Shinuyama: in the shadows, on the battlefield, under the waves

[Omnirizon]

Xietor said:
A good guide. Too bad the unique immortal summons has both no new paths and dominion 1 to start.

Given that double whammy, I would be loathe to take him, despite his uniqueness. I never found the "undead" aspects of being an immortal Lich to be that bad, especially at size 2 where the Lich cannot be targeted like "large" or "flying"
pretenders.

yah. i mentioned him b/c he's nation specific; i can't find a use for him either.

additionally, the heros this nation gets (heart hiders) are basically the same thing. same magic picks, immortality, almost same stats. really no good reason to go with the pretender then. but like I said, I felt compelled to mention him just becuase he is nation specific

[Xietor]

You definitely have to mention him, he is a unique pretender for Shinuyama. And he is cool.

If he started at dom 3 maybe he is cost effective. And he gets no resistance. I am not big on pretenders that get no resistance, as it is hard to protect from everything and magic when you start with nothing, especially without elemental fortitude.

[dirtywick]

Cool guide.

For evocations, I don't really like them in general, but Shinuyama has a lot of options. I really like Rust Mist, and Blade Wind is nice if you're using Dai Bakemonos and manage to mix it up with Rust Mist-ed enemies because Blade Wind doesn't really do anything to them. Acid Storm/Blade Wind for using O-Bakemonos.

Others I like are Shadow Blast (gem management required), Bane Fire (rather make that crossbow and give it to a Shtuen-doji though), and Magma Eruption. If you want to shoot fireballs and such, the Aka Oni can do that.

Also scripting hold orders for arches has them fire twice then attack.

[MaxWilson]

Why is it important to protect them from all the elements? Poison resistance seems pretty unimportant to me, and depending upon the enemy you might be able to drop one of fire/shock/cold resistance.

Banefire crossbows are far inferior to the spell. The Banefire spell has 9x the area and does massive damage to the central square.

-Max

[dirtywick]

The crossbow works well enough whether it's inferior to the spell or not and I'd rather be casting other spells.

[Omnirizon]

I don't think the crossbow or spell items replace the spells themselves, that's not the point.

The point is that it supplements spells with solid, low fatigue, and quickenable artillery. Shinuyama has a couple of great commanders just for holding these items and firing/zapping them from the backline. Additionally, they have the natural resources and paths to forge these items. Boots of Quickness, Staffs of Corrosion, Wands of Wildfire, Banefire Crossbows; all require gems and paths that Shin has naturally, and can thus get an economy started in consistently.

[Amhazair]

You mention the great enchantress as having A/E/S magic, but A is CBM only. Other than that an intresting read. I'll come back to it if/when I play Shinuyama.

[VedalkenBear]

Can't say much other than very good guide. I'll definitely look to playing them some more.

(Note: My issues with Shinuyama and Yomi are entirely thematic.)