You will have to sacrafice some of your bow and lute gem slots for Attack Speed increases instead of Defense Penetration ones which, in my opinion, will hurt your overall dps. The penetration chance is indeed fantastic (same one as shortspear), but I prefer the SS/Dagger combo.

If you're gonna dual wield anything, Id recommend an Obsidian Short Spear (SS) or any form of sword or dagger for the off hand. The ignore physical defense chance on the SS is amazing against plate and the parry rate from the sword is always awesome, as is the attack speed from the daggers. The off-hand is your personal preference. I ran a Delphinad Gale Katana for a while before switching to a dagger. Either way, you can't go wrong with an SS on this server due to the insane number of plate runners. Fight the aids.

So, TL;DR version:
Path 1: (2H): Greatswords and Nodachis. Nothing else.
Path 2: (DW): SS or Sword on main, Dagger/personal preference on offhand.
DO NOT RUN AXE OR GREATAXE!!! NO AXES!!!

Armor:

You can use just about anything, but I would *HIGHLY* recommend leather of some sort. I'm currently running Divine Obsidian T5 Leather (Hat, Chest, Pants, gloves, and boots)and two-piece divine leather flame (Waist + Guards). The defensive buffs on the jerkin and legs are awesome if you're playing more of a fighter-style class and this is a good compromise between bruiser and glass cannon. Ideally you want everything at divine T5 for the obsidian or divine delphinad flame for the other pieces. You will be limitlessly squishy with flame, so you'd better stack some extra physical and magical defense on your waist/guards, costume, or lute. People will seriously one-combo you.

Currently on the server, celestial buffs are the meta for all pvp, so getting divine doesn't have to be an immediate priority, but it is important down the road. I'd estimate another few months before divine becomes the meta. Plus, the divine buff is fantastic with the attack speed increases for us 2H users (4% increase from divine buff compared to 3% increase on celestial).

Cape:

Ah yes, personal preference time again. Everyone is going to tell you that the Delph Arrowflash Cloak is the most important thing to get, and I would agree almost 90%. Flaming Arrowflash is awesome as well if you're trying to become a crit monster.

Instrument:

Anthem of Battlerage. There isn't anything better, unless you're 1k+ melee attack without it and desperately need health. Then I'd recommend a divine obsidian flute (Again 90% of the server is physical damage, so the extra Physical Defense would be good. Get either one to celestial/divine and gem it. We'll talk about what gems to use later.

Accessories:

Get a Lightning Necklace. Defense Penetration is so OP right now and won't be nerfed until 3.5, so we've got a while.

Gale or Flame earrings. Gale for parry, Flame for evasion. Since we've got both and I won't tell you which is better. I'm currently stacked with a ton of parry. 26% parry and 16% base evasion. With the proc I get about 50%-55% evasion if is active. Its amusing seeing all of the misses.

Gale Rings are a must though. Defense Penetration is your friend, especially if your opponent is something aids like a plate wearing Paladin. Or an abolisher, since everyone on this damn server runs plate tank or Darkrunner.

Bow:

Flame Bow! Why? Because who doesn't want an extra assload of strength for increased melee attack!

Glider:

Sloth Glider/God of War Glider! For mobility and for creepy, furry whispers.
Sauce: Lookit this cute bitch.


-OR-

Ravenspine Wings. This server offers the Ravenspine Wings that has an invincible flight once popped. Imo, both are great, but both are also about 10k. Panda Glider for the forward teleport is also good, but only as a place holder.

Lunagems, Lunafrosts, Lunadrops, and Lunascales:

Let's get a quick rundown of which gems we should be using...

Armor:

Cap:
•Lunagem:
Ideally: Toughness Lunascales from the 4k Leadership hero box.
Reality: Attack Speed 6 or 10s (guild gems, 30 and 50 prestige, respectively) until you don't feel comfortable with RNGesus anymore and then Max Mana Lunascales (guild shop, 100 prestige each).

DISCLAIMER: "LeL" I know with the max mana, but I'm SUFFERING with mana rn, and when 3.0 drops with the free for all arena? I'm gonna load my spirit/intelligence into Agility/Strength, so I will need the mana. For me, this path makes sense. It might not make sense for you.

•Lunafrost:
Stealth detection 20% increase, craftable frost

Jerkin:
•Lunagem:
Resilience 420, honor shop gems
•Lunafrost:
Revived damage 3% decrease, honor shop frost

Belt:
•Lunagem:
Lucid Eternal Battlerage Lunagem, craftable lunagem
-OR-
Physical/ Magical Defense +100, craftable lunagem
-AND-
Max Mana Lunascales, guild shop, 100 prestige each
•Lunadrop:
Strength +9, loyalty shop, page 6, 65 loyalty

Guards:
•Lunagem:
Lucid Ancient Battlerage Lunagem, craftable lunagem
-OR-
Physical/ Magical Defense +100, craftable lunagem
-AND-
Max Mana lunascales, guild shop, 100 prestige each
•Lunadrop:
Strength +9, loyalty shop, page 6, 65 loyalty

Fists:
•Lunagem:
Lucid 3% Evasion Gem x2, craftable gem(Pray to RNJesus if you go for more than 2, these muddafakkas are expensive and rare)
Evasion rate 1.5% increase, guild shop lunascales, 100 prestige each
•Lunafrost:
Melee critical damage 24% increase, honor shop frost

Breeches
•Lunagem:
Toughness 353, honor shop gems
•Lunafrost:
Honorbold Experienced Lunafrost, 335 Toughness, honor shop frost

(Dont forget to frost your pants! :lul:)

Boots:
•Lunagem:
Move speed 3% increase, craftable gem (Again, pray to RNJesus if you go for more than 2, these muddafakkas are expensive and rare)
3-4 Move speed 2% increase, guild shop lunascales, 100 prestige each
•Lunafrost:
Move speed 5% increase. Do not frost your boots with focus. Don't be that fool.

Cape:
Perfect Fire Lunafrost. There is no other option. No, gale is not an option.

Weapons (2H):
•Lunagem:
Focus 420, honor shop gem
•Lunafrost:
Melee Skill Damage Increase 3.0%, honor shop frost

Weapons (1H):
•Lunagem:
Focus 285, honor shop gem
•Lunafrost:
Melee Skill Damage Increase 2.0%, honor shop frost

Bow:
•Lunagem:
Sharp Blow: Melee attack 6.0 increase, craftable gem
Vivid Gale Lunacale: Pierce, guild shop scale, 100 prestige each
•Lunafrost:
Ranged Skill Damage 2.0% increase, honor shop frost

Anthem of Battlerage:
Warrior Medal Lute:
•Lunagem:
Sharp Blow: Melee attack 6.0 increase, craftable gem
Vivid Gale Lunacale: Pierce, guild shop scale, 100 prestige each
•Lunafrost:
Melee Attack 3.0 increase, loyalty shop frost, 100 loyalty each

Accessories:
Melee Attack 3.0 Increase, loyalty shop frost, 100 loyalty each

Rotations: An In-Depth Guide on How to Properly Meme:

Simple Combos and key skills.:

1.) > . Drop Back increases the throwable range of the dagger. Fun combo with this would be > > > > > > > etc.

2.) > is obviously a trip. Hopefully that was known.

3.) > also a trip.

4.) > knockdown. Good to follow with . Max damage!

5.) much like leech, just shorter duration. Not as much reaction time, so press many button fast.

NOTE: is a good skill if someone is ALREADY ONTOP of you. With the latency of this server, do not try and > or > . You will miss 75% of the time.


Ideal Situations and Complex Rotations:
The idea of an "ideal situation" is rather funny since PvP is literally everywhere in this game, but my standard rotation that I'd recommend is:

> > > > > > > > > > > . If they are SOMEHOW not dead, continue with > > .

Rangers
The idea is to get super close to them and prevent them from running, so...
> > (in their direction) > > > > > >>>

Scenario 1: They get away, so you continue with...
> > > > .

OR

Scenario 2: They didn't get away from your initial knockdown, so you...
> > > > > .

Leach Runners
If someone is doing a leachrunner build you can...
Laugh at them. Leech is funny. Leech does not work. They are bad. means no leech. After they are dead, please make sure to /point and /laugh at them. They should feel bad.

For Fears
This is mostly for daggerspells or other similar mages that have limitless fears/silences/stuns/etc.
> > > (they will try and fear at this point cause you're close) > (away from them) > > > You get the point by now.
-OR-
If its anything else...
Laugh at them. grants immunity to fear. Fears do not work. After they are dead, please make sure to /point and /laugh at them. They should feel bad.

TL:DR
Gap Closers: , , , and sometimes . Mostly just the first 3.

Conclusion: Thanks for reading!

If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me a message. I've got a discord server that I share a lot of this type of stuff in and play pretty frequently on the private server. I'm a huge fan of theorycrafing and really enjoy talking with new people! Thanks for reading and I hope this helps :D

Cheers,

Blaqklight
Discord: Blaqklight#8463

Changelog:

1/7/29: Switched out two skills to better meme. Adjusted personal stats to reflect my current build. Complete overhaul of combos section. YEET.
10/15/18: Re-wrote portions of the guide to reflect current metas on the server. Adjusted weapon and gear stats. Discussed pros/cons of different items based off of current server status.
10/9/18: Changed some skill priorities for 3.0b on the private server. Updated the gear a bit too.
2/26/18: Multiple QOL changes for easier navigation and readability. Color-coded the guide and made changes to explanation sections in the armor/weapons and gemming sections. Added Discord username.
2/24/18: Added updates to skill tree with CA and Lassitude, removed AST and Purge. Re-wrote the rotations section.
2/20/18: Updated guide for the first time since legacy 3.5. Change list is too long to compile.