Es Wardancer’s Esoteric Meter is special; 1736 specialization ensures Sky Shattering Blow with Legendary Wealth yields exactly 1.5 Esoteric Meter, filling exactly 4 orbs after casting. Below this breakpoint you may not generate the same number of orbs, and you may need auto-attack to hit 4 orbs. After reaching 1736 Spec, additional points yield diminishing returns, so invest remaining points into Crit.

Wardancer

Community Guide

THIS GUIDE IS UP TO DATE WITH THE

2025 JULY PATCH

Editors

Loyalar and co.

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 on_ _Maxroll’s Build Guides_ _instead. If you have any feedback or want to help with class discussions, join our_ _Discord__!_

How does my identity work?

Her identity consists of 3 Esoteric Bubbles (up to 4). Hitting enemies with certain skills (normal skills) fill a portion of these orbs, allowing her to use another set of skills called Esoteric Skills, which consume a number of orbs on cast instead of mana. For that reason, Esoteric Skills are commonly known as Spenders.

How do the two builds compare?

First Intention Esoteric

Summary

Utilizes normal skills with no gauge system within the buff window.

With the T4 changes, First Intention interacts with the identity again and gains a fixed amount of meter every normal skill usage.

Utilizes Esoteric skills and the gauge system within the buff window.

Pros

● Skill slot budget for a mobility skill ● Freed on Conviction/Judgment and Dominion shackles

● Expands on the orb management identity and the spender skills. ● Higher burst capability

● Little to no management on identity ● Spammy ● Non-directional

● Non-directional

Cons

● Need to maintain high uptime to optimize damage. ● Can be tricky to optimize damage, especially in regards to proper EC management.

● Strict skill rotations ● Very punishing if rotation is messed up

Kurzan Front

Evolution Enlightenment Leap

Specialization (10/30)

Swiftness (30/30) + Pet

Powerful Esoteric Skill (3/3)

Unleashed Power (5/5)

Release Potential (4/5)

Limit Break (3/3)

Orb Bonus (1/1)

Instant Spell (2/3)

Dominion Timing (2/2)

Lethal Taijutsu (5/5)

Esoteric Skill Enhancement (3/3)

Blunt Thorn (2/2)

Overconsumption (1/3)

Esoteric Skill Preparation (1/5)

Skills and Engravings

Wind’s Whisper

1 2 2

Leaping Dragon

3 3 1

Roar Of Courage

2 3 2

Call of the Wind God

1 3 2

Sweeping Kick

1 1 1

Energy Combustion

3 1

Blast Formation

3 1 2

Lightning Kick

2 1 2

T-Skill & Awakening Engravings

Deadly Dive

Fist of Dominance

Baseline Crucible

Wind’s Whisper

1 2 1

Leaping Dragon

3 2 2

Roar Of Courage

3 1 2

Flash Heat Fang

1 1 1

Sweeping Kick

2 1 1

Energy Combustion

1 3 2

Sky Shattering Blow

2 3

Esoteric Skill: Azure Dragon Supreme Fist

1 3 2

T-Skill & Awakening Notes

Deadly Dive

Fist of Dominance

● Once you get enough Esoteric Meter Gain on your setup, you can introduce more Esoteric Skills into your setups if needed.

First Intention

1640 Ark Passive

Evolution (100) Enlightenment (77) Leap (40)

Critical (15/30)

Swiftness (25/30) + Pet

Powerful Taijutsu (3/3)

Transcende nt Power (5/5)

Unleashed Power (4/5)

Instant Spell (2/3)

Illicit Spell (2/2)

Energy Recovery (3/3)

Unlimited Magick (1/2)

Strike (1/2)

Lethal Taijutsu (2/5)

First Intention (3/3)

Supersonic Breakthrough (1/2)

Notes

Evolution Tree Progression past 100 Evolution Points (assuming Level 70 character):

1. 106 Points (2 Aegir Armors) a. Limit Break (1/3)

2. 110 Points (3 Aegir Armors): [ONLY FOR Blunt Thorn] a. Blunt Thorn (2/2)

3. 120 Points (5 Aegir Armors): a. Supersonic Breakthrough (2/2) b. Illicit Spell (1/2) [ONLY FOR Blunt Thorn]

Adjust your main stats accordingly depending on the build you are going.

Standard Ark Passive

UM1 Strike1 Sonic

Evolution Enlightenment Leap

Critical (15/30)

Swiftness (25/30) + Pet Powerful Taijutsu (3/3)

Transcendent Power* (4/5)

Unleashed Power (5/5)

Release Potential* (4/5)

Instant Spell (2/3)

Illicit Spell (2/2)

Limit Break* (1/3)

Energy Recovery (3/3)

Thrust Kick (3/3)

Unlimited Magick (1/2)

Strike (1/2)

Lethal Taijutsu (2/5)

First Intention (3/3)

Supersonic Breakthrough (2/2)

Arrive Empty (0/5)

Esoteric Origin (3/3)

Notes Notes ● For Leap Tree : ○ Transcendent Power and Release Potential are interchangeable depending on the content. ● For Enlightenment Tree: ○ Lethal Taijutsu is the only viable side node. ● For Evolution Tree: ○ Stat Goals: 900 Crit, 1550 Swift, refer to Stats Optimization for exact calculations. ● Due to the new changes on Supersonic Breakthrough, we only need around 1550 Swift in order to reach the cap of 24% on the node. As a result, we will allocate the remaining points into Crit, which means we will have a higher base Crit Rate compared to before. ● Limit Break* can be interchanged to Boundless MP if you prefer more Cooldown Reduction.

Engravings UM1 Strike1 Sonic

Core Engravings Pick One

Grudge Adrenaline Raid Captain Keen Blunt Weapon Mass Increase Cursed Doll MP Efficiency

Notes

● Mass Increase is the recommended choice for Supersonic.

● Cursed Doll is an alternative if you have it on Relic level. Otherwise, don’t bother.

● MP Efficiency is an alternative if you have it on Relic level. Otherwise, don’t bother.

Strike Sonic

Evolution Enlightenment Leap

Critical (16/30)

Swiftness (24/30) + Pet Powerful Taijutsu (3/3)

Transcendent Power* (4/5)

Unleashed Power (5/5)

Instant Spell (2/3)

Illicit Spell (2/2)

Limit Break* (1/3)

Energy Recovery (3/3)

Thrust Kick (3/3)

Strike (2/2)

Lethal Taijutsu (2/5)

First Intention (3/3)

Supersonic Breakthrough (2/2)

Arrive Empty (0/5)

Esoteric Origin (3/3)

Notes ● For Leap Tree : ○ Transcendent Power and Release Potential are interchangeable depending on the content. ● For Enlightenment Tree: ○ Lethal Taijutsu is the only viable side node. ● For Evolution Tree: ○ Stat Goals: 1000 Crit, 1450 Swift, refer to Stats Optimization for exact calculations. ● Due to the new changes on Supersonic Breakthrough, we only need around 1550 Swift in order to reach the cap of 24% on the node. As a result, we will allocate the remaining points into Crit Rate, which means we will have a higher base Crit Rate compared to before. ● With Strike, we will be hovering around 89% Crit Rate, so Adrenaline isn’t needed. ● Limit Break* can be interchanged to Optimized Training if you prefer more Cooldown Reduction.

Engravings Strike Sonic

Core Pick One

Grudge Mass Increase Raid Captain (^) Cursed Doll MP Efficiency Ambush Master

Keen Blunt Weapon

Notes

● Cursed Doll is recommended for Strike 2 builds.

● MP Efficiency is an alternative if you have it on Relic level. Otherwise, don’t bother.

● Ambush Master if you are confident enough to consistently have a high Back Attack%. Very useful on Mordum G3 because of the gate being omnidirectional for the majority of the fight. Take note, Energy Combustion is not affected by the positional damage modifier since it doesn’t have Back Attack, but it does get affected by the Base Damage Increase.

Swift Blunt Thorn

Evolution Enlightenment Leap

Critical (XX/30)

Swiftness (XX/30) + Pet Powerful Taijutsu (3/3)

Transcendent Power* (4/5)

Unleashed Power (5/5)

Release Potential* (4/5)

Instant Spell (2/3)

Illicit Spell (2/2)

Limit Break* (1/3)

Energy Recovery (3/3)

Thrust Kick (3/3)

Strike (2/2)

Lethal Taijutsu (2/5)

First Intention (3/3)

Blunt Thorn (2/2)

Arrive Empty (0/5)

Esoteric Origin (3/3)

● For Leap Tree : ○ Transcendent Power and Release Potential are interchangeable depending on the content. ● For Enlightenment Tree: ○ Lethal Taijutsu is the only viable side node. ● For Evolution Tree: ○ Stat Goals: 1200 Crit, 1250 Swift, refer to Stats Optimization for exact calculations. ● Limit Break* can be interchanged to Boundless MP if you prefer more Cooldown Reduction.

Engravings Swift Blunt Thorn

Core Pick One

Grudge Adrenaline Raid Captain Mass Increase (^) Cursed Doll Keen Blunt Weapon Ambush Master MP Efficiency Notes

● Cursed Doll is recommended for Strike 2 builds. This engraving also helps affect the non-Crits as well due to the nature of Blunt Thorn’s hard capped 80% Crit Rate.

● Due to the nature of Blunt Thorn of hard capped 80% Crit Rate, Keen Blunt Weapon has become an alternative and roughly the same level as Cursed Doll in terms of damage and will highly depend if you high roll or not.

● MP Efficiency is an alternative if you have it on Relic level. Otherwise, don’t bother.

Stats Optimization First Intention The table below takes account of Support's “Yearning” from their Ark Passive, Wind’s Whisper Attack Speed (with Blessing of the Wind tripod) and Move Speed, and your Swiftness stat.

Crit / Swift Attack Speed under Wind’s Whisper (with Mass Increase)

Movement Speed under Wind’s Whisper

Overcap AS/MS Supersonic Efficiency

Total Crit Rate (UM1 Strike 1 w/ Adren)

Total Crit Rate (Strike 2)

Total Crit Rate (Strike 2 w/ Adren) [For Blunt Thorn]

1250 Crit / 1200 Swift 140.40 145.60 6.01 17.80 98.74 94.74 108.74

1200 Crit / 1250 Swift 141.26 146.46 7.73 18.32 96.95 92.95 106.95

1150 Crit / 1300 Swift 142.12 147.32 9.44 18.83 95.16 91.16 105.16

1100 Crit / 1350 Swift (^) 142.98 148.18 11.16 19.35 93.37 89.37 103.37 1050 Crit / 1400 Swift (^) 143.84 149.04 12.88 19.86 91.58 87.58 101.58 1000 Crit / 1450 Swift (^) 144.70 149.90 14.59 20.38 89.79 85.79 99.79 950 Crit / 1500 Swift (^) 145.56 150.76 16.31 20.89 88.00 84.00 98.00 900 Crit / 1550 Swift (^) 146.41 151.61 18.03 21.41 86.21 82.21 96.21

850 Crit / 1600 Swift 147.27 152.47 19.74 21.92 84.42 80.42 94.42

Build Notes Blunt Thorn

● Blunt Thorn has 3 components and caps out at 50% on Level 1 and 70% on Level 2: a. Component 1 : Base Evo DMG (7.5% / 15% Evo DMG) b. Component 2 : The node will hard cap you at 80% Crit Rate, this is including external Crit Sources like Crit Synergy and Back Attack bonuses. c. Component 3 : Evo DMG Conversion of Overcap Crit Rate above 80% Crit Rate (120% Coeff / 140% Coeff) ● The main goal is to reach 109% Crit Rate before Back Attack. This saves you space for fishing on Back Attacks and/or Crit Synergy. ● Adjust your stat spread accordingly, especially on your Elixir choice.

Build Notes Supersonic Breakthrough

● Supersonic Breakthrough has 3 components and caps out at 12% Evo DMG on Level 1 and 24% on Level 2: a. Component 1 : Evo DMG Conversion of each Base Attack Speed and Move Speed (5% Coeff / 10% Coeff) b. Component 2 : Flat Evo DMG Bonus on reaching BOTH 140% Attack Speed AND Move Speed (4% / 8% Evo DMG) c. Component 3 : Evo DMG Conversion of the SUM of Overcap Attack Speed and Move Speed which would be 26.67% total overcap. ● The main goal is to reach 90% Crit Rate before Back Attack. This saves you space for fishing on Back Attacks and/or Crit Synergy. ● Adjust your stat spread accordingly, especially on your Elixir choice. ● You can take advantage of Speed Feasts (10% Overcap AS/MS) and Ealyn/Avele’s Wine (3% Overcap AS/MS). ● Some DPS (e.g LC Sharpshooter’s Bird and Deathblade’s Maelstrom) and supports (e.g Valkyrie’s 8% MS buff on Identity usage) give additional AS/MS buffs onto their kit, which also dips towards the Supersonic calculations. It highly depends on you if you want to make a preset that takes account of these specific scenarios.

Skills

Core Skills

Energy Combustion

2 Poison

Passive Damage Reduction, Second/Third Highest Damage Skill ● Combustible Armor pretty much negates Grudge negative. ● Intense Battle you must stay near the boss for this tripod to upkeep the stacks, this is the main damage increase for this skill. ● Last Whisper the damage of this tripod highly depends on how good you are managing Intense Battle. ● Recasting this skill to force Last Whisper will give you Adrenaline and Master stack. Letting it expire will not give you a stack. ● However, recasting Last Whisper will not give Esoteric Meter for Esoteric Origin. ● Poison rune will have full uptime, regardless of rarity, since it applies on every tick.

Sweeping Kick

1 Galewind

Highest Damage Skill

● With the new Esoteric Origin mechanic on T4, this has the highest priority to use the buff on, of equal importance as T-skill. ● Weak Point Detection no brainer. General damage increase for the skill. ● Intense Shock massive Crit Damage increase on the skill that comes with a DoT. Better choice because of the major increase of Crit Rate we got. ● Pure Excellence this simplifies Sweeping Kick from a Combo Skill to be a Normal one-hit big skill.

Leaping Dragon

2 Galewind

Second/Third Highest Damage Skill

● Can be affected by Esoteric Origin buff, lowest priority to use it on. ● Wide Hit general recommendation for most cases. You can freely swap on the other 2 tripods on this row, depending on what you need (either higher stagger, or more destruction) ● Dragon Style general damage increase. Retains Back Attack modifier. ● Red Dragon general damage increase.

Flash Heat Fang

Galewind

Vision

Fourth Highest Damage Skill

● Magick Control general recommendation for most cases for mana management. You can opt into Concussion if you need more stagger. ● Master Hit base cooldown increased by 7 seconds, making it sync with your main dps skills. It’s a ramping damage tripod, and you can freely move while casting the skill. ● Final Strike makes the last hit of FHF very strong. Backloaded in nature. DON’T WHIFF THE LAST HIT. ● Taijutsu’s Ultimate Skill an alternative if you don’t like the backloaded nature of Final Strike, and want more frontloaded damage instead. ● Can use the new Vision rune for more stagger, however be mindful of fitting everything within WW.

Roar of Courage

(^1) Focus Powerful crit rate buff, synergy skill ● Gives a 20% Crit Rate self-buff on cast for 8 seconds. ● Weakness Exposure this is our Crit synergy tripod. Decreases 10% Crit Resistance (which equates to 10% Crit Rate for your party members) on enemies affected by it for 16 seconds. DON’T WHIFF THIS. ● Quick Prep this tripod decreases the base cooldown by 9 seconds on max rank, removing the need for us to invest a Cooldown Gem for this skill. ● Supreme Ruler Afterimage increases the base duration of the 20% Crit Rate self-buff by an additional 4 seconds, which adds up to 12 seconds. ● Focus rune is strongly recommended for mana management, since this skill is used often and has a fairly high mana cost. Wind’s Whisper 10 1 2 1 Focus Primary Attack Power buff, high mana cost ● Blessing of the Wind this tripod will give us an additional 12.8% Attack Speed at max level on top of Wind’s Whisper base 8%, which totals to 20.8% Attack Speed for ourselves on cast. Important for builds that use Mass Increase to offset the negative, and Sonic Breakthrough for the overcap AS/MS conversion.. ● Quick Prep decreases the base cooldown by 9 seconds on max rank. ● Ready Attack - gives us 44.4% Attack Power for seconds at max rank. YOU SHOULD UNLOAD ALL YOUR SKILLS WITHIN THIS WINDOW, WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS. ● Can use Quick Recharge if Purify and Focus are not needed.

Sky Shattering Blow

3 Bleed

Secondary Attack Power buff, Counter

● Our main counter. It has 2 hits and both hits can counter. ● Excellent Mobility increases the distance of the first hit by 1 meter, which is good QoL by making it a pseudo-mobility skill (can cancel with spacebar after the dash if purely using for movement). ● Weakness Exposure this is an alternative to upkeep your Crit Synergy uptime, but it is redundant as Roar of Courage covers it fully, with massive leniency to spare. ● Ready Attack gives us a 32.8% Attack Power for 3 seconds. Used to salvage 1-2 skills to be at least buffed by Ready Attack (mainly Flash Heat Fang and Lightning Kick). This does not stack with Wind’s Whisper Ready Attack. ● Flexible rune slot, can use Purify/Quick Recharge but Bleed is preferred.

Lightning Kick

2 Quick Recharge

Movement Skill, Niche Damage Skill ● Our main mobility skill, and it does quite a decent damage by itself. ● Ruthless massively increases the damage on Staggered Foes. Countered enemies are also considered Staggered. ● Weakness Exposure this is an alternative to upkeep your Crit Synergy uptime, but it is redundant as Roar of Courage covers it fully, with massive leniency to spare. ● Quick Prep this tripod decreases the base cooldown by 3 seconds and increases the damage by 20% at max rank. The cooldown reduction makes you cast more often, giving you more overall Esoteric Meter and higher chance to proc Quick Recharge. ● Flash Lightning is necessary to run this skill for movement.

T Skill and Awakening

Deadly Dive

This is the default T Skill for First Intention, as this is the only Normal Skill. It has a 907 Mana Cost, and 75 second base cooldown. This can be affected by Esoteric Origin buff, and it has the highest priority to consume the buff on every time it’s off cooldown.

Flash Rage Blow

Theoretically will deal higher damage over Fist of Dominance, but you need to hold it for the full duration for max damage. You can tap this skill to instantly do the last attack immediately.

Ultimate Skill: Great Demon Kick

Fist of Dominance

Pretty straightforward as it is a Normal Skill and it gives 80% Damage Reduction while in animation.

Ultimate Skill: Eight Trigrams Chaotic Strike

Gem Priority Gems are listed in order of most to least important from left to right. Grayed out icons are optional gems.

DMG

CDR

Example Skill Setups These are some examples of different builds you can do depending on your preferred playstyle.

Standard FI

Rotations

Normal Simplified Rotation

Simplified Rotation with Deadly Dive

In-Depth Look The rotation is built on relatively simple principles:

1. Keep Energy Combustion active, keeping internal timer of Intense Battle stacks (5 seconds to fully stack) and make sure that Last Whisper it explodes on the boss by continually hugging them.

2. Use Wind’s Whisper + Roar of Courage to activate your burst window. This is interchangeable ( Roar of Courage + Wind’s Whisper) and you can play around what you prefer.

3. Make sure your main skills Sweeping Kick , Leaping Dragon , and Flash Heat Fang hit inside this window.

4. Ideally, you only want to use Deadly Dive with Z buff.

5. Spam Sky Shattering Blow and Lightning Kick outside of your Wind’s Whisper window to continually get Esoteric Meter for Esoteric Origin and upkeep Bleed.

Optimal Gems Extended Rotation

Initial Rotation

2 Last Whisper in 3 Cycle Loop

In-Depth Look

1. With enough swiftness and high level cooldown gems, you can use Last Whisper twice every 3 rotations. This is vital to leverage in order to properly optimize your overall FI damage.

2. Look to manually pop and recast Energy Combustion when the skill duration timer is at roughly 75%. This varies depending on your Gem Level and Swiftness, but this is a rough estimate.

3. Although, I would suggest being proactive onto using Last Whisper instead of making it stuck by tying it inside a rotation.

4. Use both Sky Shattering Blow (if you have it) and Lightning Kick

whenever they are up in between rotations to make the most of your Quick Recharges.

5. Ideally, you only want to use Deadly Dive with Z buff.

6. Spam Sky Shattering Blow and Lightning Kick outside of your Wind’s

Whisper window to continually get Esoteric Meter for Esoteric Origin and

upkeep Bleed.

7. Don’t hold your Esoteric Origin, once you see it’s fully stacked, always consume it unless you plan for Double Z rotation.

DPS Distribution (WIP)

_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._

Ark Grid (WIP)

For now, this is a mini-guide for the Ark Grid combination for First Intention. Since this vertical system is fairly new, a lot of stuff here is still subject to changes and not finalized.

Sun Core

Moon Core

Star Core

FAQ

Elixirs

● Critical is widely used now mainly on all First Intent variations.

● Master can still be used on non-Strike builds, or the Blunt Thorn variant.

Esoteric Origin (Z) Buff Optimization

With the introduction of Esoteric Origin in the First Intention Enlightenment Tree, we

will interact again with our Esoteric Identity, but with a different mechanic. This also

introduces a new buff and it’s tied behind our Z key.

Some key notes:

● You can precast skills to gain Esoteric Meter, even if you don’t hit or deal damage

to the enemy. ● You get 20% of an Esoteric Orb every Normal Skill you cast. You need 5 skills to

fill a single Esoteric Orb, and you need a total of 15 skills to fill all 3 orbs for

Esoteric Origin.

● The rate of Esoteric meter gain for Esoteric Origin is fixed, and cannot be modified by Specialization Stat, Wealth Runes and tripods.

● You cannot use Esoteric Skills using Esoteric Origin Esoteric Orbs.

● You can only get the Esoteric Origin buff if and only if you have 3 Esoteric

Orbs.

● You will be in Push Immunity momentarily if you press Z to get the Esoteric

Origin buff.

● You can only have one Esoteric Origin buff at a time.

● You can possibly use Stimulant at the start to get full 3 Esoteric Orbs for Esoteric Origin.

● Casting Esoteric Origin will give you a Master Elixir and Adrenaline stack.

Esoteric Origin buff is PERMANENT and is only consumed by using these skills:

1. Deadly Dive

2. Sweeping Kick

3. Leaping Dragon

4. Moon Flash Kick

For Esoteric Origin optimization, these are the skill prioritization for the buff:

Deadly Dive > Sweeping Kick > Leaping Dragon

With all this in mind, there is an unconventional way of leveraging this new buff: the

Double Esoteric Origin (Z) Rotation.

Double Z Rotation

The Double Z Rotation is a special rotation that we can possibly pull off, but only in certain circumstances, that could potentially skyrocket one of our rotation’s DPC since

you can buff your Deadly Dive and Sweeping Kick with the Z buff in one Wind’s Whisper window.

We can also possibly use Leaping Dragon in the case where Deadly Dive is on cooldown but ideally we should consume the buff on Deadly Dive and Sweeping Kick for maximum DPC value.

So how will we do this Double Z Rotation?

1. Do your initial rotation normally up until you have 3 Esoteric Orbs to get one Z buff.

2. Cycle skills to get Esoteric meter until you get 2 Esoteric Orbs WITHOUT USING Deadly Dive, Sweeping Kick AND Leaping Dragon.

3. Save the 2 Esoteric Orbs, then find a pattern where you can unload your rotation without interruption.

4. Follow the rotation below, assuming you have done the steps 1-3.

Double Z Rotation

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, you can only do these in certain circumstances.

Mainly:

1. Major mechanics where you cannot damage the boss, or have a high DR mechanic.

2. Long Stagger checks (avoid using Sweeping Kick AND Leaping Dragon).

3. First pull on every gate with Stimulants, or spamming 15 skills before entering the gate.

4. Very long time-waster mechanics.

These are the only situations where there’s no drawback on doing the Double Z

Rotation without much repercussions.

Doing the Double Z Rotation is not ideal outside of these circumstances will usually

lead griefing yourself in the process because you are gonna hold your major skills (

Deadly Dive, Sweeping Kick, Leaping Dragon ) for roughly 2-3 rotations, which is

not worth the tradeoff.

It’s much more of a higher priority on just following standard rotation over prioritizing

Double Z Rotation, but this rotation is a good example on how to properly test your

FI to the limit if pulled off properly.

Energy Combustion Optimization

Energy Combustion is a skill that deals damage periodically around you. Since it is a

normal skill, the First Intention Enlightenment Tree buffs the damage on this, making it a

key part of our damage done in raids.

Thus, it is important to understand how it works, and how to improve your rotation

around it.

Both of these tripods feed into each other, making it important to optimize damage

based on how it changes Energy Combustion.

Intense Battle gives a stacking buff that increases the damage of Energy

Combustion.

Last Whisper gives an explosion by recasting it or at the end of Energy

Combustion buff duration. This video has tests on Energy Combustion interaction.

In other words, Energy Combustion damage calculation ( Last Whisper ) is only

affected by the amount of Intense Battle stacks it has, at the time of explosion.

This means that before the explosion, you want 5 seconds to build up 10 stacks of

Intense Battle on your Energy Combustion.

The damage of the explosion is not built up over the duration of Energy Combustion.

This does NOT imply that Energy Combustion is not boosted by the Wind’s

Whisper Ready Attack , but rather that it increases the explosion damage after it has

been calculated.

Esoteric

1640 Ark Passive (4 Spender)

Evolution (100) Enlightenment (77) Leap (40)

Critical (5/30)

Specialization (28/30) + Pet

Swiftness (7/30)

Powerful Esoteric Skill (3/3)

Transcendent Power (5/5)

Unleashed Power (4/5)

Instant Spell (2/3)

Limit Break (3/3)

Orb Bonus (1/1)

Strike (2/2)

Esoteric Skill Enhancement (3/3)

Circulate ( 0/3)

Esoteric Skill Preparation* (2/5)

Notes

Evolution Tree Progression past 100 Evolution Points (assuming Level 70 character):

1. 106 Points (2 Aegir Armors) a. Standing Striker (1/2)

2. 120 Points (5 Aegir Armors) a. Standing Striker (2/2)

Standard Ark Passive

Standing Striker

Evolution Enlightenment Leap

Critical (x/30)

Specialization (28-29/30) + Pet

Swiftness (x/30)

Powerful Esoteric Skill (3/3)

Transcendent Power* (5/5)

Unleashed Power (5/5)

Release Potential* (5/5)

Keen Sense* (0/2)

Limit Break (3/3)

Orb Bonus (1/1)

Focus Kick* (3/3)

Strike (2/2)

Esoteric Skill Enhancement (3/3)

Esoteric Combustion* (2/5)

Simplify* (3/3)

Standing Striker (2/2)

Circulate ( 3/3)

Esoteric Skill Preparation* (2/5)

Notes ● This will be the standard build after the balance patch changes. ● For Leap Tree : ○ Transcendent Power and Release Potential are interchangeable depending on the content. ○ 4 Spender can play on either Focus Kick or Simplify , purely preference. ○ 5 Spender can only play Simplify. ● For Enlightenment Tree:

○ 4 Spender will use Esoteric Skill Preparation , while 5 Spender remains Esoteric Combustion. ● For Evolution Tree: ○ Stats Goal: As long as you reach above 1736 Specialization. For exact optimizations for Crit, refer to Stats Optimizations Esoteric. ● For further information about 5 spender, here’s a video from Firefly: 5-Spender Eso Wardancer ● DISCLAIMER: DO. NOT. PLAY. 5. SPENDER. WITHOUT. CIRCULATE.

Engravings Standing Striker

Core Engravings Pick One

Grudge Adrenaline Cursed Doll Keen Blunt Weapon Raid Captain Mass Increase Stabilized Status Ambush Master

Notes

● Raid Captain is recommended as Wind’s Whisper gives us Movement Speed. Attack/Move Speed Feast is mandatory for higher efficiency.

● Mass Increase is an option if you opt into the Normal Cast variant. Attack/Move Speed Feast is mandatory.

● Stabilized Status is an option if you have it on Relic, otherwise don’t bother.

● Ambush Master if you are confident enough to consistently have a high Back Attack%. Very useful on Mordum G3 because of the gate being omnidirectional for the majority of the fight. Take note, Azure Dragon Supreme Fist is not affected by the positional damage modifier since it doesn’t have Back Attack, but it does get affected by the Base Damage Increase.

Blunt Thorn

Evolution Enlightenment Leap

Critical (11-12/30)

Specialization (28-29/30) + Pet

Swiftness (0/30)

Powerful Esoteric Skill (3/3)

Transcendent Power* (5/5)

Unleashed Power (5/5)

Release Potential* (5/5)

Keen Sense (2/2)

Limit Break (3/3)

Orb Bonus (1/1)

Focus Kick* (3/3)

Strike (2/2)

Esoteric Skill Enhancement (3/3)

Esoteric Combustion* (2/5)

Simplify* (3/3)

Blunt Thorn (2/2)

Circulate ( 3/3)

Esoteric Skill Preparation* (2/5)

Notes ● For Leap Tree : ○ Transcendent Power and Release Potential are interchangeable depending on the content. ○ 4 Spender can play on either Focus Kick or Simplify , purely preference. ○ 5 Spender can only play Simplify. ● For Enlightenment Tree: ○ 4 Spender will use Esoteric Skill Preparation , while 5 Spender remains Esoteric Combustion. ● For Evolution Tree: ○ Stats Goal: As long as you reach above 1736 Specialization. For exact optimizations for Crit, refer to Stats Optimizations Esoteric. ● For further information about 5 spender, here’s a video from Firefly: 5-Spender Eso Wardancer ● DISCLAIMER: DO. NOT. PLAY. 5. SPENDER. WITHOUT. CIRCULATE.

Engravings Blunt Thorn

Core Engravings Pick One

Grudge Adrenaline Cursed Doll Keen Blunt Weapon Raid Captain Mass Increase Stabilized Status Ambush Master

Notes

● Raid Captain is recommended as Wind’s Whisper gives us Movement Speed. Attack/Move Speed Feast is mandatory for higher efficiency.

● Mass Increase is an option if you opt into the Normal Cast variant. Attack/Move Speed Feast is mandatory.

● Stabilized Status is an option if you have it on Relic, otherwise don’t bother.

Stats Optimization Esoteric

Crit / Swift Attack Speed under Wind’s Whisper

Attack Speed with Mass Increase

Movement Speed under Wind’s Whisper

Raid Captain Damage% (Legendary)

Total Crit Rate (Legendary Adrenaline)

Blunt Thorn Crit Rate (Keen Sense 2 + Master)

Crit 750, Swift 50 (^) 130.66 120.66 125.86 10.34 90.84 105.84 Crit 700, Swift 100 (^) 131.52 121.52 126.72 10.69 89.05 104.05 Crit 650, Swift 150 (^) 132.38 122.38 127.58 11.03 87.26 102.26 Crit 600, Swift 200 (^) 133.23 123.23 128.43 11.37 85.47 100.47 Crit 550, Swift 250 (^) 134.09 124.09 129.29 11.72 83.69 98.69 Crit 500, Swift 300 (^) 134.95 124.95 130.15 12.06 81.90 96.90 Crit 450, Swift 350 (^) 135.81 125.81 131.01 12.40 80.11 95.11 Crit 400, Swift 400 (^) 136.67 126.67 131.87 12.75 78.32 93.32 Build Notes Standing Striker ● Standing Striker has 2 components and it caps out at 10.5% on Level 1 and 21% on Level 2: a. Component 1 : Base Evo DMG (6% / 12% Evo DMG) b. Component 2 : At the start of combat, you get Standing Striker buff on 6 stacks. (0.75% / 1.5% Evo DMG per stack) ● Standing Striker stacks are permanent, and will only go away when you get out of combat. ● You lose 1 stack of Standing Striker every time you get Paralyzed, and 3 stacks if you are Pushed. ● You regain back 1 stack of Standing Striker every 2 seconds. ● All variants here are assuming you have above 1736 Specialization firstly. ● The main goal is to reach 87-90% Crit Rate before Back Attack. This saves you space for fishing on Back Attacks and/or Crit Synergy. You can meddle with Keen Sense in order to achieve this. ● Example Stats Goal a. (RC+CD) : 400 Crit, 1736 Specialization, 400 Swiftness, Master Elixir. b. (RC+MI) : 400 Crit, 1736 Specialization, 400 Swiftness, Master Elixir. c. (MI+CD) : 700 Crit, 1736 Specialization, 100 Swiftness, Critical Elixir. d. (MI+CD) : 550 Crit, 1736 Specialization, 250 Swiftness, Master Elixir.

● Adjust your stats accordingly based on your current Engraving Levels ( Adrenaline for Crit Rate ), Bracelet Lines ( AS/MS Lines, Crit Rate Lines ), Elixir Choice ( Master or Critical) and Evolution Tree ( Keen Sense ).

Build Notes Blunt Thorn

● Blunt Thorn as 3 components and caps out at 50% on Level 1 and 70% on Level 2: a. Component 1 : Base Evo DMG (7.5% / 15% Evo DMG) b. Component 2 : The node will hard cap you at 80% Crit Rate, this is including external Crit Sources like Crit Synergy and Back Attack bonuses. c. Component 3 : Evo DMG Conversion of Overcap Crit Rate above 80% Crit Rate (120% Coeff / 140% Coeff) ● The main goal is to get as many Crit Rate sources as we can as we don’t really have as much Crit Sources. ● Relevant Crit Sources: a. 750 Crit (~26.84%) b. Roar of Courage (20% Crit Rate Self-buff + 10% Crit Rate Synergy) c. Master (7% Crit Rate) d. Keen Sense (8% Crit Rate) e. Strike (20% Crit Rate) f. Crit Rate Rings (0.8 3.1% Crit Rate) g. Adrenaline (14 20% Crit Rate) ● Combined, we will reach a baseline of 106-109% Crit Rate , which is the breakpoint where Blunt Thorn is slightly better than other options.

Skills

Core Skills

Roar of Courage

Wealth

Powerful crit rate self-buff, Crit synergy skill, Major Esoteric Meter skill

● Gives a 20% Crit Rate self-buff on cast for 8 seconds. ● Weakness Exposure this is our Crit synergy tripod. Decreases 10% Crit Resistance (which equates to 10% Crit Rate for your party members) on enemies affected by it for 16 seconds. DON’T WHIFF THIS.

● Quick Prep this tripod decreases the base cooldown by 9 seconds on max rank, removing the need for us to invest a Cooldown Gem for this skill. ● Abundant Resources massively increases the Esoteric Meter generation of this skill. Mainly used by 5 Spender Esoteric. ● Supreme Ruler Afterimage increases the base duration of the 20% Crit Rate self-buff by an additional 4 seconds, which adds up to 12 seconds. Mainly used by 4 Spender Esoteric.

Wind’s Whisper

1 Focus

Primary Attack Power buff, Attack Speed and Move Speed synergy skill

● Blessing of the Wind this tripod will give us an additional 12.8% Attack Speed at max level on top of Wind’s Whisper base 8%, which totals to 20.8% Attack Speed for ourselves on cast. Pretty important for builds that use Mass Increase to offset the negative. ● Quick Prep this tripod decreases the base cooldown by 9 seconds on max rank. ● Ready Attack gives us 44.4% Attack Power for 8 seconds at max rank. YOU SHOULD UNLOAD ALL YOUR SKILLS WITHIN THIS WINDOW, WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS.

Sky Shattering Blow

2 Wealth

Counter, Major Esoteric Meter skill, Adrenaline upkeep skill, Crit synergy skill, Secondary Attack Power buff ● Weakness Exposure this is an alternative to upkeep your Crit Synergy uptime. Since our rotation can be longer than 16 seconds, it helps our initial Blast Formation to have at least a little bit more Crit Rate. ● Ready Attack gives us a 32.8% Attack Power for 3 seconds at max level. This does not stack with Wind’s Whisper Ready Attack. ● Abundant Resources massively increases the Esoteric Meter generation of this skill. Hitting both hits will roughly give 1.5 Esoteric Orb at max level with Legendary Wealth. ● Both hits can counter and give you Esoteric Meter.

Esoteric Skill: Azure Dragon Supreme Fist

Galewind

Major DPS Esoteric Skill ● You better not whiff on this skill. ● Posture of Circulation refunds back 1 Esoteric Orb after the “breather” part of the skill. Using spacebar before the “breather” animation ends won’t refund the Esoteric Orb back, so be wary of that. ● Fire Dragon Fist skill becomes Fire element. General damage increase tripod.

● Dragon’s Fury this is the general recommendation to use in the majority of cases. It has a requirement that the first hit must register first before the second part (which is the big hit) goes through. There’s an occurring issue if you have severe or sudden packet losses, the first hit might not register even if the animation shows it should hit. If this is the case, better use the other tripod. ● Dragon Flight it is an alternative for Dragon’s Fury as this changes into a Combo Skill, removing the “first hit register” requirement. This tripod also basically “guarantees” the Esoteric Orb refund on the first row. It also serves as a pseudo-movement as well (but don’t ever use it for mobility) since the kick propels you for quite a distance.

Esoteric Skill: Rising Fire Dragon

Quick Recharge

Major DPS Esoteric Skill ● Tenacity you gain Push Immunity when you use the skill. Lasts the whole animation, including when you are going down. ● Focus Hit general damage increase. ● Final Blow a massive general damage increase tripod, in addition with an Attack Speed increase, making the animation much faster.

Spiral Impact

Quick Recharge

Filler Esoteric DPS Skill, Counter, Destruction Skill

● Absorption Hit gives the skill Paralysis Immunity. ● Swift Fingers gives the skill Attack Speed. This tripod bypasses the 140% Attack Speed cap. ● Weak Point Detection general damage increase. ● Flexible rune slot, can use Purify/Poison but Quick Recharge is preferred.

Pick One Variant

Call of the Wind God (Summon)

Poison

Quick Recharge

Major Esoteric DPS Skill, Instant Cast Skill ● Lightning Storm 20% chance to deal more base damage and it is considered as an extra hit. ● Weak Point Detection general damage increase. Useful versus mobile bosses when you cannot connect every hit. ● Over Revolution a general damage tripod that specifically works with Summon Storm tripod. Increases the duration by 1 second and deals an extra 4 hits. ● Summon Storm becomes a Normal skill and massively reduces the overall time to deal full damage on the skill. It doesn’t remove the Back Attack modifier anymore. ● Poison is more recommended on homework and general gameplay, although Quick Recharge can be played on very long fights like progs as this can help you fit an extra 1-2 T-Skills in the fight, which could outdamage Poison. ● This is the only choice for 5 Spender.

Call of the Wind God (Holding)

(^2) Galewind Major Esoteric DPS Skill, Holding Skill ● Earth Storm general damage increase. ● Weak Point Detection general damage increase. ● Raging Storms - when the skill ends (by fully holding or partially holding), there will be an explosion dealing extra instance of base damage of the skill. ● The skill will have innate 30% Move Speed on Skill Use, very useful on Holding Wind God as you will get full Raid Captain efficiency on this skill alone. ● Don’t use this on 5 Spender. 4 Spender Lightning Kick 10 2 2 2 Wealth Major Esoteric Meter Generator Skill, Niche Mobility, Adrenaline Upkeep ● Esoteric Extortion increases Esoteric Gain on the slam. Roughly gives 0.75 Esoteric Orb per cast. After the May 6 Balance Patch, this skill gains roughly twice the amount, giving roughly 1.5 orbs which is similar to Sky Shattering Blow. ● Quick Prep this tripod decreases the base cooldown by 3 seconds and increases the damage by 20% at max rank. ● Flash Lightning is necessary to run this skill for movement. ● While this can be used as a mobility skill, treat this as one of your major Esoteric Meter skills. 5 Spender

Esoteric Skill: Blast Formation

2 Galewind

5th Esoteric Skill ● Flame Explosion skill becomes Fire element, and adds a DoT Burn that stacks 6 times. ● Focus Explosion simplifies the overall animation, to immediately do the last hit. The range is quite small, so stay in melee range. ● Final Explosion general damage increase tripod and reduces the base cost of Blast Formation to 1 Esoteric Orb.

Esoteric Skill: Thunderclap Kick

This is the default T Skill for Esoteric, as this is the only Esoteric T-Skill.

It has a base cost of 2 orbs. 60 second base cooldown.

Flash Rage Blow Theoretically will deal higher damage over Fist of Dominance, but you need to hold it for the full duration for max damage.

Ultimate Skill: Great Demon Kick

Fist of Dominance

Pretty straightforward as it is a Normal Skill and it gives 80% Damage Reduction while in animation.

Ultimate Skill: Eight Trigrams Chaotic Strike

Gem Priority (Post-May 6 Balance Patch) Gems are listed in order of most to least important from left to right. Grayed out icons are optional gems.

DMG

CDR (^) 4 Spender, 5 Spender Example Skill Setups These are some examples of different builds you can do depending on your preferred playstyle. 4 Spender 5 Spender Rotations Disclaimer ● All rotations below are catered towards using Esoteric Skill Preparation, except for 5 spender who are always defaulted into Esoteric Combustion. ● Esoteric Combustion has a more freeform approach, and doesn’t need to conform into a “strict” rotation unlike Esoteric Skill Preparation, in exchange of a bit lower damage.

● For Esoteric Combustion setups, the positions of Rising Fire Dragon and Call of the Wind God in the rotations can be interchanged. ● Simplify T-Skill is also flexible in regards to usage on Esoteric Combustion setups, as long as you use either Call of the Wind God or Rising Fire Dragon afterwards.

Pre-Circulate (No 2nd Bloodclaw Potion)

Summon Nado

Pre-Circulate

Orb Usage: 4-3-3-2-4

Focus Kick

Orb Usage: 4-3-3-2-3

Simplify

Orb Usage: 4-3-3-3-2-4

Holding Nado

Pre-Circulate

Orb Usage: 4-3-3-2-4

Focus Kick

Orb Usage: 4-3-3-2-3 Note: Do not fully hold Nado, release after roughly 60% of the bar.

Simplify

Orb Usage: 4-3-33-2-4 Note: Do not fully hold Nado, release after roughly 60% of the bar.

Circulate

Summon Nado

Circulate

Orb Usage: 4-4-4-2-4

Focus Kick

Orb Usage: 4-4-4-4-4

Simplify

Orb Usage: 4-4-4-4-2-4

Holding Nado

Circulate

Orb Usage: 4-4-4-2-4

Focus Kick

Orb Usage: 4-4-4-4-4 Note: Do not fully hold Nado, release after roughly 60% of the bar.

Simplify

Orb Usage: 4-4-4-4-2-4 Note: Do not fully hold Nado, release after roughly 60% of the bar.

5 Spender

Standard

Orb Usage: 32-4-43-4

Simplify

Orb Usage: 443-44-43-4

DPS Distribution (WIP) 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.

Ark Grid (WIP) For now, this is a mini-guide for the initial Ark Grid combination for Esoteric. Since this vertical system is fairly new, a lot of stuff here is still subject to changes and not finalized.

Double Azure

Sun Core

Unyielding Emperor

● When Destiny activates, you get a buff for 6 seconds where Wind’s Whisper Ready Attack buff and Roar of Courage Self Crit Rate buff gets extended by 1 second for every Esoteric Skill usage.

● When this said buff is up, using Call of the Wind God reduces the cooldown of Azure Dragon Supreme Fist by flat 8 seconds.

Moon Core

Way of the Overlord

● Using Azure Dragon Supreme Fist activates Destiny.

● Reduces the damage of Azure Dragon Supreme Fist by 33%, but reduces its cooldown by 45%.

Star Core

Ultimate Azure Gale

● GIves Azure Dragon Supreme Fist a base 10% Crit Rate.

● Further enhances Azure Dragon Supreme Fist and Call of the Wind God.

● This is the recommended option.

Supreme Fist

● GIves Azure Dragon Supreme Fist a base 10% Crit Rate.

● Further Enhances Spiral Impact and Azure Dragon Supreme Fist.

● This is the alternative option.

General Notes:

● Due to how the Sun and Moon Core works, this setup guarantees to always have Azure

Dragon Supreme Fist be able to cast twice in a Wind’s Whisper window.

● Don’t get discouraged on the damage reduction the additional cast should theoretically

outweigh the damage loss from the Moon Core.

● This is gonna be a new rotation, which is to be followed later.

Notes for Star Cores:

● Ultimate Azure Gale is easier to get early on as you get the damage bonus for Azure Dragon

Supreme Fist much earlier (at 14 points) on a lesser value (5%) but it massively buffs Call of the Wind (20%) on the succeeding levels which is your 2nd highest damage skill. This is the recommended option.

● Supreme Fist is the stronger option (10%) if we’re talking about Azure Dragon Supreme Fist

value alone with a decent increase to Spiral Impact (15%), but this is overall the weaker option due to Spiral Impact being worse than Call of the Wind God as a whole and the Azure Dragon Supreme Fist damage might be tricky to get early on (17 points). This is the alternative option if you are unlucky on getting the other Star Core.

Push Immune Azure

Sun Core

Quintuple Resilience

● When Destiny activates, you get a buff for 16 seconds where you deal more damage on your Esoteric Skills.

● When this said buff is up, your Azure Dragon Supreme Fist refunds 1 Esoteric Orb.

Moon Core

Third Eye

● Using Roar of Courage activates Destiny.

● Gives you a general damage increase for your Esoteric skills.

Star Core

Ultimate Azure Gale

● GIves Azure Dragon Supreme Fist a base 10% Crit Rate.

● Further enhances Azure Dragon Supreme Fist and Call of the Wind God.

Supreme Fist

● GIves Azure Dragon Supreme Fist a base 10% Crit Rate.

● Further Enhances Spiral Impact and Azure Dragon Supreme Fist.

General Notes:

● Due to how the Sun Core works, Azure Dragon Supreme Fist actual Esoteric skill cost is 1.5 orbs (including Circulate Ark Passive), which gives you the ability to use the Push Immune tripod instead of the guaranteed 1 orb refund tripod.

● The rotation for this setup will stay as the current 4 spender, and can also possibly be used by

5 spender (but this might need more testing).

Notes for Star Cores:

● Ultimate Azure Gale is easier to get early on as you get the damage bonus for Azure Dragon

● Supreme Fist is the stronger option (10%) if we’re talking about Azure Dragon Supreme Fist

FAQ

Why 1736 Spec?

● Eso Wardancer’s Esoteric Meter is quite special, and quite intricate as well.

● We need to reach 1736 Specialization in order for Sky Shattering Blow with Legendary Wealth will give you exactly 1.5 Esoteric Meter , filling you exactly 4 orbs after casting it. ● Otherwise, if you are even below 1 point ( 1735 Specialization ), you will not get the exact amount of orbs, and you will need to autoattack once to get 4 orbs (which is not advised).

● Below is the comparison between going exactly on the Specialization breakpoint

and going below Specialization breakpoint (even 1 point below).

1735 Spec 1736 Spec

● Due to the Esoteric Skill Enhancement Node in our Ark Passive, the Esoteric Orb

should be glowing in order for the damage increase to take effect.

● If you are not at 1736 Specialization, then your whole rotation will have

compounding effects to your overall damage due to this. You’re gonna be losing

damage unknowingly even if you are doing the rotation perfectly.

● However, once we reach the Specialization breakpoint, there’s no point of going

higher, as the damage per spec point above is quite horrendous in value. Going

from 1736 Spec (68%) to 1852 Spec (71%) is just a 1.79% increase. ● Better go invest into Crit stat after reaching the breakpoint, as it is gonna be

higher than 1.79% damage as we are also quite Crit starved. ● TLDR: invest points only enough to be near 1736 Specialization, then invest the

rest of the points into Crit stat.

Esoteric Skill Preparation Rework

● Esoteric Skill Preparation Ark Passive node got reworked and has a new effect.

OLD NEW

Each regular skill increases a stack. Each

stack boosts the next Esoteric skill's

damage by 0.8/1.6/2.4/3.2/4.0% , up to 3 stacks.

Now requires only 2 stacks, and boosts next Esoteric skill damage

by 2.0/4.0/6.0/8.0/10.0%. Stacks only get consumed at 2 stacks.

● With the new effect, you massively buff some of your major Eso skills in your rotation, but this new effect will make you play in a much more “stricter” rotation,

following the exact flow to properly leverage the effect, otherwise, you might be losing damage in the process if you “juice” the wrong Esoteric Skills.

● Damage comparison between “proper” Esoteric Prep management over Eso

Combustion.

_Reference_

● Esoteric Skill Preparation juice priority:

1. Thunderclap Kick (T-skill - any variant)

2. Azure Dragon Supreme Fist

3. Call of the Wind God (Holding)

4. Rising Fire Dragon = Call of the Wind God (Summon)

5. Spiral Impact