how the f*** to sustain boss fights/single target as shadow?

I think you should be thinking more in intentions to get life based on hits. Since your physical DPS is limited and your attacks are 50% elemental.

Therefore +life on hit jewels, poacher's mark to go.

warlords mark...seems to be..the answer..so far, it's working amazing.

the problem was never my damage (well you could argue this since it's not like 30k as most leech specs work...my gear is still shit af), the problem was trying to find enough leech to sustain make it viable 2% gem + 2% warlords mark = 4% instant leech with vaal pact...is working pretty sweet.

against big hp/damage bosses I'm sure will still be a struggle but it's a lil better for now

Get a molten strike, the skill is also "projectile" so will follow your entire scaling path and the projectiles have an AOE component that can still overlap.

So you will leach a ton more since every aoe impact will instantly leach for you with vaal pact.

Could simply use a molten strike and swap it in LS place when you need to do a boss/heavy rare if you only have one 5-link etc.

Peace,

-Boem-

Without having looked at anything (on mobile, sorry), you can easily stack leech through gear. Carnage Heart (or simply a 1.2% leech necklace) are great sources, since you're going vaal pact its just a matter of boosting your DPS and leech% while staying out of one-shotville.

Maybe use Spectral Throw for single-target? It's a projectile and its 100% physical, so you should leech fairly well off that.

The thing is you don't really have single target dps. And it is intended for LL to suck against single target so it doesn't trivialize bosses. Dodging stuff and flasks is what is supposed to keep you up (all major boss got add spawn to refill).

If you are on east side you probably want to take benefit of frenzy charges and blood dance.

Also, if you're relying on curses in any way, try and get as much curse effectiveness as possible. It acts as curse resist Penetration against bosses, and makes things SO much easier when you have 20-30%.

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Z_Fighters wrote:

warlords mark...seems to be..the answer..so far, it's working amazing.

the problem was never my damage (well you could argue this since it's not like 30k as most leech specs work...my gear is still shit af), the problem was trying to find enough leech to sustain make it viable 2% gem + 2% warlords mark = 4% instant leech with vaal pact...is working pretty sweet.

against big hp/damage bosses I'm sure will still be a struggle but it's a lil better for now

I may have to look into using Warlord's Mark. Leech is a problem for me right now, and my Shadow is kinda similar to you playstyle-wise: Two-hand Mace Lightning Striker. That extra 2% just might do it.

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Boem wrote:

Get a molten strike, the skill is also "projectile" so will follow your entire scaling path and the projectiles have an AOE component that can still overlap.

So you will leach a ton more since every aoe impact will instantly leach for you with vaal pact.

Could simply use a molten strike and swap it in LS place when you need to do a boss/heavy rare if you only have one 5-link etc.

Peace,

-Boem-

I was thinking of this, only hesitant cause of its need to be in melee, my whole intention with this character was I could play range.

also I have a single target LS set up guys, LS is a pretty heavy hitter when you support it for single target. ive tried spectral throw but the dps difference is huge compared to lightning strike. I think molten strike would be the only thing that would surpass LS in single target, but again it's a melee range skill

I'm playing "left side" Scion using Tempest Shield and block.

Huge regen, I can dance around the boss all day, and don't need the potions . But guess what? My single target DPS stinks, compared to 2handers, or any other "right side" build. I can clear huge packs by simply diving inside of them, poping a granite and watching them get burned by the Tempest Shield (and some other supporting spells), just like any other build, but I will take year to kill unique map boss, or even tougher rare. (those fucking Eye Nests... :/ why are they so stupidly tanky?)

I think this is fair, because Life Leech used to be that powerful mechanic for "squishy", no-regen characters to be able to fight bosses by simply abusing their huge DPS. More tanky characters in comparison, did not have any overblown mechanic that allowed them to suddenly kill bosses with massive damage.

EDIT: After reading Charan's post, I'll add that 2h Sword Shadow does really sound weird. It is as far it gets from red area in the tree - namely where LS and other red gems come from. :V Swords are str/dex aligned, so this is not so bad, (because Shadow is dex/int), but still, kind of weird. his build working at all is neat, as Charan said.

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gilrad wrote:

Also, if you're relying on curses in any way, try and get as much curse effectiveness as possible. It acts as curse resist Penetration against bosses, and makes things SO much easier when you have 20-30%.

yeah that would be nice, but it's pretty big point investment for me i'd be better of just speccing into crit and scale my damage as I intended to.