Lost Ark Deathblade guide: Best skills, build, engravings, and leveling

Mar 10, 2022

In Lost Ark, the Deathblade is an advanced Assassin Class that uses a longsword and dual blades. They move quickly around their enemies, dealing great amounts of damage. Due to its rapid movement patterns, Deathblade is ideal for somewhat experienced players who are comfortable with the game’s fighting mechanics. To be successful in tough fights, you’ll need to dash in and out more often than other classes. Plus, you’ll have to be within melee range to be effective, always up close and personal.

If you prefer to raid with teammates, Deathblade will buff your party's movement speed and increase the damage of their front and back attacks, making you a formidable teammate. Don’t forget that as Deathblade your team will also be relying on your high functioning DPS. This is a challenging class where you’ll have to rely on your positioning to take down raid bosses and avoid taking too much damage. Luckily, Deathblade can take great advantage of super armors which allow you to avoid crowd control attacks like paralysis and knock-ups.

Best Deathblade builds

Much like every other class, the two primary builds that Deathblade has are determined by their Class Engravings.

Remaining Energy build

The Remaining Energy build acts as a stim for Deathblade’s identity blade and skills. To start, you’ll see a finite boost in your attack movement and attack speeds. Then your attack damage will see a buff that coincides with how much your Death Orbs are filled. Keep in mind this is after Deathblade Surge is used. While using your skills, your Death Orbs will begin to fill. Once they reach level 3, your skills will be greatly enhanced.

You should prioritize Specialization and Crit, as well as using Maelstrom and Void attacks, in order to build up your Deathblade Energy as quickly as possible.

Desired engravings for this build are (in order):

Remaining Energy
Cursed Doll
Precise Dagger
Adrenaline
Ambush

An example Remaining Energy build for a brand new level 50 character with 252 skill points looks like this:

Surge build

The Surge build gives you the opportunity to utilize your Deathblade Surge even when you don’t have all three Death Orbs filled. In other words, you’ll receive max damage output when using Deathblade Surge as long as you continuously land attacks against your enemies. Furthermore, you’ll get a damage boost from your other attacks while Deathblade Arts is active. These boosts can stack up to 20 times. In contrast to Remaining Energy, the Surge build allows you to do damage in bursts for longer while gaining excess damage over time.

This build works best with Maelstrom and Void Strike. You should focus your stats on Crit and Specialization. This will help you fill your Death Orbs quickly and maximize your damage output.

Desired engravings for this build are (in order):

Surge
Grudge
Adrenaline
Precise Dagger
Ambush

An example Surge build for a brand new level 50 character with 252 skill points looks like this:

Deathblade leveling guide

Leveling in Lost Ark is pretty straightforward, but here are a few key skills and tripods that will aid you in the leveling process.

Spincutter

Spincutter is just as much a movement skill as it is an attack ability. By clicking a location near you, Deathblade will quickly spin towards your target allowing you to move up to 5 meters in one direction. Upon reaching the target, you’ll inflict 287 damage on your enemy. As a bonus, you can use Spincutter twice in a row before its 12 second cooldown. To start, Spincutter is sufficient at 5 skill points.

Turning Slash

Turning Slash utilizes your longsword as opposed to the dual blades. However, it still allows some mobility. Once activated you’ll swing your longsword twice as you deal damage to your foes while moving forward slightly. Like many Deathblade skills, this is best used on the backs of your opponents. Turning Slash is not as important as other attacks and therefore can be capped at level 4 to start.

Maelstrom

Maelstrom is an important attack in your kit because it works in conjunction with both primary Deathblade builds, Remaining Energy and Surge. Therefore, you’ll want to add 10 skills points to boost its effectiveness. It works by creating a tornado that surrounds you lasting 6 seconds. It acts as a shield and inflicts damage on your opponents.

Void Strike

Similar to Maelstrom, Void Strike helps your engravings’ effectiveness by decreasing the amount of time it takes to fill your Death Orbs. At level 10, Void Strike is an excellent tool to see the highest damage output your kit has to offer. There are two ways to use Void Strike. If you have time, you can fully charge the skill which pushes your enemies back while you move forward, eventually launching the enemy into the air and dealing damage. When partially charged, you’ll perform a simple upper slash with your longsword.

Polestar

Polestar is another effective level 10 skill. When used with the Orb Control tripod, you’ll see an extra 50% increase in your Death Orbs. Again, this will help you reach max level in your identity meter when using your engravings. Not to mention this is a very fun skill to use. When activated you’ll slash upward with your longsword, dealing damage and sending your enemy in the air. Once airborne you’ll continue to attack before slashing down dealing even more damage. You’ll also develop paralysis immunity while using this attack. Plus, with 10 skill points added and the Moon Star tripod activated, you’ll inflict added damage with a larger sword.

Thanks for reading the Deathblade guide! We hope you enjoy slashing your way through the world of Arkesia.