[Top 5] PoE Best Armor Sets for Shadow That Are Powerful

With Seismic Trap dominating the meta, Shadows were extremely popular, though now in 3.19, Seismic is getting heavily nerfed, and probably down in the dumps. With that, other builds will have time to shine, and making use of greatly synergistic items, they finally take over the spotlight!

5 – Fire Trap / Righteous Fire Trickster

In a world dominated by RF Inquisitors, thanks to Pohx, a few people have tried making Trickster, the other heavy sustain/DoT Ascendancy, work. Though it is getting a massive revamp so we might just see some more Tricksters in the meta!

Helmet

Most RF helmets go with an Essence of Horror, hoping to land as much life and Burning/Conc Effect, for a pseudo 6/7 Link. In this case, you can use an Essence of Hysteria for Damage on Low Life, while hunting for a Trap and Mine Damage, to boost your Fire trap there. It’s a cheaper but weaker way of scaling the damage, but definitely serviceable.

Body Armor

Here you’ll want as much ES and Evasion as possible, as well as a good solid chunk of Spell Suppression. Since we’re Trickster, we convert a big part of that evasion into more ES (We’re low life!).

Gloves

Suppress chance, as high as you can get, in a hybrid ES/Eva base, while also trying to get as much Fire DoT Multi as possible will go a long way.

Boots

These are one of the biggest reasons RF came into the meta. Legacy of the Fury Boots not only provides a solid source of Scorch, which reduces enemies’ elemental resistance, but also makes the RF clear wonderful, with AoE explosions dealing fire damage over time, and essentially clearing by itself for you.

Weapon

Here is where a bunch of your damage will come from. You’ll want as much Fire Spell Damage or Elemental damage. Do not use Spell Damage weapons, as those do not scale RF damage! Sceptres are the best choice. Getting +1 or +2 all fire gems is also a great choice to boost the damage.

Shield

This is another great place to pick up some Spell Suppress to help you cap out, as well as provide a bunch of Evasion and ES.

Amulet

You’ll want amulets with +1 or +2 gem levels and as much Fire DoT Multi as possible, while also capping out on as much attributes as you need them. It’s also a great place to pick up a bunch of resistances.

Belt

For most Life-based builds, you’d go with a Replica Soul Tether, but since we’re Low Life, you’ll want a Crystal Belt with as much ES as possible, and resistances/stats as you need them.

Rings

Getting a Death’s Rush here is a good choice for speed clearing, but it’s a great slot to cap out on resistances and attributes you may be lacking.

https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Eternalgoi/EternalRF_Sentinel?ti...

4 – Seismic Trap Saboteur

The strongest skill in the game in patch 3.18, it’s no surprise that it is up on the charts. The biggest reason for its popularity is the sheer amount of damage it brings for little investment, and this is a prime build of what something not nearly min-maxed can do.

Helmet

BiS is a Devouring Diadem, which helps with slotting an extra aura as well as providing a quick-to-access Eldritch Barrier, removing all your mana issues from existing.

Body Armor

Here you’ll want a chest piece with as many gem levels as possible. A corrupted Skin of the Loyal or Lords, anything that will increase Seismic levels, as that’s the best way that you can scale the damage.

Gloves

One of the easiest ways to get a cheap 5-L to use a clearing skill is through a Shaper Influenced pair of gloves, that can roll Trap Support or even Advanced Traps, or both, and this way you’ll have a pseudo 5/6 Link for your clearing Exsanguinate. Also try to get as much Life, Res, and Spell Suppression as possible.

Boots

Here you’ll want as much Spell Suppression as possible too, along with Movement Speed, life and Resistances.

Weapons

Cold Iron Points is the best for your buck kind of weapon, granting +3/+3 Physical Skill gem levels, which is perfect for Seismic. You won’t be able to convert the damage, as it blocks elemental damage, but it’s a great starting tool for you to clear the entire atlas and some more!

Amulet

Getting as much Crit Multi and +1/+1 gem levels is your priority, but getting some trap throwing speed will also help out a lot. Life, Res, Stats, these are all gravy on top.

Rings

This is a great place to pick up a lot of damage, through strong Circles of Guilt rings, that grant Phys Damage as well as HoP Buff effect, which boots the damage we do!

https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Rampage4/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B...

3 – Ice Trap Saboteur

A favourite of mine, Ice Trap is a great and underrated skill, at least compared to Seismic, and yet it deals almost as much damage, and with the incoming nerfs to Seismic in 3.19, it’s sure to make its mark on the meta in the coming expansion and league.

Helmet

This is a clever item that takes advantage of not needing to wear a Devouring Diadem in order to afford to throw the traps. Without that impedance, you can go for a Shaper/Redeemer-influenced helmet with double Nearby Mods that reduces the enemies’ resistances as well as increase the damage they take.

Body Armor

Similarly to Seismic Traps, you’ll want as many gem levels as possible, and an easy way to do that is through a Skin of the Lords, with +2 socketed gems, as well as an Empower 4, granting Ice Trap straight up +7 levels. In a single slot.

Gloves

The reason the build functions is because of this pair of gloves. Slavedriver’s Hand, which makes it so traps thrown cost life instead of mana, while also providing some strong benefits for trap throwing speed, based on your cast speed.

Boots

Here you’ll want as much Spell Suppression as possible since we don’t have many slots that can grant us that. Movement speed, Life, and resistance, are all good things that we’ll need.

Weapon

A wand with as much spell damage, spell crit, cast speed, and crit multi as possible, but what you really need and want is a +1/+1 gem levels wand, to further boost Ice trap’s damage.

Shield

Here’s a good place to get some extra Max res, in order to make us tankier. Getting as much cold damage with a +1 to Cold gems is also a great thing.

Amulet

Any +2 amulet is great. Life, resistance, stats are all great extras.

Belt

Mageblood, as it enables the build to function pretty well as well as making us extremely tanky!

Rings

Here you’ll need at least one ring with Frostbite curse on hit ring, as much Cast speed as possible, since that’s how we scale our trap throwing speed! Stats, Life, resistances as you need them!

https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/SlackBabbath1/NorrlandsGuld?time...

2 – Vaal Blade Vortex Assassin

This is a great example of a build that can scale almost to infinity with a lot of investment. BV’s main issue is the single target, but this much investment and currency put into the build make this a monster at not only clearing packs insanely quickly but also demolishing bosses in instants!

Helmet

A good choice here is by having a double-influenced helmet with +1 to Power Charges (we’re scaling those, so make sure to pick them up!) as well as a +1 maximum number of Seals for Unleash, making our life much easier. Try to get as much Life and Attributes as possible.

Body Armor

The Crux of the build, and why it can clear so effectively, a rare crusader mod, with Enemies killed have a % chance to explode, deleting entire packs in the blink of an eye. Smoohing it together with a Spell Crit Hunter mod is a great way to scale your damage and consistency!

Gloves

This is how you’ll get a big chunk of your Phys to Fire conversion, with crafted mods as well as Eldritch Implicits. Try to get as much attributes as possible, since we’re an Omni Build too. Beyond that, Life is the only major thing you’ll want from them.

Boots

Here’s a big spender for the build. You’ll want boots with Onslaught, Tailwind and as much Movement speed as possible, preferably with ‘Cannot be Chilled’ mod, from Jun. Life is a bonus.

Weapon

Here’s where you’ll put your VBV, and you’ll go for a +3 Bow, with Double damage and as much Spell Damage as you can get, as well as Crit Multi.

Quiver

A Signal Fire, which grants an easy 50% conversion to Fire, but also grants a massive buff of over 30%  Phys Gained as Extra Fire. Double corrupting it for even more Gain Phys as Extra is a great way to improve your damage.

Amulet

Crystalized Omniscience, since it’s the best way to scale damage, while also providing a ton of resistances.

Belt

Mageblood, the best unique in the game, will help you cap out on the rest of Resistances, as well as provide a ton of damage and defence.

Rings

Since we’re scaling Herald of Ash’s buff effect, for the crazy Gain X% Phys as Extra Fire, we’re going with duo Circle of Anguish, and as much Fire damage and Crit Multi as possible.

https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/cicapair1/TownStrongMan?time-mac...

1 – Ice Spear Cast on Crit

Being a staple build in PoE for ages, Cast on Crit only gets better and better as time moves on, with new and improved uniques as well as discovering new ways to further the build. As a whole, though, it is a pretty solved build, without many nuances now. Some uniques are essentially mandatory, while others come and go depending on buffs and other aspects.

Helmet

Here you’ll want at least a +1 Power Charge Warlord Influence with an Awakened Orb Redeemer and Maven’ed Nearby Enemies have -12% Cold Res, as well as getting as much ES as possible, since we’re ES based. It’s also crucial to have a +1 Ice Spear proj enchant, as that’s a direct boost to damage.

Body Armor

Shavronne’s Wrappings is the bog-standard for Low Life builds, enabling it to deal with chaos damage as a LL. Getting a Shav’s with as much ES as possible is also crucial, and it’s the perfect item to feed to the Temple in the hopes of getting +2 or +4 corruptions.

Gloves

Here you’ll want as much ES, dex, Accuracy and whatever other resistance that you can get. It’s also a fantastic place to pick up Unnerve on Hit as well as Cold Exposure.

Boots

Here you’ll want a Hunter/Shaper influenced boot with Cooldown Recovery Rate, for the Cast on Crit as well as Tailwind, preferably a Maven’ed Tailwind. Movement speed is also crucial, but after that, pick up as much ES as possible, as well as resistances.

Weapon

Cospri’s Malice, no surprise there, as a Cold CoC build, this is the perfect weapon. You’ll have to balance the attack speed well, because of how trigger rates work for Cast on Crit.

Shield

A staple for all LL builds, is Prism Guardian, which grants a fantastic amount of Life Reservation Efficiency as well as an easy +4 corruption and life cost for auras.

Amulet

Presence of Chayula, a fantastic combo with any LL build, as that grants a massive chunk of Chaos Resistance as well as provides a lot of ES based on our life, and stun immunity!

Belt

Mageblood, as usual.

Rings

Ideally, you’d want a Power Charge Ring, since we stack those, as well as a ring with Frostbite on Hit ring. You’ll need a lot of Dexterity, ES, and resistances, but the most crucial aspect is Minus Mana Cost since that’s the only way you’ll be able to cast your spells inside your CoC!

https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/BrookSoso/JustLikeThat?time-mach...

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