Shao
Overview: He still has excellent stats. B-/B-/B-/B/D/C/B on the relevant ones. This means he's rather physically durable (1.23ish) though a bit below average on magic. Average speed, good accuracy. Damage with his actual physical is fairly midrange. This overall probably works (much better than it did before when his physical damage was overtly good, he was fast, and both his durabilities were above average! But I digress).
Shao's main thing is hitting elemental weaknesses. His raw physical bruising isn't top tier (see: Isolde, Meilin, Artur, Mirek) but it's quite serviceable, accurate, and he can hit all three physical elements. Add elements to that and there's a fair bit of damage potential present, and he even has GT at his disposal every few turns. With some status mixed in. And then there are his traps...
Base damage at L50:
432 damage at 100 hit, spear. (2-)
461 damage at 110 hit, light sword. (3)
403 damage at 115 hit, gloves. (6-)
Cooldowns: In the interest of combining these to avoid the spamming of similar moves... well, this one is simple. Shao has three:
1. Prism Blade - 3 turns
2. ST version of his elemental skills - 1 turn
3. GT version of his elemental skills - 3 turns
Skills
Proposed Passive: Exploit Weakness - If an enemy has an elemental weakness which Shao hits, then a percentage of Shao's Int equal to the elemental affinity minus 100 divided by 2 is added to his Strength for that damage (so an enemy who takes 150% to fire adds 25% of Shao's Int). Since Shao's Int and Str are similar, this roughly turns 150% into 188% and 200% into 300%. Additionally, if Shao strikes a burned target with a fire attack, they take 150 extra damage instead of 100.
Shao really, really wants to hit weaknesses. It's what he does and what he is about.
Prism Blade - Should also be listed as an active, as well as a passive. As an active... hmm. I'd vote it have a quick recharge time (1/3 turn) but to compensate up its cooldown to 3 turns, making it moderately impractical to hit multiple elemental weaknesses directly in one battle. Its cooldown is independent from his other moves. Anyway, obviously his signature, and straightforward enough.
Flash Strike - I'm proposing this be his first skill, because we don't really have enough light damage in the game as is, and it fits symmetrically with Void Strike being the last. Adds Blind, hit rate is 30%, lasts 3 turns. Blind is potent since it affects both physicals and magic, remember. One definite use for this skill is the GT version in an attempt to control a few enemies. Also, the name made me think it should be accurate.
ST version - 1.1x Dex, 0.8x Str, +20 hit, 30% blind (3 turns)
GT version - As above, but 0.6x Str, 20% blind, hits a 4-hex cone
Initial
Exploder Fist/Blade/Spear - Burn! Burn is highly synergistic with Scorch, and this is the move's main use. It also slightly lowers enemy attack power, which isn't as good as blind obviously. I'm actually kinda opposed to burn having a poison effect, seems like that's just copying pokemon, and the added fire damage and attack penalty is enough. Simple, flat effect I'm proposing on Burn: it adds 100 to any fire damage sustained. Obviously better with Scorch, though Shao himself makes good use of it due to Prism Blade.
The skill itself emphasises a single powerful hit which will probably make it most useful with his higher-Atk weapons, i.e. spears.
ST version - 0.5x Dex, 1.75x Str, -10 hit, 50% burn (3 turns)
GT version - As above, but 1.25x Str, 33% burn, hits all hexes around Shao
Gained around Level ~8
GT version is notable for doing 360 damage assuming a spear, though 90 hit
Shocker Fist/Blade/Spear - Paralysis time. Coinflip status, you have a 50% chance of not being able to do anything, which on average means you lose 1.5 turns if you live long enough. Obviously that's rather cool, a more potent blind (because it also stops effects which don't make accuracy checks). Of course that means it's going to have a lower hit rate.
ST version - 1.5x Dex, 0.6x Str, 20% paralysis (3 turns)
GT version - As above, but 0.5x Str, 15% paralysis, hits all targets in a line
Gained around Level ~15
Sword/Martial/Spear Downpour - Displaced is the a status that is being canned. Instead I am proposing this attack inflicts Misfortune, which seems sensible enough for water to me, and is a rather cool, currently underused status. No crits/counters is fairly neat spoiling, and doubling crit rate against this enemy certainly makes for some neat twinking options. I see water being inherently weaker at damage to make up for this cool, and not unreliable effect. Helps that... it's water. It's not as inherently offensive as most of the other elements Shao has.
ST version - 1x Dex, 0.7x Str, 50% misfortune (3 turns)
GT version - As above, but 0.4x Str, 33% misfortune, hits all targets in a line
Gained around Level ~20
Sword/Martial/Spear Frostfall - With Frostbite being shown the door (hey it's a burn clone except with less synergy, zzz), this moves now inflicts Frozen instead, which is much more potent! Unfortunately it's bad at actually adding said status. Still, a nice move when you want to roll the dice. The base attack is similar to its fire cousin, but more accurate in exchange for less raw power.
ST version - 0.5x Dex, 1.6x Str, +10 hit, 10% freeze (2 turns)
GT version - As above, but 1.1x Str, 8% freeze, hits all hexes around Shao
Gained around Level ~25
Void Strike - Silence is cool, albeit spoilerful. Disquiet element is rare and freaky, dunno if this will be good or not. Its multiplier may need to be modified as such. For now I'm making it inherently superior to a physical, sort of his go-to attack. 634 damage ST with a light sword, using the usual conventions. It's a bit of an 'ultimate attack' for him after all.
ST version - 1.1x Dex, 1.1x Str, 30% silence (3 turns)
GT version - As above, but 0.8x Str, 20% silence, hits a 4-hex cone
Gained around Level ~40
Support effects
I really dislike Shao's current support effect (making ally physicals elemental) since they let the entire party use his gimmick! I really don't like that, if you want to hit weaknesses, Shao should be your man, but his support effect makes me want to use a party with him sitting on the bench. Whoops. The bonus needs to be more subtle, I think.
Honestly, this is one of the reasons I made exploit weakness. A smaller version of it makes a lot more sense to me to turn into a support effect.
Prism Aura - When PCs strike an elemental weakness, they deal 15% extra damage.
Prism Roulette - Is fine. Man does he wish he could stick around for this one.
Traps later, I need a break from this. Comments so far?
