Shadow | Example builds Path of Exile Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Coordination
12% increased Attack Speed
6% increased Cast Speed
+20 to Dexterity
Sleight of Hand
20% increased Physical Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons
8% increased Attack Speed with One Handed Melee Weapons
Quickness
+30 to Dexterity
Assassination
30% increased Critical Strike Chance
30% increased Critical Strike Multiplier
Trickery
20% increased Elemental Damage
+20 to Intelligence
20% increased Critical Strike Chance
Shock
- Lightning damage is increased by 12%.
- Chance to shock the enemy is increased by 5%.
The penultimate skill affects damage dealt by lightning and increases a chance to shock enemies - to add an effect related to lightning to them.
Coldhearted Calculation
12% increased Spell Damage
20% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
12% increased Melee Damage
+10 to Intelligence
Smaller nodes
Smaller nodes included in this build are mainly related to speed and effectiveness of melee attacks, especially while dual wielding. Moreover, they improve quality of critical hits and increase the power of lightning. Spell casting speed and mana regeneration that need and complement each other are also worth mentioning.
Introduction
Shadow is the last hybrid character in Path of Exile. He oscillates between dexterity and intelligence, that means he has high accuracy and ability to dodge attacks, also high level of mana and energy shield. Thanks to these abilities and right development, he'll eventually become an assassin that uses two daggers and cast spells incredibly quickly.
How to play
The gameplay is based mainly on fighting with two daggers at once. If you unlock passives that are also related to magic and, what's more important, lightnings, he'll be able to use many useful spells. Fighting with Shadow is based on approaching enemies many times since you can't go fully offensive - you don't have enough health and armor. The skill gems in this build are great against big groups of enemies.
Passive skills
Although this build focuses mostly on dexterity, intelligence is important too. Passives you unlock are mainly related to damage dealt with one-handed weapons, especially with two of them. You'll also need to improve critical hits and damage from elements. Obviously you need to focus on lightning because skill gems in this build are related to it. Moreover, you'll have to spend some points on spell casting rate to make your character shoot his spells like a machine gun.
Active skills
A Shadow built accordingly to this guide should acquire skill gems that are related to dexterity and intelligence, they also mustn't collide with the character's weapon. This means that their description must specify that they will work with two daggers. The chart below shows several gems perfect for this character. Make collecting them your highest priority.
 | Arc | The character releases an electric arc that does damage to a selected enemy, then moves to other targets. |
 | Ethereal Knives | The character throws knives that harm the enemies. |
 | Whirling Blades | The character creates a whirl that harms enemies. |
 | Wrath | The character activates an aura that does thunder damage to his and his allies' attacks. |
Arc is a great offensive attack that deals damage to a large group of enemies. Lightning reaches a selected enemy, moves on to another one and so on. By spending points on lightning, you can make this skill incredibly lethal and spectacular.
Ethereal Knives is an attack that makes your character throw many sharp knives that deal damage to the nearest enemies. It's good for eliminating hordes of weaker enemies or getting through infantry to reach archers and mages.
Whirling Blades skill is mainly a very effective way of escaping. It makes your character leap forward and transform into a lethal, greenish whirl. All enemies in his way will get damage from currently wielded weapon. You can't get hurt during this move.
The last skill, or rather an aura is called Wrath, it adds lightning damage to all attacks performed by your character. It can be combined with Arc and basic attacks. It's so useful that it's also in Templar's build.