The Shadow school classes in Breach are magic users that dual-wield swords. They use fast melee attacks and are similar to rogues and stealth users in other games. Currently, there are three classes that make up the Shadow school: Bloodstalker, Nighthawk, and Shadowblade.
This guide will focus on a build for Bloodstalker, so I will only describe the spells that you might use for this build. Gear, talents, gems, and tips for using the build will also be given.
Immortal Bloodstalker Build
Bloodstalker is usually listed as a Warrior, but this build changes its role to Assassin. It is more of a tank/DPS hybrid.
This build allows the Bloodstalker to tank a lot of damage, because they can heal it back quickly, and taunt important enemies to target them.
Spells
You will need to level Bloodstalker to Level 8, Nighthawk to Level 8, and Shadowblade to Level 4 to use every spell in this build.
The spells are:
- Cursed Strike (Signature to Bloodstalker)
- Talon Frenzy
- Ambush
- Lacerate
- Mob of Ravens (or preferred Ultimate)
Before going over the talents and gems, let me explain what these spells do and the reasoning behind using them. The classes you get these skills from, and the levels you need to do so, will also be listed.
Additionally, there is information on the three available Ultimates. This build doesn’t rely heavily on Ultimates, and you can choose the one you prefer if you don’t want to get the specific gear pieces/talents.
That said, the default Ultimate, Bloodlust, is not a terrible choice. It is nice because it allows you to get Lifesteal, no matter who you hit, but it only lasts 10 seconds.
Another good choice would be Mass Ambush, as it also makes you immune during the attack, and there is more detail on Mob of Ravens below.
Bloodstalker (Warrior)
- Cursed Strike (Signature Melee):
- Deals 300 damage and applies Blood Curse to the target. Only one Blood Curse be active at a time.
- Your attacks against an enemy with Blood Curse will heal you for 35% of the damage dealt plus an additional 35% on bleeding targets.
- Subsequent Cursed Strikes against the same target deal an additional 300 damage and heal for an additional 30%.
- Passive Effects: Heavy Impact Resistance, +750 Health, +1 Dodge
- 8 second cooldown
Cursed Strike allows the Bloodstalker to heal themselves when attacking. The heal is 35% of the damage being dealt normally, but it is 70% if the target has a bleed effect on them as well.
If you have not killed a target, you can also use Cursed Strike again for double damage and 100% healing while the Blood Curse is active.
- Lacerate (General Melee):
- Deals 275 damage and applies Bleed to target.
- Bleed deals 280 bleeding damage plus 80 bleeding damage for 8 seconds.
- Bleed can stack.
- 6 second cooldown
Lacerate is essential to this build, and Bloodstalker in general, because it doubles the amount of healing you get from Blood Curse. The damage can stack as well, which adds up.
- Bloodlust (Ultimate)
- Gain 50% Haste and 125% Lifesteal for 10 seconds.
Nighthawk (Assassin)
- Bird of Prey (Signature Melee)
- Deals 90 damage and launches target into the air.
- Has no cooldown when used in the air against aerial targets.
- Passive Effects: Light Impact Resistance, +15% Bonus Basic Attack Damage, +1 Dodge
- 8 second cooldown
This is not an ability that you will use specifically, but it is something that your Mob of Ravens clones will do, which is explained later, so it is important to know what it does.
- Talon Frenzy (General Melee):
- Deals 544 damage over 2.5 seconds.
- User is immune for the duration.
- 10 second cooldown
- Unlocks at Level 4
Talon Frenzy is a simple attack, and it doesn’t get any boosts. However, it does makes you immune to damage while using it.
This is great for avoiding hard hits from bosses or elites so you don’t take damage. Plus, it heals for quite a bit if you have Blood Curse on the target.
- Mob of Ravens (Ultimate)
- Spawns 2 shadow allies that are immune to all damage and last for 20 seconds.
- They attack with basic attacks, Bird of Prey, and Talon Frenzy.
- Unlocks at Level 8
Mob of Ravens by itself is nothing special, but with the right talents, this is a great skill for Bloodstalker.
The next section will explain which talents make Mob of Ravens so good.
Shadowblade (Assassin)
- Ambush (General Melee):
- Deals 300 damage plus an additional 1,000 if an enemy is at less than 50% health.
- 12 second cooldown
- Unlocks at Level 4
Ambush is the strongest attack in the Shadow school, and it is one I use in all of my builds. This is purely for outputting more damage, and it gets better with a specific prismatic gem.
- Mass Ambush (Ultimate Melee, AoE):
- Deals 1,500 damage over 3 seconds to primary target and 500 damage over 3 seconds to all nearby enemies of the target.
- User is immune for the duration.
- Unlocks at Level 8
Gear/Talents
The talents you need for this build can be assigned to different pieces of gear, except for the weapon talent, so I’m going to list the talents you want rather than the specific gear pieces.
They are:
- Allies who attack the target marked by Cursed Strike also heal you for 15% of their damage dealt.
- Cursed Strike now Taunts the target, forcing them to attack you for 9 seconds.
- Mob of Ravens now creates an additional shadow ally.
- Lacerate now applies 2 stacks of Bleed per application.
- Fanged Blades Weapon that makes Mob of Ravens clones permanent.
- You can buy this in the shop for 1,200 gold.
To note, you can only use three of these talents at once, along with the weapon talent.
The Mob of Ravens additional shadow ally talent and the Cursed Strike taunt talent can be used interchangeably based on the situation. For example, Taunt does not work when fighting an enemy possessed by a player Veil Demon.
You can also make Mob of Ravens more powerful by selecting the talent that lets ally attacks heal you. This will allow you to be healed by your clones.
Gems
There are only three essential Gems for this build:
- Vitality Sapphire (Blue Gem): +730 Health
- Cursed Strike Lifesteal (Prismatic Gem): Causes Cursed Strikes to grant +20% additional Lifesteal, but they have a +20% cooldown.
- Assassinate Health Based Damage (Prismatic Gem): Assassinate now deals bonus damage based on how high your current health is.
The extra health from the Vitality Sapphire gives the Bloodstalker 3,980 max health. Combining this increased health with the Assassinate Health Based Damage gem means you deal a lot more damage with Assassinate.
This is true as long as you are at max health, which you should be most of the time since you heal constantly when using Cursed Strike. The Cursed Strike gem will also make it even easier to be at full health, as it heals you for more —90% at the start as long as you use Lacerate on the target.
Other gems that are helpful would be Haste, Bonus Damage, and Melee Damage gems. For better survivability, you can also use Damage Resistance Gems.
Combat Tips
Bloodstalkers want to target strong enemies, since they need to them to live long enough to constantly deal damage to them and heal.
Start with Lacerate, to apply Bleed, then Cursed Strike to mark them. After that, simply attack and use Talon Frenzy and Assassinate when the cooldown is up. Assassinate has the highest priority when you are at full health, otherwise just attack until you get full health.
If you’ve taken the Mob of Ravens Ultimate, you can use the shadow allies whenever. Just be sure to save it if you are about to reach Session Level 4, since that’s when you can pick the talent to make them permanent.
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That’s all for the guide on the Bloodstalker and the Shadow school in Breach. Leave a comment if you have any further questions or have Shadow school builds of your own.
If you want general information and explanations of mechanics in the game, check out the Breach Beginner’s Guide. For specific builds, check out our guides page for tips on:
