what?

your face

^^

you win this round

Even though I don't know why or how, AWESOME!

So what is the verdict? Max mindblast, and 2 skills into Shadow Master?

nope, max mindblast, 1 into shadow master.

btw, additional testing on sm's skills explains everything. it's skills are equal to:

1/2 shadow master lvl (rounded down) (hard and soft points)+ 1/2 mindblast (or whatever skill) (rounded down) (only hard points), with a minimum of one. so it uses skills more if they're a higher level than the other skills (although obviously it has preferences toward some skills). so soft points make no difference in the level sm has in mindblast, so more soft points won't make it cast it more. higher level shadow master boosts ALL it's skills, making them closer, %-wise. the sm that mindblasts the most (theoretically) would be a lvl 1 sm cast by a max mb assassin with no other skills.

anyway so max mindblast, 1 into master.

Maxing Mindblast would be useful anyways since it does more damage.

so then according to your theory 2 points in mindblast is better than 1 ? or as it is rounded down,with a minimum, it makes no difference..?

well yeh, but on my trapper i'll be losing a lot of skills that could be spent in fade, claw block, fireblast, or venom. however, after these tests i'd say it's pretty clearly worth it to max mindblast, regardless. but i sure wouldn't do it just for the little damage boost.