The secret about Shadowblades is that, once they get to level 18, they can only ever die the first time they enter a new level. For this reason, I like Cornacs for their low experience penalty; they also get an extra category point to put in an early Stealth tree or inscription.
To start, get 1/5 Dirty Fighting and 4/5 Dual Strike; by alternating between the two you can now keep anything stunned forever. That will let you beat pretty much anything in a one-on-one fight as long as they aren't immune to stun. I also like to get one point in Dual-Weapon Defense and Blur, to boost my defense against melee enemies, and 4 points in Illuminate for the area damage. 5/5 Phase Door and 1/5 Teleport are pretty important in my opinion.
Ambuscade the talent is the key. There is no penalty for getting your shadow killed! As long as your real body is safe, it's fine. So what you do is, you clear out the area immediately at the entrance of the level. Once you're no longer under attack, cast Ambuscade, cast Teleport, go crazy attacking everything you can see until your shadow disappears, and then wait for Ambuscade to come off cooldown. Repeat long enough and you will have cleared the level and can go pick up all the loot.
Arcane Eye is an incredibly sweet escort reward for Shadowblades, because Shadowstep can go through walls; if you know there's a room somewhere, you can cast Arcane Eye in there and Shadowstep a shadow in there.
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<Ferret> The Spellblaze was like a nuclear disaster apparently: ammo became the "real" currency.