This guide describes what upgrades to take to obtain a powerful build that is capable of defeating Darkness 0 without runes and scales into higher Darkness with Runes
Guide to Shana’s Iced Out Shotgun
All credit goes to Ahlpha-17!
Intro
- Character: Shana
- Weapon: Shotgun
Character
- Shana is available by default.
Why take Shana?
Shana gives the ability to reroll the upgrades available on level up, making it easier to hunt for specific upgrades and synergies.
In addition, getting her Bonus XP Ascension from the first Boss can get you Snowballing into a powerhouse with level 60+ after 20 minutes.
All bonuses on her Halo Ascension benefit this build greatly since core stats are reload speed and firing speed.
Be mindful not to grab an upgrade with a penalty (written in red ingame) after gaining the “triple next upgrade” ascension. Don’t be me:
I will let you guess thrice how much max HP I had when I picked up the upgrade that has the downside of -1 max HP.
Weapon
The Weapon used for this build is the shotgun. Fire a volley and reload. That is the strength I want to emphasize.
Runes
- Sword: 2/1/1/1
- Shield: 3/1/1/1
Elaboration
Sword
- Alacrity: Fire faster, more often.
- Aftershock: Damages anything still close enough after your last shot.
- Glass Cannon: More Damage for faster early game. if you struggle with survival because of it, the other runes here are fine as well.
- Cadence: More Deeps (DPS, Damage Per Second). The other options do not benefit this build at all.
Shield
- Courage: Gives you more personal space.
- Momentum: Grab your XP in a quick hit and run. (Also Seismic Ward can knock enemies into you. Do not use Seismic Ward)
- Blessing: Free upgrade giving recurring protection and worthwhile upgrade-tree.
- Growth: More XP? More Upgrades? More Carnage? Faster!? Oh, there is also healing included by the way.
Core Upgrades
The build focuses on shooting and reloading as quick as possible to deal damage and create a safe zone around you.
This safe zone is mainly kept up by Fan Fire and later by the upgrades in the Frost Mage-Tree. The capstone Shatter in this tree provides insane crowd clearing and should be high priority latest after the second boss (the charger).
This is a list of the core upgrades in order of priority that are essential for the build:
- Quick Hands (+20% Reload, +5% fire rate)
- Fresh Clip (Reload rate +5%, +30% Bullet Damage for 1 second after reload)
- Double Shot (Projectiles +1, Spread +15, Bullet Damage -10%)
- Fan Fire (Last shot fires 10 additional bullets around you with 15% base bullet damage)
- Mini Clip (+100% Reload, Bullet Damage + 50%, Max ammo -666)
- Frost Mage (bullets gain 35% chance to freeze enemies…)
- Ice Shard (Firing the last shot releases 3 ice shards that freeze enemies)
- Shatter (frozen enemies explode on death dealing 25% max hp damage)
Bullet Speed = more range. Therefore the Take Aim-Tree greatly increases the safe space around you as well as providing an incredible capstone:
- Take Aim (+30% Bullet Speed, -15 Spread)
- Penetration (+15% Bullet Speed, +1 Piercing)
- Assassin (+10% Bullet Speed, Damage to enemies with HP < 20% instantly kills them)
If none of the above upgrades are available, consider grabbing one out of skill trees already started or from the following section.
Utility Upgrades
When no core upgrades are available and their upgrade-trees are maxed out or you struggle with a certain aspect, these upgrade trees synergize with the build or help in general ways:
Holy Shield Tree:
This tree gives recurring protection and bonus movespeed/reload when not needing it. Lightning upgrade from this tree should be ignored in this build.
Power Shot Tree:
For higher focused damage.
Rapid fire:
When shooting takes to long because your mag is not yet 1.
Magnetism Tree:
Grants easier access to XP and later upgrades can significantly boost dps.
Haste Tree:
The upgrades in this tree make it a lot easier to outmaneuver the enemies.
Vitality Tree:
In Case of emergency, increase max Life.
Tomes
The best Tomes to grab in order of potency are:
Tome of Power
- Bullet damage +50%
- Bullet Size +100%
- Piercing +1
- Fire rate -25%
- Max HP -1
Tome of Elasticity
- Bullet Bounce +2
- Bullet damage -25%
- Max HP -1
Tome of Speed
- Move speed +50%
- Max HP -1
Tome of Rage
- Fire rate +66%
- Spread +60
- Bullet damage -50%
- Knockback -95%
- Base Ammo Count is tripled
Be the first to comment