Path of Exile

Path of Exile

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wardenstrange Apr 30, 2017 @ 11:03am
Need help with my first build - (Class - Shadow)
Hi, I am new in PoE. Still trying to understand all the game mechanics.
I choosed the Shadow class because the charecter that comes with that class seemd more interesting than others. I am currently level 37, near the end of normal ACT 3.

The skill gems that I have been using are:

- Frost Blade (main damage skill)
- Whriling Blade
- Enfeeble
- Decoy Totem
- Discipline (Aura)
- Arctic Armour (Aura)

My passive skill tree[www.pathofexile.com]

Duel weilding with one handed swords. One is unique - The Princess Sabre.

Currently have 1171 Life, 482 ES (with Discipline on) and 444 Mana.
Took Eramir's reward on Bandit's quest, but now I am feeling that I should have taken Oak's reward.

Now moving forward from here, what should I focus on ? Also which Shadow ascendancy will be best for me ?

Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks in advance.

Wardenstrange


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Drake Apr 30, 2017 @ 12:01pm 
Okay, it's your first char. You have a lot to learn, this is going to take a while.

First let's start with the basics. You want to build a frost blade shadow (it's very important to pick you main skill from the start, as 99% of builds revolve around you main skill, exceptions are summoners and supports).

That's your offsensive part (we will talk about it later, defence comes first).

Then you also need to choose you defensive setup. First is you main defence resource. Are you going to be using armor evasion or energy shield, it's very important to focus on one. Since it's your first char and a shadow, I would advise going evasion route.
So that means you need evasion gear, a lot of life, and a dodge source. For the dodge you'll need acrobatics and phase acrobatics, those are keystones (big nodes) just south east of the shadow area. You need to go there asap. Then just grab whatever HP node you can get between shadow and ranger area (it's the left side of the tree, I know, HP nodes aren't that abundant there).
Since HP is going to be an issue, you'll need to pick vaal pact, so that you leech life faster and better (don't worry about life regen, as a shadow you don't really have a lot of it anyway). The keystone is just south of the shadow starting area.

Important thing to know (as in if you don't want to die everytime you incounter a mage), you need fire, lightning and cold resists capped at 75%, asap, and you get penalties on later difficulties, so you need to recap them when you'll get there, not having them capped will increase multiplicatively the elemental damage your take, the difference between 50 and 75% can be result in a oneshot from a boss.

You're using enfeeble and arctic armour, that's a good choice, keep those you'll need them. Concerning enfeeble (and curses in general) I would consider using it in some sort of setup to auto cast it, like blasphemy or cast when damage taken.

You can ditch discipline, that aura is only useful in an energy shield build. You'll want to pick grace later if you are lucky enough to get (or buy) the Queen of the forest unique armor late game (it's standard evasion gear HL).

You're using whirling blades, good choice too, a movement skill always handy to get out of dangerous situations. You should link it to faster attacks and fortify support gems, it's kind of mandatory when using a melee char.

Also don't forget about flasks, they're an important part of your defence. You'll need to get an armor flask, it's will prevent you from getting oneshot

Last, regarding bandits, as a general consensus, you pick oak in normal difficulty if you're not having a lowlife or pure energy shield build. Don't worry there is a recipe ingame to change the reward of that quest, it's a tad expensive though.

Okay now that the defensive part is done, back to how to kill stuff.

So we know you're building a frost blade shadow.
Next is going to determine if you're going crit or non crit, it will determine what nodes you'll take and what weapon you'll use.
You can't pick both, it's designed that way, char is either pure crit or not, you can't do damage effectively if you don't specialize.
If going crit and dual wield, you want either daggers or rapiers(there are several subtypes of one handed swords, rapiers are what you want, they have an innate crit bonus).

Also you picked some projectile damage nodes. That's actually not such a good idea. Frost blades is a 2 part skill, that means that the projectile bonus will only affect the projectile part of the skill, not the melee part, which means that when hitting single enemy like a boss, you won't get the bonus from the projectile nodes.
What you want is physical damage stuff and weapon specific nodes (which will work on all parts of the attack), or just go crit and forget about damage types.

Since you're most likely going to pick vaal pact, you should consider blood rage and pick some frenzy charge nodes, that will greatly up your damage and attack speed.
If you're going crit, you need to consider assassin's mark curse, which will up greatly you crits and generate power charges for more crits.

I think that's all for now...
Last edited by Drake; Apr 30, 2017 @ 12:02pm
wardenstrange Apr 30, 2017 @ 12:41pm 
Hi Sajah, Thank you so much for the suggestions.
I am a bit confused between Energy Shield and Evasion, could you please tell me why you think Evasion is better than ES. Also is it still possible for me to take the Evasion route ? Please check my skill tree, It seems like I was spending points in the wrong direction.

Also, I am sorry If I am asking too much but can you share sample passive skill tree through poeplanner ?

And what is your opinion on the ascendancy ? Which one should I pick-up for my character.
And which stats should I look for in gear/items that will be helpful.

Again thank you very much for your time.

Wardenstrange
Drake Apr 30, 2017 @ 12:50pm 
A lot of people are going to tell you that ES is better than any other defence. In a sense it is. The issue of ES is that you need a lot of good ES gear to make it work and especially for new players it's going to be harder and more expensive to get.
Evasion on the other end is pretty much straight forward. You need gear with evasion, life and elemental resist. Evasion stuff is also a lot cheaper to get and easier to build around.

If you think some skill points are not good, you can always respec them, you get about 20 free respec points from quests (counting those in cruel and merciless) and you can buy orb of regrets to respec nodes.

You should watch those videos, they will tell you what to look for regarding items and how to avoid mistakes in building the tree.

They are very good for begeinners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i2o2wW7xbQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVsiQG1y_dg
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Date Posted: Apr 30, 2017 @ 11:03am
Posts: 3