Shadowdancer - Spear + Dagger Small Scale PvP Build
- High Sustained DPS
- Good Burst Damage
- Versatility
- High Skill Ceiling
- Gear Dependant
- Limited Mobility
Overview
The Spear and Dagger PvP Small Scale PvP build focuses on delivering high single-target burst damage to take out enemies quickly while in small group fights or Arena scenarios. It can do very well in PVP Dominion events or even during night PVP. The build also offers great mobility with multiple dashes and teleports, making the build very mobile.
Attributes
Perception
Dexterity
Strength
WisdomTo maximize damage output with this build, focus primarily on Dexterity and Perception, as these attributes greatly enhance your DPS and ensure consistent damage throughout fights. Adding points to Wisdom can also be beneficial for improved mana regeneration, helping you sustain your abilities during extended battles. However, the main priority should remain on increasing damage through Dexterity and Perception.
Don't overlook allocating 50 points into Strength, as it provides a valuable health boost, improving your survivability without compromising your offensive capabilities while also adding extra heavy attack chance which is a very important stat in all PvP content.
Skills
The Spear & Dagger build is a great choice for newer players looking for spear assassin-style gameplay with access to stealth thanks to 
Vicious Fury.
Your main damage skills are Vicious Fury, 
Culling Arc, 
Cyclonic Fury, and 
Rising Slash. Focus on upgrading these first to boost your early damage output.
Keep enhancing your damage with 
Abyssal Cleave and dagger abilities like 
Cleaving Moonlight and 
Brutal Incision. As 
Inject Venom is a core part of your build and all your rotations begin by applying poison, this is another no-brainer to upgrade so it stacks to 20, the effect becomes significantly stronger.
Brutal Incision synergizes with poisoned targets, dealing extra damage and serving as an excellent finishing move.
For passives, you should focus on upgrading 
Malice Surge for extra heavy attack chances. 
Imposing Form pairs well with the spear’s multiple attacks, providing strong buffs. 
Retaliatory Strike is another critical passive, increasing your crit rate and playing a key role in this build.
As for dagger passives, 
Assassin's Instincts adds extra crit rate while 
Shadow Walker is a core defensive passive that activates every time you dodge or use a mobility skill, heavily increasing your evasion rate. Meanwhile, 
Wrathful Edge boosts critical damage, complementing the build's focus on crit rate. This makes the Spear & Dagger build a powerful PvP option with a heavy emphasis on critical hits.
Equipment
These are the first items you should strive for through the leveling period as they are very easy to get and upgrade or trait as needed. However, you shouldn't try to trait these items too much as you won't be spending too much time playing with this setup before you start changing pieces into the Midgame. The green accessories however are very easy to trait as you can craft many of them quickly in order to get the correct traits so you should consider traiting them until you change into purples. The same goes for the blue ring as you keep it for a long time.
This is the gear you should transition to once you're leveled to 50 and start grinding gear. It is comprised of gear you can get either from dungeons or by completing Litographs, they are relatively easy to trait up and you will spend most of the time wearing this set before advancing into the late game so traiting these items is very important and should be your main focus.
This is the current endgame gear you should aim for, and while it isn't easy to acquire, it offers great power without the need of acquiring archboss gear pieces. However, items like 
Tevent's Fangs of Fury or other archboss weapons are superior but difficult to acquire for the majority of players. If you do manage to get the archboss weapons for your build, feel free to use them over the weapons shown here.
Weapon Masteries
Ranged Defense |
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Magic Defense |
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Shield Block Penetration Chance  |
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Melee Evasion |
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Cooldown Speed |
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Endurance |
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Max Health |
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Debuff Duration |
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Movement Speed | ||
Damage Reduction |
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Melee Critical Hit Chance  |
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Mana Regen |
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CC Chance |
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Bonus Damage |
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Buff Duration |
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Ignite Damage |
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Damage |
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Melee Hit Chance |
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Skill Damage Boost |
| Melee Hit Chance |
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Movement Speed |
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Cooldown Speed |
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Max Mana |
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Damage |
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Skill Damage Resistance |
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Mana Cost Efficiency |
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Melee Critical Hit Chance |
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Added Attack Speed |
| Ranged Defense |
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Health Regen |
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Debuff Duration |
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Mana Cost Efficiency |
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Cooldown Speed |
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Evasion |
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Buff Duration |
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Ranged Defense |
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Weaken Resistance  | ||
Movement Speed |
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Melee Hit Chance |
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Off-Hand Weapon Attack Chance |
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Weaken Chance |
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Mana Regen |
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Buff Duration |
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Silence Chance |
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Mana Cost Efficiency |
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Melee Hit Chance |
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Cooldown Speed |
| Melee Critical Hit Chance |
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Damage |
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Off-Hand Weapon Attack Chance |
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Melee Critical Hit Chance |
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Cooldown Speed |
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Critical Damage |
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Damage |
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Skill Damage Boost |
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Added Attack Speed |
Spear: Invest 9 points into Face Off for extra Attack Speed and Cooldown speed while 9 points will go into Destroy for extra Skill damage boost. The last point will go into Charge for a bit of extra defense.
Dagger: Selecting Assassination for your Dagger is crucial as it provides a notable damage boost. Allocate 9 points into Poison for Cooldown Speed while the last point 6 points should go into Disguise for extra evasion.
Rotations
- Prepare yourself and your team with
Unyielding Sentinel before using Inject Venom so all your follow-up attacks will also apply poison. Start the rotation with 
Shadow Strike to bind the target then use 
Gale Rush to dash to the target and increase your attack speed while also dealing damage and stunning them.
- Use Abyssal Cleave to Prone the enemy (jump while using the skill to apply Prone instead of Stun) before continuing with Cyclonic Fury to stack debuffs further and increase Culling Arc damage before using Vicious Fury and then Rising Slash along with Brutal Incision.
- This much shorter rotation is intended for finishing off low HP targets. This rotation can be done out of Stealth (
Camouflage Cloak) so enemies don't expect it.
- Start with Inject Venom so your following attacks also apply poison before you use Shadow Strike to bind the target. Use Gale Rush to damage and momentarily stun the target so you can followup with a longer Prone using Abyssal Cleave (Jump at the same time you use the skill so it applies Prone).
- Use Cyclonic Fury followed by Culling Arc before blowing up the target with Rising Slash.
- If the target is still alive, use Cleaving Moonlight & Brutal Incision to finish them off.
Comments
We are seeking an experienced Build Admin for Throne and Liberty with a deep understanding of the meta across most weapons and game modes. Get in touch with Galaxian on Discord if you're a good fit for the role or know someone else who is. This is a paid position.
