If you are trying to tank against enemies that are using a lot of end drain and you are having trouble, I would suggest a change in tactics - rather than try to tank for the team, either pull some back and eliminate them piecemeal or else adopt a more aggressive zerg strategy and mow them down before they can muster much drain on you.
In other words, if you are playing tri-form, try playing more towards damage than defense. Even if they do get some drain off, if you are killing them then you can swoop down and use Stygian Circle to recover endurance and health back to full. Not every team needs to have someone in a tanking role and if you find that you are having to fill that role (and it is not working out well), then consider whether the role needs to be filled at all - many times you may find the answer is no.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
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Open up with grav emanation to stun everything, and then lock down the offenders with gravity well. Also, Inky Aspect can be useful in those situations. I overlooked where you said that you don't have the extra slots to beef out gravitic emanation yet, but you should still use it when you need it.
Treat them like mezzing enemies.
From my guide:
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Mezzers If you read that and thought "Easy, just go dwarf," then shame on you. You're bad and you should feel bad. Remember what you learned in Phase Three: you are all forms at all times. Thinking any other way limits your options; options are power. There are a hundred ways to deal with mezzing enemies, and dwarf only covers about six of them. Mez them first. You have Gravity Well, a heavy hitting hold, and the means to single out that mezzer through stealth or TP foe if you took those powers. You also have Gravitic Emanation, one hell of a ranged stun for when there are multiple mezzing enemies. You may also have inky aspect if most or all of the minions are mezzers. If it's a mezzing boss, a healthy stack of stuns from aspect and emanation will do the trick. Unchain Essence can stun too. Sacrifice Fluffy. You have pets that follow you. Either stealth or teleport past the enemy group and let fluffy take the mez. You might hurt his feelings, but that's fine because he's already a tortured ball of angst you ripped from a whimpering, delectable soul. How much worse can he really feel? Phase in. I mentioned it has a punitively long activation time, so it doesn't work as an escape, but if you took the power, you can use Nebulous Form before you jump into the group. Toggle it up, run in and let the first volley of attacks on you do nothing. Wait for the mezzer to waste that crippling shot, then toggle off and wreck his day with your own hold or stun combo. Kill them first. You have some very heavy hitting attacks from nova, especially if you carry a mire from the last mob. In fact, I've even run ahead to the next mob to saturate a mire, only to run back in nova and feed the mezzer his teeth. Yet another option is to open up with a (mired) Quasar. Get inspired. Seriously, you have inspirations. You should be killing so many enemies that you will have trouble keeping an empty tray. Either a break free or a few purples should keep you mez free long enough to kill two full groups of enemies. Please look here for some handy methods to making the inspirations you want. Wait it out. Generally, this is a bad idea, but you can always just wait for the mez to wear off. Maybe you don't want to waste time shifting into dwarf and then back into nova. Maybe you simply want to cackle madly while the enemies feebly attack your stunned yet impervious body, all the while getting pelted by your three floating furious fluffy friends. Eclipse is not a toggle, so the resistance it grants will not suppress while you are mezzed. Die. Ha, you probably think I'm kidding. Little hint: Mez and debuffs go away when you die, and Stygian Return gives you ten full seconds of glorious, unhindered retribution. |
Where to now?
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Dechs Kaison:
I read your guide about a week ago. Great stuff. But unfortunately, most of your advice about dealing with mezzers is not available to me at my level, and even at 50, will not be available when running lower-level TF/SFs, but I'll do what I can. Ideally, I would be on a team where this is a non-issue, but I often find myself soloing of late.
Seems everyone who isn't level 50 would rather run AE farms that actually play the game.
Unfortunately enddrain is weakness we have. You can look forward to having that weakness all the way to 50, although certain powers and tactics like others have mentioned will help.
The Inspiration Maker's Guide [i12] UPDATED with POPMENUS and Movement Binds!
A Flash in the Dark: The Electric/Ninjitsu Stalker [i23]
Kheldian Inspiration Macros UPDATED with POPMENUS and Movement Binds!
Guide to the Katana~Ninja Blade/Electric [i23]
Quote:
I suspected as much. Just wanted to make sure there wasn't something I was missing, especially regarding IOs. I still find all sort of neat IO bonuses I didn't know existed. Which is why in the (hopefully near) future, I'll be posting a Kheldian build here so someone can tell me why I wasted slots here and should have put them there for such-and-such enhancement and all that jazz.
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Originally Posted by Microcosm
Unfortunately enddrain is weakness we have. You can look forward to having that weakness all the way to 50, although certain powers and tactics like others have mentioned will help.
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I think the title pretty much spells it out. Fighting enemies with lots End Drain (Freakshow, Mu)seems impossible on my Warshade, unless I'm in a group where someone else is tanking or giving an End Drain resistance buff.
Any advice for dealing with End draining enemies when I'm the closest thing my team has to a tank and we have no End Drain resistance, or when soloing? Hoping at higher levels I'll be able to lock enemies down with Gravitic Emanation long enough that it won't matter, but right now, I don't have the slots for it (level 29).
Should I just shun and avoid these villain groups until higher level when my Mez powers have more umph?