Questions/Ideas regarding Spectral Shield Throw

Hi Folks!

I'm curretly thinking a lot about SST but I have some questions, that currently could not be aswered by reddit/wiki. So, if anyone of you have confirmation on some of my open theorycrafting points, I would appreciate some help!

Attack Speed

First thing: SST is an attack, but it doesn't use weapon-scaling. Therefore, it doesn't matter, if my MH-Weapon has 1 or 3 ApS. But what about AS on tree/Jewels/Gloves/Jewelry/Buffs like Onslaught? Should work, right?

Chaining and Forking

I read the reddit Post and the wiki regarding SST. I know, that Forking and Chaining only works on the "Mainprojectile" aka the Shield.
My question is: What if I combine them?

Will the Shield Fork into two on the First enemy hit and than both chain for the amount of +X chains I have?

My idea is to go Deadey, use Divide and Conquer, Gloomfang and Touch of Anguish / Eward'S Mirage (for an ele conversion Variant) for a total of +7 chains without the Chain Support skill (with Chain support, I could even go +9)
Does this mean my Shield would behave like that (with Fork Support and the 7 chains):

X = Target
- = Shieldpath

-- X1 -- X2 -- X3 -- X4 -- X5 -- X6 -- X7 -- X8
-- X
-- X1 -- X2 -- X3 -- X4 -- X5 -- X6 -- X7 -- X8

So after Forking it chains 7 times each and hits a total of 17 Targets?
Meaning the last Target (X8) would gain 7x 15-20% damage from Gloomfag and the first Target after Forking (X1) would get 70% MORE Damage from Ricochet (Deadeye Ascedancie)?
In addition to that, the Jewel triggers 25% Shards on every Chain. So does this mean I would generate 3 Shards (on a Level 20 Gem) on Targets X1 to X7 for a total of 14*3 = 42 Shards?

Flat Damage Scaling

I know that weapon, melee and all weapontype-specific damage does nothing for SST (like increased damage with daggers).
But what about flat scaling?
Do Steel Rings apply their flat phys to SST?
The Tooltip has no "added damage affectiveness". Does this mean it's 100%?

Bleed Damage

Going for "Crimson Dance" and "Bloodletting" on a pure Phys build should just work fine, because it's not tied to Weapons, just Attacks, right?

Damage Conversion

If I want to do ele conversion shenenigans, I can just pick up Nodes like "Winter Spirit" right?
"Elemental Damage with Attack Skills" should also work just fine, correct?
What about "Gain X Physical as Extra Y"? Shaper-Statstick should work just fine, because it's global, not local, correct?


That's about it for now. If someone can help me with this, I would be really thankful!
I'm currently not really sure if I just should give it a go and try it, because on Paper the potential for espacially clearing seems super strong.

Cheers

Attack speed: Yes
Chain & Fork: Yes and it would destroy packs, but single target would be very weak without adds.
Flat damage: Yes
Bleed: Yes
Damage conversion: Yes

Played SST in Bestiary