Xarybdis

Thanks! I was getting the KR explore badges and literally jumped into the competition. I landed in the square and saw everyone lined up, so I just backed up and joined the crew. XD

Thanks, THB. That'll help me a lot with making intelligent decisions on what I want to do.


Redlynne, I'm not sure what you expect me to do to view your suggestions.

I know what they are on terms of being the rarest IO sets and am aware of their cost. I was using that as an example to show that, outside of Luck of the Gambler (which boosts recharge rate) I don't know what constitutes a good set, nor how many of any set is optimal. What sets have good procs that I need? Where should they go? Do I need to get just the one or should I be looking for getting a certain set bonus? These are the sorts of questions I have and am looking for advice on.

I can't, as stated, just boot up Mid's and see all the information and make practice builds, so I'm reaching out to the community for help.

"Look, we all know what the purple sets are and the best places to put them."

That's a quote from the MF Warshade guide. The problem is-- I don't know what the best purple sets are or where to put them.

Yes, that guide is what turned me around on what powers I should be taking and using instead of how I originally was leveling. I didn't show what I have slotted because it was already a pain to copy as-is and it's just an eclectic collection of 35-50 IOs. What I would like help with is being told if I put too many or too few in certain things and what sort of IO sets I should be getting with all the merits I have piled up and where they should go.

So this weekend I took your guys' advice and tried to be a better Warshade--

but I ended up with the taste of dirt & asphalt in my mouth again-- repeatedly.

Since I can't get Mids running on a Mac as far as I can tell (without buying a copy of windows and dual booting) here is a really crappy rundown of my power choices and where I put my slots. Nothing has any IO Sets in them because-- I honestly don't know what's good and there's too many choices to scroll through in-game.

I have tons of Veteran Freespecs, so I don't mind having to burn them to get things right.

Shadow Bolt
O
Gravimetric Snare
OOO
Dark Nova
OOO
Sunless Mire
OOOOOO
Gravity Well
OOO
Gravitic Emanation
O
Unchain Essence
O
Dark Detonation
O
Dark Extraction
OOO
Ebon Eye
O

Absorption
OOO
Orbiting Death
O
Shadow Cloak
O
Black Dwarf
OOO
Stygian Circle
OOO
Shadow Step
O
Stygian Return
O
Eclipse
OOOOOO
Penumbral Shield
O
Inky Aspect
OOO

Dark Nova Bolt
OOOOOO
Dark Nova Blast
OOOOOO
Dark Nova Emanation
OOOOOO
Dark Nova Detonation
OOOOOO

Dark Dwarf Strike
OOOOO
Dark Dwarf Smite
OOOOO
Dark Dwarf Drain
OOO
Dark Dwarf Mire
OOOOOO
Dark Dwarf Step
O
Dark Dwarf Antagonize
O

Swift
O
Hurdle
O
Health
OOO
Stamina
OOO


Combat Jumping
O
Super Jump
O
Spring Attack
O

Hasten
OOO

Presumably because they just imported the mesh from the existing Carnival models and didn't want to create a new mesh to fit guys.

I meant the costume piece in the store, silly. Of course Kheldian guys should wear sashes too-- just right now they cannot.

It's for girls only, remember.

Boys get out. :P

Oh wow, that looks sexy, THB. Pretty much the perfect Warshade outfit. Sorry you hate the mask, but it looks really good close up.

I finally got to 50 and I am having problems. Mainly, I can't solo. The vast majority of time to 50, I was in groups, and even just duo'ing I felt like a shadowy goddess. As soon as I am on my own, however, I turn to rubbish.

And it's purely when encountering a new group of enemies. (On 0x8 so I get a lot of target and, hopefully, a lot of corpses) If I have an Extracted Essence even I don't do so bad, but running in and hitting Eclipse even will kill me, but if I shift to Dwarf so I don't die-- I have no AOEs and not enough damage to kill things quickly enough to take advantage of Stygian Circle.

If I run in leading with a Gravitic Emanation or Dark Detonation, I scatter the mobs and am not able to get enough with Eclipse to survive.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong (leading with Inky Aspect and Orbiting Death on) or if I need some defense slotted where I don't yet, but I feel like the world's crappiest Warshade when I'm by myself in a mission and start racking up the debt.

I used my second build to try and see what human-only was like and-- I just missed having the toggles. Especially if I wanted to just fly somewhere quickly or shake off a mez.

I-- I couldn't help myself. :<


(Why aren't the ring mistress back parts in this pack?)

Oh. That's incredibly funny. And kinda cute. XD

On a less creepy note, I like that costume, even if the samurai belt looks weird for now. I have tried to make use of the fire pattern a couple of times, but making it look good is pretty difficult. I think that I just end up trying to make things too "busy" like the result of my Galaxy project and just can't keep to simple designs like a lot of you guys are doing very well with.

Also I really need to break out of using just purple and black. I had some pre-thread designs that used a hot magenta for highlights and should really go back and revisit that scheme. Going forward, the new shirts in the pocket D / clubbing pack should be perfect to really finish my lackluster civilian costume (which I swear is not purple and black).

Wargirls are better than Peaceboys. :P

Street sweeping for xp? Worried about defenses? Skipping Nova when it came available? Oh dear, you don't need to worry about all that. At the beginning, Warshades play a lot like a blaster or controller where you just want to blast down all of your foes. Knock them down and fill them full of Nictus energy! Things will be very swingy, especially while soloing. Find or start groups, read the WS Bible (MF Warshade) it almost literally walks you through the levels, giving amazing advice and not just giving you a build plan and a list saying "pick this power at this level."

And making binds for switching forms and your power trays is a must. Personally I use Shift+1 2 and 3 for Human, Nova and Dwarf in that order. Your buffs and control in human for will help your Nova form, which you'll want for primary damage. And don't forget that you get buffed for every other person on your team, depending on their AT, so don't be afraid to group up where you'll be stronger and you'll have other people that will help you take care of Quantums and Voids.

Wow! A lot, a whole lot of great stuff! And apparently I need to get to 50 (Hit 47 tonight!) and get that Incarnate Belt. So snazzy!

I've grouped with a couple Peacebringers as I've climbed up the levels, all of them with really neat and different looks, and finally tonight I grouped with another Warshade (said group had a Peacebringer, too, so it was a strangely Kheldian-heavy group). I kind of feel like I've discovered this cool underground group within City of Heroes that I never really knew existed! And I've gotten a lot of in-game compliments on my (previous posted) costume, so thank you guys who responded early in helping me make some good decisions to get that first one looking really good.

As for more, different costumes-- I made a Galaxy lookalike costume and used it for a day or two on Council missions-- but although I tried to keep it pretty close, the lack of collar and inability to get a decent looking facemask, I just wasn't satisfied with my results. So, going back to the drawing board, and with some suggestions from this thread, I came up with:

(Hard to see details: Ulterior top and small skull face mask)

I'm pretty happy with it, though I could do better on the pants, I think-- or maybe just something different over all? Not too sure. After using Dark Extraction on Requiem himself near the end of an ITF, I started wondering if maybe I should try for something more military-looking in his colors. A black suit with red gloves and boots-- or maybe purple instead to make it more in line with the colors in my other costumes? I wish Arkhan had a better picture on the wiki so I could see what she's wearing. I haven't fought her yet, so I haven't seen her in game.


Since the Fire and Ice sets came out today, I made this one after I went on an LGTF run:

(Kind of a blob of purple in the upper half. It looks better in-game I swear)

I guess it's sort of some weird hybrid cyst / solidifying nictus theme? I stole a lot of things in this from a Fire/Rad character I made a while back, mainly the hair, shoulders, arms, pants and boots. In fact, this is pretty much how I'd update that character's costume should I go back to her. Except the chest part. The celestial armor chestpiece also sort of makes this a bragging/showoff costume due to all the Tier 9 parts. Maybe when I unlock incarnate pieces (that belt!) I'll add them to this one and make it sort of serve that purpose.


There's also a Cimeroa costume I made, but I'm not ready to post it yet. It's pretty much an exact copy of an older one I did for my DB/WP brute. It looks nice, I think, but I want to change out at least the gloves and boots (my Brute used the Sinister pieces, which are a bit too evil/spider themed for my Warshade).

As a level 4 Warshade myself two weeks ago (I'm 45 now) let me tell you it gets waaaaay better. A look at the MF Warshade guide is a must, if only to really learn what our powers do and what our strengths are in combat. I also suggest finding teams or just starting them yourself until you get a little more in the way of tools to help deal with the Quantums and Voids that pop up to harass you.

Being a Warshade is super fun, and while it is a little rough right now, just use those defeats as a motivator. You WILL get better and you WILL stomp those guys eventually!

Ah, it's still a bit small, but I can see the parts a lot better. It looks like you've got way too much black there, without a real highlight color to make it stand out. The WS costume has the dashes of purple, which is what makes that look good. The little bit of white doesn't count, incidently, as it's not a real color. (same as black) A white/black scheme could work, but you'd want more of a balance between the two and still, have a third highlight color. (skin and hair can suffice in certain situations)

And you've made some odd choices on not highlighting some parts, like the spats and the bustier. Keeping things in just black and white, I'd certainly change the colors there and probably make the trim on the jacket vest a solid color with the rest of the garment.

I could suggest a couple of clothing changes, too, depending on what you have available, but I think, when it comes down to it, the design just doesn't scream Kheldian to me.

Wow, on my phone, the purple on Wayang looked really blue. o_o
Those are nice costumes, very sleek and they fit together very well. I've used the IDF boots w/ Resistance gauntlets on another character of mine and agree that they work well together. I'm a little less enthralled with the belt on Des Astres, which looks really plain in that screenshot as compared to his gear, and with the matching justice gloves and boots on Wayang. That might just be my dislike of the justice gloves in general, though.

As for Maiden Marionette/ Dark Solei, your screenshots are really dark! But the color on the shoulders and gloves on the left picture really stands out nicely. Is that the bioluminescence face? It fits nicely, if it is. I think the belt looks good on the right, but the shoulders there less so. Maybe it looks better in motion or with better lighting?

Trip: Your PB is a little hard to see at that size and with the effects going off, but your WS I love for the color scheme. The white and purple look really good along with all the various spiky elements in the costume. A lot of choices I would have never made, but you pulled out a really good looking ensamble.

I think what makes those armbands so attractive is that they help break up the solid arm color without merely being a cap on the top, like most of the shoulder options are.

Re: TwoHeadedBoy
She's somewhere between 5'4" and 5'6" IIRC, and the default character shape always seems too skinny, with really wide shoulders and really narrow hips, so the first thing I tend to do is narrow the shoulders, widen the hips, move the physique bar up and the chest slider down. I think I used to play on the wrong sized display ratio because some of my older characters circa 2006 are all super skinny. Oh, and make the legs shorter. The default proportions there seem really long, too.


Re: Dechs Kaison
That's really cool! I always like the baggy pants in boots look, but combined with the arm band shoulder parts it really brings it all together. And combined with the coat in the second picture, Curse is an intimidating Warshade indeed! He certainly makes the purple and black look really, really good!