Full Build Friday - Yunara, the Unbroken Faith
- bjacobt1
- 3 days ago
- 15 min read
Usually, when a new character releases in League, I'll try to have my build ready to go for that week. However, last week was a rebuild, so I wanted to post that first, which means that I'm playing catch up this week. 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.
Votes are in! The next remastered build will be Graves from LoL. But for this build, do me a favor and check out the video or share it with somebody who you think would appreciate it.
Let's get into the build for Yunara, the Unbroken Faith from League of Legends!
YUNARA, THE UNBROKEN FAITH
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o Yunara is an ancient warrior from a very spiritual land. She fought god-like beings before she became trapped in the Spirit Realm only to return in modern times
o Member of the Kinkou Order, a group of ninjas dedicated to maintaining the balance of the material and spiritual realm
o In-game, she’s a ranged marksman that fights using martial arts to control floating metal balls called Aion Er’na
o Through Vow of the First Lands, her crits deal extra magic damage that scales with her ability power
o Her Cultivation of Spirit passively adds some extra magic damage to her standard attacks, but she can activate this for extra attack speed, even more damage, and some splash damage for a brief period
o Typically, her Arc of Judgment launches a group of swirling beads to an area to damage and slow enemies. While transcended, this becomes Arc of Ruin and afflicts a line with greater effect
o She can follow in Kanmei’s Steps to gain a ghosting effect and movement speed. While transcended, this ability becomes a dash called Untouchable Shadow
o Her ultimate is Transcend One’s Self, which transforms some of her spells and puts her in the Cultivation of Spirit state for the duration of this effect
Summary of Goals: While Yunara is a physical warrior, she possesses a strong, spiritual side and fights by infusing magic into stony beads that she launches from afar. She has several effects that allow her to enter an empowered state, with a particularly potent one that enhances her normal abilities and allows her to strike stronger and faster as she springs about the battlefield.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Celestial Envoy Kitsune
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Charisma, +Dexterity
o Ancestry Feat: Foxfire
Background: Warded by Kami
o Ability Boosts: +Intelligence, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Occultism (T), Spirit Lore (T)
Class & Subclass: Starlit Span Magus
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Arcana (T), Athletics (T), Nature (T), Religion (T)
o Spellbook: Cantrips - needle darts, warp step; 1st - bramble bush, horizon thunder sphere
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +1, Dex +4, Con +0, Int +2, Wis +1, Cha +1)
While I have no problem using the human ancestry, I do like to use other options when I can to show off the full extent of the options available in Pathfinder Second Edition. Case in point, I initially built Yunara as a human but had some issues with it, so I went back and reworked her into being a kitsune. The celestial envoy heritage touches upon her connection to the spiritual realm whereas Foxfire gives her an innate ranged unarmed attack, which will be used to resemble her Aion Er’na and is a huge boon to her function, as we’ll see more when we get into her class. For her sheltering in the spiritual realm that preserved and protected her, I liked the Warded by Kami background the best, which doesn’t have a feat featured with it, but does provide Yunara with some restorative capabilities. After some serious debated, I landed on the magus class but I had to make sure that Yunara could be a ranged combatant. This required me to use the starlit span hybrid study, which allows Yunara to Spellstrike with ranged weapons or ranged unarmed attacks. This means that she can Spellstrike at range with her Foxfire though she still doesn’t really benefit from Arcane Cascade since it only affects melee attacks. As a magus, she doesn’t gain a class feat at first level but instead gets some spells. I started with needle darts as something to take the full advantage of her Spellstrike class feature with the idea that she might be able to use unique metals to fight against the fiends that she commonly faces. Warp step is meant to call to mind her Kanmei’s Steps though we’ll find a better option for that down the line. Horizon thunder sphere is another attack spell that could make a bit of an area burst akin to her Arc of Judgment though she wouldn’t be able to Spellstrike with it in that state. Alternatively, her bramble bush creates a small area that deals damage and creates difficult terrain - again, resembling her Arc of Judgment.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Expansive Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Occultism (E)
o Spellbook: 2nd - exploding earth, flame wisp
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+1), psychopomp mask, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Force Fang
o Skill Feat: Aura Sight
o Gear: clay sphere, handwraps of mighty blow (+1), Jack’s tattered cape, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +2, Dex +4.5, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +2, Cha +1)
o Ancestry Feat: Star Orb
o Skill Increase: Athletics (E), Society (T)
o Spellbook: 3rd - echo jump, lightning bolt
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, clay sphere, necklace of knives, ring of discretion, psychopomp mask
To represent some of her abilities, Yunara will be taking a few area effect spells, and to make the most of them, I have her taking Expansive Spellstrike as her first class feat. A simple and straightforward pick. While I have friends that dislike it, I ended up using Force Fang to give her another focus spell that is guaranteed to hit, resembling the way that auto attacks in League of Legends always hit. Somewhat prematurely, Yunara takes Quick Jump to resemble the dash of her Untouchable Shadow and has Fleet so that she can jump farther and run farther even outside of that - per her Kanmei’s Steps. Given her attachment to the spiritual realm, I wanted to use Aura Sight as a skill feat to help represent that. The Star Orb ancestry feat can help visually represent the Aion Er’na that fly behind her though she will need to add the flier familiar ability to it and doesn’t really benefit from the Innate Surge yet.
Through her spells, we have some picks such as exploding earth, which features some decent splash damage to resemble the spread of damage from when she activates her Cultivation of Spirit. Notably, this is why she keeps her Intelligence as high as she does - it is purely mechanical and entirely done so that she can make the most use out of spells like these. I’m glad that they remastered the magus that they can simply Spellstrike with save-based spells, but I wish there was at least something like ‘on a critical hit, the creature gets a -2 status bonus on their save against your spell’ or just put some more spell attacks back in there. That’s honestly the biggest crime - just how much they stripped away from the magus. Anyway, we’re looking for some more buffing options or at least other ways to increase the ‘magic damage’ of her attacks, and flame wisps is an excellent option there. Echo jump provides her with a slightly more potent means of producing her Untouchable Shadow and lightning bolt is a series of line effects that will be used to replicate her Arc of Ruin. Haste is another good option in this block based on the increased attack speed of Cultivation of Spirit, but we will have another way of covering that later.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Monk Dedication
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Skill Increase: Stealth (T)
o Gear: +1 leather, handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking), wand of crushing leaps, clay sphere, necklace of knives, Jack’s tattered cape
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Occultism (M)
o Spellbook: 4th - chromatic ray, draw the lightning
o Gear: endless grimoire, +1 leather, lesser boots of free running, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, clay sphere
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Basic Kata - Qi Spells - qi rush
o Skill Feat: Consult the Spirits
o Gear: spellstriker staff, endless grimoire, spiritsight ring, +1 leather, handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking), wand of crushing leaps
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Fox Arson
o Skill Increase: Athletics (M)
o Spellbook: 5th - flame dancer
o Gear: +1 resilient leather, spellstriker staff, ring of wizardry (type I), endless grimoire, lesser boots of free running, handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +3, Dex +5, Con +0, Int +4, Wis +3, Cha +1)
o Class Feat: Meteoric Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Break Curse
o Skill Increase: Survival (T)
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient gi, shock weapon rune, spellstriker staff, endless grimoire, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
While she doesn’t get much out of it initially, a Monk Dedication is a good grab on the build that feels appropriate. A bonus to it is that she’ll be able to go down the line of Basic Kata until she gets to qi rush, which is perhaps my favorite spell to cover ghosting effects of Kanmei’s Steps. Technically, Tumbling Through better enables the whole passing through units effect, but that’s simply an action that anybody can take and will be covered through her Acrobatics investment, which we’ll be getting into during the next block. Meteoric Spellstrike is a unique option for the starlit span magus, and one that I think could be another option for Arc of Ruin since it produces another line effect. On the skill side of things, Powerful Leap will allow her to leap and bound further, giving her a longer dash for Untouchable Shadow before she gets more esoteric and a little more lore-based with the likes of Consult the Spirits and Break Curse. The latter is generally handy, but I think the former better suits the character especially after all the time that she spent in the Spirit Realm. Feather Step aids in her ability to move and maneuver about the battlefield, which I might be focusing on too much but does feel important for her kit. I settled on Fox Arson for her ancestry solely so that she can get more out of her Foxfire, setting people on fire. And you can maybe imagine the way that she can make it leap about similar to the splash of her Cultivation of Spirit.
I want this build to have a heavy focus on buffing effects because three of her abilities honestly are some sort of buffing effect. Cultivation of Spirit enhances her attack, Kanmei’s Steps enhances her mobility, and Transcend One’s Self enhances everything. This block does feature her gaining Studious Spells, which are handy for that but are generally a bit more utility based rather than directly buffing, so we need other spells as well. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite find a way to work heroism into her build - you’d think there’d be at least one nephilim feat that would offer it - so we’ll have to rely on some other options. Draw the lightning and flame dancer both enhance her attacks specifically and I honestly think they’d be funny to stack, but we haven’t quite reached the point where she can get the full benefit of flame dancer. Keeping in mind that the magus can simply learn spells, I’d skip taking it for now with the intent of including it later, but for the sake of the build, I wanted to mention now. I’ll also give a quick mention to chromatic ray because of how hard it is to find higher level spells that are actually spell attacks that she can twine into her Spellstrike.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+2 striking), armbands of athleticism, greater pendant of the occult, +1 resilient gi, spellstriker staff, ring of wizardry (type I)
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Monk Moves
o Skill Feat: Water Sprint
o Gear: +2 resilient gi, handwraps of mighty blow (+2 striking), greater endless grimoire, armbands of athleticism, shock weapon rune, umbral wings
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Killing Stone
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M)
o Spellbook: 7th - telekinetic bombardment
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient gi, greater spellstriker staff, greater endless grimoire, armbands of athleticism, greater pendant of the occult
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Hasted Assault
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Gear: propulsive boots, handwraps of mighty blow (+2 greater striking), ring of wizardry (type III), +2 resilient gi, greater endless grimoire, sash of prowess
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence (Str +4, Dex +5.5, Con +1, Int +4.5, Wis +3, Cha +1)
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Occultism (L)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient gi, propulsive boots, greater ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blow (+2 greater striking), master magus ring, greater spellstriker staff
These class feats are all about Speed. At a Dexterity of +5, Yunara can start wearing explorer’s clothes or a gi inscribed with runes, neither of which count as armor. This means that she can take advantage of Monk Moves so that she can dart in and out of combat with greater ease. This will also make the classic practice of kiting much easier! Further aiding that is Hasted Assault, providing her with a focus spell of the same name, which isn’t quite as good as proper haste but has a whole slew of benefits. It recharges her Spellstrike, is only a single action to cast, and the resource to use it can be relatively easy to regain. Somewhat unintentionally, her skill feats also have a focus on speed with Water Sprint demonstrating that she’s fast enough to run across water and Kip Up saving her actions whenever she gets knocked prone. Even Incredible Initiative as her general feat just helps her act faster. Sadly, the theme starts to fall apart a bit after that with Toughness just helping to ensure that she survives the fight. Killing Stone is similarly out of place, but she’ll use it to finally gain an innate spell that she can use her familiar’s Innate Surge on, which she previously lacked. There aren’t a ton of spells here that stand out to me, so I’d keep an eye out for more buffing options and maybe slip in telekinetic bombardment as another line effect in the spirit of Arc of Ruin.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata - Wild Winds Initiate
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Gear: greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient gi, major endless grimoire, propulsive boots, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), ring of wizardry (type III)
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Kitsune Spell Mysteries
o Skill Increase: Athletics (L)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater thundering weapon rune, greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient gi, propulsive boots, greater ring of the ram
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Cantrip Expansion
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: cloak of swiftness, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), major spellstriker staff, greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient gi, major endless grimoire
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Canny Acumen - Reflex
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient gi, cloak of swiftness, greater impactful weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater thunderblast slippers, greater shock weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +6, Con +1, Int +5, Wis +4, Cha +2)
o Class Feat: Supreme Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Bizarre Magic
o Skill Increase: Medicine (T)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient gi, true endless grimoire, cloak of swiftness, greater ashen weapon rune, major spellstriker staff
I initially considered monk for this build and the entire purpose behind that was because of the Wild Winds Initiate feat. This will allow her to enter a stance that grants her ranged unarmed attacks, which I think might be the best way to represent her Aion Er’na though they’ll probably still have to be flavored as the metal spheres. However, the agile trait of this effect does better facilitate spells such as hasted assault with the drawback to this option being the fact that it is a focus spell. However, it works with flame dancer, draw the lightning, and flame wisp, which sounds fun to stack up on a single character. Finally moving onto other class feats for the block, Cantrip Expansion is a super early level feat, available as early as second level, but it honestly works wonders on the magus with spell attacks being so rare later into the game while having a decent abundance among cantrips. She ends on Supreme Spellstrike to become permanently quickened, which could let her go back and retrain Hasted Assault as that won’t do much more for her. Wall Jump just feels right for a character such as her, being a highly capable monk with some esoteric leanings. Cloud Jump is similarly themed while Bizarre Magic is based off of how old she and her practices are compared to the modern era. She picks up a few more innate spells – well, actually just one spell that she can swap out on a daily basis – through Kitsune Spell Mysteries, and then to close out on her feat choices, Canny Acumen for Reflexes simply feels right for a lithe and nimble character like her. I do wish that some of the classes that can choose between Strength and Dexterity could option between advancing Fortitude or Reflex but I can also understand why they don’t. Unfortunately, there aren’t many spell attacks to mention in this block and I was struggling to find buffing options that suit her on her list.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: A free archetype game would make it easier for Yunara to pick up more of her magus feats, mainly looking for options that enhance her spell options or help with her focus point, but another aspect of it, is that it could allow her to archetype into another casting class. She’d mainly be looking for spellcasting archetypes that she would entirely use for buffing spells and the like. Because of this, she doesn’t need something that uses her Intelligence, and she can instead shop around for whatever will best suit this design. Occult and divine both have access to heroism and plenty of other bolstering effects for Yunara to make use of, whereas it feels as though many of the primal buffing effects tend to be accessible through the arcane spell list as well. Notably, the occult spell list does also have access to flame dancer, so that’s not a bad one!
BUILD CONCLUSION
Yunara, the Unbroken Faith is a celestial envoy kitsune magus with a starlit span hybrid study and a Warded by Kami background. The intent is for this to represent her history in the spiritual realm, which she further explores through her association with feats such as Aura Sight and Consult the Spirits. Her magus class itself explores her more martial side with starlit span letting her launch magically infused Strikes from afar. For these attacks with her Aion Er'na, we'll start by relying on her Foxfire ancestry feat before eventually switching to wind crash unarmed Strikes, which function just a bit better. When it comes to her actual abilities and representing them, the magus is going to rely on Spellstriking with cantrips to create the passive effects of both her Vow of the First Lands and her Cultivation of Spirit. Haste or hasted assault provide her with the extra attack speed from activating the latter of these two abilities whereas her splash damage will come from launching exploding earth Spellstrikes. She can create the damaging and slowing effects of her Arc of Judgment with bramble bush of all things, but there are likely similar spells that can fill this effect - just as there are many line spells that fit her Arc of Ruin, such as lightning bolt, telekinetic bombardment, and the Meteoric Spellstrike feat. Delving into the monk gives us the speed increase for Kanmei's Steps and also lets her grab qi rush, but for actually passing through people, she'll have to take advantage of her high Acrobatics and just Tumble Through them. The dash of her Untouchable Shadow could be covered by Quick Jump and the related jumping feats, but I also made sure to grab some spells that facilitate it as well as echo jump. This leaves her Transcend One's Self, which mainly changes her abilities and extends her buffs, all things that we've covered already. I would keep on the lookout for buffing spells such as those already mentioned throughout this build and use them to supercharge Yunara.
This stone-slinging spiritualist sends spells spiraling into stertorous suspects whilst super sizing on substantial self-support until her strikes shake snow-shrouded sierras and split the seething seas.
Please let me know what you think and what other builds you'd like to see!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and a YouTube channel filled with video formats of these blog posts. I swapped up my build for next week, and I'm sure that she would prefer to surprise you all than have me let you take a peek under the mask!
Have a fantastic Friday!
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