modified grasping bomer: could this work well?

When you shadowstep, you automatically drop any ashes you have equipped, so your first CwD would not work. I was a nice idea though, but energy management is always an issue with this type of builds, and more if you have to mantain an enchantment ahh i didnt realize that. thanks for the tip. with a high enough energy pool, and the use of essence strike, energy might not be too bad for each run through of the spike.

obviously have a lot of energy is going to be very important, with a full round costing 50 energy (with only one CwD), so once you spike and retreat, you can regain energy for a few seconds that start over again.

i havent tried this yet as i need to cap AoD, but once i do i will have a better idea of its usability.

Not a very big chance the build will work well. Grasping was Kurong is also a snare because of the KD. You might get into the mob faster but there is a very big chance they will run away. in that case, it would be possible to achieve the same effect by keeping Grasping, and replace AoD with Return so once you spike and everything is knockeddown, you cripple and then step to a backline caster, and saving 5 energy in the process (AoD is 10, Return is 5).

getting to the mob quick isnt as important as getting back out.

use swap with destruction while in melee and you'll drop your item while moving the spirit in your place at the same time. that would be an interesting solution, though i dont have nightfall at the moment