Life and Times of a Kheldian

Hey fellow Khelds. I've been meaning to write a Kheldian guide for quite some time now but I could never get through much. After some thought I've come to the conclusion that a journal type of style is much more up my alley. This'll be more of a journal/guide combo rather than a pure version of either (Appropriate for a hybrid AT don't ya think ). I plan to do a write up of my experience with both Peacebringers and Warshades but I'll start with PBs because, in my opinion, that's the type of Kheld players new to them should start with. Anyway, without further ado, let's begin.

General Info:
Kheldians are unlocked by having a level 20 hero character on your account. This change came with I17 as a way to make Khelds more accessible to casual players (The previous level requirement was 50). Again, unlocking Kheldians requires a level 20 hero character. Villains don't count. They have their own epic ATs that unlock at 20 as well. Once you've unlocked them your account is flagged as such so you'll still have access to them even if you delete all toons on your account at level 20 or above. However, there have been instances after a patch where the flag was reset unintentionally. This could only be fixed by logging in a character of the required level so be careful when deleting toons.

Inherent Powers
Kheldians have the most unique of all inherents and the only ones whose effects are dependent on a team's makeup. Both, Cosmic Balance (Peacebringers) and Dark Sustenance (Warshades) provide different buffs according to which Archetypes the Kheldian is teamed with. The in-game excerpt does quite a good job of explaining the exact breakdown so here ya go:

Cosmic Balance: Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Peacebringers' metamorphic nature allows them to bring balance to their team. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Brute, Stalker or Blaster teammate. Each Peacebringer, Warshade, Arachnos Widow or Arachnos Soldier on their team gives a 10% Recharge Slow Resistance. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power
Dark Sustenance: Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Warshades' absorbing nature allows them to draw on the power of their teammates' power to increase their own. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Stalker, Brute or Blaster teammate. Each Peacebringer, Warshade, Arachnos Widow or Arachnos Soldier on their team gives a 10% Recharge Slow Resistance. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited Protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power.

Life and Times: Journey of a Peacebringer

Levels 1-5: You May Feel A Little Woozy

The first few levels on a Peacebringer are similar to those on any other AT. Your initial power selection will make you choose between either Gleaming Bolt or Glinting Eye. I chose the latter because shooting piercing beams of light from your eyes is "ZOMG teh awesomesauce!" Gleaming Bolt animates faster so it can be loaded with procs and spammed but the whole thing's more a matter of taste than real combat effectiveness.

One thing that's completely different about Peacebringers are their inherent flight powers. You'll have access to Energy Flight, a carbon copy of Fly with a cosmic looking trail, from level 1. I had great fun zooming around the tutorial zone and confounding my enemies with searing laser beams from above. Don't be surprised if you get frantic tells from other lowbies asking how you're able to do it

Whether you choose to run the Outbreak tutorial or not you should head to Atlas Park first and talk to Sunstorm, the starting contact for all PBs. The Kheldian arcs are all very enjoyable (Though they do run you through a lot of Council bases in the mid levels) and new ones become available every 5 levels or so. Don't forget to visit Ms. Liberty and level up when you can. I picked up Shining Shield at level 2 since it provides some nice Smashing/Lethal Resistance early on and I didn't care much for picking up Gleaming Bolt.

At level 4 I grabbed Essence Boost. This is a great power. It's a Dull Pain clone and provides the usual big self heal and +MaxHP at the cost of having a long recharge timer. Due to that you've gotta judge the situation to determine how best to use it. You can use it during battle as a heal or before battle so you have more HP to work with in the first place. I find the latter strategy is best used when you know you'll be up against hard targets or after level 20 so you can stack it with the +MaxHP from White Dwarf.

Really, the first 5 levels are nothing special. They're just a run up to level 6. That's when things really start to get interesting...

Level 6: Ooooh...tentacles...

Playing a Peacebringer becomes an entirely different experience beginning at level 6. Up until this point you had the usual run of the mill stuff plus a nice gimmick or two. That all changes as soon as you grab the first of two possible forms, Bright Nova.

The reason I decided to devote an entirely separate post to Bright Nova is because the change you'll see once you have it is that radical. You'll go from what equates to a Blaster with shields to a floating engine of squiggly DOOM!!! Bright Nova offers you several advantages. Among them are:

• A buff to your damage and ToHit (45% and 9% respectively)
• A constant 15% Resistance buff against Energy and Negative Energy damage
• Automatic and permanent flight
• A 15% Recovery buff that covers the cost of running the Bright Nova toggle
• Four ranged attacks that can only be used while in Nova form

Levels 7-19: Squiggly bits and glowing fists

The 7 through 19 stretch is pretty steady in that you won't see too many drastic shifts in playstyle. It's largely a time for picking up various utility powers that'll make your life easier as you continue on your journey to 50.

At level 8 you can take Radiant Strike, your first dedicated melee attack. It's a hard hitting gut punch that can bring down flying enemies and carries a 60% chance of applying a Mag 2 Knockback. Now by this point you may have started to notice that Peacebringers have several powers with chance for KB as a secondary effect. Some players malign Knockback as something that's never beneficial and should be removed from the game altogether. I'm not in that camp. While it's true that KB is sometimes a source of annoyance to melee players and can cause serious issues when used carelessly (Aggroing another spawn by sending a foe cartwheeling into it comes to mind) it's also a terrific form of damage mitigation when used properly. Positioning is key when using any of your powers that cause KB. Look for walls, corners or other terrain features that can hang up your enemies or put them in position for another teammate to wail on.

You've also probably started to notice that its getting difficult to allocate a decent number of slots to your powers. Kheldians are well known for the slot crunch that starts to become an issue at level 6 (If you take Bright Nova) and usually persists all the way to level 31 (When you start to receive three slots per level up instead of just two). It's a particularly noticeable problem for TriFormers (Kheldians who make use of Human, Nova and Dwarf forms).

Unfortunately there's nothing that can really be done about it in terms of actual game mechanics. The best way to alleviate the strain is to plan your build in advance. Prioritize what powers you wanna get slots in now and which ones you can wait on until later. Most importantly: Understand that you won't be able to slot everything to your satisfaction right away. While it may seem frustrating, you'll be past it soon enough and your performance won't be seriously affected.

Getting back to what I said earlier, this stretch is largely for picking up useful little extras. Things like Hasten will come in very handy for getting your self heals recharged and ready to go more often. Build Up is another good option, especially if you plan on using your melee attacks. This is also the range at which most players take their travel powers. With Kheldians that's not necessary since you'll have travel powers starting from level 1. For a Peacebringer that means Energy Flight and Combat Flight (A clone of Hover that you get automatically at level 10). However, I took Super Speed at level 14. I had Hasten anyway and I won't play a character without some form of stealth so it was an obvious decision. I slotted it with a Celerity +Stealth IO to give my PB full invisibility. I have great fun zipping in, hitting Build Up and then delivering a Radiant Strike straight to some unsuspecting boss.

A Note on Stamina:

My sincerest apologies for the long delay since the last update. Had to have the LCD screen on my laptop replaced so I was without a computer for a while and typing out long posts on my smartphone is tedious. With that said, let's get on with the show.

Level 20: Proc Lobster!

At level 20 you can select White Dwarf, the second of your forms. Just like Bright Nova it'll add a whole new dimension to the way your Peacebringer plays so I've given it a post of its own.

If Bright Nova is comparable to a miniature Blaster then the best way to think of White Dwarf is as a mini Tanker. Its got the stats to support that view. When you toggle on Dwarf form you'll receive the following benefits:

• An enhanceable 37.5% Resistance buff against all damage types except Psionics
• An unenhanceable 75% +MaxHP buff
• A 15% Recovery buff that covers the cost of the toggle
• Six form exclusive powers including a taunt and self-heal
• Protection against all mezz effects that ranges from 15.6-18.7 points depending upon the exact effect

Quote:

Prior to Issue 13 if you were hit with a mezz outside of Dwarf form you had two choices. You could either pop a Break Free inspiration or sit around waiting for the effect to wear off (Almost certainly getting yourself killed before that happened). The i13 Kheldian overhaul changed all that. The power was reworked to function like a Dominator's inherent Domination. By that I mean that it can be activated while mezzed; thereby granting you its protection. HOWEVER, activating White Dwarf while mezzed will not cancel the effect. That means that if you detoggle the form before the mezz's duration has expired you'll still be under its effects. So you'll have to pay attention to the icons in your status bar to ensure you don't end up in a very bad situation.

Now that the particulars of how Dwarf form functions have been addressed, let's get to the powers it grants you. As I said before you'll receive six powers that can only be used while White Dwarf is running. They are as follows:

Quote:

White Dwarf Strike - A fast animating, low damage melee attack that carries a 30% chance for Knockdown White Dwarf Smite - A stronger, yet slower version of Smite that deals more damage and also carries the same 30% chance of Knockdown White Dwarf Flare - A PBAoE that deals damage and has an 80% chance to knock all effected targets down White Dwarf Sublimation - A more powerful version of Reform Essence, your human form click heal (Available at level 22), that's on a longer recharge White Dwarf Antagonize - Your standard Taunt power White Dwarf Step - Free teleport, plain and simple

As you can see, White Dwarf's powers capture the essence of a Tanker. You've got two single target attacks, a PBAoE, a nice instant activation heal, taunt, and teleport for moving long distances since Dwarf form also decreases your RunSpeed a bit (Chill, you're not nearly as slow as a Stone tank ). In addition to debuffing enemies' Defense like all your other attacks, all of the attacks White Dwarf provides also come with what's called a "Pokevoke" effect. This means that they taunt the targets they affect (A Mag 4 13.5s Taunt to be exact). It's a nice little extra feature that'll help quite a bit with grabbing and maintaining aggro when you need to tank for a team. Also notice that all the attacks carry a chance for KnockDOWN. They'll keep enemies flopping around for a good while, especially if you're using them in rapid succession. With enough Recharge and some luck you can keep a non-resistant Boss on its back for the entire duration of a fight. And keep in mind enemies can't attack while they're falling down or getting up. That means you've got some pretty powerful damage mitigation built right in.

Personally speaking, I love White Dwarf. It's a fantastic form that provides great benefits on top of looking and sounding cool. I discovered my love of offtanking thanks to this power. The ability to pull aggro off your teammates is great and it does decent damage to boot (Not nearly as much as Black Dwarf, its Warshade counterpart, but that's another story for another time). You'll find yourself relying on it to protect both you and your team when things get outta hand. It's also great for dealing damage in melee when there are a lot of enemy mezzes or AoEs flying around. Ever since my Peacebringer hit level 20 a long time ago I've loved nothing more than stepping up to the plate in White Dwarf and saving squishies from ambushes and the like (Especially Defenders. Have you ever saved a Defender before? Do it once and you'll know exactly why it's so awesome ).

Hey all. Just gonna jump right into things on this one so please excuse the lack of mind numbing chit chat in my opening remarks.

Levels 21-31: Decisions...decisions...

Well if you're still reading by this point you must be enjoying your Kheldian (How could you not be? ). This ten level stretch can be a rather difficult one but not from a gameplay perspective. On the contrary, you'll have more powers than ever to work with which means you'll be able to start taking full advantage of your Peacebringer's versatility. What can make this time rough are all the choices you'll have to make in regards to the particular powers you want and how they'll shape your playstyle. You'll have to figure out exactly which ones you want and which ones you can postpone or do without entirely.

At level 22 Reform Essence becomes available. It's a clone of Reconstruction and, as such, functions as an instant activation self-heal. Unslotted it'll heal you for 25% of your maximum hitpoints. That makes it great for recovering a good portion of your HP without relying on any type of outside support, especially once you start putting enhancements into it. The downside, of course, is that it can only be activated while in Human form so you'll have to drop out of Nova or Dwarf to make any use of it.

Once you reach level 24 you'll unlock Conserve Energy. It's a click power that'll provide an Endurance discount on all your powers for 90s. Not a Recovery buff but a flat out reduction in the Endurance cost of all your powers (134.1% to be exact. That's the equivalent of having roughly three level 50 EndRedux IOs in all your powers). That has its pros and cons, especially considering the power's on a base Recharge of 600s. On the upside, it'll make using your powers extremely easy on your blue bar and allow you to blast, punch and smash away with relative impunity for a while. On the downside it won't help you recover Endurance any faster so you can still drain yourself dry if you're careless and have enough Recharge.

Level 26 requires you to choose between two powers, Glowing Touch and Solar Flare. This is a perfect example of the vast possible differences in playstyle from one Kheldian to the next. Glowing Touch is a single target ally heal. It'll restore 17.6% of a teammate or NPC's HP. That's the exact same amount of healing provided by Aid Other from the Medicine Pool (Much cooler animation though). Solar Flare is a PBAoE that'll see you crack the ground and shake your very screen with an eruption of Kheldian energy. The attack also carries an 80% chance of applying a Mag 4.32 Knockback to all targets within its 15' radius. All in all, the damage isn't that great. The power performs better as something you use when you want everybody to "BACK THE F**K UP!!!" while doing some damage in the process.

Finally, at level 28 you'll gain access to Quantum Flight. This toggle power has both great advantages and horrible downsides. It comes with the following:

• Instant Intangibility
• A 20ft. increase to your Stealth Radius, making enemies unable to detect you beyond the stated distance
• A -100% reduction to your threat level. Thus making you less likely to be the target of enemy attacks when in the presence of teammates who are also attacking
• Automatic flight with an incredible 682.5% buff to speed

Slot ol' Quantum Flight with two common 50 Endurance Reduction IOs and call it a day. As mentioned, even unenhanced for +fly Quantum Flight will push you beyond the flight speed cap, so the only other useful thing to slot into it is End Rdx.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Um, right, but my point is, you cannot actually go beyond the cap. So the only 'value' in Q-Fly is as an Endurance-sucking Phase power. The '700% flight-speed boost' is essentially useless, because you can't actually fly any faster.

Be Well!
Fireheart