... simply can't make it. There's been some time since two of the classes from the school got introduced so it's not too early for such a verdict. As I see it, the issues are:

Shadow: can't take damage. 2H Rages drop them with a single Rampage, other classes need to score a few hits and that's it. From the high tier defensive skills only Riposte works well, Uncanny Dodge does nothing more than a simple armour deflection and triggers too rarely even with Shadow Dance to deserve its position that high in the tree. Shadow Dance itself is significantly downgraded version of Hard to Hit which doesn't work well enough most of the time - that's not a War with multiple damage-reducing skills and tough armour who can skip a few parries with little consequences. No damage-reducing skill so unlike Rages which have 2, Shadows are left only with the minor protection offered by the Light armour. Offense sucks, especially vs. Wars - high initiative doesn't help vs. heavy armour and Shadow Form doesn't offer nearly enough armour penetration to drop a well-armoured defensive gladiator. Right now the only thing Shadows are good at in the top brackets is draining the opponent's endurance but that's far from enough to make them competitive.

Slayers: too unflexible and chaotic. No defensive strategy and too many activated skills in their own tree to make a decent planning. Against Wars you rely solely on Blood Bath which is just terrible - if the wonder skills doesn't trigger early enough, you simply watch your fighter getting beaten like a dummy (if it triggers it's no less annoying for the opponent because he can lose even if the Slayer sits on his ass for the rest of the fight). Juggernaut is a joke, so bad that it can compete with Down and Dangerous for the prize of worst top tier skill - you get heavy armour that can't deflect properly because of no defensive strategy and no additional bonuses, just the basic flat damage reduction. Flurry of Steel would be nice if the Slayers had any serious damage-boosting skill in their trees but right now it's just a series attacks with no punch, not very long either. Mixing Slayer with Shadow skills makes more sense, if only to reduce the amount of activated attacks but the lack of defensive strategy remains a problem even then.

Yeah, sure, that may not be the full picture but it's a fact that there's not Shadow or Slayer in top 10 in Blood Gods, sometimes not even in top 20. Your thoughts?