Deathblade
Community Guide
LAST EDIT: 20 September 2025
Editors Jinjin
T3 Archive
General Information
_This document is created by community members as a compilation of class related information. This is not meant as a new player guide, if you are a new player we suggest reading_ _Maxroll’s Build Guides_ _instead. If you have any feedback or want to help with class discussions, join our_ _Discord__!_
How do the two builds compare?
Remaining Energy Surge
Summary Smooth, cyclical, fast-paced rotation with multiple heavy-hitting abilities.^ Sustained burst, focused on one massive damage number every 6 10 seconds.
Pros
● Very fluid ● High mobility ● Good stagger
● Concentrated damage distribution ● Forgiving gauge recovery
Cons
● Significantly punished by missing gauge generators ● Very punishing against highly mobile bosses
● Unstable performance due to Surge ’s crit variance ● Low utility potential
How does my identity work?
Deathblade’s Identity consists of a three-orb gauge system, and a finisher attack. The identity gauge can be activated to enter Death Trance once it has filled at least one orb to provide the player with powerful buffs. This effect becomes stronger for each additional orb filled, up to a maximum of three.
The identity gauge is filled by using normal skills and your Awakening skill, and both builds have their own ways of utilizing the gauge system to their advantage.
Chaos Dungeon
Blitz Rush
2 1 1
Galewind (^) Spincutter 3 2 2 Wealth Moonlight Sonic 1 2 2 Galewind (^) Death Sentence 1 1 1 Galewind Soul Absorber 3 1 2 Galewind (^) Maelstrom 2 1 Galewind Twin Shadows 2 2 1 Wealth (^) Void Strike 3 1 2 Wealth Awakening Engravings Flash Blink Paradise tips In paradise, only your paradise gear, skills level and tripods matter. Every other system is irrelevant.
Identity :
In Paradise, activating your identity will enter Death Trance state, reducing all
your cooldowns, recovering mana and providing the following buffs depending on the number of orbs when pressing identity :
Pressing the identity button again from that point will cast Surge and end the
buff.
Knowing that, there are two different ways of playing in Paradise :
Clear the stage : If you are looking to just clear the stage, your goal would be to build 3 bubbles, pressing Identity twice and then repeat the process.
Burst the stage : If you want to clear the stage ASAP, you want to build 3 bubbles with fewer skills as possible, activate Transe, and burst with remaining big skills (including awakening and T-Skill) during the buff window and end the fight there.
Skills : The standard RE build works fine. In the early stages, we are going to level up the big hitting skills to lvl 14 and look for crit rate tripods on skills as much as we can. These can be swapped back to damage as soon as we get more crit rate from gear.
You can choose to replace Spincutter, Earth Cleaver or Maelstrom (after lvl 6 whistle) by :
- Blitz Rush 3/2/1 (Early) or 2/2/1 when we are gonna have access to more crit rate. “All round” tripod in the 2nd row can be an option as well for cast speed.
- Moonlight Sonic 1/3/2 (Early) or 1/2/2 (Late).
- Fallstar 2/2/1 or 1/2/1
With gear being different on everyone, some people with more damage would prioritize some skills over others to burst. You have to figure out on your own which one works better for you.
Gear : For early stages you want to focus the meter gen buff available on Censer
level 1 and Whistle level 4 and 6, any crit rate buffs and skill CDR as possible. In
the following weeks, when we are going to have enough crit rate, meter gen and CDR, we are going to look for whatever upgrades that give more damage.
Ark grid (WIP) Ark grid is the power system that comes with the Kazeros raid. This doc is a rough translation of all the cores available and will be updated to western terminology soon. Here
If you play standard build, 8 Damage build or HH build, you will pick the following red cores :
Order Sun : Art Master Order Moon : Arts Core Order Star : Basics
For blue cores, for now just grab whatever gives you damage.
Remaining Energy
Ark Passives Standard Build
Evolution Enlightenment Leap
Critical (10/30)
Specialization (30/30)
Rapid Strike (1/1)
Transcendent Power (3/5)
Unleashed Power (5/5)
Instant Spell* (3/3)
Awk. Amp. (1/3)
Limit Break* (3/3)
Remaining Energy (3/3)^ Dance of Nightmares* (3/3)
Strike (2/2)
Firm Will (3/3)
Swordcraft Enhancement (1/5)
Standing Striker (2/2)
Extreme P. Activity (3/3)
Orb Circulation (1/5) Notes ● Limit Break points can be reallocated for the following alternatives: ○ Keen Sense (x/2): provides slightly lower damage but helps to reduce crit variance. ○ Optimized Training (1/2): provides less damage but allows you to have a smoother rotation at lower gem levels. ● If running Breaking Moon , take Flash Slash instead.
● *You can run Instant Spell (2/3), in which case you add a point to Transcendent Power, if you have access to a lot of mana recovery (Artist / Summoner & mana food). ● For the side nodes, allocate one point into Orb Circulation and allocate the rest of your available points into Swordcraft Enhancement. (You can allocate more points into Orb Circulation if you feel like you need more meter gen).
Engravings
Core Engravings Pick One
Grudge Ambush Master Adrenaline KBW (^) Cursed Doll Raid Captain Notes ● Raid Captain efficiency varies greatly depending on several factors. To be a damage increase over Cursed Doll you need: ○ Support’s Goddess of Blessing Ark Passive effect (9%) + Death Trance (Lv.3) (12%) + 70 Swiftness stat from horizontals (1.2%). ○ Maelstrom’s Dark Order tripod (12.8%) applied to 100% of your damage results in ~14% / 16.8% dmg (Legendary/Relic Raid Captain). Additional sources of Move Speed can lower this requirement: ■ Event Feast (5%) reduces it to ~61.1% / 64.3%. ■ Regular Feast (3.5%) reduces it to ~72.9% / 76%. ■ Vernese Wine from Peyto/Fermata ships (3%) reduces it to ~76.8% / 80%. This prevents you from using Mana Regen food, tho. ● Event Feast + Wine (8%) ~37.7% / 40.9%. ● Regular Feast + Wine (6.5%) ~49.5% / 52.7%. ● If you are new to Remaining Energy or progging raids, it is recommended to choose Cursed Doll over Raid Captain until you are getting familiarized with the rotation / boss patterns.
Skills
Note : For the Bleed rune, you have to decide on which skill you want to put it on based on your preference.
Core Skills
Maelstrom
10
2
1
2 Focus
Multi-buff & Synergy Skill ● Having this buff up when you cast Soul Absorber and Void Strike is critical to your rotation. ● Ideally, you should be able to fit Twin Shadows and Turning Slash in its duration as well. ● Surge must fit in too if you run Raid Captain.
Spincutter
4
3
Galewind
Mobility Skill ● Galewind can be replaced with Rage , especially if using Raid Captain. ● Purify can be slotted in for raids that require constant debuff cleansing. ● Bleed is also a viable option but requires to cast Spincutter every rotation.
Earth Cleaver
14
3
3
1 Galewind
Counter, Weak Point, Stagger, Damage Filler ● The Concussion and Darkness Injection can be used for more stagger. ● Overwhelm can be used in raids that require more stagger.
Soul Absorber
14
3
1
2 Galewind
Primary Orb Regen Skill ● Wealth can be considered if you find yourself missing skills often or if your Specialization is low. Also a decent choice when progging raids.
Void Strike
14
3
1
2 Wealth
Primary Orb Regen Skill
Death Sentence
14
2
2
1 Focus
Main Damage Skill ● Provides good stagger as well. ● Galewind can be considered if you have access to a lot of mana recovery (Artist / Summoner + mana food & T-skill mana reduction lvl 3)
Twin Shadows
14
2
1
2 Wealth
Secondary Orb Regen & Damage Skill ● Bleed is also a good choice and it will naturally apply doing the main rotation.
Turning Slash
10
- 13
1
3
1 Poison
Secondary Damage Skill, Push Immunity, Synergy ● Concussion can be used in cases where additional Stagger is needed. ● Weak Point Enhancement can be used in cases where additional Destruction is needed. ● Bleed can be slotted if you don’t have access to the poison rune yet.
T Skill and Awakening
Deathly Slash
Provides precise mobility (Point skill) and short animation lock. Can be used roughly every 2nd rotation.
Blade Assault Longer cast time than Flash Blink , but it deals more damage and provides more meter in exchange.
Chaotic Blade
Gem Priority Gems are listed in order of most to least important from left to right. Grayed out icons are optional gems.
DMG
CDR
Gem upgrade prioritization :
This is the recommended gem upgrade prioritization (ideally Tier 4 level 8 minimum) for a smoother rotation.
Based on preference (basically if you value damage over smoothness), you
can choose to get the Surge damage gem first (or right after the Soul Absorber CD) or get the damage gems of Soul Absorber, Death Sentence, Void Strike before the CD gems of Maelstrom and Void Strike as they are a bit lower priority for a smoother rotation.
As for the last 3 damage gems, choose whichever does most damage between Earth Cleaver and Twin Shadows on your usual runs or refer to the DPS distribution below. Turning Slash is the last one no matter what.
If you are looking to upgrade to a Tier 4 level 10 gem, the focus would be on Soul Absorber CD and Surge damage.
If you have a Tier 3 level 10 Surge gem and do not plan on playing Surge, you should transfer it to a Tier 4 level 8.
Rotations
Infographic Legend
Opener rotation (video)
Note : This opener rotation requires you to have 3 bubbles Surge ready.
Main rotation (video)
_Note :_ _Spincutter_ _must be used at any of these points ONLY if you run_ _Bleed_ _on it, otherwise keep it for mobility._
● This is the common rotation when you can have a full uptime on the boss. This rotation may vary according to bosses patterns and you can swap / skip some skills if needed. ● If you play Raid Captain , the main goal of this rotation is to fit T-Skill, Earth Cleaver , Turning Slash , Soul Absorber , Void Strike and Surge during the Maelstrom buff. If everything goes well. you should have ~1.5s left of Maelstrom buff after
surging for Twin Shadows and Death Sentence to be included in the buff window afterwards. However, if you are forced to stop attacking after casting Maelstrom , you should prioritize fitting in Soul Absorber and Void Strike before any other skills. ● If you play Cursed Doll instead of Raid Captain , just make sure that Soul Absorber and Void Strike are inside Maelstrom buff, the rest can be flexible. ● The Remaining Energy self-buff and the active CDR / Mana Regen effects depend on how many full Death Orbs you possess when casting Surge. Because of this, it is always recommended to reach 3 Death Orbs before casting it, but unpredictable raid encounters can lead to missing skills and ending up with fewer orbs at the end of rotation. In that scenario, you can use your Awakening to quickly recover, or just cast Surge with 2 Death Orbs , resulting in longer cooldowns and less damage for the next rotation. ● Earth Cleaver can be skippable in the rotation if Soul Absorber is available to cast.
Atropine with awakening (video)
Note : This rotation requires you to have 3 bubbles Surge ready and at least 3 adrenaline stacks before starting this rotation. It can also be used as the opener if you plan to atro when entering the fight.
_Atropine without awakening_
It varies on which skills are available during this window. After a mech, if T-Skill , Surge and your Awakening are available, you would prioritize the atropine with awakening rotation. If you do not have awakening, but T-Skill , Surge , Soul Absorber and Void Strike are available, do the opener rotation.
_If the atropine window is mid-fight, stick to the main rotation and try to cast as many_ T-Skills _and_
Surges as possible during these 9s.
DPS Distribution
_Below is a chart which shows the damage distribution based on a 2-minute Trixion parse. This is based on the standard build outlined in this guide, modifications can change percentages. This distribution is end game focused and assumes Level 8 Damage Gems on all damage skills, 1820 spec and Leap 3/3 on_ _Dance of the Nightmares__. (With Leap 2 / 3, T-skill damage becomes slightly lower than_ _Surge_ _’s damage)._
FAQ
What Elixirs should I use?
Master.
Is a specless bracelet usable?
No. The lack of specialization on bracelets makes the rotation way too clunky and you will only hurt yourself.
How do I solve mana issues?
First and foremost, if your uptime on hitting the boss is decent you are gonna need mana food no matter what. Having 2 focus runes is a must as well. Running Leap mana reduction 2 / 3 can still have you OOM during fights and is recommended only if running with artists or summoners. Otherwise it is preferable to run it at 3 / 3 to remove any mana issues.
Additional random notes : If you are matchmaking guardians and you find yourself
without supports, it is preferable to put 1 or 2 points into Illicit Spell to avoid the need of eating mana food just for a guardian.
On Mordum gate 3, you can opt to choose Magick Control over Orb Control on
Twin Shadows to remove mana issues since you generate way much meter with the boss being static (Less likely to miss skills).
Raid Captain or Cursed Doll?
If you are new to Remaining Energy or progging raids for the first time, it is
recommended to run Cursed Doll over Raid Captain and getting familiarized
with the rotation / boss patterns before choosing Raid Captain. Not having to
worry about Maelstrom uptimes besides for meter gen is way more forgiving and can result in higher damage if your
Maelstrom uptime is lacking in the first place.
Is the Super Charge build dead?
Nope, you can still play it just fine if you already have it and you’re used to it. If
anything, it got even closer to the standard build, since Breaking Moon is a charge skill. However, for the sake of simplicity and due to upcoming raid design being somewhat erratic, this build won’t be included in the guide yet, until Ark grid is released.
What’s the 8 DMG build and why is it not in the guide?
The 8 DMG build consists of replacing Spincutter with Blitz Rush and
changing the rotation so you alternate between a full rotation with Soul Absorber
& Blitz Rush and the other with T-skill & Void Strike. This build is meant to
increase your Surge ’s casts per minute by a significant amount compared to standard build.
The build is not included in this guide due to the big gem investment needed to
make it work smoothly (Preferably Lvl 10 T4 CD gem on Maelstrom , and highest
CD gem on Blitz Rush and highest damage on Surge possible but it is still playable on 8s) and also the difficulty which is significantly harder and more punishing than standard build. It should only be played when already having a perfect mastery of the standard build. If you are really interested in trying out the build, feel free to look up a Remaining Energy 8 DMG build guide on Youtube.
The guide for this build will be added later after the ark grid system is introduced in our version as the build might become even more popular.
Random tips
- The following attacks from the Concentrated Attack tripod (3rd) of Turning Slash does not apply nor refresh the Back Attack synergy. Therefore you should not pre-cast it (if bosses’ hitbox are not available) or it won’t apply synergy.
- If both available, you should always use T-Skill before Surging to take advantage of the cooldown reduction.
- Using Maelstrom before Hyper Awakening will produce more meter. If standing next to the boss while doing so, the Maelstrom hits will also provide you extra meter during the cutscene.
Note for the third case : The hits from the Hyper Awakening are delayed and full meter will not be given right away. So after the cutscene you should use one instant cast skill ( Death Sentence, T-Skill, Turning Slash, Twin Shadows ) before Surging.
Surge
Ark Passives
Standard Build Evolution Enlightenment Leap
Critical (10/30)
Specialization (30/30)
Surge Enhancement (1/1)
Transcendent Power (4/5)
Unleashed Power (5/5)
Instant Spell (2/3)
Limit Break (3/3)
Orb Compression (3/3)
Dance of Nightmares (3/3)
Strike (2/2)
Limit Breakthrough (1/1)
Standing Striker (2/2)
Locked In (2/5)
Sword Energy Compression (3/3) Notes ● Earlier in the gearing process, with fewer sources of Crit Rate (Rings, Bracelet, legendary Adrenaline) you can opt to use Keen Sense at level 2 and Limit Break at level 1, it’s slightly stronger and also more consistent. With Crit Synergies, you will always take Limit Break at max level.
Engravings
Core Engravings Pick One
Grudge Ambush Master Adrenaline KBW (^) Cursed Doll Raid Captain Notes ● Raid Captain is a viable alternative under very specific conditions that you must meet.
○ You need to have: Peyto Wine (3%), Event Feast (5%) and at least 66% Maelstrom uptime (i.e: doing at least 66% of your damage during the Maelstrom buff window). This will make Raid Captain a 14.18% / 17.02% damage engraving at Legendary / Relic levels respectively. ○ Additionally you can add a few Rage runes to further improve the damage or have a bit more leeway with Maelstrom uptime, but they’re inconsistent. ○ Playing around Maelstrom’s buff isn’t always practical or realistic, especially when bosses move a lot, so your mileage may vary.
Skills
Core Skills
Blitz Rush
14
2
3
2 Galewind
High Damage Skill and Main Stack Generator ● Dark Charge needs the player to connect all hits by being close to the target. ● Generates up to 10 stacks.
Blade Dance
14
1
2
2 Galewind
High Damage Skill and Main Stack Generator ● Generates up to 9 stacks.
Earth Cleaver
14
3
(^3) Galewind Counter, Destruction, Stagger Skill. Damage Filler ● Can also use the Earth Explosion tripod for slightly higher damage and “shorter” animation at the cost of mobility. ● Generates ~1-3 stacks.
1
Turning Slash
14
3
3
1 Utility
Damage Filler and Main Stack Generator ● Can opt for Weak Point Enhancement if Weak Point is needed, or Concussion if Stagger is needed. ● Generates up to 5 stacks. ● Utility Runes: Purify, Rage, Quick Recharge, Focus
Maelstrom
10
3
1
2 Focus
Multi-buff Skill and Main Stack Generator ● Party-wide Attack Speed and Movement Speed buff for 6 seconds. ● Generates 7 stacks along its duration, given you’re close to the target.
Surprise Attack
10
1
1
1 Bleed
Synergy Skill and Main Stack Generator ● Used to apply synergy for 6 seconds ● Generates up to 7 stacks.
10
3
(^3) Poison Main Stack Generator ● Generates up to 8 stacks. ● Utility Runes: Purify , Rage.
Windcut 1
Spincutter
10
2
3
1 Galewind
Mobility skill and Secondary Stack Generator ● Can be used to reposition yourself or move around the boss or to safe spots if needed. ● Generates up to 6 stacks. ● Can take the Swift Fingers tripod if you don’t have problems maintaining your Synergy uptime with only Surprise Attack. This requires you to perfectly chain Surprise Attack cycles
T Skill and Awakening
Death Slash
Quick Stack generator / Recovery tool Blink forward and generate 8 stacks. The part after blinking can be animation-canceled. Generally used every other rotation due to cooldown, but can be saved as a recovery skill.
Flash Blink Generates 3 stacks. Quick reposition tool It is a point-and-click dash with a very short wind-up animation that deals high damage in a line and allows the player to dash through enemies and bosses to reposition.
Eternal Flash
Blade Assault
Generates 20 stacks. Used for burst windows or to recover from a failed rotation. A holding skill that slashes multiple times and sends a barrage of swords at the enemy. Higher damage than Flash Blink, but longer animation.
Chaotic Blade
Gem Priority Gems are listed in order of most to least important from left to right. Grayed out icons are optional gems.
DMG (^) Surge is your most important gem and should be upgraded to level 10 asap. CDR Earth Cleaver CD gem can be replaced with a Turning Slash CD gem, but both cases have very little impact and only affect which skill is casted first. Spincutter CD gem is technically a dead gem, since you don’t use Spincutter for stacks that often, and the CDR from Death Trance is enough to cast it once per rotation anyway. You can opt for a Wind Cut DMG gem instead, but it also has very little impact since Wind Cut damage share is low.
Rotations
Sample Rotation #1 Wind Cut pre-cast
This rotation makes use of Surge animation-canceling to rotate slightly faster, pre-casting Wind Cut to gain some stacks after Death Trance (Z) activation.
Earth Cleaver isn’t technically needed (for stacks) but it’s used due to other skills not coming off-cooldown that fast on back-to-back rotations.
Sample Rotation #2 No Wind Cut pre-cast
This rotation assumes you had to use Wind Cut late in the previous cycle so you won’t have it up for the next pre-cast. In this case you can proceed with mostly the same cycle, but adding 2x Spincutter at the end of rotation to recover the missing stacks.
Sample Rotation #3 Death Slash (T Skill)
Technically you don’t need to cast Earth Cleaver / Blade Dance / Spincutter, but it can happen sometimes that you’re hitting Surge on your 59th stack, so you should do a short tap of Blade Dance, a single spin of Spincutter or use Earth Cleaver for safety.
Alternatively you can skip Blitz Rush and do a full Blade Dance and Earth Cleaver.
This rotation is done every other cycle (normal → t skill → normal → t skill…) due to Death Slash CD.
Sample Rotation #4 Blade Assault Burst
This rotation provides slightly higher damage than the “standard” rotation (#1) but it takes slightly longer.
General Considerations
Due to the volatility of actual fights, adhering to a strict rotation is not always possible. Please use critical thinking and raid awareness to decide which skills to use for certain scenarios.
● It is important to understand the playstyle of Surge and why it is considered to have a high skill ceiling. While there are set rotations that can be followed, the uptime and execution of each rotation can be challenging, if possible at all, to maintain with perfection in an encounter. ● Surge has a reactive, as well as, adaptive playstyle with a few core rotations that should be used as a general guideline. It is very common to deviate from a rotation and return to it during more stable boss patterns. ● While this may sound intimidating as you face a lot of the aforementioned challenges during progression, the learning curve yields strong damage output very early. The quicker you can identify, react to, and memorize mechanics, the faster you climb up this curve leading to one of the highest damage potentials in the entire game.
You need to know how many stacks each skill generates to make proper use of your cooldowns in case of missing part of your rotation. Here’s a small table detailing how many stacks each skill generates:
Skill Stacks
Blitz Rush 10 (inc. Dark Charge)
Blade Dance 9
Earth Cleaver 1~3 (based on boss hitbox)
Turning Slash 5
Maelstrom 7 (over time)
Surprise Attack 7
Wind Cut 9
Spincutter 6 (2 per spin)
Death Slash 8
Flash Blink 3
Blade Assault 20
DPS Distribution
Below is a chart which shows the damage distribution based on a 2-minute Trixion parse. This is based on the standard build outlined in this guide, modifications can change percentages.
FAQ
What Elixirs should I use?
Master. Nothing worse than white Surges.
Revision History
Date Change
Sep 20, 2025 ●^ Added Paradise & Ark grid information. Added gem upgrade prio & some other small details / tips / FAQ.
May 6, 2025 ● Updated RE rotations, runes, engraving choices, FAQ and added tips. Feb 2, 2025 ● Added RE tripod options and replaced the recommended T skill. Oct 5, 2024 ● Foundational guide completed. Further testing pending.