Not listening to you, Alien

I just got my first lvl 50, and therefore, my first Kheld (Warshade).

I've read over many of the recent guides, including Alien's comprehensive and VERY informative human-form guide (thx, btw).

Here's the thing. I'm gonna be playing a human-form Warshade. I'm gonna level him 1-50 without the forms. I know everyone says I shouldn't because I haven't played a tri-form first, but I'm stubborn.

Sure, I'll probably have a tri-form build, but I don't plan on playing it often. I guess I don't want to have to wait for lvl 50, when the bulk of the game is over, to play the actual character that I want to play.

I know it'll be challenging (I'm lvl 17 now, and it IS challenging, mainly because I go through endurance like it were colons in a Rikti speech class), but accepting that I am going to do it, despite the warnings...

Got any tips?

I team when I can, solo when I must, and can't afford purples. I play on a mac, so I can't post my current build, but I'm going mostly off of Alien's guide.

Thanks in advance.

I'm leveling a human form WS also. Just got stygian circle and I've noticed a difference in the end loss. It helps when timed right and you have a good amount of fallen badguys around.

Another thing that's been helping me, is I'm going for IO's and SO's right away. If I had the cash, tickets or merits, I'd have sets going too.

So far I've only 5 sloted my 2 major attacks. Shadow blast 2 acc, 1 dam, 2 endred
and Dark detonation 2 acc, 1 dam and 2 end in the other.

Orbiting death, while cool and helpfull is an end drain. I only toggle that on after using sunless mire to damage the minions around me while I focuse on the hard hitter. By the time (s)he is down I can drop another AoE and then take out the rest in 1-2 hit each.. If I'm lucky and don't miss.

Once you get Stam slotted and Stygian circle usage down, things go better. You see a real difference in keeping up with your group or down time when solo'ing. Untill then, keep lots of blue insp around or be willing to deal with down time.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one trudging along doing this. So I wish you good luck.

I'm not sure why you would be purposely gimping yourself like that, but if you must...

Team. This is the number one thing I'd look to do. Soloing can be painful in the lower levels, but you've made it even worse by insisting on the Human-only option. Human Form is do-able with the team link bonuses. Outside of that, you're bordering on defender-level damage and very few support tools...not a recipe for success in my opinion.

18 will help a bit with a high-damage hold, and, as mentioned before, Stygian Circle will be a game-changer in terms of healing and end recovery.

If you're running in human and running out of end I'm assuming you're using the shields. I'm not sure that pre-SO those are worth running vs. the amount of end they are consuming. Consider shutting them off most of the time if not entirely.

Stock up on and use inspirations liberally.

Final note...I get running human-only for concept or even respeccing into one in the later levels. But once you get Nova on a Kheldian you can practically PL yourself fighitng large spawns of even-level or -1 enemies. Good luck on your human-only quest!

Below I'm giving the basic outline of a possible build order, the early details of which might be particularly interesting to the OP.

This is the build path I followed on a human-only warshade who was human only from level 1. He's level 38 now, having just taken eclipse.

FWIW, I found levels 15-17 to be the toughest levels. As soon as gravity well was taken, it got easier. I maximized slots on gravity well ASAP, and put two slots into stamina ASAP. Stygian circle has 4 slots, with a mixture of end mod, end red, recharge, and heal enhancers. Incidentally, the third end mod enhancer in stamina nets you about 0.04 extra endurance per second; its an inefficient use of a slot, as you can usually put an extra end reducer in a frequently used attack or a shield and get a far, far better return on that, for the sake of managing endurance.

Regarding playstyle, I essentially play my human-only shade as a "stalkinator" (stalker + dominator). He is perma-stealthed; he usually closes in to open battles with gravity well, catching mobs by surprise with a high-damage attack to open. Sometimes he'll begin with gravitic emanation, instead.

Here's the build ...

+----------------------------------------------------------------
+ Built with SuckerPunch's Online Planner v5.0
+ http://planner.cohtitan.com/planner
+----------------------------------------------------------------
Archetype: Warshade
Primary: Umbral Blast
Secondary: Umbral Aura
+----------------------------------------------------------------

01: Absorption => Empty(1)
01: Shadow Bolt => Empty(1)
02: Gravity Shield => Empty(2)
04: Orbiting Death => Empty(4)
06: Shadow Blast => Empty(6)
08: Hurdle => Empty(8)
10: Hasten => Empty(10)
12: Sunless Mire => Empty(12)
14: Shadow Cloak => Empty(14)
16: Health => Empty(16)
18: Gravity Well => Empty(18)
20: Stamina => Empty(20)
22: Stygian Circle => Empty(22)
24: Twilight Shield => Empty(24)
26: Gravitic Emanation => Empty(26)
28: Inky Aspect => Empty(28)
30: Essence Drain => Empty(30)
32: Dark Extraction => Empty(32)
35: Maneuvers => Empty(35)
38: Eclipse => Empty(38)
41: Tactics => Empty(41)
44: Dark Detonation => Empty(44)
47: Unchain Essence => Empty(47)
49: Vengeance => Empty(49)

+----------------------------------------------------------------
+ Inherent Powers
+----------------------------------------------------------------

01: Brawl => Empty(1)
01: Sprint => Empty(1)
02: Rest => Empty(2)
01: Shadow Step => Empty(1)
10: Shadow Recall => Empty(10)

Two words: Dual Builds

Play the first build human only til your heart's content.

Play the other build as a triform (or whatever).

You'll get a great basis for direct comparison that way all in the same toon...


GL & Have Fun!


Regards,
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