Neo Steam Online Shadowreaver Guide

Neo Steam Online Shadowreaver Guide by Leliel

It was recently brought to my attention that there isn’t a guide for Shadowreavers, which, after taking a look at some of the Reavers in Riall who believe they are a class made to Aggro everything and then tank it… Makes me believe we probably need one.

—————-Brief Racial Overview—————
Tarune

*Increased HP recovery when sitting allows you to recover quicker in near death situations, and with the SR notoriously low HP and Def, this can be very useful.

*Resistance to Slow will make sure that you very rarely are kept stuck in a single location for long. If your build requires kiting, or you just need to run? Slow will be the death of you, and this helps prevent it.

*Increase Base Speed. This, is one of the single best things for any Reaver. Later on I will mention that some people counter the camouflage speed debuff with racial, this is what I am referring too. A runeset buffed Tarune/Lyell can outrun another race even if they are cloaked. (provided the other race isn’t speed buffed as well.) It also helps immensely with the kiting aspect.

*Natural Armor is a short-period skill that temporarily increases the user’s Defense. If you can use it in time, wonderful! Personally, I prefer to run and heal.

Lyell

*HP/Slow Res/Base Speed are the same as Tarune.

*Ferocity gives you a short-period of increased attack power (increases by 5%). This, like Natural Armor, becomes more effective towards end game. However, I feel this has a bit more application simply because you can use this before hand due to the fact that SR altercations never last long.

Elf

* Increased Potion efficiency will make even more out of the SR potential three heals, and will also keep their Stamina full for spamming of skills.

*Resists Slow

*20 Seconds of natural camouflage to assist in getting away quickly.

*Decreased aggro range helps in kiting, avoiding mobs, and escaping through mobs while your pursuers aggro what you can run past safely.

[Note: There is supposedly a build that is specifically used because of the decreased aggro range and natural camo. I will attempt to add it soon, but there are draw backs to it.]

Human

*Naturally has a +20% attack speed buff for any weapon, meaning you can switch up that Green Stat for something for promising.

*Naturally can purge one debuff (Sleep, stun, root, slow, poison, etc.)

Taxn

*Sprint gives you a very useful 20 second speed buff for escaping quickly, or dashing through to attack and run.

Pom

*Resists Root

*Equip all items 5 levels earlier

*Higher Stamina recovery when sitting, so skills can be used again faster.

———————————————-[Races added thanks to Proto.]

First off, to become a Shadowreaver then your Base Class must be a ‘Scout’. The tutorial will lead you through the first 10 levels where you can then choose to specialize into either the Warden or the Shadowreaver.

[Note: This is assuming you have chosen Elerd as your nation, should Rogwel be your nation the choices will be Strider or Night Stalker. Either way, if Elerd is not your nation, this guide is useless to you.]

Now you’ve specialized into a Shadowreaver, congratulations! This is a class where the build you choose is dependant entirely on how you wish to play, that is to say… While a Templar may always be a tank, an Arcanist may always be a DPS, Shadowreavers can either become long range, melee, assault or support depending on how you wish to structure yourself.

There is also a Phenomena beginning to surface known as ‘Shadowvoking’, but I will attempt to address that later once I have learned more about what it is.

So, now that you have become a Shadowreaver I think it’s time to take a look at your skills.

—————Blade Skills—————-

Blade Skill: Focal Slice
Power: 130
Cost: 7 Stamina
Instant Cast
8 Second Cool Down

Comments: This is technically part of the Generic Blademaster tree that three other classes also get, it is a wholly useless skill to level and I believe it’s main purpose be simply so you have a skill to use before specializing. Don’t pay to much attention to this skill.
[Note: It has 1 SP devoted to it by default, even Resetting won’t change that.]

Blade Skill: Blade Dance
Power: 140 [AoE]
Cost: 8 Stamina
Insant Cast
15 Second Cool Down

Comments: While tempting it may be to invest in this skill for an AoE, this skill also falls into the above category of being a wholly useless skill to level. It’s damage becomes negligible as you increase in levels and if you are honestly fighting enough enemies at one time that you need to, or can use this skill effectively, then you are most likely going to die soon.

Blade Skill: Dual Wield
Power: N/A
Cost: N/A
Passive
N/A

Comments: This skill is one of the ‘Key Skills’. It only requires 1 SP to be maxed and allows you to use two One-Handed swords at the same time, essentially increasing your damage output considerably. Depending on the build you take, this skill may or may not be direly important to you.

Blade Skill: Frenzied Strike
Power: X
Cost: 11 Stamina
Instant Cast
20 Second Cool Down

Comments: The damage of Frenzied Strike is determined by the Attack Power of it’s target. This means that while it may not be of use to you during early game, the closer to the higher tier that you get the more terrifying this skill will become.

Example: When used on lvl 30 mob, Elemental Forcer, approximately 300 or so damage.
Example: When used on lvl 96 mob, Babarok Scout, approximately 3.3k or so damage.

In the End Game dungeons, it is also capable of consistently dealing 9999+ with each shot. Considering it’s low cost and swift cool down, you can see why this technique becomes fearful.

Frenzied Strike also reduces the target’s defense, maxed, it reduces Defense by approximately 100 points.

Blade Skill: Mangle
Power: 100
Cost: 23 Stamina
Instant Cast
25 Second Cool Down

Comments: When using this skill, it may appear to some as only hitting the enemy once for a pitiable amount of damage. This is misleading, as it does in fact hit the target 4 times for that same amount of damage. Meaning the pathetic 90 you saw it deal, was in fact closer to 270-360. As with Frenzied, this skill becomes much more useful towards the End Game where it begins dealing 3-4k per use.

Many people consider this to be a PvP staple skill.

Blade Skill: Howling Slice
Power: 240
Cost: 12 Stamina
Instant Cast
15 Second Cool Down

Comments: This is your ‘Nuke’ in the Blade master tree. Unlike the other skills, it is capable of being used from a distance meaning it affords you the luxury of taking off the final chunk of HP from a running target, or luring a target to you. Keep in mind you will get two other skills that can suffice for this, but it is here for that extra damage if needed.

———-Bow Skills———-
All Bow Skills require, obviously, a Bow. The Bow is powered by Neo Steam, which you can refill at the Neo Steam Tanks.

Bow Skill: Explosive Arrow
Power: 150
Cost: 7 Stamina
Instant Cast
6 Second Cool Down

Comments: The first of the Reaver’s two bow skills. As you can see it has an absurdly short cool down period, meaning it is easily able to be spammed for damage. This skill also inflicts the ‘Bomb’ status effect, which can be combined with the second Bow Skill to deal considerable damage.

[Note: The ‘Bomb’ Status effect will be applied to the enemy even if they are immune to status effects.]

Bow Skill: Detonate
Power: 150
Cost: 8 Stamina
Insant Cast
12 Second Cool Down

Comments: Once again you notice the short cool down period, these skills are meant to be spammed. The ‘Bomb’ status effect I mentioned earlier is triggered by the use of this skill, which causes quite a bit of extra damage.

Both of the above skills are Ranged and can only be used while wielding a Bow. Please understand that if you do not plan to use a bow, investing into these skills will be a complete waste.

———Deadly Arts——–
All Deadly Arts require an item called a ‘Mark’. You can buy them from an Item store.

Deadly Art: Healing Arts
Power: 590
Cost: 7 MP
Insant Cast
20 Second Cool Down

Comments: A key skill needed to be able to Solo. Aside from giving the Reaver an extra heal (Out of 3 potential heals. Pet, Potion, Skill.), it also gives the target a 7-9 second Immunity Buff. This means you are impervious to debuffs for the following 7-9 seconds.

This skill can be used on other players, but you must first target them to use it.
[Note: The Immunity Buff given by this skill will increase the damage done by the Crusader’s ‘Retribution’ Skill.]
[Note: This skill is one of the core skills in the ‘Shadowvoking’ strategy, obviously.]

Deadly Art: Weapon Art
Power: N/A
Cost: 7 MP
Instant Cast
5 Second Cool Down

Comments: This Buffs increases the targets Attack Power by a maximum of 80. It can be used on anyone. It is very nice to have, regardless of what build you choose. The attack buff will stack with the attack buff gained from Rune Sets.

[Note: The Attack Buff given by this skill will increase the damage done by the Crusader’s ‘Retribution’ Skill.]

Deadly Art: Teleport Art
Power: N/A
Cost: 21 MP
5 Second Cast
3 minute Cool Down

Comments: While I do not believe there are many Reavers who actually max this skill, there are many who level it at least two or three times simply so they can get to places faster. To use this skill you must first be present in the location you wish to teleport to, open the skill window and choose ‘Save Location’. Name your location, and that is it. In the future, should you wish to return to this place, simply open the skill window again – Highlight the location, and choose warp.

[Note: Very useful for checking on Bosses or saving money on Rope Isle/Riall transportation.]
[Note: Cannot be used in Rogwel, Battlefield or Realm Wars.]
[Note: Cannot be used in Riall. Thanks Foxie.]

Deadly Art: Defense Art
Power: N/A
Cost: 10 MP
Instant Cast
1 Second Cool Down

Comments: Raises the Magic Defense, Max Stamina and Max Mana of target. This skill is good for complete buffer builds, but otherwise tends to be passed up for other skills. The Extra Mana/Stamina can be offset by certain titles and the Magic Defense increase does not seem to save Reavers any agony from the Spell Casting classes.

[Note: The Buff given by this skill will increase the damage done by the Crusader’s ‘Retribution’ Skill.]

Deadly Art: Resurrection Art
Power: N/A
Cost: 36 MP
5 Second Cast
60 Second Cool Down

Comments: Good for bossing and dungeons, as well as simply the training accident. When revived by use of this skill, a portion of the Experience lost due to death is restored to you. The higher level this skill is, the more HP and XP restored upon revival.

[Note: I hear the maximum amount of XP restored possible is 3% of the 5% lost. Clarification Appreciated]

Deadly Art: Deadly Art
Power: N/A
Cost: 29 MP
Instant Cast
100 Second Cool Down

Comments: Gives a short period of Critical Guarantee. This means that while this Buff is in effect, each and every one of your normal attacks will be a critical hit. This is especially useful for AoE mobbing using a spear. as well as taking off that stubborn bit of HP that your Target is refusing to relinquish. The use of this skill is very situational however, and using it at the right time may be the difference between you dying and the enemy dying.

[Note: Sadly, the Critical Hits do not affect Skills.]
[Note: I believe Max Buff time is somewhere around 25 seconds. Thanks Sharky.]

————-Darkness Skills—————
These are Shadowreaver specific skills.

Darkness: Tainted Edge
Power: 200
Cost: 15 Stamina
Instant Cast
30 Second Cool Down

Comments: This is a ranged technique that causes the status effect ‘Root’, which prevents the enemy for moving for approximately 8 seconds. The damage dealt by this is decent, and is especially useful in making those annoying Kiters stand still.

As with Wrist Breaker, this skill is ranged. You can use this skill regardless of equipped weapon.

Darkness: Wrist Breaker
Power: 200
Cost: 17 Stamina
Instant Cast
30 Second Cool Down

Comments: This skill is a staple in almost any Reaver’s Arsenal. Whether you be support, assault or otherwise. It’s damage is comparable to Tainted Edge, but more importantly it causes an Attack Debuff that will essentially eliminate any damage dealing capabilities of the target. This damage reduction is the only thing that stands between a Shadowreaver and their squishy demise.

[Note: Actual damage reduction is determined by how much attack power the target’s weapon adds. exact reduction determination regarding mobs is unknown.]

Like Tainted Edge, this skill is ranged. You can use this skill regardless of equipped weapon.

[Note: As of yet, I have not seen Wrist Break be able to affect the damage of Skills to any extent worth noting.]

Darkness: Camouflage
Power: N/A
Cost: 15 Stamina
2 Second Cast
30 Second Cool Down

Comments: This is what makes the Reaver deadly. The use of this skill makes the user invisible to the opposing nation at the cost of a run speed debuff, however your invisibility allows you to sneak up right behind the target and unleash a devastating technique known as ‘Assasination’, as well as ambush or sneak past enemy lines.

Your cloak lasts for approximately 5 minutes.

[Note: Being caught in an AoE skill will uncloak you.]
[Note: Machinists and Wardens have a skill that can uncloak you. Machinist decloak will also slow you.]
[Note: Can only cloak when there are no enemies near you.]
[Note: Attacking causes you to Decloak.]

Darkness: Lock Pick
Power: N/A
Cost: N/A
Cast Time Varies on Chest
Passive

Comments: why do we have this skill? It’s wholly useless, even more so than Focal Slice. Anything we find from chests aren’t worth the SP wasted to unlock the damn things in the first place. Unless there are some sort of awesome unreleased content chests that we aren’t being told about, it’s safe to say you can just ignore this skill entirely.

[Note: I suppose you could spend hours searching Neo Steam for chests to open so you could collect the 5-10 potions that sometimes pop out so you could stockpile potions for free… Or you could just make them, or buy them, or get them from drops, or from guildies, or friends. Seriously, why do we have this skill?]

Darkness: Assasination
Power: X
Cost: 35 Stamina
Instant Cast
40 Second Cool Down

Comments: Possibly the crowning skill of Reavers, this skill’s damage is the first skill in the game to hit 9999, and even pass that damage because of one simple fact: It’s damage is dependant on the current HP of the enemy. It will always deal a % of the enemies HP, usually the same %, regardless of their defense or debuffs.

Excellent if used on the enemy while they are at full health, but the lower health that the target has – The less effective it becomes. The skill’s Success rate is determined by three things: Skill Level, Character Level, Target Level.

[Note: To use this skill, you must be wielding a Sword type weapon.]
[Note: Has a higher chance of succeeding if used while Camouflaged.]
[Note: Failed use of this skill will not Decloak you.]
[Note: The Stamina cost for this becomes exponentially draining at higher levels.]
[Note: Takes off approximately 30% of target’s HP.]
[Note: Does not work on Bosses.]

—————————————————–

There are your skills, not it’s time to decide what type of Reaver you shall become!

[Note: There are generally 10 skills in each build, this is because you can master 10 skills and still have enough SP left to master weapon mastery, get your Element, and master your Grand Master Skills. All of these are End Game features and will not be touched upon in this guide. The 10 skills I will List are the most commonly used ones.]

Known Builds:
PvP
Support
Bow
Sword
[Enviro?]

[Note: Teleport Art can be used in any of these builds, but it is never maxed. At most, 2-3 SP are devoted to it.]

[Note: Shadowvoking is not a build, it is a method of playing in which the Shadow Reaver of the party uses their debuff skills ‘Tainted Edge’ and ‘Wrist Breaker’ in conjunction with ‘Heal Art’ to strategically disrupt Aggro and heal their party members. From what I have learned and seen of it’s use, this is for damage limiting and acts as substitution for an Evoker.]

[Note: Shadowvoking has been tested and works effectively in all areas up until Underworld. Underworld has yet to be tested. Please try to keep the party/reaver ratio to 3:1 max. Any more and the shadowvoking becomes a major strain of detail and precision on the Reaver’s part.]

—————————————————–
PvP Build Shadowreaver.

Skills Commonly used…

Assasination
Tainted Edge
Wrist Breaker
Mangle
Explosive Arrow
Detonate
Critical Arts
Weapon Arts
Camouflage
Frenzied Strike/Howling Slice/Defense Art (Only one is chosen.)

Why?

The Bow skills, combined with Tainted Edge, give you effectively 8-10 seconds or more of pot-shots on an immobile target. If you so choose to use Wrist Breaker as well, they will be almost defenseless in regards to counter-attacking after the root wears off.

Camouflage+Assasination is the single most common Reaver PvP skill, and for good reason. The sudden appearance of a Reaver and the loss of 30% HP will shock the target, as well as force them to heal. This combined with the swift use of the Mangle Skill can nearly destory a player before they even have a chance to react.
[Note: There is a supposed ‘Shock Kill’ that allows you to kill the target before they can even react, this is most commonly the use of Assasination+Mangle used in conjunction with the core “Nitro Shock”.]

Weapon Arts: Obviously so that your burst damage will be even higher.
Critical Arts: Combines with Weapon Arts and Wrist Breaker allowing you to deal an absurd amount of damage quickly while the target is unable to defend themselves properly.

Frenzied/Howling: Most choose Howling Slice because it gives them a stronger extra attack should the target try to run, but these skills are mainly chosen just because it adds an extra skill for Damage. If you so choose, the Defense Art’s Stamina increase may also be used in place of this.

[Note: This build requires you to switch between bows and two handed swords to utilize the full effect.]
—————————————

Support Build Shadowreaver

Healing Art
Weapon Art
Defense Art
Critical Art
Resurrection Art
Wrist Breaker
Tainted Edge
Frenzied Strike/Explosive Arrow
Assassination/Detonate
Camouflage
Dual Wield (If your primary weapon is Sword.)

Why?

Healing Art allows for you to heal your teammates and gives them status immunity which is an amazingly useful thing if used with the right timing.

Weapon/Defense Art are simply for the buffs, making your party stronger and harder to kill.

Critical Art is for self defense, as a support build you are not specifically made to be able to fight solo.

Wrist Breaker/Tainted Edge. Tainted Edge roots melee units, keeping them from causing damage, and Wrist Breaker can be used for your own survival purposes (The almost complete elimination of DPS capability.) or for the survival of another member.

Frenzied Strike is for damage dealing capabilities as well as the defense reduction. It along with Assasination will help with taking some of the Aggro from other party members should they need time to heal or something of the sort.
[Note: These two skills can be substituted for Explosive/Detonate if you chose Bow as your primary Weapon.]

Camouflage. If you are playing Shadowreaver, then let’s make sure you understand this now.

You are squishy. You will die quickly. If given a choice on whether you pick and choose your conflicts, or just charge in and hope you live? Then patience and knowing your timing will be what keeps you alive. It’s best to hide until needed than be the first victim of the war.

Resurrection Art, obviously, in case one of your party dies.

——————————–

Bow Build Shadowreaver

Explosive Arrow
Detonate
Weapon Art
Healing Art
Defense Art
Critical Art
Tainted Edge
Wrist Breaker
Camouflage
Resurrection Art

Why?

This essentially just ignores the Blade tree, Lock Pick and Assassination. The skills that are left? They are chosen because they are what is Left! But lets look at why this Build is legitimately useful.

Explosive Arrow/Detonate skills are always used in a Bow is involved, they are your prime source of damage and easily spammable. The addition of Tainted Edge with these two skills, as mentioned before, creates an 8-10 second gap of Time in which you can Bow down the target.

Using Critical Arts before Root, allows you to have Critical Bow shots inbetween skills during the root period.

After the root Period is up, your plan of action then becomes two: Kite or Hide.

If the enemy is still amazingly strong, or you fear that they are going to just obliterate you, then take the advantage of your range and immediately camouflage for safety so you can run.

Do you still think you can kill them? Kite. Weapon Art and Heal Art will keep you somewhat on top of things as you stay outside of the enemy’s range and pick them apart with your bow and bow skills. If you can hold out long enough, you’ll be able to use Root again and start your method all over again.

Resurrection Art. Why? Because every Reaver should have it. This is what gets us into Parties almost 9 times out of 10. If we can revive someone and save them the Precious XP and the time it would take them to get back, then we’ve done our job.

————————————-

Sword Build Shadowreaver

Assassination *
Tainted Edge *
Wrist Breaker *
Howling Slice
Frenzied Strike
Mangle *
Dual Wield *
Camouflage
Heal Art *
Weapon Art
Critical Art *
Resurrection Art *
Defense Art

So Many skills, far over 10.. Why?

Because this build has the most variety skill wise, and some people will switch out certain skills for others. Some skills may not be maxed, either. The skills which you see a (*) next too, are what are very rarely switched out and thus you can consider to be a skeleton of your build. [They are almost always going to be maxed.]

Do you remember Dual Wield from earlier? Sword Reavers will dual wield 1 handed swords primarily.

So, that being said, lets look at the “Why?” For the skeleton.

Assassination, you’re primary weapons are swords… So why would you pass up the single most powerful Shadowreaver sword skill? Sword Reavers have the luxury of using the aforementioned ‘Shock Kill’ in PvP, so Assassination can serve it’s purpose well in that field as well as PvE where you are fighting a mini-boss or particularly strong mob.

Tainted Edge is for the added damage and the root effect. Since you are a Melee Reaver, the ability to keep the enemy from moving is just as important if not more than it was when you were a Range Reaver. If your target tries to kite you, this will stop it. If they try to run from death, this will stop it.

Wrist Breaker becomes your Staple skill, always keep this maxed. Melee Reavers are very susceptible to death due to low defense and HP, Wrist Breaker will reduce enemy mob damage to pathetic levels allowing you to tank 1v1, and in some cases, 2v1. In PvP It also helps your survivability by keeping those pesky Warriors and Striders from just obliterating you.

Mangle, as mentioned with Assassination, is a part of the infamous ‘Shock Kill’. But aside from that little combination, it is also your main damage dealing skill as you level. It has a good damage output, acceptable Cool Down period, and doesn’t drain as much Stamina as the other possibilities. As a Shadowreaver, you will run out of Stamina almost constantly – So a combination of Wrist Breaker, Mangle and Critical Arts will allow you to 1v1 targets safely while using the least amount of Stamina possible.

While normally you want to use as many skills as possible for DPS and TP, if you are solo grinding or plan to be grinding for a while. (Or even just want to save money on potions.) Then this will help.

Heal Art is a necessity for solo grinding, or any Melee interaction for a Reaver. Remember, we’re squishy. We are going to need to be healed, and sometimes our party may need to be healed as well. That Immunity will also save us from nasty Status effects such as Stun, Slow or Exhaustion.

Resurrection Art. Why? Because Every Reaver needs it. It won’t help us Solo, but I’ll say this again: This is what gets Reavers into parties. We are the only class who can revive without a core, and we are the only class who can restore lost XP. Period.

———————————

So that’s 8 skills, but you have 2 more slots to use and 5 more skills to choose from. What are the advantages, combinations and possible uses of the other 5 to your build?

Howling Slice: Extra ranged damage, thats all this is good for. Does the enemy run? Are Tainted/Wrist on CD? Or do you just need an extra cut in your fight? This is your skill.

Frenzied Strike: As mentioned before, this becomes absurdly powerful towards End Game. Some choose it, some don’t, if you do choose this then don’t expect it to help you through the early levels.

Camouflage: Why isn’t this marked? It is in most builds. Well, I didn’t mark it because it isn’t always maxed. Some players will only put 1 SP into this skill and counter-act the speed debuff with runesets, racial speed buffs, or just deal with the speed debuff. Without a doubt this skill should be in your build, but if you want to max it then prepare to give up one other maxed skill.

[Note: That being said, I believe we get 4-6 SP after the 10 maxed skills that are free? You can split those between Dual Wield/Teleport/Camouflage, since those three skills are the most effective to use when they aren’t maxed.]

Weapon Art: Combines nicely with the Critical Art constant critical damage, as well as helps you solo period and is beneficial in helping your party/Increasing Retribution damage.

Defense Art: The added M-Def and Stamina will help you solo and keep your skills flowing, it also assists increasing Retribution damage and lets the mages love you because they get more MP and M-Def.

—————————————————

From these builds, the skills and the examples of their uses, I hope that I’ve given you some insight into the Class you’ve chosen, or are thinking of choosing.

Should you have comments regarding this, uses or builds I did not include, or information on anything mentioned, please PM them to me and I will attempt to sort them out in a revised edition.

Flame, Dissect as you will.

– Leliel

[Thanks too: Sharky, Foxie, ProtoGunner]