Hello Boardman21. First off thank you for this build, so much fun and the first build I chose to try after getting this game. On that note you kind of ruined other classes and builds for me haha feels like I chose to follow the build I would end up enjoying the most - right off the bat, no working through other builds 
Anyways I have a bit of a weird problem and also a question to ask. I managed to acquire an exalted helmet that rolled +3 synchronised strikes. I know we prefer the mana efficiency + damage per shadow as our two prefixes on helm but this seemed hard to pass up. The problem is when I put it on and assigned the 3 extra points into the synchronised strikes tree (I thought I would try the shadow rush node to get some heal on shadow creation. But then thought I could just take the helmet off and those exact 3 points would be removed so I can try the points elsewhere to see if I prefer other nodes. But it ended up keeping those points in shadow rush and removing 3 other critical points that are part of your build guide! So any +skill helmets seem to remove random points instead of the exact bonus points you assigned when you take the helmet off??
Now if I try respec points it will delevel the skill … I find this a bit ridiculous because now I am locked into using this helmet as well as the 3 points I assigned. Is this a known issue and do you have any suggestions?
Onto my other question - say I had these 3 bonus points to spend - I am not sure what would be best. This whole setup with SS is a bit confusing because I feel if I put points into +damage nodes like ‘Shadow Fang’ it won’t make a different right? Because we are simply using SS to create shadows which then cast Shadow Cascade? So buffing anything in the SS is pointless right? Just not sure where to put the 3 points…
EDIT : I found the answer to my issue about the bonus skill points being removed randomly - +x Skill mods - seems intended to counter possible exploitation / skill changing on the fly. Anyways, thanks again for the awesome build. Would you use this helmet or rather stick to a helm with the two ideal prefixes mentioned previously? Better if this was +3 to Shadow Cascade rather right?