Draw Steel Shadow Guide

Introduction

The Shadow is a mobile assassin type character who has been trained by a secret College in the ways of stealth, magic, and infiltration; each of which teach a different set of features. The Shadow has access to a combination of melee and ranged abilities, which can make their choice of kit just as important as their choice of College for how the class develops.

For each choice I've assigned a star rating based on how powerful I think the option is and how often it will be useful, as well as a short explanation.

Base Features

The heroic resource Insight fuels the Shadow's abilities, and they can only get more of it each round by dealing damage to an enemy that is improved by a surge. Because their default Insight gain is based on a 1d3 this could leave you with as little as 2 Insight gain a turn, which is pretty rough given the variety of extra ways the Shadow has to spend it.

To make up for this the Shadow spends 1 less Insight on heroic abilities which have an edge or double edge on their power roll. These requirements on their Insight gain make it really important that the Shadow has enough surges and edges to apply to their abilities, which is what a lot of the College specific maneuvers and triggered actions try to do.

At level 1 the only consistent ability between the different builds is "Hesitation is Weakness", which is an amazing tool for eliminating enemies before they can act, applying conditions to them, or taking advantage of damage weakness before the enemy has a chance to remove it.

At later levels, "Careful Observation" guarantees your Insight generation when the College maneuver won't work, and "Night Watch" lets your triggered action prevent damage to anyone who needs it in a round, though it can't always reach without increased range from a ranged kit.

Ancestries & Kits

I'm not going to run through every option you can take for these categories, just point out any that are interesting for the Shadow for a specific reason.

There are so many viable ways to build your character that it's hard to give an objective star rating to these options, so most of these get a high rating for being any good at all.

Ancestries

Devil ★★★★☆ Barbed Tail and Beast Legs are both good for melee builds, but it's hard to tell what to spend the 3rd point on. Hellsight can help you keep an edge for the Insight discount against concealed creatures.

Dwarf ★★★★☆ If you're planning to enter melee the extra stamina will make it a lot safer, I wouldn't quite call this required because of how well the Shadow can avoid damage, but being a low stamina class can be extremely dangerous if you're trying to act as an assassin.

Wode Elf ★★★★☆ The Wode Elf Glamor feature theoretically makes this the obvious Shadow choice, but hiding is automatic in most situations, and remaining hidden isn't very important. "The Wode Defends" works as a crowd control option to use with "Shadowstrike"

Memonek ★★★★★ Keeper of Order can remove a bane that might otherwise be preventing you from getting an Insight discount from an edge. The speed increase is plenty to make sure a melee build can get in position, and the free surge can be helpful for Insight generation, especially for the Harlequin College.

Polder ★★★☆☆ The Shadow needs their maneuver too much to make use of Shadowmeld, and not enough of these features fit what the Shadow needs. The Black Ash College in particular doesn't need any mobility enhancements, and even though "Polder Geist" is pretty easy to achieve, I'd still prefer a consistent speed increase that will always be active round 1.

Kits

Dual Wielder ★★★★☆ One of the best mixes of stamina, speed, and damage. For the first echelon this kind of two target attack does the most damage for use with "Shadowstrike", though at the cost of a little stamina it's easier to pull off with the ranged version of the kit "Rapid-Fire".

Ranger ★★★☆☆ Taking a hybrid kit cuts down your damage for very little benefit, as the Shadow can commit effectively to either at little cost. This is my preferred hybrid kit as Hamstring Shot is occasionally useful when using "Shadowstrike", though the damage loss is more noticeable if you did take that ability.

Rapid-Fire ★★★★★ Again mostly for a "Shadowstrike" build as a ranged version of "Dual Wielder", but it's also the best mix of stats for a ranged focused build. The other contenders (Arcane Archer or Sniper) have more interesting signature abilities, but the surge from the Shadow signatures are important so this likely doesn't matter.

Shining Armor ★★★★★ Specifically for a Harlequin Mask Shadow, they really want an enemy to attack them, so the taunt ability is amazing to punish them if they try to avoid falling victim to "Clever Trick". It's also fixes your low stamina pool, and the lack of mobility is less painful with the 2nd level feature "Friend!".

Sniper ★★★★☆ The Black Ash College can easily use this signature ability effectively by just teleporting instead of taking a move action. This might make using "Burning Ash" difficult, or running out of surges a problem if you can't gain cover consistently with "Black Ash Teleport".

Warrior Priest ★★★★★ Black Ash Shadow's receive a lot of benefits at 2nd level to use this damage weakness multiple times. This and "Too Slow" is one of the builds that doesn't rely on "Shadowstrike" to be effective, and gives a great stamina bonus to help survivability.

Shadow College

Each College has their own maneuvers and triggered actions, features at 2nd, 5th, and 8th level, as well as your choice between two heroic abilities at 2nd, 6th, and 9th level.

College of Black Ash

Maneuver - Black Ash Teleport ★★★★★ Gaining cover after the teleport should be easy in most combats, as terrain pieces are encouraged by Draw Steel's design philosophy. Teleporting in general is very helpful for dealing with terrain, accessing the enemy backline, or removing the prone, restrained, and grabbed conditions.
Overall, this ability does everything the Shadow needs it to in one easy package; being hidden gives an edge for cheaper heroic abilities, and the surge is immediately available to spend to gain Insight.

Triggered Action - In All This Confusion ★★★★☆ You'll have to be in a pretty strange situation to want to spend Insight on the extra effect, but otherwise this is a great ability to let you prevent damage and reposition, with the same teleportation benefits as from "Black Ash Teleport".

2nd Level Feature - Burning Ash ★★★★★ The damage bonus alone is decent, as you can reliably trigger this twice a round. It gets way better as a way to use the damage weakness from "Setup" or even the Warrior Priest kit extremely easily.

2nd Level Heroic Ability - In a Puff of Ash ★★☆☆☆ It's likely you already took a 5 Insight heroic ability that will do better single target damage than this. Teleporting the target into the air makes up some of the difference only so long as they don't have much Agility, but it can be interesting for repositioning them into danger or dropping them on other enemies.

2nd Level Heroic Ability - Too Slow ★★★★☆ An emergency button to prevent effects and regain stamina. Your maneuver is really important so not needing to use Catch Breath is appreciated, and this can be used while dying. The extra free strike damage is a nice, actionless bonus and could trigger damage weakness an extra time.

5th Level Feature - Trail of Cinders ★★★☆☆ The extra teleport is inconsistent and not usually important. The teleportation buddy system can be helpful tactically; it could even bring a flanking partner along for a melee Shadow.

6th Level Heroic Ability - Black Ash Eruption ★★★☆☆ There's no guarantee this ability will do enough damage to warrant the extra Insight over "Shadowstrike", or especially an optimal "Setup". All it takes is a low ceiling or a decent combination of stability/Agility on the target and this ability will be practically pointless. At 8th level "Speed of Shadows" finishes making this ability redundant.

6th Level Heroic Ability - Cinderstorm ★★☆☆☆ Very expensive just to let your allies use "Black Ash Teleport" with you. There are situations where mass teleportation can save you, but they are few and far between.

8th Level Feature - Cinder Step ★★★☆☆ Doesn't change a lot with how easily you can teleport already. Could add a little damage if allies move you with their abilities thanks to "Burning Ash".

9th Level Heroic Ability - Cacophony of Cinders ★★★☆☆ The area this hits is the redeeming factor for the low damage it has, otherwise it's good for team mobility if you need to get somewhere quickly in an encounter.

9th Level Heroic Ability - Demon Door ★★☆☆☆ The instant kill clause is only 3% to happen so not worth hoping for, and otherwise this doesn't do anything compared to "Speed of Shadows".
There's a couple of features other classes have that can cause you to critical more often. Combining "Blessing of Fate and Destiny" (from the Fate domain Conduit) and the "Devastating" weapon enhancement gives you a 14.9% chance, which is still only okay.

Overall ★★★★☆ This College doesn't have much going for it after level 2, but the early teleportation features are great for mobility, and "Burning Ash" with the damage weakness from "Setup" is a build all on its own.

College of Caustic Alchemy

Maneuvers - Coat the Blade/Smoke Bomb ★★★★☆ Coat the Blade can build up a lot of surges over time, which is good for potency increases or having leftover surges for turns you're too busy with something like Catch Breath to make more.
Smoke Bomb isn't amazing, hiding is fine if you really need an edge to afford a heroic ability, but most of the time Coat the Blade will be the more powerful option, and you can just get edges from flanking instead.

Triggered Action - Defensive Roll ★★★★☆ The shift only being 2 squares is lackluster to use for hiding, but being able to reduce potencies is good. It's my least favorite of the triggered actions, but halving damage is a strong benefit regardless.

2nd Level Feature - Trained Assassin ★★★★☆ You get surges to use this feature easily, but +2 damage a round isn't a lot. With "Shadowstrike" and a signature ability to keep generating surges you can use this twice a round which is a relevant bonus.

2nd Level Heroic Ability - Sticky Bomb ★★★☆☆ Normally area abilities are best to clear out minions before they can act, but with the delay this isn't as effective, and sometimes the situation will change to make the aoe not useful at all.

2nd Level Heroic Ability - Stink Bomb ★★☆☆☆ Not being able to get kit damage bonuses means this ability is stuck doing bad damage. The weakened condition is minor, and a smart enemy could even try to use it against you by pushing you into it.

5th Level Feature - Volatile Reagents ★★★★☆ The damage backlash isn't great, but it can trigger damage weakness such as from "Setup". The improvement to "Defensive Roll" helps the extra benefits be relevant more often.

6th Level Heroic Ability - One Vial Makes You Better ★★★★☆ Damage immunity options are great to have on hand, and the way to spend recoveries is relatively efficient, though not nearly as efficient as some other classes so it might not be necessary.

6th Level Heroic Ability - One Vial Makes You Faster ★★☆☆☆ The best benefit here is flight, but even if it were guaranteed which benefit you receive, costing an action and 9 Insight makes this ability very bad.

8th Level Feature - Time Bomb ★★★☆☆ Adds a small amount of damage to every round, and could be used to trigger your Insight gain easily by delaying it. By now you should be so used to managing surges that this isn't necessary, and delaying lowers its already poor damage per round.

9th Level Heroic Ability - Chain Reaction ★★★☆☆ If you can chain this through the entire encounter it's a fine opening move, but there's usually at least one break between the melee and ranged combat lines, and by the time you have enough Insight to use this it might just be a below average area ability.

9th Level Heroic Ability - To the Stars ★★★☆☆ The Black Ash College gets a similar effect for 9 Insight, and it's even worse at this level where it has to compete directly with "Speed of Shadows".
Throwing certain enemies far away can make them rather ineffective, and the damage can be improved by dropping enemies on top of each other, but it's still less damage than Speed of Shadows even before taking into account stability/Agility, and is less versatile.

Overall ★★★★☆ The early features are the least interesting of the Colleges, but the 5th/6th level features make up for it slightly. The most obvious build is using "Shadowstrike" to trigger "Trained Assassin" multiple times a turn.

College of the Harlequin Mask

Maneuver - I'm No Threat ★★★★☆ There are a few heroic abilities that aren't strikes for the edge this can give, and it's unfortunate that the surge gain happens after the damage is dealt, both of which can be bad for generating Insight, but it still technically ticks all the boxes. Disguising as another creature can have a lot of utility.

Triggered Action - Clever Trick ★★★★★ Completely nullifying an attack and giving it back to the enemy is incredible for just 1 Insight. Only working on strikes can be problematic, but it's usually not an issue and extremely worth having an Insight permanently on standby.

2nd Level Feature - Friend! ★★★★☆ There's definitely combats where this won't be useful at all, but important group combats are pretty likely to have a leader or support creature that you can steal abilities from, so it can be quite strong when it matters.
The free disengage each turn is a decent upgrade to mobility and can help ranged or melee builds get where they need to be.

2nd Level Heroic Ability - Machinations of Sound ★★★★☆ Once enemies start crashing into each other this ends up doing great area damage for just a maneuver. The lowest tier result is already most of the effect and should reliably take out echelon 1 minion groups, and it's not that sad to miss out on using "I'm No Threat" as long as you can generate a surge with a signature ability.

2nd Level Heroic Ability - So Gullible ★★★★★ Buying a second use of your triggered action can make you extremely hard to kill and waste a lot of enemy actions. It's hard to afford both often until later levels, and some combats might not have you being hit by strikes twice in a turn. The extra free strike and recovery use are very action efficient.

5th Level Feature - Harlequin Gambit ★★☆☆☆ The extra use of "I'm No Threat" is inconsistent and not usually important. The free disguise use is easily argued to cause enemies to no longer target you, but that would mean not using the amazing "Clever Trick".

6th Level Heroic Ability - Look! ★☆☆☆☆ Any minor upgrades the edge might give are pointless compared to the amount of power you give up by not using a real heroic ability instead. An exception exists for unreasonably large party sizes.

6th Level Heroic Ability - Puppet Strings ★★★★☆ Getting in position for this ability can be a problem, but if you force a pair of strong enemies to target each other this does competitive damage with potential bonus effects. It also continues to support an infiltration gameplan where you disguise as the enemy and turn them against one another.

8th Level Feature - Parkour ★★☆☆☆ Not provoking opportunity attacks is irrelevant with all the other mobility options the Shadow can get. Similarly, I don't think disguising is an important enough game plan that you need an extra way to activate it.

9th Level Heroic Ability - I Am You ★★★★☆ Taking an enemy signature ability gives you more options to use with "Shadowstrike" or "Speed of Shadows". This isn't always enough of an upgrade to be worth the Insight tax, but in group combats it's really good to get one of the many strike abilities that can target 2 creatures. Trying to use this ability to gain movement types or immunity is inefficient and expensive, but it can be a fine bonus to get at the same time.

9th Level Heroic Ability - It Was Me All Along ★★★☆☆ It can be pretty easy to disguise with all the features that support it, but even if you fulfill the condition this ability routinely does less damage than "Speed of Shadows".

Overall ★★★★☆ This College is very powerful at wasting the enemy's actions. The first strike ability used against a Harlequin each round is wasted, and potentially more with "So Gullible". This College is the most interesting to me, but also has the least consistent maneuver and 2nd level feature.

Ability Choices

Signature Abilities

Gasping in Pain ★★★☆☆ Similar to the Sword and Board kit's signature ability, but it hits an easier potency. It can't generate the surges you desperately need, so I'd only consider it with Caustic Alchemy's fast surge generation. Even then, it's only actually good when you hit a tier 3 result for the condition, "You Were Watching the Wrong One" is more reliably powerful.

I Work Better Alone ★★★★☆ Gaining the surge before the power roll can be important for gaining Insight early in the combat, though this doesn't matter for Alchemy Shadows. Having no allies next to the target can be tricky, especially in solo encounters, but this is the best ability for ranged or assassination focused characters for targeting the enemy backlines.

Teamwork Has Its Place ★★★★☆ The other side to "I Work Better Alone", it's easier to make sure there's an ally in melee than not. It's often better to target backline enemies instead of the tanky frontline, so it's unfortunate to lose out on the surge in that case.

You Were Watching the Wrong One ★★★★☆ If you're flanking with a melee partner the extra surge is nice, and giving yourself the surge is easy no matter what. It forces you into a melee build unlike the other self-surge gain options, and Harlequin Mask can't usually take it as they have no way to spend a surge the first round of combat for Insight without extra help.

3-Insight Abilities

The downtime project "Learn from Master" lets you improve control of an ability to reduce the Insight cost by 1. Combined with an edge this could let any of these abilities be usable for just 1 Insight.
This can also be done with some of the 2nd level College abilities if you take the complication "Following in the Footsteps", but it's less likely to be worthwhile.

Disorienting Strike ★★★☆☆ The slide is decent for some extra damage, the effect just isn't very relevant, and there are better things to spend Insight on.

Eviscerate ★★★★☆ Bleeding is a good condition, and this is the only ability I'd consider for a ranged focused character.

Get In Get Out ★★★☆☆ A poor increase in damage for the Insight cost, but the mobility can be good for certain encounters or getting out of dangerous situations with your low maximum stamina.

Two Throats at Once ★★☆☆☆ Focusing down an enemy is normally better than doing a little more damage to several targets, and with how stamina pools work it's about the same effectiveness against minions. The Dual Wielder or Rapid-Fire kits have most of the damage of this ability for no Insight cost, and "Shadowstrike" can fill this role effectively instead.

5-Insight Abilities

Coup de Grace ★★☆☆☆ It's hard to justify a situation where it's correct to take this ability over "Shadowstrike". The math works out with damage bonuses that using two signature abilities is about as effective even before you imbue your weapon or level up at all.
If you don't have damage bonuses or the enemy has damage immunity, then one large attack is better, but untyped damage immunity is rare, and the comparison is even worse if there's any damage weakness involved.

One Hundred Throats ★★★☆☆ Combines the good parts of "Get In Get Out" and "Two Throats at Once". With a melee kit this does strong area damage, but "Shadowstrike" can work to a similar effect while still being useful for single targets.

Setup ★★★★★ Damage weakness is an amazing benefit for the party, and the Shadow should have an easy time applying it. It doesn't take many instances of damage to make this the most damaging ability here.
Black Ash Shadows are particularly good at making use of this damage weakness once they hit level 2, being able to easily damage the enemy twice before they have a chance to save against it.

Shadowstrike ★★★★★ The Shadow signature abilities are already strong to double, but things get even more interesting when you add kits.
Rapid-Fire spreads out the most damage at early levels, Panther can charge forward again if their initial target dies, and Arcane Archer, Spellsword, or Warrior Priest all add a damage type to take advantage of different damage weaknesses twice.

7-Insight Abilities

Dancer ★★★☆☆ Makes you basically immune to any enemy with only range 1 attacks, which is hilarious to pull off. There are plenty of enemies this won't work against and even if it does, it isn't great to just get your allies focused on and killed instead, so I consider this a waste of Insight.

Misdirecting Strike ★★☆☆☆ With a bit of tactics the Shadow shouldn't ever be in enough individual danger that this misdirect is vital, especially for a ranged build. The damage is also bad compared to the 5 Insight abilities.

Pinning Shot ★★☆☆☆ Targets a different potency and a slightly different condition, but for most purposes this is worse than "Staggering Blow".

Staggering Blow ★★★★☆ Prone and can't stand isn't quite as good for kiting as restrained, but it makes up for it by keeping the condition active longer and forcing the enemy to use a maneuver to clear it. It's the best crowd control ability available so far, but it's outclassed by a couple of level 5 abilities.

9-Insight Abilities

Blackout ★★☆☆☆ Concealment can help you become hidden, but this ability uses the maneuver most Colleges would use to hide, and this isn't a strong benefit anyway. For damage "Shadowfall" will be better.

Into the Shadows ★★★★★ As long as you go before them this skips the round of the strongest enemy in the encounter, without checking a potency. Against solo enemies it's even more insane, giving your team some breathing room and still letting an ally take a turn against them if you use "Hesitation is Weakness".

Shadowfall ★★★★☆ A powerful area ability for melee builds, the "teleport" can help reposition and should remove the grabbed, restrained, and prone conditions.

You Talk Too Much ★★★★☆ The benefit this has over "Into the Shadows" is that your allies can still strike the target instead of them being missing. This isn't relevant to group combats, and against solo enemies they are so crippled by losing all their turns that it won't matter if they live a little longer.

11-Insight Abilities

Assassinate ★★★☆☆ There's a sweet spot between guaranteeing the instant kill happens and the absurd amount of damage that "Speed of Shadows" can do where this ability is useful. This won't happen in enough combats, and suffers from a lack of versatility.

Shadowgrasp ★★★★☆ For a group of melee enemies this can be a powerful delaying ability, and it does good area damage, but it has to hit a lot of targets to compete with "Speed of Shadows".

Speed of Shadows ★★★★★ Picking anything but "strike signature ability four times" is unlikely to ever be correct, and it's worth using this ability over "Shadowstrike" as you're paying 11 for 3 extra signature abilities instead of 5 for 1 extra. The default most consistent and highest damage the Shadow can do.

They Always Line Up ★★★☆☆ Slowed isn't nearly as good as restrained, and the area is likely to hit less targets than "Shadowgrasp". For a ranged build it does do more damage, but for damage you should just take "Speed of Shadows".