Want to be a massive tank that can burst down enemies with massive swings?
Pygmalien can turn a good defense into a great offense by combining his Shield stack engines with Spiky Shield, which allows him to Deal Damage equal to his Shield.
Overall this build is quite easy to pilot with a simple win condition and many ways to pull it off. However, it does have counterplay based on your shield creation engine.
In general it's better in metas where it has a chance to ramp up to at least the first Spiky Shield swing, but it can also do well in grindy metas since it scales well.
Example 10 Win Boards
Landscraper Variant
Bushel + Vineyard Variant
Core Combos and Synergies
Spiky Shield
The main weapon you're building around in Spiky Shield Bash Pygmalien is the Spiky Shield, specifically its effect:
"Deal Damage equal to your Shield".
What's nice about the effect is that it doesn't rely on upgrades (upgrades just increases the Shield generation per cast).
This gives you flexibility in building many types of Shield generation engines to power and scale it.
In general, your goal is to find build toward componetnts that are fast and potent!
Properties and Instant Effects
Pygmalien's Properties provide a ton of potential when it comes to speed and scaling (especially if you find them early).
In our 10 win board examples, we use Skyscraper and Vineyard, which have the effect trigger:
"When you use an item".
There's no faster speed in the game as it offers instant effects!
Landscraper
Vineyard
With Vineyard you might be wondering how it powers the Shield engine. Bushel is your answer here as it has another instant efffect that combos extremely well with Vineyard.
Overall, you can create a Shield engine that is only Shield or combines both Heal and Shield.
The key difference is that pure Shield will be better againstBurn builds while Heal and Shield will be better against Poison builds.
Both can work! in either case, you'll want to choose the option that you can start ramping and scaling best.
Supportive Items and Skills
Once you have your Shield generation engine set up, now you need to power it!
If you're going the direction of the instant effect Properties, we recommend going with Small items that cast fast to help the Properties activate ASAP and often.
Yo-Yo
In general, the Yo-Yo is one of the best Small items in the game as you can instantly activate it with adjacent item usage.
If you surround it with items that quickly and/or have Multicast, it can be incredibly explosive.
If you're able to find Skills that scale, Yo-Yo can become another damage source in case your Spiky Shield gets Frozen or Slowed.
Sharp Corners is especially good in Spiky Shield Bash in combination with Yo-Yo.
Uwashiwali Bird
Uwashiwali Bird is another great supportive item that works well with this Spiky Shield Bash build due to its Multicast bonus that scales Properties.
Each time it casts, the Properties will also activate instantly alongside the Mutlicasts.
Naturally, it also works great with Yo-Yo so make sure to position accordingly.
Tips and Tricks
Use Pygmalien's economic resources, such as The Rewards Card to scale your Properties' value faster.
You might have angles with fast-casting Small items from Vanessa and Dooley to power your activation engine.
When looking for upgrades, your Shield generators are the highest priority.
If those are maxed out, use your income for high level skills.
Don't get complacent! Constantly look for ways to make your first Spiky Shield cast ASAP.