This is one of those builds that I've been ruminating on for a while after looking at some of the feats and that I'm happy to now share. Zac is a fun character from League and one of the few who, by personality alone, wouldn't be bad to meet. His almost cartoonish abilities seemed like a fun challenge to try and conquer, but I think I managed to capture the essence of most of them even if it takes a while for everything to come online.
ZAC, THE SECRET WEAPON
CHARACTER Zaun Amorphous Combatant
SOURCE League of Legends
GOAL A vanguard type champion from League of Legends, Zac is a tanky melee character wields his fists and ooze physiology to overcome the challenges he faces. Zac wields his fists in combat and survives combat by regaining HP mid-combat and avoiding death with Cell Division. He can grab a creature with Stretching Strikes and smash it into another if it hits another creature with it. Zac can use Unstable Matter to deal damage to all creatures around him while Elastic Slingshot lets him engage by firing himself into combat from a distance. Finally, Zac can use Let’s Bounce! to bounce upon enemies, damaging and slowing them. I think Zac’s lore may have changed since I played, but I’ll be running with what I know – he was created to be a weapon before a pair of scientists realized that he was sentient and took him in to raise as one of their own. Inspired by them, he sought to be a hero to Zaun to protect others like them.
LEVEL 1 The first thing we look at for any build is the same thing, our ABCs – ancestry, background, and class. Strange as this may seem, we’re going to take orc for our ancestry and then take the hold-scarred heritage. This gives us some extra starting HP and the Diehard general feat, making it so that we don’t die until we reach Dying 5. As an orc, we get an automatic boost to Strength and will take our free boost to Constitution. From our available ancestry feats, we take Orc Ferocity. Once per day as a reaction when we are reduced to 0 HP, we can use Orc Ferocity to stay at 1 HP but become wounded. This helps copy some of the effects of Cell Division.
Working with the idea that Zac was made to be a weapon, it’s in the name, martial disciple feels like a fitting background for him. The first boost once again goes to Strength while the free boost will again go to Constitution. We’ll become trained in Athletics as well as Warfare Lore and then receive Quick Jump for our skill feat, which feels fitting for Zac and his Elastic Slingshot.
Finally, we come to our class, which will be barbarian. This might seem a bit odd given that Zac is such a jolly fellow, second only to Braum, but I think we can flavor his rage more as a general excitement for battle. We will be taking the ape animal instinct, which grants us a 1d10 fist Strike with the grapple and unarmed traits. Part of Zac’s Stretching Strike is grabbing people, so this helps with that a little bit. As a barbarian, we get a boost to Strength, followed by four more boosts, which will go to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 18, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12). Normally we would be automatically trained in Athletics as a barbarian, but since we were already trained in that from our background, we’ll become trained in Society instead. We will also become trained in Acrobatics, Diplomacy, and Medicine. For our class feat, we’ll pick up Sudden Charge, which lets us take two actions to Stride twice and then make a Strike. This helps create the effects of Zac’s Elastic Slingshot, allowing us to move quickly into combat and deal some damage.
LEVEL 2 Zac is gonna be pushing, pulling, and grabbing all sorts of creatures, so to help with that, we take the Titan Wrestler skill feat. Then to get Zac’s slime body, we’ll go into the Oozemorph Dedication, which will make us trained in Occultism and Ooze Lore. It also makes us better at escaping being engulfed, but unfortunately inflicts a penalty on Diplomacy checks despite Zac being as friendly as he is.
Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3 The first skill increase we get will go to Athletics so that we achieve expert proficiency in it. We’ll also take Toughness for our general feat so that we can have even more HP – a staple of Zac.
Gear: +1 handwraps of mighty blows, ring of discretion, everburning torch
LEVEL 4 With the Powerful Leap skill feat, we can launch ourselves even further when we leap now, which could help with a more direct translation of Elastic Slingshot. Dipping into our oozemorph archetype, we’ll take Disturbing Defense to gain resistance to precision damage and makes it easier to recover from persistent bleed damage. This serves to make Zac tankier, which is always a good step to take for him.
Gear: bracers of missile deflection, +1 handwraps of mighty blows, hat of disguise, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5 These four ability boosts will go to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 19, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14). Since Zac is such an affable sort, we’ll use this skill increase to achieve expert proficiency in Diplomacy. The Victorious Vigor is an ancestry feat that somewhat nets us another part of Cell Division, allowing us to gain temporary HP when we down a foe as a reaction. This helps us get an effect similar to Zac picking up the goop he leaves behind when he damages a creature with an ability.
Gear: +1 striking handwraps of mighty blows, bracers of missile deflection, channel protection amulet, hat of disguise, everburning torch, ring of discretion
LEVEL 6 To help Zac keep himself alive and well in combat, as well as kinda help with the idea of Cell Division, we’ll pick up Battle Medicine for our skill feat. Since Zac doesn’t actually wear armor, being a big goopy boy, we can take the Animal Skin class feat, which improves our unarmored AC prematurely and bumps up our AC while we rage.
Gear: +1 explorer’s clothes, +1 striking handwraps of mighty blows, belt of good health, bracers of missile deflection, hat of disguise, brooch of shielding
LEVEL 7 Since we can now reach master proficiency in our skills, we’ll be doing just that with Athletics. For general feats, we look towards Fleet as this allows us to jump even farther since we are limited by the extent of our Speed.
Gear: ring of the ram, +1 explorer’s clothing, stalwart’s ring, +1 striking handwraps of mighty blows, bracers of missile deflection, channel protection amulet
LEVEL 8 As an inhabitant of Zaun, I’m gonna make the argument for Zac to have Streetwise, allowing him to Gather Information and Recall Knowledge with Society. The Thrash barbarian feat allows us to knock around a creature we have grabbed to damage them, which might not seem to immediately correlate to any of Zac’s abilities, but will help us out further down the line.
Gear: boots of bounding, ring of the ram, ring of energy resistance (acid), +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking handwraps of mighty blows, belt of good health
LEVEL 9 To further demonstrate Zac’s friendly nature, we’ll take another skill increase to Diplomacy, giving us master proficiency in it. Iron Fists help Zac deal damage more proficiently even when he’s not raging as it replaces the nonlethal trait with the shove trait.
Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of bounding, ring of sustenance, ring of the ram, stalwart’s ring, +1 striking handwraps of mighty blows
LEVEL 10 Once again, we’ll be applying these ability boosts to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 20, Dex 16, Con 19, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16). Zaun is a bunch of cluttered buildings and I assume Zac has learned to navigate it fairly well – so we’ll be taking Combat Climber. This allows Zac to fight better even when climbing. We’ll look towards Oozemorph Dedication once again to take Rubbery Skin though there’s a bunch of really good feats at this level for Zac. This serves to make him even tankier, even giving him resistance against bludgeoning damage.
Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, corrosive weapon rune, boots of bounding, ring of the ram, +1 striking handwraps of mighty blows
LEVEL 11 To work with our Streetwise skill feat, we’ll use this skill increase to pump up Society to expert proficiency. We get another general feat and as none really jump out at me, I like taking Adopted Ancestry (Human), which is mostly for flavor purposes as Zac was taken in by a pair of human scientists that raised him.
Gear: +2 striking handwraps of mighty blows, armbands of athleticism, greater bracers of missile deflection, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of bounding, ring of sustenance
LEVEL 12 For this skill feat, we’ll take Cat Fall so that we take less damage when we fall. This might seem a bit odd, but I’m grabbing it for the following feat. We’re going to be taking a 10th level barbarian feat at this level – Impressive Landing. This really helps capture the feel of both Elastic Slingshot and Let’s Bounce as we can deal damage whenever we fall 10 feet and land on a solid surface. Unfortunately, this is another reaction, meaning we’ll only be doing it once per round and we’ll have to put some thought before using it as we won’t be able to use Orc Ferocity or Victorious Vigor in the same round.
Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, +2 striking handwraps of mighty blows, greater choker of elocution, armbands of athleticism, corrosive weapon rune, energy-resistant armor rune (acid)
LEVEL 13 To help with Zac’s ability to patch himself up, whether it be in battle or after, we’ll pump Medicine up to expert proficiency. Then we’ll use Incredible Ferocity for our ancestry feat so that we can now use Orc Ferocity once per hour instead of once per day.
Gear: +2 greater striking handwraps of mighty blows, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, bag of holding (type III), greater choker of elocution, armbands of athleticism, greater bracers of missile deflection
LEVEL 14 I originally had this swapped with Cat Fall but decided to move that up so that we could get it the same time as Impressive Landing. So now we’ll be taking Rapid Mantel, allowing us to use Athletics to Grab an Edge and pull ourself back up as part of the reaction. We also get to grab Whirlwind Strike, which allows us to Strike every creature within our reach, mimicking the effects of Unstable Matter.
Gear: greater ring of the ram, +2 greater striking handwraps of mighty blows, ring of climbing, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater choker of elocution, armbands of athleticism
LEVEL 15 We’ll plug these ability boosts into Strength, Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma (Str 21, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 18). At 15th level, we’re able to increase skills to legendary proficiency. The first skill to get that treatment will be Athletics. As a vanguard type character, Zac is often leading the charge into battle, so we’ll take Incredible Initiative to help him get into the thick of it quicker.
Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater ring of the ram, bag of holding (type IV), +2 greater striking handwraps of mighty blows, greater insistent door knocker, greater choker of elocution
LEVEL 16 With a legendary proficiency in Athletics, we can pick up Cloud Jump so that we can leap impossible distances and make better use of Impressive Landing instead of needing to drop from a higher place to use it. Another important feat we’re gonna be picking up at this point is Collateral Thrash. This builds from Thrash and allows us to smack our grappled creature into another, damaging both of them and getting us a good means of replicating Stretching Strikes.
Gear: greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater boots of bounding, greater ring of the ram, +2 greater striking handwraps of mighty blows, ring of climbing
LEVEL 17 To help mitigate the penalty Zac is taking to Diplomacy from his archetype, we’ll put this skill increase towards Diplomacy and achieve legendary proficiency in it. I swear I am not taking Bounce Back as an ancestry feat solely for the pun, even if it’s a good one, but it also makes it easier for Zac to come back from Dying, not increasing his Wounded value when he does so once per day. That feels appropriate for him.
Gear: +3 greater striking handwraps of mighty blows, greater corrosive weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater ring of the ram, bag of holding (type IV)
LEVEL 18 Legendary Negotiation doesn’t exactly fit Zac, but we have legendary proficiency in Diplomacy, so we might as well grab it. We can grab Furious Bully so that we become better at grabbing creatures and using other maneuvers with Athletics.
Gear: belt of giant’s strength, +3 greater striking handwraps of mighty blows, speed weapon rune, greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, major ring of energy resistance (acid)
LEVEL 19 This skill increase will bump Society up to master proficiency. Our last general feat is going to be Fast Recovery so that we regain HP from resting faster and recover from diseases and poisons better.
Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, belt of giant’s strength, major insistent door knocker, +3 greater striking handwraps of mighty blows, greater corrosive weapon rune, dragonscale amulet
LEVEL 20 Our final set of ability boosts will go to Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom (Str 22, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 18). This increased Intelligence will make us trained in Crafting and give us another language. I feel like Zac has made some friends upon the streets of Zaun, whether through his gregarious nature or the people he’s saved, giving him access to an Underground Network, so that we can Gather Information more furtively. Our final class feat is gonna be from our Oozemorph Dedcation again as none of the 20th level barbarian feats really felt good for him. Peculiar Anatomy gives us a bonus on saves against diseases and poisons as well as resistance to poison damage. It also improves the effects of both Distrubing Defense and Rubbery Skin. The mix of added tankiness and further delving into Zac’s ooze physiology feels better than any of the barbarian feats did to me.
Gear: +3 major striking handwraps of mighty blows, +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, major insistent door knocker, belt of giant’s strength, speed weapon rune, greater corrosive weapon rune
CONCLUSION And with that, we have built the slimy best boy of League! With this build, Zac is a capable unarmed combatant who has little need for armor. While Zac isn’t exactly fueled by anger and fury, the other aspects of it are a good fit and I think it can be played as Zac’s excitement as he flies into battle. Cell Division is covered by multiple feats and stuff due to it being a multi-faceted ability. In particular, we use Orc Ferocity and some of the feats that build off of it for the ability to return from near-death situations while Victorious Vigor and other healing abilities replicate the other part of it. Stretching Strike is covered by our animal instincts with the Strike’s grapple trait and the Collateral Thrash feat. We can achieve the effects of Unstable Matter with Whirlwind Strike as it allows us to hit everything around us. For Elastic Slingshot, we have a couple options to mimic its effect such as Sudden Charge, our jumping capabilities, and Impressive Landing. That same feat helps us capture the effects of Let’s Bounce! though we don’t quite capture the same number of bounces that Zac can.
Lemme know what you think of the build! Does it work? Does it capture the feel of the character? What would you change about it? Is it something you’d like to play? What other characters would you like to see for Full Build Friday?
As a fun aside, this build ended up having the highest HP I've any build I've done so far, beating out the former champ Sion by a whopping 2 points.
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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