Review - Fassina as a Shifter/Conjuror

[crdvis16]

Note: I had the community patch and balance polish mod installed (in case that affects some of the interactions of abilities).

 

I modded Fassina's subclass choices for this build.  I've played Fassina in a similar role before as a pure Conjuror where I would buff her with instant cast spells, summon a weapon (Blackbow was especially strong), and then summon a phantom that would also benefit from that weapon.  In this case, instead of summoning a weapon and a phantom I would cast Relentless Storm or Nature's Terror and then shift into an appropriate animal to wreck shop.

My choice for which form to shift into was:

Stag = AoE damage
Wolf = single target CC
Cat = DPS when able to penetrate
Boar = DPS when unable to penetrate
Bear = Off tank

The main piece of gear that I liked for this build was Strand of Favor for the increase in buff duration.  It was also a big help to use the AI for self buffing at the beginning because there were a lot of buffs to go through.  After self buffing and getting into the action the different forms work pretty well- you get good bonus armor from the form itself and your damage is pretty respectable, especially with the cat form and the fast attack speed.  The biggest problem, however, is that none of the forms do crush damage which can be a real problem for some fights.

Also, not being able to cast while shifted does kind of suck.  The Shifter subclass gets a bunch of auto-grant druid spells at each power level, some of which you don't tend to cast very often or at all.  Like I said, I made good use of Nature's Terror and Relentless Storm and occasionally I'd throw out a Nature's Mark between shifts but that's about it.

Overall, I'd guess that SC melee wizard is probably stronger.  You have higher power level, access to most of the same buffs, phantom+summoned weapons is just as strong as being shifted I think, and you can also cast if you want at any time.  But Shifter/Conjuror was still a fun build!

[Constentin Lévine]

Do you think , with another druid class, your essential phantom will be shifted too? I mean for the shifting  remaining duration when you cast the invocation?

[Boeroer]

The Phantom will use the natural armor and the natural weapons of the Spiritshift form - but it will look like the unshifted you, with bare fists though.

The reason is that both the armor and the weapons of the Spiritshift form are invisible items (they have no 3D model). The Spiritshift form has a complete 3D model - it's one piece so weapons/armor are not modeled seperately.

It's best to use the cat or bear form when wanting to use the phantom while shifted. The cat's claw weapons are faster while the bear armor is higher. The boar tusks don't carry the wounding damage (it is governed by the spiritshift ability of the boar not the weapons themselves) and also the goodies of the other forms are tied to the spiritshpift ability itself and not the weapons/armor.  

 

[crdvis16]

Glad @Boeroerknew the answer because I did not.  So that begs the question: is a shifted form stronger than the Wizard summoned weapons when it comes to copying them to a phantom?  Sounds like maybe the shifted would make for a tankier phantom?  Maybe it's comparing apples to oranges since it's hard to compare the AoE of Citzal's or the utility of the Blackbow to the tankiness of a Bear or single target DPS of a cat.

[Elric Galad]

26 minutes ago, crdvis16 said:

Glad @Boeroerknew the answer because I did not.  So that begs the question: is a shifted form stronger than the Wizard summoned weapons when it comes to copying them to a phantom?  Sounds like maybe the shifted would make for a tankier phantom?  Maybe it's comparing apples to oranges since it's hard to compare the AoE of Citzal's or the utility of the Blackbow to the tankiness of a Bear or single target DPS of a cat.

I think the main issue is that your copy won't get your ability, so no Wildstrike. Spiritshift weapons on their own are rather meh (compared to top tier weapons). Cat, of course, isn't too bad, but still inferior to best weapons.

Spiritshift Armor on the other hand is awesome. 8 base AR 0% recovery is equivalent to a +5 AR robe. +7 AR for bear. Hard to get better.

[crdvis16]

Are there weapons that would work better on a phantom than, say, Caedebald's Blackbow?  That Terrify felt really strong.  Or maybe you meant in terms of damage?

[NotDumbEnough]

Concelhaut's Draining Touch is really good since it doesn't go away on phantoms. You can also keep it permanently on your character by switching grimoires after casting.

 

By the way, you also get a naked Tekehu if he uses Watery Double while shapeshifted. Given that you don't even need to multiclass for this to happen, it's strange that they would give him an ability that looks so weird.

[dgray62]

I agree, Concelhaut's Draining Touch is great on a phantom. High base damage, targets will (which a wiz can easily debuff), and weakens and drains.

[crdvis16]

Sorry, I misread Elric's post and thought he said that he didn't think Wizard summoned weapons were good compared to normal equipable weapons.  I see now that he was talking about the spritshift weapons.

[NotDumbEnough]

I think Cat form weapons deserve more credit. They're really only second to monk fists and mythic tier weapons which you can only acquire a limited number of. They have fast attack speed, high base damage and high pen; they're basically stilettos that deal slash damage instead and have 60% higher base damage which is insane.

[Boeroer]

There are several weapons that are really good with a Phantom.

Everything that stacks on hit is great (e.g. Willbreaker, Saru Sichr) because it allows to stack twice the amount of debuffs or dots.

And also all weapons that do something on X% hit or crit because the phantom makes it more likely that it really happens (see Sungrazer for example or Endre's Flog or Stalker's Patience etc.). Blackbow is very good, too. 

I think I like Draining Touch best. 

Edited November 14, 2021 by Boeroer