Pandora Saga Shadowblade Complete Guide

Pandora Saga Shadowblade Complete Guide by Thunderlike

This guide will try to elaborate on all aspects of the shadowblade class which is considered useless by some, too difficult by others and too much of a bother for third.

Content

I. What is a shadowblade exactly.
II. Pros and cons.
III. All viable shadowblade builds.
IV. About skills.
V. About the horse.
VI. About equips.
VII. How to use.
VIII. Specific tips.
IX. Sources of information and credits.

I. What is a shadowblade exactly?
-The shadowblade is a very controversial class that can be built in many different ways. It uses a horse for mobility, or may not, can use swords to melee and cast magic that usually targets and cripples 1 enemy. If you want to be nuking for thousands of damage or hitting in melee for 1k, stop reading this guide, wrong class. Also a shadowblade is NOT a debuffer, that would be a corruptor.
NOTE: If u do not plan to play a shadowblade as a main, do not bother, since it requires immense amounts of time, top tier gear and a lot of planning to work properly.

II. Pros and cons.

Pros:
+ Very mobile due to horse, essentially a hit and run class
+ Very high resistance to fire/ice/lightning/charm/maybe darkness and high magic resistance.
+ Excels at crippling stray/single enemies very easily with either charge or disables+ single target nukes.
+ A chaser class, speed and a horse and your racing the battlefield literally.
+ Skills are hard to resist since they are all dark or charm based.
+ Decent health pool for a caster, higher than a warlock/conjurer and lower than a priest’s.
+ Anti-caster/archer class if used properly.
+ Mobility in war and pvp works wonders.
+ Usually a very large mana pool.

Cons:
– Very difficult to use, steep learning curve, especially 45+.
– Weak before 45 compared to other classes.
– Some builds excel at gloom and dark frenzy, meaning you will damage yourself, and prior to 45, for a lot.
– Needs high tier gear and lv 45+ to truly shine, even 50+.
– Requires leveling of a horse, can be tedious, and until green bar of horse is capped, you will have cut stats.
– Weak against tanks/heavy melee classes/hunters/covered snipers.
– Requires very precise stat and skill planning in order to be built properly.
– A very easy target if you land on a horse trap.

III. All viable shadowblade builds.

*Note all stats are achievable, never said it’s going to be easy, also without buffs*

A shadowblade can be built in many ways, but stats are usually very easy to mess up, especially when every point counts. Note however, a mounted shadowblade is NEVER a good melee, due to inability to use phyiscal skills. I will name builds I post to make it easier to distinguish them and because I find it fun. So a SB(short for shadowblade) can be built in 3 ways actually:

A mounted SPI-based build, using melee and spells
A mounted INT-based build, using only spells
An on-foot decoy build, using certain spells and putting itself in harm’s way

1. Dark illusion knight(my own personal build)

A build that uses a horse, coupled with very high dodge, potent damage with dark frenzy(covered later) if used properly and essentially a good decoy.

Pros:
+ Mounted
+ Very high survivability. With a knight’s magic res buff, immune to 3-4 types of magic damage and sky-high dodge.
+ Sustained AoE damage
+ Able to melee without being killed in 2 seconds
+ Essentially a mass PvP build
+ Good resist breaker in PvE
+ Very good interrupter

Cons:
– Horse traps will render you useless and probably dead if amidst enemies.
– Countered by high dex builds and certain spells such as silence/burn.
– Comparably low damage for a damage class.
– Needs a lot of time and a lot of gear to shine.
– Ascetic’s dodge buff and knight’s magic resist buff pushes this build to its full potential.

Races and racials of note:
Myrine with dodge racial( to be untouchable)
Elf with harmony of nature racial( to drop priest reliance by a lot)
Lapin with magic resistance racial( to be a better magic decoy)
Enkidu with stone skin racial( to be a better melee decoy)

Perfect stats at 55 with gear

6 Sta
99+11+ Agi
38+2 Dex
53+1 Spi

Perfect skills at 55

71 Darkness
50 Horseriding
8 Invocation
10 Evasion

Tips:
-Max your green bar prof on horse asap
-Every point of dodge counts
-Never stay in 1 spot for too long, move around, target different enemies
-Learn to charge, essential
-Get a DAPPLED( if all else fails, your horse is your shield, you’re a half decoy, you’ll be aimed a lot)

2. Shadowblade Overlord

A mounted build that deals very high damage, but lacks physical defenses, relies on horse to stay alive, a very risky build.

Pros:
+ High damage, half of which is likely unresistable(dark based)
+ Chaser
+ Can deal very high spike damage if covered
+ Not really suited for mass pvp, groups and solo works better

Cons:
– Low survivability
– Horse traps will wreck you
– Very gear dependent
– Relies on cover in group and mass pvp to shine
– Requires Dappled horse, a must

Races and racials of note:
Human with fighting spirit racial.
Enkidu with stone skin racial.
Lapin with magic resistance racial.

Perfect stats at 55

82+8 Str
38+2 Dex
77 Spi

Perfect skills at 55

74 Darkness
12 Confusion
8 Invocation
50 Horseriding

Tips
– Do NOT rush into a group alone, you WILL die.
– Try to use your teammates as meat shields/ distractions.
– NEVER go near a juggernaut or dragoon, NEVER.
– + your gear to at least 3-4
– Level your dappled and get it a saddly if possible

3. Chaos lord

A build that combines the dark frenzy(gloom type) nuke and single target spells based on INT. Good chaser, but very fragile. Very efficient at picking off stray targets as well as a very nice combo with a tank’s guardin+charge in and AoE.

Pros:
+ A mounted nuker and chaser
+ Mixes both darkness and elemental magic
+ Not too risky since it should cast from afar, unless absolutely sure you’ll survive
+ Not too gear dependent
+ Able to solo kills easily
+ Efficient at mass PvP if covered
+ Does not need too many points into horseriding

Cons:
– Vulnerable to snipers and hunters, gets wasted if a jugg or dragoon get too near
– Dependent on saltio to be fully efficient
– Cannot guard the horse
– Horse trap and silence will make you cry
– Needs practice to work properly

Perfect stats at 55

28+2/29+1 Dex(Eternal night set!)
77 Spi
87+13 Int

Skills at 55

75 Darkness
12 Confusion
26 Elemental
8 Evasion
8 Invocation
20 Horseriding

Tips:
– If you are engaging ranged classes, try to take them down as fast as u can
– USE undermine before u single target hit someone
– Be weary of resistance, if your first ice spear does next to no damage, use dark frenzy or undermine+blood drain
– Not a tank, keep out of harm’s way
– Use your burst damage to take down priests and the more fragile classes
– Try to cast disables on melee classes-> slows, sleep, undermine, debuff

4. Harlequin

A suicidish melee build that is actually the perfect decoy – which jugg or archer can resist a on-foot mage with a sword running right to them? This build is a pure decoy, it has nearly no damage. It’s actually quite fun since even if people see you do no damage, you can always go and try to hit them, which will eventually prove annoying enough lol. Has some medium spi in order to draw attention with debuffs.

Pros:
+ Unless debuffed to oblivion, nearly unkillable
+ The perfect decoy – a melee mage
+ Dodge skyrockets, magic defense is the best u can come up with
+ Can take off pressure off squishies in war and group PvP
+ Does not need to put points into horseriding to be effective
+ Welcome to the mage tank

Cons:
– No damage
– Impede can potentially kill you
– Mobility is limited, requires speed and the dash to move around faster
– Might get eaten by 80+ dex builds
– Purely a support build

Best races and racials:
Myrine with dodge racial
Lapin with magic resistance racial

Perfect stats at 55

99+11+ Agi
40 Sta
50 Spi

Skills at 55

21 Evasion
8 Invocation
71 Darkness
41 Confusion

Tips:
– Get in, start debuffing, annoy people, drive them nuts, lolz
– Dark frenzy nullifies resistance to all elements if lv 61 lands
– Try to debuff melee classes with your -accuracy debuff, mages with undermine to freak them out, archers with -atk, tanks with -def and so on
– You also have a slow, use it
– Do not get too carried away, you have godly defenses, but impede+ heavy nuking and too much focus can get you dead
– Be careful of stun lock

IV. About skills.

Shadowblades have intresting skills, but debates are still going about their stat base so forgive me if I make a mistake. SB skills are basically mostly dot or wave skills, some debuffs and a buff or two. So here we go

Darkness tree:

Lv8 Infect– A poison dot that afaik always lands, damage and land rate(if any) are SPI based. Effective on priests and wizards, don’t cast on anything else, ever.

Lv16 Gloom– The renowned sorcerer and shadowblade skill. It enchants your weapon with darkness damage for about 2-3 mins based on prof and spi. As a sorcerer, HALF of the darkness damage dealt is inflicted to you, as a shadowblade, the rebound damage is only 10-15%. NOTE CAREFULLY. Gloom has grades, it is not a normal buff. It is PURELY spi based, affected by prof. This:

Grade 1 – 13 SPI – 10-20 damage
Grade 2 – 25 SPI – 20-40 damage
Grade 3 – 38 SPI – 60-80 damage
Grade 4 – 50 SPI – 100-120 damage
Grade 5 – 63 SPI – 110-130 damage
Grade 6 – 75 SPI – not confirmed, maybe 140-160/70
Grade 7 – 88 SPI – not confirmed, rumours about 200-220
Grade 8 – 100 SPI – not confirmed
Grade 9 – 113 SPI – not confirmed
Grade 10 – unknown – not confirmed, final Grade

Lv21 Blood Drain– Hits your opponent with dark damage, heals u back for half. Purely INT based. Effective at countering heavy resistance players due to dark element.

Lv26 Mind Venom– An enhanced poison, inflicts much better damage, lasts longer, very low chance of inflicting Addle(decreases casting time). Damage and dot are INT based, land rate, durating and Addle land rate are SPI based.

Lv33 Dispel– Another bread and butter of int shadowblades. This amazing skill can dispel ALL of the target’s buffs with high INT(int based). Also 1sec casting time so make use of it, especially on tanks and priests.

Lv35 Resist Malice– Increases your poison and dark resistances by 25 and kills your charm resistance by 50. Duration is prof and SPI based, use wisely! Self buff.

Lv41 Undermine– Another renowned skill. Scales off int and amplifies damage on the next attack, excluding debuffs and provoke. With 100+ int it can 2x+ the damage. Use it with a combo of a nuke or dot.

Lv51 Pestilence– An underrated skill. Deals 3-4 waves of dark damage, with a chance to break the target’s resistance. INT based. What makes this skill unused is it’s long casting time and small aoe, but it’s damage is devastating. A high int shadowblade can get 1.5k damage+ on someone if all waves hit.

Lv61 Equalize– Enhances ALL of your attacks and spells with a wonderful on-chance effect. Resistance break. Not confirmed whether it’s spi based or fixed %. Definitely not INT based, this is not a dispel.

Lv71 Dark Frenzy– The grandma of all SPI based skills. This 3-sec cast time aoe consists of 3 waves of dark *bursts* or arrows coming from the ground around u. Can potentially hit 2-3 times per target. MOBILE, moves with you. The damage comes from GLOOM! If you do not have gloom casted, it will do no damage. Not confirmed if physical damage is taken in. This is extremely efficient at breaking people’s resitances due to multiple waves and hit=better chances for Equalize to go off.

Confusion tree

Lv8 Weakness– Lowers the target’s attack, spi based in all aspects.

Lv12 Sandstorm– The hated sleep effect, spi based in all aspects, damage is int based.

Lv21 Psionic Blast– Drains the mana of the target, damage and mana drained are spi based.

Lv26 Weaken– Reduces the target’s PHYSICAL defense, spi based in all aspects.

Lv33 Impede– Reduces the target’s evasion(I’ve seen mine killed by 100, don’t know if its fixed), also need confirmation if there is a chance to slow movement speed. Land rate is spi based.

Lv35 Resist Charm– +50 Charm resistance, -25 poison and dark resistance. Land rate is spi based and CAN target other players and mobs unlike resist malice.

Lv41 Icy Strike– Inflicts freeze effect to target which slows movement speed. Land rate is spi based. Does not inflict damage.

Lv54 Wasteland- Married to dark frenzy, the grandpa of slows. 0.5 sec cast time, large aoe which inflicts slow and poison effects while inside the field. People lose their Speed buff if they get caught inside. Purely spi based, poison always lands, if you move out, you are no longer slowed. Long cooldown so use wisely.

Horseriding tree

Character level 45, Shadowblade– Can use spells and normal attacks on horse, cannot use melee skills, shadowblad exclusive pa.ssive. Only effective for sword/wand.

Lv20 Summon Horse– 5 min cooldown, can summon your horse in any maps but towns afaik. Use it wisely, careful of cooldown.

Lv31 Horse Guardian– Needs a shield to activate it. You take damage instead of your horse, also activates ability to use your dodge mounted. Use ONLY if you know exactly what you’re doing, else you’ll get yourself killed.

Lv40 Equine Advantage– Increases sword attack range to match that of a 2H sword or axe, very useful, passive.

V. About the horse.

The horse is maybe the biggest pro the shadowblade receives. It is essentially a very large hp buffer between you and the target, as well as increases your mobility to ridiculous amounts. The horse has 2 modes: normal running and charging. In order to charge the horse needs to run with WASD/Arrows for about 5-10 seconds WITHOUT sharp curves or direction switch or stun/interrupts. If you manage it, you can even charge while taking a very smooth curve. Charging is affected by prof(green bar) as well as horse stats. A horse can do from 200 to 1k+ damage with a charge. Charge is reduces by phyiscal defense, but the damage is still quite large. If you charge someone and run through them without interrupting your charge, your horse will automatically enter charge mode in 1 second. Very useful for chasing running enemies or simply when in PvP, enter with the door and cast on them.

Things to note when riding a horse:

– If a horse dies to a MOB, it will lose 1% lifespan, if it dies a 100 times to mobs, you will lose it. It does not lose lifespan in PvP and camp guard.
– Be weary of stuns when charging and for the love of everything don’t charge into 10 people with a squishy build, your horse is not immortal
– Your horse gains level and increases it’s stats. A level 55 Dappled horse has 7k hp, npc horses usualy have much lower stats and are generally less suited for shielding u.
– Horse does NOT share your experience.
– Saddles improve your horse’s stats.
– Resummon skill has 5 min cd, Horse guardian cast is instant and can be spamed, use it.
– You lose a certain % of your stats when you get your horse with 0 green prof. I had my dodge crash by a 100 and my accuracy by about 60. AFAIK, you gain 2% of your stats back with every 1 green prof point, so 50 horseriding for your full stats. Reduced parametes are : attack, casting time, accuracy, dodge, maybe matk(need confirmation).
– When mounted your defense is NON-EXISTANT, you use your horse’s defense which is buffable by all means.
– You retain your full resistances while mounted, even with 0 green bar prof.

VI. About equips.

I will list useful items for all 4 builds only, its up to you what you want out of a sb in the end anyway~.
NOTE: You need to upgrade ALL of your gear with dark gems- sardonyx, rose quartz, amethyst in order to gain ele res.

1. Dark illusion knight

Weapon: Gladius with 2 Gale souls(upgraded with slot and agi
)/ Mithril sword with 3 gale souls.
Shield: Rodela shield with lightning/ice soul.
Headgear: Feathered hat/Circlet with Reverend or Iceberg soul
Torso: Moonlight robe with 2 Chocolate souls(upgraded with 1 slot upgr)
Gloves: Silk gloves with beast soul
Pants: Moonlight aloub with 2 +1 dodge souls or 2 +30 LP souls(upgraded with 1 slot upgr)
Boots: Specter shoes or cure boots with Warg soul or Soul of the month
Cloak: Breeze cloak
Ring: 2x Sylph rings
Earring: 2x the +1 agi earrings
Necklace: the agi necklace
Belt: Any good belt(3s) with 3×6% cast interrupt resistance souls

2. Shadowblade Overlord
Weapon: Cutlass with 2-3 Resolute souls
Shield: Rodela shield with ice soul
Headgear: Circlet/HP or Str CS headgear with Reverend soul
Torso: Moonlight robe with 2 Chocolate souls(upgraded with 1 slot upgr)
Gloves: Silk gloves with berserker soul
Pants: Moonlight aloub with 2 +30 LP souls(upgraded with 1 slot upgr)
Shoes: Specter shoes with soul of the month
Cloak: Passionate cloak
Ring: CS str rings
Earring: CS str earrings
Necklase: CS str necklace
Belt: 3s belt with 3xAccelarated souls

3. Chaos lord
Weapon: -Oracle eye with 2 soul of oration/ Philosopher rod with 2x soul of oration and 1 dual soul in the mid
-Crystal sword with 2x Soul of blitzkrieg(defensive gear, when using a shield)
Shield: -None
-Rodela shield with soul of tempered steel/ soul of ice
Headgear: Wizard hat
Torso: Robe of eternal night with 2 Chocolate souls
Gloves: Lunar gloves with 5% matk soul
Pants: Aloub of eternal night with 2 30 LP souls
Boots: Specter shoes or cure boots with soul of the month
Cloak: Eternal cloak
Rings: Int/Cast speed CS rings
Earring: Rune earrings
Necklace: Int CS neck
Belt: 3s Belt with 3×6% cast interrupt resistance souls

4. Harlequin
Weapon: Gladius with 2x Blitzkrieg souls( slot and agi upgrade)
Shield: Rodela with ice soul
Headgear: Feathered hat/Cirlet with Iceberg soul
Torso: Moonlight robe with 2 Chocolate souls(upgraded with 1 slot upgr)
Gloves: Silk gloves with beast soul
Pants: Moonlight aloub with 2 +1 dodge souls
Boots: Specter boots with Warg soul
Cloak: Breeze cloak
Ring: 2x Sylph rings
Earring: 2x the +1 agi earrings
Necklace: the agi necklace
Belt: 3s belt with 3x Enticer soul

Note: This is extremely expensive gear, understand it as possible end-game gear atm(22.03.2011). It’s a horrible lot of work, but it’s definitely worth it.

VII. How to use.

One of the largest issues with shadowblades is that people fail to use them properly. Some have shadowblades as alts and fail to understand that a shadowblade does not act like a warlock or a dragoon, a juggernaut or a corruptor. It has it’s own play style which is somewhat similar to the hunter play style, but still very different. Shadowblades are a hit-and-run class except for the harlequin build.

I will explain about shadowblade builds(in this thread) and on play styles.

1. Dark illusion knight

Charger style: This utilizes charge as an initiator skill followed right away by dark frenzy and shock on the focus target. Also a hit and run style, since you can just charge around and when you charge someone with some enemies around him, cast dark frenzy. You will get focused this way but your resist and dodge should make u take little damage. NEVER engage a dragoon and hunter unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Hunters usually have high dex and multiple shots in a second while a dragoon’s charge can be devastating if used with concentrate, can potentially kill or dismount you. When you cast your dark frenzy, use some melee hits and all 4 waves go through, retreat, regroup with your team and repeat. Also focus on a tank is a waste of time. Focus low hp targets such as casters, snipers and interrupt priest as much as you can.

Decoy style: Basically you will charge the priest in the group, cast dark frenzy and start hitting it so it cannot heal the group or lower their overall casts. You WILL get focused, be prepared, if you do not have ascetic and knight buffs, be ready to remove horse guardian. This will buy that warlock enough time to cast a nuke, a sniper enough time to set up, a dragoon to charge properly, a jugg to get close and so on. Again be extremely careful of enemy mounted dragoons. Another tactic more risky. Charge an enemy melee player, cast a dark frenzy if you can and just stay there and continue casting dark frenzy and hitting him. This will make sure that he does not move from you, since few juggs expect an agi shadowblade. When using either tactic, prepare to be debuffed and stunned, be ready to remove horse guardian, very important.

2. Shadowblade Overlord

Assassin style: This style requires some cover and aims to take out an enemy key player extremely fast. A proper charge followed by dark frenzy and continuous melee hits. A priest will never cast properly, a warlock will die, a sniper will give you some damage and either run, hide or die, a jugg will be very damaged and so on. Note however that you might and most likely will take HUGE amounts of damage if you do not finish the job fast enough. You have no evasion, medium defence and resistances, low char health pool. Do NOT have horse guardian up when u initiate, when your horse drops to 1-1.5k hp, cast horse guardian, land a few more hits and wash some dirty dishes.

Combo style: This style requires a warlord with you, a sniper hitting from behind or an assassin or monk stunning. Basically you let your team be your shield, while you and another teammate quickly duo and take out targets together. A stunned priest by an assassin+ your damage is a 1-2 second kill, a wiz will die instantly and so on. You can also run in with a warlord, have him guard you and wreak havoc to the enemy team with dark frenzy and focus on a weak character. You have a near 20k hp pool+ a team. If you die, I don’t know what to say. Plan accordingly, if they have 2 priests, take out a low-hp target with your teammate first asap. Guardian on you with 2 priests won’t help but postpone your death unless your team pulls it off.

Note to both styles: Without your horse, YOU ARE PAPER. Do not by any means let a spear char get near you, EVER.

3. Chaos Lord

Magic assassin style: It relies on your team to cover you a little while you charge in, undermine and ice spear/blood drain a weak target. It can also be done without charge and you getting close, but the 800-1000 damage from charge can make the diff between 1-shotting someone and failing to do so. Target priests and archers with ice spear and warlocks/conjurers with blood drain due to resistance. If a mounted target has a shield, near 100% chances are he using horse guardian, use the advantage of this and undermine and nuke him since if you can 1 shot him, the horse hp is essentially null. Works only on hunters and shadowblades(if at all on sbs) tho. Never, absolutely never of all 4 builds, get near a dragoon if you value your life. Be weary of snipers since they crit for a lot. If you charge in and you fail, be ready to equip a shield, cast horse guardian and get out.

Shadowblade duo style: Basically coupled with another shadowblade’s undermine and nuke(magic one) you can kill anything except paladins, dragoons and warlords. The damage spike is just so insane, 2 undermines, 2 nukes, it equals more than 4k damage. Also a good style to PK duo with, picking off the weak targets in some party, then falling back.

Support style: A cookie cutter style, but it sometimes makes the diff. Use your undermine to assist a good warlock or jugg in focusing a specific target, cast pestilence from the back, rush in cast dark frenzy, get out, rince and repeat. Staying in the back is not a coward’s way, sometimes it’s just the smart way of winning.

4. Harlequin

Decoy style: Nearly as same as the dark knight’s one but a little different. Run in, cast dark frenzy, sleep a sniper/warlock, debuff a melee, do ANYTHING to draw aggro to yourself. Make an entire party hit you if you wish. Even if it results in your death, if a whole party focuses you, yours will certainly wipe them in no time. Do not be afraid to rush in and tank their hits with your dodge and their magic with your resistance. You have enormous amounts of both. Never get a warlord to guardian you, since then the dodge is void and he will take the full damage, which would be pointless for you.

Dance of death style: A colorful name for an unique battle style. You dash, go in, cast dark frenzy instantly. Do not debuff. Fake that you’re scared and run off a little bit so you get chased. Then turn around and go right into the crowd, this time debuffing. Run to their main caster, start faking hitting him, but instead, shock him and dark frenzy again. This style basically revolves around being unpredictable. An enemy melee will always see you as a fragile target unless they know you have a sh1tload of dodge. A warlock will almost certainly try to nuke you, only to ram against your resistances. What is better than a seemingly retarded mage running into your with a sword and shield, casting what seems to be a suicide attempt of a dark frenzy, then trying to run and the shock of him running back to you. It’s mind games, through and through. I cannot think or imagine a person that will not see you as an easy frag. A few heals and welcome to being unkillable.

Note: Requires knight buff and ascetic dodge buff to be effective, else it will likely result in your death.