Only 1 HP stack drops effective HP quite a bit. Either be the tankiest thing alive or have permanent burst on all skills. Should either focus on ailment damage (apply and hide) or non-stat-based damage to weaponize ball mode. Sticky makes stun a lot more powerful. //----------//
~Stat-Complimenting Origins~ (Universal stat base means I gotta go case-by-case.) <Commoner> High HP is great for Paladin or Saint. More events = more l00t. 'Nuff said. <Wanderer> Great stats for Authority. Perfect effect for Authority. <Cunning> Great shield bonus for Ancientmancer. Only pick it if contracts got crafting covered. <Exile> Stats fit Death Knight best. Effect is so good you can disregard stats tbh. <Pacifist> Perfect stat distribution for Bard. Lets be honest, Bard needs the easy mode. //----------//
~Suggested Builds~ <Caterpillar Death Knight> 11/8/11/11; 133 EHP; With 1 HP stack to start with, hitting 0 is a matter of a single crit - Blood Armor is on quite often. Dreadnought + Emerge is a great combo, you cure ailments left and right as all skills are in burst mode. Similarly, Satiety also works great with Dreadnought. If you found some absorption gear, Death Knight healing bonus really helps stay alive while emerged. <Caterpillar Paladin> 12/9/9/11; 154 EHP; Chrysalis caps Paladin's ironclad scaling. Revenge & Shoulder Tackle/Spiked Form are great options to do damage in ball mode. Paladin wants to get swole, get hit, get paid. Caterpillar wants the exact same - its a good gameplan match. <Caterpillar Bard> 8/11/11/11; 133 EHP; Chrysalis is great defense, but it bleeds charges. Bard's ability makes sure you get plenty to spare. Savings + Satiety can easily cover +1 consumption in ball form. Good non-stat-based skills tend to be highier rarity, so skill rarity bonus is handy. <Caterpillar Authority> 9/11/10/11; 119 EHP; Caterpillar most often dies to crit as it goes through resistances. Dignity is a lovely safety net. Most of survivability hinges on Chrysalis being active, Authority is great to get those everbleeding skill uses back. Dignity wants you dealing indirect damage, which is fine for Caterpillar - apply your goodies and ball up. Not needing direct damage or resistances makes rerolling worse. Cost reduction helps crafting fill the gaps. <Caterpillar Saint> 9/9/10/13; 154 EHP; Distorted Love rarely comes in handy, but here you can make good use of reflect or mutation from Moonlight dungeon status. As neither Caterpillar nor Saint has any ailment prevention, Infection works wonders. Like Paladin, Revenge & Shoulder Tackle/Spiked Form are excellent HP based damage options. Saint wants to get swole, get hit/heal, get paid. Caterpillar also really likes those. Besides fluff, really similar gameplan to Paladin, except you exchange reflect scaling from ironclad for an extra skill slot. (Both use First Aid free skill and for Saint that is enough, you don't need Self Harm that Paladin loves.) <Caterpillar Ancientmancer> 8/9/13/11; 70 EHP; Don't be scared by 70 effective HP at lvl 1, actual survivability is a LOT higher. This combo loses HP stacks to Ancientmancer, but there is only 1 stack to begin with. It ain't that bad. Ancientmancer wants to build lots of shield and delete things. Chrysalis helps not to lose much shield to damage. Emerging from Chrysalis is usually quite risky, but Ancientmancer really covers your ass in butterfly form. Even when not emerged, as Satiety works all the time plus you have Response, your shield can go back up almost every turn. Sticky makes stuns a lot more potent, especially vs short CD skills. Shockwave/Shock stuns on every hit. Delicious. //----------//
~Trap Builds~ <Caterpillar Viking> Damage over time can't crit you, so it can't kill you through Chrysalis. You rarely take more than chip damage and really don't need Body of Steel for it. <Caterpillar Valkyrie> Caterpillar wants that extra HP stack quite badly, it even barely cares that there is little HP extra to it. Without direct benefit of spamming burst skills, Response is overkill in addition to Satiety and Emergence. You either get the nutty stat scaling of Valkyrie + Royal Road, or survivability of Chrysalis. Sadly not both. <Caterpillar Dark Priest> In style of Ancientmancer, you might think Dark Priest is same shield focus without losing HP stacks. Somewhat true, but Dark Priest shield restore is unreliable, especially as only line of defense while emerged. Shield Revival is not very valuable with just 1 HP stack you start with. Caterpillar brings no shield either. Also if you try to stack shields for Shockwave and such, you don't make use of +30% healing power. <Caterpillar Torturer> Sticky autohits so does not benefit from extra +60% influence. Robust is sweet on first glance, but most indirect attacks can't crit. If it can't crit you, it can't kill you. (Exceptions are Ranged Attacks & Somethingsomething Specialist, but both are mostly niche PvP cases.) Torturer ability is mostly useful to dispel reflect or invincibility - just wait them out in Chrysalis instead. <Caterpillar Druid> Besides meme value as a petrify build (ball of hash getting enemies stoned), this combo works rather awkwardly. Sticky triggers Druid ability, but Druid lasts 1 turn and unlike D&D - this doesn't mean YOUR turn. Enemy turn starts -> they smack you -> Sticky & Druid trigger -> enemy turn ends, along with Druid -> your turn starts. This sadly means that you don't get to enjoy that free +100% ailment enhancement most of the time. Also Sticky slow autohits, so does not benefit from Everchanging while constantly disabling said Everchanging. (There IS fringe Sticky + Druid use with Infection. Extra good with Eternal Youth & self-petrifying keystones.) //----------//
~Trash Builds~ <Caterpillar Vagrant> Immense bravery gain overkill without much of a payoff. Vagrant ability and Satiety are mutually exclusive. (Unless you set max HP stacks to 0, still not worth it tho.) <Caterpillar Dark Knight> Chrysalis + Resistance Reversal gives you 95% vulnerability to magical & physical damage, with void gaining up. <Caterpillar Thief> Bravery gain is oftentimes overkill. Minimal Movement is all negatives with Chrysalis active. (Getting hit 100% of the time is great, but for Paladin, not Thief.) //----------//
