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Your biggest shortfall if not taking White Dwarf isn't in tanking (though it's nice to be able to,) but in losing (a) a "click-mez protection" of sorts (you can shift to dwarf if mezzed) and (b) losing a second heal. I don't think any, or many, teams pick up a PB for a primary tank. |
Originally Posted by PhilBilly
I want to build a Pb. I am interested in what they have to offer. Basically I am a blaster/scrapper kind of guy. I am ok with defenders and controllers but I hate using tanks and as a result I am bad at being a tank.
1) If I dont pick up White Dwarf form am I selling myself short? Also will teams invite me and be disappointed when they realize that I don't tank? |
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| 2) If I do just pick Nova what types of powers should I choose for human form? Also what role would I fill in human form? |
I will say "don't discount quantum flight," it's a nice tool to have. Pool wise, I tend to like having stealth (just stealth, possibly with an IO if you can snag one) for alphas on such things as Voids or other problematic single targets.
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| 3) Should I even roll a Peacebringer if I don't want to tank? |
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| 4) Please share any tips and tricks that you think weren't covered in the guides for Peacebringers especially dual form Peacebringers. |
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You're going to love PBs. My PB is all human, and he plays like a /regen blapper. Open up with a ranged salvo then charge in with the pet-bombs and scrap it up, switching back to ranged to finish off the stuff I sent flying in all directions.|
Originally Posted by PhilBilly
Basically I am a blaster/scrapper kind of guy.
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Really, you've got it all. You have ranged/melee single target/AoE attacks like a blaster, but you've got shields and self heals to stay alive. Hell, even a godmode power, complete with mez protection.
Anyway, you had specific questions...
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Originally Posted by PhilBilly
1) If I dont pick up White Dwarf form am I selling myself short? Also will teams invite me and be disappointed when they realize that I don't tank?
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Generally, if a team wants a tank, they don't look for PBs.
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Originally Posted by PhilBilly
2) If I do just pick Nova what types of powers should I choose for human form?
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I like Proton Scatter and Solar Flare. A lot. Slotted the -res proc in them to help my damage out.
Photon Seekers are an excellent demi-nuke.
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Originally Posted by PhilBilly
Also what role would I fill in human form?
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And nothing says you have to stay in one form all the time. Just one example: Nova form in, guns blazing and attention grabbing, then shift to dwarf when you get mezzed, heal once, go to human to heal again, build up incandescent strike something, essence boost and go back to nova.
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Originally Posted by PhilBilly
3) Should I even roll a Peacebringer if I don't want to tank?
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I play my human form PB is like a blaster with scrapperlock. I usually beat the tank to the spawns to dish out as much damage and create as much chaos as I can. Just because I'm the first one in, does not mean I'm tanking.
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Originally Posted by PhilBilly
4) Please share any tips and tricks that you think weren't covered in the guides for Peacebringers especially dual form Peacebringers.
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I hope I've helped. Good luck, and have fun.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
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Heal for obvious reasons, Build Up to boost Novas damage, Dull Pain thingie to help with survivability, Quantum Flight for the moments for the times when it hits the fan.|
Originally Posted by PhilBilly
2) If I do just pick Nova what types of powers should I choose for human form? Also what role would I fill in human form?
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When I`m in Human and feel like fighting, I use Gleaming Blast, Radiant Strike, Incandescent Strike, Solar Flare and Photon Sekeers. Fun, flashy, mostly single target dps. Solar Flare can also be used as a pseudo control against the harder mobs to give breathing room. I think of my Human as a scrapper, I`m a boss killer.
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Originally Posted by PhilBilly
4) Please share any tips and tricks that you think weren't covered in the guides for Peacebringers especially dual form Peacebringers.
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When building your toon, think about what you will doing in the forms. For example, if you only use ST attacks in Human, you most likely wont need more than the default shield. Why? Because of knockback. You can keep most foes on their backs while bashing away.
If you`re using Dwarf to keep agro etc, you wont need to slot the ST attacks that heavily as White Dwarf Flare has taunt component in it.
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I take exception to these comments. A White Dwarf, with just minimal SO slotting, can tank all but the most difficult AVs in the game (LR and GW, imho), and I'd be surprised if there wasn't a purple'd out fully slotted White Dwarf out there who hadn't tanked both of those as well. From 20 to the early 30s, a PB is on par with your average pure tanker. White Dwarf has all the essential tools: taunt, AoE, self-heal, its only problem is that it really only has access to 6 or so powers (accolades can be triggered while in dwarf, some anyway). I've personally tanked everything but the STF. |
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Generally, if a team wants a tank, they don't look for PBs.
Remember, tanking is more than taking alphas. It's all about keeping aggro controlled, clustering groups to leverage your teams AoEs, and staying alive. With that said, there is no way a team can expect a PB to tank unless he stays in dwarf form all the time, and even then he can only half-tank. |
It seems to me your human only build has blinded you to the capabilities of your Dwarf cousins...I would take a PB with Dwarf over a tauntless WP tanker anyday, and twice on tanker-tuesdays
That said, with few exceptions, teams don't really need a tank of any sort. They can help immensely, and certainly make things safer for the rest of the team though.
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I think the only problem you had with my comments was the "even then, he can only half tank." Nothing else I said was contradictory to what you've presented. Actually, what you said enforces my point that you can't expect a PB to tank unless he stays in dwarf form.|
Originally Posted by Guardien
I take exception to these comments. A White Dwarf, with just minimal SO slotting, can tank all but the most difficult AVs in the game (LR and GW, imho), and I'd be surprised if there wasn't a purple'd out fully slotted White Dwarf out there who hadn't tanked both of those as well. From 20 to the early 30s, a PB is on par with your average pure tanker. White Dwarf has all the essential tools: taunt, AoE, self-heal, its only problem is that it really only has access to 6 or so powers (accolades can be triggered while in dwarf, some anyway). I've personally tanked everything but the STF.
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Generally, if a team is looking for a tank, the leader doesn't scan for PBs. I have never, while playing my PB, been asked if I had dwarf form because the team needed a tank. I haven't ever been on a team that felt they needed a tank and got a PB who would dwarf the whole time. Anecdotal evidence, I know.
As for a dwarf only half tanking: This was bad wording on my part. Yes, a dwarf can hold aggro as well as any tank, but its survivability and damage output is much less than a comparable tank. A dwarf is capped at around 60% resist and has one self heal. Fire tanks (arguably the least survivable) have a similar heal, comparable resists, but they can take tough/weave and combat jumping.
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Originally Posted by Guardien
It seems to me your human only build has blinded you to the capabilities of your Dwarf cousins...
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It is also occasionally called to tank for a short while, and does so begrudgingly.
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Originally Posted by Guardien
I would take a PB with Dwarf over a tauntless WP tanker anyday, and twice on tanker-tuesdays
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If you want a tank, get a tank. If you want a truly versatile character, able to unleash a vast assortment of death or handle a metric ton of aggro as the situation needs, get a PB.
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Originally Posted by Guardien
That said, with few exceptions, teams don't really need a tank of any sort. They can help immensely, and certainly make things safer for the rest of the team though.
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Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
I have never been picked up specificly to tank but I have quite often ended up spending a large amount of time in dwarf if it is needed to make the team work. With cosmic balance working with the forms now it is very easy to get ~80 or even capped 85% resists by having a 2-3 blasters/scrappers on a team and they are common ATs. That makes for a fairly survivable tank, maybe not up to the standard of well built tankers and it can't touch an IOed one, but more than enough for the majority of the game. Like Guardien I have tanked many TFs,AVs, and GMs. I also like having an extra defensive option besides lightform as it locks you out of nova/dwarf and has a crash ( on a human only I like lightform alot because then I only have to deal with the crash ).
As for the original poster I think it should be clear that a PB that doesn't tank or have dwarf is very viable. Just take a few break frees for mez problems and pick human powers that cover weaknesses and augment the strengths of nova. Some of the shields and the heal along with some of the attacks would seem a good spread. You can start in nova fire off the two AoEs drop to human fire off a couple more AoEs then go melee down the big ones that are left with ST attacks.
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Ah-HA! My humblest apologies, I was blinded by the Black Dwarf. On the rare occasion that I'm in dwarf to tank, I still leverage eclipse to keep my damage resistance up. |
Originally Posted by Vessel of Light
I have never been picked up specificly to tank but I have quite often ended up spending a large amount of time in dwarf if it is needed to make the team work. With cosmic balance working with the forms now it is very easy to get ~80 or even capped 85% resists by having a 2-3 blasters/scrappers on a team and they are common ATs.
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As you said, the common teammates are blasters and scrappers, which I was receiving damage bonuses from. White dwarfs will more than likely hit the max resists on any team. Combined with Essence Boost and two self heals, I stand corrected. A White Dwarf on the right team should be mighty survivable.
I still wouldn't want to limit him to tanking, though.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Just because Dwarf is your best choice when tanking, doesn't mean it has to limit your options. If I am the lead tank on a team, I will mix things up depending on the situation. Examples: zoom in with quantum flight, ignoring the alpha strikes entirely, un-phasing into Dawn Strike, pop a blue and turtle up in dwarf while the team cleans up leftovers. Or, lead off with the KnockDown AoE of Nova (forget the name) followed by the cone, drop to human for some solar flare goodness, then turtle up. PBs have more than enough tools to survive the alpha strikes, dwarf is just the best.
Dechs Kaison,
Why not make 2 builds with the PB? 1 Human/Dwarf, just slot all of the Human attacks/buffs/shields etc.
2nd build Human. Try both. I have a tri-form on one build and on the other is Human/Dwarf. The 2nd build is slotted well for Mini-tanking in Dwarf if say the Tank goes down. What I love about the dual build is I TP in with Dwarf, hit Dwarf flare and while they are knocked down, switch to human hit Solar flare and go to town.
I have once been asked to stay in Dwarf to "tank" and refused to do so because I could do more while using my forms to help with damage also. 
"every defender needs to fight. I don't care if you have to use BRAWL!"
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Three good reasons, in order of importance.|
Originally Posted by Wird_
Why not make 2 builds with the PB?
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1. I'm happy with my capabilities as an all human PB.
2. The forms didn't fit my concept.
3. The first build was expensive enough, and still isn't finished.
I like my PB the way he is. If I really really need the mez protection and don't have a BF, then I'll use light form. Most of the time, mezzers are easy enough to deal with between knockback and incandescent strike.
It's also like that /kin controller or corruptor who doesn't take speed boost. Avoids the scenario when someone on the team whines when you forget to SB him/her. "Look, you have a kin that doesn't speed boost, deal with it." I don't play my PB because I want to tank. I play my PB very selfishly. He can take care of himself. If the team needs a tank, they'll get one. "Look, you have a PB that doesn't have dwarf, deal with it." I want him to do what he does best, all the time: create chaos and mayhem.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
The real idea is that tanking is an option for Kheldians, but it's not their role on a team. The Kheldian doesn't have a defined role, the Kheldian's role is that it can take on ANY role. Especially for Peacebringers, if the team needs a damage dealer, they get a damage dealer, if they need a tank, they get a tank.
The ability to shift in and out of tank form means you aren't limited by the tank's playstyle, although you may have to time your shifts carefully to survive it. You can still take a lot of damage in Human form, as well, especially with Light Form. So you have lots of Defender-like options as well, although I do like to clarify that Kheldians are NOT Defenders. (It took me a while to get my mind around that. More like Blasters with defense. The whole team support role, though, is not direct, it's indirect)
As mentioned, if you don't take Dwarf for the mez resistance, you don't have the option to use it to pop out of the mez when held. Then again, as others have mentioned, not having the Dwarf form doesn't immediately make you unplayable. Human Form or Human/Nova Peacebringers can take damage as well as a Scrapper (you've got your human form shields) and do comparable damage. Plus, you've got range, and the ability to fly. (Which doesn't detoggle when you are held)
The short answer is to try out your options, and see what works for you. If you want to take Dwarf and slot it weakly, going for short moments in Dwarf Form to escape from holds, that's a viable option. If you want to build your Dwarf more Scrapper-like, with lots of damage, you can do that too. (Although a Warshade is better for that, I feel) If you decide that you can handle the mez threats without Dwarf, then you can respec out of it, or use your second build.
I want to build a Pb. I am interested in what they have to offer. Basically I am a blaster/scrapper kind of guy. I am ok with defenders and controllers but I hate using tanks and as a result I am bad at being a tank.
1) If I dont pick up White Dwarf form am I selling myself short? Also will teams invite me and be disappointed when they realize that I don't tank?
2) If I do just pick Nova what types of powers should I choose for human form? Also what role would I fill in human form?
3) Should I even roll a Peacebringer if I don't want to tank?
4) Please share any tips and tricks that you think weren't covered in the guides for Peacebringers especially dual form Peacebringers.