Sync Strike Shadow Dagger Bladedancer Build Guide

Several capped defensive layers (dodge, endurance, crit avoid)

Fast clear, with simple skill interaction

Bossing uses only 1 extra mechanic

Requires Unique to play (x2 Smoke Weaver)

Idol's required to really min/max into 300+ Corruption

Without the right Tiered affixes, your dodge will suffer

Mechanical Function

Note - We play with unscaled Decoy on the bar for bossing.

This build WILL require two at least decently rolled Smoke Weaver's. This is the only way to get our Shift down to an acceptable spam rate to keep and cap our dodge in the 80+%.

Our big damage will come from Synchronized Strike, but only indirectly. It is our Shadow Daggers that really push our damage. Since we are using Dark Allies, we have a total of 4 shadows that jump with us, each applying Umbral Assassination. This means you will instantly be able to apply 5 stacks (4 from shadows and 1 from you) to a group or individual. Once we shift away, these shadows will dissipate, but not before casting. Each shadow (and you) will cast Shadow Cascade, which have a 100% chance from you to apply another stack of Shadow Daggers, and a 20% from the shadows to apply it. Once they cast their cascade, they will then drop Umbral Blades that will spin and home into enemies from Cacophony of Steel and Loathing. These will also apply Shadow Daggers with Lethal Darkness. This will at least ensure a target to see's anywhere from 8 stacks of Shadow Daggers, perhaps more if the Shadow Cascade from the shadows rolled in your favor from Shadow Elegance.

With this setup, we will always be shifting (holding it down) unless you're bossing facing a difficult encounter, where positioning should be taken more into consideration. We have enough mana recovery from our Shift with Fight In The Shadows and Onslaught. We are able to use a Synchronized Strike for every Shift. So our rotation is Synchronized Strike --> Shift. Dropping a smoke bomb any time you feel like it from some extra shadows and Shadow Daggers. Most of the time, sync and shift should be more than enough. The unscaled Decoy is really only used in difficult encounters or bossing, to control the enemy in a different direction for setup (see Orobyss video).

Defensive Mechanics

Our dodge is the major mechanic, however we will rely on our endurance from time to time. We will get it, it is inevitable, which is why we have the blessing Grand Wrath of Rahyeh. This will allow us to soak life from our Umbral Blades spinning on enemies. Adding this to our SuffixCritical Strike Avoidance that should be capped, we can stay pretty comfortable when engaged in fights. With nearly capped res, adding to our EHP, our final defensive layer is life, which should be between 1700 and 2000. However, NONE of these defensive layers should make a player think they should not practice evading obvious damage mechanics. As one pushes into deeper corruption, this will become more prevalent.

Basic Engagement

Since we are just shifting across the map, we can Shift into most packs and Synchronized Strike. This should be enough to clear most packs. There is little need to backtrack, as our shadows will throw Shadow Cascade, which should clean up whatever was left behind by dropping Umbral Blades (see echo demo video).

Difficult Engagement / Bossing

This should not be too different from the above listed, however, we may need to divert a bosses attention with Decoy. Putting Smoke Bomb on top of them will also add significant stacks of Slow, Shred Armour, and Shadow Daggers. Don't ignore this mechanic, as it can be used in unison with Decoy to draw them into a cloud of smokey death. A player can optionally, manually throw Umbral Blades if they felt so inclined, but not really necessary most the time.

Leveling with this build can and will be difficult. This is because the Smoke Weaver are not useable until very late, and unless you already have a T6 or T7 PrefixMana efficiency with Synchronised Strike, you will not be able to spam at the rate we need to in order to clear or kill effectively.

Farming double exalts would be the goal here. Don't forget to check the dungeon daily rewards to hunt down top tier gear found here. The ultimate endgame BIS, although entirely laughably unobtainable will be Wings of Argentus with PrefixMana efficiency with Synchronised Strike. Realistic endgame goal would be to have double T7 or T6 gear across the board. The Smoke Weaver could be rolled with PrefixCritical Strike Multiplier and SuffixChance to Shred Armour on Hit for maximum effectiveness.

A good generic late game loot filter for double exalts and T7's can be found here. ONLY use this to filter out 99% of gear. Not recommended until you are mostly geared to the teeth.

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