Gonna stream some Dual Daggers if people want to see that
I recently started experimenting with shade and i found i really enjoy SnD+volley crossbow.
Special ability + SnD heavy kills everything infront of you that isnt a boss if hit from behind, at one point i seriously managed to instakill 3 clustered chaos warriors and it was priceless and that is just one application of it.
For that particular power i also have a high crit setup with resourceful combatant for more special ability usage.
On the crossbow i use the ammo for headshots as its own base ammo is low, a bit of careful shooting and you can take down a horde walking in a line and still have ammo left, or just shoot them down enough that they wont be a problem in melee.
As shade is squishy i tend to dodge around a lot and only go forward if i am very confident, in case of melee hordes i prefer standing slightly behind my frontline and charge back and forth with the first SnD heavy which is a cleaving attack, cancel into block after to reset the attack chain so you can keep using the first heavy.
Its been feeling good to play this but it does take having your dodging game down^^
I will have to give the snd a try cuz having the first strong do that is pretty awesome and allows for some actual (albeit small) cc with the ult. Also I am so thankful for all you guys help on all this, it really gives me some insight and different views and ways to run this character. I see one of the most important things is to get the orange gear so I can roll for abilities on the gear. should I worry about any of that though while in still under level 30 and power level is only 285?
Until you get your Item power to 300, you shouldnât worry too much about your exact gear, as the equipment gets outdated quite fast before that. Use that time to learn the different weaponsâ styles and find what fits you, and only start actively optimizing your equipment once the item power hits 300. Otherwise youâre wasting dusts, and youâll have quite enough need for that later.
ok I thought so thanks. Although my main thing I tend to be running short on is scrap to craft xD wish it only cost 5 instead of 10.
Nice to see other people experience some BS too.
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Going to try and stream again, but Iâm only playing WS because of how bad spawns are rn
Hmmm you can probably ignore optimization for a while then but the weapon trait that reduces ability cooldown really is quite helpful to the shade.
But ah really, there is probably no need to worry about that until much later, just go ahead and practice dodging and blocking, thats always useful.
this. iâve also recently started to specialise in the shade and as of this moment the shade is more treasured to me than the waystalker class for itâs ability to just wade into massive armor and slaughter all of them.
key points for my setup:
- SnD + xbow
- resourceful combatant for melee and conservative headshots on xbow
- level 15 blood fletcher for ammo regen, level 25 30% cd reduction.
- 15% attack speed (weapon, charm, talent)
- 5-10% movement speed (talent, trinket)
- natural bond on necklace (up to your personal preference)
How I play:
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the core strength of my shade is to eliminate hard targets, especially LARGE STACKS of hard targets.
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i do this by abusing cooldown reduction on critical strikes and 40% cd reduction from items and talents.
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with sword and dagger, hitting any infantry builds up ult really fast. it goes faster with multiple targets, since crit is based on strikes, not individual enemies. if your sweeping attacks crit on multiple targets, watch that purple bar fill up super quick.
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the main trick to using the ult is to use the first heavy attack which can hit multiple targets in front of you on grouped up elites (patrol deletion), but use the ult with the 2nd heavy attack for bosses.
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whenever there is a horde, i smile because itâs regeneration time for me. hitting them means i get ult back up, i generate temp hp so my natural bond healing is protected, and i also regen ammo.
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to maintain the crossbowâs ammo, i want to keep using the ult on grouped up targets. i pick out a dense group that i believe i can hit all with my heavy attack, activate ability, let them run through me, i turn around and kill all of them with a carefully placed 1st heavy strike. this can be done in thick hordes if you are careful to retreat into your front line quickly. keep repeating to top up ammo, this should be done continuously throughout the run because you always need to use xbow to kill specials IF your ranged arenât doing their job well.
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xbow is used for killing specials, and hard targets if i am caught without an ult.
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depending on what potion i currently have, i approach bosses in different ways. concentration is the best potion for chaining 2nd heavy attacks on boss (this is very difficult to master, only activate ult BEFORE the 2nd heavy strike, while keeping an eye out for boss attacks or chasing it down or finding the correct angle), if i have a strength potion, unload my xbow into it before engaging, if i have a speed pot just full on try to heavy attack chain into its back, ulting whenever i have it up.
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fighting armored targets like stormvermin/chaos warriors up front is not recommended as it takes too much time to kill without your ult. either use your xbow or hunt down infantry to bring your ult back up. if you have no choice, remember that the push-stab is armor piercing and can be part of your moveset for a quick headshot. a good technique that you should be employing is also to let your teammates tank for you while you circle around back for a chance at a quick backstab kill.
i take SnD with the resourceful combatant trait, cooldown reduction on trinket, level25 30% cd reduction,
imo, this class is the hardest to master but the risk-reward ratio is immense. itâs the only class where i can confidently charge right into a any patrol melee range, with the ability to kill all of them, with a purple pot.
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You should write to OP not me xD
Our setups are near identical after all, altho i use the enhanced backstab damage over ammo regen due to preference.
And we seem to play quite similarly too, i do pretty much the exact same things^^
Glade to see someone else liking shade too though. 
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I also like the S&D a whole lot; itâs a great compromise between the single target power of dual daggers and the horde-clearing potential of the dual swords. Playing S&D also gives you a pretty good idea of the weapon feel for the other two dual weapons, so you can easily switch between them depending on your team comp. And yes, Resourceful Combatant on the melee weapon is an absolute must-have for Shade.
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So is that also good on def if you need to block push then go for atks? I was trying the glaive last night and in hordes I was loving how well it worked especially on def. Also does the increased angle for backstab actually make a difference? I know you didnât mention using this talent but Iâm more curious than anything.
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there is a technique i almost perfected where i can regen my ammo consistently with the bloodfletcher talent. heavy strike 1st attack on chaos infantry, swivel around him while he is staggered, then follow up with 2nd heavy attack dual stabs for +2 ammo. also in a horde, activate ult go behind the line, heavy attack and then dodgeblock back behind the tank, can net 1-5 arrows. itâs important to replenish because i usually kill most specials when they pop their head out with a 3 round burst from my crossbow, and having full ammo to spam on a boss will take down a LOT of their hp. shade is totally my fav now haha.
actually on legend, i feel that the lighter weapons canât facetank a horde as well as the glaive can, but thatâs not the shadeâs role with my playstyle, i normally hide behind tanks or other people facetanking it. even dual swords has a problem with concentrated hordes. but yes, SnD is extremely versatile and fun =D my fingers hurt from spamming tho. lol
block pushing is essential because SnD canât stagger or kill as much compared to the sheer power of the glaive, so in concentrated mobs u have no choice but to push and whittle them down. but honestly, the shade is not a class for facetanking hordes, i will always need backup because iâm trying to protect my hp as much as possible.
i donât use increased backstab dmg or angle, because bloodfletcher for ammo regen is ABSOLUTELY essential for me - i have a variety of techniques i developed to regen ammo on mobs continuously and i need to keep ammo topped up for special killing and boss slaying. quick run down - swivelling around enemies engaged with party members, heavy attack stagger and swivel to the back (dual attack means 2 ammo on a single target), heavy attack spam on bosses asses to get that sweet ammo to spam on them.
an example - when a boss is encountered, i SPAM volley crossbow on them (important to make sure every bolt hits) since i am crit build, i can sometimes get back full ammo after depleting my entire clip, just like what the BH does. usually that means the boss is full on angry at me already, and i kite it until iâm cornered then i activate ability, let it deaggro, then stab it in the back continuously till i get ammo for a full clip, then repeat the process. i normally get the highest damage for bosses in any game - this can synergize with any potion also - purple pot for spamming 2nd heavy attack, str potion for crossbow spam, speed pot for spamming heavy attacks to regen ammo. itâs incredibly fun to engage bosses with a shade. (spam xbow on troll, he kneels for regen, backstab for full ammo, shoot till dead after he gets up, usually finish off with an ability backstab for style points)
Dual sword or S@D (DS has more cleave but is slower). Give your melee the cd on crit trait then max out your crit chance and crit power. Find a big group of enemies then use your ultimate on them, youâll regain at least half your ultimate charge from hitting them and you can regain more by smacking random enemies.
You could also use a swift bow with cd on crit, with the arrows on backstab perk along with shooting while stealthed perk. Basically you want to spend as much time cloaked and as little time unstealthed. You donât necessarily have to backstab you just need to keep feeding yourself ulti charge by chain critting enemies. 10% reduction in cooldown helps and attack speed speeds up your ultimate generation if you canât roll crit power.
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the answer for all elf builds is
Dual Dagger
Hagbane
after so long, my most versatile build for the shade is still bloodfletcher / SnD + xbow.
i know this isnât a waystalker thread, but lately iâve been really addicted to swiftbow+daggers on WS. pewpewpewpewpew stabby stabby!
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I run the same and find it very viable. SnD has only marginally worse boss killing (in the sense that you need to blank fire the first heavy to get the downward stab, which does the same amount as that of DD), but it synergyzes better when clearing hordes with your active ability (first light or even better, first heavy into a horde guarantees kills on anything it hits, basically, and charges your ability more than half again if you run level 25 CDR) and it is easier to kill two CW, SV or other priority targets with first heavy attack.
I like xbow on shade better than hagbane because it suits my playstyle more. It has arguably better ammo sustain with Scrounger, and it is easier to unload your first mag into a boss for a good burst DPS-opener, then switch to melee.
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dual daggers attack so quickly and can cleave into 2 rats per hit so itâs horde clear is actually pretty good. sword dagger has really weird stab light attacks that are more or less not very useful, and the fact that you can get knocked out of a 2nd heavy melee which is your AP attack is not ideal especailly vs multiple armoured targets.
Dual daggers if your good at dodge weaving hordes. I personally donât like the glaive on the shade, but itâs ok. I have used the spear before and it works fine.
I use the hagbane as I do with all the elf characters. Itâs the most powerful weapon in the game. Hagbane + strength potion is insane damage. You can also stagger patrols with it if they get pulled to buy you time for ULTing them. 3 hagbane shots will even kill a stormvermin while staggering all the other SV around him. Takes around 10-15 arrows to kill a boss with the right set up of items. Good if you donât have a purple potion, fire off some arrows while waiting for your ult.
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Hagbane shots stagger chaos warriors in an AoE attack too. It is generally regarded as the strongest elf ranged weapon because it is capable of doing everything fairly well while being able to utterly nuke bosses. Put barrage on it, pump 5 shots into a boss, and then go in for a backstab ult. the damage is huge.
but generally , there are 2 main builds for the elf for all classes.
Glaive + hagbane :
Glaive is good because its shove attack is so safe and literally allows you to maximise your cleave by pushing a horde into a hyper dense state where you can hit maximum targets per swing. Spam your shove-attack-attack and youâll just cut through hordes, and the fact that your light attacks pierce armour just makes every other elf weapon (except dual daggers) sub par.
Dual Dagger + hagbane.
In the current meta because characters have so much mobility, cleave is all in all, not that important and because dual daggers just do so much damage so quickly they are still quite effective at clearing hordes. but you do need much more situational awareness to run dual daggers.
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