Why was I not informed?

I understand, more just trying to get a general idea since honestly from your guide it felt like Dwarf wasn't really used for long term other than to protect nova and human. So I didn't know if I'd be wasting valuable slots beefing up its attacks .

I went very form heavy on my slotting. My human existence is limited to summoning fluffy, refreshing eclipse and mire, the occasional nuke, and Stygian Circle as needed. Nova feels like a gunship to me, and Dwarf is heavy hitting. Mire does untold amounts of self buffed damage because I have it stacking on top of itself.

Some people will prefer to leverage human powers more than I do. Some people may even slot the forms more than I do. That's half the reason I won't include a build in my guide. There's so much versatility and so much of it is to taste. Posting a build as a reference would do more harm than good.

You really have to go by feel. Take advantage of the time spent leveling up; take note of which powers you use most often. Slot those attacks. Your perfect build will be different from mine, and neither will be better.

Here, this is what I run currently.

You should not be "trying to improve your Squid form damage". It's the best in the game. Squids get a 1.2 base modifier for damage (a Blaster is 1.125) and a 45% damage boost ON TOP of that. If you are lacking damage in Squid form something is wrong. (Likely you're not slotted well enough)

Powers that are toggles do not carry over to your Squid Form, but powers that are click powers, with a duration, do. This means that there are a number of Powers from the Pool and otherwise which can be useful to your Squid:

Hasten - This will increase the recharge on your four attacks, allowing you to use them more often. Since you cannot get any more attacks, this is very useful.

Build Up - This will give you +72% damage and +18% to hit. It does carry into Nova form, for up to 10 seconds. (Given that it will take you about 2-3 seconds to form shift, that means you should have about 7.5 seconds left of damage boost if you shift right after Build Up)

Essense Boost - This will raise your HP cap, as well as heal damage that you've taken. The HP boost carries over into Nova form, so it not only helps your survivability, but increases the rate at which you regenerate HP.

There are more examples, like Conserve Power and Photon Seekers, and the Disorient protection in Aid Self will carry into the forms. There may also be some Temp Powers which are usable.

Unfortunately, even with all of that, the Nova form really becomes less useful at high levels. A lot of its problem is a lack of defense, which isn't really countered by the greater damage. Nova is great for mowing down crowds when you are in no danger, but there's really no way to make it tougher. (Not like Warshades and Eclipse) Then again, possibly the addition of Health as being accessible in the forms will help the survivability of the Nova.

Despite what I said above, for the Peacebringer the Human form is the majority of your damage. It is melee damage, not ranged, which is where the Nova excels. It sounds like what you want to go for is a Human/Nova build, you'll open up with Nova from a distance to lay out some AoEs, then go Human and go in scrapping. You need strong shields for that, and you'll need slots. In the early levels, you'll probably want to concentrate on blasting with the Nova at range, and retreat when you get in trouble.

Right on the first, not necessarily on the second. The PB powers aren't for control, they're for damage. The PB is a damage dealer, first and foremost, the Nova is a ranged damage dealer, the Human is a range/melee hybrid, and the Dwarf is a low damage tank. I'm not sure why Mids would be wrong, but Kheldians did get a boost to Human form damage recently. Radiant Strike is not a low damage attack (It is better than Bonesmasher, and does the same damage as Greater Ice Sword) and Incandescent Strike may take 3.3 seconds, but it does great burst damage. (It is essentially Total Focus)

The thing is, a PB isn't really a Dominator or a Blaster. You have the shields, and while it can be annoying to put them all up, and that there is no mez protection, if you're going to be in melee you don't really NEED much more than the physical shield. Most melee attacks do primarily physical damage. And don't forget that you get some Energy protection passively. (Even the Nova gets it) If you're using macros, then you should be turning on Shining Shield every time you form shift into Human anyway, unless you are just dropping to Human form for an instant to fire off some other power.

And I'm not going to dismiss Pulsar as a control power, either. While I never based my strategy around it, as I haven't picked it up, I can see how it would be useful to mitigate damage by stunning a good portion of the minions in melee with you. That's the way a Scrapper or Tanker uses his control powers, and it's good enough for a PB as well.

Now, this is not to say that a PB turns into a rolling engine of death like a WS does. On the other hand, neither really hit their stride until the 30s, and you're going to be doing essentially the same thing in the teens and 20s. You've got to play to the PB's strengths, which is steady, consistent healing, steady damage boosts with Build Up, and strong Human form melee. Heck, I've got a Human form PB at about level 15 who doesn't have any of the above, because I've concentrated on building a good foundation of attacks, and I know he has trouble. I'm not going to put off Essense Boost any longer, though, and I'm also pretty sure come I19 I'll be able to make his build better as I won't be trying to fit Stamina in.

Yeah, back on the WS subject, my own build is sort of split evenly between the forms, with a little bit heavier slotting on the forms in Tri-Form to make them more effective, and a little lighter on Dwarf on my Human/Dwarf build so I can maximize my blast potential.

I wish I could say precisely what my ratio is, but I'll need to check my notes on my build to answer that for sure. I will say that in general I try to put the same number of slots in Nova as in Dwarf (2 extra for Step and Antagonize but that's it) and around the same number in Human form, with maybe a half dozen or so extra. That's for my Tri-Form. For my Human/Dwarf I've been essentially matching the Dwarf build, so the Human gets all the slots that the Nova would normally get. (It's supposed to be a strong Human build, prior to 24 it was actually built as a Human Form only; at 20 I picked up Stamina instead of Dwarf and at 22 I got Stygian)

That might actually be TOO balanced a build, as I've said previously, the lack of strong slotting in any one power may be what caused me to have so much trouble until I reached 34. I actually really only have about 4 slots in any given attack power, I use IOs to get a full 5 slot benefit (Acc, End, 3 Dam) out of 4 slots.

Well, fun is the real goal here. If you're haning fun, you aren't doing anything wrong.

Well, therein lies the difference between us, because I LOVE changing forms constantly. I'll admit it could be faster, but then dropping to human form to fire something off is pretty fast, and then you can change back to Dwarf before anything hits you, if you time it right. I've gotten good at watching for the knockdown on one of my Dwarf punches, and shifting at that moment.

To each his own, though. It's my guess that the Nova/Human build is more attractive to those who don't like form shifting, because I personally don't really see the point in it. If you're going to stay in human form any considerably length of time, though, that gives you good reason to put up all your shields.

Another point in regards to mezzing is that if you are in Nova form, you cannot be detoggled if you are mezzed any more, which means that you don't lose Flying. Assuming there is a high enough ceiling, you can stay high enough that meleers can't get to you while you're mezzed. This is also an advantage to the Human Peacebringer form, which Warshades don't share.

Well, there is Photon Seekers, although I do wish they has a "blind" effect like the Seeker Drones in Traps. They do considerably more damage, though, so they couldn't have a very strong debuff effect.

Gravity Well is a great power. As I said above, it's integral to the Starless Step/Gravity Well combo that's so useful against Voids, not to mention a good portion of your Human form melee damage. Let's be honest here, though. Gravity Well and Incandescent Strike both have exactly the same hold effect. Gravity Well's looks cooler, but the mitigation is the same. Gravity Well takes 1.3 seconds less to cast. However, Gravity Well takes 2.75 seconds to deal all of its damage, while Incandescent Strike takes place immediately. Plus, Radiant Strike does about twice the damage of Essence Drain and you have to wait until 18 (20 if you choose to take Gravity Well, 22 or 24 if you intend to take Dwarf) to get it.

This is one reason why I say that the Human form is the melee damage dealing form for PBs, but Dwarf form is for WSs. With double Mire, the Dwarf will be sustaining a lot more DPS than the Human. The human form's attacks are really more about supporting the Dwarf and healing it or holding down foes. Although the WS does seem to have more AoE damage capability. (And that makes sense, since it would be taking on larger groups )

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Originally Posted by beyeajus I'd love to check one out if i just had the patience to get a hero to 20. Can't..stop...making...praetorians!

20?!!?!?!?!?!!?! Back in the day... it was 50! I've had 50 Levels of Ice/Rad before I could make a PB or WS... I tell you, times are changing alright!

Seriously. I banged out 50 levels on a Dark/Regen Scrapper (Ah, Voider. I do miss him sometimes) to unlock Khelds. Ever since then EATs of both sides are the only ATs I can seem to really enjoy. That's probably why my stable of characters consists of approximately 6 toons. Well, that and because I hate leveling as an exercise

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight Of Tomorrow ...Then one day, I was invited to AE mission by a level 50 WS named AIB, who absolutely made me and the other 6 people on the team feel unnecessary. We tried and died, he was like a weed-eater to monkey-grass. I started seeking him out, and pulling out Obsidia to see how he did it...

Well, to be honest, as long as you guys stuck around (even dead and lying on the ground) around AIB, he benefited from your bonuses, that's what Kheldians do. That said however, Kheldians simply have more tools to deal with things, especially if they're TriFormers.

I took Ascendantia (my Lv50 TriFormPB) on many AE missions where the team was composed of characters I knew couldn't handle the baddies because lets face it, most pre-32 character lack tools to handle 50+ enemies. Those missions were awesome fun and people often asked me how could I possibly stay alive when they're all down, including our healers... Fun fun days those were.

This is true, and an aspect of the Kheldians I often forget. Outstanding for teaming, not quite as hot soloing - at least till you've loaded it down with set bonuses

...I love this quote!

And also

My WS sat at lvl 29ish for nearly 4 years, untouched, unloved, and I read "The MF'ing WS" guide and I was inspired!!! Its 47 now and i'm loving every second of it

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Originally Posted by AIB To comment on LordXenite...the detractor ... "Well, to be honest, as long as you guys stuck around (even dead and lying on the ground) around AIB, he benefited from your bonuses, that's what Kheldians do." You are right khelds do benefit from teammates...but in two of the areas, capped damage and capped resistance, Warshades don't need teammates. The resistance to control and slow is nice...but...then again...Dwarf, permahasten, ALOT of powers and great slotting...render teammates unnecessary. Of course, having dead ones at my feet simply fuels the carnage. Vengeance is alot of fun.

Naturally, Warshades are built to munch minions and slotting makes them even better to the point that with or without team-mates, the Warshade can be capped on their own as long as there are enough enemies to fuel the bonuses. I know this quite well, being the proud owner of a Lv50 TriFormShade™.

I didn't mean to detract though, I meant to add the information that to a Kheldian, even "dead" team-mates are useful, with and without Vengeance and/or slotting. I think that's an important enough fact to mention in any discussion where the words 'Kheldian' and 'team' appear.