Microcosm

Not sure why you would have more enemies than normal, but you can lower your difficulty settings to -1 if you want. You're going to like having more enemies than normal when you get Bright Nova because you'll be able to AoE them from relative safety in the air and gain more xp for your time. So just make sure you pick up Nova, at least while leveling.

So I did a bunch of testing with my general pve builds for DB/Elec and DB/Rad Scrappers on test server. I have a very slight gap in my chain because I originally thought I would use Agility for the +def and +end mod (on the elec at least), but I switched to Musc for this test and haven't tried to make up the recharge elsewhere yet. So T4 Musc Core, T4 Ageless Core, T4 Assault Core (just passive, not toggled), T4 Degen Radial and they both averaged out about 350 dps without Assault (don't want to try to figure that out in the build atm). I think the /Rad could pull very slightly ahead of that if I changed a couple things. That's not too different from my DB/Elec on live. I had a suspicion that /Rad would creep ahead of /Elec because of Meltdown and Radiation Therapy, but it seems the damage aura in /Elec just almost makes up for it. What's great is these combos do excellent AoE and are both suuuper survivable. I think I'll stick with the /Elec on live server and switch to Musc Radial to boost Power Sink.

Just FYI if it helps, you can change your status in mids/pines to "attacked" which will remove the extra defense from hidden status without removing the base defense. I like the idea of what you've done here 🙂

Nice going! I haven't gotten all the way through it yet, but one small correction to make on Inner Light: it's 100.8% damage for ten seconds, then the next 20 seconds are 28.8%. So you get a big damage spike for 10 seconds and a lingering damage buff for 20 more. The tohit also works this way.

Ive noticed the Mez issue too already. What I am planning is to use insp combine binds to always have break frees available. I've used this tactic on other characters without Mez protection and it works very well if you don't need other insp types. I bet once transfusion comes along the endurance issue will go away.

Wow, I literally made a demon/kin Mm last night with this exact tactic in mind! He's level 15, so I can't slot the kb to kd io yet, but he's already a lot of fun. The same tactic I'm sure works with other primaries, but demon I think I remember being the best in bodyguard mode because their resistances apply to the damage you're sharing.

Cimeroran + Chronologist (Oro) for Time Lord's Boon. Gives +rech for a while after you login if you were logged off in either Cimerora or Oro, plus rech debuff resist and tp protection.

The snipes give +50% range for 10 seconds upon use. So Tenebrous Tentacles would be 60 foot instead of 40 foot if used right after Moonbeam, which obviously can make a solid difference in the number of enemies it could hit.

Warshades are quite capable farmers, but it depends on the type of farm. Namely, avoid ambush farms. A very large portion of their damage comes from keeping multiple pets out and alive, so you need to manage aggro coming at the pets. For builds you really just need recharge to keep perma eclipse and mire and get as many pets out as possible. The old demon farm in PI was a great one I know several warshades ran including myself.

Ya my first inclination is also electric, which otherwise is lower on single target attacks. It doesn't really benefit from the +range as much though since it doesn't have a cone attack. AR hadn't occurred to me, but it might get more use out of the +range as well.

Curious what primary set people think gets the most out of the current version of instasnipe. It would seem like a set with good aoe but weaker st chains would get a lot out of it. But then there's also the fact that most the snipes have a +range buff, so if you can keep using them in combat you can keep a constant +range on your cone attacks. Thoughts?

Awesome. +1

This, so much. Not to mention, if you're talking "high level", IOd out warshades in triform are going to mow down mobs faster than most tanks and brutes, with maybe exceptions of things like spines/fire. Not trying to start something, it's just a really good AoE AT. The brute holds aggro better; the brute (probably) does better single target damage when you come against the AV. That's the beauty of a TEAM working together. As to the kb, PBs actually do more kb than warshades by a good margin, which is also a good indicator that in game this is a joke. There are -kb IOs out there and many khelds take advantage of them. But there's also what someone else said that a good warshade does his kb from directly above the group, which in effect makes it turn to knockdown. Also also, you can get a warshade to damage cap himself in heavy aoe situations, then kb the crap out of a group with his nuke. I've seen literally every enemy in the group die from this combo (except whatever was missed by the nuke) and I kid you not, someone complained about the kb... Some people are always going to cover their eyes and ears, so you just ignore them or don't team with them, which tends to make both sides happy.

You can slot one of the summer blockbuster -kb enhancements (it's unique, but also has damage on it), and as many of the sudden acceleration -kb ios as you want (not unique, but provides no damage enhancement in the -kb io). I put them in all my PB powers that cause kb, and as many as I could fit on my WS.

You can slot one of the summer blockbuster -kb enhancements (it's unique, but also has damage on it), and asamt of the sudden acceleration -kb ios as you want (not unique, but provides no damage enhancement in the -kb io). I put them in all my PB powers that cause kb, and as many as I could fit on my WS.

And one more thing, also from issue 21 or thereabouts, shape shifting is practically instantaneous now. If you played a long time ago on live it took a couple seconds to change forms, but towards the end it was changed so it's essentially just a server tick now.

I use Cross Punch on both flavors of Kheldian. The extra damage from having boxing/kick makes its dpa decent, and the +rech is also a nice bonus. I also used it on an SS Brute while leveling up for AoE, but got rid of it at 50 when I had footstomp and patron AoEs available and slotted.

I think this is because you are seeing them as perma when you have ageless turned on in the build. In mids/pines when you turn on ageless it will show as if the full benefit of ageless is in effect. In reality the +rech will scale down over time after casting ageless. As to your build, you could go a different route and get 32.5% def instead of 45 and use binds to make sure you always had a small purple insps available to take you to softcap. That way you could chase a little more recharge. You're also going to spend time chasing down all the enemies you knockback unless you slot some -kb ios in most of your attacks. This may be what you're looking for for some extra mitigation, but may also be annoying.

Changed in one of the final issues on live, with a lot of Kheldian improvements, like the ability to use solar flare in the air.

So the way it worked on live, and I believe it still does, was it set your health and end to 50%. If you had 100 health it out you at 50; if you had 60 it put you at 50; if you had 25 it put you at...50. This was the mechanism the devs used for the crash presumably so it wouldnt kill you outright, in case anyone was worried about that.

Thanks for your reply. It's pretty weird that the hold is better dpa than the single target melee attack. I went on test server to see if maybe the "tricks" people talk about were using a sniper attack for +range followed by golden dragonfly. The idea would be that increasing the range would greatly increase the number of enemies you could fit in that cone, but no, the range is unenhanceable. It seems like a differently skinned /devices with the cloak and lack of buildup. It's trading some poor damaging katana attacks for devices's long activation explosions, so not completely bad I guess.

So I have a water/nin blaster. I really enjoy the theme, and having a blaster with a katana. I have also read about how nin is a low performer, though some people claim it has 'tricks' that make it good but don't share what that means... I had /nin stalkers on live and can appreciate blinding powder, but can see the problems with the set in general. If anyone can share what I might be missing there I'd appreciate it. Right now I'm planning to skip the placate, because it's two seconds of not attacking for a 10% -res, seems I'd be better off just attacking instead. Also have no idea what to skip in water, except for the very first blast. Also also, wondering if this combo will be too weak in single target damage compared to others. Thoughts?

Late to see this thread, but I had a few /nins on live. Caltrops is a deceptively good power for adding some damage as well as mitigation. People tend to ignore the damage component since it's a slow tick, but per activation it's really not bad. You can also slot a knockdown proc in there as well as other things. Blinding Powder is just an extra layer of something (especially with Contagious Confusion), because if you use pools/ios to get to the softcap, you've essentially got SR with a heal and tricks but without the DDR and +recharge. The pbaoe placate, however, is for sure skippable; it's activation time is too long, it doesn't give you hidden status, and it can literally be replaced 1 for 1 with a temp power from the P2W vendor... so ya.

So ... Scrapperlock ... basically. Yep, quite a bit of that. I also don't like sharing my food.

I tend to split off from the team on my warshade as soon as I can. I feel it's much more efficient for everyone that way.