I wanted to make a comprehensive reference (both for myself for future use and for anyone else who might be interested) of the spellblade build I used for Sylh.
It focuses on maintaining a constant high buildup of stagger while still outputting decent damage with critical strikes.
I played it very fast-paced with a high offense, finger always on the dodge trigger. No parrying here.
(All of these screens are grabbed from the very endgame, so this is the gear I used to beat the end bosses with.)
Some of the skill points in my tree could be switched around for some branches, since some of the more reaching ones were there for far-off defensive abilities, but that also might threaten the actual survivability of the build.
Mage's Gambit remained my go-to orb as soon as I picked it up (and I believe I got it during the Cauldron quest). I would sub it out on occasion for a necrotic damage orb, but in the end it was my ride-or-die. (I also believe I had a +25% Stagger enchantment on it.)
And I am not going to lie, I only ever used my staff in battle to take pot-shots at dragons while I was running closer, or when I forgot to switch when entering a fight. I mostly used it to kill blight boils.
I always prioritized Ability Damage over Defense when it came to armor.
I also ended up having A Pale Reflection much earlier than I should have, since it is picked up during an optional endgame boss fight that I stumbled into at level 25. (However, I would also like it to be known that this build allowed me to beat that boss fight on my first try despite being 20 levels under the boss.)
The Amaranthine Loop at full ability unlock would greatly improve this build, I am sure; however, the game refused to give me many duplicates.
I tried swapping out different runes as I got them, but Pierce remained my go-to. It was great for breaking barrier and shield on tanky enemies, and good for eviscerating horde enemies with an area attack.
Most of my companions were structured around this build to be mostly support. My A-team was Davrin and Harding, and I would use Davrin's warcry ability and Harding's adrenaline rush ability as soon as they came off cooldown. (The upgraded warcry ability to trigger automatically at low health was a life saver many a time, as well as the perk in its tree to give it a ticking healing buff.)
When I could, Davrin was a party staple, but I would sometimes sub out Harding for Emmrich or Lucanis. Lucanis dealt good combination damage with his ability to detonate Overwhelmed, and Emmrich was my main damage dealer outside of myself (and also came with the benefit of additional healing abilities if Davrin was on cooldown).
For the most part, I could rely on having sufficient support from my companions so much so that I rarely needed to use my potions and would often come out of a fight unscathed.
The fundamental core of this build requires constant movement to sustain high damage and to not get hit since it is not very tanky, and performing a Takedown on an enemy as soon as it was staggered was a must.