Kyrin

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Simply put. This is not a well-thought-out Fire/SS guide.

Indulge me. I have had a fire/ss tank since issue 1 (my 3rd toon ever rolled, Ramblin Roy). I've shelved him during the big nerfs; I've dusted him off post i6; continue to play him off-and-on.

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I don't have a problem with people who disagree with me or have constructive criticism. I do have a problem with you saying that the guide isn't well-thought out.

The purpose of the guide is to offer information and share some of the things that worked for my fire tank when it comes to using Burn. I try to be unbiased and at no point do I say that the build presented within the guide is the best or most effective.

FYI, I also played my fire/ss tanker back when burn was godlike. I also play an ice/em tanker that I got to 50 before ice armor stacked and it was fotm for pvp.

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Here's some pointers that I think you SEVERELY underestimated and/or just did not grasp:

1) BLAZING AURA - this is far and away your most damage-dealing attack other than burn. Don't believe me? Run HERO STATS for a spell and see who comes in as the biggest damage-dealer. Well, it will if you tank properly (i.e. with MOBS and not single-target).

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I don't need hero stats to tell me how effective blazing aura is. It's one of the best damage auras in the game and it is incredibly useful for a tank. Just because I took it late in my build (a build that I respecced into), does not mean I see the power as useless or ineffective. I should have mentioned that the build posted was a respec build and that I don't exemplar down past level 35 with my fire tank.

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2) HURDLE. Wow, you missed that one. SJ or CJ without HURDLE is just torture. Sure, SJ is ok, but why not boost that travel power IMMENSELY? Not to mention the old Hurdle+CJ poor-man's travel (pre level 14). Or the PvP advantages. You won't really need the extra slot in SJ, either...

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There are lots of advantages to taking hurdle and some for taking Swift. It all comes down to personal choice and character concept. If I was writing a guide about the best or min/max build for a fire tank, I might put a greater emphasis on Hurdle.

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3) You have 1 slot in boxing (end reducer) - change that to an ACC at least. Use boxing's slight chance to disorient to add to jab's and you have a decent 1-2 combo with an ok chance to disorient mobs (minions, lts, pvpers).

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To be honest, I don't use boxing at all. If I did, I would devote more slots to it. For me, it is just a power that is not on my bar but it was either boxing or kick to get Tough. Accuracy would be a better choice than endurance if I plan to use the power but I have this habit of slotting my powers with an endurance reducer.

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4) RAGE: six slot that bad-boy ASAP! 3 recharges and 3 to-hits. You can (and will) have a DOUBLE-STACKED rage for about 10 seconds before the first drops. Double-Raged KO & Burn? Thank you.

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With two recharge enhancers, Rage is down for approximately 20 seconds. During ten of those seconds, you are unable to attack and can only use powers that affect yourself. If you have the slots to spare then 6 slotting rage is smart but if you don't then 3 slots works well and if you get access to Membranes (which is pretty easy on some servers), you only need three slots.

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5) You skipped Fiery Embrace; you understand it is only 10 seconds for non-burn, but still... double-stacked rage+FE+KB/Burn... plus you can then be ubers with the Fire Epic (can you say rage+FE+Fireball?)

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If I was fire secondary or had more fire damage power, I would have kept it in my build. For me, it wasn't worth the tradeoff even though it does increase non-fire damage.

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6) Taunt. I skipped it; it's only use for a tank is PvP (or if you are on the taunt-team in a hami raid). In pvp, taunt can be UBER for your squishies. With SS, though, you'll likely be hunting/chasing/killing in PvP, so taunt is optional. No complaints about taking it/not taking it, but if you are, try to work it in BEFORE level 30 (Siren's Call limit).

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One reason for taking Taunt is for AV fights. There have been problems holding AV agro with Gauntlet. There are a few threads discussing this. I picked it up later because the mid and high 30s is when you start to see AVs in missions.

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7) Consume. You take it at level 47?! [censored]? Did you NOT have endurance issues for the first 46 levels? Ouch. Get this as early as you can! 1 ACCs, 2-3 rech., 2-3 end mods. As you accurately pointed out, endurance WILL be an issue. So why put off your +END power so late? Stamina is OK, but you will be wanting MORE. Lots more.

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Actually, I never had any endurance issues because I slotted each power with an endurance reduction. I picked up consume at level 47 to deal with the increasing number of enemies who sap or drain endurance. If I had endurance issues, I would have picked it up a lot sooner especially if I was going without Fitness.

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8) You take FLY? I presume for the Shard... You'd be better off with Fireblast and Fireball (then Rise). Fiery Embrace REALLY works well with the blast powers. Char is broken (or it's "Tanker Char") in that it will never do more than ticks of -1.

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I took fly because I like it. It's safe, fun and it also fit with the concept that I had for the character. Are their more effective movement powers? Yes, depending on the circumstances and where you play at.

Would I be better off with more damage? Maybe but I find that the damage I do with burn and my secondary powers is enough to get the job done whether I am solo or on teams. I kept Char for locking down an annoying minion or lt not for the damage.

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9) Here's a different build, which I feel is more survivable in both the PvP and PvE worlds:

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I'm not going to comment on your build. If it works for you and you have fun with it then more power to you. I'm not going to get into a discussion about the 'best' build. The best build is the one that works for you and that you have fun playing.

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I would skip AS - although I know it works WONDERFULLY with burn, but it is such a tight build as it is. Not sure what I could sacrifice for AS; *maybe* Fiery Embrace - if I didn't go the Fire Epic route (and I've tried them all with my Fire/SS, and FIRE is the best).

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Like I said, the guide wasn't about making the best fire tanker. It was geared toward presenting information and some tactics for using this incarnation of Burn.

EDIT: Tried to make my point a little clearer. Who knows if it worked or not.

I had to take them out, all the numbers I had were out of date and I didn't want to give bad info. When issue 8 goes in, I'll redo the guide and add the numbers.

The Red Five I7 Fire / Super Strength Guide

Overview

The goal of this guide is to provide unbiased information on Fiery Aura and Super Strength. This guide and build focuses on using Burn offensively and defensively in PvE whether you are solo or part of a team. With that said, the build in this guide is not the best and nowhere near perfect but it works for me and it is a lot more fun. Your mileage may vary.

Where possible, I have provided numbers. This data comes from the following sources:

Posts in the CoH Tanker Forum
CoH / CoV Character Builder by SherkSilver
Buffy’s Guide to Tanker Primaries

Also, you might want to check out Circeus' So You Want To Know About Taunting Guide.


Synergy

Fire and Super Strength work surprisingly well together, even more so as of Issue 7. A tanker who takes Fiery Aura as his primary is giving up defense in return for resistance and extra offense in the form of Blazing Aura and Burn. Super Strength allows you to take advantage of Fire’s offense. In addition to your strong offense, both sets provide a lot of tools for tanking, agro management and damage mitigation.

Unlike other tankers, you lack knockback protection, immobilization protection and defense. To maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, you will have to use power pools. If you are not willing to do this then playing a fire tanker can seem more like work than fun.

1) You will be running a lot of toggles with this build. That means you might have an issue with endurance. Stamina and Consume will help deal with this issue.

2) Status protection is very important for a tank and knockback is one of the most common status effects next to disorient. Immobilization protection is less of an issue for some people but still very important in my book. To deal with knockback, you need to Acrobatics, Hover or Fly.

3) Smashing and lethal are the two most common types of damage in the game. Because you lack defense, it is important to take as little damage as possible. This means using the damage mitigation tools at your disposal and taking Tough.

Now let’s look at the power sets and pools that you can pick.


Fire Armor

Fire Armor is a resistance set with several offensive powers and a self-heal. You lack defense which means you will be hit more often than other tankers. You also have no immobilization protection unless you use burn and no way to negate knockback. It is also toggle heavy so endurance can be a problem especially at lower levels.

Fire Shield: This toggle provides resistance against smashing, lethal, fire and cold damage. The base resistance is 30% for smashing, lethal and fire but only 10% for cold. You probably have heard this before but it bears repeating. Smashing and lethal are probably the two most common damage types in the game. I slotted this power with 1 endurance reduction and 3 resistance enhancers.

Blazing Aura: This toggle power does fire damage to all those enemies around you. It has a built in taunt effect so that you can use this power to help you manage agro as well as supplement your offense. It also gives you another damage type besides smashing. I slotted this power with 1 endurance reduction, 1 taunt, 1 accuracy and 3 damage enhancers.

Healing Flames: Though plagued with a long activation time, this power is a decent self heal. With a few slots, you will have it available when you need it. It also provides 20% resistance to toxic damage. I slotted this power with 3 recharge, 1 end reduction and 2 heal enhancers.

Temperature Protection: This automatic power gives you resistance to cold and fire. Base resistance is 10% to cold and 20% to fire. In my opinion, there are a lot more important powers that you can pick up and slot. I didn’t take this power in my build.

Consume: By activating this power, you will gain endurance from each enemy around you. This power has a built in taunt effect making it useful for agro management. Even though this power does some fire damage, I would not slot this power with damage. I slotted this power with 3 recharge, 1 accuracy and 1 endurance mod enhancer.

Plasma Shield: This toggle provides resistance against energy, negative energy and fire damage. The base resistance is 30%. It also provides sleep and hold protection. I would pick this power up ASAP but hold off on slotting it till the 20s. I slotted this power with 1 endurance reduction and 3 resistance enhancers.

Burn: This power creates a ground based area of effect that inflicts fire damage-over-time. Enemies will try to leave to burn patch to avoid taking damage. Despite this, Burn is quite useful offensively and defensively once you practice using the power. Burn also provides immobilization protection. I slotted this power with 3 recharge and 3 damage enhancers. With this slotting, there is only 10 seconds of downtime during which I use my super strength attacks to finish off my enemies.

Note: Some enemies are resistant or immune to the fear effect of Burn. They will stay in a Burn patch and just eat the damage. This might be by design or it could be a bug but some of these same enemies are resistant to fear powers such as Touch of Fear. These enemies include Nemesis Jaegers, Rikti Drones, and other robots.

Fiery Embrace: This power boosts your damage. I find it more useful for tankers with fire melee but you can still use this power to boost burn, blazing aura and your other attacks. It adds 100% more to your base damage of your fire powers for 20 seconds but the duration is only 10 seconds for your non-fire powers. I didn’t take this power for my build.

Rise of the Phoenix: This power will resurrect you 50% of your hit points and endurance. It will also inflict fire damage to any foe in the area of effect as well as disorient them. Though I do not know the magnitude of the disorient. You will be immune to damage for a short time allowing you to turn on your toggles. Like all self rez powers, you are protected from debt for a short time after using this power. This is the last power that I picked and I think I have only used it twice.


Super Strength

To me, nothing has a more comic book feel than Super Strength. It is one of the better tanker primaries even though it does all smashing damage and gets its damage AOE late in the game. You get access to one of the best single target damage attack by level 20. Most Super Strength attacks have a knockdown component to them which makes it an excellent secondary for mitigating damage to you and your team. It also has the added benefit of giving you a way to keep enemies within your Burn and Blazing Aura.

I suggest slotting all offensive attacks with 1 end, 1 accuracy and 3 damage enhancers even if you have stamina. Fire is a toggle heavy set and you may need to cut down your end usage when you can. I would also slot a recharge enhancers in powers like Haymaker, Knockout Blow and Foot Stomp.

Jab: You perform a quick punch that deals minor damage and has a chance of disorienting an enemy. Like all starting attacks, it’s not that good but it will help fill out your attack chain. The fast recharge time on this power makes it extremely useful for maintaining agro. Some prefer not to slot this power much. You’ll have to decide for yourself.

Punch: You perform a punch that does moderate damage. It does better damage than Jab but has a slower recycle time. This attack has a chance to knockdown a target when you hit them. Although I liked this power, I went with Air Superiority which works better for this build and my playstyle.

Haymaker: This attack does high damage and has a better chance to knockdown foes. I use this as part of my attack chain and it helps take down enemies pretty quickly. It benefits from a recharge enhancer so that you always have an attack ready to fire off.

Taunt: This area of effect power allows you to taunt enemies into attacking you. Unlike Provoke, Taunt never misses. I won’t get into the debate about whether or not you need to take Taunt. It’s a useful tool for agro management but you have a lot of tools at your disposal already. Originally, I took taunt early in the game but with Gauntlet, you can wait till later to pick up this power especially if you solo more than group. With I used my I7 respec, I took it later and slotted it with a recharge enhancer so that it would be available when I needed it.

Hand Clap: This area of effect power does no damage but it can disorient enemies and knock them BACK. Yes, this power does knockback which can be problematic especially if you are trying to maintain agro or keep enemies in a tight group. Still, this power is useful for when you or someone else on your team are getting overwhelmed. I skipped this power because I can use burn for the same purpose.

Knockout Blow: This attack does extreme damage and has a chance to hold your enemy. It is an awesome power with a cool animation. I can't say enough good things about this power. The hold works almost all the time and it is useful for offense as well as defense because of the hold component.

Rage: This power will boost your damage by 80% and accuracy by 50%. It lasts for 120 seconds. At the end of the duration, you will only be able to use powers that affect yourself. This power balances super strength against the other tanker secondaries and it will increase the damage of Burn making it extremely useful. Rage used in combination with Fiery Embrace, Blazing Aura and Burn is a thing of beauty.

Hurl: I’m not a big fan of this attack power because of the long animation time and short range. It does have a –fly component. My advice is to try the power on the test server and see if it works for you. I skipped this power.

Foot Stomp: You only area effect damage attack. It does moderate damage and has a chance to knockdown enemies. Foot Stomp can only be used when you are on the ground. It is useful for taking out groups of enemies as well as for agro management. It works well when you combine it with Burn. This is another power that needs a recharge enhancer.


Power Pools

Power pools are a good way to flesh out your character and to compensate for any weaknesses in your build. You can choose power pools for the most optimum build or for role-playing and character conception. I'm not going to try and re-invent the wheel. Others have written a lot about the various power pools so I will just touch on them briefly.

Concealment: This power pool helps you avoid enemies as well as increase your defense. It excels at allowing you scout areas and move freely without fear of attack. Most of these powers are best used before you get into trouble or encounter an enemy even though Stealth, Grant Invisibility and Phase Shift can be used in combat. It has a lot of uses in PvP.

Fighting: Because fire tankers have no defense, it is important to take as little damage as possible. Tough allows you to maximize your resistance to smashing and lethal damage. Base resistance is 15% for tankers. I would stay away from Weave, the paltry defense is not worth maintaining another toggle power. The base defense is around 4%.

Fitness: This power pool is very good for decreasing your downtime. There are more than enough posts about stamina and how to slot it. Do you need Stamina? Yes and no. Let’s face it, micro-managing your endurance is not fun. You have enough to worry about without adding endurance management to the list. Even with Stamina, you will have to careful with your endurance and possible use Consume to supplement your endurance. You won’t regret taking Health and Stamina but you might regret skipping them. I recommend that you take this power pool.

Leadership: This power pool has three toggle powers that give a bonus to your team’s defense, damage and accuracy. It’s not a bad power pool for a tanker but there are better choices. For me, the endurance cost for maintaining these toggles was not worth the return. A few people take Tactics, using it as a ghetto Targeting Drone. If accuracy is a concern, slot your powers with an extra accuracy enhancer or pick up the Energy Mastery for Focused Accuracy.

Medicine: In general, it is not the best power pool for a fire tanker. Aid Self works surprising well for those with defense to avoid attacks like ice tankers and super reflex scrappers. I wouldn’t get this pool as a fire tanker.

Presence: This is another pool with a lot of posts about it. As a tanker, you don’t need Challenge or Provoke though the fear powers can be incredibly useful especially useful in PvP. I wouldn’t worry about this pool unless I was focusing on PvP.

Travel Power Pools: Any of the travel power pools will work well for a Fire Tanker though I recommend the Leaping pool. It all comes down to playstyle, character conception and which works best for you.

Super Speed gives you access to Hasten and the fastest movement power in the game. Even though Hasten cannot be made permanent, it is still very useful while Super Speed has a stealth component for PvE allowing you to use this power for scouting missions and traveling safely.

Teleport takes some getting used to and it is a bit easier with a teleport bind. Recall Friend comes in handy for those who group a lot. Also, Teleport Foe is good for pulling especially at lower levels and for those enemies that get stuck in walls and floors. It is also very useful in PvP.

The Leaping power pool gives you access to a movement power with good speed and several defensive powers that will eliminate the holes in fiery aura’s status protection. Combat Jumping gives you immobilization protection. Acrobatics gives you knockback protection and more hold protection.

Flight is the slowest movement power but it is the easiest to use and control. It shines in several areas that are not super speed or super jump friendly like the Shadow Shard. It has the best power pool attack in the game, Air Superiority which is very useful for this build. I would take this pool just for Air Superiority. As an alternative, you can use Hover or Flight to help deal with knockback but you will still need to something to help against immobilizations. Remember Burn does not work unless you are on the ground.


Tanker Ancillary Power Pools

You gain access to these powers at level 41. Like power pools, they are a good way to flesh out your character and to compensate for any weaknesses in your build. Choose the one that fits best for you.

Energy Mastery: With Conserve Power your powers use less endurance when activated which is very useful. Focused Accuracy is a toggle power that increases the accuracy of your powers. With no slotting, it is better than an accuracy SO. I would slot this power with 3 end and 3 to hit buffs. Laser Beam Eyes is a good ranged attack that does moderate damage and reduces your target's Defense. Energy Torrent is a cone area effect that does knockdown.

Pyre Mastery: Ring of Fire is a single target immobilize that deals minor damage over time. Char is much better because it is a hold that can stack with the hold from Knockout Blow. Fire blast is a ranged fire attack that does moderate damage and Fireball is an area effect attack that also does moderate damage.

Arctic Mastery: All powers in this pool will reduce an enemy’s movement speed and recharge rate. This works well with Chilling Embrace. Chilblain is a single target immobilize that deals moderate damage over time while Block of Ice is a hold. Ice Blast is a ranged attack that does moderate damage. Ice Storm is a location based AE that does minor damage. It will also cause enemies to run in fear and scatter.

Earth Mastery: All powers in this pool will reduce an enemy’s defense. Stone Cages is a single target immobilize that deals moderate damage over time and grounds aerial opponents. Salt Crystals is an area effect sleep which is a nice attack for emergencies. Fossilize is a single target hold that deals moderate damage over time. Stalagmites is an area effect that does moderate damage and can disorient an enemy.


Slotting and Picking Powers

Focus on your primary and more critical powers. You want to slot powers that increase your survivability and help you deal damage. For instance, I would slot Stamina before slotting a power like Temperature Protection. There will be plenty of time to work on your other powers later.

Remember the rules concerning enhancing powers and enhancement diversification so you do not waste slots. If you don’t know what this is, read one of the many posts in the CoH forum on this topic.

Use a hero planner to plot out your character’s development and the Training Room to test out powers you are unfamiliar with. Respecs can be hard to come by and there is nothing worse than screwing up your build without a respect available to fix it. Sure it takes a little extra time to do but it is well worth it.


Leveling

Leveling a fire tanker is fairly easy in group situations. Your role might vary from team to team but it’s all about using teamwork. When soloing, avoid enemies that are resistant to your attacks and have resistance debuffs. In the beginning, it will be slow going but once you get single origin enhancers, your leveling speed will increase. It will take off once you pick up Foot Stomp and slot up your attacks.


PvP

Needless to say, PvP is a lot different than PvE. You will be dealing with the most dangerous enemies in the game, your fellow players.

To be honest, I don’t do a lot of PvP with my Fire tanker. I only use him in Bloody Bay and Recluse’s Victory. In both area’s Burn works wonders on turrets and pillboxes.

My advice for PvP is to find a group, be alert, carry lots of break frees and read one of the other guides on PvP so you know what you’re getting into.


My Build

Currently, this is that I use. It is geared for PvE and makes use of Burn for team and solo play. As said earlier, this build is far from perfect but it works for me. I find that it works well me. The build that I use can solo spawns in the Rikti Crash Site fast and efficiently with little or no downtime.

Originally, I took Taunt at a much lower level. Now that tankers have Gauntlet, I decided to take it later in my build. You can use Gauntlet to manage agro at lower levels as long as you're actively attacking and keeping an eye on your team mates.

I also moved Blazing Aura and Consume to later in my build. Blazing Aura was a drain on my endurance until I picked up Stamina and I tend to use Consume for emergency endurance recovery or a means to grab additional agro.

I went with Pyre Mastery for my APP pool so I can have a hold for Hammidon raids and a little surprise for PvP. I also use it to in combination with Knockout Blow to stack a hold on a boss. I might respec out of it since I do not use it all that often.

Finally and most importantly, Air Superiority and Knockout Blow are a big part of this build. You could make this build work without them but it would take a lot of extra work. I took and slotted both powers as soon as I could.


Level 01: Fire Shield - Endurance Reduction, Resistance (x3)
Level 01: Jab - Endurance Reduction, Accuracy, Damage (x3)
Level 02: Healing Flames - Endurance Reduction, Recharge Reduction (x3), Heal (x2)
Level 04: Haymaker - Endurance Reduction, Accuracy, Recharge, Damage (x3)
Level 06: Air Superiority - Endurance Reduction, Accuracy, Damage (x3)
Level 08: Swift - Run Speed
Level 10: Combat Jumping - Endurance Reduction
Level 12: Plasma Shield - Endurance Reduction, Resistance (x3)
Level 14: Super Jump – Jump (x2)
Level 16: Health – Heal (x3)
Level 18: Burn – Recharge (x3), Damage (x3)
Level 20: Knockout Blow - Endurance Reduction, Accuracy, Recharge, Damage (x3)
Level 22: Stamina - Endurance Modification (x6)
Level 24: Acrobatics - Endurance Reduction
Level 26: Boxing - Endurance Reduction
Level 28: Rage - Recharge Reduction (x2), To Hit Buff
Level 30: Tough - Endurance Reduction, Resistance (x3)
Level 32: Blazing Aura - Endurance Reduction, Taunt, Accuracy, Damage (x3)
Level 35: Taunt - Recharge Reduction
Level 38: Foot Stomp - Endurance Reduction, Accuracy, Recharge Reduction, Damage (x3)
Level 41: Char - Endurance Reduction, Accuracy, Recharge Reduction, Hold
Level 44: Fly - Endurance Reduction, Flight Speed (x3)
Level 47: Consume – Recharge Reduction (x3), Endurance Modification, Accuracy
Level 49: Rise of the Phoenix – Recharge Reduction


Strategy: Using Burn

It’s easy to use Burn on teams with a controller or defender who is able to hold or immobilize enemies. Just remember, you’re part of a team and have to work together. Make sure that you are on the same page as the rest of the team. Some teams may not need you tot burn down enemies while others will jump for joy.

Using Burn when soloing is a different story. The fear factor can make using Burn a little tricky. You have to take advantage of the knockdowns in Super Strength and Air Superiority if you want to use Burn offensively.

Against small groups, you won’t need burn but it does make fights against LTs, bosses and elite bosses go a lot quicker. Start off the combat with a hold or knockdown attack. While your target gets up, light them up with Burn then knock them down again. The other enemies will take damage running into and out of the Burn patch, softening them up for you to take care of later.

Against large groups, target the boss or LT that you want to take out first. Start off with Foot Stomp then use Burn while everyone is climbing to their feet. Follow up with Air Superiority and other attacks to keep your target down. It’s that simple. With Rage and Blazing Aura, this tactic is a death sentence for minions. While you wait for Burn and Foot Stomp to recharge, cycle through your other attacks. Even with enemies running in and out of your Burn patch, you will take them out quickly.

As an alternative, you can spread your attacks around to keep as many enemies as possible knocked down or held but that requires a bit more work. I like to focus on one or two enemies to keep them knocked down. This way, I can guarantee they will eat the full damage from Burn while the rest of the enemies run in and out of the Burn patch.

Defensively, Burn provides you with additional damage mitigation. Enemies that are running are enemies that are not damaging you or your team. You can place Burn in an emergency if you or someone else is taking too much damage in melee combat. You can also place burn so that any enemies who want to melee your teammates will have to run through the Burn patch. Many will just turn around and go back the way they came. Just use your imagination and you fill start coming up with some fun uses for this power.


Final Words

I hope this guide has helped you. The most important thing to remember is to have fun. If you have any questions or spot any errors, feel free to contact me via the forums.

Well, I know there is a Longbow attack that can de-toggle all your powers. I actually have it as a temp power from a mission in Nerva. I wouldn't be surprised if there high level Longbow Nullifiers have an attack that removes buffs and clicks powers.

I finally got around to updating my Ice and Energy Melee Guide.

I have included some numbers and information about defense as well as links to useful guides.

Overview

This guide and build is geared for Warshades who want to utilize all three forms. The build that I use is not the best and nowhere near perfect but it fits my playstyle and I have fun with it. Those who wish to use only one or two forms should still find some useful information in this guide.

Where possible, I have included numbers from other posts. As I get more information, I will make additions to this guide.


Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are Kheldians?
A: Kheldians are alien energy beings that have merged with a human host. There are two types of Kheldians: Peacebringers and Warshades.

Q: What are Warshades?
A: The Warshade represents the fusion of a human with a Kheldian who has undergone radical scientific experiments to become a Nictus, a being of pure darkness. Though most Nictus feed on the life forces of others, the Warshades have seen the error of their ways and wish to redeem themselves by acting as legitimate heroes in the fight against their dark brethren.

Q: What is a Kheldian’s role?
A: The Kheldian role is that they can do a little of everything - and, on a full team, have a combination of defense and ranged offense that's second to none. (Statesman)

Q: How do I get access to a Kheldian?
A: When you hit level 50, it will unlock the Kheldian archetype. You can then make a new character with that archetype in any of your empty character slots.

Q: What happens to my level 50 character?
A: Nothing happens to your level 50 character. You do not lose it.

Q: Do I have to start a Kheldian on the same server where I have my level 50 character?
A: No, you can make a Kheldian on any server now.

Q: What enhancements can a Warshade use?
A: Warshades can use the same Enhancements as Science Heroes.

Q: What power sets do Warshades have access to?
A: Warshades have access to a single Primary Offenssive Set, Umbral Blast. The Secondary Set is Umbral Aura, which gives them access to defensive abilities like Twilight Shield, Eclipse and Stygian Return. Kheldian primary Power Sets have fourteen powers. Their Secondary Sets each have twelve powers.

Q: What is Dark Sustenance and how does it work?
A: Kheldians get an inherent power that allows them to gain in strength as they group with other Heroes. Warshades amplify what a team is already good at. Teaming with Tankers and Defenders will increase the defense of a Warshade, and teaming with Scrappers and Blasters will increase their offensive potential. Also, Warshades will gain resistance to Mez-type attacks (Sleeps, Holds, Stuns, and Immobilizes) when grouped with Controllers.

Q: Why can’t Kheldians take teleport or flight pools?
A: Kheldians cannot take the Flight or Teleport Power Pools. Peacebringers have Fly as an inherent power at Level 1, and Warshades have Teleport. Later on, Warshades get Recall Friend as an inherent power and can pick Teleport Foe from their primary power set.

Q: Do Kheldians get access to Ancillary Power Pools?
A: No.

Q: What is shapeshifting?
A: Kheldians retain the patterns of their past hosts, and can use these patterns to transform themselves into energy-based duplicates of those creatures, gaining new abilities in the process. The Dark Nova and Black Dwarf powers allow Warshades to change their entire shape, and to access several additional powers.

Q: What is Dark Nova?
A: The Dark Nova power transforms a Warshade into duplicates of alien beings from the center of a gas giant. They make very effective Blasters. Dark Nova form has inherent flight, accuracy, endurance recovery, and get access to four ranged offensive powers. Two of these powers are area effect.

Q: What is Black Dwarf?
A: The Black Dwarf power transforms a Warshade into duplicates of creatures that exist on the surface of faraway stars. They are able to withstand damage with resistances rivaling Tankers. Black Dwarf form has inherent Teleport, Provoke, Sunless Mire (which works like Soul Drain) and three attacks. One of these attacks is a life drain allowing you to heal some damage in combat.

Q: What powers can I use when I switch to Nova and Dwarf form?
A: While in Nova or Dwarf form, you lose access to all other powers, including pool powers and inherent powers. Note: The effects or buffs and click powers like Hasten and Eclipse will carry over to Nova and Dwarf forms.


Q: Is there a hero planner that supports Kheldians?
A: Verxion has put a lot of time and effort into building a hero planner that works for Kheldians and other ATs. He is constantly making changes and updating the software. You can find his planner at www.joechott.com/coh/ or by searching for his posts.


My Build

This build that I am going to respect into when I hit level 50.
Currently, this is the build that I am going to respec into. As said earlier, this build is far from perfect but it works for me. I urge you to copy over to the training room and try out any power you are thinking about before purchasing them on the live servers.

Inherent : Shadow Step - Endurance Reduction
Inherent : Shadow Recall - Range

Level 1 : Absorption - Damage Resistance
Level 1 : Ebon Eye - Endurance Reduction, Damage (x2)
Level 2 : Gravity Shield - Endurance Reduction, Damage Resistance (x2)
Level 4 : Orbiting Death - Endurance Reduction
Level 6 : Dark Nova - Endurance Recovery (x5), To Hit Buff
Inherent : Dark Nova Bolt - Endurance Reduction
Inherent : Dark Nova Blast - Endurance Reduction
Inherent : Dark Nova Emmanation - Endurance Reduction, Damage (x5)
Inherent : Dark Nova Detonation - Endurance Reduction, Damage (x5)
Level 8 : Hasten - Recharge Reduction (x6)
Level 10 : Shadow Blast - Endurance Reduction, Damage (x5)
Level 12 : Sunless Mire - Recharge Reduction (x2)
Level 14 : Shadow Cloak - Endurance Reduction
Level 16 : Swift - Run Speed
Level 18 : Gravity Well - Endurance Reduction, Damage (x3), Accuracy, Hold
Level 20 : Black Dwarf - Endurance Recovery (x2), Damage Resistance (x4)
Inherent : Black Dwarf Step - Endurance Reduction
Inherent : Black Dwarf Strike - Endurance Reduction
Inherent : Black Dwarf Smite - Endurance Reduction, Damage (x5)
Inherent : Black Dwarf Drain - Endurance Reduction
Inherent : Black Dwarf Mire – Recharge Reduction
Inherent : Black Dwarf Antagonize – Accuracy, Taunt
Level 22 : Stygian Circle - Endurance Reduction
Level 24 : Nebulous Form - Endurance Reduction
Level 26 : Health - Healing
Level 28 : Inky Aspect - Endurance Reduction
Level 30 : Stamina - Endurance Recovery (x6)
Level 32 : Dark Extraction - Recharge Reduction (x3), Damage (x3)
Level 35 : Quasar – Damage (x6)
Level 38 : Eclipse - Recharge Reduction (x5), Accuracy
Level 41 : Starless Step – Accuracy
Level 44 : Twilight Shield – Endurance Reduction
Level 47 : Penumbral Shield – Endurance Reduction
Level 49 : Stygian Return – Recharge Reduction


Powers

All offensive powers lower attack and movement speed. From experience as an ice tanker with Chilling Embrace, slow enhancers will not affect a target’s attack speed but they will affect their movement speed. I would not slot any power with slow enhancers.

Warshades have a resistance cap of 85% regardless of the form they are in according to Geko’s post in the training room. It is possible for a Warshade to hit the resistance cap with Eclipse and the shields.

Level 1: Dark Sustenance (Inherent) – For each defender and tank on your team, your resistances will increase. For each blaster and scrapper on your team, your damage will increase. For each controller on your team, you gain some protection from status powers. You can’t enhance this power and the range is limited. This power, like other auto powers, does not work when you shift form.

Level 1: Shadow Step (Inherent) – This power works exactly the same as teleport. The player guides forum has several excellent guides and faqs on teleport. Also see the Binds and Trays section in this guide.

Level 1: Ebon Eye (Primary) - This attack does moderate damage and has a slightly higher recharge time than Shadow Bolt. I use this attack as a filler (or ranged brawl). I chose Ebon Eye because I liked the look. Its DPS is close to that of Shadow Bolt so you could always go with that instead.

Level 1: Absorption (Secondary) - This is automatic power gives you some resistance to Energy and Negative. I am not planning on slotting this power but combined with Twilight Shield, you do have decent resistance to energy and negative energy for those times when you do need it.

Level 2: Gravity Shield – This toggle power gives you resistance to smashing and lethal damage. Slotting depends on how much you stay in human form and how much you plan to rely on Eclipse. For me, it was worth adding a few slots because most enemies you encounter will do smashing or lethal damage.

Level 4: Orbiting Death – This toggle power does minor dot damage to those in melee range of you. When I first got this power it wasn’t impressive and like many others I called it Orbiting Debt. At higher levels and with some slotting, it can be a reliable source of damage when soloing. It shines when combined with inky aspect, your pets and short range attacks. I don't use it much so I do not have it slotted though it is very good at drawing agro.

Level 6: Dark Nova – This is your first shapeshift and it will allow you to level fairly quickly in groups or solo. The attacks on this form do damage comparable to a blaster. I use this form for soloing and situations where I need to do area effect damage. I slotted the base form with 5 endurance recovery enhancers and 1 to hit buff enhancer. I have no trouble hitting enemies above my level with the nova attacks. The two area effect powers are six slotted for damage allowing me to decimate minions with impunity.

Level ?: Shadow Recall (Inherent) – This power works exactly the same as recall friend. I put a single range enhancer in this power. I learned the hard way that this power has a maximum range and increasing the range is more useful than endurance or recharge enhancers.

Level 8: Hasten – Even though you cannot use this click power in your other forms, you can use it in human form and have its effects carry over. I went the perma-hasten route because I wanted to dish out as much damage as fast as possible, get out more pets and improve the recharge time on Eclipse and Unchain Essence.

Level 10: Shadow Blast – This is one of my bread and butter attacks in human form. It does a lot more damage than Ebon Eye even though it is listed as moderate damage. Also, the animation time is fairly quick. Eventually, I plan to slot this power out but for now I rely on my pets in human.

Level 12: Sunless Mire – This power works just like the Dark Melee Scrapper power, Soul Drain. For each enemy hit, this power will buff your damage and accuracy by 11%. It has a built in accuracy bonus. With and four recharge enhancers and perma-hasten, there is only a 8 second window when I am not buffed. In situations with large number of enemies, it will allow your damage powers to cap out. Also, you can shift to nova or dwarf form before the buff runs out.

Level 14: Shadow Cloak – This toggle power increases your defense by 7.5% and offers some concealment from enemies. It comes in handy for sneaking thru missions, difficult fights where you want a defense bonus and those time when you want to make yourself less noticeable as well as for long range pulling. I use it and nebulous form to help me get into position so I can launch an attack before the enemy notices me. If the sound bothers you, Stealth is a viable alternative.

Level 16: Swift – It was either Swift or Hurdle. The extra ground movement is more helpful to me in missions than being able to leap. If I need Z-axis movement, I can use teleport or nova form.

Level 18: Gravity Well – This power is hard to get used to since most holds in the game are at range. I use this most often in conjunction with Inky Aspect. While the minions are disoriented, I will use Gravity Well to hold a LT and take them out first. Another use for it is to hold Quantum Gunners and Voids. A lot of times, I will use shadow cloak, nebulous form, or teleport to get next to my target and then I use Gravity Well. The hold has a relatively short duration.

Level 20: Black Dwarf – This is your second shapeshift. According to Geok, the attacks in this form does more damage than tankers but less than scrappers. The base resistance is 45%. I use this form when I need to substitute as a tanker or for those occasions where I need good resistances and status protection. I also use this is the form to take out bosses after I softened them up with my human or nova form powers. I slotted the base power with 2 endurance recovery and 4 resistance enhancers. My total resistance is 81% against all damage except psionic. I also six-slotted the smite so I can take out enemies quickly and enhanced antagonize with an accuracy and taunt enhancer so I can hold agro a little better. When and if Sunless Mire works, you will be able to dish out a lot of damage.

Level 22: Stygian Circle - This power is awesome for reducing downtime. It can also serve as an emergency heal, provided you have defeated enemies around you. Its little or no slotting though you might want to consider slotting it with endurance reduction.

Level 24: Nebulous Form – This power works like the phase shift from the concealment power pool. It also increases your jumping allowing. I use this power for scouting / blitzing missions and to get into position when taking out void or quantum gunners. When in nebulous form, your pets will still do damage. You can run into a group of enemies while in nebulous form, absorb an alpha strike then have the pets cut lose. Depending on the enemy, you can either switch form, attack in human form or just watch the fight.

Level 26: Health - I picked health to counteract the hit point loss of Inky Aspect.

Level 28: Inky Aspect – This toggle power works like Oppressive Gloom from the dark armor scrapper secondary. It will disorient any minions around you. I like it because disoriented enemies are not damaging me. The power is fairly inaccurate so I am slotting this power with an accuracy enhancer. Also, the disorient doesn’t last long so a disorient enhancer is being added as well. Keep in mind that you will lose some hit points for each enemy disoriented.

Level 30: Stamina – I took stamina because the human form uses a lot of toggles and has some very expensive powers. Combined with Eclipse, you should have no endurance worries.

Level 32: Dark Extraction - The pets are awesome. They make things a lot easier especially for you no matter what form you are in. The pet can fly though not as fast as nova form. It does a decent amount of damage even with minimal enhancements. One of its attacks is an AE which will help you make mincemeat of enemies extremely fast. You do not lose the pet when you switch forms so it will always be around to increase your damage output. The pets last about the same amount of time as Dark Servants and the power has the same recharge. I have this power slotted with 3 recharge and 3 damage enhancers. With perma-hasten, I can keep 2 pets out easily.

Level 35: Quasar – This power works well when used in combination with Eclipse, Sunless Mire and your other powers. You can devastate large groups as well as any blaster and on some teams outdamage them if you use Sunless Mire first. I will generally use Nebulous Form and/or teleport to close the distance and eat the initial alpha strike. I will then drop Nebulous Form and use Eclipse to buff my resistances. Then its Sunless Mire and Quasar. If anything is left, my pets can finish them off while I stand there with capped resistances.

In the past, I had Unchain Essence. This attack is the second highest damage dealing AE a Warshade has in human form. It also disorients enemies. It made a nice follow up to a blaster’s nuke but I dropped it because of the problems targeting corpses in the heat of battle and the fact that I would rather use the AE’s in Nova form to clean up anything that is left after an initial attack.

Level 38: Eclipse – I can't say enough good things about this power. I think every Warshade should take and slot this power as soon as possible. This melee AE can be used to regain endurance, drain endurance from enemies and buff your resistance. For each enemy hit, you will gain endurance and resistance. This power accepts damage, accuracy, resistance, end drain and end recovery enhancers. 5 recharge enhancers will allow you to keep the resistances until Eclipse recycles again and 1 accuracy enhancer so I can improve my chances to enemies. Like other click powers, the effects carry over to Nova and Dwarf Form. That means you can cap out your resists in Nova form to become a blaster with capped resistances. In dwarf form, you now have extra resistances for those few enemies who debuff resistance.

Level 41: Starless Step – Unlike blasters, Warshades do not have a sniper attack. I picked teleport foe as an alternative for those times when I want to pull one enemy from long range.

Level 44: Penumbral Shield – This power provides resistance to fire, toxic and cold damage. I am not planning to slot this power. Instead, I will rely on Eclipse to enhance my resistances.

Level 47: Twilight Shield - This power provides resistance to energy and negative energy damage. Like Penumbral Shield, I am not planning to slot this power. Instead, I will rely on Eclipse as well as the bonus from Absorption to enhance my resistances.

Level 49: Stygian Return – I went with the self rez for the time being. I might change my mind and pick up another power instead. A lot depends of things shape up after Eclipse is fully slotted.


Numbers

These numbers have been taken from the large number of posts in this forum and the training room. A special thank you to all the people (Wulfbam, Paragonsentry, and numerous others) who took the time and effort to come up with these numbers.

Resitances Cap: According to Geko, Kheldians have a resistance cap of 85% in all forms.

Absorption: 13.5% resistance to energy and negative energy damage

Dark Sustenance: 10% bonus for each person on your team.

Dwarf Form: 45% resistance to all damage except psionic. Protection from status powers

Eclipse: It drains about 45 end from each enemy around you. It also stops enemies from recovering endurance but I am not sure for how long this lasts. The resistance buff is 9 - 11% per enemy. This power is awesome against large groups of minions and lts. You can easily cap out my resistances (even with the 30% penalty). That means its base recharge time is around 5 minutes and the duration is about 90 seconds.
Essence (and Black Dwarf) Drain: Heals 10% of your hit points

Gravity Shield: 27% resistance to smashing and lethal damage

Hasten: 5% defense. Check one of the many Perma-Hasten threads for numbers on how much this power increases your recharge speed.

Inky Aspect: Magnitude 2 disorient. This is enough to affect most minions if the attack hits.

Leadership Power Pool: Kheldians have around 10% base for all leadership powers, similiar to controllers.

Nova Form: 12.5% bonus to accuracy. Remember, To Hit Buffs enhancers work differently than Accuracy enhancers.

Penumbral Shield: 27% resistance to fire, cold and toxic damage

Shadow Cloak: 7.5% defense with an annoying sound. Stealth gives the same bonus but with a movement penalty and no annoying sound.

Stygian Circle: Heals about 20% for each minion, 30% for each lt, 40% for each boss and 50% for each av / monster that is in the area of effect

Sunless (and Black Dwarf) Mire: 11% bonus to accuracy and damage for each enemy hit

Tough: 18% resistance to smashing and lethal damage

Twilight Shield: 27% resistance to energy and negative energy damage

Brawl Index Numbers: Wufbam has done a lot of work coming up with numbers. They can be found in the Kheldian planner or by searching Wufbam's posts in the CoH Forums.


Slotting

I have an odd philosophy regarding slotting. Simply put, you don’t have to six slot each and every power. Some powers only need one or two slots to make them effective while others (your bread and butter attacks) need more slots.

Also, several powers like Eclipse and Sunless Mire will help you save slots on your other powers. For example, you can use Eclipse to boost resistances and save yourself from slotting up all you toggle powers that provide resistances. A lot will come down to playstyle.

I would advise doing a respec trial and using the test server to figure out which powers to take and how much you need to slot them for the desired effect. This will keep you from wasting slots.


Leveling

In my opinion, there are four things you need to do to level fast and easy.

1) Avoid anything with high resistance to Negative Energy damage such as Banished Pantheon, Circle of Thorn spirits and Lost Souls. Such enemies won't fall quickly or easily which means there is a lot more risk in fighting them.

2) Use Nova and Dwarf Forms until you hit your high 20s or low 30s. Whether you solo or group, the forms make leveling a lot easier. If you don't like the forms, you can always respec out of them.

3) Learn to identify quantum gunners and voids. Blindly leaping into a pack of enemies to find out one of them is a quantum gunner is the easiest way to win a trip to the hospital.

4) Use all the experience you picked up playing your other characters. If you don't have experience as a tank, blaster or pet user then check one of the many guides for advice.

Once you hit level 32 and pick up the pets, things get a lot easier. Just stick with it, there is a light at the end of the tunnel (and it isn't a muzzle flash).


Trays and Keybinds

I use trays 1 and 2 for my human form powers. Tray 3 for nova form and tray 4 for dwarf form. This set up works well with the keybinds that I use.

Teleport Bind: Human Form
SHIFT+LBUTTON "powexec_name Shadow Step"

Teleport Bind: Black Dwarf Form
CRTL+LBUTTON "powexec_name Black Dwarf Step"

Switching to Human Form
NUMPAD1 "powexec_toggle_off dark nova$$powexec_toggle_off black dwarf$$goto_tray 2"

Switching to Human and Nebulous Form
/bind SUBTRACT "powexec_toggle_off dark nova$$powexec_toggle_off black dwarf$$goto_tray 2$$powexec_name Nebulous Form"

Switching to Dark Nova Form
NUMPAD2 "powexec_toggle_on dark nova$$goto_tray 3"

Switching to Black Dwarf Form
NUMPAD3 "powexec_toggle_on black dwarf$$goto_tray 4"


Final Words

Epic (adj.)
1. Of, constituting, having to do with, or suggestive of a literary epic
2. Surpassing the usual or ordinary, particularly in scope or size
3. Heroic and impressive in quality

Many people say that Warshades are not an Epic AT. If you define Epic as Uber then you're right. Warshades are not uber but they can be very fun and effective. Their versatility make them far from being an ordinary AT and their powers when used in certain combinations are extremely impressive.

Kheldians are not weak though builds that focus on one form are weaker at lower levels than builds that use two or three forms. Human form builds suffer the most at low levels.

With that said, Kheldians are not for everyone. It took me a while to get used to them and now I enjoy playing my Warshade more than my tankers.

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I'm sort of curious why something that seems a relatively minor fix should take months to go in? Is the coding more complicated than it seems? (Changing the hp #s, changing the resist penalty # to 0.

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First they have to verify that there is actually a problem, once that is done they have to figure out exactly how to fix it, in this case they had to come up with the proper value for the fix, this is where balancing comes in and it can be a tough cookie.

Once all that is settled changing the code for something like this should be a breeze, then commences the testing which can take a while since they have to verify that the initial balancing calculation was correct.

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Statesman posted a while back that seemingly minor changes are not all that minor. I don't have a link to the thread but you can search his past posts for the process that it takes to institute changes.

We don't know how the resistance debuff was coded and its relationship to other powers. For example, the resistance debuff might be coded so that the devs need to change every power in the game. Changing the debuff might mean changing the kheldian link and/or resistance toggle powers depending on how they are coded in relationship to the debuff.

The beauty of kheldians is that you can choose to put emphasis on one, two or three forms. The more focused you are on a given form, the better you can make that form with human form being the most versatile and best one to focus on.

If you don't want to use nova or dwarf, you don't have to. The strength of the AT is that each person can build their Kheldian to fit their individual needs and playstyles. You find human form works best for you and choose to ignore the forms. That's fine but it does not make the other forms useless or broken.

Some people drop forms at higher levels simply because they want to be able to see the costumes they designed or feel more comfortable playing in human form. That has nothing to do with whether or not a power is broken. Kheldians as AT would be broken if you HAD to take nova or dwarf forms.

Also, Kheldians are one of the few ATs that do not need to 6 slot each and every useful power. Let me use my build and guide as an example.

Nova Form has 15 slots dedicated to it. The base form and both AEs are six-slotted. Why? Because I spend a lot of time in that form. I wanted to be able to do the most damage possible with my AEs since that is my sole use for nova form. I could have slotted nova form less and still do damage equivalent to a blaster but it all came down to my playstyle and priorities. Since I am not slotting any human form AE's (except for orbitting death and eclipse), I had the slots to use for nova form.

Should everyone do this? No. The purpose of a guide and posting your build is not to tell everyone "This is how you have to do things". It is to give your fellow players information so that they can make an informed decision and see how you did things.

If I plan to spend most of my time in human form, I have the option to slot nova form less or not take it. Nova and dwarf forms are not must have powers though I would not play a kheldian without them.

As for light form, there are some nice benefits to it but it has a few issues that dwarf form does not. I would not get too attached to it because it and quantum flight are probably going to get changed.

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Hmmm.....so I4 is due in the summer time?

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States won't say nothing but...

September is to January as January is to...

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Lets put things into prespective here. Kheldians are getting some attention and the start to fixing them in Issue 4. The fixes listed are just a start. It takes time to code and do internal testing.

Stone and Ice tankers, Dark Armor Scrappers and Dark Defenders had to wait a lot longer for any sort of positive change to their specific builds. And last I heard, Mind Controllers are still waiting for a few fixes. People need to be a little patient. Kheldians have only been in the game about two months and some people expect the world.

As for when I4 is going to go live, I am betting it will be on test either end of Feb or sometime in March and live in April assuming there are no major bugs or balance issues.

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Here are some things we've put into the Issue 4 branch...

Removed inherent -30% debuff to Damage resistance
Reduced HP to that of Blaster/Defender/Controller
Removed -15% Damage Resistance debuff on the Nova form
Slighty increased inherent damage to just under that of a Defender
Damage bonus increased to +20% (depending on the damage)


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I don't mind waiting for Issue 4. I'm just curious if the list of proposed changes is still the same?

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Now on top of this a warshade may typically have two pets out, which have base damage of 80% of a blaster, maybe with 3 damage enhs in, giving them damage of about 150% of a base blaster each! Tho of course, the pets do no have haste, so maybe you are getting 150% of a blasters base damage between two pets.

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Sorry for not quoting your entire message, you make a lot of points but I want to add something about the other forms.

The only time status using and psi damage enemies are an issue for me is when I solo. If I want to stay in Nova form, I pop inspirations. Otherwise, I switch to dwarf or human form. Both of these are viable alternatives because the warshade has pets to supplement his damage output.

Dwarf form attacks have higher base damage than tankers but less than scrappers. Also, warshades can use sunless mire to boost their damage output in tank form. You still won't come close to nova or the damage a melee AT can dish out with their attacks but your damage output won't be in the toliet especially if you slot your attacks. Like nova form, it has no way to deal with lots of psi damage except for using luck inspirations.

In Human form, the warshade attacks are a little underpowered unless you are in a group with damage dealers. I rely on my pets to dish out most of the damage while I concentrate on using my other powers like gravity well, inky aspect and eclipse. to keep myself alive while the pets defeat things. This form has the best tools for dealing with enemies that do psionic damage.

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Except the change doesnt touch the true problems.

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Depends on what you think the problems are. Most of the problems are a matter of perception especially to those who are playing lower level kheldians or those who have never played them. My only problems with kheldians are

1) human form is not as viable as nova and dwarf forms at lower levels
2) the penalty in human and nova form make soloing difficult at lower levels
3 power pools cannot be used when in nova and dwarf form

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Fine they want to promote teaming, well fine how bout atleast making equal bonus for all AT to us. If your a Warshade damage dealers increase your damage, but a PB its tankers and defenders. THat is hardly fair. More often then not there are more blasters and scrappers on a team then tankers, and vice versa, the link should just provide and equal boost to both damage and defense for every person on the team rather then making your performance predicated on having 2 tankers so that my damage is atleast level. So instead of 10 percent or whatever per right teammate how bout 5 percent to each for each teammate.

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Its not a matter of fairness. When the devs proposed the two ATs, they stated that Peacebringers would be more defensive while Warshades would be more offensive. Giving them the exact same bonus begins to blur the lines between the two of them. I went with a warshade because it was more offensively oriented and the link reflects that.

Warshades are to Peacebringers what Scrappers are to Tankers or what Blasters are to Defenders.

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Also the slotting is a big issue, and the lack of powers. I kinda feel that the forms should reflect how you have slotted your human. Atleast on PB almost every attack availible in forms is availible in nova and dwarf. So instead of making us slot everything a ton, now bout have the bonuses to nova and dwarf damage and accuracy based on how we slotted the human equivilent. If then i wanted a higher damage dealing toon, i would have more damage on the powers, and by changing to nova i get a bonus on that for losing everyother power i have. Likewise to dwarf in exchange for the resistance the human attacks do less damage, but you have mez resistnace etc that you dont have human. That then makes keeping forums for versatility viable while allowing you to make a human that is also viable. The forms then become a alternate that have a inherent bonus and weakness. Nova would do more damage then your human can, but have no defense, and dwarf would do less damage, but have a taunt and resistances and a self heal. still leaving space to take control powers, and so forth, but making forms as good as you concentrated on those powers in human form.

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As it stands you do get a bonus for using dwarf and nova forms.

The nova form has a higher dps than most blasters. It is also more accurate and you can improve its accuracy without slotting the individual damage powers or picking up tactics or targeting drone. You also get built in stamina and combat flight.

The tank form gives you complete status protection and capped resistance (if slotted) without having to run multiple toggle powers. Not only is it a bonus over your human form but no tanker can run status protection and have capped resistances for running one toggle. Like nova form, you get build in endurance recovery.

Even though you get more powers, slotting is not a big issue unless you have the philosopgy that anything worth slotting must be six-slotted. It would be nice to have more slots but looking at my level 50 build, I have enough slots to go around.

In the case of peacebringers and warshades who go human form only, they only get 2 more powers than a normal AT so it is not even an issue.

Your suggestion has some merit but its highly unlikely the devs are going to implement a major change concerning how the forms work unless Kheldians are hopelessly broken. They aren't though they need a few fixes to make them less frustrating at lower levels.

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Its that kinda of thing i think can save these ATs from just ultimately being ignore as new AT come out. The shapeshifting was a great idea(though not fond of the look of a squid) but in trying to implement it, its crippling to do anything but.

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You're finding it crippling to do things while others do not. Maybe, its not the AT. It could be that kheldians don't fit your playstyle.

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Kyrin,

Please post your build so that the rest of us playing a Warshade can take a look at the unique build you've come up with that is useful. After many test respecs at L28 I'm not seeing any lights at the end of the tunnel other than a train.

Sailor eX
"Not in the face!"

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My build may not help you much especially at level 28. Warshades like most controllers are late bloomers. Things didn't start to turn around for me until I picked up Dark Extraction at level 32. I also did a few things that you might not want to do especially if you are not planning on using all three forms. You can find my build in the same thread as my Warshade Three Form Guide.

Those of us happy with our kheldians, despite the issues with them, are not sticking our heads in the sand. We're just more patient with the AT and willing to wait for the proposed change the devs said they would make for Kheldians around Issue 4.

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There are also electric blasters out there with three slots of accuracy and one damage who say they are hitting hard and cannot be talked into more slots of damage. Them saying they are successful and useful to the group also doesn't sway my opinion.

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Lets assume that the people who are saying their warshades and peacebringers have done the following:

1) leveled their kheldian the hard way
2) spent time in the training room testing their powers before picking them on live or at least reading this forum
3) put a lot of thought into their builds and the roles they wanted to try and fill
4) slotted their powers with some intelligence
5) aren't talking out of their [censored] or trying to mislead you

In other words, give some of your fellow level 50 players a little credit and the benefit of the doubt. Some of the people who are saying their kheldians are successful are some of the better players in the game and know a lot about their main AT. No one has a reason to give false information or to gimp kheldians.

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I would rather have a L50 (who earned it) behind his peacebringer than a L40 blaster who got powerlevelled there. But a real L40 blaster, give me him over the peacebringer any day. I don't care how versitile you are, I want someone who can fill their ROLE. You have no role. Versatility is not a role. I don't need you to be versatile unless I have a bunch of PLed newbies on my team who don't know what to do.... *then* your versatility has a role because you get to run around wiping their butts and flushing their toilets when they fail to do their job.


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I think it depends on the situation and the team. There are times when I want a kheldian instead of another blaster on my team.

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Also PB > Warshade. PB can get by because you can build it as a fairly successful blapper. Warshade you cannot even come within 10 miles of being a fairly successful defender or controller. Not even close. Hell, you don't even have the versatility of an Illusion / Radiation controller... they can tank, supply damage, debuff, hold, slow, buff damage and end. This is versatility that is useful. Not what a warshade brings to the table.

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If you want to believe that crap then be my guest but I know my warshade is as good as any equal level peacebringer. He's not a blapper but his abilities are nothing to sneeze at. As for a warshade being a successful defender or controller that is not one of their roles. A warshade can fill the role of a tanker, blaster and quasi-dark armor scrapper with pets. A warshade brings to the table versatility that is useful and high resistances (regardless of what form he is in) while adding a lot of damage from pets (regardless of what form he is in).

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But again, all of us saying that a real AT is better than you will not sway your opinion because you love your toon.

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Af for kheldians being better or worse than any AT, it all comes down opinion. Kheldians are not meant to be better than normal ATs, they are meant to be different and challenging. In the hands of the right player they do surprisingly well at high levels. In the hands of someone who has been powerleveled or tries to play the kheldian like he is a standard AT then they are problematic.

You don't have to take my word for it, you can always look me up on Virtue or the training room. Just send a PM and set up a time to meet there.

Will I be able to do the things an illusion/rad controller or a fire tank? No, but I will be able to hold my own. On teams, I will not be constantlly dedfeated or being burden to my team mates.

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Are we operating in a balanced fashion to the other AT, or are we broken. Right now i say broken, we have not nearly the resources we need to be successful and versatile, if i am wrong I would love to hear from him why.

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Because Lord knows, all the people who are happy with their kheldians and say they are successful and versatile cannot sway your opinion.

Kheldians have a few issues but they are not broken especially when you consider how stone tankers, dark armor scrappers, dark defenders and mind controllers played on release.

I doubt Statesman will come out and say any AT is broken. That wouldn't be good PR even if it were true. One thing to consider. Not every AT is for every player. Maybe kheldians aren't for you.

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2. The Tanker's defense stats can be matched by a properly slotted Scrapper - but the Tanker can not approach the Scrapper in damage.

Feel free to comment!

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Not true if you are a dark armor scrapper, since our armor doesn't stack. Since you are making tankers more offensive, can we make armor stack so scrappers are more defensive? Tankers will get more offense the more they hit/longer they fight; scrappers will get more defense the more they hit/longer they fight.

If that doesn't work for you, then I'll wash your car (and Geko's too!) if you let me stack 2 dark armor toggles (just 2, not 3, not asking for the world here).

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Not for nothing but Ice and Stone tanker have armors that don't stack. If they chance Ice and Stone then I am all for seeing Dark Armor gets a similar change. It wouldn't be fair to make DA protection stackable while there are tanker sets that cannot stack.