Created by Gold Zephzellian

So, you want to play Ishanekon: World Shapers, but don’t know what Sub-Archetype(s) to pick? That’s where I (hopefully) come in! This guide will help guide you through what to expect from my guides, and will also include a list of all of ‘em at the end! I hope you enjoy.

Rating System

Unlike other guides, my guide is less focused on optimization, and more focused on synergies and ways you can use each Sub-Archetype to its full potential.

However, I still use a Rating System, primarily to determine the potential of Sub-Archetypes in different categories. I will define the categories shortly, but for now, I use a 5 Star rating system to determine how good a Sub-Archetypes is at performing a certain role, alongside their starting Archetype. I rank them as such:

★☆☆☆☆ – Nothing/Insufficient. This Sub-Archetype/Archetype baseline has nothing to support this role. Outside support will be necessary to do so. This is rare, as most Archetypes usually offer a little support in each category.

★★☆☆☆ – Poor. This Sub-Archetype/Archetype baseline CAN perform this role, but isn’t very good at it. Consider this more of a “bonus” than a proper fulfillment of the role, but outside support can help this go higher.

★★★☆☆ – Okay. This Sub-Archetype/Archetype baseline can perform the role to an alright degree. It may not be the best option, but it can do it! Support can help this part of a Sub-Archetype/Archetype combo shine. Good for side roles.

★★★★☆– Good. This Sub-Archetype/Archetype baseline can admirably perform the role at a competent level without needing too much support. Great for side roles, good for main roles.

★★★★★ – Great. This Sub-Archetype/Archetype baseline is one of the best at the role, capable of doing it better than most. Great for main roles.

★★★★★★ – Amazing. The rarest rating, 6 Stars breaks the system and defines a Sub-Archetype that’s the best at what it does. Reserved for one Sub-Archetype/Archetype baseline per category. Amazing for main roles. Note that Great can still be just as useful as this; this isn’t the be all and end all.

★★★★★– Varies. Sometimes, a Sub-Archetype encourages a style of play that can vary wildly depending on what choices you make or the current situation. This score will represent situations like that. Expect Transformation, Summon, and other similarly flexible Sub-Archetypes to end up with a number of these scores.

Statistics Categories

With these ratings, I defined various statistics categories I’ll rank each Sub-Archetype in. These are inspired by FFRPG 4e’s Rank System of defining that system’s class power levels in each category, which I thought would be a good thing to rank by. All of these (except the first one) are divided into three categories, which will also be defined. A higher category level will ALWAYS be ranked by the highest of the three categories (with some exceptions)

Ease of Use – Easily the most unique of the bunch, Ease of Use defies the usual rating system, instead rating based on how easy the Sub-Archetype is. A higher star rating shows that a Sub-Archetype is easier to use, while a lower star rating means it requires more effort to use properly. Ease of Use does NOT define power by any stretch; simpler Sub-Archetype can ABSOLUTELY punch at a higher weight class.

Offensive Ability – This is how good a Sub-Archetype is at killing or otherwise crippling enemy targets.

Single Target – How good the Sub-Archetype is at dealing damage to a single target.
AOE – How good the Sub-Archetype is at affecting multiple targets at a time.
Disabling – How good the Sub-Archetype is at restricting the ability of the foe to act as effectively.

Defense – How good is the Sub-Archetype at keeping themselves (and perhaps their allies?) alive.

Passive Defense – How good are your defensive options without any active intervention on your part?
Active Defense – How good are your defensive options with active intervention on your part?
Healing – How good are you at healing yourself (and maybe others?)

Support – How good is the Sub-Archetype at supporting themselves or their allies by any various means?

Offensive Support – How good is the Sub-Archetype at enhancing the Offensive Ability of itself and/or its team members?
Defensive Support – How good is the Sub-Archetype at enhancing the Defenses of itself and/or its team members?
Miscellaneous Support – How good is the Sub-Archetype at enhancing the other abilities of itself and/or its team members?

Skills – How good is the Sub-Archetype at performing Skill-related utility?

Social – How good is the Sub-Archetype at talking to people?
Physical – How good is the Sub-Archetype at performing various physical activities?
Mental – How good is the Sub-Archetype at performing various mental activities?

Other Information in Guides

The rest of my guides are (hopefully) pretty self-explanatory, but I do go over a few things I want to bring up here for clarity.

First, I make use of this box in all my reviews:

Use this Sub-Archetype if you want to…

– Good Thing 1
– Good Thing 2
– Good Thing 3

Consider avoiding this Sub-Archetype if…

– Bad Thing 1
– Bad Thing 2
– Bad Thing 3

This box, inspired by Dustloop’s character recommendation bios, are built as a tool to help tell you what is good and what is not so good about a Sub-Archetype to help you make an educated decision on whether to choose it or not.

Secondly, whenever I go over each Feature’s effects, I:

List its effects as written
Write a summary of what it does for you in a basic fashion (good as a TLDR)
Then, finally, I go in depth on how it works and what it does for you by itself.

The next section in each review goes over each Sub-Archetype’s various Synergies and related Tips to keep in mind.

For Synergies, keep in mind that while other Sub-Archetypes can serve as a great, common type of synergy, I may also bring up relevant Talent, Upgrade, Archetype, or even Trait related benefits that work well with the Sub-Archetype.

For Tips, I will generally go over less immediately obvious parts of the Sub-Archetype or remind you of core parts that you should keep in mind.

Finally, I will cover a basic build of the Sub-Archetype, and then a more experimental version. Additionally, you can submit builds to me on discord, and if you do, I might include them in the guide if they help showcase a part of the Sub-Archetype.

Conclusion

…and with that, I think you have all the information you need to consume my guides! If you have any further questions, feel free to message me on Discord at goldzephzellian. I’d be happy to answer them. Below, I have left a list including a link to every Sub-Archetype Guide I’ve currently done. Just click on the Sub-Archetype Name! With that… enjoy!

Sub-Archetype Guide List

Bulwark

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Hero	A hero that grows in strength the harder the fights are.
Shield Master	A Shield expert who is capable in both offense and defense, Defending and Attacking all at once!

Creative

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Copycat	An unorthodox Sub-Archetype focused around copying Abilities for your use in exchange for losing all level-up Abilities.
Artist	The Ability Generalist to end all Ability Generalists, with a general toolkit good for casting all Abilities.

Cunning

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Swashbuckler	A speed demon of a multi-attacker with basic, but satisfying resource management in *Momentum*.
Rogue	A critical hit and advantage specialist with immensely high damage potential… if you can make it consistent enough.

Demolition

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Anarchist	A consumable crafter focused around making consumables for quick and cheap, at the cost of them eventually expiring.
Chemist	A Crowd-Control GOD who suffocates space with their signature Clouds.

Mental

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Evoker	A straightforward Damage Ability user with very high consistency.
Alter Ego	A highly unique Transformer that sacrifices versatility for a powerful Boss Transformation.

Nature

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Shifter	The most straightforward Transform Ability sub-archetype, excelling at making your transformations faster, more durable, and more powerful all around.
Ranger	A status and debuff weapon attacker with a focus on persistent, accurate application on a single target.
Shaman	A versatile Sub-Archetype focused around enhancing the effects of Weapon Buffs, allowing them to serve additional utility other than damage.

Reality

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Anomaly	Embrace the chaos as Anomaly occasionally grants a powerful, fully upcasted Ability at no cost.
Cartoon	A funny little guy with the ability to break the laws of physics for many purposes!

Technology

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Battle-Engineer	A hybrid Ability/Weapon attacker focused around *Weapon Charges*, a powerful source of extra damage for Weapon attacks gained from using Abilities. Also has quite good bulk.
Mad Doctor	The strongest healer in the game, with some difficult to swallow downsides to match.

Unarmed

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Wrestler	Be a hero of the people with multi-faceted offense and control, alongside being able to tough out a lot of things with relative ease!
Bodybuilder	An Armor-based defensive monster who turns Clothes into one of the best Armor options in the game.

War

Sub-Archetype Name	Summary
Warrior	A straightforward, but effective Weapon attacker with good damage output and survivability.
Gladiator	A master of the Weapon Style Talents, capable of bringing the best out of each style.
Leader	A WP-free support option with a wide range of flexibility on how you want to go about supporting.