I've tried multiple things again with her, but - for now - I have her set up like this:
Sporekeeper armor (free Haste-Spore grenade once per long rest - these things are hard to come by from vendors)
Main Hand: Sylvan Scimitar for the ability to use WIS modifier - buffed by Dragonbreath Glaive's Elemental spell for an added 1d4 damage.
Off-Hand: Belm
Head: Hood of the Weave for more spellpower/protection against magic
Cape of Protection for more AC
+2 attack and damage gloves (forgot their name)
Boots of Evasion for another +1 to AC
Plus Khalid's Gift for +1 to WIS
Rings: Coruscation Ring to mark/debuff multiple enemies and Mental Inhibition to further mass-debuff - alternatively replaced by Strange Conduit Ring because that will up her melee damage while concentrating.
Stats are pretty good now, thanks to the Mirror of Loss
The important ones are now DEX 18 and WIS 20 (including the +1 from her pendant). Since Kahlid's Gift will only ever push her WIS to 21, I left it at 19 (+1 = 20 overall) and went for a DEX boost at the Mirror. Reason being that it increased her DEX-bonus to AC.
I've stayed away from Wildshape and only ever used her for her spores and melee ability. She's a 7 Spore Druid / 5 Fighter, so Action Surge and Second Attack make her pretty deadly up close. The Spore-Armor's other effects I practically never use - they don't seem to be *that* impressive and Haste-Spores are just too good. Alternatively, I could put her into either the Light, shield-equipped Uber-Armor from the Counting House (best light armor in the game, IMO) or Yuan Ti or the Medium Armor of... err.. Agility? which my Tav currently uses. All of which would push her AC much higher - I think she's at 19 or 20 now with the Spore-Armor on her - but I'd lose those sweet, sweet Haste-Grenades.
I also always try to give her a Supreme Arcane Elixir to give her another level 4 spell-slot. Although Bloodlust or Viciousness might also work nicely on her for a more melee focused direction.
I usually start off by throwing down Haste Spores where everyone can reach them (in bigger fights), then open with an AoE/crowd control spell like Ice-Storm or Confusion. Worked pretty sweetly in the House of Grief fight where Insect Plague from Shadowheart and Hypnotic Pattern from Jaheira kept one entire section of enemies in place while they were getting eaten alive by locusts..
Depending on the situation, I then usually take her into melee, keeping her within range of her spore-cloud if I can. I *think* switching off dual wielding and attacking with her main hand until she's out of actions, then using her bonus action for that special attack with Belm works best. I double checked the behavior of the weapons and if you use Belm as a regular off-hand weapon or with dual wielding enabled, it will scale off DEX, not WIS.
Overall the only drawback to this build is her relatively low AC (you do want her to keep those temp-HP to keep her fungal-mode going). And the fact that she's now a truly viable option for the party and has been on my active team for all of Act III. Her and Minsc are just too entertaining to not have on the team, but I do sometimes miss Gale's abilities and Karlach for her sense of humor and ability to go on endless killing sprees.
S.
