Following the release of the Player Core 2, I had to switch up this week's build.
After some internal debate, I asked the MM Discord what they wanted to see – stuff from the Starfinder playtest or stuff from the Player Core 2. And out of the five or so people that responded, the desire for PC2 was pretty unanimous, so this features both a remastered class and a new heritage. Be sure to let me know what sort of stuff you'd like to see! As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Naturally, you can check out a video on the character over here on YouTube.
Let's get into the build for Shyvana the Half-Dragon from League of Legends!
SHYVANA, THE HALF-DRAGON
CHARACTER
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o Shyvana is counted as a juggernaut, a class in League that are intended to have high damage and durability but limited mobility
o Representing this increased durability is Fury of the Dragonborn, which grants Shyvana extra armor and magic resistance for each dragon she slays
o Twin Bite enhances Shyvana’s next attack with bonus range, bonus damage, and lets her follow it with a quick strike for extra damage. While in dragon form, she bites a cone in front of her and applies the second strike to enemies surrounding the primary target
o With Burnout, Shyvana surrounds herself in flames that damage nearby enemies while also increasing her speed and adding damage to her attacks. The radius of Burnout increases while she’s in dragon form
o Unleashing Flame Breath launches a fireball that deals damage that it passes through. In dragon form, the fireball explodes and scorches the battlefield, creating an area of hazardous terrain
o Her ultimate is Dragon’s Descent – by building up fury with her attacks, Shyvana can transform into her dragon form. When she does, she gains health, attack range, and size while leaping forward and dealing damage
o Magical experiments caused a dragon’s egg to hatch into the humanoid Shyvana who developed an antagonistic relationship with her draconic mother
o After saving Prince Jarvan IV of Demacia, they defeated her mother and she was offered a place as the leader of the Dragonguard to protect against other such threats
Summary of Goals: Shyvana channels draconic might into swift but powerful blows as well as summoning furious blazes. She can speed into the fight while surrounding herself in flames but her mightiest transformation is into that of a full dragon, empowering all of her basic abilities.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Dragonblood Human (Diabolic)
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Ancestry Feat: Draconic Aspect – Claw Aspect
Background: Touched by Dahak/Yvva
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution
o Skill Increase: Athletics (trained), Dragon Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Titan Wrestler
Class & Subclass: Diabolic Dragon Instinct Barbarian
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Intimidation (trained), Society (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Sudden Charge
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +0)
The dragonblood versatile heritage is a huge get for the system in general – this opens up the possibility for a lot of builds but the most obvious to me was Shyvana. There are feats from this new ancestry that I like better than Draconic Aspect, but this particular feat is required to be taken at first level so we’ll grab it now to represent her general fighting style. We’re going to supplement that with a klar, which resembles her gauntlets, so she can Strike with the klar then follow it up with an agile claw Strike, a point towards her Twin Bite. She could also just take up any sort of agile weapon, which will come in handy later. Finding a background that matched her own was a bit difficult but the best option comes from the Age of Ashes adventure, which introduced Touched by Dahak. However, this wasn’t present in Pathbuilder, requiring me to add it in and reference Shyvana’s own mother, Yvva. The Dragon Lore this grants her is one of the more appropriate aspects of it but even the lore of it is fairly solid for her. We double – triple? – down on the dragon in Shyvana’s build by taking on the barbarian class with the dragon instinct. In both instances, she uses the new diabolic dragon as it’s the only one that has fire damage as part of its profile and while skins add some different elements, classic Shyvana wields fire and flames. Shyvana doesn’t really inflict fear, which means that Raging Intimidation isn’t as important on her as some other builds, but her Burnout does feature her charging into combat, which can be represented through Sudden Charge. As a note, using the klar does give her a weapon that doesn’t get reduced damage from her rage.
As for some changes with the remastered barbarian, a big one is that Rage no longer reduces your AC. It gives you the temp HP, the extra damage, and prevents concentrate actions, but that is it. On top of that, you can Rage again after exiting a rage – you just don’t get the temp HP again for a minute. Furthermore, barbarians now get the Quick-Tempered free action, which allows them to Rage when they roll initiative as long as they aren’t encumbered or wearing heavy armor.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Monk Dedication// Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Skill Increase: Arcana (trained; only for Monk Dedication)
o Gear: versatile tinderbox
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Breath of the Dragon
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty (+1), cloak of feline rest, versatile tinderbox
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Basic Kata – Dragon Stance//Quick Draw
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, handwraps of mighty (+1), +1 klar, versatile tinderbox
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +2, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +1)
o Ancestry Feat: Draconic Resistance – Fire
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet, +1 klar, cloak of feline rest, versatile tinderbox
There’s two ways to represent Shyvana’s battle style. My initial concept, which was based on the quickness of Twin Bite, used the Monk Dedication and built into Dragon Stance. This gives her unarmed attacks that significantly increase her damage, due to not having the agile trait, and can eventually build up to the rapidity she’s known for.
Alternatively, for players who want to more accurately represent Shyvana’s gauntlets, she can make use of the Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication to dual wield. If going this route, one weapon will obviously be a klar while the other should be some sort of agile weapon so that she doesn’t take a -2 on both attacks. A weapon such as a katar or bladed gauntlet might fit the best for her. With this combat style in mind, for the sake of her action economy, she should take up Quick Draw, letting her draw and Strike with a weapon as a single action. Her transformation into a dragon involves something between a flight and a leap, which led to the use of related skill feats and skill investment in this block. Thanks to Ancestral Paragon, Shyvana also gains two ancestry feats in this block. The first is Breath of the Dragon, giving her a fiery breath weapon to represent her Flame Breath and the second is Draconic Resistance since she is tends to wreathe herself in flames, which makes it seems likely that she has at least some resistance to it. Another new barbarian thing during this block is Furious Footfalls, which gives Shyvana an increase to her speed that increases when she rages.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Scouring Rage
o Skill Feat: Combat Climber
o Gear: +1 scalemail, handwraps of mighty (+1 striking), +1 striking klar, bracelet of dashing, lesser red-rib gill mask, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Gear: lesser grub gloves, +1 scalemail, bravery baldric (fleet), handwraps of mighty (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Sudden Leap
o Skill Feat: Rapid Mantel
o Gear: clawed bracers, energizing weapon rune, lesser dread armor rune, +1 scalemail, handwraps of mighty (+1 striking), +1 striking klar
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Formidable Breath
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient scalemail, clawed bracers, ash gown, lesser grub gloves, +1 striking klar, handwraps of mighty (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +2, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +2)
o Class Feat: Monk’s Flurry//Dual-Weapon Blitz
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient scalemail, flaming weapon rune, clawed bracers, +1 striking klar, handwraps of mighty (+1 striking)
When Shyvana uses Burnout, she surrounds herself in flames and barbarian very handily comes with a way to represent that – Scouring Rage. Unfortunately, this is just a brief flash of damage rather than an aura, but it works well enough for the concept. This build features Sudden Leap as a reference to the bounding charge that Shyvana makes when she turns into a dragon and also because I think it’s generally handy for a dragon hunter such as herself. If you went down the monk route, she takes Monk’s Flurry here to simulate Twin Bite though her Flurry of Blows, since it comes from an archetype, has a cooldown of 1d4 rounds. If you abstained from the monk route, she goes for Dual-Weapon Blitz, which packs three actions into two with a Stride and two Strikes at any point during that movement. This action efficiency, combined with her speed from Furious Footfalls, plays into the speed increase of her Burnout.
As for her skills, she’s grabbing more Athletics options here though Combat Climber might seem a weird one – but Shyv is the leader of Demacia’s Dragonguard, who defend against dragons and occasionally hunt them. And hunting them likely involves traveling up to their mountainous roosts only to be attacked by the soaring scalies, which this will help with. Nevertheless, she may get knocked off, but she can save herself with her Rapid Mantel skill feat. Finally, if she does fail to Grab and Edge and takes a tumble, she can get right back on her feet thanks to Kip Up rounding out those options for this block. For her general feat, she takes up Toughness to increase her survivability. With that being said, it might seem strange that she didn’t take up the Dragon’s Rage Breath from her barbarian feats. After all, that deals more damage than her Breath of the Dragon ancestry feat, right? Well, not anymore with Formidable Breath as her ancestry feat. This both increases the area her breath affects and ups all the damage die and in case you missed it earlier, Breath of the Dragon doesn’t actually have a cooldown – unlike the Dragon’s Rage Breath. This is a great improvement and a fantastic way to represent her Flame Breath.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Robust Health
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty (+2 striking), armbands of athleticism, bravery baldric (haste), +1 resilient scalemail, clawed bracers, ash gown
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Dragon’s Rage Wings
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Prowess
o Gear: +2 resilient scalemail, handwraps of mighty (+2 striking), instinct crown, armbands of athleticism, flaming weapon rune, brooch of inspiration
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition – Raging Intimidation
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient scalemail, gorget of the primal roar, instinct crown, armbands of athleticism, bravery baldric (haste)
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata – Dragon Roar//Impressive Landing
o Skill Feat: Lead Climber
o Gear: energy-adaptive armor rune, handwraps of mighty (+2 greater striking), moderate grub gloves, +2 resilient scalemail, instinct crown, greater demon mask
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +5.5, Dex +3, Con +4.5, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +3)
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient scalemail, energy-adaptive armor rune, hellfire boots, handwraps of mighty (+2 greater striking), gorget of the primal roar, bravery baldric (flight)
As a juggernaut, Shyvana is specifically designed with a dearth of mobility, which made me loath to take up Dragon’s Rage Wings. However, she needs it for an upcoming class feat that is important to the build and will take it up begrudgingly. Dragon Roar is a fun choice if Shyv is using the Monk Dedication, but on the chance that she’s not, she can make use of Impressive Landing with greater ease than most barbarians thanks to her Dragon’s Rage Wings. She can also use Natural Ambition to take up Raging Intimidation. While fear isn’t a part of her kit, it is commonly associated with dragons and is how the average citizen of Demacia tends to react to her. This lets her weaponize that a bit. This helps to represent the meager knockback and crowd control she generates with Dragon’s Descent though we have a bit more to get to before we can fully represent that. Lead Climber plays off of the skill feats we invested in for the last block while she also starts investing in Intimidation with the likes of Intimidating Prowess since she has started that dip with her ancestry feat. With her general feats, she takes up a new one from the Player Core 2 in the form of Robust Health. This lets her increase the health she regains when somebody uses Treat Wounds or Battle Medicine on her and reduces the cooldown of the latter. She also takes Fast Recovery so that she heals faster even without treatment from others.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Dragon Transformation
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Gear: greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient scalemail, soaring armor rune, energy-adaptive armor rune, handwraps of mighty (+2 greater striking), moderate grub gloves
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Lingering Breath
o Skill Feat: Scare to Death
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (legendary)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient scalemail, energy-adaptive armor rune, hellfire boots
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Impressive Landing//Two-Weapon Flurry
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: bracers of strength, handwraps of mighty (+3 greater striking), quickstrike weapon rune, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient scalemail, soaring armor rune
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient scalemail, bracers of strength, 17, handwraps of mighty (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, dragonscale amulet
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +6, Dex +4, Con +5, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha +3)
o Class Feat: Unstoppable Juggernaut
o Skill Feat: Aerobatics Mastery
o Gear: handwraps of mighty (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient scalemail, greater dread armor rune, bracers of strength, quickstrike weapon rune, greater ashen weapon rune
Finally, thanks to Dragon’s Rage Wings, Shyvana can take Dragon Transformation, which will allow her to more fully create the effects of her Dragon’s Descent. She can trigger this as a single action, meaning that she can then Fly at her enemies and perform an Impressive Landing or Sudden Leap to more fully recreate tis effects. If she doesn’t already have Impressive Landing, the time to take it is now, but if she does have it, she can grab Two-Weapon Flurry instead, letting her make two Strikes as a single action although only if she currently has a multiple attack penalty. Rounding out this build is Unstoppable Juggernaut, which is actually meant to resemble Shyv’s Fury of the Dragonborn. Her raging resistance helped to represent that previously, and was handy for its resistance against an energy and physical type of damage, but this gives her a more complete resistance to resemble her passive.
This block features a number of Intimidation based skill feats, including Scare to Death, which she gets just for increasing her Intimidation to legendary. She also slips in Cloud Jump so that she can jump almost as well as she can fly. Shyvana could have taken Form of the Dragon as her seventeenth level ancestry feat, but Lingering Breath is important for representing the way her Flame Breath lingers while she’s in dragon form. The persistent damage afflicts the creature rather than the ground, but this feels right and is the best way to cover it within her capabilities. At last, she takes up Fleet to increase her speed in reference to the enhanced movement speed provided by her Burnout.
MONK ARCHETYPE SHYVANA:
DUAL-WEAPON ARCHETYPE SHYVANA:
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Which way you went for this build determines what free archetype to start with, either taking up the monk or dual-weapon warrior archetype. From the former, she can use Qi Spells for the likes of inner upheaval or qi rush and then build into Elemental Fist to add fire damage to her Strikes. With the latter, she can take options such as Dual Onslaught and Flensing Slice. Through freed up class feats, she can take the likes of Acute Scent, Follow-Up Assault, and possibly Instinctive Strike.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Shyvana the Half-Dragon is a dragonblood human barbarian of the dragon instinct and the touched by Dahak background with each facet of her ABCs calling to mind her draconic nature. The barbarian class plays into her role as a juggernaut, featuring durability and damage thank to its high Hit Points and bonus damage from rage. She specifically seeks to represent her Fury of the Dragonborn initially through her raging resistances and eventually through her Unstoppable Juggernaut class feat. Much of Shyvana’s options can be covered in two separate ways that I struggled to settle on and therefore presented both. For example, Twin Bite can be explored by either taking a Monk Dedication and building up to Monk’s Flurry or wielding a klar with an agile weapon and taking the Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication and its Double Slice or Two-Weapon Flurry. Burnout surrounds Shyvana in flames, which she can do with Scouring Rage while recreating the speed boost from it through her Fleet and her class’s Furious Footsteps. The extra damage it adds to her attacks could come from her Rage itself. As for her Flame Breath, she has her Breath of the Dragon that is enhanced by Formidable Breath and Lingering Breath with the latter representing the scorching field leftover by her dragon form’s Flame Breath. She sacrifices the ancestral ability to turn into a dragon for this Lingering Breath, but can use Dragon Transformation as a barbarian to turn a dragon, as per her Dragon’s Descent. This ability also comes with a pounce and the knocking of enemies back, which she can recreate through Sudden Leap and Impressive Landing. As a leader of Demacia’s Dragonguard, she can lead her squad up mountains to hunt their hated foe thanks to her Combat Climber, Lead Climber, and Rapid Mantel. Shyvana draws upon her draconic might through her ancestry and class, dishing out might blows in the midst of her rage and weaving them together through her Flurry of Blows or Double Slice. Scouring Rage allows her to surround herself in flames to scorch enemies as she charges them with Fleet, Furious Footfalls, and Sudden Charge. Dragon Transformation lets her take on the full form of a dragon, leaving behind fields of flame with her Breath of the Dragon and Lingering Breath.
Dedicated to dueling dragons, this dauntless dame dares dangerous dens, defeats dastardly denizens with devastating damage, and even deigns to date dignitaries of distinction.
Let me know what you think and what other builds you would like to see.
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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