I really want my first play through to be as a shifter... Am I an idiot?

[SweetMagooMagoodle]

I have been waiting so long for my first play through, and now I am ready -- with the dlc all good to go.  My last and favorite PoE 1 run was with a druid, playing as a boar using a guide by Boerer.  Cast an AOE, then gore with my boar.  Loads of fun. I want to take that character into deadfire, and since I played primarily as a shifter druid in PoE 1, I am very tempted to go as a shifter subclass for deadfire  Seems like the only thing you lose is cast while shifted, which I hardly ever did in POE anyway.  Seems like zero loss for  a lot of flexibility.

 

Yet I have seen almost no love for shifters here-- and very little written about them in a long while. (I am not -- yet -- interested in mods)

 

I know I can make any build work, so I am not asking for advice in general about a shifter -- i am asking about whether it is good for my first ever PoE2 run -- I like not having to worry about weapons  so much -- i can learn them through my companions and then make wise decisions about what to use on a second, non shifter run.

 

Would you guys recommend it as a good first go?  And I am very curious about multi classing.. a Shifter/rogue or monk or  barb all seem cool.  Any recommendations on those pairings ... again for a first go?

 

Also, am I correct in thinking that gear (non weapons) now transfers to the shifted form?

 

Thank you!  Excited to get started 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by SweetMagooMagoodle

[Boeroer]

Hi!

 

Glad you liked the boar.

 

I think playing a Shapeshifter is fine. It depends a bit on the difficulty how good he is (PotD has that rather stupid raise of armor rating of enemies that favors any class with penetration abilites). But even on PotD you can have a good Shifter - there are several ways to either bring down enemies' AR or to buff your PEN - it just takes a bit more knowledge.

 

Since you don't plan to cast much I would recommend a multiclass. Fighter/Rogue/Monk/Barb/Paladin are all good picks. My personal favorite classes for melee combat are the Monk and he Barbarian, but that's just personal preference.

 

However - there is that new Barb Subclass now, called the Furyshaper. I think it could be quite nice in combo with a Shapeshifter.

 

I would not recommend a Berserker/Shapeshifter if you plan to use Relentless Storm. Because the Berserker gets confused when frenzied he will hit himself with Relentless Storm.

Besides that the self heals of the Shifter and the bonuses of a Berseker work quite well together.

 

Goldpact Knight/Shifter can be a very sturdy guy while his dmaage output is still great. I think in terms of overall power (balance of staying power balanced with damage output) this is the best option. You get very high AR but it will not slow you down, you get a passive aura with even more AR that also heals you as some point, you can cast fast heals/Con-buffs before shifting and heal yourself with Lay on Hands while shifted. At the same time the lashes of FoD and Wildstrike will stack and even the Ring of Focused Flame works with your FoD strikes (+10 ACC on top of the +10 ACC from FoD). With other Paladin subclasses you can get more dmg (Bleak Walker), more heals (Kind Wayfarers) and so on. They all will work well. 

 

Since the boar build of PoE was a combo of powerful self heals and good melee dmg I guess the Paladin/Shapeshifter would be the combo that comes closest.

 

One thing: in Deadfire a shifted druid keeps all the item bonuses/abilites except the ones from weapon and armor. The rest will work when shifted - that's a big difference to PoE.

There's a helmet that you can get rel. early that gives you Avenging Storm 1/rest. You can't get that spell as a multiclass druid so that's a nice substitution.  

[SweetMagooMagoodle]

Thanks, Boereor for coming through again.  Any thoughts on rogue mutliclass with shifter?  Is street-fighter viable?  Trickster seems fun but a waste on a shifter. For a monk, which subclass ... or straight monk?

 

intrigued by paladin but hoping to travel with pallegina and may want to leave her to Paladin duties

Edited December 14, 2018 by SweetMagooMagoodle

[Kampel]

My first run was Shifter/Monk(the one that gains resources by dealing damage), had incredible fun with it.

I do recommend multiclass, martial classes like the ones you mentioned add a lot of utility and power while spiritshifted (otherwise you would only be able to autoattack on animal form)

 

Thanks, Boereor for coming through again.  Any thoughts on rogue mutliclass with shifter?  Is street-fighter viable?  Trickster seems fun but a waste on a shifter. For a monk, which subclass ... or straight monk?

 

intrigued by paladin but hoping to travel with pallegina and may want to leave her to Paladin duties

 

For multiclassing with rogues i think the best choice is streetfighter, you will have a ton of "Full attack" abilities and almost all its passives work great while spiritshifted. They complement perfectly.

[Boeroer]

Yes. Rogues are nice as well because of the raw dmg they can inflict and which adds to the Wounding the boar does. Also the additive dmg bonuses of the rogue work well with the multiplicative lash damage. Stuff like Escape lets you move really fast and Crippling Strike gives you a cheap ability with bonus PEN and interrupts.

 

In terms of sturdyness this combo falls behind though.

 

I think Trickster is totally fine.

It's actually a lot of work to keep the Streetfighter buffed. If you can he's great of course.

 

Monk/Shifter is also nice because the lashes of Lightning Strikes and Turning Wheel stack with Wildstrike. If you take a Helwalker you can profit from the combo of additive dmg bonus from MIG and the high lashes. And the high INT will prolong you Spiritshift. I also used the +CON variant and it's very nice with high starting CON. But of course the increased received damage still hurts. Most balanced thing might be a Nalpasca but that's not everybody's cup of tea. Shattered Pillar is not mine because I don't like that you only get wounds from auto-attacks and more importantly that your wound limit is 5 instead of 10.

[Harpagornis]

Like the others already stated many things can work with the Shifter.

 

I also combod him with a Ghostheart Ranger and it was a lot of fun thanks to pet and  bonus Accuracy.

 

Devoted/Shifter is also one of my favourites and will be a very funny once things like Unbending tick in.

 

Cipher/Shifter is another option that is surprisingly lightly tested.

 

If you allow yourself to use Mods then you will also be cast spells when being shifted. Or the Devoted bonus will finally work with the animal weapons. So many choices!

[Boeroer]

Devoted/Shifter makes not much sense since you can't have a Weapon Proficiency for your natural weapons. That will leave you with penalties only when shifted.

 

That is unless the "auto" unarmed proficiency (works with the natural weapons of a Shifter now. But I didn't hear about such a change (which would be a good one). Does that work now?

 

Edit: oh, skipped the mod part somehow. So actually Devoted/Shifter is not a good pick in an unmodded game.

 

Best Fighter pick for a Shifter would be vanilla I guess.

 

Cipher/Shifter: can you use powers while shifted? I actually never tried. The thing about Cipher/Shifter I don't like is that you'll have no special attacks - except powers work and you can use Soul Annihilation as a Soulblade/Shifter.

Edited December 15, 2018 by Boeroer

[Harpagornis]

You are right Boeroer: Devoted and Cipher really start to shine when using Mods. As i am used to play with Mods only i sometimes forget about the vanilla game.

 

Without Mods Animal forms do net get Devoted Bonus and Cipher powers are not working. 

Edited December 15, 2018 by Harpagornis

[SweetMagooMagoodle]

Thanks for the replies and conversation.  I am not interested in mods for a first plaything.  But there are apparently so many great non-modded choices.  Rogue, monk, fighter all seem great.  I never considered a vanilla fighter ever in any RPG... could be time!... I really havent looked at fighter at all -- how would that benefit a shifter?  What attacks / modes will help while shifted?

 

Thank you!

[Boeroer]

Fighter brings graze/hit/crit conversion, nice "stances" which either influence ACC or give you additional attack on kill or more engagement - and also strong self heals as well as some nice defensive abilities. He also has a cheap attack ability hat has 4 bonus Penetration which can be really good for a shifter who usually can't just switch weapons once he meets a resistant foe. You also can use Charge which stuns foes in a line and is a good movement ability - also fits somehow.

Edited December 15, 2018 by Boeroer

[Harpagornis]

If you dont like to use "big mods" i can send you just a small little file that will make the Devoted Bonus working with Shifter Claws. Should be standard but Obsidian still has not fixed it.

[SweetMagooMagoodle]

If you dont like to use "big mods" i can send you just a small little file that will make the Devoted Bonus working with Shifter Claws. Should be standard but Obsidian still has not fixed it.

 

Thanks -- I'd appreciate that!

[Harpagornis]

Okay, here we go!

 

Just put this little one into your Override Folder and it should push Devoted/Shifter into a new dimension. Well - nearly!

 

What this mini-mod does is:

 

1. All Animal Forms of the Shifter will recieve the Devoted Bonus

2. All Animal Forms are dealing two types of damage instead of one making them more flexible in combat

 

Happy punching!

Devoted Shifter.zip

Edited December 16, 2018 by Harpagornis

[SweetMagooMagoodle]

Okay, here we go!

 

Just put this little one into your Override Folder and it should push Devoted/Shifter into a new dimension. Well - nearly!

 

What this mini-mod does is:

 

1. All Animal Forms of the Shifter will recieve the Devoted Bonus

2. All Animal Forms are dealing two types of damage instead of one making them more flexible in combat

 

Happy punching!

Thank you!

[Xsorus]

Doing Shifter on my second play through (did Bleakwalker/ghost heart ranger vs playthrough)

 

This time with Shifter i've paired it with Trickster....which is working pretty good in my opinion, trickster gives me some really good defensive spells that I can use with Shifter to stay up a very long time. 

[LeviGenesis]

On 12/15/2018 at 5:47 AM, Boeroer said:

Yes. Rogues are nice as well because of the raw dmg they can inflict and which adds to the Wounding the boar does. Also the additive dmg bonuses of the rogue work well with the multiplicative lash damage. Stuff like Escape lets you move really fast and Crippling Strike gives you a cheap ability with bonus PEN and interrupts.

 

In terms of sturdyness this combo falls behind though.

 

I think Trickster is totally fine.

It's actually a lot of work to keep the Streetfighter buffed. If you can he's great of course.

 

Monk/Shifter is also nice because the lashes of Lightning Strikes and Turning Wheel stack with Wildstrike. If you take a Helwalker you can profit from the combo of additive dmg bonus from MIG and the high lashes. And the high INT will prolong you Spiritshift. I also used the +CON variant and it's very nice with high starting CON. But of course the increased received damage still hurts. Most balanced thing might be a Nalpasca but that's not everybody's cup of tea. Shattered Pillar is not mine because I don't like that you only get wounds from auto-attacks and more importantly that your wound limit is 5 instead of 10.

Having moved on from the Ranger build concept I have decided on the Shifter/Nalpasca. I was wondering how you would set it up abilities and attributes wise. I really like the concept of shifting and using monk abilities.  I feel like alongside the mortar monk I'll get to experience the tanky (maybe?) powerhouse shifter monk

Edited May 15, 2020 by LeviGenesis

[Elric Galad]

The greatest fit of spiritshifting is the (scaling with level) 8AR Armor with 0 recovery penalty. So if you want to be tank while doing good melee damages, it is kind of perfect.

[Boeroer]

Yeah - also the bear form/Paladin multiclass (especially Goldpact) has awesome AR (with 0 recovery penalty) and deals good dmg per hit as well - because of the dual lashes on claws (Wildstrike + Eternal Devotion). You can use Hylea's Talons for more lashes. The low recovery penalty also makes casting Inspired Beacon worthwhile (with Sacred Immolation + Nature's Terror).

[doggiep0op]

Is there a mod that just allows shifters to cast without all the changes of the evo mod?

[Noqn]

9 hours ago, doggiep0op said:

Is there a mod that just allows shifters to cast without all the changes of the evo mod?

Shifter Spellcasting.zip this should do

[doggiep0op]

3 hours ago, Noqn said:

Shifter Spellcasting.zip this should do

Thank you!