How to take alphas as a solo WS

I finally got to 50 and I am having problems. Mainly, I can't solo. The vast majority of time to 50, I was in groups, and even just duo'ing I felt like a shadowy goddess. As soon as I am on my own, however, I turn to rubbish.

And it's purely when encountering a new group of enemies. (On 0x8 so I get a lot of target and, hopefully, a lot of corpses) If I have an Extracted Essence even I don't do so bad, but running in and hitting Eclipse even will kill me, but if I shift to Dwarf so I don't die-- I have no AOEs and not enough damage to kill things quickly enough to take advantage of Stygian Circle.

If I run in leading with a Gravitic Emanation or Dark Detonation, I scatter the mobs and am not able to get enough with Eclipse to survive.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong (leading with Inky Aspect and Orbiting Death on) or if I need some defense slotted where I don't yet, but I feel like the world's crappiest Warshade when I'm by myself in a mission and start racking up the debt.

Try leading with Shadow Cloak on so they don't hit you before Eclipse hits them.

Gravitic Emanation should be an easy enough cone to push them all in the same direction, I do it all the time. Target someone near the back of the group and walk up to stun them, that way you get the max targets. You'll throw ten of them back, and even with poor Eclipse slotting, you should be able to hit 7 of the 10 for capped resistance.

Warshades don't take alphas.

Warshades GIVE alphas.

Kill everything before it can attack you. Alternatively, Gravitic Emanation>Eclipse, and then kill everything before it can attack you.

So this weekend I took your guys' advice and tried to be a better Warshade--

but I ended up with the taste of dirt & asphalt in my mouth again-- repeatedly.

Since I can't get Mids running on a Mac as far as I can tell (without buying a copy of windows and dual booting) here is a really crappy rundown of my power choices and where I put my slots. Nothing has any IO Sets in them because-- I honestly don't know what's good and there's too many choices to scroll through in-game.

I have tons of Veteran Freespecs, so I don't mind having to burn them to get things right.

Shadow Bolt
O
Gravimetric Snare
OOO
Dark Nova
OOO
Sunless Mire
OOOOOO
Gravity Well
OOO
Gravitic Emanation
O
Unchain Essence
O
Dark Detonation
O
Dark Extraction
OOO
Ebon Eye
O

Absorption
OOO
Orbiting Death
O
Shadow Cloak
O
Black Dwarf
OOO
Stygian Circle
OOO
Shadow Step
O
Stygian Return
O
Eclipse
OOOOOO
Penumbral Shield
O
Inky Aspect
OOO

Dark Nova Bolt
OOOOOO
Dark Nova Blast
OOOOOO
Dark Nova Emanation
OOOOOO
Dark Nova Detonation
OOOOOO

Dark Dwarf Strike
OOOOO
Dark Dwarf Smite
OOOOO
Dark Dwarf Drain
OOO
Dark Dwarf Mire
OOOOOO
Dark Dwarf Step
O
Dark Dwarf Antagonize
O

Swift
O
Hurdle
O
Health
OOO
Stamina
OOO


Combat Jumping
O
Super Jump
O
Spring Attack
O

Hasten
OOO

I've never seen a build posted quite like that, hah.

The amount of slots per power ultimately isn't going to give us any useful information because we can't see what you have in there. The lack of mids on a mac is a bummer and I wish there was an alternative for it- That being said, all we can really do to help you out is give basic slotting advice.

Have you read The MFing Warshade? That's probably the best advice I can give you with the information you've given.

Yes, that guide is what turned me around on what powers I should be taking and using instead of how I originally was leveling. I didn't show what I have slotted because it was already a pain to copy as-is and it's just an eclectic collection of 35-50 IOs. What I would like help with is being told if I put too many or too few in certain things and what sort of IO sets I should be getting with all the merits I have piled up and where they should go.

"Look, we all know what the purple sets are and the best places to put them."

That's a quote from the MF Warshade guide. The problem is-- I don't know what the best purple sets are or where to put them.

I know what they are on terms of being the rarest IO sets and am aware of their cost. I was using that as an example to show that, outside of Luck of the Gambler (which boosts recharge rate) I don't know what constitutes a good set, nor how many of any set is optimal. What sets have good procs that I need? Where should they go? Do I need to get just the one or should I be looking for getting a certain set bonus? These are the sorts of questions I have and am looking for advice on.

I can't, as stated, just boot up Mid's and see all the information and make practice builds, so I'm reaching out to the community for help.

For your Nova attacks, only slot the AOE's. 5 Positron's Blast (skip Dam/Range) is a good choice for both. Put a Force Feedback +Recharge proc in the cone too.

Dwarf is your best bet for ST damage (AV fights) on a Tri-Form build so I would say put 4 Kinetic Combat sets (everything but the KD proc,) a Nucleolus Exposure, and any ST damage proc in Dwarf Strike and Smite. 4 Kinetic Combats (again, skip the proc) and 2 Touch of the Nictus is a decent way to slot Dwarf Drain. For both Dwarf Mire and Sunless Mire, use 5-6 Obliterations.

Gravity Well should be slotted the same way as Dwarf Strike and Smite. Gravitic Emanation would be fine with 5 Stupefy (everything but the KB proc.) Put a Steadfast KB Protection and a Steadfast 3% Defense somewhere- Absorption and Gravity Shield probably.

Dwarf itself can be slotted with 1-3 regular Resistance IO's. Nova itself should be 1 slotted with a Performance Shifter: Chance for +Endurance.

You shouldn't have Detonation or Unchain Essence on a Tri Form build because Nova is going to dish out more AOE than those powers- Unless you want Unchain for the stun component, in which case you should still slot it with 5 Positron's Blast (skip the Dam/Range.)

Dark Extraction needs to be 6 slotted in most cases. 4 Expedient Reinforcement (never use the resistance bonus IO) and two Soulbound Allegiance- Dam/Rech and Chance for Buildup, is the best slotting to use. If you can't afford the SBA purples, use comparable pieces from Call to Arms. The goal is to ED cap Damage and Recharge for Extraction and retain decent accuracy values.

You don't need the leaping pool for a tri form build. I suggest taking Concealment (pick up Invisibility and Grant Invisibility for 2 free LOTG mules- One slot them all and never use them.) Your last LOTG's should be coming from a 1 slotted Shadow Cloak, Maneuvers, and Vengeance. You can also 2 slot Tactics with Rectified Reticles to stack with the other defense choices I suggested.

Stygian Circle should either be 1 slotted with a Recharge IO, 2 Slotted with Efficacy Adaptors for the HP bonus, or 3-4 slotted with Performance Shifters for the HP and Recovery bonus. This all depends on your build though.

You definitely want Quasar on a Tri Form build. 5-6 slot it with Obliterations, double stack your Mires every time it's up, and destroy everything. One small blue and Stygian Circle, and your end bar is full again. Tri Formers don't have to worry about toggles dropping for obvious reasons.

I don't suggest slotting Gravimetric Snare for you. Drop it for Gravity Shield and use it for one of the Steadfast IO's I mentioned earlier.

You might want to 6 slot Dwarf Antagonize with either Perfect Zinger or Mocking Beratement for the Defense and Recharge bonuses.

See, one of the reasons I don't give specifics is because out of all of the advice THB just threw out there, I only agree with about three lines.

That doesn't make his advice wrong or even bad. It's all good stuff, it's just not the way I have gone. It works for him. My slotting works for me.

I wanted to try taking each and every single one of THB's recommendations and put them into Mids' ... and see what was left over in terms of flexibility when trying to DO THEM ALL in the same build. Answer ... NOT MUCH. I mean, sure, you can get Smash/Lethal Defense up to 32.8%, and +82.5% Global Recharge (not including Hasten) ... but then you've basically only got 6 slots left over to make a Human Form attack chain out of (less if you want Perma-Hasten and Perma-Eclipse!). Have a look ...

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Suffice to say ... that's not the foundation for a build I'd want to be playing ...

This is one of the problems I find with "laundry lists" like this, where individually the recommendations are good ... but in aggregate they just don't "add up" into a viable build that would be fun to play (imho).

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

Thanks, THB. That'll help me a lot with making intelligent decisions on what I want to do.


Redlynne, I'm not sure what you expect me to do to view your suggestions.

There's a thread about running MHD on mac using something called "Wineskin", although it's apparently not quite perfect, and you'd have to have someone make a copy of their MHD directory for you. Or you might be able to get it working with a linux VM and WINE; it used to not quite work, but it doesn't sound like anyone's reported trying since 2009.

THB: No slots in either of the Nova single-target attacks? Personally I kinda like having something there for when I need to do the "Sneaky Sky Squid" routine. Although after looking at another build that only slotted one of them, I'm considering that. It's not as though I don't already use the AoE atttacks even when I'm only facing one enemy.

Another thread here (which I can't find now) gave me the idea of using Nebulous Form as an alpha absorber. Stealth in, turn it on, wait a moment to be sure the phasing has definitely kicked in, turn off stealth, wait a little bit, then drop the phasing and Eclipse. Takes long enough to set up that I'd prefer not to do it unless Eclipse has worn off and I have no defensive inspirations, and pets kind of mess it up. (It's also quite embarassing when I do those steps in the wrong order...) Works pretty well for when I'm starting 'cold' though.

-Morgan.

There are situations in the game where you'd want to be at range. Battle Maiden on the Apex TF comes to mind, as well as any situation where you're up against a hard target without minions to crunch. Teams don't often get the "keep those minions alive for my mire" playstyle. No matter how often they're told (grrr...).

That said, six-slotting the single target attacks is way overkill. You can get the recharge bonus from other sets in better places. At most throw an extra slot in each attack and slot with 2 dam/range HO's apiece and call it a day.