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Stats

Starting Equipment/Talents

Iron Dagger
Iron Dagger
Rough Leather Armor
Manasurge Rune

Talent Trees

• Techniques
  • Dual weapons (1.2 mastery)
  • Dual techniques (1.2 mastery)
  • Combat Techniques (1.3 mastery)
  • Combat Veteran (1.3 mastery, locked)
  • Combat Training (1.2 mastery)

• Cunning
  • Dirty Fighting (1.3 mastery)
  • Lethality (1.3 mastery)
  • Shadow Magic (1.3 mastery)
  • Stealth (1.3 mastery, locked)
  • Survival (1.1 mastery)
  • Ambush (1.3 mastery, locked)

• Spells
  • Phantasm (1.0 mastery)
  • Conveyance (1.0 mastery)
  • Temporal (1.0 mastery, locked)
  • Divination (1.0 mastery, locked)

Strategy

The Shadowblade is fast, stealthy, mobile, and deadly. He is a Rogue who has learned rudimentary magic, much to the chagrin of his opponents.

The Shadowblade uses daggers, one in each hand, for his offense. Leading with a Dual Strike or some good old-fashioned Dirty Fighting to stun, and then following up with a Flurry or a Sweep to kill, leaves a path of carnage.

Shadowblades rely on Defense rather than Armour, preferring to avoid blows rather than to absorb their impact. The Dual Weapon Defence and Blur Sight talents, plus the inherent Defense bonus provided by their high Dexterity, make them hard to hit.

They are highly mobile, with access to the full suite of Conveyance talents. They also get Rush -- both these trees are unlocked at birth. In addition, they may unlock the Temporal tree, leading to Essence of Speed, should they choose.

Another build choice is to go for stealth. Unlocking this category gives talents that allow striking from the shadows with huge bonuses.

They may also unlock the Divination tree, but generally most players find they need the points for other choices.

Shadowblades do not get any stun resistance or elemental resistance talents. Spellcasters are their worst enemies, since virtually all of their damage mitigation is focused on dodging or avoiding physical attacks.

Shadowblades do not get any healing talents either, but they can learn a few shielding spells. Shadowblades may find it helpful to pick up the Celestial/Light tree from an Anorithil escort quest, for the Healing Light, Barrier and Providence talents.

The biggest challenge with hybrid classes like the Shadowblade is deciding whether to generalize or specialize your point investments, and if specializing, deciding where to do so. Shadowblades have three primary stats -- Dexterity, Cunning and Magic -- in addition to needing Constitution (like everybody else). This means they can easily find themselves spread too thin, weak in everything instead of strong in a few areas.