Hello everyone! I'm N, and this guide is about how to get good at Fabricator- the best shell in the game (excluding Wildfire and Duskwing)! The Fabricator, or Fab for short, is an amazing shell that can do a lot. From running and gunning to creating constructs to aid yourself and others, there's a lot of options. And once you get good at Fab, you can chain everything together into one fluid motion, quickly dispatching enemies with Fab's amazing mobility and absurd DPS. However, first you need to get Fab by completing the Underground Base.

Fabricator is pretty straight forward to use- initially. Later on, the more you progress in skill level, Fab has a lot of options that open up and the amount of things you can do is crazy. Fabricator can be faster than a non-warping Duskwing, do more damage than Wildfire, and block projectiles like an Ironclad.

Fabricator's main weapon is the Dancer. The Dancer comes in many varieties, from the basic single shot Deepfire Dancer to the AoE DPS machine that is the Gavotte. You shoot the Dancer by holding down 'D', and then releasing the key when it's over an enemy. You can only have 2 shots out at a time, though.

The following are the mods available on Dancers:

50 Cycletime is absolutely amazing. Due to how it works, it TRIPLES the DPS done by a Dancer. This is also why 100 Cycletime is next- it doubles the DPS of a Dancer. Keep in mind, you can only have one or the other, so don't go searching for both on the same weapon! Gavotte has a lower hitrate, and although it's not quite triple, it's still a lot. Cycletime mods are crazy!

+2 Dances adds another projectile, but only on Gavotte and Trinity. With more projectiles comes more hits, and combo'd with a Cycletime mod, the DPS can get really crazy very easily. Even if you only get +1 Dances, prepare for things to just melt!

+100 Range is the next mod you should be looking for on a Dancer. Due to Fab's low health and defense, 100 more range is very valuable. It allows you to hit enemies almost to the edge of the screen!

Seeking is next for the above reason, but also allows you not to worry too much about where to aim on top of being able to get around odd corners- or even through walls. Seeking on a Gavotte is especially devastating, as the Dances will all home into the enemy.

5% Crit Chance is the mod after because of something Fab is bad at- armored enemies. An armored enemy can easily cause your Dancer to hit just a bunch of 1s and 2s… However, since Crits ignore armor AND do more damage than your regular shot, more crits means making up for the shots that don't crit! That being said, this mod becomes useless once you're in a decent group- everything will be dying very fast anyways, so more damage is unneeded.

2x Crit Damage is pretty useless if you're not hitting a lot of crits anyways, but can make up for damage lost due to armor.

+25 Radius only comes on the Trinity, but is pretty much useless. You want to be able to focus all of your DPS on one enemy, and radius only keeps you from doing that. It's pretty trash.

The perfect tiered Dancer would look like this:

Prototype Darkstar Dancer

Damage: 14-20

Range: 420

Cycletime: 50

Seeking

This Dancer has ridiculous range- it can go after enemies off screen depending on your resolution, and the amount of damage it can do is absolutely ridiculous. You can get it from the Elite Temple of the Lost boss.

NOTE: Due to the rarity of Star Cathedrals at the time, this is currently the best reasonable tiered Dancer

The perfect Exotic dancer would look like this:

Prototype Gavotte

Damage: 6-12

Range: 420

Duration: 1000

Cycle Time: 300

Radius: 50

Dances: 14

Seeking

Wait a sec- Seeking? That's lower than Range on the list! Gavotte can get 16 Dances- why isn't 250CT/16 Dances perfect? Also why only 300CT?

That's because Gavotte works a bit different than other Dancers- Gavotte spreads out its Dances. If you have this Gavotte, that's 14 Dances all moving into an enemy! On top of that, if there's an enemy just out of reach or even behind a wall, Seeking can go after it! As for 300CT, as shown by t, it only does slightly worse than 250CT, to the point of near negligence.

The Dancer is pretty straight forward- whenever you see an enemy, press and hold down the attack button until the 'Seed' (The little thing that comes out of the Dancer) is over the enemy. When the Seed is over the enemy, release the attack button and the Seed will explode into a Dance, dealing damage over an amount of time. You can only have 2 Seeds out at the same time.

With the Seeking modifier, Dances home into enemies. This is very useful when an enemy is around a difficult corner or even behind walls- just shoot a Dance as close as possible to the enemy, and it will automatically home into it.

A Note On Aiming: Aiming with the Dancer is something you have to get used to. As previously mentioned, the Seed explodes when you release the attack button. As such, you need to make sure that the Seed is on an enemy when it explodes into a Dance. You also need to make sure that you keep track of how many Dances are out- it might not be long, but Dances are out for awhile considering the fast paced action of Starbreak.

The Fabricator gets the Antiphon as a Secondary. The Antiphon is construct that acts like a drone- when you build one, it flies straight ahead, shooting projectiles at any enemies it passes. There are variants, of course- for example, the Mangonel is stationary and shoots high damage projectiles in an arc. However, generally Antiphons behave the same. Another thing about the Antiphon is that you can pick it back up, replenishing your ammo. While it's in the air, just press 'A' when you're over it. When it's on the ground, just run over it and you'll pick it up automatically.

The following is what you should be looking for in an Antiphon:

Quick Summon is super important- it allows you to quickly build an Antiphon. This can be useful in moments when you need the extra DPS, but more importantly there's instances where you don't see something coming right at you until after you have already begun building. Since the Fabricator can't move or cancel an Antiphon, building one quickly can allow you to move out of the way.

Penetrating is useful for damage, since the best way to use the Antiphon is when there are multiple enemies. This allows the projectiles shot at enemies to pierce through them, multiplying the DPS done.

Armored increases the survivability of the Antiphon, negating a good chunk of damage an enemy can do to it. This allows you more time to retrieve the Antiphon, but also more time for the Antiphon to be out in high population areas.

+2000 Lifetime means that the Antiphon is out longer, allowing it to do more damage.

+2/+1 Blockers aren't really helpful, because more than likely the Antiphon will be destroyed in an area with tons of projectiles, and, by extension, a ton of enemies producing said projectiles.

A perfect tiered Antiphon would look like:

Prototype Profane Antiphon

Damage: 65-75

Speed: 100

Acceleration: 20

Lifetime: 7500

Hitpoints: 120

Quick Summon

Penetrating

Armored

This Antiphon will do a lot of damage to multiple enemies, and be super resilient to damage. You can find it in Elite Temple of the Lost or Elite Graveyard

A perfect Exotic Antiphon will look like:

Experimental Mangonel

Damage: 75-125

Hitpoints: 80

Quick Summon

Penetrating

Armored

You can find Mangonels in both regular and Elite Vanquished~

A previous version of this article had me saying that Whispered is better- and it is REALLY good. But it's much more niche than Mangos. I find myself using them more often, but you should ultimately carry both. I'll explain all that later ;3

The Antiphon, as previously discussed, goes in a straight line, shooting at any enemy it passes by. The best time to use an Antiphon is when there are a lot of enemies that might not be easy to reach- whether they're a bunch of Goblings under a nest in the Fire Forest or a bunch of Reps in a pit in the Graveyard.

As for using Mangonels, they're best when there are a bunch of enemies or an enemy that's predictable. During the Strands midboss, you know where it is. Just pop a few Mangonels on the upper ledges, and they'll automatically shoot the midboss for massive amounts of damage- it's possible to take it down so fast, you don't even realize it's dead!

Fab's ability is to place down- or up, or to the side- a Macron. When a Fab does this, it automatically teleports to the Macron if there is room. This might seem simple, but this means you can do crazy things- Running, Jumping, Macron'ing, and then Jumping again can cause you to go to crazy heights, making rushing many zones very easy. This also allows you to get better angles on enemies, dodge projectiles or otherwise get out of the way, and even do damage to enemies- yes, when an enemy makes contact, or after 4 seconds pass, the Macron automatically explodes, dealing damage to anything in the vicinity. For example, in the Underground Base midboss, you can use the Macron to jump OVER the midboss, and then have the midboss run into the Macron, causing damage to it. There's all kinds of things you can do with them!

The best mods are as follows:

+1 Simultaneous is absolutely 100% needed for Fab. I'll take a +1 Simul Macron over one with all of the other mods- it's that important. +1 Simul allows you to have 2 Macrons out at the same time. Unfortunately, you have to touch the ground to build another, but the ability to have multiple out at the same time is so very useful that it's a must have.

Shielded is also a must have- not as much of a must have as +1 Simul, but it's very recommended you grab it. With it, the Fabricator has the ability of the Ironclad. In the Underground Base boss, during the bomb phase, place 2 macrons on the floor and any bomb that touches it DISAPPEARS. In the Strands boss, there's a projectiles that does a quite a bit of damage, splits, and then SPLITS AGAIN. Pop a Shielded Macron down where it's going, and you and everyone else can avoid ALL OF THAT. The projectile just vanishes. The crazy stuff you can do with a Shielded +1 Simul Macron is just… Crazy! And infinitely useful to you and your teammates.

+5 Shrapnel means after the Macron explodes, it does 5 more ranged hits with more spread. Not always useful, but it can instakill a lot of enemies.

+100% Armor Pierce is useful for enemies with defense. That's not THAT useful, but it serves its niche.

Incendiary sets the ground on fire. Once again, not that useful, but there are instances where you can get a bit more damage in.

A perfect tiered Macron looks like:

Prototype Composite Macron

Duration: 4000

Damage: 35-50

+1 Simultaneous

Shielded

+5 Shrapnel

+100% Armor Pierce

This Macron does everything. It provides god tier mobility, can block projectiles, and has enough damage to one hit kill a good chunk of enemies. You just have to try it, or something like this in a lower tier. This particular Macron can be found in the Elite Temple of the Lost or Elite Graveyard

What about a perfect Exotic Macron?:

Macrons are very useful. If you want to get into a high place, just jump, place a Macron above you, and you should be in range to just jump on again. You can also use this ability to aid teammates- say there's an Ironclad stuck somewhere. Just go to where they are, pop a Macron where the Ironclad can jump, and then watch as the Ironclad scrambles up the ledge to freedom!

Shielded Macrons have a very important use- shielding teammates. As previously discussed, there are many instances where you can shield yourself and teammates from otherwise devastating bullets. Whether it's the Temple boss, Strands boss, or just regular projectiles from minions, a well placed Shielded Macron can be as useful as an Ironclad. My favorite tech, as I mentioned earlier, is: during the Underground Base boss's bomb phase, you can place 2 macrons on the floor and any bomb that touches it just disappears. Place them well, and you can clear out all the bombs that the boss drops!

The Fabricator has two main types of armor: Woven and Blockers. Woven provides a lot of stats, like Armor and Movement Speed, whereas Blockers create small orbiting entities that block ALL projectiles that come into contact with them. Ideally, you'd carry both- they both have their uses, and both are useful. In general, however, I prefer Blockers, but you can't always get those. The choice of which one to use in a given place is determined by the greatest threat in that place. Say, for example, you're in a Fungus Cave boss- there are no projectiles, so you'd use a Woven. However, in the Temple of the Lost, the biggest threat is those large yellow shots- as such, Blockers are better. The following are the best mods:

+1 Blocker is a Blockers only mod that makes or breaks the item. If it does not have this mod, it's trash and absolutely useless. Do not pick up a Blockers unless it has 3 total Blockers.

+5 Movement Speed is crazy. You go fast. REALLY fast. Like, the first time I went for speed, I couldn't keep up with myself. Once you get used to it, you can dodge things like crazy and outrun non warping Duskwings. With speed mods, Fabricator is the FASTEST shell that isn't using an ability.

+2% Base Crit Chance allows you to crit more often- very useful against enemies with defense.

+0.25x Base Crit Damage allows those crits to hit harder. Also useful against enemies with defense.

The perfect Woven is:

Prototype Reinforced Woven

Armor: 12

Movement Speed: 16

+0.25x Base Crit Damage

+2% Base Crit Chance

Super fast, and a ton of armor- you can get it at Elite Temple of the Lost boss

So, what about Blockers?:

Modified Enraged Blockers

3 Blockers

Damage: 20-40

Whoa, Modified? There's only 1 mod available for these?

Yup, and as such you can get these from just a regular Temple of the Lost boss. These are very useful, and as such you should carry them whenever you can- a version that doesn't do contact damage is available in the Fungus Cave boss, and is just as effective.

Fabricator also has four mobility options- Valenki, Boosters, Gliders and Lightfoot. Valenki give you a boost in armor and a massive boost in movement speed, while Boosters and Gliders can make you hover in the air for a small amount of time and Lightfoot reduces your gravity. Personally, I prefer Boosters, but Valenki are also very useful if you just wanna go fast and have a little extra armor on top.

The mods on them are as follows:

+4 Movement Speed makes you go fast- simple as that! It allows you to get out of the way as soon as possible

+2% Base Crit Chance makes you crit more often. What's not to love about big numbers?

+0.5x Base Crit Damage enables big numbers, but I prefer to crit more often

-10% Gravity is exclusive to Lightfoot. It reduces your gravity further, 'nuff said.

+5 Jump Height appears on Gliders and Boosters. There's really no downside to having more of this.

+2/5 Armor appears on Gliders and Boosters. Doesn't make them better at protecting you than Valenki, but it's better than nothing.

The perfect tiered Valenki is:

Experimental Reinforced Valenki

Armor: 8

Movement Speed: 17

+2% Base Crit Chance

+0.5x Base Crit Damage

This Valenki allows you to go fast and helps you do a ton of damage with its crit modifiers- you can find it in the Temple of the Lost and Graveyard!

The perfect Boosters that are reasonably attainable are:

Experimental Boosters

Acceleration: 400

Duration: 500

+5 Movement Speed

+5 Armor

+5 Jump Height

These Boosters, obtainable from Underground Base boss, give you an additional layer of vertical mobility while still giving decent protection and a small boost to movement speed.

Personally, when I rebuild, I tend to skip a lot of things and then come back later. When building Fab, I go for the following items:

Gavotte

Mangonel

Whispered Antiphon

Simul/Shielded Macron (Any)

Boosters

High Level Valenki

Blockers

High Level Woven

Salites

As such, I eventually hit every zone. However, in order, I try to do these zones:

eFF- MKI goes a long way. You gain a bit of armor and health you wouldn't otherwise have

VQ- Fab is rather squishy, so I try not to touch eVQ early on. I'm mainly here for stats and Mangos, but mainly stats. If I don't get Mangos here, I'll revisit after I've MKIV'd.

ST- I skip FC unless there isn't an ST up, which is rather rare. The reason for this is that Blockers aren't THAT essential, especially when I can get them in TL. I'm, once again, mainly here for stats. I can make up FC and ST stats easily within a few runs, and hopefully grab a Gavotte.

TL- Finishing up HP is important to do as fast as possible. Fab is squishy, and I'm not fond of having little. I can also get the missed Blockers in the form of Enraged, and also grab Whispered here.

GY- I get the rest of my stats here- should be able to MKIV within a few runs. Ultimately, it shouldn't take more than an 2-3 hours to get 4/5 taking this route.

Afterwards, I go back and grab the items I'm missing. Now that i'm MKIV, I can easily solo VQ and FC, and my survivability in the other zones are very high. By now I've probably picked up a 50ct Tiered Dancer, so I'm not doing a negligible amount of damage. Hopefully along the way I get a shop for Salites, or they drop naturally.

This is a question many people ask. I've written a large post on it here:

Def Analysis for Fab- HP or Armor Implant?

It's a long article, so TL;DR:

Salites are almost always better. If you wanna be technical, you can always switch to Armites after you lose 20 HP.

As I previously mentioned, I carry multiple items. Here are my reasoning for carrying each:

Gavotte: This is currently Fabs go-to weapon. You generally don't want something else, unless you pick up a Trinity that's better. 50ct +Dance Trinity can outDPS Gavotte up to a point, but a perfect Gavotte wins in the end.

Mangonel: Mangos are probably one of the best items overall for Fab. You can easily sit back and relax in ST midboss, solo one (or both!) sides of VQ boss carrier phase, clear out a huge chunk of one side of UB boss wave phase, and so much more. I mainly carry Mangos as such.

Whispered: Whispered with QS/Pene is amazing, allowing it to clear large swaths of enemies. Stuck in a stalemate? Just pop a Whispered. It can whittle down rep HP in GY boss, or clear floors in UB boss wave phase.

Simul/Shielded Macron: You should ALWAYS be carrying one of these. They're very important on Fab and allow you to do a lot you wouldn't normally be able to do. Doesn't matter the tier, they all have the same size.

Boosters: I mainly carry these because it essentially gives you an extra jump- there's a reason why WFs and DWs all main Empys. Even if you sacrifice some stats, the sheer mobility boost is amazing and can save you.

High Tier Valenki: That being said, sometimes you need the speed and armor. I use Valenki in FC and UB since I'm not too concerned about being stuck in a tight space Boosters can get me out of. That being said, newer player may prefer Boosters in FC, due to falling into the Wurm's mouth.

Blockers: Blockers are my main- the ability to completely negate projectiles outweighs the extra armor given by Woven in most cases.

High Tier Woven: Once again, though, there is a reason to carry Woven. FC boss has NO projectiles, so I prefer a Valenki/Woven combo there, and sometimes you need a little extra speed to catch up to the group or just get somewhere fast.

Salites: Always Equipped, never switch unless you're “good” enough to switch to Armites when you reach below a level… As if it'll help :3c

Fabricator is absolutely amazing! With so much versatility, a good Fabricator can do the job of all the other shells at a safe distance! Just get the right gear, and practice hard, and you'll be Fabulous in no time~

Thank you for reading this <3

About Dancers and other Fabricator Mains:

• Fabricator Mains, being separate entities from the Fabricator itself, can be used while the Fabricator is doing most other actions. However, they are not usable while using Boosters or Gliders, and the Fabricator's aim and facing is locked while summoning Antiphons.
• Trinity and its big brother Volta (looted from boss chest in Star Cathedral) cannot receive the Seeking modifier, so one may want to stick with Dancers or Telson/Gavotte until they have achieved sufficient proficiency with using Fabricator Mains to get the most out of Trinity/Volta.
• Quickstep, the exotic Fabricator main found in Graveyard, is a fully automatic weapon, unlike all other Fabricator mains. To use this weapon, one merely has to hold down the Main button.

About Antiphons:

• The Fabricator can still move if it begins the summoning process in mid-air, but loses all movement ability upon touching the ground. Beginning summoning mid-jump is useful for more precise placement or reducing time spent standing still, especially when using a Fabricator second without Quick Summon modifier.
• Though Antiphons are primarily for killing enemies, they can also be used to draw aggro from distant enemies, as enemies will attack Antiphons, Mangonels and Scorpions (high-tier Mangonels) when there are no shells around to attack instead. For baiting purposes, an Armored standard Antiphon works best due to a higher health pool than Whispered Antiphon.
• Whispered Antiphon has a much faster firing rate than standard Antiphons do, but does less damage per hit. Keep this in mind when deciding which second to equip for a given area.

About Macrons:

• Explosions made by Macrons innately have the Trisected attribute, so effective damage from Macrons is 200% more than what the item text states if all three explosions hit enemies. Incendiary modifier turns the three explosions into three flames.
• Though Macrons are useful as platforms and as floating shields, you are not using them to their full potential if you do not also use them to deal damage. Melee Rep climbing up to where you are? Lay down a Macron at the top of the wall. In the Underground Base and waiting for a wave of constructs to teleport into the arena? Put a Macron over one of the spawn points. Getting chased by brown munchers while fighting the midboss of Temple of the Lost? Make them eat some Macron while you move to safer ground.
• Mechanized Macron and its big brother Skiff are moving platforms, but in all other respects they act just like standard Macrons. Mechanized Macron's damage output is unrivaled until you acquire Devoted Macron or Skiff, and with some prediction a Shielded one can block projectiles just as well as a stationary Shielded Macron can. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution, though, so you should keep a standard Macron in your inventory for those situations that require stationary platforms.

About Body Items:

• The release of Star Cathedral brought with it the Enlarged Blockers, which as the name suggests have bigger Blockers orbiting the Fabricator when equipped. They do not do collision damage, though, so one may prefer to stick with Enraged Blockers if that is a deal breaker.

About Mobility Items:

• Since the original writing of the guide, the Boosters line got split up into the new Boosters line and the Gliders line.
• Boosters specialize in vertical mobility, accelerating you upward at high speeds and effectively acting as an air jump. The low-tier version drops from the Underground Base boss, and the high-tier version comes from the Star Cathedral boss.
• Gliders specialize in duration, allowing one to hover in the air for a considerable time without a lot of upward movement. The low-tier version drops from the Vanquished boss, and the high-tier version comes from the Temple of the Lost boss.
• Lightfoot, which comes from the Graveyard boss, reduces the gravity modifier for the user, effectively improving jump height and reducing the speed at which one falls. Boosters and Gliders can do Lightfoot's job better, though they can only be triggered once every time one leaves the ground while Lightfoot is always active while equipped.

General Fabricator Notes:

• The Fabricator has the same height as the Wildfire while crouched. This is especially useful when facing certain classes of ranged enemies.