Post by TheLastTankMage on Aug 12, 2016 18:16:12 GMT
DISCLAIMER: I am not the original author of these builds (If the original author comes forward, I will gladly hand over the thread/build/whatever). I do not receive any karma, kickbacks or ad revenue from posting these here. I am merely trying to preserve some of the DAIMP builds that were originally posted on BSN. This is for informational purposes and discussion. Feel free to comment, discuss and post your own builds on this thread. (I am not a moderator)
TheLastTankMage NOTE: Yet another Isabela thread. I am just trying to save these. More builds will come as I find them. Sorry for the thread spam (End Note)
Hey all, I wrote this a long time ago for a friend who wanted to make a comprehensive beginner's guide to DAMP, but I don't believe it to be coming out anymore, so I decided to go ahead and post it despite not having recently played the game for any future players.
Duelist
The Duelist, or I should say Isabella, is a bit of an oddball in the DAMP roster. For some short history summed up, Isabella is a pirate queen of the chaotic good variety. She's appeared in all Dragon Ages so far (though in Origins she looked and sounded completely different.) She is frisky (the adult variety). She is, however not a true melee rogue, she is a hybrid ranged/melee who uses a hand crossbow and daggers. No worries though, her crossbow damage is tied to dagger damage, so you haven't been missing out on a whole item class the entire time.
Isabella has two unique mechanics which interact with one another, Vendetta, which marks targets with crossbones over their heads and causes them to take additional damage, and Elusive which can be seen as a secondary health pool that works on the number of hits dealt to you, not damage. Elusive has a cap of three hits represented by coins (four with passives), and is generated by the usage of certain abilities on Vendetta marked targets. Due to the presence of Elusive, Isabella is arguably the most forgiving of rogues to play as.
As Isabella is quite far down the character list, I'll be assuming you know a few things about the game by now to have unlocked her. If you got her from the free first chest, don't worry as I don't reference too many things. If you aren't familiar with games in general though, you'll be a bit hard pressed to understand a few things.
Abilities
Bolt
Bolt is Isabella's first starting ability, assigned initially to 1 when you first use her. For the cost of 15 stamina, she'll pull out the crossbow and deal 150% weapon damage to any enemy targeted, as well as marking them with Vendetta. You can continue pressing or holding the button and she'll continue shooting, of note is that you're still able to move while shooting. Bolt will be the primary way to mark targets, as it's quick, and doesn't cost much stamina. The upgrade to Bolt causes your next ability to automatically critical if you roll a critical on your Bolt attack. Note that this does not apply to Bolt, so as to not cause back to back criticals. Opinion wise, the upgrade is of questionable value, as there are much better things to spend points on, but if you have a spare it can't hurt.
Flashing Steel
Flashing Steel is Isabella's second starting ability, assigned intitally to 4 when you first use her. For the cost of 35 stamina and a cooldown of 10 seconds, she'll spin around and hit all enemies in melee range for 300% weapon damage, as well as removing any Vendetta marks and gaining one Elusive per mark removed. This will be the primary way to hoard your Elusive coins in general Duelist gameplay, along with being one of your main sources of AoE damage. The upgrade reduces stamina cost by 10 and increases damage done to marked targets by 200%, bringing the stamina cost to 25 and increasing damage by a great deal. It's important to not get too greedy with her spin, thinking that you can mark all targets in range and maxing your Elusive gain; sometimes it's just better to get one or two coins and get out of the melee.
Gangway!
Gangway is one of the first abilities one can spend points on to gain. It has no stamina cost though has a 12 second cooldown, and functions differently depending on proximity to hostile targets. If a target is in melee range, Isabella jumps a distance away and shoots a crossbow shot for 200% weapon damage. If used at range, she'll throw a hook and jump into range, kicking the target for 200% damage. The upgrade reduces the cooldown by 6 seconds if the target hit is marked, bringing it to 6 seconds. Opinionwise, this ability is largely unneeded by Isabella as she has speed boosts already, and distance isn't much of a problem in this game. It could see some use as an escape, but melee enemies don't have much sticking power, and ranged enemies (whether magical or physical) are the typical threat.
Flank Attack
Flank Attack is another of the first few abilities that can be unlocked. For the cost of 35 stamina and a cooldown of 8 seconds, Isabella will rush towards a target; upon melee range arrival, she will stab once in the front for 200% weapon damage, then rush through to the target's back and stab again for another 200% weapon damage. The first strike will hit with your primary dagger (the one in your right hand) and the second will hit with your off-hand (the left hand). Flank Attack isn't unique to Isabella. The upgrade is absolutely required if you want to use Flank Attack on Isabella, as it removes any mark on the target and grants two Elusive coins. This is a purely defensive ability due to that alone, which makes it all the more annoying when it misses. Flank Attack is notorious among the DAMP community for being quite difficult to hit. It's important to be absolutely sure there are no obstructions between you and your target, and that you and your target are on even ground. On a lighter note, Flank Attack is also one of the rare few abilities that can propel the character forward, allowing for quicker travel then the default running/sprinting.
Parry
Parry functions the same as Shield Wall with the main difference being that instead of generating guard, it deals 200% weapon damage and costs 10 stamina as an upfront cost. The upgrade removes the stamina cost altogether. Opinion-wise, this isn't worth an ability slot, as you can't afford to be standing still (though if you have killer reflexes I suppose it'd be worthwhile) and doesn't deal quite much damage. It's better to dodge a hit then block it typically.
Ambush
Ambush is an odd mixture of an ability. For the cost of 35 stamina and a cooldown of 10 seconds, Isabella will rush towards a target and deal 300% weapon damage, with a bonus of 900% if the target isn't paying attention towards you. The target then focuses on you for 8 seconds. This means the target isn't attacking you, and you haven't recently hit it enough to distract it from whoever the target is focused on. Ambush also removes any mark on the target to generate one Elusive. The upgrade causes the Ambushed target to generate 10 stamina when hit by you, which isn't worth using a point on in my opinion. The target is usually either dead or far too dangerous to press the attack, and stamina can be managed (though not easily when starting out). If you find yourself running low on stamina often, consider upgrading Ambush; though it'd be best to wait until you've grabbed the stamina generating passive first and then see how your stamina levels are. Ambush is another of those rare abilities that propel the character forward, and unlike Flank Attack has no cooldown triggered unless it hits a target, though unlike Flank Attack, Ambush is not faster then running unless going off a height or with a target. Try Ambush at range when you're on a higher elevation then your target. You'll fly quite the distance.
Swashbuckle
Swashbuckle is the berserker strike of the Duelist's abilities. The animation is a slight teleport with the first hit, with all others being variations on stabbing. It removes all Elusive you currently have and hits the target for 700% weapon damage 1 to 4 times, depending on how many Elusive coins you sacrifice. It is very easy to miss all hits, much like Flank Attack you'll want to be very close to the target and on even footing. The upgrade increases your attack speed for 10 seconds by 5% per Elusive used. If you're planning on using Swashbuckle the upgrade is well worth the point investment, as it will allow you to regain your lost Elusives that much quicker. It's important to note that Swashbuckle has no cooldown, being only limited by your Elusive. You could in theory, spam Swashbuckle as quickly as you gain Elusive, but this will leave you defenseless, should you fail to kill your target. Opinion-wise, Swashbuckle is far too risky for newer players. You don't do damage when you're dead after all. Yet if you have the Duelist, you can't be that new, so if you're confident in your play, go for it.
Keelhaul
For the cost of 25 stamina and a 15 second cooldown, Keelhaul shoots out a net that hits a target and one other nearby for 300% weapon damage. They are both marked and slowed, and if they move too far away from one another they'll be pulled together. The upgrade allows Keelhaul to hit three enemies at once. Opinionwise, I'm limited as I haven't used this ability much. It sounds great, it groups enemies, it marks, and does decent damage. But Izzy has better abilities that are begging to be used. As part of a more ranged build however, I imagine Keelhaul would be vital.
Evade
For the cost of 20 stamina and a 2 second cooldown, Evade rolls you a fair distance in your chosen direction. The upgrade causes Evade to leave a decoy behind that explodes for 300% weapon damage. Evade is not faster then running/sprinting, something to note. Opinionwise, Izzy already is evasive enough, her movement speed bonuses being enough to dodge attacks as needed. You don't quite need a dedicated ability to dodge attacks.
Fallback Plan
For the price of 35 stamina and a 24 second cooldown, Fallback Plan places a marker that can be teleported to when Fallback Plan is pressed again. You have 15 seconds before it disappears. Opinionwise, this doesn't have muc use in the current state of the game. As before any escape on Izzy is easily done so by simple running. Maybe on a dedicated Izzy ranged build would Fallback Plan have any use. But she has better abilities on her kit anyhow for escape on a ranged build, such as Gangway!.
Blinding Shot
For the price of 25 stamina and a 12 second cooldown, Blinding Shot deals 200% weapon damage to a target and blinds them, causing them to miss their next attack. The upgrade causes the shot to blind in a AoE. Opinionwise I can see the usefulness in this ability, but again Izzy just has so many better options. As part of a ranged build is all I can see.
Broadsides
For the cost of 35 stamina and a 18 second cooldown, Broadsides deals 300% weapon damage to your target and all other targets in a 5 meters radius, as well as marking all targets hit that are not the primary target. The upgrade increases the damage to 450%, and weakens all enemies hit. Broadsides is likely to be your starter against a group, as it knocks down the primary target and deals a good amount of damage on others, as well as marking them. It gives you the time to run in and Flashing Steel the group, and run out (or start stabbing). The 5 meter radius is a bit odd, and the marks don't always apply for some odd reason, but the damage is always stellar on Broadsides.
Passives
Passives are the nodes that are not abilities, yet give some benefit anyhow. Isabella has some wonderful passives, which I will now describe.
Dead in the Water
Enemies who take a stack of Elusive become weakened. Frankly, never noticed it have any actual effect, but it's the starting point and you have to take it.
Look but Don't Touch
When you have at least one Elusive, you are unaffected by all DoTs. This is a fantastic passive that you are required to take. Of note, I believe it functions even when you don't have it still, meaning Izzy is immune to DoTs at level 1 anyhow.
Hoist the Mainsail
You gain 10% movement speed per Elusive coin. This is Izzy's main defense, use it to create space in combat between you and your enemies.
Buccaneer
This is just a jumble of stat bonuses, and in it's current state (+3 to various stats) isn't worth a point no matter what. Funny flavor text though.
Avenger
When a party member dies, you gain a 100% damage bonus for 10 seconds and full Elusive. Frankly this is a highly situational passive, but there isn't much else to spend points on when you're looking for passives and not abilities, so I typically grab it at around level 19.
Bear Mauls the Wolves
Makes you immune to flanking, and have stagger resistance in the front. If you've grabbed Parry (which is required if you want this passive), I'd say take this, as staggers occur quite often in this game. If not, two points usually isn't worth some stagger resistance.
Unyielding
If an attack would kill you, Unyielding triggers and gives you a 5 second invulnerability. This effect has a 60 second cooldown. Great, great passive that saves life so often. Always try to pick it up, even if you don't use Ambush.
Naturally Evasive
Raises Elusive cap from 3 to 4. It's underneath Swashbuckle, but even if you don't plan on using Swashbuckle, I'd say this is worth the two points. The extra Elusive gives so much more peace of mind, and an extra 10% movement speed, making you the fastest person in groups typically.
Unforgiving Chain
Each dagger chain gives 1% extra critical chance until you critical. Required, and also unnoticeable due to such a low percentage, and with how quick the game moves, you'll likely only feel it's effects on a boss or big enemy of some sorts.
Looked Like It Hurt
When you critical a enemy, you regain 10 stamina. For newer players, this won't come into effect often, but for older players this is vital to stamina management. I'd advise you to take Salty Sea Dog if you have trouble with stamina still, and if you're still having trouble, pick up the upgrade to Ambush (if you're using it).
Savvy
Each ranged move you use increases the damage of your next dagger move by 20%, stacking up to 100%. Each dagger move you use increases the damage of your next ranged move by 20%, yadda, yadda. This has an unlimited duration, but I believe doesn't count bolt as a ranged move due to it's spamability. Nonetheless, it's extra damage, and if you have the points to spare, not to far out of the way.
Salty Sea Dog
For each enemy in a 5 meter radius, gain 5% damage reduction. When no enemies are in radius gain a 25% stamina regen bonus. Your second stamina passive, and if you need it take it. I'd advise a few games first to see how stamina goes without it, as the damage reduction portion is fairly useless.
Crow's Nest Lookout
You gain 50% critical damage, and against a target that's 10 or more meters away, 100%. This is on the required path. Isn't much to say, damage is damage.
Dead Men Tell no Tales
When a marked target dies, it spreads the mark to all nearby targets in a 8 meter radius. Highly useful, worth the point, as some targets are difficult to mark, such as shield units. This will let you get to em.
The Kirkwall Kiss
When you deal damage to a marked target, you reduce the cooldowns of all active abilities by .2 seconds. That may not seem like a noticeable amount, but Izzy has quite a high attack speed, whether from her daggers or her crossbow. This is vital to quickening gameplay.
Black Mark
This increases the amount of bonus damage marks give to 20%, from 10%. Damage is damage.
Builds
Recommended Build:
Bolt, Flashing Steel, Ambush, Broadsides.
Swashbuckle Starting Build (for the more dangerous):
Bolt, Flashing Steel, Flank Attack, Swashbuckle.
Safety:
Bolt, Flashing Steel, Flank Attack, Ambush.
The above differ in damage output and most importantly Elusive gain. On the recommanded build, Elusive comes primarily from Flashing Steel AoE, with supplements from Ambush. On the Swashbuckle Build, Elusive gain is paramount to fuel Swashbuckle, so Flank Attack is taken. On the Safety build, all abilities can generate Elusive.
Recommanded Build (leveling)
You'll want to pick up Ambush first, so head for Ambush and also pick up Unyielding past it. You should have it at level 7. From there, move towards Broadsides in the other tree and end with Kirkwall Kiss. At this point you should be around level 13. Then, moving back to the other tree pick up Naturally Elusive. Should be level 15. At this point it's personal preference, but I like to pick up Dead Men, Black Mark, Savvy, and Avenger, to end at 19. At 20 it shouldn't matter as you'll want to promote, but I would pick up Sea Dog; though you can pick that up earlier if you have stamina problems.
Swashbuckle Build (leveling)
Head straight down, picking up Flank Attack on the way. Finish off at Naturally Elusive, which should leave you level 9 if you picked up Flank Attack, or level 7 if not. From here I like to pick up Unyielding, and then move into the other tree to pick up the Kirkwall Kiss, which should be around level 16. There on I pick up Dead Men and Black Mark, which leaves you at level 18 and leaves you with the choices of Savvy or Sea Dog.
Safety (leveling)
Head to Ambush, picking up Flank Attack on the way. Finish off at Unyielding, should leave you level 9. From there, pick up Naturally Elusive, leaving you at level 11. Head into the other tree and finish with Kirkwall Kiss, leaving you level 16. Pick up Dead Men and Black Mark, leaving you 18 with the choice between Savvy and Sea Dog.
Gameplay
In this section general recommendations on how to play the above builds.
As a fight starts, mark every target possible, excluding ranged units not in a cluster. Mark them using Bolt or Broadsides. At that point, either run in or Ambush in. Once in melee range Spin or if you have Swashbuckle hit either mages or big melee targets, then either jump backwards and get out shooting Bolts to remark targets, or pick off the wounded with some melee hits. Flank Attack as needed to regain Elusive.
Usually though, you'll want to focus on ranged units, throwing a Broadsides into the melee cluster when you can. Broadsides is flexible though, if you need to knockdown a ranged unit attacking the group or you, use it there instead. You'll either run up to them using your movement speed (zigzag), or Ambush to close the gap. If the target is dangerous or full health you may want to Swashbuckle. Finish off with a Spin or Flank Attack if some Elusive is lost, then move onto the next ranged target. Remember to move from cover to cover if a ranged unit it attacking you; Elusive is valuable.
TheLastTankMage NOTE: Yet another Isabela thread. I am just trying to save these. More builds will come as I find them. Sorry for the thread spam (End Note)
Hey all, I wrote this a long time ago for a friend who wanted to make a comprehensive beginner's guide to DAMP, but I don't believe it to be coming out anymore, so I decided to go ahead and post it despite not having recently played the game for any future players.
Duelist
The Duelist, or I should say Isabella, is a bit of an oddball in the DAMP roster. For some short history summed up, Isabella is a pirate queen of the chaotic good variety. She's appeared in all Dragon Ages so far (though in Origins she looked and sounded completely different.) She is frisky (the adult variety). She is, however not a true melee rogue, she is a hybrid ranged/melee who uses a hand crossbow and daggers. No worries though, her crossbow damage is tied to dagger damage, so you haven't been missing out on a whole item class the entire time.
Isabella has two unique mechanics which interact with one another, Vendetta, which marks targets with crossbones over their heads and causes them to take additional damage, and Elusive which can be seen as a secondary health pool that works on the number of hits dealt to you, not damage. Elusive has a cap of three hits represented by coins (four with passives), and is generated by the usage of certain abilities on Vendetta marked targets. Due to the presence of Elusive, Isabella is arguably the most forgiving of rogues to play as.
As Isabella is quite far down the character list, I'll be assuming you know a few things about the game by now to have unlocked her. If you got her from the free first chest, don't worry as I don't reference too many things. If you aren't familiar with games in general though, you'll be a bit hard pressed to understand a few things.
Abilities
Bolt
Bolt is Isabella's first starting ability, assigned initially to 1 when you first use her. For the cost of 15 stamina, she'll pull out the crossbow and deal 150% weapon damage to any enemy targeted, as well as marking them with Vendetta. You can continue pressing or holding the button and she'll continue shooting, of note is that you're still able to move while shooting. Bolt will be the primary way to mark targets, as it's quick, and doesn't cost much stamina. The upgrade to Bolt causes your next ability to automatically critical if you roll a critical on your Bolt attack. Note that this does not apply to Bolt, so as to not cause back to back criticals. Opinion wise, the upgrade is of questionable value, as there are much better things to spend points on, but if you have a spare it can't hurt.
Flashing Steel
Flashing Steel is Isabella's second starting ability, assigned intitally to 4 when you first use her. For the cost of 35 stamina and a cooldown of 10 seconds, she'll spin around and hit all enemies in melee range for 300% weapon damage, as well as removing any Vendetta marks and gaining one Elusive per mark removed. This will be the primary way to hoard your Elusive coins in general Duelist gameplay, along with being one of your main sources of AoE damage. The upgrade reduces stamina cost by 10 and increases damage done to marked targets by 200%, bringing the stamina cost to 25 and increasing damage by a great deal. It's important to not get too greedy with her spin, thinking that you can mark all targets in range and maxing your Elusive gain; sometimes it's just better to get one or two coins and get out of the melee.
Gangway!
Gangway is one of the first abilities one can spend points on to gain. It has no stamina cost though has a 12 second cooldown, and functions differently depending on proximity to hostile targets. If a target is in melee range, Isabella jumps a distance away and shoots a crossbow shot for 200% weapon damage. If used at range, she'll throw a hook and jump into range, kicking the target for 200% damage. The upgrade reduces the cooldown by 6 seconds if the target hit is marked, bringing it to 6 seconds. Opinionwise, this ability is largely unneeded by Isabella as she has speed boosts already, and distance isn't much of a problem in this game. It could see some use as an escape, but melee enemies don't have much sticking power, and ranged enemies (whether magical or physical) are the typical threat.
Flank Attack
Flank Attack is another of the first few abilities that can be unlocked. For the cost of 35 stamina and a cooldown of 8 seconds, Isabella will rush towards a target; upon melee range arrival, she will stab once in the front for 200% weapon damage, then rush through to the target's back and stab again for another 200% weapon damage. The first strike will hit with your primary dagger (the one in your right hand) and the second will hit with your off-hand (the left hand). Flank Attack isn't unique to Isabella. The upgrade is absolutely required if you want to use Flank Attack on Isabella, as it removes any mark on the target and grants two Elusive coins. This is a purely defensive ability due to that alone, which makes it all the more annoying when it misses. Flank Attack is notorious among the DAMP community for being quite difficult to hit. It's important to be absolutely sure there are no obstructions between you and your target, and that you and your target are on even ground. On a lighter note, Flank Attack is also one of the rare few abilities that can propel the character forward, allowing for quicker travel then the default running/sprinting.
Parry
Parry functions the same as Shield Wall with the main difference being that instead of generating guard, it deals 200% weapon damage and costs 10 stamina as an upfront cost. The upgrade removes the stamina cost altogether. Opinion-wise, this isn't worth an ability slot, as you can't afford to be standing still (though if you have killer reflexes I suppose it'd be worthwhile) and doesn't deal quite much damage. It's better to dodge a hit then block it typically.
Ambush
Ambush is an odd mixture of an ability. For the cost of 35 stamina and a cooldown of 10 seconds, Isabella will rush towards a target and deal 300% weapon damage, with a bonus of 900% if the target isn't paying attention towards you. The target then focuses on you for 8 seconds. This means the target isn't attacking you, and you haven't recently hit it enough to distract it from whoever the target is focused on. Ambush also removes any mark on the target to generate one Elusive. The upgrade causes the Ambushed target to generate 10 stamina when hit by you, which isn't worth using a point on in my opinion. The target is usually either dead or far too dangerous to press the attack, and stamina can be managed (though not easily when starting out). If you find yourself running low on stamina often, consider upgrading Ambush; though it'd be best to wait until you've grabbed the stamina generating passive first and then see how your stamina levels are. Ambush is another of those rare abilities that propel the character forward, and unlike Flank Attack has no cooldown triggered unless it hits a target, though unlike Flank Attack, Ambush is not faster then running unless going off a height or with a target. Try Ambush at range when you're on a higher elevation then your target. You'll fly quite the distance.
Swashbuckle
Swashbuckle is the berserker strike of the Duelist's abilities. The animation is a slight teleport with the first hit, with all others being variations on stabbing. It removes all Elusive you currently have and hits the target for 700% weapon damage 1 to 4 times, depending on how many Elusive coins you sacrifice. It is very easy to miss all hits, much like Flank Attack you'll want to be very close to the target and on even footing. The upgrade increases your attack speed for 10 seconds by 5% per Elusive used. If you're planning on using Swashbuckle the upgrade is well worth the point investment, as it will allow you to regain your lost Elusives that much quicker. It's important to note that Swashbuckle has no cooldown, being only limited by your Elusive. You could in theory, spam Swashbuckle as quickly as you gain Elusive, but this will leave you defenseless, should you fail to kill your target. Opinion-wise, Swashbuckle is far too risky for newer players. You don't do damage when you're dead after all. Yet if you have the Duelist, you can't be that new, so if you're confident in your play, go for it.
Keelhaul
For the cost of 25 stamina and a 15 second cooldown, Keelhaul shoots out a net that hits a target and one other nearby for 300% weapon damage. They are both marked and slowed, and if they move too far away from one another they'll be pulled together. The upgrade allows Keelhaul to hit three enemies at once. Opinionwise, I'm limited as I haven't used this ability much. It sounds great, it groups enemies, it marks, and does decent damage. But Izzy has better abilities that are begging to be used. As part of a more ranged build however, I imagine Keelhaul would be vital.
Evade
For the cost of 20 stamina and a 2 second cooldown, Evade rolls you a fair distance in your chosen direction. The upgrade causes Evade to leave a decoy behind that explodes for 300% weapon damage. Evade is not faster then running/sprinting, something to note. Opinionwise, Izzy already is evasive enough, her movement speed bonuses being enough to dodge attacks as needed. You don't quite need a dedicated ability to dodge attacks.
Fallback Plan
For the price of 35 stamina and a 24 second cooldown, Fallback Plan places a marker that can be teleported to when Fallback Plan is pressed again. You have 15 seconds before it disappears. Opinionwise, this doesn't have muc use in the current state of the game. As before any escape on Izzy is easily done so by simple running. Maybe on a dedicated Izzy ranged build would Fallback Plan have any use. But she has better abilities on her kit anyhow for escape on a ranged build, such as Gangway!.
Blinding Shot
For the price of 25 stamina and a 12 second cooldown, Blinding Shot deals 200% weapon damage to a target and blinds them, causing them to miss their next attack. The upgrade causes the shot to blind in a AoE. Opinionwise I can see the usefulness in this ability, but again Izzy just has so many better options. As part of a ranged build is all I can see.
Broadsides
For the cost of 35 stamina and a 18 second cooldown, Broadsides deals 300% weapon damage to your target and all other targets in a 5 meters radius, as well as marking all targets hit that are not the primary target. The upgrade increases the damage to 450%, and weakens all enemies hit. Broadsides is likely to be your starter against a group, as it knocks down the primary target and deals a good amount of damage on others, as well as marking them. It gives you the time to run in and Flashing Steel the group, and run out (or start stabbing). The 5 meter radius is a bit odd, and the marks don't always apply for some odd reason, but the damage is always stellar on Broadsides.
Passives
Passives are the nodes that are not abilities, yet give some benefit anyhow. Isabella has some wonderful passives, which I will now describe.
Dead in the Water
Enemies who take a stack of Elusive become weakened. Frankly, never noticed it have any actual effect, but it's the starting point and you have to take it.
Look but Don't Touch
When you have at least one Elusive, you are unaffected by all DoTs. This is a fantastic passive that you are required to take. Of note, I believe it functions even when you don't have it still, meaning Izzy is immune to DoTs at level 1 anyhow.
Hoist the Mainsail
You gain 10% movement speed per Elusive coin. This is Izzy's main defense, use it to create space in combat between you and your enemies.
Buccaneer
This is just a jumble of stat bonuses, and in it's current state (+3 to various stats) isn't worth a point no matter what. Funny flavor text though.
Avenger
When a party member dies, you gain a 100% damage bonus for 10 seconds and full Elusive. Frankly this is a highly situational passive, but there isn't much else to spend points on when you're looking for passives and not abilities, so I typically grab it at around level 19.
Bear Mauls the Wolves
Makes you immune to flanking, and have stagger resistance in the front. If you've grabbed Parry (which is required if you want this passive), I'd say take this, as staggers occur quite often in this game. If not, two points usually isn't worth some stagger resistance.
Unyielding
If an attack would kill you, Unyielding triggers and gives you a 5 second invulnerability. This effect has a 60 second cooldown. Great, great passive that saves life so often. Always try to pick it up, even if you don't use Ambush.
Naturally Evasive
Raises Elusive cap from 3 to 4. It's underneath Swashbuckle, but even if you don't plan on using Swashbuckle, I'd say this is worth the two points. The extra Elusive gives so much more peace of mind, and an extra 10% movement speed, making you the fastest person in groups typically.
Unforgiving Chain
Each dagger chain gives 1% extra critical chance until you critical. Required, and also unnoticeable due to such a low percentage, and with how quick the game moves, you'll likely only feel it's effects on a boss or big enemy of some sorts.
Looked Like It Hurt
When you critical a enemy, you regain 10 stamina. For newer players, this won't come into effect often, but for older players this is vital to stamina management. I'd advise you to take Salty Sea Dog if you have trouble with stamina still, and if you're still having trouble, pick up the upgrade to Ambush (if you're using it).
Savvy
Each ranged move you use increases the damage of your next dagger move by 20%, stacking up to 100%. Each dagger move you use increases the damage of your next ranged move by 20%, yadda, yadda. This has an unlimited duration, but I believe doesn't count bolt as a ranged move due to it's spamability. Nonetheless, it's extra damage, and if you have the points to spare, not to far out of the way.
Salty Sea Dog
For each enemy in a 5 meter radius, gain 5% damage reduction. When no enemies are in radius gain a 25% stamina regen bonus. Your second stamina passive, and if you need it take it. I'd advise a few games first to see how stamina goes without it, as the damage reduction portion is fairly useless.
Crow's Nest Lookout
You gain 50% critical damage, and against a target that's 10 or more meters away, 100%. This is on the required path. Isn't much to say, damage is damage.
Dead Men Tell no Tales
When a marked target dies, it spreads the mark to all nearby targets in a 8 meter radius. Highly useful, worth the point, as some targets are difficult to mark, such as shield units. This will let you get to em.
The Kirkwall Kiss
When you deal damage to a marked target, you reduce the cooldowns of all active abilities by .2 seconds. That may not seem like a noticeable amount, but Izzy has quite a high attack speed, whether from her daggers or her crossbow. This is vital to quickening gameplay.
Black Mark
This increases the amount of bonus damage marks give to 20%, from 10%. Damage is damage.
Builds
Recommended Build:
Bolt, Flashing Steel, Ambush, Broadsides.
Swashbuckle Starting Build (for the more dangerous):
Bolt, Flashing Steel, Flank Attack, Swashbuckle.
Safety:
Bolt, Flashing Steel, Flank Attack, Ambush.
The above differ in damage output and most importantly Elusive gain. On the recommanded build, Elusive comes primarily from Flashing Steel AoE, with supplements from Ambush. On the Swashbuckle Build, Elusive gain is paramount to fuel Swashbuckle, so Flank Attack is taken. On the Safety build, all abilities can generate Elusive.
Recommanded Build (leveling)
You'll want to pick up Ambush first, so head for Ambush and also pick up Unyielding past it. You should have it at level 7. From there, move towards Broadsides in the other tree and end with Kirkwall Kiss. At this point you should be around level 13. Then, moving back to the other tree pick up Naturally Elusive. Should be level 15. At this point it's personal preference, but I like to pick up Dead Men, Black Mark, Savvy, and Avenger, to end at 19. At 20 it shouldn't matter as you'll want to promote, but I would pick up Sea Dog; though you can pick that up earlier if you have stamina problems.
Swashbuckle Build (leveling)
Head straight down, picking up Flank Attack on the way. Finish off at Naturally Elusive, which should leave you level 9 if you picked up Flank Attack, or level 7 if not. From here I like to pick up Unyielding, and then move into the other tree to pick up the Kirkwall Kiss, which should be around level 16. There on I pick up Dead Men and Black Mark, which leaves you at level 18 and leaves you with the choices of Savvy or Sea Dog.
Safety (leveling)
Head to Ambush, picking up Flank Attack on the way. Finish off at Unyielding, should leave you level 9. From there, pick up Naturally Elusive, leaving you at level 11. Head into the other tree and finish with Kirkwall Kiss, leaving you level 16. Pick up Dead Men and Black Mark, leaving you 18 with the choice between Savvy and Sea Dog.
Gameplay
In this section general recommendations on how to play the above builds.
As a fight starts, mark every target possible, excluding ranged units not in a cluster. Mark them using Bolt or Broadsides. At that point, either run in or Ambush in. Once in melee range Spin or if you have Swashbuckle hit either mages or big melee targets, then either jump backwards and get out shooting Bolts to remark targets, or pick off the wounded with some melee hits. Flank Attack as needed to regain Elusive.
Usually though, you'll want to focus on ranged units, throwing a Broadsides into the melee cluster when you can. Broadsides is flexible though, if you need to knockdown a ranged unit attacking the group or you, use it there instead. You'll either run up to them using your movement speed (zigzag), or Ambush to close the gap. If the target is dangerous or full health you may want to Swashbuckle. Finish off with a Spin or Flank Attack if some Elusive is lost, then move onto the next ranged target. Remember to move from cover to cover if a ranged unit it attacking you; Elusive is valuable.