Microcosm

You can only do one toggleon command and one auto command per bind activation. The reason hasten doesnt activate is because of the gleaming bolt part. There may be some issue with ordering commands around your toggleons, but regardless only one will work per key press (if it's already on it will go to the next one). I think your toggleoffs might need to come after your toggleons, as I remember something about the game parsing the bind right to left...

Just a heads up, I know Nova Emanation says it does knockback, but it doesn't. This is a long-standing (like since khelds were introduced) text bug in the power. Only the Detonation one does kb.

I was reading in another topic something about Savage melee and learned it gets end redux and recharge from stacks of frenzy, which I somehow had missed before. I also realized I skipped Savage when testing all the other stalkers with multiple AoEs. Now, with all the others I did a proc build and used /Electric to accomplish that because of its end redux and recharge. What I realized when I saw that about Savage was that I could possibly pull off a sustainable proc build with /bio to also get the +damage there. Turns out that does indeed work. I can sustain a chain with Savage/bio without Ageless and slotting any end redux in the the attacks, which is pretty special. Standard incarnates (for me): Musc core, Ageless core, Degen core, Pyron core, Assault core (not toggled). Times ranged pretty consistently between 1:41 and 1:48 for 483 - 507 dps. This makes it competitive with DB/Elec, which had higher highs and lower lows (probably because of significant proc rates for Build Up refreshes on DB). It was nice that it was much more consistent with that damage. The chain I used started with Water Spout when up, then AS > Hem > SS > MS > SS. There were sometimes small gaps and sometimes not, depending on the recharge from various sources, which I don't think I could get rid of while keeping a proc build. One downside I noticed was that it was much less survivable against +4 Rikti mobs than any combination of /elec, but especially than DB, Ice and Spine which have good knockdown (added chance to KD in Spine Burst and can to Throw Spines). I didn't die against any of the mobs, but it got close a few times. It might be because I don't know how to use /bio's proactive tools as well, and I also (purposefully) stayed in offensive adaptation. I also felt the AoE was not as good as it looks like it should be. AoE felt much slower than the above three sets.

Very much like the concept, as I have been wanting to get a Granite tank that I didn't feel was 'gimped' for a loooong time. I went on test with your second version of the build with the widow, replacing Dark Obliteration with Haymaker, and made its incarnates Musc core, Degen core, Ageless core, and Assault hybrid (not toggled). Ran a couple of pylons and got in the 280s on dps. Not shabby at all 🙂 I still find myself thinking what it could be doing with a different primary which might be just almost as survivable, but it's a good idea.

Ebon eye in Nova is indeed the best thing you've got in Nova, but it's not as good as dwarf mire per animation. What you said about mids is not right unless you've got a strange version of mids with a bug. I just went on test server to check, dwarf mire behaves exactly as mids says it does. If you include the 45% damage buff in Nova then Nova eye just barely squeezes past dwarf mire, but as soon as you add any damage enhancements it goes back to favoring dwarf mire (per animation) because that 45% isn't enhanced. Couple that with the fact that the mire buffs all attacks following it, and it's no contest. Now that doesn't mean you can't do both, if you want to pay the price of an extra form shift like you have above. Really the most important thing for single target damage is to make sure you prioritize gravity well.

Ya I know it can be difficult to believe because nova is the "damage form", but if you do the math (or test it in game) you'll see what I'm talking about. Damage per animation is the key to "dps". Rotating your highest damage per animation attacks is how you maximize dps until you start getting procs involved. Using Arcanatime (to accurately represent animation times with server ticks), you get a dpa of 74.6 for Gravity Well as the highest available to a warshade. then you've got dwarf mire at 60.2 (I'm rounding, btw), then dwarf smite at 42.8, then cross punch (if with boxing and kick) at 42.2, shadow blast at 39.5, then you get to nova blast at 38.89. If you include the nova damage buff it jumps to 56.4, but that's not really apples to apples because we aren't counting damage from dwarf mire and is not base damage, but whatever. Shifting forms takes a single server tick now, so .132 seconds. If you roll two shifting times into the animation of Gravity Well (to account for going into dwarf once and out), it's still 66.7 dpa, still the strongest in the set so it pays for itself. I've spent a few hours on test server testing single target attack chains against pylons, and what I can tell you is that you will sit there til the end of time trying to take down a pylon in nova form even with a proc build. The best single target damage I've squeezed out of a warshade was with a procced human form, but disallows forms and doesn't do good AoE damage. A good compromise (to me) is to use one of these shifting chains so I can keep all the form utility and AoE. You should try it out; you can instant level yourself to 50 on test server and get whatever IOs/incarnates you need for free.

Ya that's a good point on the heal at lower levels. For the Nova part, I mean purely for single target damage. Nova is great for AoE damage. But for single target damage it drops in comparison to gravity well and dwarf mire when you look at damage per animation. This is probably only because the devs before shutdown revamped dwarf mire to significantly reduce its animation time in exchange for making it's duration shorter and part of an attack chain. The damage is really good for such a short animation (actually one of the best available to warshades). It actually pays off to use gravity well, then switch to dwarf for mire and a dwarf smite, then back to human for Cross Punch (ideally) or shadow blast before going back into gravity well. You can do more dps against a single target than this, but not by staying in Nova form.

I've not named my builds so I don't know without trying it, but you could make it a macro with the name "Dwarf" when you figure out which number it is. That way it will stay in your tray and you won't have to remember which number it is. (I think you might need to make the macros on each build).

Just fyi, in case you aren't aware, you don't have to go to a trainer to switch builds. You can use the command /selectbuild n where n is the number you want. On slotting triforms, yes, you get more powers than normal builds so there are fewer slots to spread across them. Multi-aspect IO's do help a lot, but it's also important to be aware of what actually needs more slots and what doesn't. For example, Stygian Circle is a great power, but if you've got some global recharge going it probably doesn't need more than the default slot. It's going to fill up your end and health every time with just a couple defeated enemies around, so don't waste extra slots on it. Another example, for IO'd builds where you've got all your set bonuses flowing, I generally don't add more than a couple slots to the nova AoE attacks and nothing to the single targets. Why? I'm realistically only using Nova in AoE situations, as a mix of Human and Dwarf attacks will do more dps against a single target. Dark Nova gives a tohit buff and its own damage buff of 45%, and if you maintain double mires (which you should be trying to do), let's assume hitting 9 out of the 10 possible enemies with both mires, you have huge amounts of +tohit and end up at +247.5% damage. With the Kheld ATO slotted there's another 13.5% buff in nova. You have a damage cap of +300% as a warshade, so you will only get benefit from 39% more damage, and realistically nothing from more acc. A single damage IO in those powers will exceed the damage cap for them. I should have enough recharge from my other set bonuses and end recovery from stygian circle that I don't need anything else in Nova attacks, so I can move those slots elsewhere and still have a fully functional Nova form for the use case where it is actually good.

You should pull it up in mids and turn on damage per animation time to get an idea of the relative damage of the powers. It's helpful more for determining full attack chains so you can focus on the best return for your animations. I can't really comment too much on the scrapper version of this though, as I will only play elec melee on a stalker to get the extra single target damage of AS.

Weak in single target? Chain Induction is the strongest attack electric has in damage per animation. it might feel weak because the animation is pretty fast. Or if you mean in aoe, it's easier to hit more enemies with Chain induction than with Jacob's Ladder.

For incarnate content. Incarnate trial mobs have higher tohit than normal, though I thought I remembered it being 56%, not 59%...

I read somewhere in the beta board that they were actually going to undo that and just hadn't ever gotten around to it yet... which makes sense as having multiple options is probably more of a pain in code maintenance.

Used a spine/elec stalker on test for a while, works really well. As a scrapper your single target will probably be painful, but you'll get two damage auras so there's that. With elec I recommend getting to s/l softcap and then proccing out the attacks with what you would have spent on end redux, as you don't need to slot for it at all with Energize + Power Sink.

I recently pylon tested a bunch of proc stalker builds for sets that have more than one aoe (I won't play one with a single or no aoe...). Spines surprised me by coming in at around number 4. This is while being probably one of the top two aoe stalkers. I have since made one on live.

Yep, icy bastion for sure. Almost all the crashing t9s are a guaranteed skip for me, except for electric armor's. Electric's gives the only toxic resistance in the otherwise-covered set. It also emits a mag two hold when it falls, which can be added to with the lockdown proc thanks to ppm changes for a mag four. This means it can hold bosses when it crashes, giving you a little time to do something other than die 🙂

It was done this way because when ice was given to stalkers they already had hibernate available in the Leviathan patron pool. Which is fantastic, because now you can have both plus the goodness that is waterspout 🙂

Oh, lol, forgot completely about taunt... Shows how useful it is I guess.

I mean, it's a bit much as it is, regardless of AS. You'd have to lose one more power though to placate, so you'd probably lose Titan sweep for that and either rend armor or follow through for the AS. Those are the main two single target powers helping Tw, so losing one for AS might mean less improvement than for some other sets.

Stalker Spine/Elec procced w/Waterspout and same incarnates. Probably the last stalker I will test as I don't care for the sets with just one AoE in them. (AS Impale BarbSwipe Ripper) 2:38 370 2:32 380 (here changed attack chain to just AS Implale Ripper w Barb swipe when something wasn't recharged) 2:17 408 2:22 398 2:09 425 2:11 421 2:22 398 Very surprised by that.. It's actually a really good showing, and is top 2 or 3 for AoE as well as having two ranged attacks. So if I rank the ones I've done by their average dps (accounting for only the times where I had the attack chain hammered out) we get: DB at 491 Stj at 460 BS at 434 Spine at 410 Ice(Fire) at 409 Ice(Ice) at 400 Ele at 382 Staff at 374 With the caveat that the two Ice sets are not apples-to-apples since they don't have the same secondary as the others. The staff average seems low; I feel like I was doing something wrong there.

For AoE damage, a triform is better because of double mire rolling into Nova. This gap is not as significant as it used to be though thanks to changes to the nuke. For single target damage, a human only is better, unless that single target is surrounded by mobs that will survive for a while, in which case the double mire is again key. For keeping pets alive, human is better if you rely on inky and gravitic together, but in the most difficult content they are going to die no matter what you do. For survival, human can be better for maybe .1% of the game where there would be a difference.

Sorry, 4 posts in a row, but I'm having fun. Redid my DB/Elec scrapper (somewhere earlier in the thread was 350 dps) with the same incarnate setup as the stalkers above, procced out. 2:30 383 2:38 370 2:10 423 2:28 387 2:08 427 2:19 404 That's a sizable but not enormous damage increase over the old school "chase the recharge" db build. Chain is Nimble > Ablating > Sweeping (Empower) > Ablating > Power Slice.

Stalker Staff/Elec, procced w/Waterspout and same incarnates 2:33 378 2:31 382 2:40 367 2:46 359 2:30 383 Stalk Stj/Elec procced w/Waterspout and same incarnates 1:54 464 2:01 445 1:57 456 2:14 414 1:52 470 1:38 519 1:58 453 Seems like Stj and DB are neck and neck when using a proc build, maybe with a slight nod to DB.

One more, Stalker DB/Elec procced instead of chasing combos or recharge, same incarnates as above, w/Waterspout 2:12 418 2:25 392 2:06 432 2:29 (tons of kb) 385 1:42 504 (from this point on, changed approach which made it more efficient) 1:59 450 1:35 531 1:57 456 1:39 515 I am now also convinced the build up proc is completely broken. First, you have to use the power it's slotted in once in the zone (or per login, not sure) before it will start triggering, but after that it will continue to trigger without needing any refreshes. Second, it fires at a ridiculously good rate for db, and almost never for ice or electric. I got I think a max of four firings per run on the ice melee characters, and way more than that consistently on the db character. At a couple points on the db it fired every time I went through my attack chain. Now, db attacks execute faster than ice and electric attacks, and that could account for some of it if the thing is a percent chance per attack like it states, but even then it seems off.

Stalker BS/Elec, T4 Musc/Ageless/Degen/Pyronic/Assault (not toggled); w/Moonbeam 2:08 427 1:52 470 2:08 427 2:15 412 Stalker Ice/Fire, same incarnates; w/Waterspout 2:18 406 2:16 410 2:15 412 Stalker Elec/Elec, same incarnates; w/Waterspout 2:22 394 2:38 370 Might need to try the Elec/Elec with Moonbeam instead of Waterspout; not happy with that dps. The Ice/Fire is not as sturdy as the Ice/Ice from before, but it's sturdy enough to take on a group of 54 Rikti while a pylon attacked me. The dps increase from adding burn is pretty small though, so I'm not sure it's worth it.