Descent Champion Shadow Guide by Psycannon - Duel Shank Shadow

Original Post
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So this new event has got me really psyched. I tried the fire trapper Shadow as the first time champion and he did fairly well (considering i haven't played any other race before). Got him to level 14 , very nearly 15, so that's what I'm going to build towards.

Tree

This of course takes into account the two skill books (2P ea) for 19 in total.

Breakdown - Notables
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Attack Speed - 33%
Movement Speed - 7%
One Handed Damage - 80%
Attributes - +40 Dexterity & +20 Intelligence
Maximum Life - +16
Maximum Mana - +16
Increased Life - 20%
Mana Regeneration - 20%
Critical Strike Chance - 90%
Critical Strike Multiplier - 20%

The main issue i see is not much life. There's just nothing near enough. I'm hoping my energy shield and block chance will be enough.

Skills
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Main Skill - Reave (think i saw this in the box)
Single Target - Double Strike & Viper Strike
Utility - Fire Trap & Whirling Blades

Overall I think it's pretty solid. Your thoughts and plans?

Edit for Guide

Introduction
Welcome to my first Guide! This guide is for Descent: Champions and specifically for the Shadow. This guide is completely original, and all information is from first hand experience. Currently (as in at the time of writing) the furthest i have gotten is the Inner Halls Level 1, finishing the race at level 15. This was not a rush, instead it was meant to gain as much information as possible. I by no means believe this is the only way to use the shadow, only what i would do and it's worked really well so far.

What is the Duel Shank Shadow?
The Duel Shank Shadow utilizes in my opinion the strongest Champion unique currently available. The Fragment of Eternity Glass Shank Dagger.
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Physical Damage: 4–15
Critical Strike Chance: 12.4%
Attacks per Second: 1.54
40% increased Global Critical Strike Chance
Adds 1–4 Physical Damage
10% increased Attack Speed
100% increased Critical Strike Chance
30% increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier
15% Chance to gain a Power Charge on Kill

This thing is just beastly! To top it off, you get two! With these Shanks you can kill bosses in seconds (seriously...brute went down in less then 10). It's mobs kill rate isn't to shabby either. Reave, Duel Strike, Viper Strike & Hatred are your skills. Though if your lucky to get a Spectral Throw drop for you, switch out Reave immediately as it's better at pretty much everything for this race.

Pros
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- INSANE DPS. 300+ on Duel Strike, 150+ on Viper Strike (not counting charges of course) and Reave and 100+ on Spectral throw
- Can kite when needed.
- Almost all physical damage so most of the damage is not negated. Scales really well with Hatred
- Decent Health & Mana Pool. 350+ Health and 50+ mana (+Decent Regen)

Cons
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- Glass Cannon... cannot tank for shit. Best course is simply to go max evasion and energy shield on your gear and stack as many +life mods as you can.
- Pretty much dependent on 3 Health & 2 Mana Potions... meaning quick silvers are totally pointless and thus you are not as "Fast" as some other builds. (DPS does kinda negate this however)

Passive Tree

So far were aiming for Level 15 +3 Bosses. So that's 21 Passives in total. Thankfully all the things we need for this race are right at the start anyway. Crit chance, Physical damage, life, mana, mana regen, attack speed, Block chance and even some move speed for the lack of Quick Silvers.

Shadow Chest Contents
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Starting Area
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The Chattering Halls
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The Croaking Halls
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The Rasping Halls
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The Freezing Chamber
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The Dungeon of Necromancy
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The Hollow Cave
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The Haunted Dungeon
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The Burning Cave
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The Obelisk of Faith
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The Diabolic Crypt
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The Misty Cave
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The Frozen Cave
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Suggested Route & What to Pick up
*Hope to hell you pick up a Spectral Throw*
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Starting Area
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Small Mana Flask
2 Scrolls of Wisdom
Duel Strike
Reave

The Croaking Halls gives
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Coral Ring
Rustic Sash
Viper Strike
Medium Life Flask
Medium Mana Flask
Paua Amulet
1 Orb of Alchemy
1 Orb of Augmentation
1 Orb of Alteration
2 Orbs of Transmutation
3 Scrolls of Wisdom

The Rasping Halls
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3 Orbs of Regret
1 Regal Orb
2 Scrolls of Wisdom
2 Orbs of Transmutation
1 Orb of Alteration
1 Orb of Augmentation
2 Orbs of Scouring

The Hollow Cave
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Hatred
Rustic Sash
2 Orbs of Alchemy
1 Chaos Orb
Jade Amulet
Amber Amulet

The Burning Cave
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Added Lightning Damage
Faster Projectiles
Sapphire Ring
Topaz Ring
2 Blessed Orbs
2 Chromatic orbs
2 Orbs of Fusing
2 Jeweller’s Orbs

The Misty Cave
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2 Large Life Flasks
2 Large mana Flasks
Citrine Amulet
1 Orb of Alchemy
2 Orbs of Alteration
2 Orbs of Transmutation
2 Scrolls of Wisdom
1 Regal Orb
2 Chromatic orbs
1 Orb of Fusing
1 Jeweller’s Orb

The Frozen Cave
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2 Greater Life Flasks
2 Greater Mana Flask
2 Orbs of Alchemy
1 Regal Orb
2 Chaos Orbs
1 Orb of Scouring
4 Exalted Orbs
Multistrike
Lesser Multiple Projectiles

Last edited by Insanity_Pilgrim on Nov 25, 2013, 9:51:36 AM
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Ok so I got to level 13 and died 8 minutes before the end (shock ground zone). All in all it went pretty well. I could have easily reached my level 15 goal. Both bosses went down in 30 seconds so single target DPS is insane. Reave also did well. Life was still a major issue as i wasn't able to get much more life... pretty much everything i picked up got re-rolled until it got extra life, but i was still finding it difficult. there was one thing that kept me back the entire way and that was lightning damage. i was getting owned by it. Lightning resistance is going to be a major issue for this race from now on.

I'd also have to say that going through the freezing chamber (i think that's what its called) is not worth 2 quicksilver's. It's soooo slow. Try going through any dungeon areas. undead are your friends. they do mostly physical damage and they also take a beating from it. they are also slow.

Try to get a tiny bit of strength for leap slam 1 time too... saves you about 30-45 seconds. I made this mistake and nearly died to leap slammers to.

To sum up i had
- Insane damage that scales well
- A constant 3 power charges up
- Quite low health

New Tree
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Level 15 Duel Shard Champion v2
Changes
-60% Critical Strike Chance
-20% Critical Strike Multiplier
+2% Block Chance
+12% Maximum Life
+20 Strength

Skills
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Main Skill - Reave
Single Target - Double Strike
Boss - Viper Strike
Utility - 1 Time Leap Slam
Last edited by Insanity_Pilgrim on Nov 24, 2013, 8:47:53 PM
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Update on Chest Contents for the Shadow. Still have a few rooms to try out in the next race. I'm thinking of making this into a fully fledged guide. Would you guys want that. Cant promise it will be good but i will certainly try.

Starting Area
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The Chattering Halls
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The Rasping Halls
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The Freezing Chamber
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The Dungeon of Necromancy
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The Haunted Dungeon
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The Obelisk of Faith
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The Diabolic Crypt
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Last edited by Insanity_Pilgrim on Nov 24, 2013, 8:47:34 PM
Updated the first post, it's now a guide. It's not finished mind you.

Thanks for reading.
Last edited by Insanity_Pilgrim on Nov 24, 2013, 8:49:27 PM
"
Psycannon wrote:
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Update on Chest Contents for the Shadow. Still have a few rooms to try out in the next race. I'm thinking of making this into a fully fledged guide. Would you guys want that. Cant promise it will be good but i will certainly try.

Starting Area
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The Chattering Halls
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The Rasping Halls
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The Freezing Chamber
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The Dungeon of Necromancy
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The Haunted Dungeon
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The Obelisk of Faith
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The Diabolic Crypt
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All those pics are broken.

Funny, I tried running a similar build with double daggers but I walked into the first room and multiple "Deadly Galvanic Ribbons" all crit me so I instaripped.
http://www.youtube.com/user/P0W3RH4U5
The First Post is the updated one.
Last edited by Insanity_Pilgrim on Nov 24, 2013, 9:34:47 PM
Hey there man, I have been running this exact same build in decent champions its really strong. There is an added cold drop in there somewhere as well that really helps. Between added cold and hatred you free everything whenever you crit.
Yer that was definitely a good tactic. Check the first post again. It's been updated with a route and what to pick up. I would go the Added Lightning Damage + Hatred route. That way you get to freeze and Shock Stack.

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