Barinade's Panda Guide (Updated for Zinit 7/31/2017)

I decided to update this guide since it was seriously out-dated... So here it is, a Panda guide for late 2017.

Starting with stats:

Intelligence:

• 10 resistance
• max HP %

This is the standard int set up. Nothing special here.

Other things you can try:

• 10 Armor HP%

This just gives you some starting survivability. It's not as good for your heal resistance, but not bad if you aren't planning to be healed too much.

• 5 %Heals Recieved

Seems weird but you wouldn't be sacrificing much to get this +30% heals recieved. Might be worth it if you're planning to do some really high stasis dungeons and have an eni or osa.

Strength:

• 20 Range Mastery
• 20 AoE mastery
• 10 General Mastery

this works fine if you want a little extra distance boost. Otherwise I would just do this

• 20 AoE mastery
• 30 General Mastery

Agility:

• 20 Initiative
• 30 lock/dodge

another option would be to do this

• 20 Initiative
• 10 lock/dodge
• 20 MP/AP removal

This would be specifically if you like using the lactic acid throwing ability. It's really helpful in boss fights where the boss can be picked up.Chance:

• 20 Critical Hits
• 30 Critical Hit Mastery

This is standard for a damage dealing setup. If you're worried about taking damage from really tough monsters then you could also just do this:

• 20 Critical Hits
• 20 Blocks
• 10 Critical Hit Mastery

Majors:

• AP
• MP and Damage
• Range and Damage
• Damages Dealt

This is a standard setup. If you want to change it up you could try these too:

• AP
• MP and Damage
• Range and Damage
• WP

For more resistance:

• AP
• MP and Damage
• Range and Damage
• Resistance

Passives:
Milky Instinct
Master of Merriment
Bottomless Barrel
Aggressive Barrel

I found these 4 passives basically required if you want to play the most convenient Panda build. Then, go for:

Poison Chalice: if you need more damage and don't mind taking some damage. Also is good in PvP vs armor classes

Pandemic: if you need more tankiness, if you're planning to force the enemies to attack you or in 1v1 PvP

Cocktail: if you want to be a healer, works well

Medic: (lv 200) if you want to be a super healer, but I suggest you wait until you have 6 passives

Refreshment: rarely use this one.. it's not that good. I suggest waiting until you have 6 passives before bothering

Bambottle: take this one if you plan on using ether a LOT...

Inhalation: if you don't have enough initiative (which you should)

Active Spells:

( ★ ★ ★ ★ )
Flaming Burp: It's not very useful for damage, but you can consume dizzy with it (and in an AoE, too which can be used for some nice strategies) and when you consume dizzy with this spell, you reduce the targets' resistance by 7 per stack (up to 105). It's also nice to have a 2 AP dizzy consume spell. It's also used as a healing spell if you take the passive "Cocktail".

( ★ )
Light My Fire: I'm not sure this spell was ever designed to really be useful... flaming on barrel isn't very practical, especially considering how the barrel can't lock people. I'm not sure why this spell even exists.. but if you wanted to be a weird, single target tri-panda I GUESS you could use it. If you ever get to a high level and run the kanniball dungeon, this is your only fire, single target attack so it can be useful there.

( ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ )
Dairy Springer: This spell is easily the best spell the Pandawa has... definitely take this spell no matter what. Even if you aren't even a fire (or tri) panda. The fact that you can hop 2 cells for 2 AP, with non-Line of Sight requirement is absolutely incredible. You can use it for easy backstab, and it even has decent base damage. It's also worth mentioning that this spell doesn't hurt allies.

( ★ ★ ★ )
Explosive Flask: This spell is OK, but I only suggest taking it if you're a hybrid panda (fire and water, or fire and earth) since there are going to be better options if you're tri-build. The damage is great for it's spell cost if you're holding the barrel when you cast it. Definitely a good spell if you have the passive that allows you to pick up the barrel for 1 AP.

( ★ ★ ★ ★ ★)
Milking It: This is a good spell, but usually only if you're an AoE/Range Panda. It's got decent damage and gives dizzy stacks too.

---
( ★ ★)
Milk Breath: This one is OK if you want to be a heal panda, but since there are generally better options for healing panda I wouldn't really recommend anybody take it for that. However, it's still got good scaling (even for damage) so it's not horrible.

( ★ ★ ★)
Splash Of Milk: A really good spell for a panda that wants to be able to heal without taking any heal passives. If you use it on the barrel it creates a healing glyph. Whenever a player (or enemy) starts their turn on it, they'll be healed. You can be pushed off of it, so in order to maximize the chance that it heals you, you should make a corner out of your barrel (by placing it next to a wall, so that you can't be pushed out of the glyph) or even consider using Ether (an active spell I'll talk about) to stabilize yourself. There's another trick here, too, and that's if you lift up an other player or a monster and end your turn on the glyph, you'll get healed by the glyph on the start of THEIR turn, and on the start of YOUR turn too. Double the heals!

( ★ ★)
Bubble Trouble: This one is OK if you're primarily a heal panda, since if you take the "Cocktail" passive it will heal allies. Using it on the barrel gives you a small AoE around it, which will hurt enemies. If you have the Cocktail passive on, you can effectively use this to heal an ally while hurting an enemy standing next to it. It's pretty nice.

( ★ ★ ★)
Milk Wave:  It's got one of the highest base damage in the game for a single spell. It's a single target attack when cast on an enemy, which does a ton of damage, or if you cast it on the barrel you get a large AoE that doesn't hurt allies. If you use it on an ally, (as long as you're not using the poison chalice passive), you will heal them. The more dizzy stacks your ally has when you heal them with this, you'll consume the stacks, and this spell will heal a TON. It's one of the single strongest healing spells in the game if your ally has full (15) dizzy stacks. On top of that, you can use it in "Melee" range (2 cells away) or in "Distance" range (3+ cells) away which means most pandas can make it useful. This spell doesn't give dizzy stacks though, so use it wisely.

( ★ ★ ★ ★)
Milk Fountain: I love this spell, since it's going to be your best range AoE spell (tied with Milking It). It doesn't hurt allies, too, so it's very convenient. The damage on it isn't that great, and the cost is pretty high since it has an MP cost. However, because of this MP cost, it gives more dizzy (6 stacks) which is very nice. Also, if you use it on the barrel, it has an enormously increased AoE size that pulls in enemies and allies. Also, this is the best spell I can think of to stack dizzy on allies for Milk Wave later.

--

( ★ ★)
Triple Whammy: This spell isn't that useful... but it can be made useful in boss fights where the boss can't be "lifted" by karchamrak, but isn't stabilized. It can also be used to pull targets if you're holding the barrel when you cast it. It's a little underwhelming for a spell that doesn't even cause "collision" damage.

( ★ ★ ★)
Six Roses: If you're holding the barrel when you cast it, you will consume dizzy stacks on the target you hit. The more dizzy you consume, the larger the HP armor you get from it. Seriously, this armor is MASSIVE if you consume full (15) dizzy stacks off of a target! Otherwise, if you're not holding the barrel, it will give 4 dizzy stacks to the target instead. Also, when using this spell you get the passive effect "Flaming" which will give you a tiny lock boost, and cause damage to any nearby target at the start of your turn.

( ★ ★ ★)
Bash Barrel: This spell is incredibly nice to have if you're a melee panda, since it's a 2 AP, AoE spell that has decent base damage and gives 2 dizzy stacks per hit. When you use it, targets that are hit will be "scalded" which causes them to take 40% more damage from "Flaming", which makes it a good combo with the spell "Six Roses". On top of that, the first time you use the spell each turn you will be granted a resistance and lock boost. This buff is incredibly nice (+40 resistance and +200 lock at max level). I find myself spamming this spell a lot since I can be holding my barrel when I do it and it gives dizzy stacks.

( ★ ★ ★ ★ ★)
Lactic Acid: This is a nice spell to have if you're a hybrid panda (I wouldn't consider it as a tri-panda, since you will be overloaded with spells). It has decent damage if you're holding the barrel, but the damage is bad if you're not. The AoE is strange, but it's actually pretty handy since it's in a good shape to use to hit enemies that are crowded around an ally. You can also use it combined with the active spell "Karchamrak" to toss an enemy, while causing a -2 MP debuff on the targets in the AoE. It sounds really nice but I only rarely find it useful since I don't really have space for it in my deck anymore.

( ★ ★ ★ ★ ★)
Blisskrieg: This I would consider the second best spell in the Pandawa's kit. Not only does it have an incredibly huge AoE size, but it does really nice damage if you're holding the barrel (it's OK if you're not). It gives 7 dizzy stacks, since it has a WP cost, making it your highest dizzy stacking spell. On top of that, while you're holding the barrel, it will teleport you to the cell you target (if there's nothing there). If there IS something there, you will not teleport there unless you kill the target with this attack. It even gives scalded, which is a nice touch. On top of that, this spell doesn't require line-of-sight, so you can easily get targets that are behind your allies or behind walls. I suggest any earth panda brings this spell, it's awesome.

--
Actives:
Barrel: Definitely take this, it's basically required as a Pandawa.

Karchamrak: Definitely take this as well. Not taking it would be painful.

Barrelhop: I guess this one isn't completely required... but why wouldn't you want to be able to jump to your barrel for just 1 WP.

Ether: This one isn't required ether (hah), but being able to stabilize a target can be nice. There's also a little secret about this spell, and that's that it doesn't destabilize you if you use it on yourself. So you can basically just stabilize yourself with it every turn.

Bamboozle: This one is too good not to take, but it's not required. Using it on yourself gives you an armor of 10% of your MAX hp, and also reduces melee damage you take by 20%. On an ally it will have a different effect, though. What it does for them is it gives them a passive that heals them for 10% of their MAX hp at the start of their turn for the next 3 turns. That's incredibly good to keep in mind if you're not a healing panda, since this will allow you to keep your allies healthy. Also, the heal on this isn't affected by heal mastery. If used on the barrel it will push nearby targets back like 4 cells.. which I've basically completely forgotten about at this point because it's useless.

Personally I take all 5 active spells basically all the time. Rarely will I leave any of them out, and when I do it's usually just Bamboozle or Ether.

A few things to keep in mind as panda:

Sober, Merry, Worn-Out state and the Barrel

So the Pandawa will automatically be set into the "Sober" state at the beginning of the fight. This state gives you +1 Range. It's random, but nice. However, by ending your turn holding a Barrel (it has to be one of YOUR barrels), you will change yourself into the "Merry" state for the next turn. When you do this, you LOSE the sober state. You will also be able to go into worn-out state. Here's how it works:

Sober: --> end your turn without barrel --> stays sober
.........--> end your turn with barrel --> becomes merry

Merry: --> end your turn with barrel --> stays merry (max 5 turns)
..........--> end your turn with barrel after 5 turns --> becomes worn out
.........--> end your turn without barrel --> becomes worn out

Worn Out: --> end your turn with barrel --> stays worn out (max 5 turns)
...............--> end your turn with barrel after 5 turns --> becomes merry
...............--> end your turn without barrel --> becomes sober, regens 2 WP (with Milky Instinct)

It's a little confusing but you'll get used to it after a bit. It's also important to keep in mind that the passive "Master of Merriment" will give you +2 AP on your FIRST merry turn, and +2 MP on your FIRST worn out turn. What I mean by "first" is, since you can be merry or worn out for multiple turns in a row, it only counts for that first turn you switch into that state after being in a different one.

Sober: +1 Range

Merry: +10% final damage, +1 AP, +10% crits

Worn Out: -20% final damage, +1 MP, +20 blocks, +100 resistance

It's important to keep an eye on these states when playing panda. This is one of the reasons I consider this class to be difficult. If you play properly, you should be able to be in merry-state when you are ready to burst a target. Maybe you made sure they had 15 Dizzy stacks, then on that turn you go merry and use flame burp to reduce their resistance (and get a final damage boost on your next attack) and use that merry buff to spike your target. Or maybe you know your opponent is about to do some massive damage next turn, so you switch into worn out state ahead of time.

Consuming 15 Dizzy Stacks with the proper passive (Master of Merriment) will give you a heal of 5% of your MAX HP, and +1 WP regeneration. Consuming any less than 15 does not count. However, you can actually use Flame Burp (the AoE dizzy consume) on a target with 8 dizzy and on another with 7 dizzy and that counts as 15 stacks.

When you consume dizzy with the "Milky Instinct" passive, you will get +3% preparation stacks per dizzy consumed. This caps out at 60 preparation, technically, but at max Dizzy stacks you can only get 45 preparation. If you consume a total of 20 stacks in a row, you can actually get up to 60 preparation, though. Also keep in mind that if you have preparation stacks already, but you use a spell that consumes dizzy, it will not use up the preparation stacks. Instead, it will add onto what you already had.

If you use the Pandemic Passive, you actually have 20% of your damage taken redirected to your barrel if you're holding one. By doing this, you can be quite beefy. However, if your barrel has low HP (you can tell by looking at the counter that shows a number between - and 100. "-" means your barrel has less than 1% of it's HP left) you might be in trouble. Otherwise, the number you see indicates the % of HP your barrel has. If it shows a 55, it has 55% of it's HP left. You have to be careful, though, since if your barrel takes too much damage it will break and you'll be vulnerable.

Another neat trick for group battling, is that whoever you are holding up in the air with karchamrak CANNOT be targeted by a spell. They will take damage from poison if they were affected before you picked them up, but otherwise they can't be attacked or healed. Anything that targets you when you're holding the player will only affect you. Because of this, people like to play tank panda and hold up their squishy damage dealer to keep them safe. However, this isn't a completely safe option. If you are pushed or pulled while holding a player, you will forcefully drop them before being pushed. This can be countered, however, by using "Ether" on yourself before picking up the player. This stabilizes you and so you will not be forced to drop your ally. While you're holding them, they can still attack from up above you. However this trick works best if the player you want to end your turn holding gets their turn before you get yours, so they can move around and attack, and then you pick them up afterwards.

Equipment:
Stats to keep in mind:

• AoE Mastery
• Initative
• Range
• MP
• Critical Hits

Don't worry about tri-elemental gear, since most of the water spells aren't very good anyway... if you end up with some hybrid gear, just stick to earth/fire. Water will still hit okay if you decide to take Milk Fountain

As a Panda you should pretty much ONLY focus on AoE mastery, since you can easily take 7 area spells (along with all 5 support spells) and this means that the AoE mastery helps all of your spells do more damage.  If you rune your damage slots, you should metamorph them to AoE mastery.

Specifics:

Souleater (Breastplate, Relic)

Combine with an AP Breasplate for 12 AP / 6 MP:
Golden Keychain (Ring, Relic)

Bagus Shushu (Ring, Epic)
Gold Croc (Ring, Epic)

Steel Beak Sword (2h Weapon)
Lily Hammer (2h Weapon)
Planter's Puncher (2h Weapon)

Gauntnutts (Ring)
Nutte Covering (Helmet)
Nutt Cape (Cloak)
Round-the-Chest Nutt (Belt)

Kannivore Ring (Ring)
Kannivore Talisman (Amulet)
Kannivore Boots (Boots)
Kannivore Cape (Cloak)

Green Belt (Belt)
Thorny Epaulettes (Epaulettes)

If you decide to use Golden Keychain (Ring, Relic)
Ti Tunic (Breastplate)

Armoranthus (Breastplate)

Lv 200 (End Game) Standard Equipment

Mark VII (Breastplate, Relic)
Tramontanring (Ring, Epic)
Poached Epaulettes (Epaulettes)
Pocket Belt (Belt)
Pocket Headgear (Helmet)
Poached Cloak (Cloak)
Nauseatring (Ring)
Samulet Gamgie (Amulet)
No-Smellier (Boots)
Vape Hammer (2h Weapon)

Not bad choices either:

Asse Shoes (Boots, Epic)
Mail Har (Breastplate)
Coat of the Sorceror-King (Cloak, Relic)