Hello, Highlander 2 -> Rodelero 3 -> Shinobi here.
This is the guide I made a very long time ago about Highlander and Rodelero synergy…back at that time I was uncertain if I should take Shinobi 
Bunshin + Crown + Moulinet (lv0 attribute)
Slithering + High Kick + Any knock up/down skill (Wagon/Montano/Bash) + Catar Stroke (Lv0 Attribute)
[Strike damage vs Leather Armor scenario]
I do like it; but I do have to ask; in the rotation with the knock-up/down is the knock-up for CC purposes? Because Cartar stroke should stagger (not the debuff) anything it hits anyway.
Catar stroke now deals double the damage on targets that have been recently knocked up/down.
Montano imo is the best skill to proc the extra damage. 
Seems I need to read the news section more. Never the less, awesome.
Looks like you have some knowledge about shinobi.
I’ve been wondering for a time now, I always wanted a shinobi including something like highlander and corsair shinobi, I guess with that build I should go full dex with critical damage.
But looks like a full con build going for pelt rodelero and murmillo can deal tons of damage while been tank as ■■■■. Maybe I should include somewhere there corsair as well, since I would want this build for PvP not PvE.
What are your thoughts, how could you help me?
Let’s see.
I always wanted a shinobi including something like highlander and corsair shinobi
The major problem about corsair on a shinobi build is that NO skill can be cloned, which is really a shame and the reason why many people complained about the build.
Spear Corsairs though normally take Shinobi as Rank 8 due to have no other class that suits the build, cloned kunai with spear lunge is great.
But looks like a full con build going for pelt rodelero and murmillo can deal tons of damage while been tank as ■■■■.
Shinobis take up to 50% more damage when there are clones summoned which makes the build quite risky at R8, where monsters tend to do a huge amount of damage. Pelt Rod and Murmillo in the build only works and very well because of the strike damage enhancement the build has (Slithering, Highkick and Headbutt). Toy hammer does additional strike damage when it procs and it used to deal 4 hits instead of 1, which made it too OP. MilloShinobis are in fair spot now and Toy Hammer became optional.
What build you had in mind exactly?
Sword -> Highlander 3 -> Corsair 2 -> Shinobi -> X?
Knockdown doesn’t work on bosses. I’m more interested about the damage burst coming from SW3 HL3 Barb1 Shinobi.
Compared to a Pelt Hop Rod3 Shinobi.
That’s a build that I wouldn’t dare to go for now 
But I think that adding fencer to the build would bring a lot of potential damage to a slash shinobi since Lunge increases slash type damage for a brief time.
Something like: Sword 3 -> Highlander 2 -> Barb 1 -> Fencer 1 -> Shinobi.
Sup guys i’m looking for a shinobi pvp build which is not spearman nor shield.
Could be interesting but without corsair we loose iron hook.
I think it could works. On rank8 we can add corsair 3 for longer iron hook, more damage on hexen and pistol shot. We can also add either barb1 too boost slash damage or fencer1 to boost kunai and hexen damage.
It will be hard to level through rank 8 maps without a real rank8 class but well some guild mates can carry us 
Sorry for the late reply >.>
I really think that a PvP swordy build must have swordman 3 or corsair, it’s okay if it doesn’t have a good synergy with the main purpose of the build (which is getting the highest dps as possible), but CC is really strong in this game, much more that Hook that can’t be countered by plague doctor or oracle, at least as far as I know.
To be honest I don’t know which skills/class have a good synergy with shinobi, so I didn’t do a deep research. I’ve seen a shinobi being something like rode-corsair-shinobi-murm and he doesn’t have much dex, so misses a lot, but when he does is practically a one shot, not to mention his high health pool.
In my opinion this is kinda boring so I was looking for something with high dex and having high crit damage, maybe isn’t the meta but having a good DPS an evasion sacrificing HP pool sounds more like a shinobi for me.
I was interested in highlander since this class has a really good single target DPS, but maybe barbarian or swordman 3 is better, I’m not much into swordman class so I don’t know much. And as said before, I don’t know either if any of this class has a good synergy with shinobi.
All I need is corsair in it’s build tho.
Something like:
Sword 3 -> Barb / Highlander -> Corsair -> ? -> Shinobi -> ?
Where “?” are a variable of going 2nd or even 3rd circle.
Or maybe something like:
Sword 1 -> Barb / Highlander 3 -> Corsair 2 -> Shinobi -> Corsair 3 or even doppel.
I’m aware that swordman class will have lots of changes buffs/nerfs soon, but I’m not sure of how good/bad they are in terms of PvP or Shinobi.
I’ll take a seat here and look for others questions and your answers to make my mind clear tho.
I really think that a PvP swordy build must have swordman 3 or corsair, it’s okay if it doesn’t have a good synergy with the main purpose of the build (which is getting the highest dps as possible), but CC is really strong in this game, much more that Hook that can’t be countered by plague doctor or oracle, at least as far as I know.
Positioning clones is a pain in the ass, and you need to make them get really close to the target in order for them to deal damage. Since Iron hook requires you to stand still, Shinobi looks really off in the build for pvp, unless you go for Kunai.
To be honest I don’t know which skills/class have a good synergy with shinobi
Kunai, which is the only viable damage skill from the class, is Pierce type, so spear lunge doubles its damage.
Here’s the list of skills that can be cloned:
Bash
Thrust
Pommel Beat
Double Slash
Umbo Blow
Rim Blow
Moulinet
Crown
Synchro Thrusting
Shield Bash
Shooting Star
Kunai
Something like:
Sword 3 -> Barb / Highlander -> Corsair -> ? -> Shinobi -> ?
Where “?” are a variable of going 2nd or even 3rd circle.
Or maybe something like:
Sword 1 -> Barb / Highlander 3 -> Corsair 2 -> Shinobi -> Corsair 3 or even doppel.
I was thinking now…I guess no one tested Bunshin with DWA, if clones do copy DWA autos then Corsair Shinobi will be a thing.
they do not copy, i have tested.
@neith720 @Laawc my experience with the highlander and the hoplite built that both of you are asking about,so i will share since i have leveled one. he is at rank 7 class 15; i stopped it there; because he will stay in standby until rank 9 class is released!, why i will explain in this text!
(the spear one is only at rank 6; because once i was waiting for the shinobi quest, i have discovered the problem with murmilo, but i have huge amount of experience in swords ; i also have catas both builds; hoplite dragon the list goes on , the only one i lack is a full doppel3 because i do not like 2hand sword, but even him ; i think i can talk about it because the total experience i have with swordsman. )
so let’s start:I have a highlander 3 corsair 2 shinobi x. i have read the topic before, but since the current path is focusing on the highlander built, i will share my experience. first: i can say that is fairly weak if you compare with the spear path.
i could explain and give a far deep impression of the problems of the built but will try to keep it short since many of us already know the reason: if you have question, please ask, so i can focus on them ; so i will just highlight things i believe is important right now:
first: i would like to say that i will not debate in depth the use of corsair in pvp scenery; everyone already knows; i will explore more the pve and the influence of highlander+ corsair shinobi.
Recent buffs:
crown+moulinet >> bushin, have a very good synergy but again, is not even close to the bonus of spear lunge, with recent buffs to highlander the future seems bright but is still fair weak mainly because the moulinet range is very small so unless you are using on bosses, not all clones will be able to hit the mob, and sometimes even with bosses some clone will not hit. , but in the end would not make anything easier for rank 8 content or more, but is nice to have without doubt.
review (my opinion):
Main negative aspect: lack of a good multiplier to the skills and without a good trans/weapon , is is very hard to play even at late rank 7 content; mainly is a heavy weapon depended class
Main Positive aspect: Good amount of short cd spells, with overheat, so you do not need to pump attribute in so many spells, and of course the fast paced game play that this allow the player ; less skill but with more overheat; fast animation and so on, is very fun .
Biggest potential (my opinion): DWA; dwa right now is bad, but IMC is current buffing corsair , and maybe if we got a nice buff for it we can even expect to mount a character around it, and with high trans weapon would be possible; we only need imc to give a little push for the skill so i can reset and maybe mount around it; (biggest core if IMC really buff DWA: the dov atk speed buffs work with dwa atk speed, so you can imagine the result if we got a nice buff to dwa ).
Biggest surprise (again) : DwA have a huge potential late game with high trans like i have wrote before , something that i do not have for this char, but i can say that it also have its utilities in pre rank 7 content ;you can still kill a round of 100-150k hp mobs with dwa, using a good multi hit set, but would use all the stamina, but at least you will be able to kill fast; most of the time, if you have a good amount of enchant hat and the basic multi hit set, you can even play in party with only DWA, since you will be able to hit well in partys.
my shinobi could even be 1-2 dps in mercenary from level lvl 100-260 even with fletcher ; qs; and so on using only basic dwa combo but i can say that pos rank 7 is fair hard to compare with those full damage class without the use of bushing + kunai + moulinet , so just dwa + toy hammer+ lethargy making the explosion hit up to 10-15k each time, so i can accept that the reason i was doing 1 was more because of the equips , but this is exclusive to 230+ scenery, pre 230 dwa is very strong with the correct setup(equips) ; but in the end you fingers will hurt alot.
reason to choice corsair: i believe that is important for us to discuss why we want corsair as main character in pve scenery since most of us need damage to keep the char relevant in rank 8 content ; and the current answer i can give, in my opinion is because in the current rank 8 game; i simple believe that we truly lack a dual wield class, and corsair is the closest thing we have for that(all of his skills needs pistol/dagger off hand truly dual wield ) ; so if imc intends to implement something similar in rank 9; because anyone can see that there is no reason to put a shield class or a new mounted class; so we have a huge chance to have something with dual wield or at least with all swords so i believe that having corsair would mean a good synergy for a rank 9 dual wield class and if the end nothing come as dual wield, at least all we can have a all sword class without doubt.
OFF TOPIC: My personal dream for this character: a rank 9 class that allow swordman to equip sword on offhannd; just think about the possibilities, like the current 315 purple sword; that gives close to 300 defm; plus nuaele; OMG is the dream!!! for a pvp dual wield character ; HUGE mdef without the shield;OFF TOPIC
final consideration:
Do not take barb 2: IMC current trend is to massive buff circle 3 classes so they can have a huge power spike by going circle 3 and stopping in 2 is bad! very bad! ; hoplite path gives us spear lunge that alone is already enough for us since it combo with everything>> hexen>>kunai>> sync from bushin and so on but as barb 2 there is nothing in it for the player in the future ; nothing the slash debuff from cleave is not enough since we lack a hard hitting slash skill; so in the end you already having a very good risk stopping at corsair 2 in some builds so do not do it for early ranks so if you truly want a early ranks for a class that will end with xxxx-corsair-x- shinobi x i can only recommend the spear path with hoplite and the highlander path.
after reading it, i believe that i’m have focused on corsair and i have not talked too much about highlander so i will try to explain; there is not much reason to talk about the class alone ; is fair weak thab the hoplite path in the damage aspect even at circle 3 x circle 2 in this built because of the overall situation of damage type , even with recent buffs : but as utility you gain armor break + crown and so on something that some mobs on rank 8 and players have very good amount of defense : the use hook>>armorrbreak>>>skills is not so difficulty with the 8 seconds invi from shinobi+ bind and so on . but the main question will be what you will choice as rank 8 and this would determine if you will take the hop or the highlander path:
If you want take corsair2;shinobi: murmilo ; the highlander path is the only way because murmilo have 0 skills for spear+ dagger; and corsair is off-hand dagger; and you have 3(2) skills with sword+ dagger ; ; the helm- headbut-jump: and this is very special kit; it would be the PVP KIT; corsair already have good amount of pvp potential with hook and murmilo would boost it even more since jump + head butt+ hook work very well in any pvp scenery; and again both skills have lower cd allowing you to keep the fast paced scenery; and this is the only path i would recommend highlander as highlander corsair shinobi; and that is if you would choice murmilo as rank 8.
every other path: (example: corsair 3; doppel as rank 8 class) would be fair stronger and useful for you if you use the spear path; it would grant spear lunge allowing for a huge multiplier in the shinobi-corsair-hoplite skills , something that like i have wrote before is the main deficit of the previous built (highlander); and of course the basic hoplite kit; finestra>>stabbing>> long stride (pvp again); and so on.
So in this aspect i can only say: the rank 8 will decide your fate; as in this built; if you choice murmilo + corsair; highlander is the choice; if you want corsair 3-doppel; spear path would be better; and in the end the strongest of them all in the damage scale will be the new rodelero shinobi murmilo; but with this built you lack a very huge pvp tools that is HOOK i can even say that you have cripple your sw as pvp character ; but in damage aspect would be the strongest without doubt.
final analyze of the 3 most viable built’s asked on this topic:
the highlander path( highlander 3 corsair 2 shinobi murmilo); have a huge pvp potential; really HUGE better than the other two options ; but because of that it lacks a good amount of tools to mob a good amount of monsters at the same time!
the spear corsair shinobi path( petal/sw2 hop2 corsair 2 shinobi X): is middle term between the highlander and the rodelero built: it have more damage than the highlander path; but lacks some of the pvp de buffs that the highlander path have!
The Rodelero path(pelta hop rodel 3 shinobi murmilo): have the strongest damage and abilities to mob in the 3 builts, but with this it sacrifices a huge pvp potential; even more than the spear path.(reason for hop 1 and not pelta 2; is because murmilo attribute for pelta 1-2(skills) is bad; and for hoplite is not; check the murmilo topic for a more profound analyze or ask and i will resume it; but this post is already long enough so i will stop !)
Hi mate. Thank you very much for all this information.
As I am mainly a pvp player i think the Rodel-shino-murmilo is not a choice for me and i hate the sword/spear-shield gameplay.
The spearman-pirate-ninja (weirdooo) path seems interesting as we have corsair for pvp and hop2 for the damage and lunge to boost pierce attacks. As rank 8 i think corsair 3 is really good for more damage on hexen, longer hook, and pistol shot which will be boosted by the new JR.
highlander3 cor2 shino murmillo as you wrote can be good in pvp but maybe a bit risky as u need to use your clones to do good damage in comparison the spearman build u just need to spear lunge>hexen>pierce>stab and u kill someone.
About the rank 9, we really need to wait before we go further because if there is a rank 9 dual class, it could use only sword/dagger so the spearman is RIP or even rapier/dagger. I’m saying that because shinobi can copy all pelt and rodel abilities so maybe IMC wants to make this class a tanky shield bearer and not dual wielder. Also, the changes on JR which boost Pistol Shot will maybe give us a sword/pistol rank 9 class. So the possibilities are huge lol Just wait and see.
Another path that we didn’t discuss that much about is sword3>Pelt>cors>fencer 3. No shinobi but at least rank 1 corsair with hook lv 5 , JR lv 5, just devil lv 4 and keel lv 1. Dual wield class, one of the best single target damage in swordman tree, rank8 to level easily in the rank8 containt.
ps: sry for my english
about the general aspect of things i stand by what i have wrote before; but there is always changes that can be made; for example; if you change shinobi for corsair 1 you will again hook, that will be a sure kill skill, if you know how to use ; together with murmilo damage skills! or you can try to use shinobi stealth + bind to do pvp, will be fair weak because of the long cd; but is possible as well! just won’t be as good;
just one thing: right now we really do not need to use clones for pvp; even with highlander build the combo would be fair similar as the one you have wrote about spear , but the thing is the highlander is stronger; mainly because two main aspect:
first: base damage skills + weapons>> unless you have a super weapon, the bonus damage given by spear lunge in pvp will be fair lower than the armor break from highlander!
second: with the new defense patches, against a super high end defense character(60k + 3k defense + and so on ) , as spear path will be almost impossible to kill, unless you have the same tier of equips; but as highlander the armor break will allow you to use pre rank 7 skills on him, and this is why i have put highlander path ahead of the spear path in pvp scenery; even without murmilo as rank 8; skull swing would be for more “end game situation” in the current pvp and “normal weak” pvp where spear lunge would only work against normal-lower tier equips enemies.
about the basic combo is cross guard or mokuton for bind 8 second >> close range hook>>> skull swing >>> headbut or rank 7 skills(hexen -kunai), this will be more than enough for even 50k players more if you have a nice end game set, even without trans weapon , because they will have 0 defense; it seems a lot of work, but there is many other alternatives; like shinobi stealth ; jump>>hook and so on! but the main aspect is, there is no need to use clones in pvp for killing in both builds , it takes too much time and is a risk! and the kill method on both builds is the same; spear lunge would really shine in pve, because is a multiplier, not really in pvp anymore because really end game players have even more def than rank 8 mobs!.
we can only wait; but not necessary would be sword dagger the current game says that will not ; look at corsair skills, he is the only one we can say dual wield right now; and he can use spear dagger- spear pistol- sword dagger- sword pistol - rapier dagger - rapier pistol; so if imc truly add a new rank 9 dual wield class; there is no reason for them to keep the aspect of corsair stances in the class as well; or even add a sword offhand, like hacka; and once she does that she can always chance the previous stances; like she did with rogue -falconer- etc once hacka was introduced.
ps:fencer is more or less dual wield because of the passive, and stop at rank 8, if a rank 9 dual wield comes, it will have rapier stance without doubt!.
About pelta-rodel shinobi; is the best in damage aspect; but we can not close the entire shinobi class to it right now even more because is not "all"skills ; not even close is 2 from pelta and 2 from rodelero ; because shinobi can also copy moulinet/crown from highlander that is also 2; skills from swordman4; sync for hoplite1; and so on! so transforming him in a shield class is a too much in my opinion if we based it in the skills he uses!
what really makes rodel shinobi built stronger than any other ; is not necessary the shield aspect of things and the number of skills that the clones copy ; is the total accumulation of strikes type debuffs that the built alone can unleash to boost bushing damage; strike damage is the damage type with most debufs in the game ; and very easily to use as well, and this would buff the shinobi bushing damage because all of them are target type debufs and this is why is the strongest right now in damage situation; simple as that; and once we add murmilo in the mix that have all strikes as well; it becomes even stronger!
now about the the rank 9 think! i think you have misunderstand something from me; the only class that i favor to have synergy with a possible rank 9 dual wield is corsair; not shinobi; not highlander; but i choice both of them to complete the set!, but those class is better at their own niche!
highlander is a lot better with doppel as sword 2hand built!
shinobi is alot better with rodel for strikes debuffs bushin!
this is the built i favor; if you choice to take murmilo as rank 8; like i have wrote before, but in the end i believe that one of the rank 9 class will be set in a no shield- no mount class!, just because we already have murmilo and lancer!; so without doubt will come a one all sword class for doppel/fencer that have stopped at rank 8! because putting a new rapier-2handed sword exclusive class, would cripple the choice of many built and by this angle, imc needs to do something new; , because two all sword builds would be strange; so i favor some mix, it can be pistol like you said, but what i truly want is sword off hand class, this is what swords needs to replace those daggers for something stronger, not pistol!.
So for me i want to believe rank 9 will be the rank of swords, not spear, not shield!, we will gain something with swords to work , one handed swords-rapier, and so on! since even dragon ends at 9; again there is no reason to force new shield-spear-mount class at rank 9!. only swords-rapiers.
fencer itself already have dual wield vibe even if there is no skill that needs dagger per si; because the passive damage, do not allow a shield to gain the bonus!.
But about the built itself there is not much to discuss! is in my opinion the best fencer 3 built in the game! of course we only got to know it once rank 8 hit, but once it comes i believe that most will agree with me on that; because on damage scale the fencer itself is enough alone for now, so rank 1-6 must be use as utility! and there is nothing better than 100% up time barrier with the new attribute from sword 3, plus pelta skills to lure-guardian; and corsair like you have wrote, it have pvp it have pve, it have all!.
Awesome explanation mate thank you. And yaaa rank 9 double sword class i didn’t have that in mind it would be awesome like a Berserker or something like this. Just wait and see mate i hope the rank 9 release won’t come too late, after the reset rank voucher expires 
without doubt, the rank 9 will come after the reset expires!, a few months ago we had a msg from imc in the forum, saying that they are working on rank 9 ,i’m just too lazy to search for it now , but by the current trend of information, it seems they are focusing heavy on balance and something tells me that rank 9 may come only after a deep balance patch, and right now we are still at rank 3-4 classes!, like corsair sorc and so on!, it may take a while for them to reach rank 7-8 classes and release rank 9, but in this aspect i hope i’m wrong and they will not wait for the complete set of balance.
talking about balance, i hope they will keep doing the balance, because corsair is still garbage, do not put your hopes on the flag skill, at least the path they are focusing corsair is the pistol shot+ missile damage>>>supp , and forgetting about dual wield, this is a very bad news for a rank 9 dual wield class, and for me that made a char just for that!.
I am now rerolling a sword3 highlander3, the idea is simple, make a chara that using many skill combo about sword(mainly highlander’s skill)
The build seems is a pity if i do not pick shinobi at R7, since i have many skill can clone…, go shinobi can let me become a very good dps against boss, but i’m wonder go dragoon2 is more better for the original idea.
The reason is, I am now R5 and feel lack of skill, much time i can just do auto atk, I surely need more dmg skill for “continuously dps” for the idea about “many skill, combo”. dragoon1 gives me three dmg skill and dragoon2 gives me dethrone which can let me possible to land lot of highlander’s skill at a enymy in PVP(just for fun).
I think this question many days, and I prefer go dragoon2, the most important reason is, i don’t know what class can pick after I pick shinobi at R7.