Stormbringer

The Stormbringer is the magic class of the Nightshade, next to the Duskblade. Its Metal skills deal direct damage and damage over time, while its Water skills are used mostly to slow targets. Its Reaper form raises speed and physical defense; in this form a Stormbringer is blue, with a blue aura and glowing blue markings.

It is the only magic class that can cast while moving, although only some of its skills work this way. It also has three Transcendent skills: two need one spark, and the third needs two sparks and changes its effect depending on how many ice or thunder charges the Stormbringer holds.

• Strong: high damage and high magic defense.
• Strong: casts some skills while moving, with fast channeling and casting.
• Strong: a speed skill and a transformation that adds speed and physical defense.
• Weak: low physical defense, low HP and slow base movement.

Stormbringers can only use scythes, which have medium to high magic damage, and need one to cast all their skills. Because they rely on channeling and MP, arcane armor is the only real option. Citrine shards add HP, and some players also add physical defense shards since the class is fragile.

In PvP its debuffs and area attacks let it take on several enemies. It usually stays at the back while tanks draw fire and casts from range, and casting on the move helps it slip out of harm. In Territory Wars it slows targets with Water skills and deals direct damage with Metal; it can quickly take down ranged casters and then turn on Barbarians, which makes it useful for stopping catapults.

In PvE, casting on the move lets it kite higher-level monsters while taking little damage, using skills such as Downburst, Cloudburst and Ice Bullet. Thunderstrike is an area attack that deals extra damage to enemies with low HP, and at higher levels Lunar Shadow creates a mirror image of the Stormbringer that has a heal, a stun debuff and an area attack. Its strong debuffs also make it a popular pick in squads, often ahead of the Psychic.

The Duskblade and the Stormbringer arrived with Eclipse, the eighth expansion of Perfect World International, released on December 16, 2014 together with the Nightshade race. The patch notes describe the Duskblade as a fast melee class that strings combos together and the Stormbringer as a caster who calls down the fury of nature. Eclipse also brought the Celestial Vale starting zone. The Riptide content update of August 2015 gave the Nightshade classes primal skills and adjusted some of their existing skills.