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Shadowblade FAQ By Alvis_of_Galahad (Alvis, 50 Runemaster of Galahad), who is also Sirhan (35 Shadowblade of Galadad) Current as of the 1.53 patch. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Updated for 1.53
Fixed the misinformation about applying poison to weapons for other people. (see V.b) Added a Q&A about changing the poison applied to a weapon. (see V.g) Added a note about Body resist now working on poisons. (see V.h) Added a Question and very wish-washy answer about wielding weapons other than axes in one’s off hand.(see IV.g) Incorporated some good feedback from the boards about races, realm abilities, weapon choices, and skills. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overview: Shadowblades are the assassin class of Midgard. Like their Infiltrator and Nightshade brethren, they use stealth, critical strike styles and envenomed weapons to inflict massive damage on an enemy. Being an assassin is a high risk, high reward proposition that can really get the adrenaline pumping. I. CHARACTER CREATION
II. SKILL POINTS
III. STEALTH
IV. WEAPON SKILLS
V. ENVENOM
VI. GAME PLAY
VII. REALM ABILITIES
VIII. MISCELLANEOUS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. CHARACTER CREATION
As with many classes, there isn’t necessarily a best race to play a Shadowblade; both Norse and Kobolds have their advantages. Norse have the advantage of higher STR and CON. This is a win for Shadowblades, because we are limited to slashing damage, which is 100% STR based. And, the extra CON plays to our strength of being the assassins with the most HP. Further, DEX and QUI go up quickly as you gain levels, while STR goes up slowly and CON does not improve at all for Shadowblades. So, starting with a higher STR and CON is a good thing. Kobolds have the advantages of higher DEX and QUI. That means that their defensive skills are better, and they can attack a little faster. But, Kobolds are kind of wimpy, with lower STR and CON. Then there are the intangibles. Norse look like every other human-type race, and are harder to pick out as being an enemy, at a distance. Kobolds are smaller, and thus harder to spot on the battlefield (people always target the Trolls anyway, but smaller is still better). In the end it’s more likely a matter of personal preference. Some people think Kobolds exude natural sneakiness and deception, perfect for a rogue class. Others think they look like Smurfs. I.b. How should I spend my ability points? The only abilities that matter for Shadowblades are STR, CON, QUI and DEX. So, spend your points there. Kobolds should put 10 each into STR and CON, and split the other 10 between DEX and QUI however they see fit. Norse should add some to DEX and QUI, but points in STR and CON won’t be wasted. As long as you stick to those 4 abilities you won’t go wrong. Some people will put more than 10 points into a particular ability. That’s probably a mistake because of the diminishing returns (1 ability point for every TWO points spent from 11-20, and 1 for every THREE from 21-29). The difference of one, or even 5 points here or there won’t make or break a character, so you might as well get the full value for your points. I.c. Which is better: Shadowblade, Infiltrator or Nightshade? Better or worse is subjective, but there are clear differences between the three assassin classes: Shadowblades: get more HP (around 15% more than other assassins with the same CON) get 2.2 spec points per level. have a realm ability of Shadow Run which allows you to run at full speed while stealthed, for a short time have the Left Axe skill for wielding 2 weapons (see Weapon Skills, below) can wield two-handed weapons use throwing knives (an unspecced weapon skill) for pulling Nightshades: have direct damage spells (a shout, and one with a casting time) 2.2 spec points per level are limited to races with extremely low CON (Elves and Lurikeen) get a realm ability of Viper which doubles the damage of DoT poisons, once every 30 minutes wield 2 weapons using the Celtic Dual skill (see Weapon Skills, below) Infiltrators: get 2.5 spec points per level get a realm ability of Vanish which allows them to re-stealth immediately, in any situation, once every 15 minutes can get the Dual Wield skill (see Weapon Skills below) can wield a crossbow, but cannot spec in it Some feel that the 453 or so extra spec points that infiltrators receive
gives them the advantage. Others prefer the ability to wield a two-handed
weapon and skip dual wielding. Often the choice of which class to play
is based on which is your preferred realm, or the server on which your
friends play.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. SKILL POINTS
The basic templates for Shadowblades are: Shadowzerker: Puts points into primary weapon (sword or axe), left axe, stealth and envenom. Forsakes Critical Strike for excellent dual wield ability. Attack style is to stealth up to an enemy and let fly with both envenomed weapons. Many Shadowzerkers spec critical strike to level 2 (for backstab) or 10 (for backstab 2), because these styles will bypass a bladeturn spell. Backstab 2 also has a short stun effect that many Shadowzerkers consider to be worth the points. Critblade: Puts points into primary weapon (sword or axe), critical strike, stealth and envenom. No points in Left Axe. Attack style is to stealthily set up the big critical strike with the hardest hitting weapon they can find. Five-spec: Puts points into all 5 skills (weapon, critical strike, left axe, stealth, envenom). Foregoes the high damage of any particular specialized template for versatility. A successful five-spec character will start life as a Critblade or Shadowzerker, and then start putting points into the neglected skill (left axe or critical strike) around level 42. This avoids having skills too diluted at lower levels. Here are some typical level 50 spec templates. Note that these are built
with the assumption that a character will use realm levels and item to
bring skills up to desired levels, and most assume some amount of auto
training as well.
Critblade: Stealth 35, Critical Strike 44, Sword or Axe 44, Envenom 35 Shadowzerker: Stealth 35, Critical Strike 10, Axe 44, Left Axe 44, Envenom 35 Five-Spec: Stealth 34, Critical Strike 34, Sword or Axe 36, Left Axe
39, Envenom 34
The various templates appeal to different play styles. Some people love the stalking and setting up of the big critical strike; others hate it. Some people like to specialize, others prefer versatility. None of these is inherently better or worse; it’s a matter of how you want to play. A Shadowzerker in a Critblade’s body will not be happy. And vice versa. II.b. How does auto-training work? Some classes in DAOC have skills get trained automatically to a minimal level. This includes Paladins (both their Slashing and Chant skills), Warriors (weapon skills) and all three assassin classes (Stealth). Here’s how it works. If you put no points into Stealth, you will automatically get trained to ¼ your character level in that skill (rounded down) when you visit your trainer. At level 8 you will get Stealth level 2. You will get Stealth level 3 at character level 12, Stealth level 4 at character level 16, and so on. The best part is that this auto-training is free. That’s right, free. You don’t pay for those skill points, so by auto-training Stealth you get more skill points to spend on other skills. The downside is that there is a limit to how long an assassin can survive without good stealth skill. You certainly won’t be successful setting up a Perforate Artery with auto-trained stealth (well, not very often anyway), and trying to RvR with crummy stealth is suicide. It is best to pick a level at which you want to have good stealth (generally, the level at which you will start RvRing), and auto-train to that point. A common tactic is to auto-train to 24, for the first battleground. This gets you Stealth at level 6, which is 20 free skill points. To do this, you will need to hold onto your level 22 and 23 training points and NOT SPEND THEM until you get to level 24. Then you can get stealth to 24 (with items) plus the benefit of auto-training. Some assassins have auto-trained stealth as high as level 40 (10 Stealth). More power to them. No matter what your play style, it is best to auto-train only as far as you need to. There is a cost to auto-training, and you don’t want to play a character with gimped stealth if you don’t really need the points in the end. II.c. How should I spec for the 24 battleground? At level 24, you really don’t have enough points to be a five-spec.
You need to concentrate on either left axe or critical strike in order
for them to be effective. High stealth is very effective at level 24, so
spec something like this:
Stealth: 19 + 5 in items = 24 Critical Strike 21 (for perforate artery) or Left Axe 20-21 (for good damage) Weapon: at least 18 Envenom: 10 or 15, plus items (whatever gets you the level 15 or 20 DoT poison) II.d. How should I spec for the 35 battleground? By level 35 it is possible to be a five-spec on the battleground, but you will likely have to give up some nice Envenom damage to do it. It is still recommended that you commit to either Critical Strike or Left Axe, and don’t try to do both. II.e. How should I spec for the 29 battleground? For some reason nobody seems to play in the 29 battleground. So, whatever. II.f. What is a good template for hunting enemy assassins? The Shadowzerker template seems to work the best for hunting enemy assassins. The ability to apply 2 poisons is a big plus, and you can deal with constant evades better if you are wielding 2 fast weapons. II.g. How do realm ranks affect skills? You get +1 to all skills at realm ranks 2-10. So, by the time you get booted out of the 30-35 battleground for achieving Realm Rank 2, you get +1 to all skills. This skill bonus is over and above the limit for item skill bonuses, and should be considered when planning a character’s final template and leveling strategy. The absolute maximum in skill bonuses is +11 from items and +9 from realm ranks, for a total of +20. But, it’s not realistic to depend on achieving Realm Rank 10. Basing an end template off of achieving realm rank 3 or 4 is more rational. II.h. How do item bonuses affect skills? The skill bonuses on items (+1 stealth, +2 critical strike, etc.) are capped at 1/5 your level, plus 1. So, at level 35 you can get up to 8 points in item bonuses. At level 50 the maximum skill bonus from items is 11 points. II.i. How does the skill point respec work? When you turn level 20, and again at level 40, you can reset any ONE of your specialization lines to zero. You will get back all the points you spent int hat particular specialization, to spend as you choose. It is important to note that you must use the respec opportunity during level 20 or level 40. You cannot save them up, and once you hit level 21 or 41, you will lose the ability to respec. There is a special consideration for auto-trained skills. Any skill
that can be auto-trained will be reset to its auto-train level, and not
to zero. For example, if you respec stealth at level 20, it will be set
to 5, not to zero. This ensures that points gained by auto-training remain
in the skills that were auto-trained.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. STEALTH
For Assassins who have 16+ levels of stealth trying to spot a stealthed
assassin, the formula is:
For Assassins who have 16+ levels of stealth trying to spot a stealthed
Minstrel/Ranger/Scout/Hunter:
For non-assassins, and for assassins with fewer than 16 levels in stealth,
trying to detect any stealther:
That base 125 WU is about the length of the mid-sized horse (the ones that human-type characters get). So, even a level 50 assassin can be spotted by a level 1 character at around 1 horse length. That’s generally not enough time to do anything before the assassin attacks. Stealth skill also affects your movement speed while stealthed. Some people say that higher stealth skill = higher movement speed. The revised Prima Strategy Guide says that speed is based on a percentage (that is, a level 50 character with 30 stealth would be SLOWER than a level 30 character with 25 stealth). I believe that movement speed is based purely on skill level, not a percentage. III.b. How does Detect Hidden work? Detect Hidden is an ability that assassin classes get when they have 16 levels in stealth. It doubles the range at which you detect stealthed players. Once you have detect hidden, the formula above changes as described in the formula above. Do not confuse the Detect Hidden ability that comes at level 16 of stealth with the See Hidden realm ability, which is described below. III.c. Is there any benefit to having stealth over 50? There is some small benefit. While there is no movement speed increase from exceeding 50 stealth, you will be better able to sneak around higher level (50+) monsters. This makes it easier to get to enemy areas in places like Darkness Falls or the new RvR dungeons in the frontiers. There are still debates as to whether stealth over 50 affects your ability to spot enemy stealthers. III.d. How do I climb keep walls? When you have level 25 stealth (which must be trained stealth – item bonuses don’t count), you can climb keep walls. You cannot climb just anywhere; there are specific climb points on each keep that act as ladders. There is a set of climb points in the front and another set on the back of each style of keep. They are more obvious on Midgard keeps than on Albion ones, but you will learn them pretty quickly. To climb, simply go to the climb point and move forward to go up, or backward to go down. III.e. Is Safe Fall the most awesome capability or what? Ummm…. Sure. It’s convenient for jumping down onto the pad from the vault when the gothis are coming. It’s best use may be in RvR, where you may be able to get a tank to drop off a wall and take damage if he used /stick on you. III.f. How does See Hidden work? See Hidden is a realm ability available to all assassin classes. It lets you see the shadowy outline of stealthed archers or minstrels (not other assassins) at great range. However, an archer that is using Camouflage is immune to See Hidden. It’s sort of a stealth arms race. See Hidden costs 8 realm ability points, has no prerequisites, and is a passive ability. III.g. How does True Sight work? True Sight is a realm ability available to archer classes. It is an active ability, that works for 1 minute and is available every 30 minutes. Its effect is to make any stealthed player visible to the archer. You can tell that there is an archer with True Sight around in one of
two ways. The first is that you will be unable to re-stealth while True
Sight is active. The second is that you will find an arrow in your back
and a horde of enemies running directly at you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. WEAPON SKILLS
A bladeturn is a spell available to all cloth-wearing casters. It will absorb one melee hit before disappearing, and stays up until hit. This spell was originally available to just one caster class per realm, but was granted to all caster classes as a way to balance archers’ ability to do massive damage, from stealth, from a distance. As you can imagine, this could be a real pain to a class that depends on the big initial hit to kill an enemy. But, there is hope for Shadowblades. Any Critical Strike style that requires a stealthed opening will bypass a bladeturn (actually, it also pops the bubble as it bypasses it). That means that backstab, backstab 2, and perforate artery will go right through a bladeturn and hit the target. IV.b. How does Left Axe work? Left Axe is the dual wield skill for Midgard. It has peculiarities that are important to know about as you spend skill points. When you wield two weapons with Left Axe, the left-hand weapon must be an axe, hence the name of the skill. You will swing both your primary and left-hand weapon each round, potentially hitting twice. But, you don’t do full damage with each of these swings. When you wield two weapons, your primary weapon damage is less than if you wielded a weapon and a shield. It starts at a base of 60% normal damage, and increases by 0.5% with each train in left axe. Left axe skill also determines the damage done by your left-hand weapon. So, if you are a level 50 character and put just 10 levels into left axe, you will find yourself doing just 65% of normal damage with your primary hand, and trying to make up for that with a left-hand weapon that is specced at just level 10. Not good. You will want at least 35, preferably 30 or more levels in left axe by the time you are level 50. If you are going to use left axe, you will want to keep it specced to at least 2/3, and preferably ¾ your character level or better. Another factor in using left axe is attack speed. As stated above, you will swing both weapons every time you attack. But how fast will you attack if you have a slow weapon in one hand, and a fast weapon in the other? Weapon speed is the average of the two weapon delays. This means that, for style damage, you are better off wielding a slow weapon in the primary hand, and a fast axe in your left hand. This is because slower weapons hit harder, at the same DPS rating, than faster weapons. And, style damage is computed based on the damage of the primary weapon. So, by wielding a left axe that is faster than your primary weapon, you get the best of both worlds – faster attacks, and harder hits. But, you might want to simply attack faster, wielding fast weapons in both hands. There are two reasons that faster attacks are better than slow ones. First, with faster attacks, any one evade, block, parry, or fumble is no big deal. You will recover quickly and attack again. Second, faster attacks minimize the effect that pulsing bladeturn spells have on you. Then again, the downside of speed is that it can be difficult to land reactive styles, such as those based off evade. As you approach the lower bound of 1.5 second weapon speed, it takes very nimble fingers to keep up a hamstring/leaper or comeback/frosty gaze chain. IV.c. Is there any benefit to having Critical Strike, Left Axe or my weapon skill over 50? All weapon skills benefit from higher skill levels. For Critical Strike, your damage cap goes up 9 points per level of specialization. So, your perforate Artery can do 45 points more damage at level 55 than at level 50. For Left Axe, Axe or Sword damage, you will do better average damage with higher skill. Higher weapon specialization raises the minimum damage you do with each swing, and speccing above character level even raises the damage cap a little. In both cases there are diminishing returns to speccing above character level. For Critical Strike, those 9 points don’t make a huge difference when you are perfing for 700+. And for weapons, the improved damage variance is small, but perceptible. Just remember that you get these benefits for the most expensive points you will spend; the skill points that it takes to raise your Critical Strike from 45 to 46 (+11 in items) might be better spent elsewhere. IV.d. Which is better: sword or axe? Conventional wisdom says that axes are a tiny bit better, for two reasons. First, axes are slower. That means they do more damage per hit, which means more Critical Strike damage. And, there is no delay on your first hit, so that extra damage has a limited cost in attack speed. Second, some axes give skill bonuses to both axe and left axe. So, if you dual-wield, you can double-dip on item bonuses. In terms of weapon styles, most agree that Midgard’s axe styles are superior to our sword styles. This is not a bad thing for a Shadowblade, because you will almost always use styles from Critical Strike or Left Axe. It does mean that there is far less competition for swords than for axes when it comes time to distribute loot on raids. But that is a minor consideration. These reasons mostly go away once Spellcrafting is in the game. You will be able to get player crafted swords that have left axe skill if you want, and the delay difference between axe and sword is negligible. So, it’s mostly a style choice. IV.e. Why would I want to wield a slower weapon? A slower damage does more damage per hit than does a faster weapon with the same damage per second (DPS) rating. This is very important for critblades, because style damage is computed off of weapon damage. So, the slower the weapon, the bigger the hit on that critical strike. And remember, there is no delay on that first swing. The downside to a slow weapon is that a miss (or an enemy evade, block or parry) hurts a LOT. And, a pulsing bladeturn spell will cycle about every second swing against a slow weapon. You better do your damage in the first two rounds with a slow 2-handed weapon. But when you do, it’s so much fun. IV.f. Did I really see a Shadowblade wielding a staff? Hehe yeah, it’s possible to wield a staff as a Shadowblade. Staves in Midgard are an unspecced weapon ability, so you can’t put points into staff skill. But, staff damage is purely DEX based, and most Shadowblades have excellent DEX. Plus, Critical strike styles do work with staves. So, you can do some pretty mean damage. This is particularly true against plate wearers, where the staff gets a damage bonus for being blunt. And even against Albion chain wearers, where slashing damage gets a major penalty. This isn’t something you want to do all the time, but it can be fun to dress up like a caster and surprise those infiltrators who come to perforate you. Envenom the staff and smack ‘em with a garrotte/Achilles heal before they get their perforate artery off. Much fun. IV.g Can I wield anything other than an axe in my left hand? Generally, only an axe can be wielded in the left hand. Those are the only Midgard weapons that are designated as left-hand usable. However, it may be possible to wield weapons from other realms if you
plan on “special” servers, such as Mordred and Andred (the PvP servers).
There is some question whether this is at all useful, because it seems
that left axe styles will not work with anything other than an axe equipped
in your left hand. And, there is a dearth of logs or verified information
as to whether the left axe rules apply to main hand damage if you are wielding,
say, a Hibernian sword in your left hand.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. ENVENOM
Envenom skill lets you apply poison to weapons. Each application of a poison costs money, and each application gets just one use, whether it is resisted or not. V.b. Can I envenom a weapon for somebody else? Can somebody else envenom a weapon for me? Yes, it is possible to put poison on a weapon for somebody else. The
only catches are that
you must be able to wield the weapon (axe or sword, no hammer or spear L ) the person wielding the weapon must be at least as high a level as the
poison being applied
V.c. What do the various poisons do? There are 4 types of poison: DoT poisons do damage over time, starting at round 5 per tick (for 6 ticks) at level 5, p to around 80 per tick at level 50. Great for that extra added punch, and probably the most common poison in both PvE and RvR. Disease poisons debuff your opponent’s STR, CON and movement speed. They also cut any heals cast on the opponent by half. Makes a great pair with a DoT poison; the DoT causes damage, the disease prevents the heals and slows the enemy down just a little. Snare poisons debuff enemy movement speed by 40%. Unlike snare spells, poison-based snare does not break when the enemy takes damage. Very useful for keeping an enemy from running away between your Perforate Artery and Creeping Death. Another useful technique is to keep one weapon in your pack with snare poison, for those times when you need to escape a fight. Weakening poisons debuff enemy STR, and at higher levels both STR and
CON. At high levels the effect of a CON debuff can be 150 HP taken off
the enemy target. If you dual-wield, the 1-2 punch of a CON debuff and
a DoT can be devastating.
More poisons will be added when the Alchemy trade skill goes live. V.d. Can I envenom a throwing weapon? Nope. V.e. How do item bonuses affect envenom? Item bonuses work differently for envenom than for weapon or spell skills. While an item bonus on a weapon skill will give you better damage, it will not grant you the styles available at the higher level. A bonus to envenom skill, however does give you access to the higher-level poisons. This is extremely important, because an extra 5 points of envenom skill will give you a better DoT poison. It means that no assassin should ever spec Envenom over level 39, because you can achieve level 50 with item bonuses. In fact, getting Envenom to 36-38 is fine, because realm ranks will take care of the rest. V.f. Can I swap out items to get higher envenom skill? Yes, it is actually possible to equip a +envenom item to apply a poison, and then swap in a different item (say, one that gives you a +sword skill) to attack with it. The envenom check is done when you apply a poison. V.g Can I change the poison that is on a weapon, without using it? As of 1.53, the answer is yes. In addition, as of 1.53 you can “delve” (Shift-I by default) a weapon to see what poison is currently applied. If you attempt to envenom a weapon that already has poison on it, you will get the message that the old effect was replaced by the new one. V.h What resists work against poison? As of 1.53, Body resist applies to poisons. This means that the damage
of DoT poisons, and the duration of other effects (disease, snare, etc.)
will be reduced by the victim’s body resist.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. GAME PLAY
Very carefully. Seriously, Shadowblades need to be picky about soloing, because our range ability is minimal, and our ability to deal with adds practically nonexistent. The ideal situation for a Shadowblade is a camp of neutral, static MOBs that do not BAF or call for help. This allows you to set up critical strikes to your heart’s content.. Unfortunately, such situations are rare, or perhaps nonexistent. So, look for the best combination of those qualities you can find. The best example of a good camp is probably the crabs in Uppland. These creatures are neutral (won’t aggro if you lose stealth) and don’t call for help. So, you can set up your critical strikes, kill things, and rest. This is a great situation for the level 35-36 Shadowblade. At level 38+, Spindels in Spindelhalla have the same characteristics. It is possible to pull with throwing knives, but then you will generally not be able to set up a critical strike that needs stealth. It is possible to pull, run a bit and stealth before the MOB gets to you, so that you can perforate artery. But it’s dicey, and it’s a lot of work. And, you absolutely must get balanced or weighted throwing knives, for the extra range. In general, stick to blue MOBs for soloing. You will evade more, which means less damage taken PLUS more evade-based styles. That means less downtime and faster experience. Once you get realm abilities such as Dodger and Regeneration, taking on yellow con MOBs becomes more efficient. VI.b. Why can’t I get a group? The sad truth is that Shadowblades are not valued for exp groups. There are two reasons for this. First, all we do is deal damage, and there are plenty of classes who can do that. Second is that, if we deal the damage we’re capable of, we usually get aggro. And we can’t take aggro from a red con MOB for long – we don’t have the HP to do that. Still, groups that refuse to take a Shadowblade are stupid. Just like groups that don’t want runemasters, hunters or other classes that have a tough time. Any good player can contribute to a group no matter what class they play. One thing Shadowblades do well is duo with healers or shamen. The same is true for any melee class, but it is worth nothing this as something for Shadowblades to look for. The buffs you get from either Midgard healing class will substantially increase your damage output and defensive capabilities, and their heals can eliminate downtime. Now that shamen get an endurance regen buff, they are about the best duo class there is. VI.c. Well, then what SHOULD I do in a group? The main thing to remember about grouping is that you will be fighting higher level targets than you did while solo. That means that the monsters will hit harder and you will evade less if you get aggro. Your job is to deal damage without becoming a mana sponge for the healers. To do this, you will probably want to not use perforate artery. If you really feel the need, then wait until the main tank has a solid hold on aggro. But, positional styles such as Pincer are usually more efficient in terms of endurance, aggro and damage. Use poisons that benefit the group without making you high maintenance for healers. Things like the weakening poison are good, to lighten the healing load overall. And keep a weapon envenomed with snare poison, just in case the group needs to run. Finally, make sure you have your detaunt style loaded. You won’t have this on a soloing quickbar, of course, but it should be on your grouping bar. VI.d. What is the Shadowblade’s role in RvR? In RvR you can do several things. You can scout better than any archer because of your superior stealth skills and ability to climb keep walls. You can assassinate enemy casters, or just about any solo player (you probably want to avoid Albion tanks though, because of armor modifiers against slash damage). You can kill keep archers and defenders. RvRis where Shadowblades shine. The main problems for Shadowblades are True Sight and groups. True Sight is the archer realm ability that lets them see stealthed characters for a full minute, and is usable on a 30-minute timer. If you are True Sighted, your first warning will likely be an arrow in the back, when it’s too late. As for groups, it is often tempting to think that you will be able to
perf that sitting caster and run away in the confusion that ensues. This
rarely works past the first battleground. When dealing with groups, you
need to wait for the confusion to ensue first (such as an attack by a group
of Mids) or wait for somebody to fall behind or stray from the pack. Patience
is very hard to maintain, but it’s usually better than having to release
and port back.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII. REALM ABILITIES
A full list of Realm Abilities can be found on the Camelot Herald. VII.b. It says in the manual that we get illusion spells. What are these how do I get them? We don’t get illusion spells. They were originally going to be part of the Shadowblade class, but Mythic changed its mind. We may eventually get some sort of disguise ability, but don’t hold your breath or you will turn blue (or, if you’re a Kobold, bluer). VII.c. Which realm abilities should I get? There are a couple parts to this answer, depending on whether you are still leveling or whether you are primarily in RvR mode. When you are in the battlegrounds, you will want to get abilities that help you in exp groups as well as RvR. Dodger is widely regarded as very valuable. That extra 3% evade chance means 3% less damage for you, which means less downtime. The quickness needed to get Dodger is always useful too. As you will still be leveling at this point, a great combination to shoot for by the time you leave the last battleground is Aug Quickness 2, Dodger 2, Tireless, and Regeneration. You will be able to solo with very little downtime if you have these realm abilities. Some people really like Mastery of Pain. The theory there is that you do more damage, thus kill faster, thus take less damage. That works, too. Mastery of Pain is based off of augmented dexterity, which is valuable, and once you have the augmented dexterity you can think about things like dualists reflexes (if you are a dual wielder). Once you are in full RvR mode, you will want to respec your realm abilities and get ignore pain. Yeah, it’s expensive, but you can’t get realm points when you are dead. And who does more damage – a Shadowblade with mastery of Pain 4 (total cost, 24 points) who crits 20% more often, or a Shadowblade with Ignore Pain who lives twice as long? Another very important RvR ability is purge. Because you have to get upclose and personal to do damage, you will often be subjected to mez, stun and root spells as you try to escape. Your only antidote is purge. It has a 30-minute timer, but 30 minutes can go quickly in RvR. Once you get to the level of having Dodger and Mastery of Pain and Ignore pain, the world is your oyster. VII.d. How does realm ability respec work? Realm abilities have different uses at different points in your career. Some are better for PvE hunting (for example, Regeneration), while others are useful only in RvR (for example, See Hidden). Mythic recognizes this by allowing each character to respec realm abilities twice. Respeccing means that all of your realm abilities are set to zero, and all your realm ability points restored so that you can spend them as you see fit. The primary use of respeccing is to change from experience and leveling mode to full RvR mode, but some people use a respec to correct an error (such as taking a skill they thought would be useful, but later decided they didn’t like). To respec, you must find a trainer. While you are in close proximity to the trainer and have him or her targeted, type /respec realm You will be asked to confirm that you really want to do this. If you
confirm your decision, all your realm abilities will be reset. This is
not a decision to make lightly, but used well can make a big difference
in a character’s ability to solo or to RvR.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII. MISCELLANEOUS
Because every right-thinking person hates Lurikeens. How can you not? VIII.b. Why do I hate Friars so much? Because they run around in dresses looking like nice, soft casters – and then evade your perforate artery and whack you upside the head with a staff for 350 damage. Not much to like. VIII.c. Why do I hate Infiltrators so much? Because infiltrators are like cockroaches: for every 1 you see, there
are 3 hiding behind the walls ready to jump you when the battle starts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END of Shadowblade FAQ
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