Their powers are so dependent on your other final so they need some commentary. I think utility/offense is ABSOLUTELY the best major/minor. Air sucks ass with the low playerbase, you give up SO much for only having a few people to hunt as opposed to previously maybe having 10-12 enemies on the ground for so many opportunity kills. Defense forms are so bad that it’s insane... if you don’t get porc or pachy then youre screwed unless you wanted Dillo for group stuff. So anyways I’ll just give commentary...
—- The Never Re-rolls —-
1A) Cheetah - It used to be a quest form for a reason. Tendonslash is super helpful for chasing, along with having run you can go into every fight with resilience or resolve instead of stride. Pounce will always net kills, skill/spell evasion helps a lot while full ABS. It’s an absolute must to have +12 dex from gear/haste (People gear +hp too much on shifters) to keep the form shining. Dream pairings here are fox/wildcat/howler/rhino/and silverback. Cheetah is so amazing that you want pure utility or reliable lag. Fox will let you attack hiders then switch. Wildcat let’s you scout for opportunity kills and you don’t break hide with slyness. Howler for deafen/pounce mages. Rhino for impale to go with tendonslash and trample lag. Silverback for facesmash lag and beef.
1B) Howler Monkey - I went into my reason in the above post. This form is the shit now. It has skill/spell evasion now too. The only thing I truly missed having was danger sense.
2A) Orangutan - This form is kind of a case of Grizzly Bear vs Wolverine. It’s just a worse version of howler monkey now. I’d much rather have nap/deafen/better dodge/ and skill/spell evasion over brachiation/forest blend/and dangersense. Doesn’t change that it’s still a killer form with cranial lag though.
2B) Wildcat - An awesome form if you’re a utility major that used to be kind of the golden jaguar of the utility focus. If you get this and you’re not a utility major then it’s a reroll because you break hide when you walk if you don’t have slyness of the fox. Otherwise you can camo/hide and roam EVERYWHERE. It’s honestly the best scout in the game aside from a duo transmuter. It’s forest tracking is broken and doesn’t work but it still doesn’t matter. Amazing form with very commendable melee output considering what it can do. Extra fun if you got camel for blind to go with your swipe. But there’s really easy lvl 40 blindness scrolls you can use instead if not.
—- The Maybe Rerolls —-
3) Fox - This form is great in hands of some players and absolute ass in other players. If you’re capable of chasing at an elite level you can really shine, but that can be said about almost any form. But, it’s an amazing top tier supplement form. If you have anything above on this list, keep it. If you have ANY offense form, keep it. If you went air or defense, there’s no way I’d keep it, then again... I’d never go air or defense. Everything about fox is that you sacrificed anything cool for the ability to attack assassins/thieves/and rangers and be able to jump out of entwine at the giant. That’s worth it’s weight in gold if you have a monkey/cheetah/or offense form.
4) Cobra - It’s probably tied for best regen form along with alligator. At least you can feel competent enough to take it into a fight. But, don’t get confused... you HAVE to use your wands. People get weird and don’t ABS regen forms because it hampers it now... but you have to become at peace with this, regen is no longer what it used to be. Regen is now for unprepped mob killing and ease of life. For pk it’s absolutely useless. Cobra destroys unprepped and low hp people, but it also has a hard time landing it’s melee hits kind of similar to fox. To me, it’s a good supplement form and mob killer. Cobra/Pachy or Porc would be a great combo, any form with high dam redux. It’s neuro is really hard to land though, and even if it does ive never said them be rigid longer than 7 rounds and more around 3 on average. Not even long enough to swap to a different form. Is it worth rerolling? Maybe!
—- The rerolls —-
5) Hyena used to be king of the shifter world and now... it is not. What it has become is a niche mob killer. It has exact same dodge as fox/wildcat/orangutan/cobra with howler/cheetah being better. And, it only has better melee output than the fox. You’re fighting something with physical resist? Ok, it’s finally got the best melee output, but dex is king now and it’s too niche to keep it in hopes of owning giants/minos. The only thing it has going for itself is that with stride of the cheetah you can chase down anyone with the minimal movement cost and it’s strong bite... but how many times do you finish your fights with 17% moves and are like, man, so glad I was able to chase him through 6 areas and finally land the kill? Any above form is better.
6) Trapdoor spider - This is a sad form for multiple reason. It’s probably the best mob killer on this list, it absolutely wrecks in PvE. And if that’s your focus on a shifter that you get it on then by all means keep the hell out of it because you won’t be disappointed in the slightest. In PK? You get to the point that you want to sit it down for a long talk and beg it to give you answers why it can’t land a melee hit. It’s mindblowing how it’s incapable of it. And that’s the most angering part of the form because ALL it’s utility abilities are freaking bad ass for pk. Spin web, setting up adhesive webs in a pit for perfect ambushes, poisonous bite to rip through phys resist and maledict... on paper everything looks like you’ll have a party until you actually throw it and met with sadness. If you’re double utility then ok, your other form will make this worth keeping no matter if you got it first or second. If you’re utility major? I’d reroll no matter what because of the mana strain you’ll have. Utility as a minor? It might be worth keeping if you’re offense major and got a good form as long as your expectations are in line for what you’ll actually be doing with it.
Damn this is a long rambling post. I’m done. Sorry. Ask concise questions if you want and I’ll answer anything else.
