The Shadow's Mantle

The Shadow's Mantle is an item set in Diablo III.

It is the defensive class set for Demon Hunters for level 70, and the only set specifically tuned for melee builds. This set can only drop at Torment difficulty.

This set is named after Kunai, the Demon Hunter who became one with the shadow.

While technically it can be completed by any class, it is specifically designed for Demon Hunters.

Pieces

The set consists of six pieces, all of which are required to complete the set. None of them are Demon Hunter-restricted.

• The Shadow's Bane (Chest)
• The Shadow's Burden (Pauldrons)
• The Shadow's Coil (Pants)
• The Shadow's Grasp (Gloves)
• The Shadow's Heels (Boots)
• The Shadow's Mask (Helm)

Set Bonus:

• While equipped with a melee weapon, all damage is increased by 6000% (Demon Hunter Only) (2 pieces)
• Shadow Power gains the effect of every rune and lasts forever (4 pieces)
• Impale deals an additional 75,000% damage to the first enemy hit (6 pieces)

The first bonus, while providing a significant multiplicative damage bonus, also limits the assortment of skills the Demon Hunter can use. Any one-handed melee weapon will suffice, coupled with a shield or, more commonly, a quiver.

The second bonus infinite duration does not apply to the Night Bane rune: it will still last 5 seconds from activation, effectively turning the skill semi-passive (reapplication for 8 Discipline will only slow enemies around the Demon Hunter). It also does not activate the Shadow Power as passive skill upon being equipped, therefore Demon Hunter must actually learn this skill and manually turn it on in order to benefit from it.

Elemental Damage type of the last bonus matches that of the skill itself (manually chosen rune). This effect can only hit one enemy per cast; to compensate, Fan of Knives with Lord Greenstone's Fan are suggested by developers. In addition, skill runes (most notably Grievous Wounds) only apply to the skill itself, not to the 75,000% weapon damage, since the bonus damage is resolved as a separate hit.

Development

This page contains obsolete content This article contains information that is no longer relevant to gameplay, but is kept here for informational purposes.

The set originally consisted for four components.

The Shadow's set was more defense-oriented than Embodiment of the Marauder. As of patch 2.0.5., developers planned to rework it to make this set more balanced and popular: in the end, they replaced the cooldown reduction per Demon kill with Shadow Power gaining all runes, and added an Awareness-like effect to the minor bonus. This made Demon Hunters the only class (at the moment) with three (including the Beckon Sail cloak) class-specific effects that save the character from dying.

At some point on PTR, this set was making Shadow Power last forever, but eventually it was replaced with all runes at once bonus. The bonus was brought back in 2.4.

Note that this set, although usable by any hero of any class, could not give an extra life to Hardcore characters who were not Demon Hunters.

Prior to patch 2.4, the set had the following bonuses:

• When receiving fatal damage, prevents the Demon Hunter from dying, casts Smoke Screen and heals them to 25% Life. This effect may occur once every 120 seconds (2 pieces)
• Shadow Power gains all runes at once (4 pieces)

Smoke Screen cast by the former bonus was free and fully benefited from runes.

References

Item Sets in Diablo III

Class Sets
Barbarian Sets: Bul-Kathos's Oath • Heritage of Arreat (cosmetic only) • Horde of the Ninety Savages • Immortal King's Call • Might of the Earth • The Legacy of Raekor • Wrath of the Wastes
Crusader Sets: Aegis of Valor • Armor of Akkhan • Norvald's Fervor • Roland's Legacy • Seeker of the Light • Thorns of the Invoker
Demon Hunter Sets: Danetta's Hatred • Embodiment of the Marauder • Gears of Dreadlands • Natalya's Vengeance • The Shadow's Mantle • Unhallowed Essence
Monk Sets: Inna's Mantra • Monkey King's Garb • Patterns of Justice • Raiment of a Thousand Storms • Shenlong's Spirit • Uliana's Stratagem
Necromancer Sets: Bones of Rathma • Grace of Inarius • Jesseth Arms • Masquerade of Burning Carnival • Pestilence Master's Shroud • Trag'Oul's Avatar
Witch Doctor Sets: Helltooth Harness • Manajuma's Way • Mundunugu's Regalia • Raiment of the Jade Harvester • Spirit of Arachyr • Zunimassa's Haunt
Wizard Sets: Chantodo's Resolve • Delsere's Magnum Opus • Firebird's Finery • Tal Rasha's Elements • The Typhon's Veil • Vyr's Amazing Arcana
Non-Class Sets
Bastions of Will • Blackthorne's Battlegear • Champion's Tunic (cosmetic, removed) • Conqueror (cosmetic only) • Dark Wanderer (cosmetic only) • Endless Walk • Istvan's Paired Blades • Krelm's Buff Bulwark • Legacy of Nightmares • Legend of Ganondorf (cosmetic only)
Crafted Sets
Asheara's Uniform • Asheara's Vestments • Aughild's Authority • Aughild's Victory • Born's Command • Born's Defiance • Cain's Destiny • Cain's Fate • Captain Crimson's Finery • Captain Crimson's Trimmings • Demon's Hide • Demon's Skin • Guardian's Contingency • Guardian's Jeopardy • Hallowed Defenders • Hallowed Protectors • Sage's Journey • Sage's Plight