Spectral Shield Throw
Raider build

Updated for Patch 3.15

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Estimated budget: very high

Spectral Shield Throw is currently the most popular Skill in general, and by a quite big margin at that. Raider has a Unique Avatar of the Veil Keystone that applies Exposure of all Elements to the enemies nearby, it will help immensely since you'll be dealing only Elemental Damage. From the Unique Cluster Jewel - The Interrogation, it's possible to allocate a Keysone called Secrets of Suffering - it disables your ability to inflict the usual Elemental Ailments, but now with Critical Strikes the Character inflicts Scorch, Brittle, and Sapped effects. It lowers Elemental Resistances, increases Critical Strike Chance, and lowers the damage enemies deal. You can Still inflict Schock and Ignite through Minions - Skitterbots are used for that. On your Gear look for stats that increase your Elemental Damage and lower the Elemental Resistance of your opponents. After such adjustments, you're specialized in dealing tons of Elemental Damage of all kinds while Chill and Shock are applied via summoned Skitterbots. The build is Life-based with a high Chance to Dodge Hits, additionally, you will be constantly Elusive, Phasing, and with Tailwind active. Your Damage will scale well with Frenzy Charges thanks to Avatar of the Slaughter. You could play this build as a Pathfinder for a different set of Ascendancy Keystones; it would deal less damage while offering 100% Flask uptime and much better overall defenses. 

Spectral Shield Throw is a skill that adds more flat Physical Damage per Evasion or Armour on a Shield. The Potential is really high - the build can reach Millions of DPS with the right Shield. The Shield will probably be the most expensive piece of equipment, but all the other items are Rare as well making it more flexible in terms of the total cost. Seething Fury is a Unique Jewel that's singlehandedly responsible for a half or so of your damage, for it increases Crit Chance and Multiplier per Maximum Energy Shield on a Shield. So not only Evasion Rating, but Energy Shield is yet another important stat to look for on your Shield. Your Final Shield should have at least 1200 Evasion Rating and 300 ES. Your Physical Damage will be converted via Skills, Support Gems, and Passives on a Skill Tree. It's one of the most expensive builds, but one that offers you extremely high DPS.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Elemental Spectral Shield throw is a very unique Ranged Attack that instead of firing Projectiles with a Bow, shots a spectral copy of your Shield that deals greatly increased damage based on its' defenses. The attack fires projectiles that on impact shatters into additional chaining projectiles, offering massive DPS and amazing clear speed, making it the most popular ability in Patch 3.15 and the Expedition League. This build utilizes the Raider class that offers amazing Elemental/Attack DPS bonuses, great mobility, increased Evasion/Dodge. You are also going to use Hydrosphere, which is one of the most important abilities in this build. It will allow your Spectral Shield Throw Projectiles to chain between enemies and the Hydrosphere, greatly boosting the effectiveness of the Chain mechanic. Most of the other abilities are triggered in this build, and Steelskin should be allocated under your left mouse button so it you will even unwillingly cast it whenever off cooldown. You are also going to use Blood Rage and Ancestral Protector, that for the most part, should be used against Bosses to boost your DPS. 

This video was recorded on a level 93 Raider on Standard. We had a 1300 Evasion/350 ES Shield, which can be quite expensive but does not offer the highest possible values for this build, leaving plenty of space for improvement. Overall, it allows us to comfortably farm all of the content, and as you should be able to see in the video, it was quite fast at the same time

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

There are many ways to start with the build, it is recommended to use a Projectile Attack while holding a Shield, and deal some kind of Elemental Damage, Cold Damage seems to be the most suitable for this part of the Passive Skill Tree. Focus on your Cold Damage while maintaining high Elemental Resistances and Maximum Life. Use Essences of Hatred to craft a weapon or use a vendor recipe for added Cold Damage. Switch to Spectral Shield Throw after you manage to get a decent Shield with 800 Evasion Rating and 200 ES - that's a good start.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Frost Blades setup
	Frost Blades - fires Projectiles that deal Cold Damage and convert 60% of the Physical Damage to Cold Damage
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - increases your Cold Damage you deal with Frost Blades
	Vicious Projectiles Support - this Support Gem makes Projectile Deal more Damage
	Added Cold Damage Support - adds flat Cold Damage to your Projectile Attacks

Whirling Blades setup
	Whirling Blades - Claw-wielding characters with high Attack Speed should use this Movement Skill, but if you're using a Sword, use Leap Slam instead
	Lifetap Support - spend Life instead of Mana on linked Skill

Utility Gems
	Frost Bomb - applies Cold Exposure lowering enemies' Cold REsistance, but it's useless after your Last Lap where you allocate Avatar of the Veil
	Herald of Ice - deal more Cold Damage with Attack and Spells
	Precision - increases your Accuracy Rating and Critical Strike Chance
	Frostbite - a curse that lowers Cold Resistance of the enemy, cast it manually for now

Bandits:

You should kill all the Bandits and take two more Passive Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

30 Points Skill Tree
take the small nodes with Evasion and Life, go for Acrobatics Keystones and Wind Dancer and some useful Notables on your way there

66 Points Skill Tree
allocate all the important Shield nodes, take Point Blank, and collect the Extra Frenzy Charges

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - a huge bonus to your Damage and Elemental Resistances

(10-30)% increased Damage +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Goldrim - this Helmet gives a lot of Elemental Resistances

+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Tabula Rasa - offers a possibility to Link any Six Gems right from the start

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Prismweave - Increases your Elemental Damage with Attacks and provides some Elemental Resistances

(12-24)% increased Global Physical Damage Adds (7-8) to (15-16) Fire Damage to Attacks Adds (5-6) to (12-14) Cold Damage to Attacks Adds 1 to (30-34) Lightning Damage to Attacks +(6-8)% to all Elemental Resistances 30% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills during any Flask Effect 10% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills

Fairgraves' Tricorne - adds Cold Damage to Attacks, immunity to Shock, and other useful stats

Adds 6 to 12 Cold Damage to Attacks 70% increased Evasion Rating 15% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(15-30) to maximum Mana +(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance Cannot be Shocked

Hrimburn - adds Cold Damage to Attacks, Damage Conversion, ability to Ignite, Cold Resistance, and some other affixes

+(20-30) to Strength Adds (5-7) to (13-15) Cold Damage to Spells and Attacks +(40-50) to Evasion Rating +(20-30)% to Cold Resistance 50% of Physical Damage Converted to Cold Damage Reflects 10 Cold Damage to Melee Attackers Your Cold Damage can Ignite

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

115 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Thread of Hope nor Cluster Jewels)
115 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Way of the Poacher
2. Avatar of the Slaughter
3. Quartz Infusion
4. Avatar of the Veil

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Garukhan +5% chance to Evade Attack Hits if you've taken a Savage Hit Recently

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Spectral Shield Throw setup
	Spectral Shield Throw - It's the main DPS Skill for this build, a projectile attack that deals base Physical Damage based on the Evasion Rating of your Shield, upon impact, it releases a number of Shards based on your number of Projectiles
	Vicious Projectiles Support - greatly increases the attack damage of your projectiles while slowing them a bit
	Increased Critical Damage Support - your Critical Strikes deal much more damage thanks to increased Critical Strike Multiplier
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - The Elemental Damage of your Attacks is improved significantly
	Cold to Fire Support - Extra Fire Damage based on Cold Damage, which comes from Conversion of Physical Damage. The clever usage of such Conversion allows you to increase your damage by applying Elemental Ailments with increased effectiveness.
	Inspiration Support - reduces the Mana Cost of the Linked Skill while increasing the Elemental Damage and Critical Strike Chance of it

[UTILITY] Aura setup
	Summon Skitterbots - your only way to Chill and Shock now is via Minions such as Skitterbots - they Reserve Mana but cannot die
	Precision - adds more Accuracy Rating and Critical Strike Chance for your Character. Depending on your Mana pool, you can use a lower level Precision too
	Hatred - additional Cold Damage and Extra Cold Damage equal to a quarter of your Physical Damage, the most important Aura for the build
	Enlighten Support - reduces the Reservation Mana Costs of linked Skills

[UTILITY] Storm Brand setup
	Storm Brand - Storm brand is used as a way to generate Power Charges and Kill enemies that are Close to being dead, it's a Brant Spell that attaches to an enemy. Use a level 1 Gem here for lower Mana Cost
	Power Charge on Critical Support - Chance to gain Power Charge on Critical Strike and more Damage for the Linked Skill per Power Charge
	Culling Strike Support - increased damage of the Brand and ability to instantly kill any opponent that's below 10% of their Maximum Life
	Cast when Damage Taken - Storm Brand will trigger automatically as you take damage, keep both Gems at level 1

[UTILITY] Blood Rage, Steelskin, and Ancestral Protector setup
	Blood Rage - Blood Rage is used here primarily to provide Attack Speed and grant some Life Leech
	Steelskin - it's a Guard Spell that absorbs a huge percentage of incoming damage
	Ancestral Protector - 20% additional Attack Speed while this Totem is active, use Phantasmal Quality for the best effect
	Enhance Support - by increasing Quality of Blood Rage you increase the added Attack Speed, and if your Ancestral Protector is Phantasmal it will grant you more Attack Speed

[MOBILITY] Whirling Blades setup
	Whirling Blades - The Skill used to traverse through the terrain, it's useful for builds with a lot of Attack Speed that uses Claws, Swords, or Daggers
	Faster Attacks Support - increases the Attack Speed for Whirling Blades resulting in a faster movement
	Fortify Support - As you hit someone with the Linked Skill, a Fortify Buff will be granted for your character, you take less damage from Hits with it

[UTILITY] Sniper's Mark and Hydrosphere setup (automatically triggered via crafted mods on your weapon)
	Sniper's Mark - usually it's the best Curse for Projectile builds, Cursed enemies take more Damage from Projectiles, grant Life and Mana Flask Charges, and makes your Projectiles Split on Hit into four
	Hydrosphere - a Spell that makes enemies Drenched, lowering their Resistances, periodically deals Damage to them and allows you to shoot it, splitting, forking, or chaining your Projectile
	Lifetap - these Spells can cost up to 53 Mana, it's better to have this cost changed to 53 Life since this resource is more plentiful

5. Gear Setup

The Shield, as mentioned already, is the most important part of the build, one that will cost you a lot. The price tag of this build is 5/5 (very expensive) solely because of the fact that the build just doesn't work that well without an expensive Shield - one with a lot of Evasion Rating and Energy Shield. Seething Fury is a mandatory Jewel and Taste of Hate is obligatory Flask, but other than that your build can be just Rare items. Despite the high amount of ES from your Shield, it's still a Life build, so seek Maximum Life wherever you can. Your Damage will come in a form of Elemental Damage - mostly Cold, Critical Strike, Attack, and Projectile Damage. Build requires 155 of Strength (Ancestral Protector), Dexterity (blood Rage and Sniper's Mark), and Intelligence (Hydrosphere).

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS/Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - Seek Maximum Life and Elemental Resistances. Helmets can also offer a variety of mods, usually influenced, that increases your Elemental Damage or Critical Strike Damage

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating Nearby Enemies have -#% to Lightning Resistance Nearby Enemies take #% increased Elemental Damage Global Critical Strike Multiplier +#% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier

Helmet enchantments: Spectral Shield Throw enchantment

(Weapon) Rare Dagger - since your Spectral Shield Throw deals only Physical Damage by default, look for Extra Elemental Damage based on Physical Damage - it's the best way to increase your DPS since you won't use the weapon to deal damage anyway, you'll use the Shield

Min. requirements: Gain #% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage Gain #% of Physical Damage as Extra Lightning Damage Optional affixes: Global Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Gain #% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage

(Weapon) Rare Spiked Shield - Spiked Shield is the best base - it grants the mos Evasion and ES, so by increasing Quality you increase these stats. You can Craft additional Quality on your Crafting Bench. You can find few mods that will increase these stats, and if you're abnormally rich you can look for Synthesised Implicit Modifiers that will help you with your goal.

Min. requirements: 1300 Evasion Rating 250 Energy Shield

(Body Armour) Lioneye's Vision - a Body Armour that requires a lot of Strength which may be a problem, but it's generally a good Armour. It provides a decent amount of Life, Armour, Mana Leech, and the most importantly, an additional Link for your main setup - level 15 Pierce.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 15 Pierce (200-250)% increased Armour +(60-100) to maximum Life 0.4% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana +160 Dexterity Requirement Enemy Projectiles Pierce you

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Rare Body Armour outshines any Unique one given that you're able to have one meeting the Minimal Requirements. There are not a lot of offensive mods besides added Base Crit Chance, it's mostly Life and Resistances.

Min. requirements: 80 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Attacks have +1% to Critical Strike Chance Optional affixes: Chance to Dodge Attack Hits Evasion Rating Chaos Resistance

(Boots) Darkray Vectors - interesting scaling with Frenzy Charges that you will have 8 after you put these boots on. Raiders usually go for these for their general above-average stats.

(40-70)% increased Armour and Evasion +(20-40)% to Lightning Resistance 5% increased Movement Speed per Frenzy Charge +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges 40% reduced Frenzy Charge Duration 25% reduced Light Radius 2% chance to Dodge Attack Hits per Frenzy Charge

(Boots) Rare Boots - If you decide to go for Rare Boots instead of Darkray Vectors, it's probably because of Maximum Life and more Resistances. After some investment, you can also get some great mods of Elusiveness and Tailwind.

Min. requirements: 25% Movement Speed 70 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike you have Tailwind if you have dealt a Critical Strike Recently

(Boots) Three-step Assault - If you lack in Evasion Rating try these boots - they provide a lot of Life and some Additional Chance to Dodge Spell Hits. The downside is the lack of any Elemental Resistances.

+(25-35) to Dexterity (20-40)% increased Evasion Rating 100% increased Evasion Rating during Onslaught +(50-70) to maximum Life 25% increased Movement Speed 10% chance to Dodge Spell Hits while Phasing

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gripped Gloves will increase your Projectile Damage so it's a good base. Aim for Maximum Life, Evasion Rating, and Elemental Resistances.

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 70% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Accuracy Rating Physical Damage Converted to Cold Damage (crafted) Critical Strike Chance Evasion Rating

(Belt) Rare Belt - Stygian Vise is one of the best bases for a Belt - it allows you to store an Abyss Jewel in there. Maximum Life, Elemental REsistances, and Elemental Damage with Attacks are the most valuable mods in this slot.

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances 40% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Optional affixes: Attributes Chaos Resistance maximum Life % increased Damage

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - Amulet is one of the most important parts of the build as it can increase your damage by scaling it with Frenzy Charges or grant an Extra Elemental Damage based on Physical Damage. Look for some Life and as many offensive mods as you can afford.

Min. requirements: 40 to Maximum Life 6% increased Damage per Frenzy Charge 10% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage Optional affixes: Adds Fire/Cold/Lightning Damage to Attacks increased Elemental Damage with Attacks increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier Damage penetrates Cold Resistance Elemental Resistances

Recommended Anointments: Crystal Skin Divine Fervour

(Ring) Rare Ring - You won't need any Curse on Hit unless you can apply an additional one via Annoinment or Body Armour mod. Look for Maximum Life, Elemental Resistances and some offensive mods such as Global Critical Strike Multiplier which is only available on Elder-influenced Rings.

Min. requirements: 60 to Maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills Global Critical Strike Multiplier Non-Channelling Skills have (-8–-6) to Total Mana Cost (crafted) Attributes Chaos Resistance Accuracy Rating

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Jewels can store up to 4 different mods and their variety is huge. Increased Maximum Life is one of the most important affixes but it needs to be combined with other offense-oriented mods to make it worth equipping.

Recommended affixes: increased Critical Strike Chance for Attacks increased maximum Life increased Attack Speed Elemental Resistances increased Cold Damage increased Attack/Elemental/Projectile Damage Attributes increased Evasion Rating

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewels - Use some of the recommended mods on your Large Cluster Jewel for more damage. Cluster Jewels are heavily recommended, but not obligatory.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Doryani's Lesson 1 Added Passive Skill is Prismatic Heart 1 Added Passive Skill is Snowstorm 1 Added Passive Skill is Calamitous 1 Added Passive Skill is Fuel the Fight 1 Added Passive Skill is Martial Prowess

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - Mediumn Cluster Jewels are there just to increase your Damage, look for Critical Chance base.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Pressure Points 1 Added Passive Skill is Quick Gateway 1 Added Passive Skill is Basics of Pain

(Jewel) The Interrogation - with Secrets of Suffering your Critical Strike is now able to scorch, sapp, or brittle

Adds Secrets of Suffering

(Jewel) Seething Fury - The most important part of the build is this Jewel that increases your Damage based on ES of your Shield

(10–15)% increased Attack Damage while holding a Shield +0.2% to Off Hand Critical Strike Chance per 10 Maximum Energy Shield on Shield +4% to Off Hand Critical Strike Multiplier per 10 Maximum Energy Shield on Shield

(Jewel) Thread of Hope - allocate it near Fervour and take five additional nodes that normally would cost much more to get to them, you will need a Jewel with a  Small Ring for that.

Only affects Passives in Small Ring Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree -(20-10)% to all Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Hatred or Precision mods are usually the best for this type of build - it can be a huge bonus for your DPS. It's an expensive Jewel so don't bother with it unless the other parts of your gear are in place.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Flask) Taste of Hate - Extra Cold Damage based on your Physical Damage is extremely beneficial. Use this Flask to increase your DPS and reduce Cold Damage Taken

+50% to Cold Resistance 20% less Cold Damage taken (10-15)% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Cold Damage during Flask effect Gain (10-15)% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage during effect 30% chance to Avoid being Chilled during Flask effect 30% chance to Avoid being Frozen during Flask effect

(Flask) Bottled Faith - the best Sulphur Flask in the game due to its Critical Strike mods and huge radius

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (20-40)% increased Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Flask effect

(Flask) Atziri's Promise - This Flask grats some other type of Damage based on your Physical Damage - Chaos Damage. You won't have many increases in Chaos Damage but it's still useful.

+35% to Chaos Resistance 2% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life during Flask effect Gain (5-8)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect Gain (5-8)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect

Other suggested Flasks: Experimenter's Jade Flask of Staunching (immunity to Bleeding) Bubbling Divine Life Flask of Warding (Curse immunity) Experimenter's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.