Deathblade - Surge Raid Build

Intro

The "Mini-game" Deathblade Raid Build, jumping over bosses spinning around them dashing through while stacking up your Surge to do massive amounts of damage! Do you like getting MVP almost every time!? Look no further Surge-Blade will get you there. While you have to position yourself behind the boss you compensate with your great mobility skill Dark Axel to jump right over bosses or Spincutter around them to get in position! Punishing to miss but great team synergy and damage output, with little to no mana or cooldown issues due to your Death Trance.

Skill Points Progression

• At 256 upgrade Spincutter to 7 and add Spincutter, Quick Prep.
• At 272 upgrade Earth Cleaver to 7 and add Earth Cleaver, Weak Point Detection.
• At 284 downgrade Earth Cleaver to 4 and upgrade Spincutter to level 10 adding Spincutter, Triple Spin
• At 300 re-upgrade Earth Cleaver to 7 and add Earth Cleaver, Weak Point Detection.
• At 328 upgrade Earth Cleaver to 10 and add Earth Cleaver, Earth Explosion.
• At 356 upgrade Wind Cut to 10 and add Wind Cut, Thick Sword Energy.

Skill Breakdown

• Wind Cut is your primary Surge stacking ability.
• Spincutter primary debuff and utility mobility/repositioning ability.
• Dark Axel is used to jump over bosses instantly getting behind them for easy back hits.
• Soul Absorber good damage, Weak Point Lv. 1 and medium stagger for Death Orb generation between rotations.
• Earth Cleaver is a fast counter ability and quick damage with good stagger and Weak Point Lv. 1.
• Maelstrom self-buff/party buff for initial and in between orb generation boost that increases movement and attack speed party-wide.
• Blitz Rush is your main damage ability during Death Trance stacking up Surge
• Void Strike is your secondary Surge stacking ability and also your secondary Death Orb generation.
• Flash Blink is your awakening ability used primarily to start with a quick boost to your Death Orb gauge to then go into Death Trance
• Death Trance is your identity gauge skill. When you have 1 or more Death Orbs it gives you mana/cooldown back and a buff for as long as your Death Orb gauge is not depleted or activated with Deathblade Surge
• Deathblade Surge is your active identity gauge ability. Once in Death Trance you can re-activate it to cast Deathblade Surge, with the Surge the damage is dependent on the amount of stacks of Surge you build before using it.

Alternatives

• Void Strike can use the Void Strike, Dark Dimension instead for early levels, this is slower however viable for fights where you have enough time to easily cast this as it has a way larger AoE and will give slightly more Surge stacks.
• Polestar Polestar, Weak Point DetectionPolestar, Vital Point HitPolestar, Moon Star can be used instead of Earth Cleaver for extra stack generation if a boss has no or extremely limited counters. Note that countering on a Deathblade isn't very difficult so this is only a alternative for non-counterable fights.

Gameplay

• Engaging into the fight, you want to start off by generating 2-3 Death Orbs. You can do this by using your Spincutter to debuff, Maelstrom to self-buff and then Flash Blink through the boss for instant 2 + orbs generation if properly hit. When a boss has any type of Armor such as Chromanium/Levanos/Valtan you can choose to save your Awakening to do more damage later and instead use your Soul Absorber and Void Strike during your Maelstrom selfbuff for optimal orb generation.
• When stacking Surge stacks you want to ideally be at 12-14 stacks depending on your specialization/Wealth, 4 quality. This will make you regain around 2 orbs after using your Deathblade Surge which in your full rotation will then gain the last orb rapidly and restart your rotation.
• Stacks accumulate per individual hit of abilities within 0.4 seconds of each hit, so use Wind Cut and Void Strike separately as they will overstack the internal cooldown of the Surge stacking.
• Make sure to use both Wind Cut and Spincutter frequently for easy stacking.

Main Damage Rotation

1. Generate 2-3 Death Orbs initially (always 3 after initial)
2. Use Wind Cut right before Death Trance so it starts building stacks instantly and lowering the cooldown of it.
3. Use Death Trance with 3 Death Orbs to refresh skill cooldown by 50% and regain mana.
4. Spincutter to apply Spincutter, Open Weakness
5. Wind Cut
6. Blitz Rush
7. Spincutter
8. Void Strike or in case of Weak Point requirement use Soul Absorber.
9. Spincutter to get in position and debuff into Deathblade Surge at 12+ Surge stacks to regain 2+Death Orbs. Make sure to Back Attack whenever possible as this is your main damage source!
10. Activate Maelstrom to increase your Death Orb generation.
11. Use Soul Absorber or Void Strike to generate the last Death Orb.
12. You should be back at 3 Death Orbs again to repeat the rotation.

• Deathblade Surge is your main damage source, so make sure to Back Attack with it for the added +10% Crit Rate, Spincutter, Open Weakness and Ambush Master bonuses. If boss movement or mechanics prevent you from getting into position, you can keep stacking Surge up to 20 until there is an opening to use your Deathblade Surge from behind before the gauge runs out. Afterwards get back to the main rotation with 12-14 stacks per surge.

Note

At earlier tiers with lower specialization and lower Wealth, 4 rune quality you might need to use 1 extra ability to get back to 3 orbs consistently.

Stat Priority

Surge Deathblades build high Specialization and Crit. The damage of Deathblade Surge scales from Specialization. It also increases the Cooldown Reduction effect from Death Trance and increases Death Orb gauge gain from abilities.

Engravings

There are several combinations to choose from depending on personal preference with the Surge build. Below are the recommended Engravings for this build.

Starter Engravings

• Surge is the main engraving of this build and should be used at level 1. The engraving will give a 7.5% Attack Power buff to your Deathblade Surge per Surge stack while in Death Trance. Later into tier 3 you can upgrade this to level 3 for a slight boost of damage to your Deathblade Surge.
• engraving[Ambush Master] gives a lrage damage boost to Deathblades as most of their kit relies on back hitting, boosting their overall damage.

Endgame Engravings

• Adrenaline provides an easy source of Crit Rate and slight damage for Deathblades, since they spam their skills with low cooldowns to upkeep the buff easily.
• Sight Focus can be used to icnrease Deathblade Surge damage with a 6 second buff.
• Super Charge works well with Blitz Rush, Void Strike and Soul Absorber charging abilities.

Advanced Engravings

• Cursed Doll* for a simple Attack Power increase but receiving 25% less healing from all sources, aka potions/bards. Often chosen as the final/5th engraving.
• Grudge* a 20% increase of damage vs bosses while also receiving 20% more damage. Very powerful but with a drawback.

(*)These Engravings should only be used at Engraving level 3.

Optimal Setups

Prioritize Top to bottom Engravings first. Note that both these setups are optimal just a change in preference.

Standard

• Surge Level 3
• Adrenaline Level 3
• Ambush Master Level 3
• Grudge Level 3
• Cursed Doll Level 3

Alternative

• Surge Level 1
• Adrenaline Level 3
• Ambush Master Level 3
• Sight Focus Level 2
• Grudge Level 3
• Cursed Doll Level 3

Safety mode

• Surge Level 3
• Adrenaline Level 3
• Ambush Master Level 3
• Super Charge Level 3
• Sight Focus Level 3

Gear Sets

Throughout your leveling process you will come across several gear sets from abyssal dungeons and abyss raids. For these sets you want to focus on the Crit Rate bonus sets.

Gems

Gems grant bonus damage and cooldown reduction to specific skills. You can only equip 11 of these Gems at a time so it is recommended that you prioritize the Gems for your most important skills.

Attack Gems

• Soul Absorber
• Blitz Rush
• Void Strike
• Deathblade Surge

Cooldown Gems

• Soul Absorber
• Blitz Rush
• Void Strike
• Maelstrom
• Spincutter
• Dark Axel
• Wind Cut

Runes

Runes enhance Skills with extra bonuses. All rune obtained runes are account bound and have limited availability, so placement of Runes on the correct Skills is very important. Below are the recommended pairings.

• Soul Absorber Wealth, 4
• Blitz Rush Galewind, 3
• Void Strike Overwhelm, 4 or Wealth, 3
• Earth Cleaver Bleed, 4 or Overwhelm, 4
• Wind Cut Rage, 4
• Maelstrom Focus, 4
• Spincutter Quick Recharge, 3
• Dark Axel Protection, 3

For Earth Cleaver Overwhelm, 4 can be used if you need more stagger damage.

For Void Strike Wealth, 3 can be used if you find yourself struggling to rotate properly due to low specialization or boss mechanics to help increase your Death Orb gauge faster.

Gear Skill Tree and Tripods

Once you enter Tier 3 there will be gear that starts dropping to enhance your abilities through the tripods. Tripods levels go up to a maximum of 5 (+4 on gear) and each level can enhance the effect of the tripod for example, damage, cooldown, buff intensity and mana cost.

Recommended tripods to focus on for the Sorceress are the following:

• Soul Absorber Soul Absorber, Swift Fingers Soul Absorber, Fist of Darkness Soul Absorber, Halve
• Wind Cut Wind Cut, Quick Prep Wind Cut, Sustain Enhancement
• Blitz Rush Blitz Rush, Vital Point Strike Blitz Rush, Charge Enhancement Blitz Rush, Shadow Rush
• Dark Axel Dark Axel, Swift Fingers
• Void Strike Void Strike, Orb Control Void Strike, Void Zone
• Earth Cleaver Earth Cleaver, Weak Point Detection Earth Cleaver, Earth Explosion
• Maelstrom Maelstrom, Orb Control Maelstrom, Dark Order
• Spincutter Spincutter, Quick Prep

Card Sets

Cards are an endgame system to maximize your characters potential. Below are some of the recommended sets/setups for this class. You have a total of 6 card slots available and can create several combinations until you start working on Awakening piece sets and reach their minimum requirements.

• Beginner Card Sets
• Field Boss II 4 Set. This will give you +8.00% Max Health.
• Romanticist 2 Set. Lowers your Movement Skill Cooldown by -10%.

Or

• Forest of Giants 3 Set. This increases the Effectiveness of your recovery items by +15%. (Best Value non-awakening card set).
• We'll Meet Again 3 Set. This will give you -12% Damage taken while below 50% max Health. And at 9-Awakening an additional -18% Damage taken while below 50%.

You can also combine the Forest of Giants 3 Set with a Field Boss 2 Set for the +4.00% Max Health boost instead or Romanticist 2 Set for Cooldown reduction on your dodge.

These sets are obtainable early on in the game and give you a slightly better time playing as you learn and get better and until something better becomes available as the ones mentioned below.

• Budget Card Set
• Lostwind Cliff 6 set (12-piece Awakening) This will give you Crit rate +7.00%.

The Lostwind Cliff card set gives you a nice Crit bonus at a more acceptable rate of awakening, leveling this up beyond 12-piece Awakening doesn't have enough investment value. It might take you a while to get it however the Seria and Solas cards are to a degree farm-able instead of being purely luck dependent. (Note: Requires full 6 piece set to be equipped).

• Optimal Damage Card Set -Light of Salvation 6 Set(12-piece Awakening) Converts your damage type to Holy. -Light of Salvation 6 Set(18-piece Awakening) Holy Damage +7.00% -Light of Salvation 6 Set(30-piece Awakening) Holy Damage +8.00%

This card set will increase your raw damage output by a total of 15.00%, a added bonus to that is the +30.00% Dark Damage Reduction it gives. The Light of Salvation card set is the best damaging card set for all DPS characters in the game but will take very long to complete to a 30-piece Awakening stage. This is a super-long-term goal. (Note: Requires full 6 piece set to be equipped).

Summary

• Use Deathblade Surge at 12-14 Surge stacks to get 2 Death Orbs back. Build back up to 3 Death Orbs before activating Death Trance again.
• Instantly use Death Trance as Wind Cut is active to get 2-4 stacks at the beginning.
• Deathblades are heavily reliant on Back Attacks and landing your abilities.
• Remember not to overlap skills too fast because of the 0.4 sec internal cooldown for Surge stack generation.
• Deathblade Surge is your hardest hitting skill, so make sure you Back Attack with it and don't miss even if you need to stack up to 20 or wait for a little more gauge to drain to get in position!