Webber Skill Tree (Concept)

[QuillVest]

As a Webber main who loves spiders immensely and genuinely enjoys their playstyle, I've felt a lot of holes in the gameplay many times over. I wanted to outline their flaws in a forwarded section first to help give insight on my thought process, as well as help explain some of the skills.

Also I want to preface that while almost everything here is my own thought process, forms based on doodles is NOT my idea and I do not have the post it originated from. If you read this post and you're the author who came up with the doodle idea, and you want me to remove that portion, do not hesitate to let me know.

One of the main problems with Webber I've noticed is the army they commands. Without sputters, the army runs into collision problems often, and also makes it hard to control where you want to go on occasion. Something that would be great for their skill tree would be better ways to command the army. I think spiders having three states (passive, following, aggressive) would allow for better control of followers without the need to constantly dismiss them and deal with the collision.

Another issue I have with the current Webber playstyle is that some bosses are exponentially harder due to them having some sort of AOE ability that nukes a spider army (Bearger, Celestial Champion phase 2) or some attack that makes spiders as followers a detriment rather than being helpful (fear from Shadow Pieces, Klaus spells, woven shadows) Something that can help with these issues is a way to deal with spiders being panicked and a way to boost spiders defences so they don't get killed within a few attack rotations (I'm looking at you Celestial Champion)

One thing to note is the entire riding skill tree is all something I WANT, not something the character needs. I just love the premise and feel it's an unexplored area.

Needlework

Weaver (No requirement) - Allows Webber to craft a unique resource, Woven Silk.

Crochet (Requires "Weaver") - Reduces the cost of Woven Silk by 50%.
Defense (Requires "Crochet") - Unlocks the ArmoRaid recipe on Webber's crafting tab.

Command and Commence (Requires "Weaver") - Unlocks the Welcoming Webby Whistle and the Warning Webby Whistle recipes in Webber's crafting tab.
Offense (Requires "Command and Commense") - Unlocks the Fang Sharpening Kit in Webber's crafting tab.
 

Doodles

Thrifty Spider (No requirement) - Reduces the cost for Switcherdoodles by 50%.

Super Doodles (Requires "Thrifty Spider") - The recipes for Advanced Switcherdoodles becomes available in Webber's crafting tab.
Cheapskate 1 (Requires "Super Doodles") - Reduces the cost of Advanced Switcherdoodles by 33%.
Cheapskate 2 (Requires "Cheapskate 1") - Reduces the cost of Advanced Doodles by 66%.

Doodle Consumerism (Requires "Super Doodles") - Allows Webber to gain a form based on what doodle they consume. Automatically unlocks Warrior form for Webber.

Battle Built Bug (Requires "Doodle Consumerism") - Unlocks Shattered, Dangling and Spitter forms for Webber.
Safety Surveyor Spider (Requires "Doodle Consumerism") - Unlocks Nurse, Strider and Cave forms for Webber.

Ranching

En Passant (Requires "Weaver") - Unlocks the ability to turn a Tier 3 Spider Den into a Noble Spider Den.
Queen's Gambit (Requires "En Passant") - Unlocks the ability to turn a Noble Spider Den into a Royal Spider Den.

Aristocratic Arachnid (Requires "Command and Commence" and "Queen's Gambit") - Unlocks the Spider Saddle, and with it the ability to tame Noble Spider Queens.

Advancement 1 (Requires "Aristocratic Arachnid") - Increases tamed Noble Spider Queens and the Royal Spider Queen's speed.
Advancement 2 (Requires "Advancement 2") - Further increases tamed Noble Spider Queens and the Royal Spider Queen's speed.

Coronation (Requires "Aristocratic Arachnid") - Allows Webber to tame the Royal Spider Queen and saddle her.
Royal Feast (Requires "Coronation" and "Doodle Consumerism") - Enables the Royal Spider Queen to be fed an Advanced Switcherdoodle to change its form.
Succession (Requires "Coronation") - Increases the Royal Spider Queen's max follower count and allows her to spawn more advanced spiders.

Affinity

Shadow Affinity: The Shadow Queen will reward your loyalty with control over the terrors of the dark.

Dark Denizen - Removes the sanity drain from darkness, the caves and shadow-aligned entities. Followers will deal 10% extra damage to lunar-aligned entities and are immune to the effects of fear.

Lunar Affinity: The Cryptic Founder will reward you with the ability to empower you and your followers with lunar light.

Lunactic Following - Allows spiders following Webber, any tamed Spider Queens and the Royal Spider Queens to see and attack shadow creatures, as well as increasing their damage to shadow aligned creatures by 10%.

Recipes

Woven Silk: 8 Silk + 2 Bunny Puff + Sewing Kit (uses 10% of the sewing kit.) Makes 1 Woven Silk. Prototyped at the Alchemy Engine. 4 Silk, 1 Bunny Puff and 5% sewing kit cost if the perk "Crochet" is active.

Welcoming Webby Whistle: 3 Woven Silk + Webby Whistle + Beefalo Bell.

Warning Webby Whistle: Webby Whistle + 3 Woven Silk + Beefalo Bell.

ArmoRaid: 1 Woven Silk + 1 Pig Skin.

Fang Sharpening Kit: 2 Cut Stone + 3 Flint + 1 Rope

Advanced Warrior Switcherdoodle: 1 Warrior Switcherdoodle + 3 Woven Silk + 6 Pig Skin.
Advanced Dangler Switcherdoodle: 1 Dangler Switcherdoodle + 3 Woven Silk + 3 Bunny Puff.
Advanced Nurse Switcherdoodle: 1 Nurse Switcherdoodle + 3 Woven Silk + 9 Honey.
Advanced Cave Switcherdoodle: 1 Cave Switcherdoodle + 3 Woven Silk + 9 Cut Stone.
Advanced Spitter Switcherdoodle: 1 Spitter Switcherdoodle + 3 Woven Silk + 12 Nitre.
Advanced Shatter Switcherdoodle: 1 Shatter Switcherdoodle + 3 Woven Silk + 9 Moon Glass.
Advanced Strider Switcherdoodle: 1 Strider Switcherdoodle + 3 Woven Silk + 6 Figs.

Spider Saddle: 4 Woven Silk + Saddle + Spiderhat

Wall of Text (Deeper Explanations)

Time to Wall Of Text. There are a lot of details that would be too much to add to the initial explanations, so if you got the gist of all the skills you don't need to read all of this. I warned you.

Woven Silk is expensive for a reason, and that's because it has several very good uses. The spider saddle gives you a personalized mount, Advanced Doodles let you empower yourself and your army, etc. That's why getting Weaver and Crochet would be vital, since you need so much Woven Silk. Getting that 50% cost reduction helps in the long run.

The Welcoming Webby Whistle has a few benefits. First off, it is an infinite use Webby Whistle. No more having to craft more to manage armies. As you can see in the recipe, it is crafted with the Beefalo Bell. That is because it serves as the tether for Spider Queens and the Royal Spider Queen. You cannot use a Beefalo Bell on Queens so it acts as the replacement. The Welcoming Webby Whistle pumps up loyal spiders, giving them a 15% speed boost and a flat 5 damage bonus for about 30 seconds, with a lengthy cooldown.

The Warning Webby Whistle serves as a direct counterpart to the Welcoming Webby Whistle, and allows for better control over any follower spiders. One blow of the whistle will change any following spiders from one state to another. The first state that they always start in is Following, which is the state their in with the base game, nothing changes about this state. The second state is Passive. Immediately after Following, Passive causes all spiders following Webber to become stationary. They no longer attempt to get as close to Webber as possible and will essentially become, well, passive. The last state immediately after Passive is Aggresive. In this state, spider followers will no longer need to be set onto targets, they will attack on sight. This excludes passive mobs like Glommer, butterflies, but not neutral mobs like Beefalo and Pengulls. The Warning Webby Whistle also acts as a Spider Queen tether.

ArmoRaid and the Fang Sharpening Kit are direct opposites of each other, and are also mutually exclusive. Using either on a spider follower will essentially "upgrade" them. Consumed like a Switcherdoodle, it does not change their appearance but their stats change. ArmoRaid provides a 40% damage reduction value to fed spiders, while the Fang Sharpening Kit provides 10 extra damage per attack.

Here comes the second biggest thing, the Advanced Doodles. Each one is an expensive upgrade to the doodle of the same type, and has the same stats when eaten. What it does is if the proper skill isn't unlocked, Webber will refuse to eat it, saying something like "We're not ready to change!" If the proper skill is unlocked (like "Battle Built Bug" for Angler Switcherdoodle) then they will consume them, changing into a new form. The forms are based on the doodle they eat, and lasts until they dies, or takes a total of 300 damage since they consumed the doodle for their current transformation. The Royal Spider Queen can consume doodles to transform as well, but I'll discuss her forms in the Ranching section. Each transformation for Webber is as follows:
Warrior: Webber gains a flat 10 damage on top of any attack they deal with any weapon. Additionally, Webber has an increased hunger drain (I'd say no more than 1.25x the normal amount)
Cave: Webber has the cave spiders ability to curl into their exoskeleton and take 90% reduced incoming damage, but be unable to act.
Nurse: On every fifth successful attack on the same target, Webber will slam the ground and heal himself for 8 HP, and all nearby spiders 150 HP (the same as nurse spiders healing)
Spitter: Webber can throw his currently equipped item, and can equip minerals (rocks, flint, gold, gems) and throw them at targets, with damage based on the item thrown.
Dangler: With a right click Webber can lunge at a target like a Dangling Depth Dweller or Warrior spider can. It has a lengthy cool down but low i-frames so it's a safe move.
Strider: Webber gains immunity to wetness from all sources, and upon drowning will not lose any items or stats.
Shattered: Webber deals a percentage of damage he takes to attackers on a short cooldown.

You thought that was a wall of text, get ready for Ranching. There is so much involved with this part, so buckle up.

A tier 3 Spider Den can be upgraded into a Noble Spider Den with 3 Woven Silk, as long as the skill "En Pessant" is active. This gives it a seeker but busier look. A Noble Spider Den can be transformed into a Noble Spider Queen but blowing any Webby Whistle nearby. These act the same as a Spider Queen, but have 2000 Health. A Noble Spider Den acts the same as a tier 3 spider den, with the exception that it has 1500 Health and has 15 normal spiders, 8 Warriors and 2 nurse spiders. A Noble Spider Queen will only spawn spiders when fully tamed.
With "Queen's Gambit" active, Webber can use 5 more Woven Silk (for a total of 8) to turn a Noble Spider Den into the Royal Spider Den, giving it a new glamorous look. There can only be one Royal Spider Den in the world per Webber player, and each one is tied to that player. Attempting to create a second Royal Spider Den from a Noble Spider Den will result in Webber saying "We don't think two Queens will get along." The Royal Spider Den has 2000 Health, has 20 spiders, 10 warriors and 4 nurse spiders, and has an extra tile of sticky webbing. A Royal Spider Queen has 1500 Health, and will only spawn spiders when fully tamed.
After an hour and being loaded for longer than 1 minute, or upon a Warning Webby Whistle being blown nearby, it will transform into the Royal Spider Queen. Just as there could only be one Royal Spider Den, there can be only one Royal Spider Queen. If there is a Royal Spider Queen alive, Webber can make a Royal Spider Den, but it has its timer paused and cannot be turned into another Royal Spider Queen.
Noble Spider Queens can be tamed by clicking on the with a Welcoming or Warning Webby Whistle. This process is similar to taming a beefalo, as she will have a hunger meter, a domestication meter, a health bar and an obedience meter. She will not be rideable if obedience is too low, builds domestication over time and via other various actions, and loses domestication if she is stationary and hungry. This taming process is different from beefalo as Noble Spider Queens cannot be fed twigs, veggies, etc. Noble Spider Queens must be fed any meat food, such as Monster Meat, Pierogi, Meaty Stew and Morsels. The value of hunger the meat gives will give the Noble Spider Queen double, but she drains hunger twice as fast as a Wilson. The process of taming the Royal Spider Queen is exactly the same as a Noble Spider Queen, with one small difference. The Royal Spider Queen does not accept unprocessed meats, so she can only be fed with crockpot dishes, dried meat and cooked meat. Additionally, the Royal Spider Queen has a higher obedience to be ridden, and loses domestication faster if she is hungry and not stationary. In order to ride any Spider Queen, they must be above their obedience threshold and be equipped with a Spider Saddle. Both Spider Queens that are tameable do not have tendancies.
A Noble Spider Queen while being tamed runs at the same speed as a Spider Queen. It is intentionally slow, as they are relatively easy to obtain and cheap. When fully tamed, they will have a small speed boost to be around 1.25x the normal Spider Queen walking speed. With both "Advancement" skills, she should be around the speed of a normal, undomesticated Beefalo. A Noble Spider Queen deals 40 damage to a single target, and when fully tamer deals 60 damage to a single target.
The Royal Spider Queen runs in between the speed as an untamed Beefalo and a normal Spider Queen. With both "Advancement" skills, she ends up being as fast as a fully tamed beefalo with a normal saddle. As stated earlier, the Royal Spider Queen is a lot harder to domesticate but has better stats. A taming Royal Spider Queen deals 51.5 damage to a single target, and when fully tamed deals 70 damage to a single target. While she, like the Noble Spider Queen, does not have tendancy, with the skill "Royal Feast" she can be fed Advanced Switcherdoodles to change her form like Webber. The forms are as follows:
Warrior: The Royal Spider Queen deals 10 Planar damage in addition to her standard attack.
Cave: The Royal Spider Queen gains 10 Planar defense.
Nurse: This allows the Royal Spider Queen to regenerate health twice as fast, as well as heal Webber for 8 HP every 20-30 seconds.
Spitter: This gives the Royal Spider Queen a ranged attack that does 35 damage.
Dangler: Allows the Royal Spider Queen to create a Spider Den on a location of the players choosing, once per 7 days.
Strider: Gives the Royal Spider Queen the ability to swim, but at half her normal speed.
Shattered: Imbues the Royal Spider Queen with moon shards, causing her attacks to deal 0.25x damage to targets around her main target.
Webber can only feed the Royal Spider Queen an Advanced Switcherdoodle when she is fully tamed, and the form lasts until she has taken more than 500 damage.
When fully tamed, the Royal Spider Queen leaves temporary trails of sticky webbing where she runs. She also spawns spiders whenever stationary for long enough, and has a higher chance of spawning warriors and nurse spiders. These spiders are considered Webber's followers, and will act accordingly.
The Spider Saddle can be removed with a saddlehorn. Noble Spider Queens and the Royal Spider Queen are passive to neutral mobs (Chester, Glommer, Beefalo) when being tamed.

Edited April 18 by QuillVest
Some spelling mistakes and a change to a few items