Mainframe Defenders – Shiva Quick Build

A quick build for the Shiva unit, that focuses more on healing as opposed to the more damage-oriented Mechanic build I use.

Guide to Build for the Shiva Unit

All credit goes to Rednax910!

Tier 1 Gameplay

This build is primarily used with the Shiva A for its Repair Kit.

Items to look out for:

• Repair Kit
• Lightweight Propulsion
• Welding Kit

The build uses two Repair Kits for healing every turn. It uses plasma weapons, but those won’t be accessible in Tier 1. Lightweight Propulsion is a great item, offering two moves for +5 heat per turn. For weaponry, anything will suffice in the mean time, except for high heat items like the Broadsword. The Needle is a good choice. Personally, I greatly prefer the Repair Kit to the Welding Kit. Removing status effects, to me, seems more important than just 2 more healing and a little bit of cooling.

Tier 2 Gameplay

Items to look out for:

• Repair Kit
• Lightweight Propulsion (Blue ones become available)
• Welding Kit
• Plasma Cannon
• Plasma Sniper Rifle
• Plasma Autocannon

Once you reach Tier 2, the status curing of the Repair Kit becomes more important, as enemies such as the Suppressor and Sentinel rely on powerful status effects to destroy you. Blue Lightweight Propulsion becomes available, and so do plasma weapons. These weapons apply Plasma Residue to yourself, but the final upgrade of the Shiva allows you to ignore this.

Tier 3 Gameplay

Items to look out for:

• Plasma Cannon
• Plasma Sniper Rifle
• Plasma Autocannon (Yellow ones become available)

By now, Lightweight Propulsion, Repair Kits, and Welding Kits disappear. You should also have the final upgrade of the Shiva, allowing you to use the powerful Plasma weaponry. The Plasma Autocannon has a Yellow version, making it the strongest out of the three. The Plasma Sniper Rifle offers the least damage, but high range. However, it also applies more heat and shouldn’t be used. The unit’s healing becomes more crucial in the face of more powerful enemies.

Upgrades

The optimum upgrade tree is this:

• Squad units heal 1 hull per turn.
• If squad unit gets damaged by overheat, it looses 20 heat.
• At end of each turn, removes all status effects.

The first two upgrades can be changed, but the last one is essential to the plasma weapon use that this build uses. The first one is used because this Shiva build uses the Lightweight Propulsion item, rendering it unnecessary. The second upgrade is used because it benefits the whole squad, and in particular helps the unstable heat management of the Paladin units.