Warshades for Dummies?

Don't be confused by the title, I'm not implying that Warshades are for dummies - no, no...

See, I have often heard it said that Warshades are extremely fun once you understand them, but extremely complicated to play well. As someone who has always held an interest for the Warshade, but a certain... hesitation in getting started, I would like to ask you - the people who are most familiar with them - where I should begin.

I have read a few guides which detailed combat strategies (most of which were rather dauntingly complicated, and give me cause to worry that just perhaps I am going in over my head on this one) and generally perused the threads here for a little while now. But the Warshade is a path open to me, and one which I would love to explore fully and safely regardless of the learning curve. You see, I do understand that playing this Archetype is very different to what I have done so far. Would it be a stretch to say almost a whole new game entirely?

What I am asking you, is perhaps what I might do as someone who is only getting started? What is a good way to begin my delving into this EAT? What play-style would be easiest on me in my first attempts at playing one of these, whilst still allowing me to experience much of what they have to offer?

Many thanks, The Overlord.

It's definitely a challenge compared to some other ATs. Here's what I did: I read Plasma's ultimate guide and largely followed his Gold Standard Tri-Form builds. You can always tweak and tune or respec along the way.

Even though it's from I8, most of the info is still good, or good enough to get you going.

I strongly recommend you set up some keybinds and/or macros to automate your shape-shifting and power tray setups. I followed Plasma's very closely, which are in that thread. You create three keybind text files, one for each form, and then manually load the first one (bindloadfile "full path to file") and from then on the keys (he used Q and E, I followed that) will switch between the forms and rearrange your power trays for the form you're in.

Warshades get a lot of benefit from changing to human form, immediately activating a power, and then changing back. That's something that can also be automated with clever enough binds. A lot of people use the Numeric Keypad for those. I haven't progressed that far, so I'm always fumbling around trying to get the timing down to fire off everything.

You don't *have* to use macros or keybinds, but it sure does make things easier.

Read the pinned sticky about strategies and keybinds, lots of good info there.

I'd actually recommend just jumping in and trying a few things. It's not at all uncommon for even experienced Kheldian players to burn respecs on their Kheldians, and I think this AT more than some others lends itself to a good deal of playstyle tweaking. Once you know what you like (and don't like), you'll be in a better position to plan up a build.

Another route might be to roll up a build now, if you're reasonably comfortable with Mids, and get feedback based on that. This is an AT where there is no "one right way" to build for best effect, so it often helps if we can see where you're placing emphasis and build on that.

Just as a suggestion, I really like taking Hasten and Superspeed in the teens. Shadow Cloak + Super Speed is full invisibility. Invis becomes very handy to get in position for getting the largest number of foes in your Mires (Build-up based upon the number of foes in the area) and Eclipse (Resistance buff based upon number of foes in the area). Plus you get Recall Friend as an inherent power, so with Invis you become a valuable teammate for stealthable missions. I love taking my Warshades on TFs because they bring so much to the team -- back-up blaster when needed, back-up tank when needed, ability to mez foes and to stealth missions.

One caveat with Redlynne's statement about Dwarf=Tanker. I've always seen Black Dwarf as more of a tough Scrapper. It's resists are very good, don't get me wrong, but the heal isn't entirely reliable like White Dwarf's (needs to hit) and it can pump out more than Tanker damage with enough targets in its Mire. My experience shows it as survival through destruction, more like a scrapper, than destruction through incredible survival, like a tanker. White Dwarf lends itself to better tanking, because it's AoE does knockdown, which is awesome mitigation, and it will always be able to heal itself, providing it has endurance, and will heal itself for more in one shot. Plus PBs have Essence Boost, giving them another source of +HP that carries over to Dwarf for 2 minutes, making everything else they have better, more tanker-like.

Black Dwarf *can* tank, don't get me wrong. It's just more like a scrapper tanking than an actual tanker.

It took me a while to get the hang of my warshade. After a lot of trial and error and dying I finally found a method that works very well for me against most enemy groups. (Note: if a group is all ghosts or something that leaves me no bodies I dial down difficulty to the lowest.)

I can now run at +0/x3/no bosses/no AVs and rarely die. (I am not the bestest player around and I know it.) I sneak into the middle of a large group and Eclipse, Mire, and Quasar. Pop a blue and Stygian Circle the pile and make an Extracted Essence. Go to the next group, Mire, Dwarf, Mire, Taunt and attack while Extracted Essence does its work. Then repeat the first method on the next group since Eclipse is back.

If I die I stygian return in the middle of a group, eclipse, mire, etc.

I could up the difficulty but it just makes it take longer and since I am working on getting my merits and purples (running Unai's To Save a Thousand Worlds arc in Ouroboros) so there is no benefit to slowing me down any.

Well, seeing the requests for a more specific "What do you enjoy?"-type question, it is probably fair to answer it, hm?

I think that the bottom line for me, a guy who has so far most enjoyed his Blasters once they reached the high-end levels, is that feeling of raw power that comes from being able to "sweep" a number of minions at a time. Now, having never played a Kheldian at all, I am unsure whether something like this is even possible, but if there was any way to do this whilst avoiding the territory of "Glass Cannon" I would be immeasurably happy.

I guess what I'm after, as with every archetype I play, is something which can do a decent amount of damage whilst still being self-sufficient - is this a reasonable request from the Warshade, or should I tweak my desires a little to better suit what is possible for the Archetype?

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Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I love the "Purple it out for extra fun!" bubble.

[QUOTE=AlienOne;3033011]Which is why there simply can't be "one build to rule them all." QUOTE]

I stopped reading here, for a few reasons...

1) This statement applies to all At's and WS/PB's are nothing special in this reguard.

2) Playstyle is a factor in every single At as well, and playing really really badly or really really well shouldnt be factored into performance. Ever.

3) I already said what I quoted you as saying, I just added the the part everyone else leaves out. The fact that no matter how many combinations, there is always (yes always) one that will outperform the others given equal players at the helm. The fact you do not like this is not important.




We have been over this many times and it's time consuming when you refute everything that has been used in every other AT forum as a means of evaluating efficiency of builds and simply keep restating over and over " But the playstyle man, it's all about the playstyle."

I wont bother debating anyone who feels simple mathmatics cannot be trusted to evaluate performance of an AT in a game BASED on mathmatics... Activation times, recharge rates, damage per attack. It's all there and easily (ok not easily) figured with a calculator.

I'm bored but not THAT bored.

People have got to find for themselves what parts of playing a warshade they like most and decide whether or not they wish to concentrate on those parts. I couldn't do that I got a pure warshade which is jack of all trade but that's because I like most parts. Oh anyway it's only when a player finds their ideal build that they have a build that outperforms other alternatives should they of min/maxxed it right. Don't matter what others think, if others can't give perfection they shouldn't expect it. My idea of a perfect player is someone who gives me 2 billion inf.

But why would you want to build it for anything other than DPS?

>.>

<.<

Oooook, I'll shut up.

I've reached my personally-imposed limit on taunts for the month.

*recedes to the shadows*

"Alien"

Quote:

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

I think that your history with Blasters gives you a distinct advantage over someone who plays heavily status-resistant AT's since the Warshade has no inherent status resists.

With that said, if you play the early levels of your Warshade as though you were a Blaster, you'll probably do fine. I feel as though you may be overthinking it, and freaking yourself out. Much like any other AT, you can feel this one out. The only real difference is that there are many more choices than you're used to.

Certainly read the guides listed above, but consider everything as a very rough guide. The best universal advice I can give you is be prepared to change your playstyle with each unlocked power. If you keep the Blaster mentality for too long, you'll really sell yourself short. Have fun!

Here's what I did - played a Warshade for 5+ years.

23 respecs later and I'm a friggin badass.