Path of Exile Top 7 Shadow Builds
1. Explosive Trap of Shrapnel Saboteur (Shadow)
The best Shadow build goes to the Explosive Trap of Shrapnel and Seismic Trap Saboteur which has excellent damage.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 8/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 9/10
Build Guide
Explosive Trap of Shrapnel is the new transfigured version of Explosive Trap that is much better at damaging multiple targets. This build is ranked first for Shadow builds and excels in both single target and clearing damage while using a ranged large area of effect trap attack. If you are interested in trying out the Explosive Trap of Shrapnel Saboteur build you can find a guide for the build here Explosive Trap of Shrapnel Saboteur Guide.
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2. Hexblast Miner Saboteur (Shadow)
The Hexblast Mine Saboteur is one of the strongest Shadow builds and is the best mine build available in Path of Exile.
Mapping: 9/10 Delve: 9/10 Heist: 9/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 9/10
Build Guide
The Hexblast Mine Saboteur is one of the highest damage Shadow builds in the game. You can throw mines and instantly detonate them for quick damage or place all of your mines at once for boss encounters. If you are interested in trying out the Hexblast Mine Saboteur you can find a guide for the build here Hexblast Mine Saboteur Guide.
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3. Intelligence Stacking Power Siphon Trickster (Shadow)
The Power Siphon Trickster has great clearing damage and better single target damage than Kinetic Blast.
Mapping: 10/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 8/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 8/10
Build Guide
This build is fairly new with the changes to the way Power Siphon works. Power Siphon now targets nine nearby enemies while still dealing significantly higher single target damage than Kinetic Blast. If you are interested in trying out the Intelligence Stacking Power Siphon Trickster you can find a guide for it here Int Stacking Power Siphon Trickster Guide.
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4. Seismic Trap / Exsanguinate Trap Saboteur (Shadow)
One of the best trap builds in the game is the Seismic Trap & Exsanguinate Trap Saboteur which has excellent damage.
Mapping: 9/10 Delve: 8/10 Heist: 10/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 7/10 Bosses: 9/10
Build Guide
This build uses Seismic Trap with cooldown recovery for extremely high burst damage and uses Exsanguinate Trap when Seismic Trap is on cooldown for even more damage. If you are interested in trying out the Seismic Trap and Exsanguinate Trap Saboteur you can find a guide for the build here Seismic Trap & Exsanguinate Trap Guide.
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5. Toxic Rain Trickster (Shadow)
The Toxic Rain Trickster is the best Shadow bow build on our list and has strong defensive ascendancies.
Mapping: 9/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 8/10 Damage: 9/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 7/10
Build Guide
This build requires you to channel Toxic Rain which rains down area of effect chaos damage over time spores. The faster you attack the more spores you will create which makes attack speed extremely important for this build. If you are interested in trying out the Toxic Rain Trickster build you can find a guide for it here Toxic Rain Trickster Guide.
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6. CwC Poison Blade Vortex Cyclone Trickster (Shadow)
The CwC Poison Blade Vortex Cyclone Trickster is one of the best melee based Shadow builds in the game.
Mapping: 9/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 8/10 Damage: 7/10 Safety: 7/10 Bosses: 6/10
Build Guide
This build quickly builds up poisons on enemies with Blade Vortex and Cyclone which results in a very high number of poison stacks once you have a very fast attack speed. If you are interested in trying out the CwC Poison Blade Vortex Cyclone Trickster you can find a guide for the build here CwC Poison Blade Vortex Cyclone Trickster Guide.
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7. Caustic Arrow Trickster (Shadow)
The Caustic Arrow Trickster is ranked sixth place and is a strong Shadow builds with great defensive layers.
Mapping: 8/10 Delve: 9/10 Heist: 7/10 Damage: 7/10 Safety: 9/10 Bosses: 7/10
Build Guide
Caustic Arrow is the poison build brother to Scourge Arrow that doesn't require a charge up attack. Caustic Arrow plays like a typical bow build except that it creates chaos damage over time puddles that damage enemies on collision. It can also add some variety to your typical bow build by throwing poison damage into the build mix. If you are interested in trying out the Caustic Arrow Trickster build you can find a guide for the build here Caustic Arrow Trickster Guide.
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HM. Ice Trap & Seismic Trap Saboteur (Shadow)
The Ice Trap Saboteur was at a time the most popular elemental trap build and does solid damage with a ranged attack.
Mapping: 8/10 Delve: 8/10 Heist: 7/10 Damage: 7/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 7/10
Build Guide
The Ice Trap Saboteur deals solid damage against large groups of enemies and has higher single target damage than Lightning Trap which is an elemental trap build that didn't make the list. If you are interested in trying out the Ice Trap Saboteur you can find a guide for the build here Ice Trap & Seismic Trap Saboteur Guide.
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HM2. Essence Drain & Contagion Trickster (Shadow)
The Essence Drain Trickster is one of the best Shadow caster builds in the game for clearing weaker enemies.
Mapping: 8/10 Delve: 10/10 Heist: 9/10 Damage: 7/10 Safety: 8/10 Bosses: 6/10
Build Guide
The Essence Drain Trickster quickly spreads its chaos damage over time in a large area of effect after enemies have been primed with Contagion. Essence Drain is a good build for large groups of weaker enemies in areas like Delve. If you are interested in trying out this build you can find a guide for it here Essence Drain & Contagion Trickster Guide.
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That's all for the Top 7 Shadow Builds! For more on Path of Exile you can view the endgame guide here Endgame Guide.
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