Shana's iced out Shotgun

This guide describes what upgrades to take to obtain a powerful build that is capable of defeating Darkness 0 without runes and scales into higher Darkness with Runes

Character: Shana
Weapon: Shotgun

Character

Shana is available by default.

Why take Shana?
Shana gives the ability to reroll the upgrades available on level up, making it easier to hunt for specific upgrades and synergies.

In addition, getting her Bonus XP Ascension from the first Boss can get you Snowballing into a powerhouse with level 60+ after 20 minutes.

All bonuses on her Halo Ascension benefit this build greatly since core stats are reload speed and firing speed.

Be mindful not to grab an upgrade with a penalty (written in red ingame) after gaining the "triple next upgrade" ascension. Don't be me:

I will let you guess thrice how much max HP I had when I picked up the upgrade that has the downside of -1 max HP...

Weapon

The Weapon used for this build is the shotgun. Fire a volley and reload. That is the strength I want to emphasize.

Runes

Sword: 2/1/1/1
Shield: 3/1/1/1

Elaboration

Sword:
Alacrity: Fire faster, more often.
Aftershock: Damages anything still close enough after your last shot.
Glass Cannon: More Damage for faster early game. if you struggle with survival because of it, the other runes here are fine as well.
Cadence: More Deeps (DPS, Damage Per Second) and penetration for better crowdclearing. Ethereal is powerful, but you should only take it if you are confident in your early game.

Shield:
Courage: Gives you more personal space.
Momentum: Grab your XP in a quick hit and run. (Also Seismic Ward can knock enemies into you. Do not use Seismic Ward)
Blessing: Free upgrade giving recurring protection and worthwhile upgrade-tree.
Growth: More XP? More Upgrades? More Carnage? Faster!? Oh, there is also healing included by the way.

Core Upgrades

The build focuses on shooting and reloading as quick as possible to deal damage and create a safe zone around you.
This safe zone is mainly kept up by Fan Fire and later by the upgrades in the Frost Mage-Tree. The capstone Shatter in this tree provides insane crowd clearing and should be high priority latest after the second boss (the charger).

This is a list of the core upgrades in order of priority that are essential for the build:

• Quick Hands (+20% Reload, +5% fire rate)
  
• Fresh Clip (Reload rate +5%, +30% Bullet Damage for 1 second after reload)
  
• Double Shot (Projectiles +1, Spread +15, Bullet Damage -10%)
  
• Fan Fire (Last shot fires 10 additional bullets around you with 15% base bullet damage)
  
• Mini Clip (+100% Reload, Bullet Damage + 50%, Max ammo -666)

• Frost Mage (bullets gain 35% chance to freeze enemies...)
  
• Ice Shard (Firing the last shot releases 3 ice shards that freeze enemies)
  
• Shatter (frozen enemies explode on death dealing 25% max hp damage)

Bullet Speed = more range. Therefore the Take Aim-Tree greatly increases the safe space around you as well as providing an incredible capstone:

• Take Aim (+30% Bullet Speed, -15 Spread)
  
• Penetration (+15% Bullet Speed, +1 Piercing)
  
• Assassin (+10% Bullet Speed, Damage to enemies with HP < 20% instantly kills them)

If none of the above upgrades are available, consider grabbing one out of skill trees already started or from the following section.

Utility Upgrades

When no core upgrades are available and their upgrade-trees are maxed out or you struggle with a certain aspect, these upgrade trees synergize with the build or help in general ways:

Holy Shield Tree:
This tree gives recurring protection and bonus movespeed/reload when not needing it. Lightning upgrade from this tree should be ignored in this build.

Power Shot Tree:
For higher focused damage.

Rapid fire Tree:
When shooting takes to long because your mag is not yet 1.

Magnetism Tree:
Grants easier access to XP and later upgrades can significantly boost dps.

Haste Tree:
The upgrades in this tree make it a lot easier to outmaneuver the enemies.

Vitality Tree:
In Case of emergency, increase max Life.

Tomes

The best Tomes to grab in order of potency are:

Tome of Power

• Bullet damage +50%
  
• Bullet Size +100%
  
• Piercing +1
  
• Fire rate -25%
  
• Max HP -1

Tome of Elasticity

• Bullet Bounce +2
  
• Bullet damage -25%
  
• Max HP -1

Tome of Speed

• Move speed +50%
  
• Max HP -1

Tome of Rage

• Fire rate +66%
  
• Spread +60
  
• Bullet damage -50%
  
• Knockback -95%
  
• Base Ammo Count is tripled

Thank you and Goodbye

I used vechno7t's post as a Wiki reference, check their contribution out: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2819406762

[A Bird]

Fantastic Build! Still working, as of now. Just beat D15 with it and it's already in my Top 3. Thanks!

[sharkfishy]

Also, no doubt that dual wield is the best evo, it copies all upgrades you have to that gun, effectively doubling all effects. (For example, you shoot out 6 ice crystals if you have it instead of 3.)

[sharkfishy]

Fun fact: I defeated the secret boss, got the watering gun and went on a vacation for about 2 weeks, came back, all my progress (Inside the game, achievements were unharmed) was gone. I'm using this build to get it back. So, thanks for the guide!

[sharkfishy]

nvm again, as it turns out melee shot does still perform fine

[sharkfishy]

Nvm just dual wield taking melee shot is a big mistake

[sharkfishy]

I would think dual wield if you want to keep your range but melee shot if you just wanna become more powerful

[sharkfishy]

So, uh...... what evolution is the best?

[CrescentShade]

So after getting my first darkness 15 clear with it, this build also works well with the crossbow with a bit of tweaking. If you get the holy might upgrade and can triple the one that boosts damage by how much HP you have, the combination of that and the power of the crossbow can pretty much carry you the entire round with HP buffs.

[Omaeka]

Lol never knew taking -HP debuffs could kill you if you had 1HP left, thought it might but not had been able try it yet. Good to know.

[Joebus]

Thank you! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2868956791