Any way I can become more durable as a white dwarf
Three slotting Dwarf Form (White and Black) with Resistance is the standard way to go. Have you slotted up White Dwarf Sublimation yet? It provides big dividends as a self-heal. Also, using White Dwarf Flare as often as its available will serve as a great form of mitigation.
Pretty much what Timeshadow said. My wife and I duo our PB's and we have both become semi-skilled/talented at dropping Dwarf long enough to pop one of the Human heals, jump back in, use Sublimation, drop out to pop the other Human heal, and go right back into it. It seems to just be apart of it, given that Dwarf is only a pseudo-Tank.
Synergyblast: 50 Energy/Electric Blaster (Virtue)
Arbiter Bailey: 50 Bane (Virtue)
Mr. Bailey: 50 Merc/Dark MM (Virtue)
Yeah, I looove the dwarf stomp 
I am however just level 22. and I plan on 6 slotting dwarf form beyond my 3 slots I have now to put end modifications in it.
I have 3 resist in dwarf, the steadfast protection IO in my human form passive for the 3 percent def, and a few regen bonuses.
I just feel like I'd get my block knocked off even if I had to temporarily tank anything. And yeah I know I know. I'm supposed to be the "jack of all trades". I just want to be able to do a few trades well before the debt factory grinds me up 
One thing to keep in mind is that, as of i13, the Cosmic Balance applies while still transformed. Just playing with the two of you means less general team buffs and less Cosmic Balance buff.
Synergyblast: 50 Energy/Electric Blaster (Virtue)
Arbiter Bailey: 50 Bane (Virtue)
Mr. Bailey: 50 Merc/Dark MM (Virtue)
Reform essence is a dull pain [+ max HP] clone that carries over into both forms, with proper slotting it can be up near constantly and with IOs, perma. It makes a huge difference.
White dwarfs play like SS/fire tanks, the dwarf heal is a large part of the mitigation, the knockdown helps a lot also. If you use IO sets, building for +rech and HP is a solid direction to go in this regard.
Generally you should only need dwarf form outside of an extra heal when facing a void/quant or when tanking for larger groups. This weekend I did a number of missions on large teams, most with AVs. Due to the tanks not having taunt, I ended up as primary tanker, and generally outlasted them due to capped [85] resists on larger teams. Granted, a dwarf isn't as reliable as a tank, but can certainly substitute in for mediocre ones.
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Reform essence is a dull pain [+ max HP] clone that carries over into both forms, with proper slotting it can be up near constantly and with IOs, perma. It makes a huge difference.
White dwarfs play like SS/fire tanks, the dwarf heal is a large part of the mitigation, the knockdown helps a lot also. If you use IO sets, building for +rech and HP is a solid direction to go in this regard.
Generally you should only need dwarf form outside of an extra heal when facing a void/quant or when tanking for larger groups. This weekend I did a number of missions on large teams, most with AVs. Due to the tanks not having taunt, I ended up as primary tanker, and generally outlasted them due to capped [85] resists on larger teams. Granted, a dwarf isn't as reliable as a tank, but can certainly substitute in for mediocre ones.
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Speaking of Res cap on Dwarfs; I've heard it mentioned several times throughout multiple guides, but after looking at the numbers in Mids it only shows something like 53%. Do the numbers Mids shows, ontop of the potential from Cosmic Balance, all add together for the Res cap? How exactly does that work? Is there anywhere I could find numbers for Cosmic Balance, besides teaming with one of each AT and checking my attributes window?
Synergyblast: 50 Energy/Electric Blaster (Virtue)
Arbiter Bailey: 50 Bane (Virtue)
Mr. Bailey: 50 Merc/Dark MM (Virtue)
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Reform essence is a dull pain [+ max HP] clone that carries over into both forms, with proper slotting it can be up near constantly and with IOs, perma. It makes a huge difference.
White dwarfs play like SS/fire tanks, the dwarf heal is a large part of the mitigation, the knockdown helps a lot also. If you use IO sets, building for +rech and HP is a solid direction to go in this regard.
Generally you should only need dwarf form outside of an extra heal when facing a void/quant or when tanking for larger groups. This weekend I did a number of missions on large teams, most with AVs. Due to the tanks not having taunt, I ended up as primary tanker, and generally outlasted them due to capped [85] resists on larger teams. Granted, a dwarf isn't as reliable as a tank, but can certainly substitute in for mediocre ones.
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Shadow Freak tanks are also good reasons to be in dwarf form. Those suckers hit hard.
"The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern." Lord Acton
Madam Enigma's History
I've always had my Dwarves (Black and White) 6-slotted with a mixture of EndMod, EndRdx, EndMod and Resists. On my TriForm PB all heals, including White Dwarf Sublimation are at least 5-slotted with IO healing-sets, and White Dwarf Flare is 5 frankenslotted with a mixture of IO's that maximize recharge, endurance usage and accuracy, plus an additional Achilles Heel: Chance for Resistance Debuff.
The PB seems to be a better tank than the WS because of it's more predictable nature, while the WS, if you combine a good shot of Eclipse and Black Dwarfs' armor, is more resistant.
I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
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Speaking of Res cap on Dwarfs; I've heard it mentioned several times throughout multiple guides, but after looking at the numbers in Mids it only shows something like 53%. Do the numbers Mids shows, ontop of the potential from Cosmic Balance, all add together for the Res cap? How exactly does that work? Is there anywhere I could find numbers for Cosmic Balance, besides teaming with one of each AT and checking my attributes window?
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The resistance cap is a set limit and depends on AT, for PB's it's 85% res, comparably tanks are 90%. The latest version of Mids still does not allow cosmic balance and dwarf to be active together, unless you modify it yourself.
As of i13, cosmic balance adds bonuses while in all forms. For each blaster/scrapper/brute/stalker [iirc] on your team, you get ~10 res all per player of that type within 80'. With dwarf slotted for resistance near the 55% mark [~3 SOs], you have ~59 points of resistance to all but toxic/psi. These add together for your final resistance value and is limited to a maximum of 85 points.
You can check the power info for cosmic balance for the exact numbers of the bonuses for each AT.
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Speaking of Res cap on Dwarfs; I've heard it mentioned several times throughout multiple guides, but after looking at the numbers in Mids it only shows something like 53%. Do the numbers Mids shows, ontop of the potential from Cosmic Balance, all add together for the Res cap? How exactly does that work? Is there anywhere I could find numbers for Cosmic Balance, besides teaming with one of each AT and checking my attributes window?
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The resistance cap is a set limit and depends on AT, for PB's it's 85% res, comparably tanks are 90%. The latest version of Mids still does not allow cosmic balance and dwarf to be active together, unless you modify it yourself.
As of i13, cosmic balance adds bonuses while in all forms. For each blaster/scrapper/brute/stalker [iirc] on your team, you get ~10 res all per player of that type within 80'. With dwarf slotted for resistance near the 55% mark [~3 SOs], you have ~59 points of resistance to all but toxic/psi. These add together for your final resistance value and is limited to a maximum of 85 points.
You can check the power info for cosmic balance for the exact numbers of the bonuses for each AT.
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Thanks for the info.
Synergyblast: 50 Energy/Electric Blaster (Virtue)
Arbiter Bailey: 50 Bane (Virtue)
Mr. Bailey: 50 Merc/Dark MM (Virtue)
Lots of nice info here, but I have a question...
It also says "increases HP regeneration" in the tooltip for white dwarf as well, but the detailed info mentions nothing of it. Does it really? And if so how much regen? I want to know if going with healing sets/regen biasing (As it seems regen is the only stat you can effectively set stack, I wish I could get my Def up with sets...) would be effective or a waste.
Dwarf Form does not boost regeneration, but it does boost HP by a lot (~800pts at level 50). Get the +HP accolades and you are as tough as a non-tanker can get.
PRTECTR4EVR
Any form of additional regen or defense will improve your survival, but the difference will be very slight compared to your normal performance. The heal in dwarf form and the +hp power in human form combined with your resists are the greater part of your surviability. Note that the defence increase being slight is because only defense bonuses from IO sets will be available and will require sacificing other potential bonuses.
Increasing the recharge rate of your heal seems to be most effective, but only from personal experience. I also have a */stone brute and do not regularly run rooted, a +regen power of ~200 points of regen. When I face large groups, strong targets or defence debuffs, I'll turn it on and it will make a noticable difference, but this is also with ~35 defense and ~80 res all but psi and only makes a SLIGHT difference. The dwarf form heal will recharge in 20-30 seconds depending on your build and IOs and will yield ~ 800 points of healing, Something spiking damage at a rate greater than 800 points in 10 seconds after your resists will not be stopped by some minor +regen, although it will help. At this point I'd suggest using insps and spamming dwarf stomp for the knockdown, or switching out of dwarf form when possible to use the human form heal and +hp power.
Dwarfs CAN tank, even AVs to an extent, but they are not similar enough to be tank replacements - without team buffs.
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Yeah, I looove the dwarf stomp I am however just level 22. and I plan on 6 slotting dwarf form beyond my 3 slots I have now to put end modifications in it.
I have 3 resist in dwarf, the steadfast protection IO in my human form passive for the 3 percent def, and a few regen bonuses.
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Just a note, its not particularly effective to put EndMods into Dwarf form, the extra amount you get is rather small. You are better off using those 3 extra slots to put End Red into attacks, or better yet Frankenslot them (mixture of cheap set IOs, not going for bonuses but just a mix of Acc/Dam/Rch/End Red), I found that made a big difference when I was spamming attacks in Nova form.
And at 22 its going to be a bit tougher, you don't have your attacks or Dwarf Heal slotted up much. If you duo with a friend, I actually suggest one of you concentrate on tanking and one concentrate on Nova blasting, the higher Nova damage will reduce enemy fire faster by taking them out so they won't get to wear you away.
Friend of mine with a PB was primary tank on a Faathim Task force our sg did. Which has a lot of psi damage, which Dwarves don't even resist. He died a couple times, generally when he pushed the pace a bit too much and got ahead of the team too far, but was right back up with the PB rez and we never had the whole party drop. But that took the kind of slotting you can do on your Kheld in the 30s and 40s.
Gotta disagree a little here...Endmods in the form + Frankenslotting will mean you can go indefinitely in Dwarf form and never see your end bar move. At least, that's been my experience.
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Gotta disagree a little here...Endmods in the form + Frankenslotting will mean you can go indefinitely in Dwarf form and never see your end bar move. At least, that's been my experience.
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Yeah, two good enhancements and it's like having unslotted Stamina. Three and it's Stamina with a DO. Nothing to sneeze at, I'd say.
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
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Gotta disagree a little here...Endmods in the form + Frankenslotting will mean you can go indefinitely in Dwarf form and never see your end bar move. At least, that's been my experience.
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Yeah, two good enhancements and it's like having unslotted Stamina. Three and it's Stamina with a DO. Nothing to sneeze at, I'd say.
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I have my Dwarf frankenslotted with +Res/+EndMod/+EndRdx set mixture as well as my Dwarf powers frankenslotted for +EndRdx and other bonuses... and it definitely makes a huge difference when trying to tank for teams.
I believe that a Kheldian Gold Standard should be based on SO's, and for anything above that... there's Platinum!
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
Save Ms. Liberty (#5349) � Augmenting Peacebringers � The Umbra Illuminati
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Note that the defence increase being slight is because only defense bonuses from IO sets will be available and will require sacificing other potential bonuses.
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That depends on how you slot. Thanks to 5 full Thunderstrike and 4 full Mako's Bite, plus as many other +ranged defense sets as I could slot, my PB has a 40.5% ranged defense and a energy/negative energy defense in the mid-30's.
That defense really adds to your durability up when you can keep the mobs in melee range falling on their backside regularly... especially given the inordinant amounts of energy and negative energy attacks at higher levels (even the Rikti blades have an energy component to their damage so they tend to whiff on four out of five swings).
Another factor in survivability to remember about dwarf, especially if it's not your job to hold aggro is that dwarf step opens up opportunities to "take a breather" long enough to get back to human form and pop some utility powers before your foes get back into melee range with you.
I have put 3 green+ resist SOs in it, andespite reducing incoming damage by 60 percent I still feel like I could get trounced by an unlucky few red LTS.
I'm duoing with my friend for fun who's playing a warshade, and I feel as if I could be doing something more competantly.
Any sort of buff or IO or something that could help me out here?