Five Shadow Builds in PoE 3.5 That Are Very Helpful For New Players

1.PoE 3.5 Slay's Arc Miner Builds

Build revolves around crazy conversion mechanics that betrayal introduced. It is using GC and Arc at the same time, thus removing all the downsides of GC clear and Arc boss DPS. Most of the gear is either easy-to-get uniques or multimode rare items, not a single item is worth more than 20ex. The more you invest, the more you will get.Gif below shows what 100ex~ of gear is capable of.

Pros & Cons:
+ Highest dps possible in the league?
+ INSANELY Tanky
+ Very decent clear speed with pseudo 5l Arc
+ Not extremely expensive like most dps showcasing builds
+ Does all map mods
+ Bosses are a joke
- Slower than top clear speed builds

Gems Link:
CWDT-IC-INC Duration (your arc doesn't shatter, you don't wanna die from porcupines)
Blood Magic (lvl 20) - Hatred
Vaal Discipline-Vaal Clairty-Vaal RF-Inc Duration
Flame Dash(lvl 20) - Faster Casting - Arcane surge(Lvl 7) - Portal

Helmet:
Arc - Minefield - Lightning penetration - Controlled Destruction

Note: You could have noticed that I use minefield in Arc setup but not in GC, the reason is that you want as many arcs as possible for clear even if u sacrifice dps, but for GC u just want as much dmg as possible.

Body Armour:
Glacial Cascade - Remote Mine - Concentrated effect - Trap and mine dmg - Hypothermia - Cold to fire

Gear:

Pantheon:
Major God:
For most of the time Soul of Solaris should be the best
Minor God:
Soul of Tukohama (upgrade!)

Video:

PoB Link: https://pastebin.com/qmdQ7mYF
Skill Tree: http://poeurl.com/cfZ4
Example Link: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2314501

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2. PoE 3.5 CoCPact, CoC Cyclone Dark Pact Assassin Builds

This build is still heavily WIP and needs a lot of optimization, + you can't level with it till at least level 45-50, so before that just use ED + Contagion, Storm Brand/Arc/Blade Vortex (what you prefer).

Defense
- 5800 HP + 450 ES
- 30%+ Damage reduction thanks to Enfeeble
- 80% Elemental Resist cap thanks to Loreweave
- 500+ life regen
- 3000+ life leech per Darc Pact proc
- 50+ mana regen
- 420+ mana leech per Darc Pact proc
- Chaos Damage - we do not need to care about reflect

The more expensive variant also includes (see PoB):
- 30% Increased EHP thanks to Mind Over Matter
- 20% Damage reduction from hits thanks to Fortify
- A lot of armour thanks to self-cast Molten Shell
- Vaal Pact facetank (for people who can afford required gloves)

Offense
- CoC + Dark Pact spam with 4 chains and 6-7 CoC procs = can easily reach 2.1M+ Shaper DPS - We can sacrifice some defense skills and nodes and use totems to go near 4M DPS, but I don't really recommend that as then we are fully dependant on leech and dodging + casting totems is annoying (f.e. we can drop MoM, move HoI next to 2 curses and use Spell Totem + Wither + Increased Duration + Faster Casting and then use Void manipulation in Dark Pact setup, just this will boost our DPS on bosses by A LOT)
- Trigger a socketed spell when you use a skill + Summon Skeleton = 4+ Skeletons always up on bosses

Gear:

PoB Link: https://pastebin.com/tt1t7KHj
Skill Tree: https://tinyurl.com/y837rzfj
Example Link: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2304425

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3. PoE 3.5 The MeatBlender,Crit Blade Vortex Assassin  Builds

Welcome to my 3.5 Blade Vortex Assassin build guide - the MeatBlender! This is a build that is capable of doing all game content, including Uber Elder.

Blade Vortex is a skill that is extremely effective at all gear levels - it's one of the naturally strongest skills in the game, and it scales very well into endgame content. On a per-chaos basis, you will get more DPS out of Blade Vortex than almost any other skill. My version of this build cost about 50 exalts, including some very unnecessary and costly gear - you can get most of my power for 5-10 exalts. Prioritize a 6L Carcass Jack, 20/20 Vaal Blade Vortex, and a multimodded weapon.

The vast majority of high-level Blade Vortex builds in 3.5 are Witch Elementalists, which is a fine choice but far from the only viable way to play Blade Vortex. Should you choose to play this version of Blade Vortex, you should expect to be able to tackle all game content at the appropriate gearing levels.

Build Highlights:
- 8K+ effective life pool (with MoM)
- Can clear all game content, including Uber Elder, Uber Atziri, and Hall of Grandmasters
- Generates all charges (including Spirit Charges!)
- Extremely effective at all budget levels
- Level 100 skill tree available
- Mostly reflect-immune and capable of doing almost all map mods
- Able to delve to level 600+ (with large investment)
- Fast and fun, with few downsides
- Sawblade MTX + Extra gore from Carcass Jack = Become a MeatBlender!!!

Gem Links:
Blade Vortex
Vaal Blade Vortex is a huge single-target DPS increase - effectively doubling your damage for a short time - it's better to have a level 20 Vaal Blade Vortex instead of a level 21 regular Blade Vortex

Spirit Burst (via LightPoacher)
The support gems need to be in your Lightpoacher helmet to support the Spirit Burst skill.

Movement Skill - Whirling Blades
CWDT #1 - Curse
CWDT #2 - Utility
Golem & Totem
Damage Aura

Gear:

Video:
Uber Elder Kill

Shaper Kill

T16 8-Mod Double Reflect Phoenix Guardian

PoB Link: https://pastebin.com/aVWi2zxk
Skill Tree: https://tinyurl.com/ybznd45n
Example Link: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2301586

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4.PoE 3.5 Arctic CoC Hipster Assassin, Permanent Onslaught Builds

This build actually requires a decent amount of actual flask and skill controls. If you have a mouse with a side button, at least that’s how I play the build, it feels a lot smoother. Reason being is because we want a reliable button to be set to Vortex so we can spam it while we Cyclone. For me, I have my Vortex set to my mouse 5 button which is on the side of my mouse. This makes it so I can just use my right click (mouse 2) to Cyclone while I can spam Vortex on the side mouse button (mouse 5) with just one hand. The other hand is used to press 4 flasks and my thumb presses Molten Shell.

Pros & Cons:
+ Solid clear speed (can easily be even faster if you use a Quicksilver flask but not needed)
+ Reliable way of leech (we run a Blasphemy+Warlord’s Mark setup, no pricey Warlord’s Mark curse on hit ring needed to budget the build)
+ STUPID DPS (the calculations get too crazy, just know that it downs bosses in seconds, AKA INSANE DPS for little investment)
+ Can be done with a lower budget if you do not include the two required items: Cospri’s Malice and Lycosidae into the budget (all other required uniques can be found for 2 chaos or less)
+ 100% hit chance alongside high critical strike chance (cold damage and critical strikes means shatters for DAYS!)
+ Can do all content in the game
+ Efficient boss killer (spin to win)
+ Does not rely on expensive gear like Warlord’s Mark on hit rings and The Pandemonius
+ Mana is never a problem/Incredible mana sustain (mana leech along with solid mana regeneration)
+ PERMANENT ONSLAUGHT!
+ Can handle any map mods (no leech, no regen and reflect maps can be easily done)
+ Acrobatics, Phase Acrobatics, block chance and Endurance charges from Warlord’s Mark gives us solid defensive tools

- NOT a league starter but possible (obtaining required items earlier in the game proves difficult but you can just use a regular CoC setup without Cospri’s Malice and Lycosidae until you can afford them)
- Melee build so we need to stay close to enemies
- Cannot reach the builds full potential until you get Cospri’s Malice and Lycosidae which are nearly an exalt or more in price
- Fairly squishy because we use a lot of uniques that do not have life on them (getting a life is a bit difficult even though we have over 150% life on the tree / we will kill everything before our life starts becoming a problem though)

Gems Link:
6 Link – Cast on Critical Strike/Cyclone – Cast on Critical Strike/Cyclone Setup
Cast On Critical Strike Support > Cyclone > Ice Nova > Increased Critical Strikes Support > Concentrated Effect Support > Hypothermia Support

3 Link – Cospri’s Malice Ice Nova – Cospri’s Malice Ice Nova Setup
Frostbolt > Ice Nova > Greater Multiple Projectiles Support

3 Link – Movement – Leap Slam/Utility Setup
Leap Slam > Faster Attacks Support > Fortify Support

4 Link – Aura/Herald – Aura/Herald/Utility Setup
Blasphemy Support > Warlord's Mark > Herald of Ice > Molten Shell

4 Link – Vortex/Arcane Surge – Vortex/Arcane Surge Setup
Vortex > Arcane Surge Support (level 7) > Concentrated Effect Support > Bonechill Support

4 Link – CWDT+Frost Bomb – Cast when Damage Taken/Utility Setup
Cast when Damage Taken Support (level 2) > Immortal Call (level 4) > Frost Bomb (level 11) > Vaal Righteous Fire

1 Socket – Malachai's Artifice/Summon Flame Golem – Elemental Equilibrium Ring Setup
Summon Flame Golem

Ascendancy:
1st Lab: Unstable Infusion
2nd Lab: Deadly Infusion
3rd Lab: Ambush and Assassinate
4th Lab: Opportunistic

Pantheon:

Soul of Solaris as your Major God.

Soul of Gruthkul as your Minor God.

PoB Link:https://pastebin.com/KymQX1yK
Skill Tree:http://poeurl.com/ceI3
Example Link:https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2298115

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5. PoE 3.5 Low-Life Arc Mines Witch Insane DPS Builds

The Build is capable of clearing all endgame content very easily and can do so deathless.

Pros & Cons:
+ Very respectable clear speed
+ Keep your power charges in boss fights!
+ Can do ALL map mods!
+ Crazy Damage! -Up to almost 7 million Shaper DPS
+ Can reach over 9k es!
+ All Content viable
- Can be VERY expensive
- Requires some micromanagement of flasks, detonation etc. to work optimally

Ascendant:
Normal: Pyromaniact
Cruel: Bomb Specialist
Merciless: Demolotions Specialist
Endgame: Born in the Shadows

Pantheon:
Solaris (Major) We take this because of the defensive aspects it gives us. The 8% reduced elemental damage taken when you haven't been hit recently also helps agaisnt Uber Elder
Shakari (Minor) We need this to be immune to poisons. Poisons are very annoying as they make us unable to recharge our ES.

Leveling Guide:
Level 2: Explosive Trap + Lesser Poison
Level 2: Onslaught (Mercy Mission quest)
Level 4: Frost Bomb + Onslaught + Arcane Surge
Level 10: Flame Dash
Level 12: Arc + Remote Mine + Minefield (discard Explosive Trap and Frost Bomb if you wish)
Level 16: Herald of Thunder
Level 24: Wrath (discard Herald of Thunder)
Level 28: Lightning Spire Trap

Gems Link:
Arc
Arc - Remote Mine - Elemental Focus - Controlled Destruction - Trap and Mine Damage Support - Lightning Penetration/Empower

CWDT setup
Cast When Damage taken (lvl. 1) - Immortal Call (lvl. 3) - Increased Duration

Auras
Vaal Discipline - Vaal Righteous Fire - Increased Duration
Blood Magic - Wrath

Spell Totem
Spell Totem - Detonate Mines - Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance

Movement
Flame Dash - Faster Casting - Arcane Surge (lvl. 1)

Gear:

PoB Link: https://pastebin.com/3JEN2mBL
Skill Tree: http://poeurl.com/ceGr
Example Link: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2297614

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Posted By U4N.