Welcome to our Lost Ark Deathblade PvE Guide! We’ll cover everything you need to know coming into the game as the Assassin advanced class.
Overall Assassins, and Deathblade, are a little different than what you might expect. The class isn’t stealthy or Rogue-like, but instead focused on pure damage, fast combat, and flashy animations. The Deathblade specifically is perfect for anyone looking for combo-based and fast-paced combat.
Deathblade Basic Leveling Guide
Leveling in Lost Ark is more of a tutorial for the class than anything else and you will have a fairly smooth experience doing just about anything. However, with that being said, there are a few things you can do to optimize your leveling experience.
To maximize damage while leveling, you should focus all your skill points on the following skills when you are able:
- Dark Axel (Unlocks at level 12)
- Moonlight Sonic (Unlocks at level 24)
- Blitz Rush (Unlocks at level 40)
- Death Sentence (Unlocks at level 16)
While these are the recommended skills, you can level up with just about anything. The most important thing for Deathblade is that you pick one good AoE and one good single target skill, which will allow you to take down all forms of enemies quickly.
Deathblade Surge or Remaining Energy
Like all classes, Deathblade can split into two different kinds of builds. These builds are focus around the class-specific engravings: Surge and Remaining Energy. The Surge playstyle focuses on the attack power increase, simply by increasing the damage for a set duration while building the Death Orb Meter as fast as possible. Meanwhile the Remaining Energy focuses on buffing yourself to lower your cooldowns to get in as many abilities as possible in your rotation.
Deathblade Stat Priority
Surge Priority: Crit (60%) and Specialization (40%)
Remaining Energy Priority: Crit (60%) and Specialization (40%)
Deathblade Best Engravings
Surge Engravings
- Surge
- Adrenaline
- Grudge (Must be Level 3)
- Ambush Master
- Cursed Doll (Must be Level 3)
- Keen Blunt Weapon (Must be Level 3)
Remaining Energy Engravings
- Remaining Energy
- Super Charge
- Grudge (Must be Level 3)
- Ambush Master
- Cursed Doll (Must be Level 3)
- Keen Blunt Weapon (Must be Level 3)
Deathblade Tripods and Skill Builds
Deathblade is a bit of a different class than others in Lost Ark. Currently, some skills are far superior to others, to the point where the class has very limited build options. As such, there are two core builds recommended for Deathblade, one for each class-specific engraving.
These builds are still powerful in all aspects of the game and you can be successful in PvE as a Deathblade. It just means that there isn’t a lot of build variety. However, for both builds you should pick the same awakening skill: Flash Blink.
For new players, to read these builds simply look at which skills are colored and pick the upgrades based on the small images below the names.
Here’s how you should spend your points:
Surge Build – Skill Points
⏷Fresh Level 50 – 240 Points ⏷
⏷5 Max Tripods – 284 Points⏷
⏷6 Max Tripods – 328 Points⏷
⏷7 Max Tripods – 356 Points⏷
⏷Max Skill Points – 410 Points⏷
Remaining Energy Build – Skill Points
⏷Fresh Level 50 – 252 Points⏷
⏷6 Max Tripods – 312 Points⏷
⏷7 Max Tripods – 356 Points⏷
⏷Max Skill Points – 410 Points⏷
Best Deathblade Runes
Best Surge Runes
| Ability | Rune |
|---|---|
| Wind Cut | Rage |
| Earth Cleaver | Overwhelm |
| Soul Absorber | Wealth |
| Spincutter | Quick Recharge |
| Dark Axel | Protection |
| Maelstorm | Focus |
| Void Strike | Wealth |
| Blitz Rush | Galewind |
Best Remaining Energy Runes
| Ability | Rune |
|---|---|
| Earth Cleaver | Overwhelm |
| Soul Absorber | Wealth |
| Spincutter | Quick Recharge |
| Moonlight Sonic | Wealth |
| Dark Axel | Protection |
| Maelstorm | Focus |
| Void Strike | Wealth |
| Blitz Rush | Galewind |
Best Deathblade Gems
| Attack Gems | Cooldown Gems |
| Soul Absorber | Soul Absorber |
| Blitz Rush | Blitz Rush |
| Void Strike | Void Strike |
| *[RE] Moonlight Sonic | Maelstrom |
| *[S] Wind Cut | Spincutter |
| Dark Axel | |
| *[RE]Moonlight Sonic | |
| *[S] Wind Cut |
Deathblade Card Decks
There are a few options to pick for Card Decks for the Deathblade. However, when determining what you want to pick and use, there are a few factors to keep in mind; How much effort are you willing to put into obtaining the cards and what kind of play style works best for you. With this information in mind, lets take a look at some Card Deck options;
Light of Salvation – Best DPS; however takes a long time to obtain due to RNG
Three Umar Families & The Lazeniths’ Fate – High DPS; however also takes a long time
Lostwind Cliff – Decent DPS; can be rather quick to obtain if you are fine making alts
We’ll Meet Again & Forest of Giants – Purely Defensive; great for first starting out
Deathblade PvE DPS Rotation
In Lost Ark, skills combo together to create a powerful chain of moves that is much more effective than using each move individually. As such, there will be a huge damage difference between players who know how to get the most out of their class, and those who don’t.
That being said, most fights are very dynamic, so you won’t always be able to complete your full DPS rotation, as surviving should be the key focus. Still, here’s how a core combo looks for both Deathblade builds:
Surge Rotation
- Wind Cut
- Deathblade class ability (cast once)
- Spincutter
- Wind Cut
- Blitz Rush
- Soul Absorber
- Void Strike
Remaining Energy Rotation
- Spincutter (to apply a debuff)
- Maelstrom (to buff yourself)
- Soul Absorber
- Dark Axel
- Earth Cleaver
- Moonlight Sonic
- Deathblade class ability (cast twice)
Afterward, repeat the combo from step 3, and reapply buffs and debuffs when they expire.
Thank you for checking out our Lost Ark Deathblade PvE Guide! Now you should be ready to get the most out of your class and progress through the endgame in Lost Ark. We’ll keep this page constantly updated, should any changes happen.