My First WS and WHAT THE HELLL!

I can understand that some people do not find "cool" to use Nova and Dwarf forms. After all, all Novas and all Dwarfs look the same, and maybe they do not fit in your character concept.

Besides of that, I think there is no reason why a Warshade should not go tri-form. (Do not know on PB, never tried)
- Nova has much better firepower than human form.
- Nova can fly.
- Nova has to-hit bonus.
- Nova has Recovery bonus.
- Dwarf has better resistances that all human-shield forms together.
- Dwarf has mezz protection.
- Dwarf has self heal.
- Clicky powers (hasten, mires and eclipse specifically) carry from one form to the other.
- Tri-form does not need Stamina. Stygian circle is much better and, besides, stamina offers nothing when in Nova or Dwarf form.

If you only pick one human form blast (Ebon eye for the coolness factor of shoting rays from your eyes) and one shield (because at those low levels anything else is a bit "lackluster") you will not suffer from lack of slots. At least I didn't: all my slots went first to Nova attacks and then to Dwarf powers. Occasionally I also heavy-slotted what for me were the best human-form powers: Dark extraction (6), Unchain Essence, Eclipse, Sunless mire and Quasar.

A lot of human form powers work really well with only a few slots (2 or 3) and I think it's no use to pursue IO sets bonuses in human form powers, because as I understand those are not active when you are in Nova or Dwarf form. So, I did what is commonly called "frankenslotting": mix and match IOs from different sets to get maximum return for minimum slots (usually using triple aspect IOs whenever possible). Yes, some of my powers only have like 93% enhanced damage instead of 96%... ooooh! I am soooooo crappy.

If you are interested I can post my build when I arrive home. It's obviously not the best (far from it) but it's quite budget-friendly.

Tri-form WS works very well in teams. In fact, the moment I enjoyed the most with this character was doing the final mission from RWZ arc. I think Rikti take extra damage from negative energy attacks. I tanked AV while our Invulnerability tanker recovered from Unstoppable crash, hehe. And later, me and my two Extracted essences blasted the other AV (Nemesis) to pieces (thanks to the cannon fodder he brings to the battle).

The only thing I think would make the WS experience even better would be that the form-changing was a bit faster (like half second faster). For something that changes form like 3 or 4 times in a big battle, those seconds you spend changing can mean... that your teammates have killed most of the enemies!! (No problem though, your buffs will last enough to obliterate next spawn almost single-handed).

Sorry for the long post. I love my WS.

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Not really, unless there is nothing better to take, or are planing on focusing on human form (which would be an unusual choice for a WS).

Without reliable mez protection they simply get detoggled to often to be all that useful.

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yea dont do this... i did this back in I3 and yea i STILL have the scars this is why my WS has been sitting at level 25 since forever

dunno why tho but my PB is all human and fine he is in the loft hights of 35... (since about i5 >.&lt

ok viper - gonna try and give u my experience (and condense wot has been said here) of WSing.

I am an experienced player (only CoH mind), and I tend to play more defensive tank/troller types.

Finally decided to persist at a WS and started on over a year ago. He is now only L35, but its been a long and hard road. Taken this long - cos for the longest time I, like u, tried to go by guides and peoples opinion. And to condense wot PRAF has been sayin - u cant.

Unlike other builds - there isnt ONE good, uber build for WS. A WS can be tailored for ur play style. If u are lookin for and easy,idiot proof 100% guranteed way to build and play a WS, then this AT is NOT for you. As even when u are slotted the way YOU like it, u will have to modify ur playstyle to the team - eg do u hav to tank more? cos u can substitue for a tank, but arent as good as pure tank OR do u have to blast more? u can really have oodles more damage than a blaster, but none of the damage amelioration.

Therefore it is gonna be useless to ask "should I take power 1 or power 2?" cos everyone is gonna have an rationale for taking either.

I looked at builds, tried em and then modified em. And my build (as i am sure any1 with a WS) is kinda of a mixture of a number of builds to suit me. after abt 10 levels - i spent a bit more time in Test server, jsut seeing if i liked the power.

Unfortunately, unlike other ATs - WSing is very time consuming to find a way you like to play.

As for guides - u said u have read loads - so i take it u have read both american and UK player guides. Pick any1 as a guide - cos I can gurantee that u will make one up urself within 20 levels or so.

Wont bother posting mine either cos - as I am sure it isnt "the best" build, but its a way I play.

I chose tri-form, and I am constantly jumping forms, swappin tactics.

Guess bottom line is - if u are lookin for an easy to follow build and AT that can be built to be UBER by mid 20s, this really isnt the AT for you. In fact, although its taken me over a year to realise this.... the fun from WSIng is abt the flexibility and utilisation of the different powers/skills of the diff forms.

My advice regarding a build would be to pick anyone build, follow it, and modify it as u go. U wont get one off the forums that is not gonna be dissected and criticised by OTHER forumites; cos there are just SO many ways to play and build em.

personally i didnt get stamina - u get and PBAoE health and end absorb thing in Human form, and I personally have never got any end problems. In fact there are so many fun powers to play in WS and wanted to try, that I only recently respecced to get heal other. but thats my personal opinion only

And lastly - persist with em, they may seem hard work, but once u get the hang of em, incredibly good fun.

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lol ok what is better to take inki aspect or orbiting death?

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Once you reach the higher levels you can "tank" in human form by using inky aspect. If you click all your toggle shields on + inky, when you tp into the mob ALL the minions will be stunned and thus you'll only have the lieuts/bosses to worry about

And to answer an earlier post you only really need stamina if you plan on going all human/mostly human imo. Stygian circle is up way too often to waste 3 power choices (however you will need it for EB/AV fights ).

I'll tell you one thing about Kheld slotting, IOs just made it a whole lot easier. With the right IOs you can max out damage and accuracy (91%) with a bit of an endurance/recharge bump, in four slots. I don't know why people say IOs are a bad thing for a slot-starved archetype when they allow you to save so much on slotting.