This Shadowheart Build is mostly beginner-friendly. If you follow the recommendations in the guide, the build will make your playthrough easier by applying severe debuffs [...]

Illithid Powers are not required for this build, and don't have any especially important synergies with it. You can use them if you like, but [...]

Yes. This build works on any difficulty, and is especially useful on Tactician and Honour difficulty because the Radiating Orb debuff makes it much harder [...]