Howler Clonkey - The "build" for Shifter Lives

[Samiusbot]

Shifter – Cleric (17) Monk (2) Fighter (1)
Overview:


I don’t know about you but finding the Shifter race a home that makes sense has been a lot harder then some of the other races have been over the years. The Bearbarian was a good fit, but not great. But I really love the Howler Clonkey.


The way I have been leveling the build over on my live streams has been very DC caster/staff melee lite with sick CC leaning on the Falconry and Shifter Racial trees. I gather groups of mobs and Howl effectively giving me a mass hold, followed up with Coordinated Strike blinding the mass of trash allowing No Mercy to boost my damage, repeat Howl as needed and allow strikethrough to win.


Howl of Terror in the Shifter tree is the real deal at least while leveling. I counted my DCs starting around level 10/12 to be in the low 50s. Even in reaper this big game. Wildhunt Howl helps boost saves slightly giving the Clr’s low reflex save a needed boost when shooting around traps, Wildhunt is a tasty bonus to spell points and +2 to wisdom in the core boosts To hit/Damage and spell Dcs.


Falconry tree is full of goodies that likely doesn’t need a full run down, but main stat to hit/damage as well as insight bonus to dmg, tactics and a high non-blue bar powered insta-kill effect is very solid.


Nombo’s:
Howl of Terror does not make helpless so No Mercy needs a hand to boost your damage.
Wildhunt Rage turns off your stance so Ocean Stance will need to be turned back on or you forget and get a practical negative 2 to your wisdom and -3 to dodge. After a few times of forgetting to restart the stance I just stopped raging.


Upfront:
I almost have my racial completionist feat and the racial action point tome meaning diving deep in the racial tree is cheep for me. You may have to give up some points elsewhere but Howl of Terror is value and what makes this build sing. If necessary to make cuts for more AP, start with the points in the Kensei, shave some from Quick Strike and then dip in to Holy Striker. Keeping that wisdom high is key to your crowd control.


Leveling Progression:


Monk, followed by 11 levels of Cleric, a second Monk level, then Cleric until you really really want that fighter level for Greater 2 Handed Fighting. For me that was level 20. You might want to move it up. I know I wanted to fairly often but I was able to stay strong and left it for that taking 20 power boost. Moving it up pushes Implosion that much further away. If you are going from 18 to 20 have that extra 30% strikethrough and ability modifier damage scaling might be more valuable then a spell you will not cast until level 20. I normally spend a little while at 19 just to see how the level plays for the stream.


My post life review video. (Help a Fat Halfling out and Sub to my YouTube channel while you watch.)

Stats:

Howler Clonkey is a wisdom build first and foremost,then we need enough strength for the 2HF feat line (15 and a +2 tome)then Con for them Hps. The build is melee lite after all.

28pt 32pt 34pt 36pt Tome Level Up
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- --------
Strength 15 15 15 15 +2 4: WIS
Dexterity 8 8 8 8 +2 8: WIS
Constitution 12 14 14 15 +2 12: WIS
Intelligence 8 10 12 12 +2 16: WIS
Wisdom 18 18 18 18 +2 20: WIS
Charisma 8 8 8 8 +2 24: WIS
28: WIS


Skills:
Heal, Concentration,Spellcraft, Spot in that order of importance. No UMD for me this lifebut I can see killing Spot for UMD if it is important to you to useteleport and Fireshield scrolls. But I like the reminder where thetraps are to hit the saving throw boost button.

Feats


1 : Power Attack (We alreadywant to be strong for 2hf)
1 Shifter : Wildhunt Shifter
1 Monk : Two Handed Fighting
3 : Completionist (ImprovedTurning or Quicken if Completionist is off the table)
6 : Quicken Spell (Faster Howlis good)
9 : Improved Two HandedFighting
12 : Adept of Forms or SpellFocus: Enchantment (SF:E might be better for post 20 play to allowtwists)


13 Monk : Swords to Plowshares
15 : Improved Critical:Bludgeoning
18 : Heighten Spell
20 Fighter: Greater Two Handed Fighting


3 Cleric : Law Domain
2 Deity : Follower of: Aureon(Favored weapon Staff)
7 Deity : Aureon's Instruction(clickly is +4 wisdom and boosts to turning)



Enhancements:

Shifter (18AP)
• Extra Shifting, Wisdom, ExtraShifting , Wisdom
1. None
2. Natural Armor III, Howl:Wildhunt Howl, Magic Fang
3. Augment Summoning, Stronger Howl:Wildhunt
4. Howl of Terror III
Note: Do what you have to before level 11 to get to Howl of Terror – More rages and Con while raging are fine options until you can get those stat boosts out of the core.


Falconry (41 AP)
• White Falcon, Wisdom, WellRounded, Wisdom, Well Rounded II, Master Falconer
1. Rugged III, Out in Nature I
2. Killer Instinct I, Watchthe Center III, Diving Strike I, Sprint Boost I
3. Killer Instinct II, Strikefor the Eyes: Strike I, Conditioning, Eyes of the Eagle
4. Deadly Instinct III, NoMercy III, Coordinated Strike, Expose Weakness
5. Dangerous, Death fromAbove: Strike I, Thrill of the Hunt: Strike III, Mark the Prey:Strike


Warpriest (26 AP)
• Smite Foe: Melee, Resilience ofBattle, Sanctuary, Blur
1. Toughness III, RighteousWeapons
2. Wall of Steel III,Righteous Weapons, Melee/Ranged Power Boost III
3. Righteous Weapons, Wisdom
4. Holy Striker: DoublestrikeIII, Wisdom


Henshin Mystic (8 AP)
• Riddle of Fire
1. Henshin Staff Training, Wayof the: Patient Tortoise
2. Quick Strike III


Kensei (2 AP)
• Kensei Focus: Clubs/Staff
1. Haste Boost (As many as youcan spare)

Post 20:


Is this build “end game viable” I don’t know. A viewer I tend to trust for these things said not really. But I think getting your CC DCs into range is not just doable but likely easy. My evening of playing in the post lvl 20 world was turn on an epic destiny and setting the twists then heading to do a couple of The Lords of Dust/Evening Star quests R1 for a little xp to try and get to 21. Then lets go do Legendary Reaper 6 Feywilds. Being level 21/22 in LR6 Feywilds was not as helpful for build testing as it could have been, but fun never the less.

Review:
I want to stress that my lvl 1-20 play was very pleasing. The nombos are not as in your face as some of the other shifter builds I have been trying and felt like a good platform for the hard to place shifter race. At least for me anyway.

I was able to solo R1 starting at level 2 and felt fine soloing up to R4s from time to time just to spice things up a notch. Is this build ideal, likely not. This was how I leveled by the seat of pants with the things I felt important, it felt/feels good to play and allowed some of the cool shifter things shine.

[DerpDerply]

Just gonna put this out there: Going pure, STR-based tempest (and completely ignoring the rage-like shift) is OP AF...and I mean all the way from 1-30.