BloodPython

Yep, take Nova and Dwarf soon's they open up.

You don't have to slot them, but for leveling purposes you'll want them. It's viable to go purely Human, but you can do so much more content if you have the forms. One mezzing EB is typically enough to hose a Human build prior to you getting some IO sets and your own mez attacks. Dwarf's super handy on Positron and Synapse TFs, as well.

If you must go purely Human, I'd say get to level 32 or so before you try it. You'll want your Gravitic Emanation maxed out as well as have Dark Extraction, or your damage/mez output just won't be good enough to offset losing your other two Forms offensive/defensive capabilities.

I hate to be a killjoy, but there're serious consequences in playing pure Dwarf.

Fighting Malta, say, I find Dwarf gets me killed. One Sapper'll hose my endurance in two shots, Dwarf form drops, and I die. It's always been much easier for me to just stay in Human against Malta and mez the crap out of them.

That being said, Dwarf makes Freakshow missions or the like trivial. S'why I've broken down and gone Tri Form after years of being a Human purist. Every form's got its strengths and drawbacks.

You can pick up some of the cheap IO sets and mix and match on your faster melee attacks to get good Acc, Dmg, and Rech too. That'll go a long way to helping you build up Power Siphon's buff quickly.

The first three singletargets let you do so easily if slotted well:

Quick Strick > Body Blow > Quick Strike > Smashing Blow > Quick Strike = 5 hits for max Power Siphon buff

THEN you can kick off Concentrated Strike, Burst, or what have you with the full 125% damage boost from Power Siphon. Makes a bit of a difference.

You could swap out Body Blow or Smashing Blow in your build for Focused Burst like I did, but be mindful of Focused Burst's noticeably longer animation time. It's not bad and gives you good ranged damage, but it'll eat into your Power Siphon time a little.

Change the dang knockback in the Kheld Detonations and Solar Flare to knockDOWN.

Honestly, apart from a few thematic powers where knockback is key to the intent, there isn't any reason for KB not to be KD on most powers.

Wanna do KB instead of KD? Slot a Knockback set. Folks might actually use those then. As we can't do the reverse (i.e. make KB into KD) that ought to be the starting point.

I guess it just pisses me off that my only other reliable AoE in Human form as a Warshade knocks stuff out of my Orbiting Death. There's not much reason to take both right now.

It's not April 1st, so we know it can't be THAT.

Seriously though, am I assuming that only Swift and Hurdle unlock at 2? Then 14th for Health, and 20th for Stamina? I ask, because holy crap would Stamina (even at diminished levels) be nice in the pre-15 (remembering exemping) levels. That right there'd make so many powers like Orbiting Death usable on a much greater frequency than we can use them now. Without Stamina or Stygian, ya pretty much have to suck blues and detoggle/retoggle every spawn.

Most noticeable change it's made on my Invuln/Kinetics/Energy plans is the fact that I can now get two more of my passive armors in before level 20. Doesn't sound like much, sure, but given the fact that I'll have em for any TF regardless of exemplar level makes doing Positron, Synapse, and the Cavern much, much easier.

So yeah, I think that'll be the biggest noticeable change for me. Lower levels I'm gonna be much more of a Tanker, rather than a weak Scrapper.

Just ta chime in:

You do want to dump all your slots into Nova AoE powers early on...

UNTIL you hit level 12. At that point, I'd throw the next four slots into Sunless Mire (giving it five slots total). Even with Duals that helps your Mire/Nova nuking bigtime, and come 22 it's all the slots you need on Mire.

I usually go 2 Acc, 3 Rech SOs til I've got IO sets.

Also if you didn't know, doing a veteran or earned respec will let you dump slots from level 3+ onto your Forms instead of having the early slots stuck in Human powers. That's just how the Respec power choice/slotting works, and the devs say they're not likely to ever "fix" it. It's not a bug, in their eyes. That lets you fully max your Nova AoEs by level 11. Which is coincidentally right when you want your 13 and 15th level slots going next into Mire.

P.S. For Gravity Well, I'd check out: the Acc/Dmg/End/Rech and Acc/End/Rech Mako's Bites, the Acc/Hold/End/Rech Lockdown, and three Dmg/Mez Hamidon Origins. Max damage and mez, pretty dang good recharge, end redux, and accuracy.

How about that, eh?

It's WentWorths, I'm betting.

It has to be. Ever since the "new" version hit, things have gotten progressively worse and worse performance wise.

Transactions are numbering in the hundreds for certain recipes, and that's hundreds for each of the levels that it's available.

I have personally noticed serious stability issues and massive lag in general in ANY zone that has a WentWorths. The more folks in that zone, and the more people using the auction house, the worse it seems to get.

So basically...

I blame the economy! As is so often the case these days.

Aaaand... we're still down. I'm hoping that this means they're really DOING something, and not just trying to get it rebooted as usual. I got no problem waiting for maintenance, but if it's totally shot for the day, I wish a Dev would let us know. Time for our mortal species is a finite commodity!

Yep, whatever maintenance did manage to fix, it just crashed hard again.

Are they not dealing with the Auction House crap we are on other servers? My mains are on here, but if I can play on another server and not have to deal with the lag and mapserves... I just may.

Crab - Dread Huntsman, after the lizardeating huntsman spiders of Australia.

I literally just made him yesterday on Virtue. I don't know HOW that name wasn't taken already, but it wasn't.

Mind is never going to be a damaging Controller set, but saying it has no damage is a little extreme. Mix some Dam/Mez HOs and three Acc/Dam or Hold/Rech IOs in Mesmerize and Dominate, and you've got some decent singletarget Psi damage. Heck, the duration on Mesmerize is so long as is, I'd not even bother slotting it for Sleeps. Just go damage for that, even early on.

Dominate > max Damage Mesmerize = roughly 180 Psionic damage at level 50. Slow? Yeah, but then you can lockdown +4s easily, and a lot of stuff can't resist that 180 damage. So "slow" is kinda relative, I guess. Many Lethal damage defenders seem slower than a Psi Controller, against +4 highlevel critters. Just gotta play to a set's strengths!

Reading what you plan on doing, you may REALLY want to go with Ice Melee over Dual Blades, Ath.

I've got a Invuln/DB tanker I'm running right now, and to be honest DB is a rather tricky tanking set. Given the nature of your combos and how tanking works in general, it'll be difficult to really leverage DBs Cone AoEs to full effect. Basically, everything crowds in around you, meaning at best your cones will only hit half or less of the spawn. Dancing around can let ya hit everything, but it takes time. Time that means you may lose aggro on some things, or even worse, miss the chance for your combos.

I find my DB works better as really accurate single-target DPS if I use my Attack Vitals combo on just one hard target (i.e. Boss or Lt.). If Sweeping Strike hits multiples when I fire it, great. But I don't bother dancing about to maximize it. It's proven more important on any team to stand there and take as much heat as I can. Taunt only hits 5 critters now, so using your Taunt auras for aggro is important. Damage is really a secondary concern for Tanks on a full team. One or two Blasters easily blow through stuff before your AoEs ever will. That said, AoEs are always worth having. Damage is additive, so any you can bring helps.

As Aett says, Frost is some really decent AoE (the cone's very very wide and the pure cold damage isn't resisted by a lot). Frozen Aura isn't much in the way of mitigation, as the Sleep component gets cancelled out by your Icicles damage. Still, Frozen Aura does Moderate cold damage to anything around you.

The main reason to go Ice Melee though? Ice Patch. It's that good. Especially if you plan on tanking for full teams. It's easy to perm, and will drastically cut the incoming damage you're taking. That's key when you're facing purples with a Defense set. Not only will you be very hard to hit, but with an Ice Patch out your enemies rarely even get to TRY to hit you.

Can't do any AoE damage if you're dead!

Heh, I see a dearth of Khelds around right now, but I've a hunch that only a few of them are going to join us old diehards in the Kheldian forums. They're probly the nastiest learning curve in the game, as far as learning binds and keystone powers goes.

I just wish they'd change it so Unchain Essence could auto-target a dead critter for you, much like Extract Essence does.

And almost fergots: If the only reason you're not using any of the forms is because it's too tricky, then lemme help a brother out!

You need the three following keybinds to make em cake to run.

/bind numpad1 "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off$$Black Dwarf$$powexec_toggle_on Gravity Shield$$goto_tray 1"

/bind numpad2 "powexec_toggleon Dark Nova$$goto_tray 4"

/bind numpad3 "powexec_toggleon Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 5"


Now, the only tricky bit is hitting "1" on your number pad for Human, "2" to turn into Nova, and "3" to go Dwarfing. It's really that easy! The trays referred to in the binds are your power trays, so just put Human powers in Tray 1, 2, or 3; Nova stuff in Tray 4; and Dwarf stuff in Tray 5. Coding to goto_tray whatever automatically shifts the active tray to what form you're in. i.e. You shift into Nova form AND it shifts to your Nova attack tray when you hit number pad "2".

This takes about 10 minutes tops to set up ingame, and it makes running a forms Kheldian so much easier. It's slightly technical, far's the coding goes, which is why I see a lot of newer Kheldian folks having serious problems with forms. You really need to understand binding to get a Kheldian to work right.

Not cuz they're epic, but because they've enough powers to be a serious headache without smart binds.

Ta restate the previous comments, I don't think you're seein' how GOOD Gravitic Emanation can be, Gavin.

I've taken almost a full year off, but even back then I would never consider Human Warshades viable without it. It's the only one reliable power you have that will let you deal with two or more mezzing Lts. effectively. Gravity Well will only take out one.

Not to mention, if you have Gravitic Emanation, you can STACK the mag 3 Stun with the mag 2 Stun off Inky Aspect to actually do a good job of locking down a Boss critter. It's still dangerous if they wander away on ya, but you can take a +2 Boss out of the fight for a good 12 seconds or so.

Whatever build this is you've got, I would really consider changing it NOW for something a little more debt friendly. Dying repeatedly's no fun, and is the main reason I've given up on Human Warshades in the past. They keep suckering me back with all these Kheldian changes though... They're actually pretty damn viable now. Lethal, even, if you drop enough for the purple IO sets.

P.S.!! Quasar is easily the BEST looking nuke power in the game. The Peacebringer version is weak sauce compared to the funkadelic fury that is the max purple haze power. I'd get it for stylistic reasons alone. It makes everyone else who sees it jealous.



P.P.S. Here's a super cheap (in comparison to a rare IO or purple IO heavy build) that I'm working towards. Cheap, yet effective. If you detest Orbiting Death, you can easily dump it for Gravimetric Snare or Ebon Eye. I personally wade in and rot stuff em masse after perma-stunning the crap out of it.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.703
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Science Warshade
Primary Power Set: Umbral Blast
Secondary Power Set: Umbral Aura
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Medicine

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Bolt -- Ruin-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(A), Ruin-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(3), Ruin-Dmg/Rchg:40(3), Ruin-Acc/Dmg:40(9), Mael'Fry-Dmg/Rchg:35(11), Mael'Fry-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(17)
Level 1: Absorption -- S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(A)
Level 2: Gravity Shield -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(42), TtmC'tng-ResDam:50(43)
Level 4: Orbiting Death -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(A), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx:50(5), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx:50(5), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(25), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg:50(31), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:50(31)
Level 6: Shadow Blast -- Ruin-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(A), Ruin-Acc/Dmg:40(7), Ruin-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(7), Ruin-Dmg/Rchg:40(9), Mael'Fry-Dmg/Rchg:35(11), Mael'Fry-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(17)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 10: Penumbral Shield -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43), TtmC'tng-ResDam:50(43)
Level 12: Sunless Mire -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:50(13), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg:50(13), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg:50(15), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx:50(45)
Level 14: Shadow Cloak -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I:50(A)
Level 18: Gravity Well -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(19), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(19), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(21), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(21), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(23)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(23), EndMod-I:50(25)
Level 22: Stygian Circle -- Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:50(46), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(46), Efficacy-EndMod:50(46), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc:50(48), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg:50(48)
Level 24: Twilight Shield -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(45), TtmC'tng-ResDam:50(45)
Level 26: Gravitic Emanation -- Stgr-Acc/Stun/Rchg:30(A), Stgr-Acc/Rchg:30(27), Stgr-Acc/EndRdx:30(27), Stgr-EndRdx/Stun:30(29), Stgr-Stun/Rng:30(29), Rope-Acc/Stun/Rchg:50(31)
Level 28: Inky Aspect -- Stgr-Acc/Stun/Rchg:30(A), Stgr-Acc/EndRdx:30(48), Stgr-Acc/Rchg:30(50), Stgr-EndRdx/Stun:30(50), Stgr-Stun/Rng:30(50)
Level 30: Essence Drain -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(36), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(36), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(37)
Level 32: Dark Extraction -- ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg:50(33), ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg:50(33), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg:50(33), Dmg-I:50(34), RechRdx-I:50(34)
Level 35: Quasar -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:50(37), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg:50(37), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg:50(40), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(42), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx:50(42)
Level 38: Eclipse -- Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(A), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg:50(39), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:50(39), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc:50(39), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx:50(40), Efficacy-EndMod:50(40)
Level 41: Stygian Return -- Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(A)
Level 44: Stimulant -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 47: Aid Self -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A)
Level 49: Resuscitate -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg:50(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Dark Sustenance
Level 1: Ninja Run -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Shadow Recall -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
------------
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 8% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 8% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 8% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 8% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 8% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 8% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 8% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 8% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 3.44% Defense(Fire)
• 3.44% Defense(Cold)
• 2.5% Defense(Energy)
• 2.5% Defense(Negative)
• 1.25% Defense(Ranged)
• 3.13% Defense(AoE)
• 2% Enhancement(Stun)
• 14% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 31.3% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 108.4 HP (10.1%) HitPoints
• Knockback (Mag -4)
• Knockup (Mag -4)
• MezResist(Confused) 2.5%
• MezResist(Held) 2.5%
• MezResist(Immobilize) 6.9%
• MezResist(Sleep) 14.1%
• MezResist(Stun) 4.15%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 5.8%
• 5% (0.08 End/sec) Recovery
• 20% (0.89 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 2.84% Resistance(Fire)
• 2.84% Resistance(Cold)
• 10% RunSpeed
• 2% XPDebtProtection

There oughta be some more squid ink to it, ya ask me. This must be their version of the "Tweet" nonsense.

I for one will give you guys all the time for 14 ya need if it means you can track down the recent instabilities I'm seeing on Virtue.

After all, what's the use of more toys if all the ones you get don't work well?

Good bug hunting, ladies and gents!

Just as a general point:

"Never talk about a set as if you understand it without spending at least three months in-game playtime with it, and have run it for all 50 levels."

New players can have valid viewpoints, but rarely will they have a fully cohesive view of powers and how they react throughout the full course of the game.

This isn't elitism, it's simply a fact of experience.