Spectral Shield Throw
Pure Physical Gladiator
Patch 3.2 Build

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Estimated budget: medium (10-20 Exalted Orbs)

Spectral Shield Throw is the most anticipated skill introduced in Patch 3.2. It launches a Spectral copy of your equipped shield, which explodes upon hitting the first enemy and shatters into smaller projectiles that hit other targets. Spectral Shield Throw deals physical damage based on your shield's defenses - Armour and Evasion Rating, while Energy Shield increases the chance for it to critically hit.

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1. Gameplay

Spectral Shield Throw is a ranged projectile attack skill, but in this build, it's supposed to be played in melee range because of the Point Blank Support Gem and Vulnerability curse-aura that affects enemy in a small radius around you. It deals physical damage depending on your shield's total Armour and Evasion Rating, making Lioneye's Remorse a fine and inexpensive choice, and a high Armour/Evasion rare shield the best in slot option. Spectral Shield Throw is not affected by your weapon's damage, which makes this build suitable for to following weapon choices:

1. Aurumvorax which makes it extremely easy to cap your resistances
2. Brightbeak which provides insane Attack Speed for better mobility (and might also increase Spectral Shield Throw's Attack Speed but this is yet to be confirmed when patch 3.2 is up)
3. Prismatic Eclipse which provides an increased Attack Speed per green socket

Also, we made this build to deal purely physical damage and use Blood Magic. Because of BM, you can't use any Aura, but as only defensive auras benefit this build (you can't deal elemental damage with it) we have decided to compensate it with very high Life and Life Leech/Regen.  

0:06 T14 Colosseum Map 0:40 T16 Pit of the Chimera 0:58 T15 Lava Lake Map

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling your character for this build should be easy. It focuses only on Life and Physical damage nodes which let you use pretty much any melee skill efficiently. We suggest using Sunder as your main skill until you are level 70. That is when you equip Lioneye's Remorse Shield and start using Spectral Shield Throw. Unless you can afford to get a high-level skill Gem at this point just go for it, otherwise we recommend leveling up the Spectral Shield Throw in one of the empty sockets or in your weapon-swap item slots. one of the easiest in Path of Exile, due to a lot of life and strength nodes on the passive tree, which let you facetank most of the encounters while leveling. You should use this simple Molten Strike setup until you get a hold of the Sunder Gem. 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Molten Strike setup
	Molten Strike - one of the first available skills you will get from a quest reward after killing Hillock. It will do great until you get the Sunder skill Gem
	Added Fire Damage Support - great buff to your DPS which scales with your physical damage
	Ruthless Support - this will make your every third attack has doubled damage

Sunder setup
	Sunder - Sunder should be your main attack skill after you can get it at level 12. It provides high damage and good AoE, which is perfect for leveling
	Melee Physical Damage Support - provides a very high damage boost to your Sunder skill
	Multistrike Support - makes your attacks repeat 2 additional times with greatly increased Attack Speed
	Ruthless Support - it works wonders in combination with Multistrike

Utility Gems
	Ancestral Warchief - this Totem skill increases your melee damage and deals a moderate amount of damage itself
	Punishment - recommended curse for the leveling phase. Vulnerability does better later on when you no longer use Ruthless Support Gem and deal purely physical damage
	Herald of Ash - increases your DPS and causes monsters to explode dealing additional AoE damage
	Leap Slam - your main movement skill until you switch to Sword/Shield combo, linked with Faster Attacks Support allows you to move through locations much faster

Bandits:

We recommend killing all Bandits for 2 additional passive points

Leveling Skill Trees:

33 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Art of the Gladiator 2) Master of the Arena 3) Defiance 4) Born to Fight 5) Solidity

66 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Constitution 2) Path of the Warrior 3) Golem's Blood 4) Command of Steel

Recommended leveling items:

Blackheart - great physical DPS leveling ring. You can use two of those for their amazing DPS buff
Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks 5% increased Physical Damage Adds 1 to 3 Chaos Damage to Attacks +(20-30) to maximum Life (2-4) Life Regenerated per second 10% chance to Cause Monsters to Flee

Belt of the Deceiver - extremely powerful belt, provides life, resistances and intimidate, which increases damage monsters receive by 10%. One of the end-game belt options for this build as well
(25-35) to Strength (15-25)% increased Physical Damage You take 30% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes +(30-40) to maximum Life +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances Nearby Enemies are Intimidated

Relentless Fury - good leveling weapon that provides one of the highest DPS at its' level
(60-80)% increased Physical Damage Adds (3-5) to (7-10) Physical Damage 2% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Life Culling Strike You gain Onslaught for 3 seconds on Culling Strike Cannot be Chilled while you have Onslaught

Frostbreath – decent one-handed leveling mace that provides amazing DPS buff against chilled enemies
15% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold Adds (26-32) to (36-42) Physical Damage Adds (26-32) to (36-42) Cold Damage (8-14)% increased Attack Speed +(40-50)% to Fire Resistance (35-50)% increased Chill Duration on Enemies Attacks with this Weapon deal double Damage to Chilled Enemies

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

116 Points Final Skill Tree
116 Points Path of Building link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Blood in the Eyes
2. Gratuitous Violence
3. Painforged
4. Violent Retaliation

Pantheon:

Major God: there are 2 Pantheon God's choices depending on if you are farming maps or want to challenge one of the endgame bosses

Maps:

Soul of Lunaris - 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Bosses:

Soul of Solaris - 6% Physical Damage Reduction if there is only one nearby Enemy; 20% chance to take 50%  less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul - 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Spectral Shield Throw setup
	Spectral Shield Throw - your main DPS skill. It is a projectile-based attack that throws a spectral copy of your shield. The skill's damage is based on your shield's defenses: Armour and Evasion Rating combined. The shield explodes on the first enemy hit and shatters into smaller projectiles that hit nearby enemies. Even though it is a ranged/projectile attack in this build you should aim to stay in melee range for maximum damage
	Brutality Support - greatly increases the supported skills physical damage, but as a downside, makes it deal no chaos and elemental damage
	Maim Support - makes Spectral Shield Throw deal more Physical Damage and Maim enemies (increasing Physical Damage they take and slowing them)
	Physical Projectile Attack Damage Support - increases physical attack damage of your projectiles
	Empower Support - increases each supported Gems' levels. Requires Empower level 3 or above otherwise Culling Strike Support will give similar result and will be much cheaper
	Slower Projectiles Support - greatly increases the DPS of Spectral Shield Throw at the cost of slowing down your projectiles

[AURA/CURSE] Vulnerability setup (only with Impresence amulet)
	Vulnerability - recommended curse for this build. Only then the aura will reserve no mana
	Blasphemy Support - makes the supported curse work as an aura around you, making it perfect for speed farming as a melee class

[CURSE] Vulnerability Curse on Hit setup (rare amulet)
	Vulnerability
	Curse on Hit Support - makes the supported skill apply your curse
	Orb of Storms - area spell that zaps nearby enemies with lightning and applies your curse

[UTILITY] Blood Rage and Immortal Call
	[1L]Vaal Haste - increases your Movement and Attack Speed
	[2L]Cast when Damage Taken Support - will make it cast supported spells after a certain amount of damage is taken by the player. Best to be kept at level 1 to have it trigger more frequently
	[2L]Immortal Call - grants brief immortality. It will be auto-cast by your CwDT Support Gem
	[1L]Blood Rage - this skill will increase your Attack Speed and Life Leech and grant Frenzy charges on kills, but will drain your Life every second. Provides amazing burst DPS as long as you can manage to stay alive with the increased damage taken

[UTILITY/GOLEM] Stone Golem & Anc. Protector
	Stone Golem - provides additional Life regeneration per second
	Ancestral Protector - grants increased Attack Speed
	Culling Strike - this Gem can be linked to your Totem/Golem which will make them finish off low-life enemies

[MOBILITY] Shield Charge setup
	Shield Charge - your main mobility skill
	Fortify Support - grants good defensive buff on melee hits with your Shield Charge
	Faster Attacks Support - link this Gem to Shield Charge for even faster movement

5. Gear Setup

Below you will find all the recommended gear for our Spectral Shield Throw Pure Physical Blood Magic Gladiator. All specific stat requirements are included. We will also update the list with any of the new unique items from Patch 3.2 as soon as they are confirmed.

We are also giving you the opportunity to get PoE orbs necessary to purchase all the listed gear. You can head over to our Path of Exile marketplace and find cheap PoE Currency there.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS/Life to start mapping successfully
3. Save you at least a couple of hours since it's already planned out for you

(Helmet) Abyssus - is the best in slot item for this build. You can use a rare Life/Res helmet until you can afford Abyssus, but keep in mind the damage buff it grants is irreplaceable

Adds 40 to 60 Physical Damage to Attacks +(20-25) to all Attributes +(100-125)% to Melee Critical Strike Multiplier (100-120)% increased Armour (40-50)% increased Physical Damage taken

(Body Armour) Belly of the Beast - the best body Armour for this build. Provides amazing Life bonus and elemental resistances

Armour: (685 to 812) (150-200)% increased Armour (30-40)% increased maximum Life +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances 50% increased Flask Life Recovery rate Extra gore

(Body Armour) Lioneye's Vision - quite good pick for this build. Provides 7h link in this slot, which greatly increases your clear speed. Also grants high Life bonus, and has high Armour rating

5% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) (200-250)% increased Armour +(60-100) to maximum Life 0.4% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 15 Pierce Enemy Projectiles Pierce you

(Body Armour) Rare Life/Res. body armour – optionally you can use a rare armour with maximum Life and resistances bonus. Belly of the Beast is pretty much the most expensive item in this build

Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life 20% Fire Resistance 20% Lightning Resistance 20% Cold Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes High Armour

(Weapon) Aurumvorax - this is our top recommendation for this build. It makes all the other gear options much cheaper as they do not need high resistances, allowing you to stack more flat physical damage added

+25% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier (120-150)% increased Physical Damage 20% reduced Rarity of Items found +(40-60)% to all Elemental Resistances +3 Life gained for each Enemy hit by Attacks

(Weapon) Brightbeak - the best choice for maximum clear speed. It provides insane Attack Speed bonus which greatly increases your mobility

10% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold (50-75)% increased Physical Damage 50% increased Attack Speed 25% increased Critical Strike Chance +(20-30)% to Fire Resistance +(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance

(Weapon) Prismatic Eclipse – this weapon provides the highest DPS boost with the increases global Attack Speed. You will have to craft 3 green sockets on it and put Vaal Haste and Blood Rage in there

40% increased Accuracy Rating 8% additional Block Chance while Dual Wielding Adds (20-30) to (31-40) Physical Damage 25% increased Physical Damage with Weapons per Red Socket 12% increased Global Attack Speed per Green Socket 0.4% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana per Blue Socket +2 to Melee Weapon Range per White Socket

(Shield) Lioneye's Remorse – a very solid and inexpensive shield for this build

3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) +(20-30) to maximum Life (200-250)% increased Armour 20% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(160-180) to maximum Life 5% reduced Movement Speed -25 Physical Damage taken from Projectile Attacks +5% Chance to Block

(Shield) Magna's Eclipse – another good option for this build. It provides a very nice Elemental Damage mitigation and can increase the level of your curse setup's Gems

3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) +(20-30) to maximum Life+2 to Level of Socketed Gems Triggers Level 20 Elemental Aegis when Equipped (200-250)% increased Armour +(60-80) to maximum Life +(80-100) to Evasion Rating and Energy Shield

(Shield) Rare Armor/Evasion Shield – Tier 1 rolled rare shields will be the best in slot items for this build. They can provide the highest DPS and additional Elemental Resistances but will be fairly expensive

Min. requirements: 2200 Armour or Evasion 70 maximum Life Optional affixes: Attributes Elemental Resistances

(Boots) Kaom’s Roots - the best in slot weapon for this build. You can't reserve any mana (you would be loosing too much Life that way with Blood Magic passive) so the extra sockets are redundant

Has no Sockets Cannot be Knocked Back +(150-200) to maximum Life You cannot be slowed to below base speed Unwavering Stance

(Belt) The Nomad - the new Fated Unique belt added in Patch 3.2. It is the upgraded version of The Magnate belt and apparently the best in slot DPS belt for this build

(20-30)% increased Stun Duration on Enemies 37% increased Global Physical Damage +49 to Strength +40 to Dexterity 50% increased Flask Charges gained +25% to all Elemental Resistances while you have at least 200 Strength 47% increased Projectile Attack Damage while you have at least 200 Dexterity

(Belt) Rare Life/Res. belt - again, we try to grab one with the highest maximum life and elemental resistances bonuses

Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life 30% Fire Resistance 30% Lightning Resistance 30% Cold Resistance Optional affixes: increased Physical Damage

(Belt) Belt of the Deceiver - very powerful belt. It can be used since early levels and it is very cheap

(25-35) to Strength (15-25)% increased Physical Damage You take 30% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes +(30-40) to maximum Life +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances Nearby Enemies are Intimidated

(Belt) Doryani's Invitation - if you choose this unique, grab the Physical Damage variant. On top of greatly increased damage, it also provides additional Leech and decent Elemental Resistances

+(25-35) to Strength(20-30)% increased Physical Damage +(30-35)% to Fire Resistance +(30-35)% to Cold Resistance +(30-35)% to Lightning Resistance 0.2% of Physical Damage Leeched as Life 25% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold during any Flask Effect

(Amulet) Impresence - best in slot amulet for this build. Make sure you get one with the added Physical Damage

+(10-16) to all Attributes Adds (12-16) to (20-25) Physical Damage +(400-500) to Armour +(50-70) to maximum Life (30-40)% increased Stun and Block Recovery 100% reduced Vulnerability Mana Reservation Gain Maddening Presence for 10 seconds when you Kill a Rare or Unique Enemy

(Amulet) Rare Life/Res. amulet

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 15% All Elemental Resistances Adds min. 8 Physical Damage to Attacks Optional affixes: Increased armour Attributes

(Ring) Rare Life/Res. Rings - preferably Steel Rings with high flat added Physical Damage

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 15% All Elemental Resistances Adds min. 14 Physical Damage to Attacks Optional affixes: increased Attack Speed

(Gloves) Rare Life/Res. gloves - extra attack speed may be a good addition to the end-game versions of this build

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 25% Fire resistance 25% Lightning resistance 25% Cold resistance Optional affixes: increased Attack Speed

(Gloves) Meginord's Vise - great gloves for this build. Provide amazing DPS buff with the extra Strength and Life Regeneration

10% increased Physical Damage +100 to Strength (40-60)% increased Armour 2% of Life Regenerated per second with at least 400 Strength

(Jewels) Rare jewels - this should provide extra Life and damage bonuses

Recommended affixes: % increased maximum Life % increased Generic/Physical/Projectile Damage Optional affixes: % increased Attack Speed/Attack Speed while holding a Shield

(Flask) Forbidden Taste - provide instant full Life recovery in emergency situations

Phasing 10% chance to Dodge Attacks 10% chance to Dodge Spell Damage Recover Full Life on use 8% of maximum Life taken as Chaos Damage per second

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - great defensive flask

+3000 to Armour (14-20)% Chance to Block during Flask effect (6-10)% Chance to Block Spells during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Bubbling Divine Life Flask of Staunching (bleeding immunity) Bubbling Divine Life Flask of Heat (immunity to freeze and chill effects) Experimenter's Sulphur Flask of Iron Skin (increased damage, regen, and additional armour)

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below.

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