A Deathblade build in Lost Ark is about dealing damage through a flurry of slashes, mixing it with quick dashes to optimize positioning or just evade any incoming attacks. If you chose the life of a Deathblade, then it’s all about speedy attacks and sudden ambushes.
With Lost Ark’s progression, things can get overwhelming as fast as you can land slashes on your enemies. You want to make sure that you don’t just flail your swords and that every strike matter. You can start by looking into your skills build to optimize your damage output depending on who you are fighting against.
In this guide, we’ll look into the possible Deathblade builds that you can try depending on your type of gameplay. We will mainly focus on the skills build with max level 60 and assuming all quests that provide extra skill points are completed (380-414 skill points). With the latest updates and the raised level caps, certain skills can be leveled up to 11 and 12, but we will look into those on a separate guide.
PvE Deathblade Build – Lost Ark
For the Lost Ark PvE Deathblade build, you want to focus on skills that can round up enemies with your strikes. There are also some defensive skills mixed in to serve as a back up if it starts to get too crowded.
Skill | Lv | Effect I | Effect II | Effect III |
Blitz Rush | 10 | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +40%) | All-round (Shortens charge up time, always Overcharged) | Shadow Rush (Afterimages attack) |
Maelstrom | 10 | Cold Touch (Freeze foes 4m for 4.0s) | Quick Cast (Skill casting delay -60%) | Overwhelm (Damage to challenge or lower foes 100%, Paralyze foes with continuous damage) |
Moonlight Sonic | 10 | Ice Cold Hands (Frost 5.0s, -120% move speed, stacks 3x) | Quick Prep (Cooldown -11.0s) | Shade Sonic (Damage +105%) |
Polestar | 10 | Orb Control (Death Orb meter gain +75%) | Vital Point (Crit Rate +60%) | Stardust (Aerial attack duration +1.0s, Damage +156%) |
Spin Cutter | 10 | Open Weakness (Damage to foe increase by 6% for 10.0s, frontal and back attackk +9% | Quick Prep (Cooldown -5.0s) | Triple Spin (Max combo count +1) |
Upper Slash | 10 | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +40%) | Large Twister (Damage +80%) | Sharp Attack (Stagger lv. to Mid-High, Crit Dmg +100%) |
Void Strike | 10 | Swift Fingers (Atk. Spd. +27%) | Fist of Darkness (Dmg +60%) | Dark Dimension (Charge up to 1.5s to pull enemies and do an overcharged attack) |
Wind Cut | 10 | Impaired Mobility (Move Spd -42% for 4.1s) | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +60%) | Thick Sword Energy (Radius +100%) |
Tips for Deathblade PvE:
- Engage with skills such as Blitz Rush or Spin Cutter, then follow up with swing skills to launch your enemies in the air before pulling off any charge skill like Void Strike.
- The dash skills can also be saved and used to escape incoming attacks.
PvP Deathblade Build – Lost Ark
The Lost Ark Deathblade Build for PvP focuses more on skills that provide mobility for you, but inflict immobility on your enemy as you try and outdance each other in the arena.
Skill | Lv | Effect I | Effect II | Effect III |
Blitz Rush | 10 | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +40%) | All-round (Shortens charge up time, always Overcharged) | Shadow Rush (Afterimages attack) |
Dark Axel | 10 | Swift Fingers (Atk Spd +27%) | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +60%) | Upper Axel (Spin Crit Rate +50%, Longsword atk +180%) |
Fatal Wave | 10 | Orb Control (Death Orb gain +75%) | Ice Cold Hands (Frost 5.1s, Move Spd -26%, Freeze for 2.0s on three stacks) | Double Wave (Dmg +95%) |
Head Hunt | 10 | Weapon Destruction (For Atk Power -25% for 4.0s) | Enhanced Strike (Dmg +60%) | Weak Point Detection (Dmg to Push Immune+94.8%) |
Maelstrom | 10 | Cold Touch (Freeze, 4m for 2.0s) | Quick Cast (Spell Delay -60%) | Overwhelm (Dmg to lower foes +145%, paralyze) |
Spin Cutter | 10 | Open Weakness (Damage to foe increase by 6% for 10.0s, frontal and back attackk +9%) | Quick Prep (Cooldown -5.0s) | Triple Spin (Max combo count +1) |
Upper Slash | 10 | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +40%) | Powerful Twister (Crit Rate +100%) | Sharp Attack (Stagger lv. to Mid-High, Crit Dmg +100%) |
Wind Cut | 10 | Quick Prep (Cooldown -4.0s) | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +60%) | Sword Energy Explosion (Dmg +80%) |
Tips for PvP Deathblade:
- Engage your enemy with a Dark Axel or a Blitz Rush and follow up with a skill that launches them into the air like Upper Slash.
- Use Maelstrom as a buffer or a counter when most skills are on cooldown to mitigate attacks.
- Alternate between pushing skills and dashing skills to chain them properly, such as Blitz Rush > Dark Axel > Head Hunt > Spin Cutter.
- You may also use dashing skills for an easy escape or to get some distance between you and your foe.
Mixed PvEvP Deathblade Build – Lost Ark
The Lost Ark Deathblade build for PvEvP is similar to the PvP build, but Head Hunt and Upper Slash are replaced by Moonlight Sonic and Void Strike. This is to give a bit more crowd-control against mobs.
Skill | Lv | Effect I | Effect II | Effect III |
Blitz Rush | 10 | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +40%) | All-round (Shortens charge up time, always Overcharged) | Shadow Rush (Afterimages attack) |
Dark Axel | 10 | Swift Fingers (Atk Spd +27%) | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +60%) | Upper Axel (Spin Crit Rate +50%, Longsword atk +180%) |
Fatal Wave | 10 | Orb Control (Death Orb gain +75%) | Ice Cold Hands (Frost 5.1s, Move Spd -26%, Freeze for 2.0s on three stacks) | Double Wave (Dmg +95%) |
Maelstrom | 10 | Cold Touch (Freeze, 4m for 2.0s) | Quick Cast (Spell Delay -60%) | Overwhelm (Dmg to lower foes +145%, paralyze) |
Moonlight Sonic | 10 | Ice Cold Hands (Frost 5.0s, -120% move speed, stacks 3x) | Quick Prep (Cooldown -11.0s) | Shade Sonic (Damage +105%) |
Spin Cutter | 10 | Open Weakness (Damage to foe increase by 6% for 10.0s, frontal and back attackk +9%) | Quick Prep (Cooldown -5.0s) | Triple Spin (Max combo count +1) |
Void Strike | 10 | Swift Fingers (Atk. Spd. +27%) | Fist of Darkness (Dmg +60%) | Dark Dimension (Charge up to 1.5s to pull enemies and do an overcharged attack) |
Wind Cut | 10 | Quick Prep (Cooldown -4.0s) | Vital Point Hit (Crit Rate +60%) | Sword Energy Explosion (Dmg +80%) |
Check out this video by KaidGames2 about an in-depth Deathblade build for PvE: