In this guide, we will walk you through all the information you need to know about Deathblade Class in Lost Ark and list all of its pros & cons, strengths, weaknesses, and the best builds you can make for it.
Lost Ark Deathblade Class
Lost Ark offers players a wide variety of classes to choose from when it comes to creating their characters. Deathblade is one of the Advanced Classes in Lost Ark and it is part of the Assassin Class.
Deathblade has always been a fan-favorite class and remains one of the best classes in Lost Ark for PvP.
Deathblades wield a Long Sword and Dual Blades. This weapon combination gives them great movement speed and melee damage, allowing them to inflict insane damage from close range.
This class is designed to be as agile on the battlefield as possible. To maximize the damage output of your Deathblade, you need to have them constantly changing up their position during battles.
Due to this high movement speed, Deathblade is a great counter to quite a few other classes in Lost Ark, such as the Gunlancer class.
In Lost Ark, each Advanced Class possesses its own identity. This identity is in the form of a distinct feature that makes it different from other classes in the game. For Deathblade, this identity is the Death Orb.
Death Orb
When a Deathblade damages opponents, it charges up energy for one of three Death Orbs. When one or more Orbs get fully charged up, the Deathblade can temporarily enter the “Deathblade Arts” mode.
While in this mode, the Deathblade gains enhanced movement speed, attack speed, and MP recovery. On top of that, all of its skills are recharged faster.
After going into Deathblade Arts mode, you can activate it one more time to deal with a power attack that uses up all Death Orb energy.
The Death Orb is charged up by any damage you deal to the enemy. The three Death Orbs are charged consecutively, but you only need one full orb to enter Deathblade Arts mode.
This mode lasts for a short while and ends once the Death Orb is completely decayed. If you activate the Deathblade Arts mode again while already in this mode, the attack you unleash will instantly deplete the Death Orb.
An important mechanic to note is that the more Death Orbs you have charged before you unleash the attack, the more damage this attack will deal.
Death Orb Buffs
Deathblade Arts mode grants the following buffs.
- Move Speed: +10%
- Speed: +10% / 15% / 20%
- Power: +10% / 20% / 30%
- MP Recovery: +15% / 25% / 45%
Do note that this mode does not affect awakening Skills, Movement Skills, and Stand Up Actions.
Deathblade Strengths and Weaknesses
Now that you know all the basic information about the Deathblade class let’s dive into the Strengths and Weaknesses of this class.
Strengths
The biggest strength of the Deathblade class is its accessibility. Compared to some of the other classes in Lost Ark, Deathblade is very easy to learn.
However, despite its accessibility, this class isn’t only for new players. The Deathblade class will perform well in early and end-game content.
Another big strength of the class is its amazing performance in PvP situations. This class is practically made for PvP use.
And finally, another notable strength of the Deathblade class is its great catalog of skills. It has some of the best skills in the game.
Weaknesses
The biggest weakness of the Deathblade class is that most of its skills are back attacks. This means that you’ll have to pay extra attention to your positioning on the battlefield. You’ll need to always get behind your enemies if you want to deal the most damage.
Another big weakness of the class comes in its skill balancing. Due to this, the Deathblade class doesn’t have a very good build variety. As a result, you don’t have much room for flexibility when creating builds.
And its final weakness is its poor PvE performance. Since this class is designed for PvP, it cannot perform well in PvE without proper gear.
Best Deathblade Skills and Tripods
The Deathblade class has a pretty impressive catalog of Skills and Tripods. The best Skills and Tripods for Deathblade are listed below.
Dark Axel
Leap 6 meters forward, knocking back enemies (inflicts 456 damage), and use your longsword to strike at them, dealing 305 damage and further knockback.
The best Tripods for this Skill are High Axel, Corkscrew, and Quick Pace. This combination of Tripods will allow you to leap a greater distance and also deal more damage upon landing.
Spincutter
Spin towards the location of the enemy (up to 5 meters), dealing 295 damage to them. This attack can be used twice in a row.
The best Tripods for this Skill are Triple Spin, Open Weakness, and Quick Prep.
Triple Spin increases the number of spins on the attack while Open Weakness increases its damage output. Quick Prep allows the Skill to be recharged way faster
Soul Absorber
Charge to perform a power thrust attack which deals 367 damage when fully charged. It can also be overcharged instead to deal 1471 damage.
The best Tripods for this Skill are Ice Cold Hands, Halve, and Wide-Angle Attack. Using these Tripods will increase this attack’s range and significantly increase its damage output.
Ice Cold Hands will freeze the enemy for a few seconds after the attack. This will give you space to deal more damage or get away from the enemy.
Maelstorm
Spawn a tornado that guards you against enemies for 6 seconds and deals 107 damage to enemies inside and 72 damage to enemies close by.
The best Tripods for this Skill are Orb control, Overwhelm, and Dark Order. Orb Control will increase the Death Orb energy you gain from Normal and Awakening skills. This is a very powerful Tripod to have with this class.
Overwhelm increases your damage output and allows you to paralyze Normal monsters. And Dark Order increases your attack speed and your allies’ movement speed.
Moonlight Sonic
Deliver a sweeping below, which pulls targets towards you and deals up to 1688 damage.
The best Tripods for this Skill are Burning Hands, Shade Sonic, and Quick Prep. Burning Hands will allow you to burn targets with this attack, dealing damage over time.
With Quick Prep, the Skill will charge much quicker, and Shade Sonic will increase the damage of the attack.
Blitz Rush
This skill can be used either charged or uncharged. When charged, you leap 5 meters ahead and attack enemies.
When used uncharged, you use your dual blades to attack enemies in front of you, dealing 1172 damage. This is followed by a longsword slash that deals 783 damage and causes knockback.
The best Tripods for this skill are Shadow Rush, All-Round, and Vital Point Hit. Shadow Rush turns this attack into a ranged skill by using an afterimage to perform the attack itself.
All-Round and Vital Point Hit change this skill type to Normal (instead of Charge) so you can instantly use the Skill, and they also increase the crit chance of the attack.
Lost Ark Deathblade Engravings
In Lost Ark, each class has its own “Engravings.” These Engravings grant you the ability to specialize in different aspects of your class, which will heavily switch up your play style with the class.
Deathblade has two Engravings to choose from. These are named “Surge” and “Remaining Energy.”
Surge Engraving
Surge allows you to utilize the Deathblade Surge attack even if your Death Orbs aren’t completely charged up.
To do so, you have to first activate Deathblade Arts mode, and then you have to repeatedly attack enemies using Normal Skills. This will charge the Surge Enhancement Effect.
This effect is a stackable buff that stacks up to 20 times. The more stacks you acquire, the more damage the Deathblade Surge will deal and the more Death Orb energy you’ll gain after depleting the Death Orb meter.
Remaining Energy Engraving
Remaining Energy grants a 2-second delay to Death Orb energy depletion when you activate Deathblade Arts mode.
This means that when you enter the Deathblade Arts mode, the Death Orb energy will start depleting after 2 seconds.
Furthermore, it temporarily increases attack speed, movement speed, and attack power when you activate Deathblade Surge.
Best Lost Ark Deathblade Builds
Below, we’ve listed down the two best Builds for the Deathblade Class. These builds are designed for PvP and PvE use, respectively.
Deathblade PvP Build
This Deathblade PvP build is designed to have great mobility on the battlefield while also dealing as much damage as possible.
The mobility skills will allow you to damage enemies without fear of getting punished. In this way, you’ll be able to perform amazing attack combos with this build.
Skills
- Dark Axel: Leap 6 meters forward, knocking back enemies (inflicts 456 damage), and use your longsword to strike at them, dealing 305 damage and further knockback.
- Upper Slash: Perform a slash attack with your dual blades, inflicting 128 damage, followed by an upward slash that creates a tornado that launches enemies into the air and deals 192 damage.
- Spincutter: Spin towards the location of the enemy (up to 5 meters), dealing 295 damage to them. This attack can be used twice in a row.
- Moonlight Sonic: Deliver a sweeping below which pulls targets towards you and deals up to 1688 damage.
- Head Hunt: Perform an attack with the handle of your longsword, pushing the target back for 200 damage, followed up by a strike on the head, dealing 200 damage and stunning the target for 1 second.
- Blitz Rush: When charged, you leap 5 meters ahead and attack enemies. When used uncharged, you use your dual blades to attack enemies in front of you, dealing 1172 damage. This is followed by a longsword slash that deals 783 damage and causes knockback.
- Turning Slash: Move forward 5 meters, swinging your longsword two times as you do so, dealing 302 and 247 damage, respectively.
- Maelstorm: Spawn a tornado that guards you from enemies for 6 seconds and deals 107 damage to enemies inside and 72 damage to enemies close by.
Tripods
- Dark Axel: Swift Fingers, High Axel, and Tenacity
- Upper Slash: Swift Fingers, Large Twister.
- Spincutter: Tenacity and Swift Fingers
- Moonlight Sonic: Shade Sonic, Enhanced Stun, and Fist of Darkness
- Head Hunt: Quick Preparation, Enhanced Stun, and Quick Hunt
- Blitz Rush: Vital Point Strike, Shadow Rush, and Charge Enhancement
- Turning Slash: Enhanced Strike, Concentrated Attack, and Tenacity
- Maelstorm: Dark Order, Cold Touch, and Stabilized Energy
Stats
The Primary Stat you need to use for this build is Swiftness. This will increase the attack speed, and movement speed of your Deathblade while also decreasing the amount of it takes for its abilities to recharge.
For your Secondary Stat, you should pick Domination. This will increase damage against stunned targets. Again, this synergizes very well with the skills used for this build.
Deathblade PvE Build
Even though the Deathblade class does not perform that well in PvE, this build utilizes its Skills and Tripods as best as it can to make it a good build for you to use in PvE situations.
Skills
- Soul Absorber: Charge to perform a power thrust attack which deals 367 damage when fully charged. It can also be overcharged instead to deal 1471 damage.
- Spincutter: Spin towards the location of the enemy (up to 5 meters), dealing 295 damage to them. This attack can be used twice in a row.
- Dark Axel: Leap 6 meters forward, knocking back enemies (inflicts 456 damage), and use your longsword to strike at them, dealing 305 damage and further knockback.
- Moonlight Sonic: Deliver a sweeping below which pulls targets towards you and deals up to 1688 damage.
- Earth Cleaver: Perform an upward slash with your longsword, which deals 880 damage and slams the targets onto the floor.
- Blitz Rush: When charged, you leap 5 meters ahead and attack enemies. When used uncharged, you use your dual blades to attack enemies in front of you, dealing 1172 damage. This is then followed up by a longsword slash that deals 783 damage and causes knockback.
- Turning Slash: Move forward 5 meters, swinging your longsword two times as you do so, dealing 302 and 247 damage respectively.
- Maelstorm: Spawn a tornado that guards you against enemies for 6 seconds and deals 107 damage to enemies inside and 72 damage to enemies close by.
- Flash Blink (Awakening): Dash 12 meters towards the location of targets, dealing damage to them and launching them in the air for additional damage.
Tripods
- Soul Absorber: Swift Fingers, Halve, and Fist of Darkness
- Spincutter: Open Weakness and Swift Fingers
- Dark Axel: Tenacity and High Axel
- Moonlight Sonic: Quick Preparation, Shade Sonic, and Fist of Darkness
- Earth Cleaver: Push, Earth Explosion, and Weak Point Detection
- Blitz Rush: Vital Point Strike, Shadow Rush, and Charge Enhancement
- Turning Slash: Tenacity, Concentrated Attack, and Enhanced Strike
- Maelstorm: Orb Control, Dark Order and Concentrated Attack
Stats
The Primary Stat you need to use for this build is Specialization. With this stat, you’ll be able to charge up your Death Orb meter super quickly.
This pairs well with the Remaining Energy Engraving as it’ll allow you to maintain the buffs from that Engraving permanently.
Critical is a great one to use for your Secondary Stat as it’ll increase your backstab damage with this Deathblade build.
