Somatic Shell has some really weird mechanical quirks

I've been playing around with the new Somatic Shell skill and it's really fantastic when they pop and explode a pack. Sound design really hit it out of the park for this one. There's been all sorts of odd quirks about the skill mechanically that really hold it back though (aside from the 2+ button playstyle).

1) Going over the shell limit will despawn the oldest shell. This can waste shells that have been primed as you aim towards a new pack, or cause constant overwrites if the initial attack slows or knocks back the frontline of a pack, making a second attack hit fresh mobs. It's can also be a problem if you have multiple projectiles.

2) The skill will apply as many shells as projectiles you fire, even if not all projectiles hit a target. For example, if LMP and Chain Support have been linked and you are attacking toward a single enemy, the projectile that hits the target will chain and can apply the shell to 2 enemies behind you even though the other 2 projectiles will pass harmlessly through the main target.

3) Applying the shell has inconsistent interaction with projectile behaviour modifiers. Mostly seen with low number of projectiles (1-3) with Fork or Chain. The total number of redirected and passing through projectiles seems to be one fewer than expected, as if the projectile applying the shell was consumed instead of forking or passing through.

4) Shell explosions may be firing projectiles before applying damage. When exploding multiple shells inside a pack of enemies, multiple projectiles are seen flying out but few to no shells are propagated inside the pack or to other packs. You should expect to see as many shells on new mobs as the number that exploded. If shells are fired before damage, then either other shelled enemies in the pack are absorbing the projectiles before they die, or unshelled enemies in the pack are shelled before the explosion kills them.

5) Shells on enemies dying from damage that exceeds both the shell and their life do not explode. This means very large hits on a shelled enemy is just wasting the shell effect. Compounded with the above issue of exploding shell projectiles not seeming to apply new shells, this reduces the reach of using the skill as a support skill.

6) Projectiles from shell explosions are not aimed at enemies. Projectiles also seem to have random spread, sometimes fanning only in a single direction. I've seen a shell explode and fire all its projectiles backwards into thin air instead of towards other enemies that are a quarter screen away. The unpredictable nature of these projectiles just means you waste more actions reapplying shells to new enemies.

This skill could use a couple more improvements, but has so much potential as a fun skill with great visual and aural payoff.

I've been trying to play it for four days now on Elementalist and Champion, and I still can't figure out the best build.

On Champion, I used Impale and Returning Projectiles so that they would trigger Impale when they return. But ultimately, this extra support reduces my overall DPS, just like Sacred Wisp—it's a trigger that takes up space in my main build and doesn't increase DPS.

I've realized one thing: the trigger should be outside of my main build.

And yes, the only option is Spellslinger. I just need to find the right spell to activate it. I've seen people try Ball Lightning or Eye of Winter.