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MapleStory Shade Skill Build Guide

February 19, 2024

Shade is a MapleStory class that is part of the Heroes group of characters. Shade wields the spirits to help deal damage to monsters and bosses. If you like a class with some cool animations for it's attacks, Shade might be the perfect MapleStory class for you. They have some great bossing utilities to help with survivability and they are arguably one of the easiest classes to play in MapleStory.

Shade Overview

Shade was released as part of the MapleStory Update Rising Heroes: Echoes Of Darkness. As well as being a popular class to level up, Shade has a very interesting and sad story to follow. Players starting out will have to get to second job (level 30) before they can leave their hometown area of Fox Point Village. Luckily, Shade has some decent mobbing skills in the early levels to help with grinding and getting through the beginner stages of MapleStory. Once you hit level 30, you can then venture into the rest of Maple World.

Shade is part of the MapleStory Heroes classes, which include: Aran, Evan, Mercedes, Phantom, Luminous and Shade.

Training a Shade is very fun and one of the easiest classes to control. There are very few mechanics you need to be aware of and they have very few buffs you need to micro-manage. Levels 1-200 will breeze by and getting to fifth job will further enhance your overall map control. Shade has some very cool animations for its skills, making it one of the flashier classes to play. All the mobbing skills of Shade are very good, so you won't struggle training this character through any of the different job advancements.

As a bossing class, Shade has some useful utility skills that can help survivability. They have an early level bind skill called Spirit Trap that will stun an enemy for 10 seconds. Summon Other Spirits gives up to 3 seconds of invincibility to help dodge those fatal attacks and you also have an 8 second i-frame with 120 second cooldown called Spirit Incarnation as your Hyper Skill. Their damage sits in the middle of the pact as a bossing DPS class- which is really where you want to be.

  • Weapon: Knuckle
  • Job: Pirate
  • Class: Hero
  • Shared Cash Shop Inventory: Heroes: Luminous, Phantom, Aran, Shade, Mercedes
  • Legion Block: Critical Damage (1%/2%/3%/4%/5%)
  • Link Skill: Close Call (10% chance to survive fatal attack)
  • Primary Stat: STR
  • Inner Ability: +1 Attack Speed

Shade First Job Skill Build

You can max all of your skills in first job. Follow this build:

  • Flash Fist (+1), Vulpes Leap (+2)
  • Vulpes Leap (10)
  • Flash Fist (MAX)
  • Vulpes Leap (MAX)
  • Cosmis Balance (MAX)

First Job Shade only has one attacking skill called Flash Fist. Enjoy using this for the next 30 levels because you're stuck with it. Vulpes Leap is your double-jump skill so maxing this early on helps with mobility. You also have a beginner skill you can use called Fox Trot, which teleports you to nearby enemies. As a first job Shade you need to complete the story quest up to level 30 (second job) before you can leave the area.

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Flash Fist Flash Fist Imbued with the power of the spirits, you strike multiple enemies in front. Main Attack Skill
Vulpes Leap Vulpes Leap Allows you to double jump. Double Jump Skill
Cosmic Balance Cosmic Balance The blessings of the heavens and earth envelop you, permanently increasing your Defense and Max HP/MP. Passive Buff

Shade Second Job Skill Build

You can max all of your skills in second job. Follow this build:

  • Ground Pound (+1), Spirit Bond 2 (+1), Knuckle Mastery (+1)
  • Spirit Bond 2 (MAX)
  • Ground Pound (MAX)
  • Knuckle Mastery (MAX)
  • Strength Training (MAX)
  • Fox Spirit Mastery (MAX)
  • Back Step (MAX)
  • Blade Imp - Downward Slash (MAX)
  • Blade Imp - Forward Slash (MAX)

Second job you get a new mobbing skill called Ground Pound. If you're new to Shade, attack speed is very important to make this class fly. So get some Green Attack Pots from Monster Park and also max Spirit Bond 2 to increase your attack Speed. Blade Imp attacks are great for pulling mobs towards you from other platforms- but you may find you can mob just fine with Ground Pound. Fox Spirit is a toggle skill that you'll want to turn on as it will generate Fox Spirit attacks whilst you normal attack for better mobbing.

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Ground Pound Ground Pound A nature spirit appears and punches the ground, attacking multiple enemies in front. The shockwaves it produces also slows enemies. Main Attack Skill
Strength Training Strength Training Permanently increases your STR through hard work and training. Passive Buff
Spirit Bond 2 Spirit Bond 2 Deepens your bond with the spirits, boosting your Attack Speed and Movement Speed permanently. Passive Buff
Knuckle Mastery Knuckle Mastery Increases Knuckle Mastery. Passive Buff
Fox Spirit Mastery Fox Spirit Mastery Grants a chance to summon fox spirits with each of your attacks. The foxes chase down and attack enemies. Unaffected by attack reflection. Passive Buff
Blade Imp Forward Slash Blade Imp Forward Slash Summon a blade spirit, which pulls multiple enemies down in a fierce attack. Some monsters can resist this pull.Monsters hit by the attack receive a Blade Imp - Trap debuff for a set amount of time. Secondary Attack Skill
Blade Imp Downward Slash Blade Imp Downward Slash Summon a blade spirit, which pulls multiple enemies down in a fierce attack. Some monsters can resist this pull.Monsters hit by the attack receive a Blade Imp - Trap debuff for a set amount of time. Secondary Attack Skill
Back Step Back Step Slides backward quickly and increases Avoidability permanently. Secondary Attack Skill

Shade Third Job Skill Build

You can max all of your skills in third job. Follow this build:

  • Shockwave Punch (+1), Spirit Bond 3 (+1), Spirit Frenzy (+1)
  • Shockwave Punch (MAX)
  • Spirit Bond 3 (MAX)
  • Spirit Frenzy (MAX)
  • Weaken (MAX)
  • Blade Imp - Spin Slash (MAX)
  • Harmonious Defense (MAX)
  • Spirit Trap (MAX)
  • Summon Other Spirit (MAX)

Shockwave Punch is your new mobbing skill. Its got great range and deals some nice damage so you should find 3rd job training a breeze. Spirit Frenzy is a cooldown attack skill, but it is a really good mobbing skill when you hold it down. Spirit Trap is a bind- probably not very useful at low levels but should be good for bossing later on. Likewise, Summon Other Spirit gives you an iframe to dodge fatal attacks.

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Shockwave Punch Shockwave Punch Summons a nature spirit to attack multiple enemies in front of you. Main Attack Skill
Weaken Weaken An enervating spirit may be summoned upon each of your attacks. The spirit possesses and weakens enemies. Passive Buff
Summon Other Spirit Summon Other Spirit When you fall in battle, a guardian spirit revives you, knocking back enemies and making you temporarily invincible. Can be resisted by some monsters. Iframe
Spirit Trap Spirit Trap Increases Knuckle Mastery. Passive Buff
Spirit Frenzy Spirit Frenzy Grants a chance to summon fox spirits with each of your attacks. The foxes chase down and attack enemies. Unaffected by attack reflection. Secondary Attack Skill
Spirit Bond 3 Spirit Bond 3 Summon a blade spirit, which pulls multiple enemies down in a fierce attack. Some monsters can resist this pull.Monsters hit by the attack receive a Blade Imp - Trap debuff for a set amount of time. Passive Buff
Harmonious Defense Harmonious Defense Summon a blade spirit, which pulls multiple enemies down in a fierce attack. Some monsters can resist this pull.Monsters hit by the attack receive a Blade Imp - Trap debuff for a set amount of time. Passive Buff
Blade Imp - Spin Slash Blade Imp - Spin Slash Slides backward quickly and increases Avoidability permanently. Secondary Attack Skill

Shade Fourth Job Skill Build

You can max all of your skills in fourth job. Follow this build:

  • Bomb Punch (+1), Spirit Bond 4 (+1), Advanced Knuckle Mastery (+1)
  • Bomb Punch (MAX)
  • Spirit Bond 4 (MAX)
  • Advanced Knuckle Mastery (MAX)
  • Critical Insight (MAX)
  • Spirit Claw (MAX)
  • Fire Fox Spirit Mastery (MAX)
  • Death Mark (MAX)
  • Maple Warrior (MAX)
  • Soul Splitter (MAX)
  • Spirit Ward (MAX)
  • Hero's Will (MAX)

Bomb Punch is your main mobbing skill and Spirit Claw is your main Bossing skill. Spirit Claw isn't totally useless for mobbing either- since it can hit up to 3 enemies. If you're training in an area that doesn't have many mobs, Spirit Claw may work better. Bomb Punch is a good mobbing skill though and has a great area of attack. You get lots of passive damage buffs with your Spirit Bond 4, Critical Insight and Advanced Knuckle Mastery. Maple Warrior is one of your very few buff skills you need to keep up too.

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Bomb Punch Bomb Punch Summons a nature spirit to attack multiple enemies in front of you. Main Attack Skill
Spirit Ward Spirit Ward Summons guardian spirits to remove magic effects and protect you from attacks. Buff
Spirit Claw Spirit Claw Summons a wind spirit to claw at multiple enemies. Bossing Attack Skill
Spirit Bond 4 Spirit Bond 4 Deepens your bond with the spirits, permanently allowing you to ignore more Enemy Defense and increasing your damage when attacking Boss Monsters. Passive Buff
Soul Splitter Soul Splitter Summons a fire spirit to attack multiple enemies in front of you.Also splits enemy souls from their bodies.Enemies hit by this will resist Soul Splitter for 90 seconds, and their souls will not be split from their bodies when attacked again. Secondary Attack Skill
Maple Warrior Maple Warrior Temporarily increases the stats of all party members. Does not stack with Maple Warrior, Call of Cygnus, Nova Warrior, Hero of the Flora, President's Orders, Anima Warrior, or Rhinne's Protection. Buff
Hero's Will Hero's Will Hones your resolve to ignore certain abnormal status effects. Immune to Abnormal Status for 3 sec after use. Buff
Fire Fox Spirit Mastery Fire Fox Spirit Mastery Summons Fox Spirits imbued with fire. The foxes chase down and attack enemies. Unaffected by attack reflection. Passive Buff
Death Mark Death Mark Summons a grim spirit to attack enemies in front of you. Attacks become critical hits, and attacked enemies receive Death Marks which do damage over time. Death Mark is not affected by attack reflection.Absorbs a portion of the marked damage as HP. Debuff Attack Skill
Critical Insight Critical Insight Greatly increases your Critical Rate and Critical Damage on enemies below a certain threshold of HP. Also permanently increases Critical Rate. Passive Buff
Advanced Knuckle Mastery Advanced Knuckle Mastery Uses the power of spirits to maximize your Knuckle Mastery and increase your Critical Damage and Final Damage. Passive Buff

Shade Hyper Skill Build

Hyper skills are available at level 140. You get Hyper Skill Points as you level towards 200, but not enough to max all the skills, so choose wisely. These skills mostly help increase the damage of your current skills.

  • Spirit Claw - Reinforce
  • Spirit Claw - Boss Rush
  • Spirit Claw - Extra Strike
  • Fire Fox Spirits - Repeated Attack Bonus
  • Fire Fox Spirits - Summon Chance
  • Spirit Incarnation
  • Heroic Memories
  • Spirit Bond Max

Shade Fifth Job Skill Build

Upon reaching level 200, you will now have access to the V Matrix, which acts as your new fifth job skills. Each class gets their own skills to use, along with boosting nodes to increase the damage of existing skills. To obtain new skills, you open up items called Nodestones, which drop from every mob in Arcane River. You have limited number of slots in your V Matrix, so you want to obtain perfect nodes for maximize your character's damage.

Shade's Nodes should include:

  • Spirit Flow
  • Spiritgate
  • True Spirit Claw
  • Smashing Multipunch
  • Trinode: Spirit Claw, Bomb Punch, Fox Spirits
  • Trinode: Spirit Incarnation, Spirit Frenzy, Death Mark

All 5th Job classes should try to also obtain these:

  • Decent Holy Symbol
  • Decent Sharp Eyes
  • Decent Speed Infusion
  • Erda Nova
  • Rope Lift
  • Weapon Aura
  • Freud's Wisdom
  • Impenetrable Skin
  • Maple World Goddess Blessing

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Spirit Flow Spirit Flow The spirits that guide you flow as one within you, empowering you. Attacks that are automatically triggered are unaffected by attack reflection. Resets Cooldown / DPS Skill
Spiritgate Spiritgate Opens a portal to the spirit world. Unaffected by attack reflection. Debuff Enemy Skill
True Spirit Claw True Spirit Claw Deepens your bond with the spirits twofold, allowing you to attack with a more powerful Spirit Claw. Requires recharge time after skill is used. Cooldown Attack Skill
Smashing Multipunch Smashing Multipunch Infuse a land spirit with the destructive power of the Fox God. Cooldown Attack Skill

Changelog

26/02/2021 - First update

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