Fungi

## Overview

Fungi is commonly regarded as one of the best combo builders accessible for offensive debuff teams. Its access to both Multi Poison and Multi Weakness helps enable its high combo potential, and its multitude of procs as well as Combo Initiator give it a great base level of combo application. What enables Fungi's powerful combo potential is its Dark Shift's Curse Chain in addition to Proliferate, allowing it to spread mass debuffs onto the entire opposing party with even a single-target attack, which it utilizes alongside the undodgeable Leaf Slash benefitting from Weakening Crush to further increase its odds of continuing the combo.

Alternatively, Light Fungi's access to the coveted Supremacy passive carves a niche for itself on Supremacy teams and certain other charge-based debuff builds. However, its lack of overall charge passives and especially lacking synergies with the style-defining Oculus make it difficult to fit into such teams, as it often mandates either extensive support or for the team to forgo Oculus and rely on high-combo DPS monsters to get the job done. With adequate support, though, Light Fungi makes for an excellent combo-building option on such teams, and thanks to its high natural combo-building abilities can even be run as a DPS in certain cases.

Fungi's greatest appeal lies further than just its combo potential, as it is the only monster in the game with access to two instances of Dominance, providing its allies with a 4% damage boost for each debuff on the target. It also carries the rare Sensitivity, providing a further 10% damage boost from weakness stacks on targets. These boosts plus its combo capabilities are what establish its place on the vast majority of offensive debuffing builds.

The main draw to Fungi is that its ability to build combo is reliant primarily on certain low-odds debuff procs via its items. While Weakening Crush and Toxin help increase its odds of applying debuffs, Fungi is nonetheless reliant on chance to reach its infamous 50-hit combos. It is also rather frail, as it cannot run defense or health-increasing equips lest it further risk the debuffing chance it gains from its other equips. Light Shift can help with this, as it'll occasionally run fewer debuffing equips in favour of letting its allies apply debuffs to build their own charge, but it is nonetheless easy to remove in most cases, and due to its damage-bolstering passives, it is often the main target on its side of the field.

Due to its nature as an offense-booster with limited durability, Fungi often finds itself as part of the leading trio for its teams, building combo for a turn or two before it is likely targeted down by the opponent. It especially likes hitting on the first turn, hoping to build enough combo by itself for an ally to KO a threatening monster before the opponent can act. When going second, one may want to consider preserving Fungi, as it can be very easily KOed, even with only two actions.

For its incredible damage bonuses and combo-building capabilities, Fungi is a standard for a variety of debuffing archetypes, and should not be underestimated. Its capabilities are rivaled by few, and none can truly replicate how Fungi improves its team's offense.

## Standard Combo Builder

#### Commonly Used Equipment

* Bow / Abyssal Sword
* Poison Dart
* Thermal Reactor
* Lightning Sphere

### Build Details

Fungi's standard set focuses on it building combo using Leaf Slash for allies. Due to the attack's undodgeable nature, it can easily bypass evasive monsters or monsters with Concealed, allowing for greater guaranteed combo. With Weakening Crush, Toxin, and all three debuff-applying accessories, Fungi intends to maximize the debuffs it applies on each hit to hopefully build massive amounts of combo.

Bow is the standard Weapon for Fungi, as the guaranteed extra hit is helpful for boosting damage, whereas Abyssal Sword allows Fungi to potentially spread an extra debuff when attacking while also punishing the opponent for trying to remove it as quickly as possible, though it should be noted that this extra debuff does not count for Proliferate hits. Beating can also be run over Leaf Slash, as it has one extra hit and provides Fungi with extra coverage options, but it does leave it more vulnerable against evasive teams. Poison Cloud could also be used for reliable AoE debuffing, but Fungi typically prefers to get its AoE debuffs via Curse Chain and to simply focus one enemy on its initial attack.

### Team Options

* Commonly seen on Nature Tribal, Weakness Teams, and Debuff Offense, Fungi's main allies are typically those carrying Death Blow or have methods with which to help it apply more debuffs for additional combo.
* Troll is perhaps Fungi's most commonly used teammate, as it provides Initial Armor Break and Broken Immunity, allowing Fungi to target an enemy with increased debuff chance and therefore alleviate some of the RNG required for its usual job. Troll also has access to both Multi Armor Break and Multi Poison, which not only provides synergy to Fungi's poison but also provides two Multi Debuffs so that Fungi can apply even more debuffs. Death Blow + Dominance simply furthers its capabilities as a fantastic DPS alongside Fungi.
* Other Death Blow users Mad Lord and Rainbow Blob are common backline replacements for Troll, as they also have Death Blow + Broken Immunity, though they lack the Multi Debuffs provided by Troll.
* G'rulu rounds out the infamous Fungi/G'rulu/Troll combo with its Multi Armor Break, Burning Heat, and Debuff Mastery, allowing it to build combo alongside Fungi without either losing much combo effectiveness. Its combination of Remunerate + Shared Regen + Multi Regen also helps Fungi stay alive, should it manage to survive long enough to benefit.
* Mad Eye is also seen quite often either alongside or as a replacement for Fungi, as it has similar base attack procs and can apply plentiful debuffs via Debuff Mastery, and has several passives that affect certain debuffs to further the damage an opponent recieves. It is particularily enjoyed by Fungi that use Beating, as Stunned can help Fungi bypass its evasive checks regardless.
* Diavola's Curse of Weakness helps Fungi apply extra debuffs using its already high chance to apply Weakness, and the combined Mass Mystify and Sprawl help Fungi accumulate buffs and further its longevity to usable levels. Thanks to both being Nature monsters, the duo are often featured on Tribal teams as well.
* Fumagus functions well with its pre-evolution, being able to fill the role of either a dedicated support or a powerful DPS with Death Blow + Dominance. Both share Weakness synergies and are present in the Nature tribe, and Fumagus Primal Hex gives Fungi an extra 4% chance to apply extra debuffs during its attacks, enabling even further combo.

## Supremacy Debuffer

#### Commonly Used Equipment

* Bow / Abyssal Sword / Swallow
* Charging Sphere
* Hide / Crown / Slime Skin
* Poisoned Dart
* Lightning Sphere
* Totem  / Bracer (DPS)

### Build Details

Without Curse Chain to support its debuffing antics, Light Fungi is more keen on using AoE options to spread debuffs, allowing it to continue applying debuffs on all three opponents to maximize combo. Since it isn't as pressured to apply every debuff for its team, it can also drop one or more of its debuffing items (usually Thermal Reactor, then Lightning Sphere) in favour of defensive equipment to ensure it survives more than a few turns.

Alternatively, Fungi has the option to opt in as a DPS. Although the DPS position faces stiff competition on Supremacy Builds, Fungi's double Dominance gives it a makeshift Death Blow, and thanks to its offences increasing with its health, it's one of the tankiest Supremacy DPS options available. Being able to attack its opponents from both sides of the offensive scale helps it even further, though it struggles regardless to establish itself amongst the several other monsters competing for the DPS slots due to their higher offensive capabilities.

Charging Sphere should typically only be run is Fungi has one or more allies with Charged Hazard, Destruction, or Anomaly, as the extra charge stacks help the team get further mileage out of said passives. Slime Skin can further punish opponents who attempt to rush Fungi down, but it provides less damage reduction than the Hide should the Weakness proc not occur. Crown makes for another good defensive item that helps Fungi use its Level 5 skills for much longer. Swallow is the standard weapon for DPS Fungi, as it lacks other worthwhile Weapons for such sets besides the odd Abyssal Sword. Totem and Bracer help increase damage with both direct offensive bonuses and Health Overload, with Bracer offering more offense with stats and the Totem providing better bulk thanks to its free shield.

If your team lacks Charged-type passives, such as on Weakness Supremacy, one may consider dropping Beating Level 5 and Weakening Crush in exchange for extra defensive investment, as the lack of widespread debuffing strongly hurts Fungi's capabilities. For non-DPS Fungi, one should also drop any Attack/Magic nodes in exchange for more defensive investment.

### Team Options

* Used as a niche pick for Supremacy or on Weakness Supremacy teams, Fungi needs allies who can help it make up for its lack of mass debuff spreading or those who can apply enough debuffs by themselves to benefit simply by having an extra instance of Supremacy.
* Oculus is the cornerstone to most Supremacy styles, and appreciates the multiple Multi Debuffs Fungi brings to the table, although Fungi itself tends to steal combo that Oculus would prefer in order to get charges on its DPS unless it itself is the DPS.
* Qilin has access to Charged Anomaly, allowing Fungi to spread some extra debuffs after a turn on the field. Additionally, its Multi-Weakness allows all three debuffs applicable by Charged Anomaly to be applied multiple times.
* Goblin Warlock is another staple of Supremacy teams who offers an extra instance of Multi Poison for DPS Fungi, and can bolster it with Full Offense.
* Glowfly is a niche yet powerful DPS on Supremacy teams from whom Fungi benefits strongly via Charged Hazard. Once again, its access to Multi Poison helps spread extra debuffs from Hazard,
* Magmamoth offers Death Blow and powerful charge sustain, as well as Charged Destruction being further supported by Fungi's Multi Weakness.
* Skorch and Rathops should be considered for their access to Charged Destruction, but are not common on Supremacy teams. The same applies to Goblin Pilot and Terradrile to an even greater degree.
* Kongamato's high natural offense, great combo building, and ability to apply mass debuffs makes it a fantastic DPS on any Supremacy team, but it highly enjoys Fungi's double Dominance and extra Multi-Weakness boosting its power to even more absurd levels, and can help keep Fungi alive thanks to Disoriented.
* Plague Egg is an alternate Weakness + Supremacy monster who appreciates Fungi's offensive-bolstering capabilities, even more so since Egg lacks Sensitivity, which Kongamato can provide for itself.
* Troll and Fumagus are additionally seen on Supremacy teams and benefit greatly from Fungi's presence, with the latter functioning on both styles of Supremacy where Fungi is often run.

## Checks and Counters

* With all its equipment being dedicated to applying debuffs, Fungi finds itself severely lacking in durability, and is often easy picking for even neutral-hitting DPS monsters.
* While it can bypass dodge, Fungi is quite vulnerable to other accuracy decreases, such as Blind stacks or with Disoriented, as they can break Fungi's combo early.
* Monsters with Taunt can redirect Fungi's attack from its original target, usually one with Armor Break and Broken Immunity, thereby hampering its ability to apply all the debuffs it wants to.
* Thanks to Tenacious Barrier, Barrier teams can effectively shut down Fungi with passive debuff prevention.