So I’m trying out my first rogue/bladedancer and I’m having a blast with umbral blades. I’m trying to figure out how to go about creating a few layers of defense, and I’m not sure the best way to go.
My first instinct was to stack glancing blow, so i’ve got passive points in that and a few ways to generate dusk shroud, but it’s not as high as I would like.
Related question I’ve read that shadow daggers count as “melee”…does the Veil of Night passive allow shadow daggers to trigger dusk shroud?
I’m using shuriken’s blade barrier to buff my armor and shred armor & resistances from nearby mobs, and using shift to buff my dodge rating and (I think) restore hp/mana.
I’ve recently started using Ancient Veil to generate Silver Shroud, and started using synchronized strike to generate ward (with the shadows generated via shift and smoke bomb).
This puts me in a weird situation though. I can either use the shadows generated by smoke bomb for more damage by using them to shoot umbral blades (sword thrower + the fire explosion) or I can use them to generate ward by having synchronized strike consume them and generate a bit of ward. I’m not sure which is the better option. I’m also not sure what the maximum number of shadows is by default…I could probably manage them better if I knew.
I don’t think I have any uniques yet that help with ward generation or retention, but the idea of building a defense based around ward seems pretty solid, and I’m wondering if that’s possible in a build around Umbral blades…if not, I may be willing to try a different main skill just to experiment.
Most of the guides i’ve seen that mention ward as a primary defense are from 8.3, and some mentioned changes that make the build(s) nonviable, so I figured i’d start a new thread and hope someone has better ideas than me.
Thanks in advance!