PoE 3.8 Shadow Starter Builds

PoeCurrencyBuy will continue to prepare PoE 3.8 Shadow builds for players, including Assassin, Saboteur, Trickster. Whether you are a new player or a PoE loyal fan who focuses on challenging yourself, you can find the shadow build you want, even cheap currency.

 

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Shadow Assassin

[3.8] PoE Blade Flurry Poison Assassin Beginner Build

[3.8] Nickonasty's Modular CoCpri Ice Nova Assassin

 

 

[3.8] PoE Blade Flurry Poison Assassin Beginner Build

 

 

BF gives you +20% more dmg for each stage, with a total of +100% more when you reach 6th stage, basically doubling your DPS. And some more when you release the wave. That's where all the juice is.
So you gotta learn the perfect channelling, by releasing it the exact moment you see the green aura pop, and then start back to stage 1 immediately. As it depends of your APS (attack per second), you gotta get used to it. Since reaching 6th stage can take somewhere between 2sec and 0,5sec.
If you have 6 APS, it takes exactly 1 sec to reach max stage.

 

Path of Building Link: https://pastebin.com/QFN23YaY

 

 

[3.8] Nickonasty's Modular CoCpri Ice Nova Assassin

 

The aim of this guide is to offer a "build your own" approach to the typical Ice Nova CoC Assassin, achieving more tankiness and damage at a fraction of the cost.

Core gearing utilizes unique interactions of Soul Tether and Glorious Vanity to increase total eHP significantly with little gear and tree investment. It also utilizes Yoke of Suffering interactions with ailments to achieve results on par with Pandemonius at 1/6 the cost.

The rest of the build is largely at the discretion of the player: any chest is viable, dual wielding is possible with the setup, running extra auras or heralds is possible, and using an alternative gear set for speed mapping achievable as well.

 

PoB pastebin

Cost Effective Caboose (BUDGET): https://pastebin.com/wa0fgp0H

Mocha Chai Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice Soy Latte (OG + DISC): https://pastebin.com/7mxdxWc7

Salami Slap Map Zamboni (OG): https://pastebin.com/Hx1hNuk8

Malice Rare Annihilating Phallus (HH DUAL WIELD): https://pastebin.com/XFacWGtb

 

More Details: poeurl.com/cxIZ

 

Shadow Saboteur

[3.8] PoE Ice Spear Mines Saboteur Beginner Build

[3.7] Lightning Trap Shadow Saboteur Starter Build

 

[3.8] PoE Ice Spear Mines Saboteur Beginner Build

 

This build is the jack of all trades. It can do every map mod, boss, has decently fast clear, and is extremely cheap. There are several benefits to using mines with arc rather than self casting or with totems, some being the fact that they have a much higher dps output and you aren't stunning yourself while casting for nearly as long.

 

Path of Building Link: https://pastebin.com/xA38DXvn

 

 

[3.8] Lightning Trap Shadow Saboteur Starter Build

Do you like being able to delete entire screens while laughing maniacally at the quiet shattering of enemy corpses?

What about having infinite mana sustain and being nearly impossible to hit? or how about being able to clear all content on a low budget?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this build is for you!

Q: Why Lightning Trap instead of (insert other skill)?

Short answer: Because it's better and more fun.

Long answer: You can choose literally any skill with traps and it will perform admirably with this guide. If you want to play meta-arc, feel free. Just make sure to remove any projectile related skill nodes/gear bits/jewel stats and make them fit the skill you choose.

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Lightning_Trap

List of other skills you can use:

A: Literally any spell ingame. Ice Trap, Arc, Firestorm, Bladefall, Fire Trap, Explosive Trap, Ball 

 

6 Link Lightning Trap

Lightning Trap, Cluster Trap, Trap and Mine Damage, Controlled Destruction, Pierce, Lightning Penetration

(controlled destruction doesn't mean you can't crit. if you use ele focus you can't shock/shatter. do not.)

For single target situations (like Uber Elder), you can swap in Slower Projectiles instead of Pierce.

If you want to use Arc, just take out Lightning Trap/Pierce and put in Arc/Trap Support.

4 Link Lightning Spire Trap

Lightning Spire Trap, Elemental Focus, Controlled Destruction, Lightning Penetration

3-5 Link Movement Skill

Shield Charge, Faster Attacks, Fortify, Culling Strike, Blood Magic

4 Link CWDT:

Cast when Damage Taken, Immortal Call, Enfeeble, Summon Lightning Golem

Keep an eye on the level of your CWDT. I prefer mine to go off when I take about 40% of my maximum life in damage. So if you had 6k life, set it to a level where it requires about 2k damage to proc. Level the other gems accordingly so they cast automatically.

Aura Setups

Wrath, Herald of Ice, Herald of Thunder

Support Skills

Bear Trap, Increased Duration, Portal

Alternate Defensive Setups

If you're feeling a bit squishy, swap out Herald of Ice/Herald of Thunder for an Enfeeble, Blasphemy setup. It will drop enemies damage in an area around you for added safety.

Path of Building Link links: https://pastebin.com/M5fs8eX9

More Details: poeurl.com/codk

 

 

Shadow Trickster

[3.8] PoE Essence Drain Trickster Fast Build

[3.8] Essence Drain & Contagion (or Bane/Soulrend) Trickster [SC/HC/Uber Elder/Shaper]

[3.8] PoE Blight ED Trickster Build - Up to 10k eHP, Layered Defense, 3m DPS

[3.8] PoE Toxic Rain Trickster Fast Mapping Build - Budget/SSF Uber Elder

 

[3.8] PoE Essence Drain Trickster Fast Build

 

To make the build go, we stack Spell, Chaos, and Damage over Time to scale our damage. We also put a tremendous amount of effort into stacking increased AoE. The end result is a one-two punch that wipes out multiple screens at a time.

This version does NOT run Eldritch Battery. We don't spam spells, so we can reserve almost all of our mana without issue, leaving our ES to fully protect our life pool. Alternatively, we can use Essence Worm + MoM for a more defensive version. By not going EB, we also can proc Arcane Surge much easier.

 

Path of Building Link: https://pastebin.com/fWymqC3E

 

 

[3.8] Essence Drain & Contagion (or Bane/Soulrend) Trickster [SC/HC/Uber Elder/Shaper]

Is this build for you?

1. If you are looking for a build with insanely high exp/h gain.

2. A build that allows you to level as itself without any external abilities required.

3. If the build you seek can start with a very low budget with possible upgrades with more currency.

4. If you like to play a build that works wonders in low budget to accumulate enough currency fast for the higher budget version(s).

5. If you prefer a build guide that has a video linked to it.

 

Defence & Utility

The build utilizes Mind over Matter combined with Eldritch Battery which moves all your Energy Shield over your mana pool

Here is a link to a downloadable calculator for how much effective HP you'll have with Mind Over Matter: Mind Over Matter eHP Calculator

 

Passive Skill Gems

Essence Drain:

- Essence Drain, Controlled Destruction, Efficacy, Void Manipulation, Swift Affliction, Empower

Note: Before you can afford an Empower lvl 3+ you can use Decay!

Cast When Damage Taken:

Cast When Damage Taken, Immortal Call, Increased Duration

Note: The lvl of CWDT is suppose to be low, this comes down to a matter of taste, I prefer to keep it at lvl 3 with the Immortal Call at lvl 5, if it's higher it won't work. It also does not require Endurance Charges to function though the duration will be rather low without which is still enough to keep you from getting instantly killed by Porcupine packs that dies!

Mobility:

- Flame Dash

- Phase Run, Vaal Righteous Fire Increased Duration, Efficacy

Note: You only want to use the Vaal Righteous Fire, not the regular Righteous Fire!

Auras:

- Malevolence, Discipline

Wither / Blight Totems:

This part is tricky, you either run a standard Wither setup like this:

- Spell Totem, Multiple Totems, Wither, Faster Casting

Or you run with the "hindered" effect via Blight threshold jewel Spreading Rot, which requires 1 of those jewels and looks like this:

- Spell Totem, Multiple Totems, Blight, Faster Casting

Bane vs Contagion:

The choice between the 2 abilities comes down to personal preference, some enjoy to cast Essence Drain and spread it by having a Contagion cast before you use ED. However, I felt that the approach of using Bane was smoother, faster and honestly, better in all ways. A classic Contagion set would look like this:

- Contagion, Spell Cascade, Faster Casting, Increased Area of Effect

Whilst my preferred style is Bane like this:

- Bane, Despair, Efficacy, Controlled Destruction

The Bane approach makes you able to skip other sources of Despair cursing via things like Witchfire Brew Flask.

Path of Building Link links: https://pastebin.com/eaf2k2F1

More Details: poeurl.com/codv

 

 

[3.8] PoE Blight ED Trickster Build - Up to 10k eHP, Layered Defense, 3m DPS

 

 

The Essence Drain play style is a synergy between Essence Drain and Contagion, and after 3.0 we include Blight as well. Essence Drain is a projectile spell that applies a strong damage over time effect to the target. Contagion is an area of effect spell that deals weaker damage over time to targets. When a target affected by Contagion dies, both Essence Drain and Contagion DoT effects on that target are applied to nearby enemies. This means you first apply Contagion, then fire an Essence Drain into the enemies. When the first enemy dies, Essence Drain is spread to everything and your job is done.

For this guide, we will focus solely on the spell combination of Essence Drain and Blight as a Trickster utilizing Mind over Matter, evasion and spell dodge. The character is very well suited as a league starter and can deal with all content in the game with low to medium budget. This also means that it will perform sub-optimally against the very hardest of content in the game, but is still able to complete it all. The ED/Blight combo of spells utilizes the same bonuses from the passive tree.

 

More details: poeurl.com/cxI2

 

 

[3.8] PoE Toxic Rain Trickster Fast Mapping Build - Budget/SSF Uber Elder

 

 

About this build

 

This is another standard Toxic Rain build with my own spin on things. The build is incredibly tanky, decent life pool, and has great damage and clear speed.

 

Build Mechanics

Toxic Rain: Toxic Rain shoots out a base 5 arrows (pods). Pods can stack, so area of effect is somewhat important. Attack speed is massively important in terms of DPS and enjoyment.

Recovery:

With flasks up, we sit at a comfortable 45k Evasion to cap our QOTF, and 50/75 dodge/spell dodge. This means we rarely get hit, and when we do, we proc Ghost Shroud.

 

Path of Building Link links: https://pastebin.com/weaVK0xb

More details: poeurl.com/cxI3