Human only PB/WS as compared to other ATs

I'm actually on my 3rd Warshade and it's still going to be a TriFormShade™... I just can't get enough of the unholy trinity combos that Dark Nova blasts + Gravitic Emanation + Sunless Mire + Eclipse + Black Dwarf Mire + Gravity Well + Unchain Essence allows me experience

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We should start a thread about which is more fun, a Human-only, a BiForm or a TriForm... then we'll see some heated up discussions...

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I'm not usually one for getting in pissing matches, nor would I even say that human is "better" than tri-form, because I can't play the "numbers game" like a lot of the hardcore players on here... But, I certainly like the aggressive/nearly invincible gameplay style my human-only WS affords me (I came from fast-paced FPS games--So, aggressive, fast gameplay is my thing.)

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Originally Posted by Infernus_Hades The way you play changes your IO slotting..

The advantage is that you get a wide variety of powers to choose from but the numbers aren't overally amazing unless you're teamed compared to other ATs (exception being double mire warshades, but that requires dwarf form). You're not going to underperform with a human-only build like they used to before their base damage was buffed, but you're not going to be matching the capabilities of a tanker or blaster either.

Be aggressive Be-e aggressive... but kidding aside, all of my Kheldian are quite aggressive despite, or rather because, being TriFormers!

I'm usually not one to stay in one form unless one of these things may happen: a) I'm on a team and the team is better served by me staying in one specific form; b) I'm soloing and in Nova/Human I'd simply get defeated by a higher-level Boss/EB/AV; c) I'm either soloing or teaming, but it's too much fun to just blast stuff in Nova, more likely because there's a chance I might be shot with mezzing attacks!

I'm quite suicidal sometimes, for example, last night I put set the difficulty level to 5 and took on some Maltas head-to-head, Sappers and purples Bosses alike. It was awesome fun to actually Nova-blast Zeus Titans and the named purple Bosses in the missions I did. Not that I got away with it without a fight mind you... it was just pure fun for the challenge of it.

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...You're not going to underperform with a human-only build like they used to before their base damage was buffed, but you're not going to be matching the capabilities of a tanker or blaster either.

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To me, your statement makes a lot of sense since I always thought of the HO 'Shade as a MeleeTroller and a HO PB as a Combat-Medic that can stand toe-to-toe with opposition from time to time. YMMV, of course.

Soloing, I play my Human PB with the same mindset I do my Scrapper (I have gotten into PB lock before). I don't play like a blapper (darting in and out of melee). My Resistance and Heals are enough that I can stay in Melee constantly. The only reason I don't always is I occasionally like to fire off my Ranged AoEs, but with some reds and buildup, if I get enough foes in the effect area, it certainly helps take down large mobs. I don't remember the last time I pulled. I just charge in there...

I'll even self-herd...

On large cave rooms, with 3 or 4 mobs and a boss in it, I'll herd the room toward the boss, then switch to Lightform. I'll spam Solar Flare, Scatter, and Detonation, throwing in the occasional IS on the boss, until all minions are dead. Then I'll finish the boss if he's not already gone, and finish the Lts at leisure. If there's no boss I won't even go light form, but the tactic is the same.

On teams, I vary a bit depending on team makeup. If the teams has lots of tanks and defenders powering my damage, I will very much play like a Blapper, staying at range to get foes within my beefed up AoEs, but darting in to land an IS on a boss or a quick Solar Flare for more AoE. On teams with lots of Scrappers/Blasters, I've had my Resistance capped and then I'll take Alphas and help squishies out. That one of the cool things about an Human PB, the Team makeup can really mold you into exactly the role that's needed, kinda like using forms (without the forms haha).

And it's all fun...

Obviously shields are a huge part of HO gameplay, and I've never liked the bubbles, maybe that's why I still prefer TriForming to such a degree that I can't bring myself to dedicate playtime as an HO Kheldian

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Obviously shields are a huge part of HO gameplay, and I've never liked the bubbles, maybe that's why I still prefer TriForming to such a degree that I can't bring myself to dedicate playtime as an HO Kheldian

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That's funny - I strongly dislike the Bubbles too (the Auras are alright), but I love HO so I put up with them. Come I16, if we can color individual powers, my Shields will receive the Coloring that most makes them Look-like-they-ain't-there

Good luck with that.... coloring your shields the color of the wind

*sing* I16...I can paint with all the colors...of the wind...

LOL!

I can't wait to try out a blood-red WS... Woohoo!

"The One"

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Originally Posted by Infernus_Hades The way you play changes your IO slotting..

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I can't wait to try out a blood-red WS... Woohoo!

"The One"

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I won't be recoloring anything beyond the Speed pool powers on my new WS (Amethyst Wraith). You can probably guess why.

Cherry Tart (Elec/Rad Corr) and Cinnamon Drop (EM/WP Stalker) are going to have their secondaries changed to red, though. Going Rouge, indeed.

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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.

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Originally Posted by Brillig It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

Minor thread necromancy, but I figured I'd provide some update. Thanks again for the feedback. I did start one of each. Wound up taking to the PB more, so she's level 27 now, where the WS is still at something like 8.

I found that for me, having the self-heals made a lot of difference. On a team, I generally won't run the shields, as I'm running out of endurance too much, and the tank is keeping me from needing them. I'll just flip on the energy shield when a void or quantum shows up, then turn it off again when it's defeated. It seems more efficient to just heal myself now and then. But, I took and slotted two of the shields, so I usually have the option to be less squishy, especially solo. (Didn't wind up with the smashing/lethal one, which was a mistake. Waiting for the I16 free respec, at which point I'll tidy up.)

Haven't gotten to the ally heal yet, but am looking forward to that and will slot it up as soon as I get it. So far I wound up with the two heals, the two shields, two single-target melee attacks, and every ranged attack I could get, along with Stamina. It's a bit of overkill in that I have about nine ways to damage something, but it's pretty rare that I run out of attacks. When I'm done, I think it's going to turn out feeling like a cross between a blaster and a storm defender.

I took the Ally Heal at 41. I broke down and took Nova at 44 because I wanted to fly around and AoE stuff into the ground.

My Human-only PB was fun for 40 levels though. I had a nice combination of single target attacks, very nice PBaAOE and some knockback for mitigation. Combine with click heals, a spiffy Tier 9 and it was quite comfortable.

I did occasionally feel as if I were lagging in damage/killspeed but overall the journey was quite reasonable. I've taken the shields as well, use them all the time. They're handy to mule invention origin sets as well.

IMO the first key for a human only kheld (sorry, HO still makes me think of hamidon origin enhancements...), is recharge. Hasten & any other +recharge you can afford to get is well worth it. When you can stagger your nuke and your mini-nuke (unchain essense/photon seekers) for every 3rd spawn (or so), happiness ensues . It has the added benefit of bringing all your cool toys back into play more often too: dark extraction, lightform, essence boost, eclipse, sunless mire, solar flare, etc etc etc. Recharge is the key. The shields are a nice to have, but by no means necessary as most of the damage you face is smashing/lethal, and that's the only shield you're forced to take.

Second key thing: teammates. Some give you +recharge (see above), but they all give you something worthwhile. PBs (IMO) benefit more here, as their inherent seems designed to balance out the team, boosting them for whatever is "lacking" in the team. In the low teens my human only PB made a better tanker (with appropriate support) than many tankers at that level in terms of AoE aggro generation and survivability (granted, a tanker with that same support would do better in some cases - not all the support was active).

Prior to Issue...13? (whenever we got the kheld-love from the devs ) I would not have recommended going 1-50 human only, but I see no reason not to these days, if that's what you want to play.

I just started my first real attempt at a kheld. I played a WS for about 3 levels a long time ago before I just decided I didn't feel like putting up with figuring it all out.

With my new peacebringer my mindset after mulling over the power choices was to go HO, but I decided to take Nova at level 6. It gives me 4 good attacks, flight, some extra recovery and damage. Great for making leveling a lot easier. I plan to respec around level 22 or so (especially since I took the dull pain power instead of the shield by mistake).

We'll see how it goes, but so far the human form powers look really cool. It really comes down to how I plan on slotting everything. I'm not even gonna bother making a build on Mids as I have no idea how I'm gonna be playing this toon anyway. I'll just slot as I go (been playing a good long while. I'm sure I'll make something that works).

This'll basically be my off-play character when I get bored of massacreing 8 man spawns with my scrapper after 16 goes live.

Actually, I'd recommend keeping tri-form all the way up to lvl 50, so you have more lvls as a tri-former under your belt, an easier time of lvling up to 50, and more time to develop exactly what you like to do (playstyle, if you will)... Then, so you're not wasting a respec, make the 2nd build a human form, if that's what you want to do with it. That way, when you're starting with a human-only form, you've already got all the powers you *need* at your disposal (stygian circle, gravity well, eclipse, etc)...

"The One"

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Originally Posted by Infernus_Hades The way you play changes your IO slotting..