DigitalTQ Logo DigitalTQ

MapleStory Shadower Skill Build Guide - Remastered Destiny Update

November 5, 2022

MapleStory Shadower is a 4th job class of the Explorer Thief job branch. Shadower doesn't use Throwing Stars, instead they use their dagger to deal ninja-like moves from the shadows. This job branch used to be known mostly for it's chief bandit skill, Meso Explosion, which was highly useful against bosses with lots of HP. But times have changed, and now Shadower's enjoy great mobility, decent mobbing and stack up well when bossing.

Shadower Overview

Starting at level 10 in Kerning City, the Dark Lord Job Advancement instructor allows you to choose the path of Rouge. Training is slow in the beginning levels due to having no decent mobbing skills, but as you climb towards 4th job, you will then start to train faster. Shadower follows the path of Bandit at level 30, Chief Bandit at level 60 and finally Shadower at level 100.

Unlike Night Lord, you don't need to use Throwing Stars for this Thief class.

All Explorers got a major revamp in the Destiny V.233 Patch update, including Shadower!

Whilst Shadower's main mobbing skill was replaced with Cruel Stab, making it a decent mobber like all explorer classes. Mobbing becomes very fun as Meso Explosion can help wipe out entire maps. They do great damage now, so you'll fly through the earlier levels and find getting to Level 200 a breeze.

That being said, they have some of the most useful bossing skills in the game. Smokescreen offers a party-wide damage reduction skill and critical damage boost, as well as having an i-frame (invincibility skill) in Trickbade.

  • Weapon: Dagger
  • Job: Thief
  • Class: Explorer
  • Shared Cash Shop Inventory: Explorer Jobs
  • Legion Block: +Luk (10/20/40/80/100)
  • Link Skill: Thief's Cunning (+3-6% Damage upon debuffing enemies, 10 sec duration)
  • Primary Stat: Luk
  • Inner Ability: 20% Boss Damage

Rouge First Job Skill Build

Follow this skill build guide for Rouge job:

  • Lucky Seven (+1), Flash Jump (+2)
  • Flash Jump (MAX)
  • Lucky Seven (MAX)
  • Haste (MAX)
  • Nimble Body (MAX)
  • Side Step (MAX)
  • Double Stab (MAX)
  • Dark Sight (MAX)

Lucky Seven has been upgraded to now hit multiple enemies at once, making it a great mobbing skill early on. You can also choose to use Double Stab, as that has been revamped also.

You have some great mobiliy early on too, with Haste + Flash Jump you can get around big maps quite easily.

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Lucky Seven Lucky Seven Throw 7 lucky throwing stars to attack enemies in front. Can only be used when equipped with a claw. Main Attack Skill
Haste Haste Permanently increases Speed, Jump, and Max Speed. Buff
Nimble Body Nimble Body Permanently increases Luck. Passive Buff
Flash Jump Flash Jump Use while in the middle of a jump to jump even farther. The higher this skill's level, the farther you will jump. Can be activated with the Jump key. Flash Jump
Double Stab Double Stab Quickly stab a nearby enemy twice. Can only be used when equipped with a dagger. Secondary Attack Skill
Dark Sight Dark Sight Allows you to hide in the shadows for a short time to avoid the enemy's attack. While Dark Sight is active, you can deactivate it either by using another skill or by pressing the Dark Sight skill key again. Note that certain movement skills will not cancel Dark Sight. Upon deactivating Dark Sight, its cooldown will vary according to damage dodged in proportion to your to Max HP. Transform Skill
Side Step Side Step Permanently increases Avoidability. Passive Buff

Bandit Second Job Skill Build

As a Rouge, when you reach level 30 you can job advance into two different classes. If you want to become a Shadower, you'll need to choose Bandit as your second job advancement class.

  • Savage Blow (+1), Bandit's Agility (+1), Dagger Mastery (+1)
  • Dagger Mastery(5)
  • Agile Daggers (MAX)
  • Savage Blow (MAX)
  • Dagger Mastery (MAX)
  • Critical Edge (MAX)
  • Channel Karma (MAX)
  • Shield Mastery (MAX)
  • Physical Training (MAX)
  • Steal (MAX)

Savage Blow is your new mobbing skill that can hit up to 8 mobs at once. It doesn't have a wide hit-box area, so you will need to be moving around maps in order to train efficiently. Steal will passively steal you potions and you'll want to get Agile Daggers maxed early for that extra attack speed boost.

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Savage Blow Savage Blow Deals very quick consecutive attacks to the enemy in front. Main Attack Skill
Dagger Mastery Dagger Mastery Increases Dagger Mastery. Passive Buff
Steal Steal Grants your attack skills a chance to steal a potion that immediately recovers either HP or MP upon striking an enemy.\nYou can steal only one potion per enemy, although you can repeatedly attempt to steal until you succeed. Potions stolen from bosses fully restore your HP and MP, and boost Attack Power for a short time. Can be toggled On/Off Secondary Attack Skill
Shield Mastery Shield Mastery Increases DEF, Avoidability, and Attack Power when a shield or dagger scabbard is equipped, and reduces damage taken. Passive Buff
Physical Training Physical Training Permanently increases LUK and DEX through sheer physical training. Passive Buff
Agile Daggers Agile Daggers Increase Attack Speed and Luck. Attack Speed Buff
Channel Karma Channel Karma Increase your Attack Power and your ability to resist knockback effects when struck. Passive Buff
Bandit's Agility Bandit's Agility Harness the agility of an assassin to gain the ability to Flash Jump upwards. Movement Skill
Critical Edfe Critical Edge Permanently increases Critical Rate and Critical Damage. Passive Buff

Chief Bandit Third Job Skill Build

Chief Bandit introduce one of your better mobbing skills that will provide very useful when you get to 5th job. Meso Explosion allows you to deal damage to mobs all around you, but that damage is quite low during the early levels. For that reason, you may find it useful to just keep using your second job skill Savage Blow + Shadow Partner.

  • Midnight Carnival (+1), Shadow Partner (+2)
  • Shadow Partner (MAX)
  • Midnight Carnival (MAX)
  • Dark Flare (MAX)
  • Pick Pocket (MAX)
  • Dark Flare (MAX)
  • Meso Explosion (MAX)
  • Meso Mastery (MAX)
  • Venom (MAX)
  • Advanced Dark Sight (MAX)
  • Into Darkness (MAX)
  • Phase Dash (MAX)
  • Enveloping Darkness (MAX)

The revamped Chief Bandit is no longer a pain to train, with improvements made to Midnight Carnival, which can hit up to 8 mobs at a time. You can combine this with Phase Dash on flat maps.

Pick Pocket can be turned on so that all mobs drop meso coins and then combine that with meso explosion you'll start damaging other mobs all around you.

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Midnight Carnival Midnight Carnival Overwhelm enemies with supersonic slashes. Single Target Attack Skill
Shadow Partner Shadow Partner Summon a shadow partner that mimics the summoner. It does not have its own HP, and disappears when it is hit with an attack that changes its appearance or restricts movement. It cannot mimic Meso Explosion, summoned monsters, 5th Job Common Skills, or certain other skills. Buff
Venom Venom Permanently coats your dagger with venom, giving all your attacks the chance to Poison enemies. The Poison is not stackable, and the enemy's HP cannot drop below 1. Passive DOT
Pick Pocket Pick Pocket Cause 1 Meso to drop every time you attack with your skills (excludes Meso Explosion, 1st Job Skills, 5th Job Common Skills, and Summoner attacks). Pick Pocket and Blood Money cannot be used at the same time. Can be toggled On/Off Toggle Skill
Meso Explosion Meso Explosion Fling Mesos, dropped by Pick Pocket, to damage enemies. Mob Attack Skill
Phase Dash Phase Dash Dashes at the enemy with blinding speed, damaging and knocking them back. Can be resisted by some monsters. Dash Attack Skill
Meso Mastery Meso Mastery Increase Attack Power, amount of Mesos that drop, and Meso Explosion's damage. Passive Buff
Into Darkness Into Darkness Melt into the darkness and teleport behind the furthest enemy in range. You remain in Dark Sight after teleporting, and the cooldown is shared with Dark Sight. Teleport
Enveloping Darkness Enveloping Darkness Cloaks yourself in darkness, increasing Max HP, Abnormal Status Resistance and Elemental Resistance permanently." Passive Buff
Dark Flare Dark Flare Release dark energy for a certain period of time to summon a large dagger, which attacks enemies nearby. Unaffected by attack reflection. Summon
Advanced Dark Sight Advanced Dark Sight Hones your stealth technique, giving you a chance of not breaking Dark Sight when you attack or use skills in Dark Sight. Has a chance to automatically trigger Dark Sight on attack, and attacking from Dark Sight will increase Final Damage.\nHowever, if you dodge an attack that deals damage proportional to Max HP, using the Dark Sight that activates when you are hit, the cooldown will not apply, and Dark Sight's duration will decrease. Transform Skill

Shadower Fourth Job Skill Build

At level 100, Shadower becomes available.

  • Cruel Stab (+1), Blood Money (+1), Shadower Instinct (+1)
  • Cruel Stab (MAX)
  • Blood Money (MAX)
  • Dagger Expert (MAX)
  • Shadower Instinct (MAX)
  • Sudden Raid (MAX)
  • Maple Warrior (MAX)
  • Toxic Venom (MAX)
  • Smokescreen (MAX)
  • Assassinate (MAX)
  • Hero's Will (MAX)

Cruel Stab is your new mob attack skill. If you ever played the old Shadower, you would know it was very painful to mob with but with Cruel Stab you suddenly can fly around clearing maps with ease.

You get a few useful bossing skills in 4th job, including Smokescreen which can reduce damage and sometimes act as an I-frame skill for certain boss mechanics.

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Assassinate Assassinate Attack an enemy's vital points over and over to deal tremendous damage. Cast the Assassinate skill once more after the first strike to deal a finishing blow. After the final blow, you will no longer be hidden. Also, you can deal a stronger final blow of Assassinate if you have the Murderous Intent buff. The Murderous Intent buff is consumed when enemy is hit. Targets the enemy with the highest HP first. During the use of this skill, no enemy attack can knock you back. Single Target Attack Skill
Cruel Stab Cruel Stab Inflicts a brutal stab with the dagger. Pick Pocket's Meso drop rate is halved for this skill. Permanently increases Final Damage. Main Attack Skill
Toxic Venom Toxic Venom Increases Venom's poison chance and permanently increases poison damage. Passive Buff
Sudden Raid Sudden Raid Call in a horde of friends to attack enemies. Unaffected by attack reflection. FMA Skill
Smokescreen Smokescreen Drop a Smokescreen near you. All party members within Smokescreen range will take no damage for the duration. For attacks that are based on max HP ratios, the damage will be reduced. Chance of Advanced Dark Sight increased within Smokescreen's range. In addition, enemies inside the Smokescreen will take more critical damage. You are immune to knockback while casting Smokescreen, and Dark Sight will not deactivate upon casting. Buff Skill / IFrame
Shadower Instinct Shadower Instinct Awakens your merciless Shadower's instincts, increasing your Attack, Final Damage, and Ignore Defense. Buff
Shadow Shifter Shadow Shifter Grants a chance to summon a wooden doll to take damage in your place. Also permanently increases your resistance to knockback effects when struck Passive Buff
Prime Critical Prime Critical Enhances Critical Growth. Also increases Critical Damage permanently. Passive Buff
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
Heros Will Heros Will Hones your resolve to ignore certain abnormal status effects. Immune to Abnormal Status for 3 sec after use. deBuff
Dagger Expert Dagger Expert Increases Dagger Mastery, Attack Power, and Critical Damage. Passive Buff
Blood Money Blood Money Drops coins branded with an Assassin's Mark. Enhances Meso Explosion. Using Meso Explosion while this skill is active grants the Murderous Intent buff which enhances your next Assassinate's final blow. Pick Pocket and Bloody Money cannot be active at the same time. Mesos created with Blood Money will attack the boss with the highest HP first when detonated with Meso Explosion. Permanently increases Luck and Critical Damage. Unaffected by Combat Orders.  

Shadower 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.

  • Mesos Explosion - Reinforce
  • Mesos Explosion - Enhance
  • Assassinate - Reinforce
  • Assassinate - Boss Rush
  • Assassinate - Guardbreak
  • Flip The Coin
  • Shadow Veil
  • Epic Adventure

The hyper skills of Shadower are actually pretty good and you might have a hard time deciding what's best to use. You can boost your main bossing skill Assassinate, with extra damage, boss damage and ignore def. Or you can boost your training skills; you can remove the Cruel Stab - Spread as you probably won't need to hit 10 enemies at once- adding Meso Explosion - Guardbreak might be useful for extra IED. You can reset Hyper Skills for mesos so if you make a mistake don't worry.

Shadower 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.

Shadower's Nodes should include:

  • Trickblade
  • Shadow Assault
  • Sonic Blow
  • Trinode: Cruel Stab, Meso Explosion, Dark Flare
  • Trinode: Assassinate, Shadow Veil, Sudden Raid

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

  • Decent Holy Symbol
  • Decent Sharp Eyes
  • Decent Speed Infusion
  • Weapon Aura
  • Erda Nova

Skill Description & Overview

Icon Skill Description Type
Trickblade Trickblade Move behind the enemy damaged by Assassinate to deal a fatal attack. Attacks linked with Assassinate are unaffected by attack ignore and attack reflection. Single Target Attack Skill / Iframe
Sonic Blade Sonic Blade Move faster than the speed of sound, dealing consecutive attacks along the way. You will not be pushed back by any enemy attacks when casting Sonic Blow. Burst Attack Skill
Shadow Assault Shadow Assault Instantly move to slash enemies. Dash + Buff Skill
Slash Shadow Formation Slash Shadow Formation Team up with dark allies in a special formation to perform a joint attack. Can be used without a casting motion when used while Assassinate or Boomerang Stab is in use. Skill is unaffected by attack reflection and by effects of Shadow Partner. Burst Attack Skill

Changelog

29/09/2022 - Updated for Destiny V.233 Update

26/11/2020 - Added new 5th Job Skill from the Awake update.

25/09/2020 - First Version Live.

Discussion

User Icon

Aleph - Editor In Chief

Aleph is the main writer and programmer of DigitalTQ. His aim is to provide quality gaming guides, articles and news from the video game industry. We've been playing games since the 90s and are always on the lookout for new gems to play.

Twitter

Learn About Us