Deathblade Lost Ark Class Guide

Our Deathblade Lost Ark class guide covers everything you need to know about this Assassin subclass, including its overall role in the team, its strengths and weaknesses, some tips, and more. Lost Ark allows you to control a number of classes, who all come with different benefits in PvE and PvP content. So if you want a breakdown of the Deathblade Lost Ark class, we’ve got you covered below.

Deathblade Class Overview

The Deathblade in Lost Ark is an Assassin type class that wields 3 Swords; two Daggers and one Longsword. The Deathblade is a Melee DPS, primarily attacking in close rage distance. They fight with the flurry of a thousand cuts with a chaotic fast-paced slashing style. Their musical instrument is an Flute.

The Identity Gauge of the Deathblade is the Art Meter. The Art Meter fills upon successful hits with attacks filling up 3 Death Orbs. Death Orbs can be activated <Z> and the Deathblade will enter into an enhanced state known as Art. Art gives the player a number of beneficial improvements: granting immunity to crowd control effects, restoring Mana to full, and lastly, depending on how many orbs were activated will provide greater benefits. The scaling benefit is as follows:

Activated Death Orbs	Duration of Buff	Movement Speed	Attack Speed	Attack Power	Cooldown Reduction	Mana Regeneration
1	10 seconds	+10%	+10%	+10%	10% faster	15% faster
2	20 seconds	+10%	+15%	+20%	30% faster	25% faster
3	30 seconds	+10%	+20%	+30%	50% faster	45% faster

Lastly, while in Art, the Deathblade can activate the Identity Gauge a second time causing a damaging ability: Deathblade Surge <Z²>. This knocks down opponents and deals damage based on the number of Orbs used. Once this second activation is executed the Deathblade will exit this Art state.

Role of a Deathblade

In PvE, they provide excellent sustained damage and good burst damage with Deathblade Surge. They can, however, be difficult to play due to the majority of the abilities having a “Back Attack” condition. To provide optimal damage the deathblade should be attacking a boss from behind. The constant random movements of bosses is what can make playing Deathblade difficult.

In PvP, they provide very good damage potential, fair mobility, high defense, and lots of Super Armor. They are an all around strong class to play in the arena.

Strengths

• Good Consistent Damage
• Good Mobility
• Lots of Super Armor

Weaknesses

• Low Staggering Impairment abilities
• Can be difficult to perform back attacks optimally.

Skills

The following table is a list of all Lost Ark Deathblade Skills in order of which level they will be unlocked.

Deathblade Leveling Guide

Our comprehensive leveling guide from 1-50 for the Deathblade Class goes over all of the skills available and which tripods you should focus on selecting. As well as tips for combat and gameplay.

Deathblade Lost Ark Leveling Guide

Class Engravings

There are two [Class Engravings] available at Level 50 that alter the Deathblade’s playstyle in how they engage in combat.

Surge

• Surge – While in Art, the Deathblade gains stacks of Surge Enhancement (up to 20) when hitting with skills. Surge Enhancement increases the damage of Deathblade Surge by 7.5% per stack of Surge Enhancement. Furthermore, when Art ends the identity gauge will refill depending on how many stacks of Surge Enhancement were obtained.

How to play Surge

Build the Identity Gauge to fill 2 Death Orbs. Activate Art and start gaining stacks of Surge Enhancement. When you obtain 14 stacks of Surge Enhancement, activate Deathblade Surge. The next skill you use will fill the Identity Gauge to just past 2 Death Orbs. Which means you can then repeat the cycle again.

The goal is to quickly gain stacks of Surge Enhancement while Art is active. The best way to do this is by using multi-hit abilities.

An optimal rotation, depending on if your skills are available, is as follows:

• Build Identity Gauge to at least 2 Death Orbs
  • Identity Skill: Art
  • Spincutter (Self Buff: Increased Front/Back Attack Damage; Debuff on Target) >
  • Maelstrom (Party Buff: Move Speed and Attack Speed Party) >
  • Wind Cut >
  • Moonlight Sonic >
  • Soul Absorber >
  • Void Strike >
  • Blitz Rush >
  • Identity Skill: Deathblade Surge ¹

¹ If 14 stacks of Surge Enhancement are obtained before this, use Deathblade Surge right away and restart rotation with whatever skills are available.

Remaining Energy

• Remaining Energy – Upon activation of Art, the identity gauge does not consume the gauge for 2 seconds. Upon Activation of Deathblade Surge, you will gain a buff that increases Attack Speed, Movement Speed, Attack Power that lasts for 30 seconds. The buff is better depending on how many Death Orbs were consumed.

How to play Remaining Energy

Build the Identity Gauge to fill all 3 Death Orbs. Activate Art and immediately use Deathblade Surge. You have 2 seconds upon activation of Art to gain the maximum buff from Remaining Energy, so try to deliver a Back Attack within this timeframe for optimal damage. (I suggest using Dark Axel with the Tripod 3: High Axel for quick repositioning)

Then perform the optimal rotation as follows:

• Spincutter (Self Buff: Increased Front/Back Attack Damage; Debuff on Target) >
• Maelstrom (Party Buff: Move Speed and Attack Speed Party) >
• Blitz Rush >
• Void Strike >
• Soul Absorber >
• Wind Cut >
• Earth Cleaver ¹

¹ Earth Cleaver is a Counter Skill. Only use when there are no Counter mechanics, or the boss has been Countered no later than 14 seconds ago. (Bosses have an internal cooldown of 30 Seconds from when they’ve last been countered)

Deathblade PvE Guide

Below is a good basic Deathblade PvE Build that utilizes the Remaining Energy Class Engraving. It is generally a good build for all types of content such as for Chaos Dungeon, Questing, Guardian Raids, and Abyss Dungeons.

Deathblade PvE Stat Priority

Maximize Specialization as much as possible; to generate as much energy in the Art Meter Gauge to speed up skill cooldowns upon entering Art form and ensure the constant uptime on the buff from Art. It also increases the damage of the Deathblade Surge Skill. Then focus on Crit as a secondary stat

Deathblade PvE Build

Alternative Skills:

Turning Slash is a movement ability offering a bit more damage, however Dark Axel is also a very strong movement skill, giving the ability to jump over bosses with the Tripod 3: High Axel.

Also, for Chaos Dungeons swap to Earth Cleaver’s Tripod 1: Law of the Jungle for increased damage to Challenge and lower targets. Everything else can stay the same

Remaining Energy Build

This Deathblade Remaining Energy build requires 328 Skill Points which will require the collecting extra Skill Points in Shushire and Rohendel. Focus on allocating skill points to Shock Skills before Stamina Skills if you don’t have enough.

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Level	Tripods	Notes
	Moonlight Sonic	10	1 2 2	Damage
	Spincutter	7	2 3	Tripod 1: Open Weakness – Increased Front and Back Attack damage debuff on target
	Void Strike	10	3 1 1	Damage
	Soul Absorber	10	3 1 2	Damage
	Maelstrom	7	2 1	Tripod 2: Dark Order – Move Speed Party Buff and Self attack speed buff
	Blitz Rush	10	3 2 1	Damage
	Earth Cleaver	10	3 3 2	Damage
	Turning Slash	10	3 3 1	Mobility

Deathblade PvP Guide

In Player versus Player Arenas, Deathblades are an essential damage dealing class in PvP. They provide very good damage potential, high defense, and lots of knock-up Super Armor abilties. While their mobility may be lower mobility, they are an all around strong class to play.

Mobility Skills:

• Dark Axel
• Turning Slash
• Spincutter

Possible Combo opportunities in this build:

• Dark Axel (engage) or Surprise Attack (engage)> ¹
• Upper Slash (knock up) > ²
• Blitz Rush (Knock up)>
• Moonlight Sonic (damage)

^{1 Auto Attack is a very strong stagger that you can add in right after the engage.}

^{2 You can also add Head Hunt instead of or after Upper Slash with a slight delay, as you need to time this so that the ability makes contact when the target is on the way down, otherwise it will not hit if they are too high up.}

Tip: You can use the Identity Skill: Art for a damage boost before a combo or use the Deathblade Surge immediately for big damage or to peel targets off your teammates.

PvP Stats

• 933 Swiftness
• 316 Domination
• 1 Crit

Deathblade PvP Skills Build

Feel free to change whatever skills you like depending on your playstyle and how you see fit.

Below is a general Deathblade PvP build that is a great foundation to build upon.

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Level	Tripods	Notes
	Spincutter	4	3	Mobility
	Surprise Attack	10	3 1 1	Mobility, Tripod 3:Trailing Sword Burst – Knock up
	Upper Slash	10	2 3 2	Knock up (after stagger or other knockup)
	Dark Axel	10	1 1 2	Mobility; Tripod 2 Tenacity – Super Armor
	Head Hunt	10	2 2 2	Melee Stun; Tripod 3: Enhanced Stun – from 1s to 1.5s
	Moonlight Sonic	10	1 2 2	Damage
	Blitz Rush	10	3 1 1	Long Range Knock up
	Turning Slash	10	2 3 2	Damaging Gap Closer

Here’s Youtuber Pum showcasing some quality PVP gameplay displaying a lot of the techniques and strategies listed above.

Best Deathblade Engravings

Remaining Energy Build

The Highest priority is Remaining Energy followed by Grudge. Super Charge is a good 3rd engraving as there are many charging abilities in the rotation that benefit from it.

Mandatory

Icon	Engraving	Description	Source
	Remaining Energy	Lv. 1: Art does not consume Art Meter for 2s when activated. Atk./Move Speed +6% on Burst. Atk. Power +(8%, 16%, 25%) depending on your Burst level, for 30s. Lv. 2: …Atk./Move Speed +9% on Burst. Atk. Power +(10%, 20%, 30%)… Lv. 3: …Atk./Move Speed +12% on Burst. Atk. Power +(12%, 24%, 36%)…	Guardian Raid Abyss Dungeon
	Grudge	Lv. 1: Damage +4% to Boss or above monsters. Damage -20% from Boss or above monsters. Lv. 2: Damage +10%. … Lv. 3: Damage +20% …	Chaos Dungeons Cube

Optional

Icon	Engraving	Description	Source
	Super Charge	Lv. 1: Charge skills’ charging speed 8%. Damage +4%. Lv. 2: …+20%. Damage +10%. Lv. 3: …+40%. Damage +20%.	Chaos Dungeons Cube
	Master of Ambush	Lv. 1: Damage +5% for successful back attacks. Lv. 2: Damage +12%… Lv. 3: Damage +25%…	Chaos Dungeons Cube
	Keen Blunt Weapon	Lv. 1: +10% Crit Damage but your attacks have a chance to deal Damage -20%. Lv. 2: +25% Crit Damage… Lv. 3: +50% Crit Damage…	Chaos Dungeons Cube
	Cursed Doll	Lv. 1: Atk. Power +3%. Healing -25%, natural recovery excluded. Lv. 2: …+8%. … Lv. 3: …+16%. …	Chaos Dungeons Cube

Gear Sets

Below is a list of all the gear sets and their bonuses that available to Tier 1 Deathblades. You can mix and match 2-Set bonuses using 2 or 3 different ones. Depending on your playstyle and what’s available to you, you may want to take two 2-set bonuses instead of a full 5-set Bonus. You can also have one set for Chaos Dungeons and other Solo Content, and another for Guardian Raids and other Group Content.

Item Level	Rarity	Set Bonus Name	Effects	Source
385	Relic	Dark Night	2-Set: When attacking a foe, 30% chance for +8% Atk and Move Speed for 6s. (Cooldown: 3s) 5-Set: Increases Crit Rate by 40%, but decreases Crit Damage by 40%.	Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Welcome 3) Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Nightmare 1-4)
385	Relic	Phantom Memory	2-Set: Attack Speed and Move Speed +5% 5-Set: Increases Damage with an Awakening Skill to Seed or lesser monsters by 60%. Increases Damage to Challenge or lesser monsters by 60% when hitting them with an Awakening Skill for 10s. (Cooldown: 60s)	Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Welcome 3) Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Nightmare 1-4)
385	Relic	Void Afterimage	2-Set: Decreases damage taken by 30% when HP is below 30%. +15% Atk. Speed and Move Speed, +10% Skill Cooldown. 5-Set: When hitting a foe with a normal attack, +15% Additional Damage for 3s (Cooldown: 1s)	Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Welcome 3) Chaos Dungeon Rohendel (Nightmare 1-4)
340	Legendary	Awakened Hatred	2-Set: Combat Resource Recovery Speed: +30% 5-Set: Crit Damage +25	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
340	Legendary	Boisterous Elemental	2-Set: Increases Attack Speed and Move Speed by 4% for 6s, up to 8% when attacking monsters Boss rank or above. (Cooldown: 3s) 5-Set: Increases damage to monsters Boss ranked or above by 12%.	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
340	Legendary	Dense Confusion	2-Set: Attack Speed and Move Speed +4% 5-Set: Crit Rate +15%	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
340	Legendary	Enraged Nature	2-Set: Move Speed +8% 5-Set: Atk. Power +4% for 8s, up to 12% when attacking a monster Boss ranked or above. (Cooldown: 3s)	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
340	Legendary	Mist	2-Set: Decreases damage taken from Normal ranked monsters by 20%. 5-Set: Increases damage dealt to monsters Challenge rank or below by 15%.	Abyss Dungeon (Corridor of the Twisted Lord) Abyss Dungeon (Hildebrigne, Dream Palace)
302	Epic	Ancient	2-Set: When hit while HP is below 20%, restores 3% of Max HP for 15s each time you hit a Normal monster. (Cooldown: 60s) 5-Set: Increases damage by 17% when hitting 3 or more foes.	Abyss Dungeon (Valley of Beasts) Abyss Dungeon (Spirit of the Necromancer)
302	Epic	Rugged Valley	2-Set: Move Speed +8% 5-Set: Atk. Power +4% for 8s, up to 12% when attacking a monster Boss ranked or above. (Cooldown: 3s)	Abyss Dungeon (Valley of Beasts) Abyss Dungeon (Spirit of the Necromancer)
302	Epic	Seraphic Oath	2-Set: Attack Speed +8% 5-Set: Additional Damage +10%	Abyss Dungeon (Valley of Beasts) Abyss Dungeon (Spirit of the Necromancer)
302	Epic	Stalwart Years	2-Set: Attack Speed +8% 5-Set: Additional Damage +10%	Abyss Dungeon (Valley of Beasts) Abyss Dungeon (Spirit of the Necromancer)

Check out our Lost Ark Wardancer builds, which breaks down everything you should know about this class, including the best skills and engravings.