Field Guide

The Haste and Malice tree: dodges on top of Evasion, Poison Blade, turn theft through Skip!, and conversions that turn speed into Physical Attack.

It opens with Haste Isn't Wasted or Malicious Intent. The whole pathway costs 75 Mastery Points including its APEX, Shadow Dance. Past the APEX comes the free APEX+ pick (Ambush or Improved Skip!) at character level 300, and past Cross Mastery the Pinnacle pick (Phantom Form or Venomous Openings) at 100 points.

Haste now grants Physical Attack too: every point of Haste adds 15 Physical Attack.

One of the two Elusive roots, and the node that gives Haste a second job. Outside this pathway Haste only decides turn order; here every point of it is attack.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Haste Isn't Wasted sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 1.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: none. It is a root, so it unlocks as soon as the tree is open to you.

Malice now grants Physical Attack too: every point of Malice adds 15 Physical Attack.

The other Elusive root, doing for Malice what Haste Isn't Wasted does for Haste. Malice also feeds Defense Ignore, so the same points buy attack and the roll that gets it through.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Malicious Intent sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 1.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: none. It is a root, so it unlocks as soon as the tree is open to you.

A quick and malicious strike: deals 100% of Physical Attack, ALWAYS fully ignores defense (Damage Reduction counts at half), and can be cast from Turn 1. 4 turn cooldown.

The only skill in the game castable on the opening turn, and it always ignores defense. That makes it the pathway's reliable opener and, with Ambush later, the trigger for locking an enemy out of its turn.

• ACTIVE: it casts during a fight, under the casting rules, on its own cooldown.
• Quick Stab sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 2.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Haste Isn't Wasted at Lv. 1 and Malicious Intent at Lv. 1.

After casting Quick Stab, your Haste and Malice rise by 10% for 2 turns (boosting Physical Attack and Defense Ignore too).

Turns that strike into a buff as well as a hit, raising the two stats the pathway converts into attack. The window is short, so it rewards casting on cooldown rather than saving it.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Improved Quick Stab sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 3.
• Cost: 1 Mastery Point, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Quick Stab at Lv. 1.

30% chance to dodge an attack, rolled separately from Evasion. A Fake Out dodge triggers Counter Attack and Opportunist.

A second dodge roll on top of Evasion, and the trigger the rest of the pathway hangs off — Counter Attack and Opportunist both fire from it. Dodging is not the point; dodging is how you start your own turn.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Fake Out sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 4.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Improved Quick Stab at Lv. 1.

Fake Out chance +20%, taking it from 30% to 50%. Any hit that lands is capped at 50% of your max HP.

Raises the Fake Out chance and caps what a hit that does land can take. The cap is a hard ceiling on being one-shot, which is what lets a low-Stamina dodge build exist at all.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Warning Signs sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 5.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Fake Out at Lv. 3.

After a Fake Out procs, strike back for 150% of Physical Attack. Counters NEVER miss, and can crit.

The damage half of the Fake Out engine. Counters never miss and can crit, so every dodge becomes a guaranteed swing — and a crit here can trigger Skip!.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Counter Attack sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 6.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Warning Signs at Lv. 3.

Heal 25% of your max HP after each Fake Out (any dodge with Improved Counter Attack).

The sustain half of the Fake Out engine, healing a share of your max HP each time you dodge. Against something attacking often it out-heals a healing skill without costing you a turn.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Opportunist sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 6.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Warning Signs at Lv. 3.

Your Off Hand slot is sealed (anything held there is removed when learned). Every point of Intuition grants 10 Physical Attack.

Seals the Off Hand and pays for it by turning Intuition into attack. Intuition was already doing double duty here for crit and Evasion, so this makes it the pathway's best single stat.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Travel Light sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 7.
• Cost: 3 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Counter Attack at Lv. 3 and Opportunist at Lv. 3.

Strike for 150% of Physical Attack and poison the target. Poison deals 5% of max HP per stack as pure damage at the start of each of its next 3 turns. Reapplying refreshes the timer and adds a stack, up to 3 (15% a turn). 6 turn cooldown. The Endless Boss cannot be poisoned; only the strike lands.

Damage that ignores everything the target is built for — it cannot be reduced, dodged or outlasted — and it stacks if you keep reapplying. The Endless Boss cannot be poisoned, so only the strike lands there.

• ACTIVE: it casts during a fight, under the casting rules, on its own cooldown.
• Poison Blade sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 8.
• Cost: 3 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Travel Light at Lv. 1.

Evasion dodges also trigger Counter Attack and Opportunist.

Widens the Fake Out engine to ordinary Evasion dodges as well, which roughly doubles how often the whole Counter Attack and Opportunist package fires.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Improved Counter Attack sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 9.
• Cost: 3 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Poison Blade at Lv. 1.

Every critical hit you land (skills, normal attacks and Counter Attacks) has a 10% chance to make the monster skip its next turn.

Steals turns. Every turn the enemy does not take is a turn of damage you do not take and a turn of yours you do, which makes it the pathway's quiet defensive layer.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Skip! sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 9.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Poison Blade at Lv. 1.

+200 Intuition, +25% Critical Damage. Gain Haste equal to 50% of your Base + Item Defense. Evasion hard cap rises to 45%, Defense Ignore hard cap to 66.6%.

The pathway capstone, and unusually it raises hard caps rather than stats — Evasion and Defense Ignore can both go further than anyone else can take them. It also pays you Haste for the Defense you hold, which Haste Isn't Wasted then turns into attack.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Master of Eluding sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 10.
• Cost: 10 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs every node above it in the Elusive Pathway, each at full level

Master of Eluding is a flat grant: +200 Intuition once learned, written into your Mastery column on the Character page.

Master of Eluding is a LIVE derivation: it is recomputed every time your stats are read, so it keeps tracking the stat it reads as you spend attribute points.

100% Fake Out chance for your next 3 turns. Every attack is dodged, and Counter Attack and Opportunist proc on each. 15 turn cooldown.

The Elusive APEX: for a few turns nothing can touch you, and every attack against you triggers a counter and a heal. It is a defensive cooldown and an offensive one at the same time.

• ACTIVE: it casts during a fight, under the casting rules, on its own cooldown.
• Shadow Dance sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 11.
• Cost: 15 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Master of Eluding at Lv. 1.

Holding Shadow Dance opens the Combat Mastery tree.

Every Quick Stab that lands triggers Skip! at 100%, crit or not.

The APEX+ pick that makes every landed Quick Stab steal a turn, with no roll involved. Against a single dangerous enemy that is close to fighting something that never gets to act.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Ambush sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 12.
• Cost: FREE, no Mastery Points at all.
• Requirements: needs Shadow Dance at Lv. 1.
• Needs character level 300.
• PICK ONE: learning it locks out Improved Skip! until you use RESET MP.

Holding Ambush opens Cross Mastery.

Skip! fires far more often: 50% on every landed critical hit instead of 10%.

The APEX+ pick that makes Skip! fire several times more often on your crits. It wants a crit-heavy build, where Ambush wants Quick Stab on cooldown.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Improved Skip! sits in the Elusive Pathway, at tier 12.
• Cost: FREE, no Mastery Points at all.
• Requirements: needs Shadow Dance at Lv. 1.
• Needs character level 300.
• PICK ONE: learning it locks out Ambush until you use RESET MP.

Holding Improved Skip! opens Cross Mastery.

A PICK ONE: take Ambush or Improved Skip! and the others are locked out until you use RESET MP. needs Shadow Dance at Lv. 1.

• Ambush — The APEX+ pick that makes every landed Quick Stab steal a turn, with no roll involved. Against a single dangerous enemy that is close to fighting something that never gets to act.
• Improved Skip! — The APEX+ pick that makes Skip! fire several times more often on your crits. It wants a crit-heavy build, where Ambush wants Quick Stab on cooldown.