The Shadow Class in Path of Exile 2 1.0, Explained

By Cassio Cabral · Updated November 9, 2026 · 3 min read

Everything here comes from the two ExileCon 2026 streams, and details can still change before the December 11 launch. Each point is labelled, so you can tell what GGG said on stage from what creators reported after playing it.

Ascendancies at launch

• Confirmed Shadow launches with two ascendancies: Assassin and Infiltrator. Day 1, 6:17:51

We have not seen enough of either ascendancy to judge them, so this page covers the base class only. We will add them once GGG shows more.

How stealth works

Think of stealth as a state you enter on purpose, use for one strike, and then rebuild. Enemies are not blind to you. They look for you.

• Confirmed Monsters show a red detection cone. If you touch it, they spot you. Day 1, 2:09:44
• Confirmed You move at normal speed while in stealth. Day 2, 0:31:58
• Confirmed Any dagger attack made from stealth dashes through the target and backstabs it. Day 1, 2:09:44
• Confirmed Shroud is the starting skill and the main way to enter stealth. Its cooldown resets when you kill something. Day 1, 2:09:44
• Confirmed Stealth breaks when you use a skill, hit something, get hit, or your minions hit something. There is a grace period of about half a second, and cooldowns stay frozen while you are hidden. Day 2, 0:33:19

In practice, this rewards short, planned fights: enter stealth, pick your target, strike, and use the kill to reset Shroud. It is not a way to wait out a fight.

Stealth against bosses

• Confirmed Bosses with arenas see you unless they are blinded, so you only get short stealth windows against them. GGG said every boss can still be stealthed against. Day 2, 0:36:58

Shades

• Confirmed Shades are decoys that copy your melee attacks when you attack from stealth. Day 1, 2:20:24
• Confirmed Enemies lose Blind once they kill a shade. Day 2, 0:46:36
• Confirmed A skill that teleports you to a shade, meant to be Shadow's answer to Flicker Strike, was cut. Day 1, 4:57:11

Darkness as a resource

• Confirmed Darkness is a resource tied to stealth. GGG did not detail on stage how it builds up. Day 1, 2:21:10
• Confirmed It fills the same bar as Rage, from the opposite side, so you cannot use both at once. Day 2, 0:50:25
• Confirmed Leaving stealth spends all of your Darkness in exchange for bonus damage. Day 1, 2:21:10
• Confirmed Eclipse, a Glory skill, makes every attack count as if it came from stealth until your Darkness runs out. Day 1, 2:21:10

The trade is simple: leaving stealth cashes in your Darkness as bonus damage. How fast you can refill it is not yet known, so we cannot say how often you can afford to do that.

Skills shown so far

• Confirmed Viper Strike was shown. Day 1, 2:09:44
• Confirmed Pestilent Volley was shown. Day 1, 2:14:27
• Confirmed Ethereal Knives can be thrown from stealth without breaking it. Used outside stealth, it makes you backflip. Day 1, 6:42:25
• Confirmed Shadow Extraction and Shadow Assault were shown. Day 1, 6:31:45
• Confirmed Duplicity, a parry that teleports you, was shown. Day 2, 0:41:55
• Confirmed Blade Vortex now has blades that rip impales out of enemies. They expire after a number of hits, and you can have up to 50. Day 2, 0:53:20

The impale overhaul

Impale is getting a rework, and Shadow is where it shows. Impales stack far more than before, and they can be upgraded depending on what is affecting the enemy.

• Confirmed On poisoned enemies, ripping out an impale causes a physical nova. Day 2, 0:52:19
• Confirmed On electrified enemies, the impale adds lightning damage and an execute. Day 2, 0:52:19
• Confirmed Spectral impales add chaos damage. Day 2, 0:52:19
• Confirmed All upgraded impales explode when ripped out. Day 2, 0:52:19

Traps, briefly

• Confirmed A Labyrinth-style cog totem in the ascendancy detonates every trap in its radius on each pulse. Day 1, 4:59:16
• Confirmed Traps are their own weapon type and deal attack damage. Each trap skill has a cooldown, and one shared cap limits how many traps you can have out. Day 2, 0:42:15
• Confirmed Traps placed while in stealth wait until stealth breaks, then explode in the order you placed them. Entering stealth refunds one charge per trap skill. Day 1, 2:11:13
• Confirmed Mines were scrapped, and a trap meta-support was cut for now. Day 2, 0:57:37

We are keeping traps short on purpose. GGG talked about 8 or 9 trap types depending on which source you read, and we do not want to print a number we cannot back up. Names like Shrapnel, Freezing, Concussive, Poison Gas, Fire, Electrocution and Cluster came up, and the list may be incomplete.

What to watch for

The full patch notes arrive about a week before launch. Check them for the full skill list and any changes to stealth. For the wider picture, read what ExileCon left unanswered and everything new in 1.0.