Dechs Kaison

Yes, this is what I was trying to say. Thanks, Sardan.

Let this debacle showcase what happens when an engineer tries to explain something.

Somewhere, something is wrong with this statement. I dare not say what, but something isn't right.

Alright, I guess I can give you my opinions on a TriFormShade. Bear in mind that they are exactly that. Opinions.

Gravity Well, Sunless Mire, Eclipse, Stygian Circle, Nova and Dwarf are all must haves. Absolutely non-negotiable.

Hasten comes strongly recommended. Requires minimal slotting (only one additional slot) for an enormous benefit.

Other great powers are Dark Extraction, Gravatic Emanation, Unchain Essence and Quasar, in that order of importance. Fluffies are great damage output, but some find it difficult or annoying to keep watching for the summon to recharge. You can get along without Gravatic Emanation, but I find it's great for bunching mobs in a corner for Mire/Eclipse if they're too spread out. It's also a great panic button since it's a guaranteed stun on LTs and minions. Unchain Essence does great damage and allows you to stack stuns with GE, except that this one is only a 50% chance. It also requires a dead body, and many won't want to be bothered by that hassle. Quasar is really situational, but if you have a blue and Stygian Circle is up, Quasar without fear. These are playstyle choices and require slotting to be useful. If you don't think you'll use one of these powers, don't take it. Save the slots where you can.

TriFormShades have more powers than slots, so you need to find a lot of "one slot wonders." Shadow Cloak and Super Speed make for a really cheap way to get perfect stealth, and since you get Shadow Recall as an inherent, TFs will love you. Shadow Cloak is also a good spot for a LotG Recharge. Starless Step is really useful for those mobs that get glitched into cave walls, as well as pulling out the voids if you worry about that sort of thing. Stygian Return doesn't need slotting either, and let's face it, you will hit pavement, and you'll be surrounded by mobs when you do. Stygian Return makes you invulnerable for 10 seconds. Plenty of time to Eclipse/Mire, Unchain/Quasar. I took the first three powers of the concealment pool and combat jumping just to slot LotG Recharge IOs.

As was said, a shifting shade has little use for toggles, but I still took Inky Aspect. It only has an Acc/Stun enhancer in it, and I think I might have used it twice, but I can't think of anything better to take in it's place.

I don't have any other toggles, Nebulous Form, Drain Essence, Shadow Blast, or Dark Detonation, and I don't miss them. Eclipse gives me enough resits, Stygian Circle gives me enough healing, no one needs a 3 second delay on phase, and I do damage in Nova or Dwarf. Take that for what it's worth.

In closing, remember: You can ask 100 shades for 100 builds; they'll all be different and they'll all be fun to the person playing them. What matters is how you like to play your shade.

Have you tried playing with the scales? There's a good chance you can make the female version look a lot more like the male version with some incessant tweaking.

I don't actually know, I've never seen the female dragon/lizard head to know how different it is.

It's under monstrous heads, I believe.

At 45% defense, you block twice as many hits as you do at 40% defense.

That means if 40% defense blocks 10 attacks, 45% defense will block 20 attacks.

5% more is blocking exactly as many shots as the first 40%.

I have nothing more to add.

The person with 40% defense will get hit twice as often as the person with 45% defense, and the disparity actually grows as you face higher level opponents.

This should translate to twice the number of deaths, but it's quite possible they're both good enough to never die.

To be honest, there's really no one that can answer this without being you. You are the person who plays your warshade, and while I love my tri-former and can play him quite impressively, you might hate how he plays.

The difference between warshade builds is similar to the difference between two blasters using different powersets. Perhaps even the difference between any blaster and any controller. There really is way too much variation in a warshade build.

A little bit of a shameless plug here, but I'd suggest you read through this thread. The first post explains how I learned to play my tri-former, but the latter posts get into varied builds and playstyles that accompany them. If you like the way someone talks about their warshade, look at their build.

What's so hard to understand? Twice the effectiveness means you've doubled you're protection. By definition, if you double effectiveness, whatever did the doubling is doing as much as the thing it doubled. Here, apparently I can't phrase it well enough, so I'll borrow someone else's post.

By doubling what you block with 5%, you double the incoming DPS you can survive. Is that non-linear enough for you?

Fine.

40% defense means that you have a 10% chance to be hit. Since you start at 50% chance to be hit, you have decreased your damage taken to 1/5 of it's original value.

45% defense means that you have a 5% chance to be hit. This reduces your damage taken to 1/10, twice the effectiveness of 40%.

The last five percent prevents as much damage as the first 40%.

My guide does consider more than one opponent. The probability of one minion hitting you in a succession of five attacks is the same probability of five minions hitting you at the same time.

This line is evidence enough that you understand nothing of the game's attack mechanics. This is not an exercise with magical math that says every % of damage stops 10 DPS. Every % of defense reduces your chance to get hit. This has a non-linear effect on the DPS that it prevents. Each % of defense added is more effective than the previous %.

This is incorrect. In truth, the last 5% provides exactly the same mitigation as the first 40%. Please refer to my guide (in the sig) for mathematical proof.

Because I need merits and it takes too long to (sometimes can't) solo the AVs from task forces.

Even for a newbie, getting 10k influence can be much easier than actually getting to Firebase Zulu.

I was out of range of the inherent bonus.

Find me another AT that can have 85% resist all damage, mez protection, a solid AoE attack chain, the ability to stun ten targets in a 45 degree arc, be followed by three damage dealing pets, has a way to heal and fill endurance in one power that's up every 20 seconds, and can cap its own damage bonus, all without outside buffs or "assistance of an inherent".

I'm not saying it's the best, mind you. I merely contest that it is pretty damn far from the bottom of the barrel.

Gah, I have to stomp this out now. I am on a personal mission to prove that Kheldians do not suck.

I recently grabbed seven random people for Baby New Year teams and then proceeded to solo the mission with my warshade. I had several people ask "Remind me again why you needed a team?"

Hey now, I'm a die hard TriFormShade, but I have no problems with someone wanting to stay human only. I know human form only is very difficult while leveling up, which is some of the reason I went with a tri-form. I'll never berate and demean anyone for playstyle (unless it's a petless MM or an empath with no attacks). In fact, I started a PB recently that's human form only, and I completely sympathize with all the common reasons not to take forms.

As for me and my shade, though, I embraced the dance from level one and never respec'd out of it. I'm ok with the three seconds it takes me to switch forms. I enjoy the fact that I can dwarf through the Romulus rez stun if need be. I like having a solid AoE attack chain in nova form. I like the ability to double mire and drop an unchain essence.

I'm not going to claim that my way is the best. I'm not even going to claim that it's good. I'm just going to say that it's the way I've done things, and it's gotten me this far.

At 26, you haven't been able to slot the Assbot for damage and accuracy, which will make a big difference.

Once you hit 32, you'll rip through everything. The upgrade adds AoE an attack to every robot, and several to the Assbot. The burn patches have great synergy with tar patch. At that time, I suggest you change your difficulty to +0/x8, and ramp up from there as you feel comfortable.