Between choosing the health [Regen] from Dispensary (based on health orbs) vs Grenade Fans, I ended up preferring Grenade Fans to abuse the Shield gating mechanics, as well as having much better overall mobility. The high efficiency also allows for more frequent spamming of the Shield Sats so that you can keep up the Shield [Regen]. Arcane Aegis is there just in case.

[Blaze] Artillery deals a lot of damage over time as it stacks up, as well as the Heat status effects. It scales a lot more from Duration than Strength, so it is an avenue of specialization. Overall, I feel that the Heat procs do more work than the base attacks and hence this build revovles around spamming. The limited cone of attack also makes it more desirable to spam it as you reposition to catch other enemies.

In my view, relying too much on Dispensary makes Protea too static, but it is possible to build a more Defense-oriented version of her.