There’s a hush before a Shadow Hunter shoots — not because the room is quiet, but because everything in it knows the next sound will be the one that matters. The Shadow Hunter is Trove’s long-range precision class: a sniper whose charged radiance cuts through shields and mispositioning like a blade through silk. In 2025 the class remains a high-skill, high-reward pick: it can one-shot priority targets, control fights with snares, and sprint through routes when built for speed.
This Trove guide walks you through the Shadow Hunter Abilities, and the three builds: Sniper, Rapid-Fire, or speed-Farm — with practical rotations, gem choices, emblem/flask picks and endgame tuning.
The Shadow Hunter Abilities & passive
The Shadow Hunter is essentially a long-range archer archetype with a charged “radiant” shot, snares (Sun Snares / traps), mobility that can be used to reposition, and a high-impact ultimate.
Shadow Seekers: Requires one Seeker to use. On use fires all Seekers that hunt the closest target and explode on contact dealing damage. The Shadow Hunter can store up to 5 Seekers at a time. Seekers deal increased damage for each one fired when used.
Sun Snare: is the utility tool: it stuns or roots enemies in an area, creating the angle for clean charged shots or helping you kite dangerous mechanics. Sun Snares are crucial for controlling high-value targets and preventing escape.
- Place snares at choke points or under the feet of bosses to lock them during your charged windows.
Dark Whispers: Nearby enemies periodically receive a Shadow Mark, increasing damage done to them as well as making them visible through walls. When the Shadow Hunter uses a basic attack on Shadow Marked targets a small explosion is triggered at the target and the Shadow Hunter will gain one Seeker. Additionally, when dodging the Shadow Hunter gains a movement speed boost for a short time.
Sacred Arrow: Fire a large damaging arrow of energy that applies a damage over time to targets hit by it. This arrow pierces targets and blocks. If the ability button is held down, you will continuously fire arrows until running out of energy. Damage over time effect can be applied to the same target multiple times.
The Shadow Hunter Builds: Sniper, Rapid-Fire, or speed-Farm
Sniper Build
If you love watching damage numbers pop and you enjoy lining up immaculately timed charged shots, this is the build. It’s the classic Shadow Hunter: massive single-target output that often trades pack speed for the ability to one-shot boss phases.
You’ll play at medium/long range, pre-aiming shots and using snares to lock targets into your arcs. Gear focuses on Physical Damage (or Primary Damage as listed on your client), Crit Chance, Crit Damage, and Light for endgame scaling. you should pushing crit to 100% before shifting to crit damage and Light for max DPS.
- Core stats: Crit Chance → Crit Damage → Primary Damage → Light (late game).
- Gems: Empowered picks: Explosive Epilogue (on-kill explosions) and Pyrodisc (AoE). Choose class gems that enhance your charged shot if available. Community sources frequently suggest Explosive Epilogue as a top empowered gem for Shadow Hunter.
- Emblems & Flask: Martial + Surestrike (crit windows), DPS flask for phase openings. Coordinate ultimate, emblems and flask for apex windows.
- Why it works: one fully charged shot at optimized stats often outdamages several hits from other classes — it’s peak single-target efficiency.
Rapid-Fire Build
Not every fight gives you the leisure to line up perfect shots. The Rapid-Fire hybrid aims to be more forgiving: you still use charged shots but accept shorter charges and supplement with faster fires to keep pressure on moving targets. This build is friendlier in Delves and against many add waves.
Players adopting this style put more value into attack speed, some crit, and AoE-on-kill gems so that the frequent kills create chain damage.
- Core stats: Attack Speed → Primary Damage → Moderate Crit → Crit Damage.
- Gems: Explosive Epilogue is still excellent; mix Pyrodisc or Stinging Curse depending on your class gem.
- Emblems & Flask: Beamer/Martial pairings for sustained damage; use speed flask for route pushes.
- Why it works: faster cadence means fewer missed opportunities when targets move or teleport — a practical compromise for real Delve pacing.
Speed-Farm Build
When the goal is resources, optimize for clear speed. Shadow Hunters can be excellent topside farmers because charged shots cut through spawn lines and empowered gems multiply brief kills into area clears. The trick is to keep movement and attack speed high while using snares only when necessary.
- Core stats: Movement Speed → Attack Speed → Primary Damage → Energy Regen (as needed).
- Gems: lesser gems into MS/AS; Empowered picks like Explosive Epilogue still add huge value to clears.
- Emblems & Flask: Beamer + Movement combos for farm; Elysian Bandolier or fast flask to reduce downtime.
- Why it works: Shadow Hunter reach and piercing shots make pre-aiming through spawn patterns trivial; the rest is map knowledge.
Emblems, Flasks & Allies
Emblems, flasks and allies are often what moves you from “playable” to “carry.” The Shadow Hunter benefits from both damage windows and cooldown reduction emblems depending on the build.
Emblems:
- Martial + Surestrike — classic Sniper combo (high damage + reliable crits).
- Beamer + Martial — useful for Rapid-Fire and farming.
- Chronomancer — if you want faster ultimate and snare re-use (great in hybrid/utility builds).
- Trailblazer / Movement — for pure speed builds on servers that offer movement emblems.
Flasks:
- Damage Flask — pop with ultimate for maximum spike.
- Death-Defying Vial — clutch for solo risky content (prevents instant wipe on missed window).
- Elysian Bandolier / Fast Flask — for farming use to keep uptime high.
Allies:
- Rapt Berserker — raw DPS ally that improves clear and boss damage.
- Chronomancer Qubesly — cooldown and ultimate synergies for repeated windows.
- Earnie / Healer allies — if you want sustain on solo runs.Community builds commonly run Rapt Berserker or a cooldown ally depending on whether the SH player is prioritizing raw damage or uptime.
Shadow Hunter Gear Stats priorities by slot
| Slot | Sniper / DPS | Rapid-Fire / Hybrid | Speed-Farm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Crit Damage → Primary Damage → Crit Chance | Attack Speed → Primary Damage → Crit Damage | Attack Speed → Movement → Primary Damage |
| Hat | Crit Damage → Primary Damage → Light | Crit Damage → AS → PD | Movement → AS → PD |
| Face | Primary Damage → Crit Chance → Crit Damage | PD → AS → Crit Chance | Energy Regen → Movement → PD |
| Ring | Crit → Crit Damage → PD | AS / PD / Crit | Movement / AS |
| Banner | Light → PD → Crit | PD → AS → Light | AS / Movement |
- push Crit/crit damage for Sniper; lean AS/MS for speed; don’t neglect Light for late-game scaling in Delves.
Progression roadmap — early → mid → endgame
- Early (0–PR5k): Learn charge timing and snare placement. Start with generalist gems and build towards 60–80% crit.
- Mid (PR5k–PR20k): Choose Sniper or Rapid-Fire. Hunt for empowered gems (Explosive Epilogue, Pyrodisc). Begin chasing a useful class gem from Everdark Vaults.
- Endgame (Long Shade / Shadow Tower): Push 100% crit if desired, invest Mystic/Cosmic gem upgrades into Light, tune emblems/allies and finalize class gem choices. Test your Stellar class gem — it often redefines rotation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Thoughts
The Shadow Hunter rewards discipline: you will be punished for missed angles and unearned greed, and rewarded for patience, aim and rhythm. If you practice snaring and learn to line up the shots that count — and if you let empowered gem explosions do the messy clean-up — you’ll find the SH can carry fights, slice through bosses and still be a surprisingly efficient farmer when the situation calls for it.