Spectral Shield Throw Raider Necropolis 3.24 Guide

March 25, 2024 12 minutes

Build Overview

Embrace your inner Captain America with the Spectral Shield Throw Raider build, a dynamic approach to combat in the Necropolis 3.24 expansion of Path of Exile (PoE). This build turns the traditional notion of attack-based builds on its head by leveraging the armor value of your shield to scale damage per second (DPS), bypassing the need for costly weapons. By fully converting damage to cold, this build synergizes perfectly with Hatred, one of the most potent auras in PoE, while maximizing the benefits of the Raider ascendancy. The outcome is a balanced ranged attack build proficient in taking down all uber bosses in the game. Crafted by the experts at WowCarry, this guide ensures that your Spectral Shield Throw prowess can be fully realized in the latest Necropolis expansion.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons
  • Easy league start and Scaling: Begin your journey with the leaguestart PoB featuring a poisonous concoction for smooth progression through acts, transitioning into Spectral Shield Throw with just a few affordable uniques.
  • Safe Ranged Gameplay: Enjoy Ailment Immunity, 100% Spell Suppression, Phasing, and over 25k Armour. This build freezes nearly all in its path, including many bosses, ensuring safety even with HP around 5k against Uber bosses.
  • Something Different: Ditch the conventional focus on main-hand weapons for a unique ranged attack build approach, making min-maxing an intriguing process.
  • You have to aim: Precision is key, as effective use of Spectral Shield Throw requires accurate targeting.
  • Transition Required: Moving from a poisonous concoction to SST is straightforward and inexpensive, but it's a step some might not prefer. Efforts have been made to make this transition as seamless as possible.
  • Uber Bossing Investment: Advancing to endgame is feasible without major investments, but conquering all content demands a specially crafted helmet.

Build Main Mechanics

Engaging with the Necropolis 3.24 expansion of Path of Exile, the Spectral Shield Throw Raider build introduces a unique and immersive combat style. This build harnesses the ability to throw a spectral copy of your shield, which not only chains between enemies but also shatters into damaging shards upon impact. The seamless shattering of enemy packs with minimal effort offers a highly satisfying mapping experience. The build's foundation in critical and cold damage significantly enhances its efficiency by ensuring that enemies remain perpetually frozen or slowed, which, combined with the Raider's permanent phasing, mitigates the risk of being cornered by adversaries.

Damage and Defensive Scaling:

The build's damage output intricately scales with the armour value of your shield, translating every 15 points of armour into a significant boost in physical damage, further enhanced by full conversion to cold damage. This synergy not only exploits the Raider ascendancy's exposure mechanic for heightened damage but also allows for the accumulation of elemental and cold penetration, alongside frenzy charges and attack speed, to elevate DPS. At its zenith, this build achieves near-perfect critical strike probability.

On the defensive front, the Spectral Shield Throw Raider boasts an impressive suite of protective measures, including over 25k armour, capped suppression, ailment immunity, and the fortifying effects of shield charge. These defenses are bolstered by the build's ability to keep most enemies in a state of perpetual freeze, ensuring their swift demise before they can pose a significant threat.

PoB, Passives and Gem Links

Our Spectral Shield Throw Raider build for the Necropolis 3.24 PoE expansion is structured to evolve through multiple stages, ensuring clear progression from league start to endgame. Here's how to navigate each phase:

  • Leaguestart: Ideal for fresh league starts or when starting with zero currency. Focus on progressing through acts into early maps with an Obscurantis and affordable rare item upgrades. The aim is to farm until you can acquire Seething Fury and Emperor's Vigilance, which are cost-effective at league start. Alternatively, Magna Eclipsis can be used if you manage to complete The Twilight Temple twice.
  • Midgame: With the essential shield and jewel acquired, add Hrimsorrow next, which is inexpensive by this stage. Before transitioning, these items don’t benefit our starter build. A weapon like Scaeva or Doryani's Catalyst can be equipped for stat benefits, though not used in attacks. Incorporating a Watcher's Eye with hatred penetration enhances Spectral Shield Throw. Adding eldritch implicits to your chest and boots significantly boosts power, alongside necessary cluster jewels.
  • Endgame: Look for a Brutal Restraint for additional DPS boosts. Crafting a weapon with essences is straightforward, and while a crafted helmet is a significant investment, it's possible to progress through much content without it.

Anoint: Charisma is essential for aura reservation efficiency, anointed using 1x Opalescent Oil and 2x Golden Oil.

Gem Links: This build features a diverse set of gems to maximize both damage output and survivability across different gear parts:

  • Spectral Shield Throw (Helmet): Includes Spectral Shield Throw, Awakened Cold Penetration Support, Awakened Vicious Projectiles Support, and Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks Support.
  • CWDT / Defense (Weapon): Dash and Molten Shell.
  • Mark (Shield): Mark On Hit Support, Sniper's Mark, and Lifetap Support.
  • Auras / Movement (Chest): Grace, Hatred, Herald of Purity, Precision, and Enlighten Support.
  • Movement / Fortify (Gloves): Shield Charge, Fortify Support, Faster Attacks Support, and Endurance Charge on Melee Stun Support. Swap to Brutality Support for elemental reflect maps.
  • DPS Boosters (Boots): Vortex, Bonechill Support, and Ancestral Protector.

From league start gems in Act 1 through transition and to maintaining efficiency in Acts 4-10, the build evolves to accommodate changing needs and optimize performance. This meticulous planning ensures that players can enjoy both a strong start and a powerful finish with the Spectral Shield Throw Raider build.

Ascendancy, Pantheons and Deal with the Bandits

For the Spectral Shield Throw Raider build in Path of Exile's Necropolis 3.24 expansion, selecting the right Ascendancy path and making informed choices regarding the Pantheon and bandit encounters is crucial for optimizing both your build's performance and your gameplay experience. Here's how to navigate these choices:

Ascendancy

The recommended order for acquiring Ascendancy nodes for the Raider is designed to balance rapid progression through acts with a smooth transition into powerful endgame capabilities:

  1. Way of the Poacher: Focuses on pure damage and consistent frenzy charge generation, even against bosses.
  2. Quartz Infusion: Enhances defense and mobility through phasing, significantly improving quality of life.
  3. Avatar of the Veil: Provides a significant boost to defense with ailment avoidance and resistance reduction for enemies.
  4. Avatar of the Slaughter: Maximizes DPS and movement speed, especially when stacking frenzy charges.

Choosing Way of the Poacher first, followed by Quartz Infusion, allows for a swift and effective progression. Avatar of the Veil and Avatar of the Slaughter further amplify the build's strengths, making it formidable in both speed and power.

Bandits

For this build, the most beneficial choice is to kill all the bandits. The extra passive points gained are invaluable for enhancing the build's efficiency and versatility on the passive tree.

Pantheons

Selection of the Pantheon powers offers additional customization based on personal preference or specific in-game challenges:

  • Major Pantheon: While the Brine King provides robust protection against stuns, Lunaris can be more beneficial for overall defense and speed, especially when nearing ailment immunity.
  • Minor Pantheon: The choice here is situational. Gruthkul and Shakari offer significant defensive benefits, proving their worth even for a build that achieves ailment immunity.

These selections for Ascendancy, Pantheon powers, and dealing with the bandits are tailored to maximize the potential of the Spectral Shield Throw Raider, ensuring a blend of speed, power, and resilience as you explore the darkest corners of the Necropolis expansion.

Gear

Optimizing your gear is essential for maximizing the effectiveness of the Spectral Shield Throw Raider build in the Path of Exile Necropolis 3.24 expansion. This guide outlines the key pieces of equipment that will propel your build to its full potential.

Item Description
Helm Essential for achieving near 100% base crit chance, crafting this item is easier than it appears, supported by a crafting video. A substantial upgrade, though not immediately necessary.
Amulet Replica Dragonfang's Flight enhances Spectral Shield Throw by +3 levels, significantly boosting damage.
Chest Offers a balance of offense and defense, aiding in capping suppression and avoidance while boosting DPS with implicits.
Boots Requires specific implicits for optimal performance. Suppression may be necessary if not using a grace mod on Watcher's Eye.
Gloves Features a 35% conversion betrayal mod. Crafting can enhance this with an additional 25% conversion via eldritch implicits, achieving full damage conversion with the cold damage mastery.
Belt Focuses on life enhancement from a hunter base, including both percentage and flat increases. Strength is also key, though it can be balanced with other gear.
Ring 1 Useful for balancing strength requirements, alongside providing life and resistances. Accuracy is less critical.
Ring 2 An Amethyst base is preferred for chaos resistance, with a high Intelligence roll necessary on one ring.
Weapon Shaper influenced with a global crit multi implicit. Roll with Essences of Sorrow for optimal mods, given the build's non-reliance on weapon attacks.
Shield Emperor's Vigilance is ideal, benefiting from both armour scaling and crit chance via Energy Shield.

Jewels: Watcher's Eye for Hatred penetration, Seething Fury for crit scaling, and Brutal Restraint for additional bonuses such as crit chance and stun avoidance. Medium and Large Cluster Jewels enhance crit scaling and overall DPS, respectively.

Flasks: A mix of utility and life flasks, including Taste of Hate for synergy with cold conversion, and customizable utility flasks to bolster defense or offense as needed.

This gear setup provides a strong foundation for the Spectral Shield Throw Raider, balancing critical damage output with necessary defenses for enduring the challenges of the Necropolis expansion.

Summary

Wrapping up, this Spectral Shield Throw Raider guide for the Necropolis 3.24 expansion in Path of Exile is your ticket to mastering one of the most unique and powerful builds out there. From starting off strong in the league to gearing up for endgame bosses, we've covered everything you need to slice through your enemies with ease. And hey, if any part of this guide has you scratching your head or you just want to skip the grind and dive straight into the action, we've got you covered at WowCarry. Our team offers tailored services for this build, ready to help you out with any step or even take on the whole journey for you. So, whether you decide to build it piece by piece on your own or get a little boost from us, you're in for a thrilling adventure with the Spectral Shield Throw Raider. Happy gaming!

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