A Guide to Squidless Wonders
This is a guide to the human form Warshade. I will be covering all the Warshade powers that are available, although I will be doing so primarily from a human-form perspective. Kheldians can be very overwhelming and there is no 'one way' to play them, in fact there are probably a dozen or more ways! This guide is intended to give you an idea of the various warshade powers that are available and which of those might be more suitable for a human form specialist (i.e. a warshade not taking the nova or dwarf forms) and how they may want to slot those powers.
If you spot any mistakes please let me know and I will try to correct them. Any constructive feedback welcomed.
If you like this guide you may be interested in my other guides:
My Fire Control & Forcefields Guide
My Mind Control & Kinetics Guide
What I'll be covering:
<ul type="square">[*] Kheldians - an introduction to Peacebringers and Warshades[*] Warshade Inherent Powers[*] Warshade Primary - Umbral Blast[*] Warshade Secondary - Umbral Aura[*] Pool Powers[*] My Build[*] PvP / The Arena[*] Summary[/list]
Kheldians - an introduction to Peacebringers and Warshades
Kheldians are the first Epic Archetypes to be introduced in City Of Heroes. They are unlocked when you get a normal AT to level 50, at which point the Peacebringer and Warshade options become accessible from the character creation screen (a common mis-conception is that your level 50 somehow 'becomes' a Kheldian - your level 50 is unaffected by any Kheldian you choose to make which will be a brand new character starting at level 1 which you can choose to incorporate into your main's storyline should you choose to do so). Kheldians are often described as the jack-of-all-trades AT as they can be built to fulfill a number of different roles - they also gain significant benefits from being in teams.
One of the key issues Kheldians have to deal with is Voids and Quantum gunners. These are specialist mobs that appear both in missions and in the open city streets. Almost all villain groups now have occasional mobs equipped with Quantum weaponry - these guns fire a special projectile that deal a moderate amount of negative energy (that affects and can be resisted/debuffed normally by all AT's) and a larger amount of special nictus energy (that only affects Kheldians and cannot be resisted/debuffed at all). In addition to Quantum-equipped troops (which apart from the gun and their name, appear just the same as their native villain group), there are also Void mobs. These turn up among all villain groups and are even nastier than the Quantums. Not only do they have Quantum guns, they also do nictus damage with their melee attacks and also have toggle shields that resist energy and negative energy attacks. Fortunately they are also easily identifiable among most enemies in their predominantly black uniform. Both Quantum troops and Voids can vary in class from minion up to boss. The boss class villains can generally one-shot a Kheldian and so it is imperative they are neutralised as a priority.
Peacebringers and Warshades are in many ways very similar in that they can both gain the ability to shift forms and they both have a single primary and secondary each from which to choose their main powers. These primaries and secondaries have a larger number of powers to choose from than the normal ATs' primaries and secondaries and the powers unlock at slightly different levels. The Kheldian powersets borrow several powers from existing AT powersets (albeit with different names and visual effects) while also introducing some brand new abilities. Since the entire primary and secondary are deemed 'epic', Kheldians do not get access to any Ancillary Power Pools from level 41.
The most obvious way in which the two Kheldian ATs differ is visually; Peacebringers have very 'light-coloured' powers, while Warshades' powers are generally purple-coloured to reflect their shadowy nature. In terms of playstyle, Peacebringers are more self sufficient in that they can heal and buff themselves independently, whereas Warshades need to use enemies to buff and heal themselves, some Warshade powers even require defeated enemies and so cannot be used until part way through or at the end of a fight. The balance comes in that Warshades can achieve a higher overall buff depending on how many enemies are in range. As such Warshades tend to shine particularly well in larger teams or in teams with tanks who can gather up a large number of enemies into confined spaces.
Warshades are often described as the more 'controllery' of the two Kheldian AT's and although it is true they have a greater capacity to stun enemies, they cannot get near the sort of proper area lockdown that a full Controller is capable of. What Warshades are able to do in general, is to mix their limited control with a potent offence and strong damage resistance. A human-form warshade is eventually able to make the most of all of these by combining excellent damage resistance, decent crowd control, and impressive damage all at the same time. In a suitable team they become very formidable.
This guide will go through the various Warshade powers, describing what they do, suggesting why they may or may not be good choices for the human-form Warshade, and how you might slot them should you take them. There are many different directions you can take a human-form warshade, some leaning towards damage at the sacrifice of crowd control, others accepting lower damage for superior defence, and probably a dozen other combinations. I will try to keep the power descriptions as generic as possible, regardless of how you might want to specialise your build.
I cannot emphasise enough that a bit of forward planning is a very wise investment in your time. Making sure you'll be able to build your character with the powers and slotting that you want will result in far less shocks down the road. There are many tools available online for hero planning and
Verxion's Planner is one of the ones known to support Kheldian builds.
My own Warshade has been human-form his entire career, this was partly because I wanted a challenge (and boy did I get one!), partly because it fitted his backstory better that he didn't shapeshift, and also because I didn't actually like the look of the Nova form anyway. I also wanted to ensure I had as many slots as possible to dedicate to the human-form powers. Many people will take the Nova form route to make the journey into the 20s easier (and it is much easier with Nova) with a view to respeccing into human-form later on.
If you are going human-form the whole way then realise you will do best to do it in teams. Although Issue 4 brought some welcome adjustments to Kheldians (and Warshades in particular), we are still far better off when in teams. Soloing is really very painful until you get some of the better crowd control abilities in the late 20s and the pet at 32 and really not recommended unless you're into some 'alternative' pastimes.
With that in mind, let's take an in-depth look at the Warshade powersets...
Warshade Inherent Powers
The first special feature of Kheldians is that they have some additional inherent powers over the Sprint and Rest of the normal AT's.
The first is that Warshades have a built in self-teleport power from level 1, called
Shadow Step. This is identical to the Teleportation Pool 3rd power except for the visual effect. It is a very expensive power to use before you get Single Origins and Stamina (more detail on that later though!) but once you have both you should be able to suffice with one Endurance Reduction in Shadow Step and then as much Range as your build can spare as this will dramatically increase your travel speed. Below is a common bind for Teleport that allows you to hold down Shift (or substitute for Control or whatever) and then just point and click travel.
/bind SHIFT+LBUTTON "powexec_name Shadow Step"
The other inherent power that is also available straight away is
Dark Sustenance. This is your link ability that enhances your damage, damage resistance, and status protection, depending on what sort of ATs you are teamed with.<ul type="square">[*]Each Scrapper and Blaster will add 20% damage to the base of all your attacks.[*]Each Tanker and Defender will give you an additional 10% damage resistance (all but psi).[*]Each Controller will give you an additional Mag 2 protection to status effects.[*]Other Kheldians give you no bonus.[*]You must be close to the team-members to get the bonus[/list]The 3rd Warshade inherent power is
Shadow Recall which you are automatically given when you train to level 10. This is exactly the same as recall friend but with a far funkier visual effect. It doesn't need any additional slotting and what you put in the default slot is really down to personal taste.
Now onto the powers where we have to start making difficult decisions!
Warshade Primary - Umbral Blast
First of all, the warshade primary has 14 powers to choose from rather than the traditional 9, although these 14 powers are still all unlocked over the course of the 1-32 game. You don't have any ancillary pools to distract you so you'll probably have to make some difficult decisions as to which powers to leave till later.
The Warshade primary is a blend of traditionally blaster-type powers, a couple of powers borrowed from Dark Melee, a few controller-type powers, and of course the Nova form. Essentially it is the damage powerset for the Warshade along with a bit of crowd control.
Most of the Warshade blast powers have a small secondary slow effect on both enemy movement and attack rate. This is more of a nice to have and isn't really worth slotting (only the movement speed part is affected by enhancements anyway). Several of the powers also have a chance to knockback, although for most it is a pretty low chance.
The base damage of Warshades is slightly below that of defenders, however dark sustenance power adds 20% for each appropriate nearby team-mate and so in teams, the human-form warshade can sport some powerful attacks.
So, onto the powers...
Shadow Bolt (ranged, small damage)
Available at level 1
A standard low damage, low recharge attack. You'll have to start with either this or ebon eye so it's really down to personal preference. It's not worth dedicating extra slots to and will really only be an attack chain filler.
Ebon Eye (ranged, moderate damage)
Available: level 1
The other starting option from the primary - more damage per hit but longer recharge and higher endurance cost than Shadow Bolt. They have near identical DPE/DPS if you measure them I believe. Personally I've found Ebon Eye fits into my attack chains nicely and the higher damage per hit ends up being a bit more satisfying. Don't bother slotting it whichever you go for - just an accuracy in the default slot is what I'd suggest.
Gravimetric Snare (ranged, single target immobilise + small damage over time)
Available: level 2
A medium ranged attack that will simply immobilise anything up to a lt and do minor DoT. Unlike controller single target immobilises, this one won't stop bosses in one hit, although it does last a decent enough time to lock down a runner or to cover your escape from a nasty mob. I did have it in a previous build but it simply got completely overshadowed by gravity well a bit later. If you do get it then minimal slotting is needed - even just a single accuracy should do.
Shadow Blast (ranged, moderate damage, small chance to knockback)
Available: level 6
Your first half-decent single target damage attack - I recommend getting this and putting a good few slots in it early on. I put 5 slots in it initially and added a final 6th much later on. One accuracy and the rest damage is your best bet.
Dark Nova (special toggle, fly, +tohit, +endrec)
Available: level 6
Well although this is a human-only guide, I'll mention the Nova form (fairly) briefly. It is basically a glorified toggle that can't be used at the same time as any other toggle. Also, none of your human-form auto powers (like stamina, dark sustenance) will work in Nova and you can't activate human-form click powers while in Nova form (although powers like Hasten, Mire or Eclipse with lasting effects will carry over into Nova form if you activate them first). External buffs like fortitude, RA etc. are also carried over into the form.
When in Nova form, you cannot use any of your human-form attacks, instead you get access to 4 Nova attacks (each of which are slotted separately). There are two single-targets, a cone, and an AoE attack:
Dark Nova Bolt
Dark Nova Blast
Dark Nova Emanation
Dark Nova Detonation
The nova form itself has an inherent fly ability and also built in tohit and endurance recovery buffs that can be enhanced by slotting the form itself. The form also has a built in damage boost that makes it much more potent than the basic, unbuffed human-form. The downside is that Nova form has access to no resistance shields and gets no resistance buffs from the Dark Sustenance link power so is generally very squishy. When you choose the Nova form you are in fact getting 5 new slottable powers so it begins to present big challenges as to where to start putting slots.
Many will choose Nova form to help blast their way through the early levels as it has a lot more damage output at this early stage than the human-form with a view to respeccing out later.
Starless Step (ranged, single foe recall)
Available: level 8
Starless Step is an exact replica of the Teleport Foe power, again with different visual effect. Although I've not taken it, it can be a valuable tool later on for grabbing a minion that you can easily defeat and extract a pet from before taking on the whole group.
Sunless Mire (pbaoe moderate damage, self +acc, +dmg)
Available: level 12
This is the first of the really vital human-form powers. It is basically soul drain from the Dark Melee primary and it gives us Warshades a much needed damage (and accuracy) boost for all our attacks. You get 11.25% damage and accuracy buff for every foe this hits so if you fire it off in the middle of a large group you will get a considerable boost. Of course in your early career, this power can get you rather a lot of unwanted aggro (that you may not be able to handle) so it is best to avoid using it with large groups unless a tank is already holding their aggro. With enough mobs this power can actually get you close to your damage cap (400% of base, same as everyone except scrappers).
I've found that one accuracy is usually sufficient to hit most mobs in a group and then drop in as many recharges in as you can when you can spare the slots in your build. It doesn't need to be completely perma but it's nice to have it ready to go as soon as your big aoe's are charged and ready.
Dark Detonation (ranged, targetted aoe moderate damage, high chance to knockback)
Available: level 12
At first glance it sounds like one we definitely want but in fact it isn't a great power for the human-form warshade. The damage is very underwhelming and it basically just scatters an otherwise nicely grouped set of mobs - definitely not what we'll be wanting later on. If you are wanting to go human-form all the way you could take it and respec out later when the better aoe's come along; I doubt many teams will enjoy the scattering it causes though.
Gravity Well (melee, hold, high damage, superior damage over time)
Available: level 18
The second absolute must human-form power. Despite being marketed as a hold, this is also actually your highest damage single target attack. Some of that damage is DoT which isn't ideal but there is also a sizeable upfront hit. The hold is a standard Mag 3 which means it will get lt's and minions in one hit, but needs to be stacked with a second hold to overcome bosses. Unfortunately it doesn't have the same base duration as controller single target holds and the recharge is a bit longer, so you won't be able to chain hold bosses with it on your own (there will be a short period you can hold them when a subsequent application will stack before the first wears off). This is the best power you have for dealing with Quantums and Voids as it will render them utterly helpless while you neutralise them. You will want to get this 6 slotted asap and I recommend 1-2 accuracy, 2 Hold, 2-3 Damage.
Essence Drain (melee, moderate damage, self heal)
Available: level 18
This is basically Siphon Life from Dark Melee and personally not one I found to be very useful. The heal seemed mediocre and the damage wasn't anything special. In a few levels you get Stygian Circle which completely outshines it in terms of the heal. Essence drain does have the advantage of not requiring a corpse to heal you though so requires less care for timing and positioning than Stygian Circle.
Gravitic Emanation (ranged, cone disorient, small damage, high chance to knockback)
Available: level 26
Gravitic Emanation does considerable knockback and does so pretty consistently. As such it is very useful as a precision crowd repositioning tool. It also has quite a long range and so can also include quite a large number of mobs if you want it to. It also has a decent base duration Mag 3 disorient that will stun lt's and below in one hit. It can therefore be used as an effective alternative to Gravity Well for dealing with Quantums/Voids and has the advantage that it can be used from range. When used in concert with Inky Aspect (see later) it can even allow you to disorient bosses. This power is good from the outset with even just one accuracy enhancer. It is worth considering a second accuracy though to ensure hits on the occasions you don't have a mire in effect and also a disorient duration enhancement or two - these can be left till later though if there are more pressing powers to slot. Recharge may also be helpful here, depending on how you want to use the power.
Unchain Essence (ranged, corpse targetted aoe extreme damage, disorient, low chance of knockback)
Available: level 26
Unchain Essence is your second most powerful AoE attack (after Quasar). The snag is that you need to target a corpse in order to fire it off. By this stage you should have both Shadow Blast and Gravity Well pretty nicely slotted and when further fuelled by a Sunless Mire you should be able to take down a minion very quickly and use the freshly defeated corpse to give his friends a big shock; you should be able to get the unchain in before the sunless mire expires. It is well worth 6 slotting unchain essence as it will be a very formidable power when used against large groups of mobs. Anything left standing will also be disoriented for a short while which makes unchain a nice covering move for extracting your pet in a few levels time (also an easy 1-2 from the same corpse). It has the same base recharge as dark extraction and so if you slot them for the same amount of recharge they are ready at the same time if you want to use them this way. I have mine slotted 2 recharge, 4 damage (I always use it after a mire so let that take care of the accuracy).
Targetting a corpse in the middle of a load of mobs is often nearly impossible and so a better thing to do is to cycle through the targets until you see a minion or lt that is low on health and finish it off yourself, you will then have a fresh corpse already targetted and ready to be unchained. Once you get Dark Extraction you will be able to use that power to target the nearest corpse. Oh and the sound this power makes when hitting a large group of mobs is *really* nice
Dark Extraction (ranged, corpse targetted pet summon)
Available: level 32
Huzzah! Pet time! The Dark Extraction power enables you to create the Extracted Essence pet from any defeated foe. Extracted Essence, or 'Fuzzie' (Fluffy has already been stolen by those Dark Miasmists) is a small fuzzie ball that follows you around while blasting away at your enemies. It is basically like a mini-Nova in terms of its powers; it has a couple of single target attacks and a cone from what I've seen. Fuzzie also has an inherent accuracy bonus. At level 32 you have access to both this and Quasar - you should get Fuzzie first, definitely! 6 slot it straight away. I recommend 0-1 accuracy, 2-3 recharge, 2-4 damage to taste (try without accuracy and then if he misses too much chuck one in there). Personally I have 2 recharge / 4 damage which, with perma-hasten, allows me to have 2 out just about all the time (available corpses allowing).
The corpse targetting snag is a bit snaggier with Fuzzie due to the extended animation time associated with extracting him; the pet only gets formed towards the end of the animation and if the corpse you are using disappears (as they do after a while) before he appears, then you will get no pet (although you will still be charged the endurance and you will have to wait for the power to recharge). As you can imagine this is a right pain when it happens but the chances are minimised if you use a freshly created corpse - the 'finishing off a low health mob' trick as described for Unchain Essence is usually the best way to do this. If you have nothing targetted and you click dark extraction once, it will switch to the nearest corpse (if there is one) - you can then activate the power again on the target to extract a pet, or activate unchain essence. I tend to prefer using the fresh corpse method as it reduces the chances of disappearing corpses, but in the heat of the battle you may not have a choice.
Quasar (pbaoe extreme damage, high chance of knockback, self -end, -endrec)
Available: level 32
Well this is basically the Warshade version of the Energy Blast set's Nova (not to be confused with our Dark Nova of course). Of course being Warshades (masters of funk), ours looks much better
It is the most damaging AoE we have access to and is best used against a large number of mobs following a mire on the lot of them (to get to the damage cap or close and to ensure our accuracy is through the roof and we get as many of them as possible). The power doesn't actually need that much endurance to use but it will completely drain your endurance bar regardless of how much end you actually had and will freeze your natural endurance recovery for a few seconds after using it. Depending on the exact point in the end tick cycle you use the power, you may actually be left with a tiny amount of endurance - sometimes it is actually enough to use Stygian Circle which of course is very handy as you will no doubt have lots of defeated minions and lt's around you who will kindly completely replenish your endurance bar. Even if you aren't left with enough endurance, you can pop a blue inspiration which will restore enough to use Stygian which will then completely fill you up. The only thing to bear in mind is that this power sends things flying everywhere so you may need to position yourself to get enough corpses in proximity for Stygian Circle. The other side-effect of the Endurance drop after using the power is that most (if not all) your toggles are likely to drop and so it is worth bearing in mind you could be leaving yourself rather more vulnerable to anything that may have survived the blast.
I usually find this is a more situational power to use than unchain as I only use it when I know there are enough mobs to justify it. The main things that you would slot this power for are damage and accuracy, but since you are likely to be using it immediately after using a Sunless Mire on a large group of mobs the chances are that you will already have enough accuracy and you will be well on the way to the damage cap anyway. Recharge is the next obvious candidate but again, it is pretty situational and I usually find it is ready when I want it anyway. Bottom line is don't worry about slotting this one up too much - it is pretty good out of the box when used with Mire. I would add damage slots when you can to ensure you are always as close to the damage cap as possible when you use it - you may prefer recharge if you find it useful more often. Remember that our base damage is slightly below that of Defenders so Quasar capped out will fall just short of a Defender's capped out Nova.
Warshade Secondary - Umbral Aura
Well 12 powers here rather than the 14 in the primary, but still more than usual and similarly, they are all unlocked by the time we hit 38.
Where Umbral Blast provides the main damage powers, Umbral Aura is where the Warshade finds his self-preservation powers. We have a blend of damage resistance, stealth, recovery, regeneration, and some minor damage and control powers to choose from, and of course Black Dwarf form.
Much of the protection in the set is toggle based and as such we are rather susceptible to status effects, something unfortunately we have next to no protection from in human-form! Ultimately we will have the ability (in the right circumstances) to cap our resistances (which for Kheldians is 85% in all forms) to all damage types except psionic.
Let's look in detail at what Umbral Aura has to offer us...
Absorption (auto +res(energy, neg energy))
Available: level 1
Well you don't have any choice with this one so you straight away have a bonus resistance (13.5% base if you're interested) to energy and negative energy, which fits with the theme of Kheldians as masters of energy and matter rather well. Not really worth slotting up - if you want more energy/neg energy resistance then you're better off grabbing twilight shield later on, or just holding out till eclipse.
Gravity Shield (toggle +res(smash, lethal))
Available: level 2
Well this is really a must have for the human-form Warshade - you are going to be spending a lot of your time in or close to melee and that is where smashing and lethal damage is most prolific. Gravity Shield offers 27% resistance to both and so is well worth investing some slots into. In the far distant future Eclipse will be able to, well... eclipse this in terms of overall resistance but Gravity Shield will remain invaluable for surviving any initial attacks before you get Eclipse off, and for those occasions where there aren't enough enemies for eclipse to add much resistance and so any slots invested here now really aren't ever wasted, even after Eclipse. I'd recommend 5 or 6 slotting Gravity shield and doing so pretty much straight away. You might want one of those to be endurance reduction before you get stamina and Stygian Circle but anything else should be damage resistance.
Orbiting Death (toggle pbaoe minor damage over time)
Available: level 4
Well this power is affectionately known as Orbiting Debt by many people, mainly due to its amazing ability to draw aggro to you. It is basically a copy of Dark Armor's Death Shroud but again, with far funkier visual effects. I think it's worth taking this power with a view of not using it too much until a bit later when you can afford to take the beating it will no doubt draw to you (once you have eclipse you can use orbiting debt and be a pseudo-auravoke-tanker so long as status effects aren't a problem). It is very useful for finishing of foes with a slither of life - many of the big AoE's will leave some mobs with a bit of life left and Orbiting Death can be very useful for taking them out. It is quite expensive to run and so will probably need 1 or 2 endurance reducers, even after stamina, but it can work out cheaper in the long run than firing off blasts at several different targets to finish them off. It is inherently pretty accurate and so doesn't really require any enhancement in that respect. Sunless Mire will help give it a decent enough damage boost most of the time but a few slots of damage here aren't wasted - it's still pretty effective without them though (so long as you are Mired up).
Penumbral Shield (toggle +res(fire, cold, toxic))
Available: level 10
This is basically the exact same numbers as Gravity Shield but it resists the less common damage types of fire, cold and toxic. I took this shield originally as I was encountering plenty of villain types that did these types of damage but you may be able to survive without it as the actual amounts of those damage types isn't particularly high most of the time. If you do get it then it isn't really worth enhancing much as your slots will be most likely needed elsewhere. Might be one to get earlier and then respec out later once you get Eclipse.
Shadow Cloak (toggle stealth +def, +immob protection, +perception)
Available: level 14
This is basically a copy of Dark Armor's Cloak of Darkness - as well as giving you standard stealth (but without the movement penalty), it also gives you a decent defence of (allegedly) 7.5%. Issue 4 introduced a slight immobilisation protection and a perception ability to the power. This is the only Warshade +Def power and the only human-form Warshade power that will help reduce the chance of getting hit with status effect powers (aside from stunning/holding them first) and as such is well worth getting. It also allows you to sneak up on Voids/Quantums to apply Gravity Well safely. I'd suggest loading this up with Defence buff enhancements when you can, but not at the expense of other more critical powers.
Twilight Shield (toggle +res(energy, neg energy))
Available: level 16
Again, the same numbers as Gravity and Penumbral, but this time for energy and negative energy. Our level 1 auto power Absorption already gives us 13.5% base resistance and this is probably enough to be getting by most of the time - if you do feel the need to get twilight (admittedly it does look rather cool) it's not really worth slotting up much. Again, you might get it earlier and then respec out later after getting Eclipse.
Black Dwarf (special toggle, +res(all but psi) +status protection +endrec)
Available: level 20
Well I mentioned Nova a bit so I suppose it's only fair I mention the big guy too. Same rules apply for toggles and auto powers so only the Dwarf's own powers can be used when in this form. Again hasten and any other persisting click power will be carried over into Dwarf form.
Dwarf form basically gives you 45% base resistance to all damage except psi, near immunity to status effects, boosted endurance recovery, and access to 6 special Dwarf powers:
Black Dwarf Strike
Black Dwarf Smite
Black Dwarf Drain
Black Dwarf Mire
Black Dwarf Step
Black Dwarf Antagonise
Again, these are all additional slottable powers. The Kheldian damage resistance cap can be reached with 4 damage resistance SO enhancements (they must all average at least +2 to reach the cap though) - many slot 5 damage resistances just to be sure or alternate a 5th slot between damage resistance and endurance recovery depending on how fresh their enhancers are. You may notice Dwarf Mire in there - this is pretty much the same power as Sunless Mire and so if you do take Dwarf form you will find it even easier to hit the damage cap with two buildup powers. You can also alternate them to give yourself near continual buffage (supply of mobs allowing).
Stygian Circle (pbaoe per corpse self +heal, +end)
Available: level 22
This turned from being a nice but expensive power to being an absolutely amazing power in Issue 4, the endurance cost was cut right down and a big endurance recovery was added to the big heal it previously gave. It is now an absolute must-have for any warshade and the endurance hungry human-form in particular. It works by giving you a heal and endurance boost for each defeated foe around you when you activate it. The radius is actually pretty large and you only need 3 minions for it to completely fill both your health and endurance bars. It needs minimal additional slotting (if any) - an endurance reduction in the default slot is advisable to enable you to use it even when low on endurance (which is the most likely scenario for when you'll be using it) and then perhaps an additional end redux or a recharge redux (although it recharges fairly quickly anyway).
Nebulous Form (toggle self intangible, -vis, +jump)
Available: level 24
Nebulous Form is the Warshade phase shift power - it reduces your visibility a bit but you will still be detected if you stray too close to the enemy (although of course they can't do anything to you). Nebulous Form also has the bonus feature of granting you a moderate jump ability too but it's nowhere near full superjump (it's about half of it in fact). Nebulous Form can stack with SuperSpeed to create a very safe and pretty effective travel power. It can also stack with Shadow Cloak to make you all but undetectable to mobs. It can be used as an effective mob alpha-strike soak and you can 'phase-herd' with it to a degree. It can be used as a panic button in some cases but it does have a quite considerable activation delay during which time you are still vulnerable to attacks so make sure you activate it before things go too wrong. Like all intangibility powers since I4, it now has a pretty long recharge on it so be careful of turning it off and expecting to be able to turn it back on straight away. The endurance cost isn't too bad and if you have Stamina then you'll only need one endurance reduction in the default slot to still have net recovery when not running anything else.
Inky Aspect (pbaoe stun, self minor damage)
Available: level 28
Inky Aspect is another power we've borrowed/stolen from Dark Armor and funked up - this time it's Oppressive Gloom. It basically applies a pulsed Mag 2 Disorient in Melee range around you. On its own it will only overcome minions, but when stacked with Gravitic Emanation then it can actually disorient bosses too. Anything that becomes disoriented will be unable to attack, will drop their toggles, and will wander around in small circles. Sometimes disroriented mobs exhibit strange behavior and wander off at very high speed - this is an issue with mob AI and the disorient mechanism in general which may one day be fixed. Despite that, Inky Aspect is a very effective damage mitigator. If you are teamed with another user of Inky Aspect (or Oppressive Gloom) then if you stick together you'll be able to keep everything around you near perma-disoriented (accuracy and wandering mobs allowing). I've found this an invaluable tool in human-form. The endurance cost is minimal and the disorient lasts as long as the next pulse - one accuracy in the default slot has served me well.
The only thing to watch out for is that it also takes a tick of your own health away for each mob that it hits. The damage is minimal (less than 4 hp per mob per hit) for all normal groups of mobs you'll encounter, but it can add up to be considerable if you are jumping into an artificially large number of mobs (say from a particularly large herd) so just be wary and consider turning it off before approaching huge groups.
Stygian Return (pbaoe moderate damage, self rez, +heal, +end)
Available: level 35
Stygian Return is, yes, yet another copy from the Dark Armor set! Soul Transfer get's the funk treatment this time and gives us our self-rez power. It is powered from nearby live mobs (there must be at least one for the power to work) and the more mobs there are, the more health and endurance will be restored. I've not got this power yet and if I do ever get it I think it will be my level 49 choice - the risk of being resurrected with low life and being taken down straight away again means it's something I'd only really bother with once debt wasn't a major concern.
Eclipse (pbaoe -end, self +end, +res(all but psi))
Available: level 38
Eclipse is simply awesome. Although it sounds like it might be a copy of Dark Melee's Dark Consumption, it's actually a very unique power. For a start it is on a much longer recharge and as such the endurance recovery aspect is more of a nice to have (you only need to hit 2 or 3 mobs to completely fill your end bar though so it's a "very nice" to have). It also drains endruance from the mobs it hits rather than their hitpoints. The key aspect of the power however, is that it increases your resistance to all damage except psionic by 13.5% for each mob it hits. This means that without any other shields or link buffs, you only need to hit 7 mobs to hit the resistance cap of 85%. If you have some shields and/or resistance buffing allies then you need even less to hit the cap. For example my Gravity Shield is 5 slotted with damage resistance and I only need to hit 2 mobs to cap out my Smash/Lethal resistance. When in big teams against lots of mobs I can frequently turn off Gravity Shield to conserve endurance.
With 5 Recharge Enhancements (and perma-hasten), Eclipse will be ready to go before the resistance buff wears off and so in that sense it can be perma. However you will usually be wanting to use it among a large group of mobs so it may not actually always be blanket capped resistance. In most situations the buff will last as long as it takes to finish off a group and be ready to go again when you get to the next. The only dilemma you really face is whether to use Eclipse first or Sunless Mire when encountering a new group. Since Sunless Mire actually partially holds the mobs while it is firing off I usually Mire first and then Eclipse against smaller groups to ensure I have the accuracy for Eclipse to hit all available mobs, but this does leave a small window of opportunity for the mobs to get some shots off at me without my capped resists. Against particularly large crowds I will use Eclipse first as there are so many that Eclipse is likely to hit enough to cap anyway and it is the 'safer' option. My recommended slotting for Eclipse is 1 Accuracy and 5 Recharge Enhancements.
Standard Pool Powers
Well almost same rules as for normal ATs - you can choose from a maximum of four of them and I would highly recommend Fitness and Speed are two of them. With so many more powers available in the primary and secondary you may find little room for anything else - a number of powers in the main powersets are the same or better versions of ones in the pools anyway.
Concealment - Well given Umbral Aura already gives us Shadow Cloak which is superior to Stealth (and no, they cannot be stacked with each other), and nebulous form is superior to phase shift, there is really little point in looking at this pool unless you don't like the visuals or sound effects of the Warshade ones or you want to be able to grant invis.
Fighting - The tempting power here is Weave as it gives us much sought after defence. Unfortunately we need to take two other powers in the set to get it and they are all pretty much redundant - gravity shield offers far better smash/lethal resist than tough, and we have no shortage of single target attacks already at our disposal. I've tried a couple of builds on test to fit in the fighting pool but I couldn't really manage it without severely compromising the rest of my build - you might be able to if you don't have the same build requirements.
Fitness - Human-form Warshades are huge endurance users - we have several pretty high cost powers in our primary and we also have to worry about toggles. Prior to Issue 4, even 6 slotted Stamina often left us needing to stock plenty of blue inspirations to keep up. Thankfully, the Devs overhauled Stygian Circle in Issue 4 and instead of being the endurance hog it used to be, is now our best endurance recovery power (eclipse offers more recovery per mob but is on such long recharge as to be of no use for it most of the time). Nevertheless, I still advocate getting and 6-slotting stamina for the human-form. Stygian Circle needs more than one corpse to start giving back more endurance than it uses and you need to use plenty of endurance to defeat some mobs in the first place - especially if you are starting off a mission without the aid of pets. Stamina is less of a concern for multi-form Warshades as both Nova and Dwarf form have an increased (and enhanceable) endurance recovery rate. Take whichever pre-requisites you want - in some ways health is worth getting as it fits quite well with our resistance-based self protection.
Flight This pool is unavailable for Kheldians as we have our inherent teleportation powers (and peacebringers have inherent flight-based powers).
Leadership - Well aside from the very nice tactics, manoeuvres can also offer a nice bit of extra defence for us (and our fuzzies). The advantage over Weave is that it is available without pre-requisites of course. Unfortunately it does incur a hefty endurance cost, however this is easier to bear with Stygian Circle and if you are using Eclipse to cap out your resistances later on you can afford to turn off your other shield toggles to lessen your endurance costs. Might be one to consider for later in the build.
Leaping - Well we can already have a mini-superleap in nebulous form and have a free travel power from level 1 in shadow step anyway - why would we want the leaping pool? Knockback. One of the delightful additions in Issue 4 was the introduction of knockback of heroes. Our mire(s) and eclipse rely on careful positioning in the middle of mobs and knockback can cause us endless grief. Acrobatics is therefore an absolute godsend. Acrobatics also has the added benefit of minor hold protection. The added benefits of combat jumping (5% defence and immob protection) make this pool well worth considering. To get acro you of course need at least one other power in the pool so you can either go with superleap for an alternative travel option (it also stacks with nebulous form) or jump kick.
Medicine - Well it could be worth getting if you want a bit of self-sufficiency and find yourself having problems with the Warshade's own healing powers. It also gives you some support options. Personally I find Stygian Circle is normally all I need and simply don't have the space for any other powers anyway.
Presence - Not a pool I've tried with my warshade and of course Black Dwarf's antagonise is a taunt power anyway. We have no fear powers to stack with the high end presence powers so a 'scary blaptroller' is probably tricky to pull off - feel free to give it a go though as I don't think anyone's tried it yet!
Speed - I have already mentioned having perma-hasten in my build earlier on and I strongly recommend it. We have several very long recharge powers and perma-haste means we get to use them more often - you will be a far more potent hero with this in your build. Superspeed's stealth stacks with Shadow Cloak for virtual undetectability when scouting. It also synergises nicely with the jump in nebulous form. If you are wanting an alternative travel power to Shadow Step, this is an excellent choice.
Teleportation - For the same reason as flight, this pool is unavailable to Kheldians.
My Build
Well this is just an example of how a human-form warshade can be built - there are numerous others I have tried on test, and
Toril has different one in his guide too. This just goes to show how diverse Warshades can be (even before considering the forms).
My character is currently in his mid-40s but I've played the vast majority of the Warshade powers extensively. This is the way I would probably build my Warshade now (it's pretty similar to my current build with a couple of shuffles of powers and slots) - it holds its own when soloing (just watch out for those mezzers) and in a team it becomes a pocket battleship (with gunship support). I'm still undecided on what to take from 44+ on my own warshade - just trying to decide if I can cope without knockback protection or not. You could fairly easily shuffle things round to take the leaping pool earlier if kb is a particular worry - just need to decide what you could leave till later!
Level 1
Ebon Eye - Acc (L1)
Level 1
Absorption - DamRes (L1)
Level 1
Shadow Step - EndRdx (L1) Range (L15) Range (L36) Range (L48) Range (L50) Range (L50)
Level 2
Gravity Shield - EndRdx (L2) DamRes (L3) DamRes (L3) DamRes (L5) DamRes (L5)
Level 4
Orbiting Death - EndRdx (L4) EndRdx (L34)
Level 6
Shadow Blast - Acc (L6) Dam (L7) Dam (L7) Dam (L9) Dam (L11) Dam (L36)
Level 8
Hasten - Rech (L8) Rech (L9) Rech (L11) Rech (L13) Rech (L17) Rech (L17)
Level 10
Swift - Run (L10)
Level 10
Shadow Recall - EndRdx (L10)
Level 12
Sunless Mire - Acc (L12) Rech (L13) Rech (L15) Rech (L29) Rech (L36) Rech (L45)
Level 14
Shadow Cloak - DefBuf (L14) DefBuf (L42) DefBuf (L42) DefBuf (L42) DefBuf (L43) DefBuf (L43)
Level 16
Health - Heal (L16)
Level 18
Gravity Well - Acc (L18) Hold (L19) Hold (L19) Dam (L21) Dam (L23) Dam (L25)
Level 20
Stamina - EndRec (L20) EndRec (L21) EndRec (L23) EndRec (L25) EndRec (L27) EndRec (L29)
Level 22
Stygian Circle - EndRdx (L22) EndRdx (L37)
Level 24
Nebulous Form - EndRdx (L24)
Level 26
Unchain Essence - Rech (L26) Rech (L27) Dam (L31) Dam (L31) Dam (L37) Dam (L40)
Level 28
Gravitiv Emanation - Acc (L28) Acc (L31) Disor (L37) Disor (L43) Rech (L45) Rech (L46)
Level 30
Inky Aspect - Acc (L30) Acc (L50)
Level 32
Dark Extraction - Rech (L32) Rech (L33) Dam (L33) Dam (L33) Dam (L34) Dam (L34)
Level 35
Quasar - Dam (L35) Dam (L45) Dam (L46) Dam (L46) Rech (L48) Rech (L48)
Level 38
Eclipse - Acc (L38) Rech (L39) Rech (L39) Rech (L39) Rech (L40) Rech (L40)
Level 41
Combat Jumping - EndRdx (L41)
Level 44
Super Jump - Leap (L44)
Level 47
Acrobatics - EndRdx (L47)
Level 49
Stygian Return - Heal (L49)
PvP / The Arena
Given that some of our nicest powers rely on defeated opponents, and/or lots of tightly grouped foes, at first glance Warshades appear to be royally stuffed in the Arena. As it turns out, we can actually be pretty mean opponents using a mix of stealth, ranged stuns, our hold, and moderate damage. Add in that our pets persist even if we are defeated and we actually get very nasty if we get a foothold and manage to summon a fuzzie or two. As long as you begin the dark extraction power while a defeated opponent is on the ground it will succeed in being summoned - even if the person subsequently re-spawns (if it hasn't already spawned, the fuzzie will appear where the player re-spawns and return to you).
I haven't used the Arena that extensively, but the few occasions I have taken my warshade in I have been pleasantly surprised.
In team matches our link buffs have a chance to kick in (of course they are still reliant on proximity to the appropriate team-mates) and so we get an extra edge.
Summary
Human-form Warshades take a long time to come into their own, but when they eventually do they can become extremely powerful. The lack of status protection, however, is a constant thorn in our side for our entire career and can only marginally be offset with pool powers. Teaming with controllers, defenders, and tanks is the best way to deal with it as otherwise you need a rather large and continuous supply of break-frees - non-mezzing mobs are something of a rarity in the high end game as you will no doubt know.
Going from multi-form to human-form only can be a difficult choice and there is no 'right time' to do it. If solo-ability is a concern then I can tell you I didn't find mine to be realistically solo-able until the late 20s; things became much easier with the fuzzies at 32 and once Eclipse is slotted up you'll probably do fine until the nastier mezzing type enemies. From what I've read, many who choose to dump Nova and go human-form only do initially really notice the drop in up-front damage output, but the added abilities of the human-form do offset that more and more, especially from 32 and beyond. For soloists I'd suggest that from level 28 onwards is probably the time you can begin thinking about leaving Nova behind - I'd recommend trying out a human-form build on test first though to see how you find it, bearing in mind they will be far more effective in teams.
There is such a wide variety of power choices available, even when choosing human-form only, that you can produce some markedly different builds, each just as viable as the next. It is very easy to leave yourself high and dry though if you haven't properly planned out your build and slotted sensibly so it is always a good idea to think ahead and use a hero planner if possible.
Hope you find this guide useful and have fun with your Squidless-Wonder Warshade!
