Kaylon

It should be mentioned that this works only in a party where you can have a character just switching the entire fight.

There are three viable paladin builds for solo: paladin/troubadour, paladin/blood mage and paladin/forbidden fist (technically the priest works too, but any class works with the priest and the paladin isn't the optimal choice). There are no specific builds because they follow some simple principles - stack defenses, armor and healing. For the herald you can also see the solo videos on YT for items/stats/abilities/skills. The paladin comes with increased passive defenses (Faith and Conviction), armor and healing (Exalted Endurance, Stoic Steel), while the other class adds more healing and especially pets (which combined with Bardatto's Luxury ability will add basically another 2AR). Some key items are Magnera's Chain (which allows to achieve high resists against all damage types on top of for/will buffs), Lethandria's Devotion (main shield giving more healing and defenses), Wintertide Bulwark (backup shield used for the deflection buff which stays the entire fight even when you switch to another shield), Cadhu Scalth (backup shield used for increased deflection, damage reduction and modal). For weapons - Bardatto's Luxury, Modwyr and Animancer's Energy Blade. Another key element to these builds is stacking resting bonuses. For example, the herald can achieve over 170 in all defenses, 19+AR and heal 40+hp every 3s, which makes him virtually unkillable.

Arcane Archer/Ascendant with Frostseeker/Essence Interrupter is very fun and versatile. Pale elf mystic of course with bear pet bodyguard... Once you can use scrolls of Avenging Storm and Imbue:Eora you will feel almost like cheating. If you equip a companion with items with "Reflect against Spells" (Mirrorback, Collar of Eothas' Light, Cabalist's Gambeson) you can also reflect Ancestor's Memory on yourself if you repeatedly cast it on him. For companions Eder, Aloth, Pallegina and Xoti are solid choices.

Essence Interrupter of course - for the shock damage and the range mostly. Amaliorra or Eccea Arcane Blaster are also viable but require a penetration buff and you have to be closer to Dorudugan...

Assassin/tactician using Eccea's Arcane Blaster works very well for solo, just as with an arquebus.

If you plan to use Gambit effectively your focus should be to ensure you never miss/graze or else you won't get your resources back. You also want to have as much Guile as possible to have close to 100% Hit to Crit. With all that in mind, some key items are the Cap of the Laughingstock, Gauntlets of Accuracy/Gloves of the Dungeon Warden, Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak, Devil of Caroc Breastplate. For weapons the most effective combo, maybe not as sexy as two daggers/stilettos, is Scordeo's Edge & Rust's Poignard. For the other items you want more perception/intellect/beneficial effects duration - Whispers from the Depths ring gives Acute that stacks with other active intellect buffs (like from Ripple Sponge or Potion of Mental Prowess), Strand of Favor, Ooblit. For resting bonus probably the buff from The Abyss (25% beneficial effects duration) is the most useful for you (even more if you plan to use Scordeo's Edge with Blade Cascade).

It's impossible to maintain perfect balance between the damage taken and healing. Use a trickster instead of a streetfighter and if you want to see ripostes get also a shield...

Since you already have a paladin in your party I would go with a trickster/soul blade instead. WotEP does great damage with SA against multiple targets and vs single enemies you can switch to Sun and Moon + Tuotilo's Palm/Best Defense for great dps because you can spam SA.

You should try devoted/monk with Grave Calling/Scordeo's Edge crit build. Very high survivability with long lasting Unbending Trunk (can also use Shroud of the Phantasm to gain more discipline), plenty of wounds, high dps, good CC, etc. For slash immune you can just use your fists. Another fun build is steel garrote/trickster using Voidwheel. The draining ensures you won't die from the self damage of the sword, while delivering huge single target damage, especially when it procs. Of course you can use other weapons or even a shield, depending on the situation.

Corrupting Beauty gives a timed buff aura which applies Distracted in a small area around the player. PS. The Best Defense is great when used with 1h ranged weapons - great procs and also the recovery reduction.

Heartbeat and Blighted Shot are indeed nice for scouts (good HoT and one big shot every fight). Living Wood has 20% to trigger on attack (not hit) and thus Driving Flight changes nothing. It has also a base range of 5m ie around 7m with 20INT - which means you will draw aggro rather easily if you want to hit something with the AoE. Corrupting Beauty is basically useless because it requires to be nearly in melee range to affect something. For Maia, the Red Hand is the best option overall, while for a ranger watcher Frostseeker is also hard to beat. You're basically left with the chanters ands wizards as possible users - overall I think Blightheart is the most suitable for a chanter/rogue build.

If it were other classes maybe you could argue that's because of bashing. But monks use it obviously for the class specific enchantments and because bashing isn't such a big penalty with that shield. Also I doubt the statistics imply that most high level monks use a shield, instead it can also mean they have a shield equipped (as a back up weapon set) and that shield is Tuotilo's Palm.

If bashing shields were so great then most builds would already include Tuotilo's Palm. Defense, dps and enchantments all play a part and bashing isn't the answer for most builds.

I think the mod is great and for me this change is a no brainer - since Tuotilo's Palm is perfectly balanced I see no reason for the other bashing shields to underperform. Some could say that shields without bash would become strictly worse, but I would answer that "Bashing" is a kind of enchantment for shields and, like in the case of weapons, not all enchantments are made equal. Right now, daggers with modal are arguably a better alternative to bashing shields - +10 melee deflection from the beginning (like a superb buckler) while having better damage, penetration and accuracy. Losing +1 engage and the ranged deflection isn't a big deal most of the time.