Building an Exile based on another game

League of Legends has long been my go-to competitive game. I keep trying to get into PoE (it has so much to offer) and I just can't get my interest to stay high enough to continue more than a few levels.

I used to play RPGs a LOT. Deep down, I still have that craving, but I struggle to find a place to fill it. Then it dawned on me: Create my favorite League of Legends character in the most-customizable, rewarding and deep RPG to date!

The character is Shyvana, the Half-Dragon. While I realize there is no polymorphing to simulate her ultimate ability (transforming into a dragon in flight, dragging enemies to her location and clumping them at her feet!), I feel that the rest of her gameplay could be easily simulated in a game with such depth of character creation and variety.

You could look her up to get a feel for how she works, but here's the gist.

She has moderate defenses (less important to simulate), dual-wields fist weapons, often striking with both at once and whether in human or dragon form, is fire themed.

In human form, she builds fury to gain access to her Dragon form. Her abilities revolve around her auto-attacks. She can engulf herself in flame to move faster and damage enemies, as well as throw a fireball that ignites/weakens them to her attacks.

In dragon form she is much the same, with her dual-strike becoming a cleave (hitting all enemies in an arc) and her fireball igniting an area on the ground at it's target location.

She's badass and I feel that making a PoE character based on her gameplay would allow me the satisfaction I need thematically and allow me to really appreciate PoE for what it is.

I thought to post this in the class sections, but I don't know which class would best suit her. Duelist is the intuitive answer in my mind, but I don't know that skill-builder like you guys do. Would Duelist put me close enough to the nodes I need to dual-wield fist weapons effectively?

I realize, as many may suggest, that I may not end up with an ideal character with the potential of more optimal builds, but...well, Shyvana isn't really "meta" in League either. I enjoy her ferocity, skirmishing and lore. Turning her into an Exile would be amazing.

TL;DR I like Shyv from LoL. Help me build her?

Call me impatient or ignorant, but are there any of you out there that can get the ball rolling on this? Should I have posted it elsewhere? Again, it seems the Duelist would make sense..should I post there?

- The building up fury thing is basically frenzy charges in this game. For that, a Raider (Ranger Ascendancy) would work best
- Raider is also close to claw and dagger nodes, which are fist-weapons I guess
- The engulfing yourself in flame can be done with Eye of Innocence together with Mokou's Embrace
- The Fireball could be thrown with Cast When Damage Taken linked to Fireball. It won't burn the ground, but it has a chance to ignite enemies that you can further enhance with Chance to Ignite support
- The burning of the ground you could simulate if you link a Fire Trap to a Cast When Damage Taken gem.
- The weakening of enemies can be simulated with another CWDT gem and for example a Vulnerability curse
- Dual Strike and Cleave both exist as attack skills, too, but Cleave only works with swords and axes.

Check out the MTX store for effects that could support your character visually.

The problem with this character in terms of gameplay efficiency will be that the template uses both attacks and spells. This is not something that you can really do in PoE without being a lot less efficient than somebody who focuses on just either spells or attacks. That's why I have suggested to basically only use the fire stuff as thematic support by linking it to CWDT. You can't really do it the other way around, because there is no way to auto-attack while you are casting spells (besides trigger attacks like Reckoning, etc., but they don't play attack animations).

Thanks for the feedback! So, I'll try a ranger and see if I can figure all of that out. I know I can "find" nodes in the builder, so hopefully I can sort out what you're talking about!

I've seen some jump/dash abilities as well. Is there a way for me to get that too with this setup? Even if it's mana intensive or hard to cast often, it would be ideal to include it in the build.

EDIT: Also, if the frenzy charges are too big of a deterrent to a more effective build, I don't care if I see charges building up. If a frenziless build or a different class would be better, I'd rather do that.

Nah, Frenzy charges are quite beneficial, actually. The Raider ascendancy has nodes that can generate them on kill and on hit of bosses, and further buffs their effect.

Concerning the jump/dash ability, there is Whirling Blades that works with claws and daggers. Flame Dash works with all weapons and leaves a trail of burning ground. Flicker Strike and Lightning Warp are more like teleports and Charged Dash is, well, a dash that you can charge up beforehand to do more damage. Leap Slam can unfortunately not be used with fist weapons.

Look at Flame Dash or newly-introduced Charged Dash for thematic movement abilities.
Also, if you go Raider, frenzy charges are easy to acquire/maintain even with very little investment, and they give good boost to speed/damage so go for it.

I really appreciate it, you two! Any suggestions specific to this build? I'll do my best to just have fun with it, but as you've been helpful so far, I'd gladly welcome more tips!

PS I just realized, one of the meta benefits of the Ranger class is that it's a female character. How did I overlook that very important aspect? =D

I'm trying to use Path of Building.

First off, I can't find Eye of Innocence in the gems section. I've never used the builder, so I'm sure I'm not doing something simple.

Secondly (as I'll mostly have to deal with whatever gems I find for quite a long time), what are some key node landmarks for me? I'll put a few hours in at a time. Something like L20, 30, etc. You guys know how the XP growth works out. Whatever suggestions will help, otherwise, I'll just do my best to figure this out.

I find myself being reminded of one of the key issues I've had with getting started in PoE. It's just not an intuitive game. Learning it is 90% of the effort. I know it is a fantastic and worthwhile game, but when it's new to somebody it feels like trying to read something in a foreign language.

(I guess in a way, the PoE system is a foreign language.

EoI is a unique amulet, not a gem.

General rule, (active)gem names use "adjective+noun" formula in which noun describes an action/process, like "static strike"(striking enemies) or "rigtheous fire"(burning enemies). "Eye of Innocence" obviously doesn't fall under that rule.

"

as I'll mostly have to deal with whatever gems I find for quite a long time

You can buy any gem in act6 from pirate girl. Or you can do library quest in act3 and buy any gem from Siosa.

"

what are some key node landmarks for me?

I'd say aim for 300HP/act but as you will be playing ranger who isn't on left side of tree, aim at 250HP/act, so you have at the very least 2.5k hp in act10.
Don't try to clear all monsters (read wiki about xp penalties to understand why, in short if you kill everything you get less xp overall :D)
Life life and more life, both on gear and in tree. Oh, did I say you will need life everywhere? If I didn't, then listen: you will need life everywhere.
Also, boots with movement speed help a lot.
And if you are going to try labyrinth by yourself, i.e. not paying anyone for it, do first lab before you kill act5 boss because killing it drops your resistances permanently.