Soul Mastery

I am assuming the FX of Soul Mastery's Dark Blast and Shadow Meld match that of Dark Blast (from Darkness Mastery) and Cloak of Darkness (from Dark Armor).

Is this a correct assumption?



EDIT: Also...I notice that the Dark Blast from Soul Mastery is significantly more powerful than the Dark Blast from Darkness Mastery...is this true?

I haven't seen Shadow Meld in action, but I can confirm that all the FX for the Soul Mastery attacks are *different* from their analogs in Dark Blast. They're generally accompanied with a glowy swirly effect on the hands.

the FX are slightly different, the general attack animations are the same

shadow meld-the graphics of it essentially turn you into what i think looks like the dark servant pet for about 15 sec (if your a stalker this power also removes hidden status which sucks)

dark blast for stalkers and scrappers ive also heard to be quite good due to the fast rech and fairly good dmg, gloom is the best power in soul mastery for tank and brute (dont know if scrappers can get too)

the soul storm power in soul mastery uses the same animation as GWs unique attack but its disappointing since its only a mag 3 hold (which makes sense balance wise but still disappointing)

I use Dark Blast on my DM/Regen Scrapper as my 4th attack power, and love it. The DMG is solid, and with all of the recharge I stack on that toon, I can spam it all day long if I need/want to stay at range. The utility it offers to a ST, melee toon is just great. I feel similarly about Soul Storm, though that I use more for fun than utility.

Gloom is not available for Scrappers.

Shadow Meld, at least for my scrapper, is fantastic. It lasts 15 seconds, but is up again in about 45, so there is only about 30 secs of downtime even if you don't have anything else. A VERY useful power.

No they dont look the same

The soul mastery's dark blast doesnt use the same particles.

Also shadow meld gives you little clouds all over you...for its listed duration....its start up animation is the same as phase shift...thus its an anchor start up.

You dont look like a shadow servant....wow...people really have never used the power....nor does it seam you have ever seen anyone use it.

Soul mastery uses kind of white and rainbow like particle effects for most things....instead of darkness particles. A few exceptions are shadow meld...which uses grey clouds....and the nifty dark fireball which i forget the name for off hand(it looks like a firball but the flames and everything is black...i like it alot)

Anywise hope this helps.

Actualy thought i should add this in...but

About looking like a dark servant....interestingly enough the power that makes you look like a dark servant is used by warshades.....they have a power that is their form of phase shift....it has the same start up animation as phase shift and shadow meld....but it makes the player look like a dark purple shadow servant..

I think its the only power i have seen that is closest to make player look like a shadow servant...
Interestingly enough the warshade power gives extra jump ability and lasts for a little longer then shadow meld.

In retro-spect...i truly think there was some plan for shadow meld originaly but somewhere along the line they didnt do what ever they had planned...thus it is in the state it is now...too bad it couldnt be slotted with phase shift enhancements to make it last longer.

I find Shadowmeld on my BS/Regen scrapper to be far lighter in color than my Dark Servant on my Fire/Dark corrupter. On my scrapper, it makes you far more 'wispy' than looking like Pigpen/Fluffy. What is kind of cook is that if you are wearing Incarnate radiant pieces of costume, they stay 'lit up' when you shift into Shadowmeld form. Same for your halo if you have that.

Of course, being /Regen, I'm alternating between MOG and Shadowmeld quite often when soloing AV's so you may want to be comfortable with the look of the power before taking it if that matters to you. But as a /Regen, I think the defense is far more valuable than anything you lose from the look.

Here's my namesake demonstrating Shadowmeld.

The first image is (I think) a Dark Servent in its basic form and colors (and with some annoying red thingies, sorry about that); you'll note he has some glowing eye stuff going on there, almost hidden by the red, he's looking off to the left.

The next three images show what Shadowmeld looks like as you activate it (please ignore the Hasten pom-poms there), while you're a shadow (I guess) and the aftereffects which last some seconds.



I think this costume 5 is wearing might have a slight blue glow-aura which you can see inside the cloud, but this should still give you some idea what SM looks like. I think the textures are different, DS being rather "spotty" while SM is more wispy - plus no radiating stuff at your feet like DS has.

huh, i dont remember shadowmeld being that purple colored, when i last used it was almost solid black for me, and i feel like i looked more like a dark armor guy with the cloak of darkness or dark servant without all his aura stuff going on

as i mentioned earlier though the last i used this was when epic pools first got their 5th power