How do you handle your Warshade on BAF/Lambda?
I am a big fan for an all human PB; however for the BAF and LAM I spent a few mil and now use a Tri Form build. 90% of the time I am in Nova Form shooting from the sky unless I need to take agro from the ambushes and I switch to Dwarf on a BAF. On a LAM I mainly use Dwarf build until the final AV I rotate back and forth between Nova and Dwarf.
Proton Sentry Peacebringer:lvl 50+++ - Human Build / Triform Build
Quasar Sentry Warshade:lvl 50+- Human Build / Triform Build
Red Katipo Arachnos Soldier:lvl 50+++ - Crab Build / Bane Build
Black Katipo Arachnos Widowlvl 50+++ - Fortunata Build / Night Widow Build
I play a tri-form PB, so my MO is different. BAF, I usually nova form during the prison breakout and human/dwarf during the AV fights. Lambda, I
Usually in nova form as that form has the stealth IO and the manuverability to keep up with Praetor White running.
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Those are dumb leaders. Try sneaking off every time you need to eclipse, just before the current group of enemies dwindles. You should be clearing groups more than once every ninety seconds so you'll only do this once every few groups. If the leader is still a pain in the hindtentacles, just say you're taking the alpha strike like a good tank. If anyone argues you're not a tank, send them my way.|
Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
The problem I'm having though is that the league leaders seem to all insist that nobody jumps to the next group,
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Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
Not to mention the end of Lambda when there no minions to be found and I'm making purple and orange inspirations like a madman just to stay alive. I feel so inferior blasting at this epic boss in Nova and firing off Judgement when it's up with no eclipse and no double mire, and unless I have two or three blue inspirations handy no quasar since stygian circle is useless without bodies.. Not to mention no unchain essence for the same reason.
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Repeat as needed.
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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.
Those leaders are probably insisting that everyone stays together because of the sextuple-secret probation 'activity system' for rewards. Sneaking off to attack other spawns may be a good way to get booted from the league for 'cheating' in the form of 'tagging' in this case - heading away to aoe another spawn is an early (and disproven, but still popular) 'exploit' of the rewards system. Because said rewards system is cloaked in secrecy, nobody really knows how it works, and so rumors like 'tagging' run rampant, and people are starting to move on to social punishments for behaviors that look like tagging, even though numerous characters have valid play strategies (like warshades) that do something similar to it.
People take rewards very seriously in MMORPGs.
I call the system "sextuple secret probation" because it doesn't tell us we're being measured, it doesn't tell us what we're being measured on, it doesn't tell us how we're doing at the time, it doesn't tell us how well we need to do, it doesn't tell us what we need to do, and we might not be told when or how it's changed.
It's created exactly this kind of uncertainty and hostile social atmosphere around the trials and leagues as described; I would in fact even be wary about attacking the shipments without permission or instructions to, because generally speaking 'kangaroo courts' where you have no chance of defending yourself from even a baseless accusation are going to be the rule rather than the exception.
Check out this thread in the dev corner for the detalis, and add your feedback on it.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
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I just didn't want to risk the alienation that Flux mentions below you- I play on the Protector server, a fairly small community and I'd like to avoid pissing anyone off lest I get black listed from trials. I agree 100% with Flux that it's extremely odd the way people are about it, but it is what it is I guess.|
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Those are dumb leaders. Try sneaking off every time you need to eclipse, just before the current group of enemies dwindles. You should be clearing groups more than once every ninety seconds so you'll only do this once every few groups. If the leader is still a pain in the hindtentacles, just say you're taking the alpha strike like a good tank. If anyone argues you're not a tank, send them my way.
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I'm going to try explaining myself ahead of time on the next trial I run so that people know I'm not intentionally being a jerk or trying to nerf their rewards- I need to buff off the groups before 10 scrappers flatten them.
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Oh, there are still minions to be found. Every time a new shipment of weapons arrives, there's two fresh spawns with it. Run to one of the spawns and load up an eclipse and mire. Now, turn your tentacles around and go feed Marauder his teeth. That group of enemies will soon catch up to you and be smashed to tiny bits by you and your team. Now you have corpses to explode and reanimate. Repeat as needed. |
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Especially on a smaller server, hopefully you'll be playing with people you know (or at least some of them), and be okay. If you're not playing with people you know, I suppose a quick explanation wouldn't hurt, though.|
Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
I just didn't want to risk the alienation that Flux mentions below you- I play on the Protector server, a fairly small community and I'd like to avoid pissing anyone off lest I get black listed from trials. I agree 100% with Flux that it's extremely odd the way people are about it, but it is what it is I guess.
I'm going to try explaining myself ahead of time on the next trial I run so that people know I'm not intentionally being a jerk or trying to nerf their rewards- I need to buff off the groups before 10 scrappers flatten them. |
The only real thing I've seen people get annoyed about is going AFK for no reason. I don't 1 star people very often, but I did so for one guy that was AFK and faceplanted for an entire BAF run. I knew he hadn't DC'd, and he didn't say anything about needing to get the door or something. I know real life is more important than a game, though, so I'm always fine if someone has to head out for a few minutes and say so (though if it's a long stretch, you would hope they wouldn't have hopped into a trial in the first place).
Guide: Tanking, Wall of Fire Style (Updated for I19!), and the Four Rules of Tanking
Story Arc: Belated Justice, #88003
Synopsis: Explore the fine line between justice and vengeance as you help a hero of Talos Island bring his friend's murderer to justice.
Grey Pilgrim: Fire/Fire Tanker (50), Victory
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I had actually run into this kind of issue before in high end content; a fair amount of it (Khan, STF, etc.) turns into "team against solo AV" fights at the end, where theres not really a lot of leverage for a Warshade to use after the first minute or two. I have to take comfort in the fact that although its somewhat boring, on an average team mix with the Kheldian inherent if you have a high enough recharge/recovery build you can do a seamless attack chain from Nova that compares reasonably well with most blasters. And by that time in the fight, apart from the tank its pretty much down to damage + debuffs, so you are bringing as much as a scrapper or blaster would. People don't usually go out of their way to recruit scrappers and blasters, but having a couple on the team is good, and at other parts of the TF/trial you can contribute a lot more. |
Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
This is the first time I've EVER felt useless as my Warshade, I plow through any other content I've done on x8 all by myself.
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AVs just aren't the best situation for a Warshade's strength, which lies in lots of weaker foes. They aren't terrible, just not the best.
This is pretty off topic, but does anyone know if there's a functional key bind out there to start in human form > dwarf > dwarf mire> human mire and end up in Nova?
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You can't execute that many powers with a single keybind.|
Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
This is pretty off topic, but does anyone know if there's a functional key bind out there to start in human form > dwarf > dwarf mire> human mire and end up in Nova?
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To do that, however, I would press the following keys.
E > E > Alt+E > Q
The first E puts me in dwarf, the second queues up Dwarf Mire. Alt+E drops out of dwarf and executes Human Mire, and Q puts me in nova.
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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If you ever need a trial team, I'll help you out. Protector is my main server for the reason of low pop. Causes less alg on my slow computer.
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Originally Posted by TwoHeadedBoy
I just didn't want to risk the alienation that Flux mentions below you- I play on the Protector server, a fairly small community and I'd like to avoid pissing anyone off lest I get black listed from trials.
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The one part of your guide I haven't been able to match into my play style is your tray arrangements :/ I have my Nova powers in tray two, my dwarf powers in tray 3, my incarnate powers/vengeance/ouro portal in tray 4, and my human powers in tray 1. I actually use the default setup of alt+1-0 for tray two powers and ctrl+1-0 for tray 3 powers. |
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
You can't execute that many powers with a single keybind.
To do that, however, I would press the following keys. E > E > Alt+E > Q The first E puts me in dwarf, the second queues up Dwarf Mire. Alt+E drops out of dwarf and executes Human Mire, and Q puts me in nova. |
I use 'p' to drop out of dwarf and hit stygian circle, and 'o' to drop out of Nova to hit stygian circle. I use 'l' to target the nearest dead enemy for unchain essence. I also use the 'shift' teleport bind.
I'm going to look up a bind to drop from Dwarf and execute human mire, much like the drop out of dwarf and hit stygian circle one I'm already using if there's no one key double mire.
edit: I just found this in the stickied binds thread
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The TRUE Double Mire! That's right - there's a true one. It's a double mire that you can execute with JUST ONE KEYSTROKE! Using this bind: /bind [key] "powexecauto Sunless Mire$$powexecname Black Dwarf Mire$$powexectoggleoff Black Dwarf$$gototray 1" you will immediately drop to human form and perform BOTH mires at the same time. BIG OL' HONKIN' CAVEAT!! This bind will put Sunless Mire on auto fire, meaning that it will fire automatically every time it charges. It works in this bind because it merely sets Sunless Mire to auto fire, which then fires all on its own when dwarf form is toggled off. Now the powexec_auto command toggles the autofire mechanism on and off, meaning that the second time you hit the bind it will only toggle the autofire on Sunless Mire off, and Sunless Mire won't fire. In short, if you hit it once, make sure you hit it again before you jump back up into dwarf form. Just note one more thing, however - don't double-tap the key in rapid succession, or you'll only get one mire. YMMV. |
One thing I'm surprised about not seeing mentioned -
Most of BAF is an absolute dream for Warshades, for the simple reason of just being able to nip over to Nightstar's corpse for a fresh Fluffy. No effort involved - and it makes the escapee phase just that much easier. (Lag? Who cares? My 2-3 fluffies are on the same timer as the server. If I can't fire, they can!)
Plus, running on Victory the other night, the team leader decided to put a Warshade on each team - and have the 'shades (with some controllers) as the adds team.
Sick, sick fun.
Lambda wise - yeah, I don't seem to run out of things to mire from.
PB-side, there's a fair amount of form switching (come to think of it, I haven't run my humanform-only PB in these. Concentrating on my Earth/FF and Elec/Elec.) AOEs (mostly nova) near doors, if I'm running along paths, Photon Seekers ahead of running groups and I do a fair job with the remnants. Lam, it's mostly Nova/AOEing, form dependant on whoever else is near in the acids/grenades phase, and mostly nova or dwarf when hitting Marauder.
And don't forget, you *can* use your judgement (literally) in forms. Dwarf Nuke time!
Oh yeah I chain gun pets off Nightstar for the escaped prisoners phase.. I feel like a Mastermind with my 3 Fluffies and Lore pets 
99% Of the time, I'm the only Warshade on the trials I run. I've taken to teleporting from spawn to spawn in the beginning stages of both for optimal eclipse/mire's.
Pyro, what characters of yours might I recognize? If you've been doing trials on Protector lately, chances are I have run into you at some point.
My favorite thing to do on baf trial is to run over to nightstars body and make a fluffy out of her
Some (powerleveld to 50) noob thought i was rezing her
And told to stop doing that
Some times when i am bored of playing the same mission over and over i go nova form and set blaster to autofire folowing a blaster around
Laserblitz
"Kicking digital a$$ and taking "trademarked by NCsoft" names since 2007"
If you see a rainbow costume or named "Emcc" it is me
"I am the Incarnation of Death, and your souls exist only to feed my hunger for POWER."
My Tri-form WS ... Ms Terry ... runs BAF in Human Form, reserving Nova and Dwarf for "if needed or advantageous" situations. Prisoner Escape Phase is PURE HUMAN ... in which I can slaughter Wholesale, rather than Retail. Turn on the 3 Shields, Inky Aspect and Orbiting Death. Stand right up next to the South Center Door Spawn, touching the door (so your Orbiting Death Radius extends "into" the Door). Use Eclipse, Human Mire, Stygian Circle when recharged and appropriate. Unload Judgement at own discretion.
Orbiting Death will be ticking for damage LONG before the Prisoners spawn out of the Doors! With (Human) Mire powering up my Orbiting Death, it is actually VERY COMMON for spawning Prisoners to "fade out dead" just as they run out the door ... and not leave a corpse on the ground beside me. They actually DIE before they can exit the Door, if they're a Minion! The corpses I stack up around my ankles are mainly the Lieutenants and Bosses ... who manage to live long enough to actually get out the Door!
And if anyone tosses a Caltrop Patch around where I'm "holding court" on my Door ... NOTHING escapes the riptearshredmanglemaimbendfoldspindlemutilatedecap itateidevouryoursoulandlaughmaniacally of Orbiting Death. 
On the Siege phases, I go park on the spawn point for Adds ... in Human Form ... and just Wash, Rinse, Repeatedlyripyourheadoffanddevouryoursoul every 30 seconds or so. Inky Aspect is great for neutralizing any Minion class mobs in the spawn group. It's easily possible to saturate Eclipse and Human Mire at the time of Adds Spawn so as to be an impossibly powerful Human Form Soul Eater full time. And if there's little to no knockback, there's plenty of corpses lying around for you to Stygian Circle.
BAF is a "happy place" for my Warshade.
Lambda tends to need my Tri-form talents more.
Street Sweeping and Courtyard Clearing and Turret Toppling are all done in Nova Form (it just makes things easier). Indoors, I switch to Human Form, dial up the 3 Shields, and go Cloak and Sprint Stealth Proc to make my collection run in "Sneaky Mode" to avoid drawing aggro. During the collection phase, I may switch to Nova or Dwarf Form(s) as needed by the circumstances and aggro. Marauder Phase is back to Nova Form and using single target attacks only (on Marauder) from altitude so as to not draw ground-bound aggro onto myself ... allowing me to "plink" away at Marauder with impunity (so long as he doesn't THROW A ROCK AT ME). If I get Mezzed ... Dwarf Form ... and retribution follows.
It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...
Ok the above reply is practically a perfect guide on how to use a WS in the trials
Thanks
Laserblitz
"Kicking digital a$$ and taking "trademarked by NCsoft" names since 2007"
If you see a rainbow costume or named "Emcc" it is me
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I find that the most effective BAF trials use choke points instead of doors... Personally, I like to stay in nova form during prisoners, it's where my ranged blasts are. I always make sure to drop to human when extraction is up, and maybe use grav emanation.|
Originally Posted by Redlynne
"I am the Incarnation of Death, and your souls exist only to feed my hunger for POWER."
My Tri-form WS ... Ms Terry ... runs BAF in Human Form, reserving Nova and Dwarf for "if needed or advantageous" situations. Prisoner Escape Phase is PURE HUMAN ... in which I can slaughter Wholesale, rather than Retail. Turn on the 3 Shields, Inky Aspect and Orbiting Death. Stand right up next to the South Center Door Spawn, touching the door (so your Orbiting Death Radius extends "into" the Door). Use Eclipse, Human Mire, Stygian Circle when recharged and appropriate. Unload Judgement at own discretion. Orbiting Death will be ticking for damage LONG before the Prisoners spawn out of the Doors! With (Human) Mire powering up my Orbiting Death, it is actually VERY COMMON for spawning Prisoners to "fade out dead" just as they run out the door ... and not leave a corpse on the ground beside me. They actually DIE before they can exit the Door, if they're a Minion! The corpses I stack up around my ankles are mainly the Lieutenants and Bosses ... who manage to live long enough to actually get out the Door! |
I've found that as I got used to the trials, my Warshade became much more effective during them than when I originally posted this. I had only just started running them at the time and just didn't understand how they work as well as I do now.
During BAF, the beginning is easy... I like to be the first or one of the first in every group. I find that there isn't much point in trying to stack mires because by the time I finish the clunky and unnecessarily long dwarf animations, the group has already been steamrolled and the rest of the league is half way through the next one. Usually I'll just eclipse>human mire and then alternate quasar, unchain essence, and judgement every few groups. On a smaller league that isn't steamrolling I will stack mires and nova blast.
Nightstar is easy... Buff off of the adds, and maybe even concentrate on them exclusively if no one else is proactively doing so. If I'm not needed in that department, I'll just use them for buff food and then beat up the AV.
Same goes for Siege, and I already mentioned how I handle prisoners.
The beginning of Lambda is the same idea as the beginning of BAF. I used to HATE the sabotage phase but now that I'm used to it I like it... Only on my Warshade, though. My blaster gets destroyed in there.
I've actually found myself soloing crates on more than one occasion- They're all surrounded by fresh bodies and the entire phase is swimming with a constant supply of veng bait. It's pretty much regularly scheduled warshade programming, constant food for eclipse paired with vengeance is good enough for me.
The end of Lambda still annoys me, but that's only because I hate running around like a lunatic chasing after Marauder. There's still stuff to buff off of, but I find the whole ordeal to be a gigantic hassle.
I've found BAF and Lambda to be a joy for my Tri-Form WS.
For BAF, (my favorite I think...), I normally get to the next spawn before the tank (or anyone sometimes) in the 40 WW's stage. Find plenty of EE's with the adds from the groups and Nightstar. I also can usually solo a door, which is a great feeling! I use Nova plus pets, and pull out EE's when they recharge. With the AoE's in nova, nothing really makes it too far other than LT's. I might try the Orbiting Death trick once though .
For Lambda, I normally try to get to the next spawn at the same time as the tank, or just before. That way, I can get a full mire/eclipse. Most tanks will leave the previous spawn just a little early, so that the next spawn can be controlled before others take on that extra aggro. I SS/Stealth/TP around the gathering stage, and like others have said, there's plenty of eclipse/mire fodder in that stage. During Marauder, I normally just Nova it. Because he's jumping around so much, it's just easier to follow him.
@Nurse Donna
You can find me on Infinity, Exalted, Liberty and sometimes on Virtue or Freedom
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Originally Posted by Redlynne
"I am the Incarnation of Death, and your souls exist only to feed my hunger for POWER."
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Originally Posted by Laserblitz_Emcc
Ok the above reply is practically a perfect guide on how to use a WS in the trials
Thanks |
It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...
I finally upgraded my machine a bit so I could run the Incarnate Trials, and did so for quite a while yesterday. I definitely find BAF more fun than Lambda, I make sure to pay attention when the reinforcements come in for eclipse/mires/et cetera. The problem I'm having though is that the league leaders seem to all insist that nobody jumps to the next group, but I can never get sufficient buffs running in a pack because the groups are cleared so quickly that way...
Not to mention the end of Lambda when there no minions to be found and I'm making purple and orange inspirations like a madman just to stay alive. I feel so inferior blasting at this epic boss in Nova and firing off Judgement when it's up with no eclipse and no double mire, and unless I have two or three blue inspirations handy no quasar since stygian circle is useless without bodies.. Not to mention no unchain essence for the same reason.
This is the first time I've EVER felt useless as my Warshade, I plow through any other content I've done on x8 all by myself. Just in case it's relevant and I'm missing something that could help, here is my build. (Perma hasten, perma eclipse, ok s/l and melee defense)
http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...4CE01F78D5F850