ExtraGonk

Yey, been a pleasure teaming over the last few levels. and although i died trying to screeny the end i did get this one...

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/5...62322265rw.jpg


well done on another 50

heh, that just made me realise i've never tried it

if it works like pve where even if there isnt a body to leech off you can still get residual drain tehn maybe as long as youre fast then it'll let you get some. something to experiment with if i ever manage to kill anyone with my ws

aye i found that out in another thread too, you cant run stealth with shadowcloak either.

with orbiting debt and inky aspect running you may improve your chances to catch a stalker, but you'd probably have to slot for acc and i'm not up to that yet

ah im not sure if you can do a duoble barrelled bind like that where it drops you to human and shifts the trays round... heres what i have for my human/tank forms.

C:\cohbinds has my keybinds in it, in this folder are two text files:

Human.txt

Bind lshift+lbutton "powexec_name shadow step"

Dwarf.txt

Bind lshift+lbutton "powexec_name black dwarf step"


I have tray 1 and 2 as swappables with a macro in slot 8 for each, these macros are:

Human Change Macro (to be placed on your dwarf tray - Assumes your human tray is tray 1)

/macro humn "powexec_toggle_on black dwarf$$bind_load_file c:\cohbinds\human.txt$$goto_tray 1"

Dwarf Change Macro (to be placed on your Human tray - Assumes your dwarf tray is tray 2)

/macro dwrf "powexec_toggle_off black dwarf$$bind_load_file c:\cohbinds\dwarf.txt$$goto_tray 2"

I use my 4th tray always visable in middle tier as my human toggles. Tray 5 is always visible in the top tier and i use this for visual indicators for powers from both forms that i want to swap for, so i can see when things are recharged so i can swap to form and use the same power on the form tray (rather than click the top tray).

not very clear that i know sorry

Rage at 28 is the thing that makes SS a good solo power, but you want to be slotting all attacks with at least 1 end reducer, TI is an expensive toggle, stick 2 end reducers in that and run it only when you need to.

avoid haste until later (if at all)

while you're on trainers and DO's then more end reducers and accuracies, but whichever way you look at it its gonna be slow work on settings above heroic.

to be able to slot your attacks for end reducers aas well as your needed ACC and damage you're going to be defence and resist light for a long time though, meaning squishiness.

i have my tray shifting and teleport changing binds working so that one tray had human stuff plus human teleport bound to lshift+lbutton and the dwarf tray to dwarf stuff and lshift+lbutton was dwarf form teleport.

it used a macro and a couple of bind key text files to do the work.

shadowcloak by itself can be seen thru at about 40 yards distance, the perception is enough to see stalkers on hide at around the same distance.

will check the shadowcloak + superspeed combo tonight

orbiting death will disrupt a stalker AS as will inky aspect. However both will drop your stealth component when you run thru a group.

Inky aspect will disorient squishies.

However the tick on both debt and inky aspect seem to be spaced enough for it to miss hitting a lot of the time between ticks.

the build up / aim / fireball combo seemed to be rather fun

[ QUOTE ]
I was going to write a guide for tanking but while doing research I found this...

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#2925504

OK it might be a little out of date but it more or less sums up everything I was going to say. Though I may still write a mini guide on tactics since new tanks don't seam to know how to do simple things like corner pull.

[/ QUOTE ]

thats a pretty class guide. you're right though a few things need changing mostly on the squishy factor but up till he starts on the specs for tanking its a real gem.

[ QUOTE ]
I like to get a whole group in one place and keep them there when i am maximising the effects i can get out of debuffs. People seem to be oh we need a healer, for me debuffers are great although more so on disciplined teams.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, debuff is now a really good combo for tanks, before it wasnt important, now it very much is and it makes sense to gather them.

calls for healers /groan can worms, well more can worms than this thread already maybe we need to talk about pling and leechy empaths while we're here

[ QUOTE ]
Energy Melee is undoubtedly the worst secondary pre L35.

[/ QUOTE ]

not true, with fast attacks and a high disorient chance on energy punch energy melee is able to switch targets and tackle groups using punchvoke very easily, might not do the damage but certainly can contain the aggro - slap whirling hands into the mix and its totally effective.

saying this is worse than that just leads to arguments and pigeon holeing of powers and AT's. A bad AT is made bad by the player playing it.

Hammer - you shouldnt feel depressed about hammer, he is still a good and perfectly viable tank, or at least he was last time we teamed, did you change something?

Herding and gathering a mob group aint the same thing at all, seriously though i dont think a tank needs to be left alone with the mob first to tank effectively, yes it might make it easier and safer but certainly not needed as the groups not going to be trying to gather so much that the tank (or group) cant handle it.

Salt and wounds, as long as players persist with the viewpoint of 'tanks are rubbish coz it aint i4' they i'm going to continue to point out that its not true anymore.

If players can not or will not adapt to the new gaming environment and what is really happening out there on the servers then they should stop talking with authority on subjects which they are no longer expert on.

nope hammer, you never did that in the times we teamed, the 'herding step back and dont play till i say' so attitude, has strangely become a lot more apparent since the tank supposedly became incapable of doing their jobs.

tanks are not gods on two legs anymore, they are part of the team and they need the team, just like the rest of the team.

a good tank can still tank, a stone tank (even a bad one) can still tank as their spec has been pretty much left alone.

however i welcome the fact that the game now requires tanks to rely on team mates to do their job. it was and is rediculous that tanks could just stand there and take it all without needing anyone to help at all, ever.

i agree that scranking is more prevelant now adays, as was also said, tanking all isnt so expected either so scranking shouldnt be an issue, except with the old guard who say ney thats wrong be ashamed of your tanklessness.

I hated the teams where you'd get the tank that'd just run off and do whatever he wanted against whatever he wanted because he didnt need the team to survive, thats what the game allowed and that was terrible.

Tanks are no longer the center of the universe, good, maybe we'll stop getting these rediculous and condesending 'step back im herding' tanks who believe that the whole team should follow them to the letter then get huffy when it doesnt happen, coz, like, the rest of the team want to play too...

Having gone back repeatedly to my inv/energy tank i still dont find any trouble in tanking these groups because my team mates support me.

Leveling up new characters thru 20 i've seen tanks with and without the taunting central role, some are new players who just havent learnt the skill well enough yet to realise how it can work.

shadow blast is a two handed animation, shadow bolt is a single handed 'push' animation.

whichever it is is your answer

Also shadow bolt charges very very fast, shadow blast is rather slow.

at level 28 vs even con blast does about 100 damage, bolt did about 35

the old kick bugs the same bug that hits the arena battles too, let you in for 2 seconds then boots you - similar to the timing of the zoning rubber banding thing...

one point we had it that skyway base entry was broke, no matter who it was that tried to get into teh base from skyway got kicked immediately, from any other zone could get in fine.

Yey titan, nice 50 dude

Hi Cynic,

i'm building and running a human/dwarf warshade - currently level 29.

what i aimed to do was: quick fast attacks in human form till dwarf, with minimal aggro along the way, once at dwarf slot the form but leave more as a shifter powerup form from dwarf Mire, then use human form most fo the time.

What actually happened was i got orbiting death and slotted that up as fast as possible, i kept the 2 quick attacks and slotted them up too, it was good fun having orbiting death to trim down the HP of the mobs, but you need to use it wisely, still is fun infact.

what also happened was life became a lot easier with level 12, sunless mire means you actually start kicking out some damage.

at 28 i respecced the fast shodow bolt out in favour of shadow blast. i still havent taken a travel power but i am going for superspeed at 30. I also moved dwarf back to 26 and got stygian circle and stamina at 20 and 22 rather htan dwarf form. i did find once i got dwarf it was a bit of a let down, i presume that the actual powers in dwarf need slotting but at this point i dont have the luxury of the spare slots, so it'll probably get some more work applied in the 30s.

Below is the build of my warshade, pre 27 respec and post 27 respec.

its worked and is fun so far, you are squishy with a tank fallback, you gather aggro but unless you're careless you shouldnt die thru it.

one major tip i find: Toggles aint just on and stay on, you need to move and change them round as they are needed, statically turning them on and leaving them on will get you killed, run your endurance out and generally make the character not feel nice to play at all.

Comment: i always read Orbiting Death gets you killed and gives you debt, for me, the only time this has been the case is when i've played stupid vs baddies that i really should know better about, so not the power thats a problem, its the player that makes the power a problem.

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Warshade
Primary Powers - Ranged : Umbral Blast
Secondary Powers - Support : Umbral Aura

01 : Absorption damres(01)
01 : Ebon Eye acc(01) dam(3) dam(7) dam(15)
02 : Shadow Bolt acc(02) dam(3) dam(7) dam(15)
04 : Orbiting Death endred(04) endred(5) acc(5) dam(11) dam(25) dam(25)
06 : Combat Jumping jmp(06)
08 : Gravity Shield endred(08) endred(9) damres(9) damres(11) damres(17)
10 : Swift runspd(10)
12 : Sunless Mire acc(12) recred(13) recred(13) recred(17)
14 : Shadow Cloak endred(14)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Gravity Well acc(18) recred(19) recred(19)
20 : Black Dwarf endrec(20) damres(21) damres(21)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23)
24 : Stygian Circle recred(24)
26 : Unchain Essence recred(26)
-------------------------------------------
20 : Black Dwarf Strike enhancement(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Smite enhancement(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Mire enhancement(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Drain enhancement(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Step enhancement(20)
20 : Black Dwarf Antagonize enhancement(20)


Aim for this build was to have super jump and teleport as the travel powers, it was to have dwarf form as its endurance regening form,
in human form it was going to be fast quick single target attacks with orbiting death as the primary aoe that could be used whenever needed.

What i found is that dwarf at 20 was a stop gap till the human form had stamina and stygian circle, stamina meant that the human form regenned faster than dwarf form and i totally underestimated how good stygian circle is straight out of the box with just one recharge on it.

Also, after 27 levels of teleporting i changed my mind on superjump and wanted more of a fire and forget travel power...

Thus the respec was built thus:


Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Warshade
Primary Powers - Ranged : Umbral Blast
Secondary Powers - Support : Umbral Aura

01 : Absorption damres(01)
01 : Ebon Eye acc(01) dam(3) dam(7) dam(17)
02 : Gravity Shield endred(02) damres(3) damres(5) damres(15)
04 : Orbiting Death endred(04) dam(5) dam(7) dam(23) acc(25)
06 : Swift runspd(06)
08 : Shadow Blast acc(08) dam(9) dam(9) dam(17)
10 : Hasten recred(10) recred(11) recred(11)
12 : Sunless Mire acc(12) recred(13) recred(13) recred(15)
14 : Shadow Cloak endred(14)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Gravity Well acc(18) acc(19) recred(19) recred(23)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21)
22 : Stygian Circle recred(22) Empty(25) Empty(29)
24 : Black Dwarf damres(24)
26 : Unchain Essence acc(26) recred(27) recred(27) dam(29)
28 : Inky Aspect endred(28)
30 : Super Speed runspd(30)
-------------------------------------------
24 : Black Dwarf Strike enhancement(24)
24 : Black Dwarf Smite enhancement(24)
24 : Black Dwarf Mire enhancement(24)
24 : Black Dwarf Drain enhancement(24)
24 : Black Dwarf Step enhancement(24)
24 : Black Dwarf Antagonize enhancement(24)

Haste is the component that makes the Shadow Blast work fast, this power i very rarely see people talk about but its good damage compared to the rest of the set, since respeccing to this build and taking Inky Aspect at 28 i've found the build come to life as more of a control aspect.
Couple this with Orbiting debt and you can kill whole groups of minions without even taking a single hit as everythings disorientated all the time. Note i dont have health to cover this HP drain and so far i've not needed it. Unchain Essence has a disorient attached to it, using this and inky aspect you can disorient bosses and lt's also.

Stygian circle and stamina mean you dont need the dwarf form other than for emergencies and powerups, but with so many toggles running i found i got sick of changing form and retoggling mid fight, so i'll do it if assured that the group has the mob under control, but if its a bit loose then changing form and retoggling just takes too long.

Last note on this for the mo:

Orbiting debt will knock a stalker out of stealth, inky aspect will disorient anything not running status protection and it does last a fair while, but the 'tick' oin this seems to be fairly spaced out so you may need to stand in place for about 3 seconds to effect.
Shadow cloak increases your perception so you can see hidden stalkers, however shadow cloak only gives your stealth past about 40 yards.

Really last note:
I've found with my warshade the planned from beginning route didnt really work for me, as discovering new powers how they worked and what it meant radically changed my view of the character and thus its very freeform and subject to change as time goes on, Work In Progress for sure.

This has been one of the 'funnest' characters i've played once up to level 18 (and the hold), and its just got better as time goes on. very different from all the other characters i have, and actually requires me to think about what i'm doing, its when i take it for granted is when i die

cheers for the input on this, i did some further experimentation and found if the bind_load_file was not the last command then it wouldnt drop it when i zoned.

dunno why but it works now with the toggle/bind/goto commands in that order.

odd.

also warshades get stygian circle at 24 which gives endurance and health back so its theoretical that you could go without stamina. still be a real dog tping around though without stam

ouch.

allo,

i've finally started playing about with a form changing warshade and having just got past 20 i thought i'd sort out some tray changing and bind changing macros.

what i was aiming for was:

lshift and lbutton to be the teleport in both human and dwarf form.
in human form use tray 1 as primary
in dwarf form use tray 2 as primary.

what i did was:

created a macro for the changing to dwarf form which went like: /macro dwrf "powexec_toggle_on black dwarf$$goto_tray 2"

and a similar one on tray two to change back to human form like: /macro humn "powexec_toggle_off black dwarf$$goto_tray 1"

And to get the key to rebind i had two text files in my cohbinds folder, one called human.txt and the other called dwarf.txt which had the lshift+lbutton "bind powexec_name shadow step" and lshift+lbutton "bind powexec_name black dwarf step"

Now heres the jam. i initially tried tacking the bind command on the end of the original macros but it just wouldnt bind the keys at all.

so i put bind_load_file c:\cohbinds\human.txt and a dwarf version on to the appropriate macros.

this worked, however when i zoned the macro for the form i wasnt in would get truncated to 2 commands and vice versa.

so if i was in human form and zoned then the macro on the dwarf tray to load the bind file for human teleporting would truncate to not have the load command on it.

and if zoning in dwarf form it'd do the same to the dwarf version of the macro.

so zone twice and the rebinds wouldnt work for either form and it'd just remember the last teleport bind that was executed.


I've seen others cite that they've had 3 commands listed in a macro/bind, so what am i doing wrong?

any help would be appreciated.

just got our auto-doc (aint it cute), is there any additional items that can be crafted/added that will allow it to sell insps other than the basic respites and cabs?

yer, thos robots mince MoG too, was hilarious watching me and another MoGger charge in and get whipped in a fraction of a second

'ah, MoGs not so good against these then'
'no'

inv/energy is good fun, and it offers quite a nice change in pace mid 30s, before then your a fast hitter after that you're a one hit wonder puncher

then another change in pace when you hit epics.

i really enjoyed my inv/energy and shes still one of my favorite characters.

however pvp - i wouldnt know only taken her out once to pvp and didnt enjoy it much, although the brute i was chain taunting said i was cheating using taunt