BDO Striker Guide - Comprehensive In-Depth Black Desert Striker Guide

Welcome to our Black Desert Online Striker Guide Black Spirit!

We are going to show you the ins-and-outs of one of the most bursty classes in the entire game. With this BDO Striker guide you should be able to understand this character more, so you can get straight to being competitive just after you get the items that will enable you to compete with other players in Open World PvP, Node Wars, Sieges, and Red Battlefield. I will talk about every single skill, describing you how it should be used and is it really worth it to use it, what to focus on during fights, which engages to use and the risk that comes with them, recommended skill add-ons, and some tips on how to use Striker in certain scenarios that happen daily. 

Table of Contents:

What gameplay does the Striker offer?

Pre-Awakening Skills

Awakening Skills

Which Skills to Level up?

Striker 1v1 Comprehensive Guide

Large Scale PvP Comprehensive Guide

What gameplay does the Striker offer?

Striker is a male counterpart to Mystic. While Mystic is all about flowing smoothly like water with fluid and graceful movement - Striker is not of that sort. Striker is all about that clunky, ruthless and relentless brutalism. When you play Striker you feel every strike, especially after the Awakening. Your keyboard will feel every strike as well, even if you are afk.

In the beginning tutorial levels, from level 1 to level 56 Striker seems pretty composed, quick and balanced. Some heavier strikes here and there, great mobility while throwing punches and kicks all around the place. It’s classic hand-to-hand gameplay, doesn’t really feel special in the beginning, but boy oh boy is it satisfying to finally get to the Awakening.

After leveling up to level 56, Striker will gain access to Awakening Skill Tree and a special Awakening weapon - Gardbrace. At that moment Striker will change from pretty meh hand-to-hand combat to a relentless train of a man that will pound every enemy into the ground with fiery fists and Martial Echo Spirits by his side, making himself a true one-man army, leaving a mark on the history of this game. 

Striker is an absolute monster below the softcap. He gets every skill he needs at much lower Skill Point cap than other classes, making him stronger at lower levels. After enhancing to Softcap, reaching 261+ AP, his gameplay will be slightly harder, as he has a lot of risky moves and engages that leave him unprotected, but if he manages to stack lots of evasion, and focuses on defensive gameplay, while still looking for opportunities to unleash his inhuman burst on groups of weaker enemies or strong individuals, he can be a true monster in every aspect of Midgame and Endgame PvP.

We will not mention a striker skill build, how to level up, or how to enhance gear properly. However - this guide will still be perfect for those who want to learn how to play Striker properly. Content that we create is absolutely complete.

If you are willing to commit to being a relentless and brutal force to be reckoned with, with powerful crushing skills and grabs that will let you unleash your full arsenal on a person, pummeling them into the ground then Striker is for you. Become a One Punch Man of your own MMORPG BDO Striker tale, with no alive enemies left - today! Let's press on.

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Pre-awakening Skills

Flash Step

Status: Invincible Frames + Super Armor + Dash + Movement Speed Buff

Not only an important iFrame, but the main Dash that you can use in a forward of backward movement, and a huge +30% Movement Speed buff for 10 seconds. Using this skill is crucial to boss fights and PvP scenarios. It’s also important to know that even though this skill has a 6-second cooldown - it can be used thanks to Martial Spirit Shards consumption. While using this skill Off-Cooldown Striker will become invincible to damage and Crowd Control abilities. Using 10 Martial Spirit Shards On-Cooldown will only grant you Super Armor, which will make you immune to Crowd Control, and greatly reduce the damage taken

Silent Step

Status: Sideways Flash Step

Works in the same manner as Flash Step, but enables you to use it to either side. Has the exact same properties as Flash Step, and mastering it will be crucial in boss fights and PvP, to dodge Crowd Control and enormous damage bursts.

Martial Spirit

Status: Martial Spirit Shards Collection

Lets you collect Martial Spirit Shards when you are using certain abilities. Not only that, using some skills while grant you +30% Movement Speed Buff for 5 seconds with an increased +6% accuracy buff for these skills.

Howling Wolf

Status: Evasion Buff

Very simple buff. +10 Evasion. Just like that. And you get that automatically after you reach level 20.

Fist of True Strength

Status: Weak Flash Step Damaging Extension but a Powerful Cancel

After you use your Forward Dash you can pretty much use this to deal some damage. Can be used in very early pre-awakening PvE when you don’t have any good skills yet for a handy WP recovery. 

However, this skill will enable Striker to use during Engagement as a Cancel out of Flash Step. Somewhere at the end of this guide, you will find out how and when to use it, as it is really important if you want to engage properly while remaining arguably safe.

Taeback Kick

Status: Weak Movement Speed Debuff

Basically a Kick replacement to Fist of True Strength. Deals slightly more damage and applies a -15% Movement Speed Debuff for 10 seconds. You won’t be really using it often.

Crouching Wolf + Flow: Prey Hunt

Status: Extremely Important Self-Buff with Super Armor + Flow Crowd Control

Pulls enemies in PvE, and buffs you with stats that are crucial for every Striker. Attack Speed gets increased by +10% for 10 seconds. And if you have 30 Martial Spirit Shards, they will be consumed to instead give you +20% Attack Speed buff for 10 seconds. It’s also important to note that this skill will grant you Super Armor status upon using it. 

Flow: Prey Hunt will enable you to deal damage with this ability, and the radius of damage and CC will increase. This basically makes Crouching Wolf a safe Self-buff that you can use during the fight, as now it not only applies Super Armor but can apply Stiffness to other players in PvP scenarios if used at 30 Martial Spirit Shards.

Triple Flying Kick

Status: Handy Buff Hidden Behind a Weak Ability

Triple Flying Kick is a bad attack. It will be only used in PvE, and only for the sake of buffs that it provides. It’s unprotected and slow, and one of the two buffs that it applies activates on the third kick. The buffs make it slightly worth is, as it grants +9% Evasion Rate buff upon usage, and +10 All AP for 10 seconds, after three standing attacks, as long as you level this ability up to Triple Flying Kick IV. And you will do that, as evasion is important for a Striker.

AP bonus on 3rd kick is pretty impossible to hit when you are already mid-combat.

Adamantite

Status: Weak Forward Guard with a Stun

Besides Forward Guard with a chance for a Stun, this skill will only serve as a gateway to skills that require this ability. If you do not apply the Stun, you will see that good players will be easily able to punish for Forward Guard with a grab or maneuvers that will put them behind your back to dish out the entire combo that will most likely kill you. You shouldn’t really use this skill in PvP. In early PvE, it will be useful as a stun and WP recovery tool, and when you get better skills you will rarely use it.

Ankle Hook 

Status: If You End Up Using This Skill, Then Something is Wrong With You

Ankle Hook is a branch-skill, that comes after Adamantite. As Adamantite in itself isn’t a good ability, this makes it even worse.

Deva King

Status: Fist version of Ankle Hook

There’s only one good ability that is tied to Adamantite, and it’s certainly not this one.

Mass Destruction

Status: Engagement Tool with Super Armor

Mass Destruction and Flow: Mass Destruction are the only skills that are coming out of Adamantite skills that are actually useful. It will be mainly used during engages in combination with Flash Step + Fist of True Strength. It grants you Super Armor status, it will stun enemies, and it has 100% Critical Hit Rate. Super Armor has a little hole in it that other players can punish so you will have to know in-and-outs of almost every Super Armor skill that Striker has, as a lot of Striker’s Abilities have Super Armor Holes that will be punished by a skilled player.

This skill has a very long lingering Super Armor Status. While there’s a hole for punishment in the beginning of the animation during the first spin - the whole ending animation is entirely Super Armored, and it ends just as the Striker comes back to his standard fighting stance. This will give about 3 seconds of free Super Armor after the skill is used. If your enemies don’t know how Striker works - you can bait out a lot of abilities. You will find details about that in lower sections of this guide.

Massive Suppression

Status: Safe Super Armor Grab with Knockdown

This grab is truly amazing. This ability makes Striker super tanky, as the Super Armor status lingers for its entire duration. While in 1v1 PvP scenarios it does not matter as much, as there’s only one person attacking you, that currently is being punched in the face while in the one-handed chokehold and thrown on the ground, during Large Scale PvP scenarios it can drive the entire attention to you, especially if you grab someone important and powerful. This grab can be canceled with RMB, Knocking down enemies after the first or second punch, instead of the entire three-punch combo into Knockdown

What makes this grab even safer, is that if you fail to grab someone, the skill will automatically launch you backwards so you can avoid more of a complicated punishment.

This grab also applies Knockdown that is the longest Crowd Control in the game when it comes to duration. 

Hidden Claw

Status: Short Invincible 

Can be used as an Air Attack, and it has a quite decent bleed addon, but there are better abilities that you can use.

However, this skill is very slow and has a windup that sends you backwards. This backward evasive move makes you invincible. If you manage to dodge something thanks to this skill then good for you, but it’s not as effective as it sounds, as the other part of the skill that is actually longer - can get you punished.

Crimson Fang

Status: Opening Tree for Pre-Awakening PvE Grinding

Crimson Fang is a great PvE skill by itself, especially when you reach Absolute: Crimson Fang and Bloody Fang passive. It can flow into other skills smoothly and will be one of your main combo openers for PvE grind, at least early into the game when you don’t have Awakening yet. You will be mainly using the first branch of the skill tree for Crimson Fang, granting you great damage in pre-awakening PvE grind. Bloody Fang will also grant you +5% Critical Hit Rate for 10 seconds upon using Crimson fang, and some people will even advise you to get addons for this skill to get +20 Attack Against Monsters and Accuracy buffs, which you are absolutely free to do.

This Skill also has Forward Guard which makes it somewhat safer. You will be using this skill in PvP combos but somewhere in the middle so you don’t get caught, as Forward Guard won’t protect you from certain abilities and tactics.

Explosive Blow

Status: Knockdown Tool and a gateway to Combo: Venom Fang + Combo: Final Blow

The explosive blow will come after you cast Crimson Fang. It has a chance to Knockdown, and if you are lucky, and have a chance to apply it - with high AP count you can consider your enemy pretty much dead.

Crimson Fang into Explosive Blow with other skills in this tree should enable you to one-shot most mobs that you are fighting, as long as you are fighting proper enemies. If skills from this tree won’t one-shot mobs in a combo, then you are grinding in a wrong place.

Explosive Blow will most of the time be followed with Combo: Final Blow for some good damage.

Combo: Venom Fang & Combo: Final Blow

Status: Powerful Down Attack + Down Smash Follow up With Bonus Style Points

If you plan on using Combo: Venom Fang, then getting Combo: Final Blow is mandatory. You will use this ability in most Striker combos, as it not only grants huge amounts of damage, it has a chance to Down Smash. Down Attack is useful on it’s own, multiplying the damage when your enemy is down on the ground, and Down Smash doesn’t have a high chance to activate. but when it happens - it can make a big difference in damage and combo potential.

It also applies -15% Attack Speed debuff for the enemy on good hits.

Flow: Deathstrike

Status: Crimson Fang Flow with DP Debuff

This skill will most of the time be used right after Crimson Fang, just because it provides -20 DP debuff for 10 seconds on good hits. This can mean the difference between one-shotting your enemy in PvP a scenario or letting him stay alive to fight another day. This is why 75% of Striker combos will have this skill somewhere in the beginning or in the middle of the combo chain. It’s basically a staple skill for a Striker. 

Flow: Bombardment

Status: Lock

You should not use points on this skill, you should ditch it, lock it, forget about it. It can mess up your combos if you manage to cast it somewhere in your combo chain. Also it has a bound CC that can mess up your Crowd Control counter and leave you with no damage nor utility. 

Fist Fury

Status: Self-Healing Tool

It’s a great Self-Healing ability, especially when you manage to max it. It might be useful if you want to save Silver and just not use potions, since Fist Fury while maxed will net you 40 HP per every good hit, and this ability hits multiple times. You shouldn’t max it early, you can take it after you have all of the mandatory skills from both pre-Awakening as well as Awakening trees.

Most Strikers will tell you to lock this skill when not needed. And you should absolutely do that, as it can mess up your combos. Using this skill just feels… weird.

Wolf’s Hunger

Status: One of Main Engage Abilities & Teleport With a Stun

Wolf’s Hunger teleports you to a certain target, when you disappear and teleport you become Invincible, meaning no damage or Crowd Control can be applied to you. It’s particularly amazing when you want to engage Archers, as they won’t be able to kite and push you back all the time with their shotgun if you are already in their face with a stun to open your combo. 

Also the reliability of getting unstuck from walls with this ability is truly amazing and should not be omitted. It’s important. Pearl Abyss won’t tell you that, cuz it’s broken.

This skill will be used as an Engage ability that can be used in a fight and when you are chasing someone. First kicks will teleport you to your enemy with a chance of stun. It will be really important when playing against matchups that can kite you.

Knee Hammer

Status: Unprotected Gap Closer

Knee Hammer is unprotected and that’s the biggest downside to this skill. It can be used to quickly get into the range of Twisted Collision or Grab: Massive Suppression, as the cast time is really fast, and it actually gap closes lots of distance. If you manage to hit Stiffness on the enemy, as Knee Hammer has that function - you can chain some combos out of that easily. 

Flow: Rock Smash

Status: Super Armored Knee Hammer Extension

Has some good damage and utility. Will be mainly used as a Lingering Super Armor Tool.

Flow: Tornado Kick

Status: Unreliable Air Attack

This skill would’ve been powerful due to Air Attack multipliers. But sadly - it’s not. You will rarely find an opportunity to actually get Air Attacks out of it, as it will be hard to set up. I would recommend locking it, and just keeping the Flow: Rock Smash maxed in this side-branch.

Somersault

Status: Backwards Dodge, useful with Flow

Can be useful, especially if you Flow this just before your enemy jumps on you. For example, if Mystic jumps in with Sea Burial, or enemy Striker goes in with Ferocious Assault, you use this as they jump into the air, Flowing into Rising Blast Combo that actually works as a Lingering Super Armor, Floating your enemy just at the moment they land, which will lead to a grab that will allow you to burst them to death.

Twisted Collision

Status: Forward Guard, Long Range Floating Tool and Main Engage.

This skill is absolutely bonkers. The range of this skill is absolutely ridiculous. Your enemy can stand 5 meters in front of you and get hit by the edge of its radius. It’s truly powerful when it comes to range.

This will be one of Striker’s engage tools. You will want to absolute this and get basically all side-branches from this skill in the future. This is how amazing this skill is. A lot of the time, especially against more experienced players that know your kit - you won’t be using any of the extensions, as people can punish you. 

Flow: Nimbus Strike

Status: Super Armor Twisted Collision Extension and Gap Closer

If you somehow manage to miss your Twisted Collision - you will be able to use Flow: Nimbus Strike to close the gap, this time with Super Armor status instead of Forward Guard. Keep in mind that Super Armor will last as long as you are in the air. At the moment you hit the ground - Super Armor will end, and good players will be able to punish that. This is why you will have to cancel this move into an Awakening skill called Skull Crusher, or use any other Super Armor skill so you can linger it. 

This skill can be easily dodged, especially by classes that already have an advantage over you, so you will have to learn to use it reliably.

Flow: Fatal Smash

Status: Super Armor

Most people lock this skill, as it’s easy to mix yourself up with this, when you end up using the wrong skill. However, I sometimes end up using it as a Super Armor Tool. And if you feel like you want to have that additional Super Armor in your kit - you will use it too. 

Flow: Strikethrough

Status: Risky Extension with Bound status

Strikethrough has a twisted status progression when you end up using it. It goes Super Armor into Invincible into Default. People who know how this ability works will punish that easily. However, if they do not know how to punish that, it can be pretty powerful.

Most people lock this skill, as the invincible status is way too short to be relevant in a greater scheme.

Flow: Landslide

Status: Best Super Armor Flow for Twisted Collision Extension

The most stable Super Armor status extender from Twisted Collision branch. It’s much safer than other skills.

Sweeping Kick

Status: Knockdown Tool

You can use it when you desperately want to apply you know… the longest Crowd Control in the game. Outside of that - it won’t be really used, if at all.

Roaring Tiger

Status: Powerful Down Attack with a Self Heal

It’s a decent damaging skill, one of your main in pre-Awakening during grinding. Due to its Air Attack, Down Attack, and Down Smash properties - it will be best when used after a Knockdown or Float, or Bound, so you can not only guarantee, that this ability will hit but also to get additional damage from multipliers.

The utility of this skill is also quite amazing. It’s our second life-regaining ability. At max level, it can restore 300 HP on the cast, and it doesn’t even have to hit anything, you just have to cast it. It also has a very short cooldown.

Wolf’s Fang

Status: Long Range Kamehameha

Looks cool, deals some damage, has a Forward Guard and can stun on good hits. It has a quite long cast animation, so should be used when no one can reach you, ideally on a target that is Knocked Down and laying on the ground. Will deal lots of damage at max rank, after you reach the Absolute: Wolf’s Fang.

Will be used mainly during early PvE scenarios when you are slowly heading for Awakening level, which happens at level 56. Then - there will be many skills that you will be able to use more efficiently. This skill has a long cast time and you will rarely find a use for it, but if you want to use it for huge amount of damage when the enemy is on the ground - you are absolutely free to do so.

Rage Hammer

Status: Very Important Move

Rage Hammer is a powerful fully protected Super Armor move. It has a huge AoE radius, similar to Twisted Collision, and it will Bound enemies on good hits. It also gets a Down Attack Multiplier when your enemy is on the ground. This skill is most likely your top priority when it comes to skill Addons, as you can get +4% Evasion or +4% Accuracy Buff for 12 seconds, with +15 to all Defence for 10 seconds.

+15 to all Defense for 10 seconds is a powerful buff that will make Striker even tankier, and it’s definitely the most important addon from all pre-awakening Skills possible. 

Mountain Aura

Status: Important DP Buff

Every character has a buff that you will be able to access at level 12, maxing it out at level 50. Some classes get AP, some get Evasion or Accuracy. Striker will get All DP, Magic DP, Melee DP, and Ranged DP. Which will make Striker even tankier than he already is. And boy oh boy can he get tanky. 

Infinite Master

Status: Huge HP Increase

If you don’t level this up to the max - you are whack. You’re trash. Don’t be trash. Level this up to the max.

Skilled Hunter

Status: Grinding Buff

AP Against Monsters is really useful when you are grinding. And since grinding in BlackDesertOnline is one of the better things that you can do 

Rabam Skill Enhancement

Rabam skills are a mix of two abilities from your pre-Awakening skillset. These abilities will connect with each other getting bonus stats, more damage, better protection and utility. When it comes to Striker - the choice is really simple.

Rising Wolf Fang 

Status: Not as Strong as it Seems

This skill will require Flow: Mass Destruction + Wolf’s Fang V. While on paper this skill looks amazing, with the damage and +15 Magic DP Buff, Stun in PvE, Stiffness in PvP, and it’s an Air Attack - the other skill that you can take for this Rabam just outshines Rising Wolf Fang. The second level 56 Rabam skill Enhancement has just better value. 

Flow: Back Step

Status: Invincible Backdash

This ability will require you to have FLow: Mass Destruction + Flash Step III. Getting that getaway card for Striker is really important. While Rising Wolf Fang can be good for an aggressive type of play - Striker’s playstyle favors Flow: Back Step more. You get an Invincible Backdash that will allow you to disengage, reposition, while getting some Magic DP for 10 seconds, and a handy +30% Movement Speed Buff for 10 seconds. This skill is just better, and it fits every Striker playstyle.

Iron Fist Fury

Status: Powerful yet Random

Iron Fist Fury could’ve been an amazing Rabam skill. It’s a fast Super Armor hit that could counter enemy CC, and guarantee a good opening for a combo. Sadly - this is the only scenario that will make this skill worth it in comparison to the other Rabam Enhanced Skill at level 57. And this scenario is quite unlikely thanks to desync that Black Desert Online currently has. Lots of Strikers will tell you that you can take any skill for level 57 Rabam, but the next one seems like a better idea as it is more consistent. 

Perfect Blow

Status: Powerful Forward Guard Gap Closer

Super Armor is amazing. Everyone knows that. It makes you resistant to Crowd Control, and it reduces the damage taken. However, Striker already has lots of Super Armor moves in his kit, and adding another, while ignoring Forward Guard (that completely removes the damage taken) makes no sense. That is of course not the only upside to this skill.

Perfect Blow is a Powerful Gap Closer. Striker is Amazing at close range, and can quickly get close from Long Range, but if you are in Mid Range, when the enemy has you in range, and you don’t have access to them - this is where Striker can feel really weak. Knee Hammer won’t protect you, Dash could be too slow, and the enemy can punish the Super Armor gap if he knows what he is doing. This scenario is when Perfect Blow completely outshines everything else. It’s the only skill that can fix Strikers reliability at that certain range, turning the biggest Striker’s weakness (and I’m not talking about a broken class like Mystic), into a good situation, where Striker can become really dangerous. You can use this to close the gap, Forward Guard yourself, and attempt a Grab thanks to Massive Suppression.

As you can see, going for Flow: Backstep & Perfect Blow is the best case scenario that diminishes Striker’s weaknesses turning him into an all-around beast.

Striker Awakening Skill Guide

After level 56 Striker will exchange his Gauntlet for an Enlightened Gardbrace, being able to use Fiery Attacks, and summon Ancient Echo Monks that will aid him in battle, providing a huge amount of burst damage and abilities that will Control the Crowd really reliably.

Descent of Fury

Status: Shift + E Buff

Every class has an E buff that is suitable for class’ purpose. And striker has one of the most amazing E Buffs in the entire game.  

Using this skill will heal Striker for +500 HP. This is absolutely huge, and it can be used in clutch situations, where you keep yourself alive for that few more seconds. It also grants +50 DP for 30 seconds, which is straight Damage Reduction which makes you more tanky.

Bonus +30% Attack Speed for 30 seconds will enable Striker to dish out his damage quickly, and become more unpredictable with some engagement tools, and +30% bonus to All Resistance for 30 seconds will make Striker even harder to deal with. 

While the Super Armor during using this skill is fine, what comes after it is absolutely amazing. For 30 seconds, when you are moving around in Awakening state - you become entirely immune to Crowd Control. As long as you are running or sprinting absolutely nothing will CC you when you have your Shift + E buff on you. This can make a huge difference in any PvP or PvE scenario, as you will be able to run into the enemy group, without using any skill, and run away just like that avoiding CC, and extra +50 DP will further reduce the damage taken. With this buff you can easily bait out lots of damage and Crowd Control abilities to let your teammates and your next combo shine, making every engage a little bit safer.

Also keep in mind that this huge +30% Attack Speed buff sadly won’t stack with Crouching Wolf, as that would’ve been overpowered.

Endless Fight

Status: Very Niche Skill

This skill has some good damage, and can be used for it but it will come at a great cost. The value you get from using this skill if you differentiate between damage and Crowd Control is not worth it. If you manage to hit this skill when your opponent is standing - you will apply both a Stiff and a Stun, leaving the enemy Crowd Control counter at 1.5, enabling you to apply only one more CC to the enemy. You won’t be using this skill as much, and it can ever be considered to be entirely useless, but it costs only 12 Skill Points so it’s your decision. In my opinion, the trade-off between the Damage and Crowd Control is not worth it. I would even consider locking it. 

Hell Break

Status: Awakening Grab

It’s a very short grab with no protection that will deal some decent damage, and bound the enemy to the ground. Against classes that have high grab resistance, this will be a great addition to Striker’s kit, as this Grab actually increases the Grapple Success Rate by 30% for 1.5 seconds, which is especially useful against classes like Witch for example that will stack Evasion and Grab Resistance. Using this skill can guarantee that your main grab will connect and you will be able to burst your enemy. 

Some Strikers say that you should lock this grab to be able to use pre-Awakening Grab, Massive Suppression in Awakening state, and it’s a good idea that even I can recommend. I would also like to add, that you can lock it, but still keep it on a hotkey, so you can use it when need it. It can still be useful thanks to the short buff it provides.

Ultimate Crush

Status: Cancel + Float + Air Smash + Black Spirit + State Transition

Ultimate is an unprotected move with really good damage and CC, as it will at the same time Float, Air Attack, and Air Smash your enemy if you are lucky. There’s also a Black Spirit version of this skill that will not only deal shitton of damage, but Knockdown your enemy on good hits, and as everyone knows - Knockdown is our best friend and the longest Crowd Control debuff in Striker’s kit.

It can be canceled, avoiding the first hit of the animation. Just use any side attack (LMB+A / LMB+D), and use Ultimate Crush, to unleash the second and third hit of this ability. 

Ultimate Crush also becomes handy when you want to switch a pre-Awakening weapon into an Awakening weapon. When you click C while moving in combat, Striker will perform a side attack (LMB+A / LMB+D) from Awakening state, and you can quickly cancel this one into Ultimate Crush, so you won’t be in a vulnerable state for too long.

Spiral Cannon

Status: Knockdown Tool, Great Transition and Mid-combo Damage.

It’s the best Crowd Control Tool in Striker’s kit that will apply a Knockdown. It can also Down Smash that can extend your combo. For example, if you manage to grab your enemy and put them on the ground, you can use Spiral Cannon to put your enemy on the ground again thanks to Down Smash. Down Smash will apply 30% of the time, and how it works - if your enemy is on the ground, even after reaching the Crowd Control Limit - he will get Knocked Down again to the ground if Down Smash applies. 

It can also be used as a Movement tool, as it will launch Striker forward for a great distance, but you should use Spiral Cannon at your own risk since this move is unprotected, so you will want to time it just right to mix your Shift+E protected movement with a proper timing on your Spiral Cannon to get out of danger. Great for a movement combo with Ferocious Assault (Monkey Jump), that I will mention later.

It’s also worth to mention that this skill will naturally flow out of Knee Hammer if you decide to use that combination. Not only that, if you are in your pre-Awakening state you can transition directly into Spiral Cannon by holding down Shift+C.

Fallout

Status: Lock it

There’s one little gimmick to the skill. If you miss an Awakening Grab, thanks to this skill you will be able to summon a Spirit. Outside of that - never touch it. It’s not worth it. 

Double Flash

Status: More movement

With bonus Super Armor. It will consume 200 stamina so be fareful with it. Allows you to do 4 dashes in a row.

Ferocious Assault

Status: Monkey Jump. Movement + unsafe Super Armor ender.

Ferocious Assault is the next Movement Tool that can be used in combo with Spiral Cannon as it can launch you for a great distance. There are actually three ways of casting this skill, to mix-up the distance covered with this skill. You can do a Short-dash, Long-dash, and Combo it with Spiral Cannon. You will find use for each Ferocious Assault cast type easily. 

This skill also has Black Spirit Version which will launch you high into the air with a powerful strike to the ground. It’s worth to mention that this will launch your higher if you don’t hold the command keys after the input is accepted by the system.

Flow: Crosswind

Status: Retreat + Float + Amazing Damage

Flow: Crosswind will be used after Spiral Cannon, and can be used to reposition, or launch yourself in any direction with mouse movement. This ability will Float your enemies, and you can use that reliably with your pre-Awakening grab for some good CC, as Floating is the hardest Crowd Control to resist in Black Desert Online.

It’s also worth to mention that Flow: Crosswind gets a huge bonus when you use it at maximum Martial Spirit Shards count, dealing close to double the damage. And it’s a Down Attack, so if you manage to use it with max stacks on a downed enemy - you will deal an absolutely huge amount of damage.

Infernal Destruction

Status: Pre-Awakening Transition + Grinding

If you’ve already used your Skull Crusher and you want to cancel into Awakening quickly, Infernal Destruction is a good skill to use. It can be cast immediately after Somersault. It used to be a good Super Armor skill, but since its removal, Infernal Destruction will be used as a transition and a grinding tool that will regain your WP.

Endless Explosion

Status: Amazing Damage For Mid Combo Ability

Lots of combos will use this skill and for a good reason. It’s one of the most reliable abilities in Striker’s kit. It’s a Down Attack and an Air Attack, and it can apply a Float. It will also heal Striker on good hits. And even though it’s unprotected, it can be used in Clutch situations for the heal.

Land Buster

Status: More Damage to Infernal Destruction

Nothing more nothing Less. Bonus animation and 100% damage increase when you are using Infernal Destruction. 

Echo Spirit

Status: Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru

Striker after initial unprotected frames, will teleport behind the enemy and summon Echo Spirits. It takes some time to cast, so it feels clunky. You have to be very careful with this ability, as the initial animation is unsafe, then it will apply Super Armor into Invincible status into Default status in a short amount of time.

Skull Crusher

Status: The Hardest Hitter in Striker’s Kit + Transition + Reliable CC

Disgusting amount of damage especially when someone is on the ground as it has Down Attack. It will buff you, it will debuff the enemy, it’s amazing and it hits like a truck. Not only that, you can reliably use it to switch to your Awakening state by wither using it after Crouching Wolf, or flowing from other skills like Adamantite for example.

With Black Spirit Rage this ability will have a larger radius and will be used as an efficient Knockdown tool while still dealing shitton of damage 

Rampaging Predator

Status: Forward Guard + Self Heal with Flow

A deadly move when used as 200% Black Spirit Rage Attack. Outside of that it’s a very reliable Forward Guard tool in your Awakening state. In PvP - this will be a powerful Trading Ability that you will be able to transition into a Grab or any other Crowd Control to bring the fight to a close.

Flow: Skull Hammer

Status: More Damage

As if Skull Crusher doesn’t deal enough damage already. This one will allow it to deal even more. Unlimited Power. Take it. Use it. Crush your enemies and their skulls.

Flow: Bite Off

Status: Self-Heal on Cast

Adds a +300 HP heal to Rampaging Predator making it better when it comes to trading. It applies to heal on cast, so you don’t really have to hit anything..

Which Skills to Level Up?

In the beginning, as you are stuck in the pre-Awakening state - you will focus on getting all of the important passive abilities and skills that will make your grinding efficient. Which means that you will take skills that not only give you good damage and Crowd Control against monsters, but also important Movement tools that will either allow you to dash for a longer distance, increase your Movement Speed, and Gap close to your enemies.

In the beginning - all of the DP and AP and Movement passives should be taken. You will take your entire Crimson Blow skill tree with the exception of Absolute: Crimson Fang,  Bombardment, and Absolute: Explosive Blow. You will take every part of Crouching Wolf and first part of Massive Suppression. You will want to max out your Flash Step and Silent Step, get your Knee Hammer III, and Stalking Wolf, and get every skill after Roaring Tiger, which means you will max out Raring Tiger, Wolf’s Fang, and Rage Hammer, of course without Absolutes.

Awakening Skill Reset

Then, when you get your Awakening you will want to rest your skills, as you will use Awakening skill tree from now on. At level 56 you will want to get every possible skill from Awakening skill tree with the exception of Fallout, and use the rest of your Skill Points to max out Silent Step, Flash Step, Crouching Wolf, Massive Suppression, Combo: Venom Fang, Flow: Mass Destruction, and all of the passives. You can get Roaring Tiger to max if you want the healing. From this point, you will add every Skill Points into your Awakening Skill Tree. The best thing about Striker is that other classes need about 2100 Skill Points to have everything they need, and Striker needs only about 1650, to get most things out of your entire pre-Awakening and Awakening kit. 

Striker Super Armor Holes

Striker seems a bit clunky. This class doesn’t flow as good as its female counterpart - Mystic. There are many scenarios in which you will end up unable to move after using a certain skill unless you Animation Cancel it with for example Skull Crusher. Some moves will make you able to move, but you will want to stay in them to make your Super Armor linger for a longer time. And some moves will grant you Super Armor status, but there will be a small downside to them.

Striker has many vulnerabilities, as lots of Super Armor moves have Super Armor Holes. Super Armor Holes are frames of Super Armored skills that are not protected whatsoever. People will abuse that if they know about them, and desync (very familiar to all Black Desert Online players) can sometimes do random things to you too, with players applying Knockdown Crowd Control on you, even though on your screen you were during your Mass Destruction animation. It happens.

But sometimes it’s not desync, it’s the ability itself that has a hole in it. When you use Mass Destruction, that is one of the main protected Striker engaging abilities there’s a spin animation, before you reposition yourself and hit the enemy with a Super Armored attack that is Mass Destruction. During the spinning animation - that’s where the hole is. During your spin - people will be able to use these few frames to punish you with either damage or worse - Crowd Control, which you can consider as a death sentence at higher AP counts. Another example is when you are using Super Armor abilities that put you in the air, making you fly or jump to your destination, take Nimbus Strike or Ferocious Assault. Each one of these skills will launch you in the air granting you Super Armor state. The exact moment you land - you will lose your Super Armor, becoming vulnerable to Crowd Control, and while you can cancel this state into Skull Crusher for example that has super armor, you will still have a small window when you can get CCd. Good players will punish that consistently if they recognize your pattern, or if they get lucky with the desync. Keep that in mind. The moment you land - you become vulnerable to Crowd Control - which means death.

Striker 1v1 Guide

Black Desert Online, especially at top level is all about landing that initial Crowd Control. At higher AP counts nothing else matters unless you are playing a heavy DP-focused build, cuz otherwise - you will die in one combo anyway. This is why - you have to be really careful in each PvP scenario.

It will all come down to knowledge on your kit and your enemy’s kit. It’s a game of pure knowledge. As long as you know more about your enemy’s class than your enemy knows about yours - if you both have similar execution when it comes to combos - you will win eighty percent of a time. Black Desert Online is a game when knowledge about your class plays the same role as knowing your enemy. 

The reason why you want to know your enemy - is that you can punish certain risky movements. For example. Striker has a few Super Armor moves that launch him in the air, and the exact moment you hit the ground - you will become vulnerable to Crowd Control. If your enemy knows that - he will punish it. Now you are whack, you are trash, you are done, laying on the ground after a powerful knockdown, and your HP bar quickly reaches 0.

You will have to spend a lot of time playing as or against other classes to really understand what kind of mind-games are happening during a simple 1v1 duel. Every player will use Super Armor rotation to bait out Crowd Control and important Movement and Damage Tools and negate damage with Forward Guard tools. Striker can do that easily with Shift+E buff, saving almost every Super Armored skill for later use, as long as he is running around. The only class that has the same capabilities is Mystic. Any other class that just uses sprint towards the enemy will end up absolutely dead. This is a little mix-up that you can use as Striker. As if people don’t know that you are invulnerable - they will use important CC skills and put them on cooldown giving you more possibilities to counter their lack of abilities. 

Mass Destruction is a powerful bait tool that can be used on unsuspecting enemies. It’s a skill that has a long Super Armor status, that lasts for close to 3 seconds. After you do this attack, Striker will still be in a special animation where he pushes his hands down before he goes to his default combat stance. This is a Super Armor attack that lingers for the whole animation duration, meaning Lingering Super Armor. You should be able to trick some enemies into using their valuable Crowd Control abilities on you, while you are invulnerable.

Striker has a few notable engages that can be used in 1v1 fight. Most of the time you will use them to either CC your enemy with these skills, or to attempt a Grab to but your enemy on the ground. The best way to attempt a grab is to use Perfect Blow, or any kind of Stiff/Stun on your enemy that will get you close to them, and just do the pre-Awakening Grab. These are main useful engages:

Flash Step -> Fist of True Strength -> Mass Destruction

Flash Step -> Fist of True Strength -> Twisted Collision

Wolf’s Hunger (unprotected but great against Archer and other Ranged Classes, also super risky, but when it manages to stun them - you should win easily)

Nimbus > Skull Crusher

Hoverwer, most engages should lead you to a situation where you can grab your enemy and finish them with enormous burst damage that Striker has. Feel free to ask any question and subscribe to Striker/Mystic Discord.

Engaging is hard as Striker, especially when you set yourself on a path of chasing people down. But with so much Super Armor capabilities it’s actually most effective to bait enemy to come to you and waste their CC on you while you are in Super Armor State.

What I mean is that playing defensive as Striker, waiting for the perfect moment when another Melee Class goes in, waiting for their CC to fail and applying your combo instead, is the perfect case scenario. Scenario which is ruined against ranged classes, but sometimes engaging with Nimbus > Skull, Wolf’s Hunger, or Knee Hammer > Flow Skill to teleport to them is a fix to that awful situation. Almost every engage is either unprotected or has some serious Super Armor holes, so you will have to be really careful. 

Striker is also terrible at trading damage and Super Armor with other classes. Rampaging Predator is most likely the only skill that will allow you to Trade, as it has a quite long Super Armor state, and can lead you to a grab.

To really study Striker’s capabilities you should either play against every class yourself, or watch PvP videos of top Striker players. I especially can recommend watching this Amazing 1v1 Duel session between the true Masters of their respective classes Striker vs Musa. You can learn a lot about Striker in this comp.

Striker vs Musa 1v1 Masters

Large Scale PvP Striker Guide

Striker is more of a small Skirmish, backline rush guy in Large Scale PvP scenarios. The more people are around you fighting in Node Wars or Sieges - the harder it will be to be successful as a Striker. 

Striker will need high Evasion to survive fights where 3 or 4 people are constantly dishing out their damage on him unless Striker outgears them heavily. This is why it would be smart to go for small skirmishes, dive the weaker backline or protect your own backline from bombers.

Diving the Backline won’t be easy, but if enemies are unaware of your presence you can do some real mess. Try to use your pre-Awakening state more in that regard. Twisted Collision on a pack of unsuspecting enemies can knock a huge amount of people down due to its radius and Crowd Control. Then you just finish the combo with Nimbus, Mass Destruction, Rage Hammer, Skull Crusher into Flow: Skull Hammer and you either run away or continue with Echo Spirit if your team followed you into the fray. This combo can absolutely demolish people if they are on the ground and you outgear them by a small amount. And even if you don’t kill anybody - they will switch their attention to your further engages and healing the damage that they have taken from you.  

Lots of people will recommend going full DP build reaching 430 DP, and while it can be useful, you will need lots of Evasion, and a good team to follow you, as you will only lure your enemies into dishing their damage on top of you, so your team can follow up with everything they’ve got, as you won’t deal much damage with about 140 AP. You can say that you will deal jack-shit. 

As long as you go beyond 261 AP you will be able to do more and more as a Striker. Your Super Armor movement with Descent of Fury should allow you to break through teams of people to unleash everything you’ve get, one-shotting huge packs of enemies. Striker will become useful at about 240 AP, but when you reach 261 and above you will be a true beast on the battlefield. 

This is the end of my Black Desert Online 2019 Striker Comprehensive Guide. Every information listed here was either out of my personal experience, many other guides, and Striker/Mystic Discord that you should visit right now if you still have some questions about how Striker Works. There are surely more mechanics to Striker than listed in this guide, but top players that have found these mechanics won’t gladly share that information, as lack of your knowledge is what will make them stronger. My job was to bring you a bit closer to understanding how this class works and how it can perform. Also - Endgame PvE Striker is a joke - Kakao please fix. 

This guide is a part of our official Black Desert Online Classes Guide 2019, and if you want to read about other classes and their specifics, in the exact same form as this guide - with a lot of useful information, you should definitely check that out. Join our Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter, and join the discussion. Lots of posts are posted there for the community. Sometimes you will see some latest patch notes, new basic website rules, links to forums and various guides that came out since the year 2017. Sign up, log in, and trade away. No matter the language - we will find our common tongue, even if you are an xbox scrub.

Have a good one Traveler! See you on the battlefield!