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In Māori mythology, Tāwhirimātea (or Tāwhiri) is the god of weather, including thunder and lightning, wind, clouds and storms. He is a son of Papatūānuku (earth mother) and Ranginui (sky father). In his anger at his brothers for separating their parents, Tāwhirimātea destroyed the forests of Tāne (god of forests), drove Tangaroa (god of the sea) and his progeny into the sea, pursued Rongo and Haumia-tiketike till they had to take refuge in the bosom of their mother Papa, and only found in Tūmatauenga a worthy opponent and eternal enemy. - Wikipedia
=================================== Tāwhirimātea, the God of Storms =================================== Difficulty: PotD v2.0.0.0030 -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Theurge (Watershaper + Stormspeaker) -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Marine Godlike -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Deadfire Archipelago (Artist) -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (char creation, no Berath's Blessings): MIG: 12 CON: 13 DEX: 11 PER: 14 INT: 13 RES: 15 -------------------------------------------------------------- Important Skills: none -------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)
PL1
Druid
Ondra's Whip (a)
Tanglefoot (a)
Nature's Mark
Chanter
The Skies Opened And Vengeance Rained Down (a)
Blessed was Wengridh, Quickest of His Tribe (a)
Not Felled by the Axe, Nor Broken by the Storm (a)
The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas
PL2
Druid
Blizzard (a)
The Moon's Light (!)
Woodskin
Chanter
The Cave Provided Shelter Through the Storm (a)
At the Sound of his Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff ®
Common
Two Handed Style ®
PL3
Druid
Chill Fog (a) (!)
Returning Storm (!)
Chanter
Great Amira Let Her Wrath Be Shown (a) (!)
The Fox from the Farmer Did Run and Leap
Ancient Memory (!)
Rejoice, my Comrades! Two Fingers of Daylight (!)
PL4
Druid
Boiling Spray (a)
Moonwell (!)
Secrets of Rime (!)
Heart of the Storm (!)
Chanter
Ngati's Power Struck the Shore Again (a)
Rise Again, Rise Again, Scions of Adon! (!)
PL5
Druid
Ocean Burst (a)
Relentless Storm (!)
Practiced Healer (!)
Chanter
A Cool Wind Washed Over The Tribe (a)
...And Evil Turned Away from the Sun (!)
Seven Nights She Waited While The White Winds Wept (!)
PL6
Druid
Watery Double (a)
Garden of Life
Chanter
Not One Foe Was Spared Amira's Wrath (a) (!)
...And Face Your Foes ®
They Shielded Their Eyes 'Gainst the Fampyr's Gaze ®
So Singt Biting Winds o'Eld Nary (!)
PL7
Druid
Blast of Frost (a)
Nature's Bounty
Chanter
Within Ngati's Embrace None Could Touch Her (a)
Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked (!)
Her Tears Fell Like Rain (!)
--------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional enchantments; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: Lord Darryn's Voulge (!) Weapon set 2: Watershaper's Focus (Ondra's Wrath*!) (!) Chest: Deltro's Cage (Conductive Storm*!) (!)
Helmet: n/a
Amulet: Necklace of the Harvest Moon ®
Trinket: Kaihoa
Cloak: Mantle of the Seven Bolts (!)
Gloves: Woedica's Strangling Grasp ®
Ring: Kuaru's Prize ®
Ring: Ring of Boundless Stars ®
Belt: Ngati's Girdle
Boots: Boots of the White
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Tekēhu is very clearly the apple of the Obsidian developers' eyes, for much effort must have been put into making him capable of many things his fellow Companions (or even any custom hirelings, for that matter) cannot match. As a Watershaper, Tekēhu gains access to Foe-only AoE Frost spells; as a Stormspeaker, he gets automatically-learned Invocations unique to his subclass, of which two are powerful Shock-based spells. Taking a fair bit of inspiration from my Fate Testarossa Ascetic build, I took the staple of that build - Lord Darryn's Voulge, Deltro's Cage and Mantle of the Seven Bolts - and complemented it with the Watershaper's Focus to capitalize fully on the synergies he enjoys as a Theurge like no other in the Deadfire.
The end result: Tekēhu, with the Tāwhirimātea build, is capable of handling the entire party's spellcasting requirements single-handedly.
Offensive Spellcasting
Tāwhirimātea then sent forth a variety of clouds, including Aonui (dense clouds), Aopōuri (dark clouds), Aowhētuma (fiery clouds), Aowhēkere (clouds which precede hurricanes), Aokanapanapa (clouds reflecting glowing red light), Aopakakina (clouds wildly drifting from all quarters and wildly bursting), Aopakarea (clouds of thunderstorms), and Aotakawe (clouds hurriedly flying). - Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Much like the Fate Testarossa, Tekehu can make use of the +5 Shock PL from Lord Darryn's Voulge and Deltro's Cage to power his Shock spells like Returning Storm and Relentless Storm, along with the Ball Lightning spell he gets from the fully-upgraded Voulge. That said, since he isn't really able to reach the 35 Might cap, Tekehu can't quite put out the same damage numbers that Fate is capable of. Still useful to be sure, but the gap can be noticeable.
That said, Tekehu has a couple of advantages over the Fate build;
Firstly, the true extent of the Shock synergy between Tekehu's two subclasses comes in the unique Invocations Great Amira Let Her Wrath be Shown and Not One Foe Was Spared Amira's Wrath; these behave like the Wizard spells Crackling Bolt and Chain Lightning respectively. Not only do both Invocations also benefit from the Shock PL bonus, and not only are both ideal choices for opening fights - especially in the latter case - as Invocations, they can be casted again late in the fight, once Tekehu has built up enough Phrases. So while Tekehu can't bring down the thunder to quite the same extent that Fate can, he makes up for it by being able to do so practically indefinitely.
Secondly, should Tekehu face something that's immune to Shock, he still has Freeze synergy to fall back on;
As a Watershaper, Tekehu automatically learns Foe-only AoE Frost spells such as Chill Fog, Blizzard and Blast of Frost. He can even complement that with the Invocation So Singt Biting Winds o'Eld Nary, which behaves much like a Frost version of Chain Lightning. And this is where the Watershaper's Focus comes in; the Ondra's Wrath enchantment makes it offer +2 PL to all Frost spells, including his Chanter Invocations, for which the aforementioned Eld Nary isn't the only Frost Invocation that Tekehu has by far. But we'll get into that later.
To be sure, the +2 Frost PL offered by Watershaper's Focus isn't quite as much as the +5 Shock PL possible with the Voulge + Cage combo. But it's still better than anything else currently available in the game, even with the new items introduced by the Beast of Winter DLC.
Healing
Sometimes Tāwhirimātea is content to listen to advice from his parents and forgive his siblings. On those days the weather is fine, clear and calm. - New Zealand Ministry of Education
Ondra's Wrath on the Watershaper's Focus also offers +2 Water PL, which is most useful on the Water-keyworded healing spells The Moon's Light and Moonwell. Thus, Tekehu can also double as the party's primary healer, even while he's dishing out the arcane hurt at the same time.
To bolster his healing credentials, Tekehu can take the Ancient Memory Chant for additional passive healing, and become an even more powerful healer in the late game with Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked. He also make use of Rejoice, my Comrades! Two Fingers of Daylight!, using Phrases for a spot of much-needed burst healing. With the ...And Evil Turned Away From The Sun upgrade, he can even deal Burn damage to Vessels much like Priests do with Holy Radiance. To top it off, Tekehu can even take a rezz option with Rise Again, Rise Again, Scions of Adon!, letting him get fallen party members back on their feet.
Nuking
To take revenge on his brothers, Tāwhirimātea first attacked Tāne Mahuta – the god of the forest, who had separated Rangi and Papa. The mighty trees of Tāne’s domain were snapped in the middle and fell to the ground. Then Tāwhirimātea attacked Tangaroa, the god of the sea, causing the waves to grow as tall as mountains. After this he turned on Rongomātāne, whose domain was cultivated food and the kūmara (sweet potato), and Haumia-tikitiki, god of fern root and uncultivated food. To escape, they hid within their mother Papatūānuku - Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Last but not least, Tekehu can indeed pull out all the stops and nuke his enemies with Storm of Seven Bolts - although, once again, it's not quite to the same level as Fate can manage. To be fair, it can still add up to a fair bit of damage, but since he cannot summon the same level of raw power that Fate can, there can be occasions where the Shock nuke fizzles out as a bit of a squib;
That said, this is where Tekehu's edge in flexibility pays off once again; he has an alternative Frost-based nuke, in the form of Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept;
With the Watershaper's Focus backing him up, Tekehu can land some huge Frost damage numbers on enemies who would otherwise shrug off his Shock attacks. Even in his most powerful attacks, Tekehu can make up in flexibility wherever he might lack in raw power, with all of the tools at his disposal.
Final Thoughts
Pros:
Takes advantage of +5 Shock PL with both Storm spells, Storm of Seven Bolts, Ball Lightning, and Stormspeaker-exclusive Shock Invocations
Takes advantage of +2 Frost PL with Watershaper-exclusive Foe-only AoE Frost spells and Frost Invocations
Takes advantage of +2 Water PL with The Moon's Light and Moonwell, and complements it with Chanter's healing Phrases and Invocations
A well-rounded spellcaster, able to dole out damage to enemies and heal allies.
As the only playable Watershaper, and the only playable Stormspeaker in the entire game, the edge that Tekehu enjoys with the Tāwhirimātea build cannot be matched by any Companions, hirelings, or even the Watcher him/herself.
Cons:
With only 12 Might, Tekehu can't quite put as much raw power to either blasting or healing as a Might-maxed Watcher or hireling can.
Because it uses most of the same equipment, Tāwhirimātea cannot be used in the same party as a Fate Testarossa, for better or worse.
High Recovery time due to the use of heavy armor, with no real means of mitigating the effect.
For some reason, Tekehu has a dad bod when in heavy armor. I guess that's what comes of easy living as a Mataru of the Kahanga.