Shapeshifters, Are they worth it?

I am a few weeks new, My first day I was extremely interested in my opinion the two coolest looking weapons, The Energy Shaper first (big laser was really cool looking ok) And just every last shapeshifter weapon! I held off on trying both because of how expensive they were to me even at tier4. Though now I have a foundation strong enough to support throwing away sets of them! So I ask,

What are the strengths of the Shapeshifter weapons?

What content do the excel in, and are they rather poor in other places of content?

What would you consider their playstyle archetype being?

These three questions you can answer if you want but I mainly just want to ask anyone that uses this weapon tree what they think about them and if they are worth picking up! So I know what to expect and know if it aligns with the content I do of course!