Skills to get?

I kept twins strike at lvl1, is it really that good? I thought slipstream was the way to go, and get Blood paint asap, and your tackling slash will help you alot with this ranged mobs. I'm only lvl35 though on my sin \, but Ive been kicking ****. rib strike is another really good one, but its a mana drainer. Use spark alot, knife throw is useful when they run, but thats what tackle is for. if you plan to take on harder mobs/mini bosses at early lvls get the ones that increase evasion and crit damage. Other than that see what ones fit your play style these are just my opinions, but my sin is an alt and always charmed so I have it easier than some.

Read the descriptions before learn the skills or upgrade they. You don't really need to upgrade all the skill, buffs can be at lv1 if those just increased the buff time but not the effect.

Attack:
Rib Strike: reduces attack speed. (sqd loves it to reduce bosses speed)
TroatCut: 1 spark but great dmg
Puncture Wound: DOT skill cause to bleed.
Knife Throw: range skill
Tackling Slash: stunt skill
Shadow Teleport: Teleport to target + stunt.
Headhunt: Stunt Skill.

AOE:
Earthen Rift: Aoe skill (no sparks)
Subsea Strike: AOE -2 sparks.

Buffs:
Dagger Devotion: increases daggers dmg. (passive skill)
Focused Mind: Buff to avoid skill
Shadow Scape: Stealth mode +1spark
BloodPaint: Buff, absorbs 2% dmg
Deaden Nerves: Recovers 20%hp
Wolf Emblem: Buff, + critical strike
Windpush: speed buff
Shadow JUmp: teleport to target.
Healing Trance: Recovers hp.

*PanthomThief Ninjed me*

Personally, any answer that contains less than 8 skills is kinda half-assed. if you are just trying to speed lvl and not learn your class, you will be lvl 90 with only 3 skills lvl'd past 5.

the previous two answers were rather comprehensive but i just wanted to chime in on certain skills.

deaden nerves, focused mind, wolf emblem, maze steps - while many ppl forget that sometimes you have to watch your own back and bloodpaint doesn't do all the work. knowing how to use these skills (especially on bosses) is the number one way i can tell a FCC n00b from sum1 who actually took the time to learn to play the class. These skills are what u need not only to run FCC efficiently, but to solo bosses and save squads from dying.

rib strike - i can't stress enough how many squads i've been in where the sin just runs up and auto-attacks and afk's. i get so mad i wanna boot them, imho the first thing most sins should do is rib strike, followed by a few skills to set in debuffs when possible. then u auto attack till skills cool down. note: this is only my way fo doing this instead of using COD, which is my next point.

CHILL OF THE DEEP~!!!

why do ppl overlook this skill so much? i find in the 70's-80's sin's have the ability to steal aggro rather easy since the leg daggers are so powerful compared to the BM/BARB weapons. using COD can mediate your aggro while still running BP to keep u alive in AOE. i know the canned response is that most sins wanna go demon and just auto-attack; well i'm soon to be sage sin, and even in the 80's stealing aggro is a pretty easy thing, i use COD and then run my squad damage routine(with 2 spark of course):

wolf emblem -> double spark -> rising dragon strike -> subsea ->[tangling mire + condensed thorn] -> ribstrike -> auto attack

if timed correctly with HF, boss life should dissapear quickly, and if your in COD you will see some real nice spike numbers.

also while u it may just be a given, i didnt see rising dragon strike or inner harmony in any of the other answers, ijs those skills are quite required imo.

oh i certainly did mean any of that as a shot to you, was just trying to add on.

i think rising and inner VERY worth it to lvl, the higher the lvl, the more chi you get. there's a big diff between lvl 1 and lvl 7 rising and inner harmony, i have been keeping both about 1-2 lvl from maxed. to me, it helps me belt out that combo i listed above, and then follow up immediately with another double spark. i know perma-sparking is not stable until u get a bit more APS and triple spark, but i believe in learning the class well and not power leveling with iut learning to do the instances at each lvl band.

my biggest gripe while playing my cleric is dealing with sins i dont know, they usually balk at using a single skill, think that bp does EVERYTHING and generally dont do their job. sins are tactical experts, u fill in every role while dealing damage and u are the best at saving clerics from heal aggro when the tanks get lagged.

i do recognize that skills cost a bunch, but skill cost is no reason to be deficient imho. if you can still keep your squad alive, then cool; but when people ask why you can't double spark into subsea, there is no defense for the cries of n00b and FAIL that will come at you. that is not directed at either of the two that answered, but towards those who read and think being a sin is easy as auto-attacking. i also think i could paste this paragraph into every class forum and it will still apply, given that i change skill names.

ultimately, there are only about 3-5 skills u can forget about, the rest you need to prioritize when u lvl them, but level them in either case. the more skills you have competitively leveled, the more variation you have and thats your trump card in PVP and it pays off in PVE too.

I'll agree that as you're leveling, chill and BP and deaden is pointless to take past lvl 1 but once your other skills are @ 10 they're worth cranking up there, just so you can learn the demon/sage version when it comes along.

As a relatively low APS sage sin, sage Chill and Earthen are a combo that kick serious @ss on multiple targets in Frost (with HF, I've picked up 208k crits on a slew of mobs in the bigroom with +5 H&Ts) and Sage BP will get you into most any squad, regardless of your APS.

I've learned to be a skill spammer and a support DD in squads where I just can't out APS the demon sins, but find myself often grabbing aggro from them because I simply out damage them. What little dueling I've done (even with other sins) shows how effective Sage Chill / Headhunt is on damn near anyone.

It all depends on where you are with your char and how you play, I suppose.