FlammeFatale

Well, by definition, if you don't need it, it is wasted. But in my experience, you need quite a lot against certain enemy groups at max difficulty. When you faceplant, you deal 0 damage. Also, I am not sure we are talking about the same thing. You mention increasing damage "from outside sources". What are these outside sources? When I test a build, I test it solo. I don't get buffs from team mates or a buffbot. Are you talking instead about inspirations in the mail? Power amplifiers? I do not use any of these. Same with "quick completion of content". I am not aiming for quick completion of some content. I am aiming for completion, not necessarily quick, of all content.

There is a difference between "completely disregarding", and noticing that they are not representative of performance in actual gameplay. Single-target damage is important against AVs, as you said. In this case, pylon times can give an indication of performance. But AV fighting is again only a very small part of the game. 95% of the game is fighting groups of enemies. In my opinion, to evaluate a build, it is more important to see how it performs solo against various types of enemies and missions. How does it handle 3 waves of +4/8 arachnos ambushers? 3 waves of the new CoT? Mob spread out is some missions, so that they cannot be AoEd? 2 groups so close you cannot avoid fighting both at the same time? 4 simultaneous new tarentula mistresses with my poor poison controller (confuse immunity)? With my poor Dark dominator (confuse AND fear immunity)? Under those stress-tests, I found that the most important was, in this order: 1. Survivability This means defense (with positional being king), resistance, controls, debuffs, heals... 2. AoE damage 3. ST damage ST damage is only third, unless you want to specialize in soloing AVs. But then you would not roll a warshade and probably not a PB either. I think one of the good things about pylon testing is that it is standardized. It is good for comparing attack powers and rotations for a given AT. It is impossible to standardize my method of testing builds. I can only use it to compare my own characters, not to compare them to other players. But who cares how other players perform? I don't. This is not a competitive game.

... or just give them access to epic pools. I believe they are the only AT with no access to these.

Hello, I would not add any slots to fire imps. I do not have imps in the team build and they are the most disposable power in the solo build. - They do not deal much damage, even fully slotted. They are like a fire-and-forget small dot. The fire-and-forget part is nice, but the small dot part is quite small. - When they are killed, I just summon them again. This controller is a slow killer and the cooldown on imps short enough (with force feedback in bonfire and ageless destiny). - If I slotted them more, I would have to take the slots away from other powers which I feel are more important to meeting my goals. At this stage, I do not see any improvements I could make by spending more inf. My defense/mitigation goals are met. I would like more endurance and of course more damage. If anyone can suggest me any modification that would improve my endurance first, and perhaps my damage, without decreasing my controls and defense/resistances, I would be very happy.

Ummmmm.... What? Explain. Do you mean the mention of tankers and VEATS? I should not have written that, for three reasons. First, it is off-topic. Second, everybody's definition of OP is different. It depends on what they focus on in game. And third, I have only 20 level 50 characters (I play my characters to all T4 and mostly level them in missions, not fire farms). Therefore my sample is small. And now that I think about it, my most powerful character is neither a tanker nor a VEAT, but a blaster. When I say OP, I am only talking about the relative rankings of my levels 50s. I rank their performance solo against 4/8 arachnos/carnies/rularuu. That's about it. What are my ranking criterias? - time to finish the missions. - frequency of faceplants. - required skill. Do I need to press only 3 buttons or do I need to make use of all the powers available? Do I need to resort to tactics like corner pulling, kiting, or can I just facetank? - cost of build. Can I perform with only standard sets or do I need purples/winter enhancements? Based on those criteria, my tanks and VEATS are OP: average time to finish missions, no faceplants, no required skill, low-cost builds. My warshade is mid-tier: average time to finish missions, rare faceplants, requires skills, 1.5 billion inf build. My Fire/FF controller and DP/empathy corruptor are weak: long time to finish missions, some faceplants, require skill. Mid-cost (controller) and low cost (corruptor) builds, but spending more inf would not change the results.

Wispur, no one obliges you to double click. You can play the way you like. E.G. If you single click instead of double click a nova power in human form, nothing happens. You have a choice. Everybody is happy, players who like the changeling playstyle and players who do not. Edit: You are not losing much. The changeling playstyle does not add as much power as some people pretend. Pylon times are a fringe activity and irrelevant to the main game, which is about fighting a variety of enemies with a variety of damage types, resistance types, mezzes, debuffs etc... in a variety of missions. Due to slot vs enhancement limitations, a kheldian can only slot effectively 2 forms, and maybe one power in the third form. This is not like you can make good use of every power in every form. Personnaly, I only use the changeling macro for double mire on the warshade and dwarf heal on the PB. Animation cancel? Sure, it adds speed. I have been playing changeling as far back as live. When was it, 15 years ago? But beforehand I just used a programmable mouse to trigger chains: form change/power execute/form change. It only required one key press, not a double click. It took a bit longer with animations, but who cares if it took me 10 seconds longer to clear a spawn? Certainly not me.

I would be 100% happy with the devs leaving the kheldians alone. In fact, as Laucianna pointed out, this is what my solution more or less leads to. I do not think kheldians need a power boost or a nerf. They are a mid-tier AT right now. There are more powerful archetypes primary/secondary combos, but there are weaker ones too. However, I feel they could use some improvement in "combat flow", for lack of a better term. Believe me, I love kheldians, more precisely warshades. My main back on live was a warshade. But their gameplay is very clicky. It is more akin to playing the piano than a MMO. And without animation cancel, there are a lot of combat flow interruptions. It feels not only clicky but also jagged. We could use some kind of small change which makes the gameplay smoother and less click intensive. The devs already went in the right direction with their change to toggle suppression.

Thank you. Is it possible to move this post to the suggestions/feedback section?

You are right. Yet this means some improvement: - Smoother, more fluid game play. To perform the trick, timing must be precise and is not a constant. It varies I guess based on ping/server issues. For me, it fails maybe once in twenty uses. This is mildly annoying. If it was coded into the game, it would (presumably) not fail. - Friendly to new kheldian players. No need to learn about the changeling tricks, not everybody reads the forum or discord. No need to write binds or macros. - Potentially, but I do not know enough about game coding mechanics to presume so, less work for devs and quicker time to implementation. It is mainly QoL for everybody involved: veterans; newbies, devs. But what would you change about kheldians? I certainly have ideas, but they are probably pipe dreams only relevant to my particular personal build and gameplay.

I read that the devs were looking at the kheldians and afterward would address the changeling trick. I have a solution which kills two birds with one stone. Make it so that the changeling trick becomes part of the kheldian arsenal. Double-clicking any power casts it from any form then drops the caster to human form. Double-clicking to execute a power is a common mechanic in many games. This solution has a couple advantages: - Revamp is minimal. No need to change ingrained habits and muscle memory. Veteran combat flow is just made a bit smoother just like with the toggle suppression fix. Beginner game experience is vastly improved. No more need to learn complicated macros. - AT is neither nerfed nor boosted. Power ceiling of a well played kheldian would be unchanged. No need to worry about balance issues. Actually, kheldians would remain a bit on the weak side. But they do not need to be OP like tankers or VEATS. I do not know if this change is easy to implement. But the game already recognizes doubleclick in binds and macros.

I have a fire/FF controller with two alternate builds. The first build is for soloing and the second is for grouping. The solo build can do 4/8 including arachnos and carnies. He can do these enemies at max difficulty, but not as easily as other archetypes. All the powers in the build must be used. Against those groups, I found that building against psi damage and adapting my tactics (e.g. leading with bonfire) was a game changer. A few remarks: - the solo build uses detention field. Sometimes this skill is demeaned, but if you consider it as a long duration perma-hold which works against bosses, it is great solo. It allows me to neutralize one dangerous boss while I finish the rest. - Repulsion field is great. It provides almost 100% melee mitigation. I have it always on against dangerous enemies. - The key skills of the team build are Power Boost and Clarion Radial Epiphany. They really improve defense buffs. Controller Beta - Fire FF - Solo.mbd Controller Beta - Fire FF - Team.mbd

I also have a 0% defense PB, which can solo 4/8 Arachnos and Carnies just fine. So I am adding my comments. With 0% defense, everything hits you. Every single mezz, debuff and drain. But: - you don't care about enemy damage with overcapped resistances and three heals. - you don't care either for resistance and defense debuffs (obviously). - for some reason, other debuffs don't seem to affect me much. Mezzes are adressed by T4 Melee Core Embodiment, dwarf form, or just waiting the few seconds they last. Be extra careful however in spawns with several mezzing bosses. I have been almost perma-locked in spawns featuring two Carnie Master Illusionists, until I slotted Melee Core Embodiement, a key power which will deserve a comment later. The only problem is endurance drains, in particular when they hit at the same time as the Light Form crash. My solution is using Ageless Radial Epiphany to refill the end bar. The PB is one of my few characters who is using this power reactively rather than premptively. Anyway, losing endurance is not that big a problem. It is alleviated by conserve energy, decent recovery and not using any toggle in combat. The only toggle I am using outside of combat is Stealth. I am using it to position inside spawns prior to unleashing the nukes. It also allows to avoid ambushes. Melee core embodiement: It seems a weird choice for a character spending some time at range, already capped in resists and not exactly a top-tier damage dealer. Intuitively, Assault Hybrid is better. It probably is. But even without it, I still deal enough damage to finish +4 bosses in a bearable amount of time. Melee Hybrid provides a permanent 30% regen boost. More importantly, it front loads huge mezz protection and regeneration. It also plugs and overcaps the psi hole. It is a solution to mezzes. And a character with overcapped resistances to all + 431% regen is basically unkillable. There is great synergy between regen and resistances. Melee Hybrid is only up half the time however. This does not stop me unless I see several mezzing bosses around. In this case, I have to patiently wait for off cooldown. My build is in the appended file. Credits to the "you're a goddam PB" guide suggestions which I adapted to my playstyle as I leveled the character. Tri-Man - Tri-Form Peacebringer V3.mbd

The problem with a ranged warshade is significantly less ST damage than a melee warshade. Ranged warshades have good AoE damage. But this damage is not needed, since there is enough AoE damage in human form (+double mire) to clear spawns quickly. But as you wrote, distant mobs (stragglers and runners) are a pain in the neck. A few tools can mitigate the problem, not entirely erase it, mind you: - Melee Radial has a taunt aura which works with a warshade. It won't compete with a tanker though, and you lose damage without Assault hybrid. But it is fun to see the mobs massing on the warshade. I guess you could combine it with the dwarf antagonize, for some serious taunting. The dwarf taunt can be used in human form with a bind: "powexectoggleon Black Dwarf$$powexecname Black Dwarf Antagonize". - Starless step is the same power as combat teleport. It works very well to catch static stragglers with a bind like: "powexec_location target shadow step". But runners keep running during the animation, so you end up teleporting a few feet too short for melee with those. - Most builds have at least 2 ranged attacks in human form: shadow blast and ebon eye. They can finish minions and lieutnants from range. But bosses definitely call for melee.

Or you could try a DP/Empathy corruptor instead of a defender. I have one on the test server, where I try various concepts to choose the next character I'll level to 50. This will be this corruptor, because it is extremely fun to play. It has low DPS but is surprisingly survivable as long as I don't forget to pop a break free when both Melee Hybrid and Rune are on cooldown. Softcapped to Energy/Negative and Range. Possibility to hover blast. 2 holds to perma-hold one boss. It can solo Carnies and Arachnos at 54*8, which is kind of my litmus test to determine if a character is good enough. But beware it is very slow. It takes forever to clear the +4 bosses. It is not what I would call a strong character. It is difficult to play. One has to keep track of cooldowns and also manage positioning. My focus is solo play. One could replace assault by adrenalin boost for a more team oriented character, but then it will solo even slower: Corruptor - Dual Pistols - Empathy.mxd

Hello Dungeoness. Sorry for the very late reply. I had stopped playing for a while. I came back for the Toggle Suppression patch and I must say this is a real QoL improvement for warshades. The play is much smoother now. I am still playing the same build with just a couple marginal changes. Their effect is so marginal that they are not needed at all. - Black Dwarf Strike; added a fifth slot (by removing the second slot in Shadow Cloak) and replaced Kinetic Combat by Superior Blistering Cold. - Health: added a Miracle + recovery (by removing the 5th slot of Gravitic Emanation). - Misdirection: replaced the acc enhancement by an acc/rech. Below is this latest build. Flamme Fatale.mxd

Just to clarify, I am not talking in absolutes, but about what I found was best for me given my playstyle. All the points you are making are good points. - spiritual alpha is perfectly playable. I noticed the DPS loss but it does not mean it is not playable. It is just that playing solo, I feel the DPS loss I am experiencing is not worth the benefits (a few more seconds of stun and a bit more recharge on pets). In a team, spiritual is perfectly fine. - Inky + GE is clumsy. I wish I could do without it. But it enables me to solo some tough bosses without faceplants and inspirations. - Unleash potential is a great power. The reason I respecced out of it is simply that I was not using it. I looked for a power to replace it, a power I would actually use, and I found Nebulous form. For me, Nebulous form solves problems that Unleash potential could not solve. Also, Unleash potential has two prerequisites. Both prerequisites are good powers. I like Mighty Leap a lot. But it did not help me in missions. I like Weaken Resolve also, it is a good res debuff when slotted with Achille heel. But it is a slow animation and does not fit in my attack chain. Nebulous form has zero prerequisites, so I gain two more power choices going with it instead of with Unleash. As you can see, this is all about my personal preferences based on my in game experience. This does not mean my choices are necessarily the best.

Thank you for your Warp Perception IO suggestion. I will move my Winter Gift Slow Resistance to Shadow Recall and put the new Warp IO in Shadow Step. I am not too keen on removing the -Res proc from Sunless Mire. Once I tried it in the dwarf mire instead of the human mire and was underwhelmed by the results. Comparing the Gladiator - Res to the Gaussian build up, ignoring the purple patch effects because it gets too complicated: - Gladiator fires 90% of the time and lasts about 10 seconds. Since I lead with the human mire, it applies -20% res to the mobs for the whole chain: Dwarf Mire, Quasar, Unchain/Void. - Gaussian is 1 PPM so fires about 40% of the time, lasts 5.25 seconds. I am not sure it lasts the full duration the whole attack chain, in particular the last power in the rotation. So +72% damage 40% of the time for say 2 or 3 powers vs -20% resistance 90% of the time for 3 or 4 powers... Not an easy decision. But after the two mires I am often at or close to the damage cap so the build-up benefit is lost on Quasar while the -Res is not. I'll keep Gladiator for the time being. Now to answer your questions. My main back on live was a WS. It was primarily a triformer, but I had a human/dwarf alternate build. I started playing biform human/dwarf late 2004 or early 2005 :-). This particular build I have been playing for a few months. When Homecoming launched, I made a build very similar to the present one. Except I did not have purple sets back then, and if I remember well I used Maneuvers/Tactics instead of Nebulous Form/Placate. I then experienced with the Force of Will pool instead of the Concealment Pool. Unleash potential is a great power. But I found I was almost never using it. I remembered to use it in case of big trouble. But then using it was not enough to turn the tide. In the meantime I had experienced the tactical greatness of PFF on my blaster. So I reverted to my original concealment pool WS, with the addition of Nebulous form. I have not looked back, but don't get me wrong, the Force of Will WS is perfectly viable too. In order to answer your other question, I need to give a bit more information about my playstyle. Of course there are special situations, but most of the time, combat is divided in 2 phases: - First phase = AOE crowd destruction. Eclipse/double mire/quasar etc... - Second phase = Single Target what remains, in general between 1 and 4 bosses or stragglers. Maybe 75% of the time, second phase is done in Human Form: trying to keep enemies perma mezzed with Inky+Gravitic, while delivering the single target attack rotation. I do not use the dwarf mire. 25% of the time, second phase is done in dwarf form. It really depends on the type of boss or my mood. Some bosses are better done in dwarf form, for instance the disorient immune ones. Also dwarf is more relaxing than human, it has more resistance (at this stage there is often only 1 or 2 mobs for eclipse), and dwarf drain tends to refill the health bar automatically as part of the attack chain. The dwarf does respectable damage, less than the human but definitely enough to finish bosses and EBs in a reasonable time. I did not give a dwarf attack chain, because there is not any. I fire the attacks, including the mire, as they become available. I prioritize the dwarf drain when several attacks are up. Between the first AOE phase and the second ST phase, I may put Inky back on, CJ/Cloak back on, summon pet... It really depends on the situation. Sometimes I forget I have defenses and do not even pop a purple before the fight. Sometimes I remember I have defenses, that's generally against tougher mobs and put CJ/cloack back on with just one key press/release: /bind T "+down$$powexectoggleon shadow cloak$$powexec_toggleon combat jumping". I need CJ+Cloack with 2 slots in cloack to be over 32.5% defense, which caps me with a small purple. But I tried cloak with only 1 slot and frankly the difference is small. It becomes negligible when I use melee hybrid, barrier or any bigger purple. One question about Blessing of Tielekku. Right now, it gives me 2.81% defense, which means I do not need CJ or the second slot in Cloack. But is Blessing of Tielekku rechargeable? No one has ever been able to answer this question in the help channel. You have a question about Inky performance, but I do not understand the question. Most of the time it works (stacks on bosses with gravitic), sometime it does not, then it is dwarf time. When surviving mobs are spread, using Inky+Gravitic lowers DPS, because when one is positioning and stunning mobs, one is not DPSing. There is no such problem in dwarf form. But Inky+Gravitic is a godsend against Rularuu Wisp bosses and carnie Master Illusionists. As some point, I had a build without Inky. It worked but I got a good dose of faceplants against the aforementioned bosses. Often it requires work and landscape awareness for positioning but this is what I like about Warshades. There are not easy toons to play.

There is a lot of talk about tri-form or human warshades, but not much on human/dwarf. I did a forum search and could not find a single topic dedicated to human/dwarf warshades. But in my opinion, after trying human only and tri-forms, human/dwarf biforms are one of the stronger build options. So I'll post my build to hopefully start a discussion and get suggestions for improvement. Since it is kind of pointless to just show a build, I'll talk a bit about its goals, power and slotting choices, as well as playstyle. The main goal is to solo any type of mobs at 4*8, which it does. This main goal creates a derived one which is to maximize single target damage. Why maximize single target damage? Mobs of minions and lieutnants are no problem to a warshade and even welcome. A problem arises when only one or two bosses are left. That is when you need single target damage, something warshades are notoriously bad at. I'll comment about a few power and slotting choices: Muling Kinetic Combats in the dwarf attacks allows capping defense to smashing/lethal/melee with only a small purple. Capping melee defense is particularly useful because this warshade lives in melee. Now on to choices that may be unusual: - Eclipse: slotted like this, it is perma and caps resistances with only 4 mobs. With only 3 mobs, resistances remain quite respectable. - Essence drain: with 5 procs, it is my second highest damage single target attack. - Gravitic Emanation: in my opinion, due to the purple patch, you have to make a choice against +4 mobs. Either you slot it for damage or you slot it for control. But you cannot have both. Against +4, a GE slotted with damage procs will miss often, and will not perma disorient. You can make the disorient barely perma with Spiritual Alpha, but then you lose damage, both directly through the loss of Musculature, and indirectly because of the effect of recharge on procs in all the powers. This is a noticeable loss of DPS. Believe me, I tried. Since I do not need more AoE DPS anyway, I chose to prioritize control with a traditional stun set. I put only 4 Absolute Amazement, instead of 5, because I already have five +10% recharge set bonuses elsewhere. - Unchain Essence: I think this is a great power. I read some posts in which they recommend to skip it. But this power does a ton of damage and perfectly fits the PBAoE centric nature of this warshade. The two mires, eclipse, quasar, stygian, void judgement, misdirection: these are all PBAoE. I use binds which turn Unchain Essence into a 2-click additional PBAoE. It also stuns. So first thing I do after unchain is to turn Inky back on. Sometimes I get lucky, it stacks and stuns 1 or 2 nearby bosses. - Nebulous Form: this power has many great uses. Oh S**t power. Surviving ambushes. Pulling. Taking the alpha (not really needed but nice for a change of playstyle). Mini-hibernate. Tanking for the pets (not really needed either but fun). Regulating the flow of combat (e.g. waiting for Eclipse to recharge in the middle of an additional mob). Restoring the flow of combat against stuff like carnies and Rularuu (when they become intangible or bubble you, thereby messing with the timing of Eclipse and the mires). - Misdirection: totally skippable, yet it is a nice Oh S**t power and debuffs a small amount of resistance. If someone can suggest a better power, I'll be very happy. In terms of Incarnates, I go with Assault and Clarion against tougher mobs. Against easier mobs or in a team, I can use Melee Radial and/or Barrier. Melee Radial in particular is very fun, with its taunt aura. A final word about attack chains: - AoE is eclipse, double mire, quasar, then either Unchain Essence or Void (both are a bit overkill). After this, everything is dead except the bosses and perhaps a couple stragglers. - Single target is either GW/SB/ED/SB or GW/ED/SB. Mids suggest the later, but ingame I get a better feel for the former. GW/ED/SB feels better only when my recharge is boosted in a team. That's all folks. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Flamme Fatale: Level 50 Science Warshade Primary Power Set: Umbral Blast Secondary Power Set: Umbral Aura Power Pool: Concealment Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Hero Profile: Level 1: Ebon Eye (A) Superior Kheldian's Grace - Recharge/Form Empowerment Level 1: Absorption (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Level 2: Gravity Shield (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) Level 4: Infiltration (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 6: Shadow Blast (A) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) (21) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (21) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (23) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge (23) Apocalypse - Damage (25) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic) Level 8: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (27) Recharge Reduction IO Level 10: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (25) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (48) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 12: Grant Invisibility (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 14: Sunless Mire (A) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (27) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (29) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (29) Armageddon - Damage (31) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (31) Fury of the Gladiator - Chance for Res Debuff Level 16: Shadow Cloak (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 18: Gravity Well (A) Hecatomb - Damage (31) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge (33) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (33) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge (33) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) (34) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage Level 20: Essence Drain (A) Gladiator's Strike - Accuracy/Damage (34) Gladiator's Strike - Chance for Smashing Damage (34) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal) (36) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative) (36) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage (36) Impeded Swiftness - Chance of Damage(Smashing) Level 22: Black Dwarf (A) Resist Damage IO (40) Resist Damage IO Level 24: Stygian Circle (A) Endurance Modification IO Level 26: Gravitic Emanation (A) Absolute Amazement - Stun (37) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Recharge (37) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge (37) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge (39) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff Level 28: Unchain Essence (A) Superior Essence Transfer - RechargeTime/Global Heal (39) Superior Essence Transfer - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (39) Superior Essence Transfer - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (40) Superior Essence Transfer - Damage/RechargeTime (40) Superior Essence Transfer - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (49) Superior Essence Transfer - Accuracy/Damage Level 30: Inky Aspect (A) HamiO:Endoplasm Exposure Level 32: Quasar (A) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage (42) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (42) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (42) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (43) Superior Avalanche - Damage/Endurance (43) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown Level 35: Dark Extraction (A) Superior Kheldian's Grace - Accuracy/Damage (43) Superior Kheldian's Grace - Damage/Recharge (45) Superior Kheldian's Grace - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (45) Superior Kheldian's Grace - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Superior Kheldian's Grace - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (46) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up Level 38: Eclipse (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (46) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (46) Unbreakable Guard - Endurance/RechargeTime (47) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance (47) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (48) Performance Shifter - Accuracy/Recharge Level 41: Stygian Return (A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb Level 44: Nebulous Form (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 47: Misdirection (A) Accuracy IO Level 49: Stealth (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 1: Dark Sustenance Level 1: Brawl

I thing I'll start to post more of my builds on these forums, because in the rare cases I did, I got good suggestions. Outrider, your post gave me an idea: if I remove the useless Avalanche knockdown proc from Ripper while boosting my LoTGs to +5, I'll keep fire defense above cap. This means I can still farm as efficiently, but it frees a slot I'll use to put a Kismet in Combat Jumping. Thanks a lot.

If you do not mind a psionic/toxic hole, you could try the build I am using. Most of the credit does not belong to me but to Ukase: I just started with his build then made some minor changes to IO slotting, changed a couple primary/secondary powers, and use a different power pool. This is primarily an AFK farmer. Since it farms AFK, it can of course farm non-AFK. In this situation, it will not be as efficient as a dedicated non-AFK farmer. Though it can clear the comic con asteroid map in less than 5 minutes, which is still pretty decent. It can easily play outside the farm and into the wild world by switching incarnates. For farming I use Assault hybrid and Degenerative interface. For other content, I switch to Melee Hybrid and Diamagnetic interface. Together with the Soul mastery powers, Diamagnetic puts me at the softcap against +4 content, for smashing/lethal/fire/cold/melee/AoE defense. Melee Core Embodiment adds good resistances and pushes my regen to 487%. For additional mitigation, there is the heal, -recharge from spines, and Rise of the Phoenix, MFing warshade style, if the worst comes to the worst 🙂. Only real weakness is Psionic/Toxic. Toxic is too rare to worry about. But one has to be extra-cautious against psionic damage / defense debuffs combos. Against this, I either wait for Melee hybrid to be off cooldown, or use inspirations. edited to remove huge blank space. Shards.mxd

This is excellent general advice. But I would like to mention the spectral interface, which does wonders for some builds like my Beast/Dark/Soul MM. The immob proc helps to keep mobs in one place and avoid runners: - beast are melee, when they chase they lose dps. Immob = more dps. - less runners = less aggroing other groups. - tar patch, darkest night, oppressive gloom but also most other powers benefit from tightly clustered mobs I like immobs so much on my MM that in addition to Spectral, I also use soul tentacles a lot and am I happy when fluffy adds its own.

You are 100% right in your assumptions, if by tanky you mean "tanky" and not "tanking" for the team, for crabberminds have no taunts. I am appending my crabbermind build. - it can solo 4/8. - it is cheap. I put a purple set in Shatter Armor, but it is not needed and can be replaced by the equivalent orange one. - it is thematic. I have 6 spider bots to which I had the cosmetic one. - it is second only to my plant/poison controller in getting friend invites. So team friendly, yes. Strange Girl - Thematic.mxd

No, I did not know about this. This is why I love reading these forums, there is always something new to learn. I wanted to do a respec anyway. It was mainly about shuffling around sets, but now I'll decrease the slotting in Spring attack to a recharche and a -res proc. I will keep Spring Attack, because I don't really use it for the damage. I use it for the Gladiator res debuff, which procs, and as an alpha breaker (jumping into the crowd and knocking most of it down allows me to apply Nova without great risks). Below is my respec project. Compared to the previous template I lose a couple % S/L res, but gain 5% global recharge, and a quite significant increase in damage and recharge for my main power: Nova. I think I'll change the slotting of Spring Attack in my Shield/Elec stalker too. Thank you very much for this information. Cobalt Man v2.mxd

Hello, Be aware that the chain (Repulsion Bomb + Explosive Blast + Energy Torrent) is not huge DPS compared to Spring Attack + Nova. But it is still better than nothing. Usually I insert a snipe in the middle. Else I just dinged 50 and I have my doubts about Force of Nature. I don't like the stamina drop at the end. It is possible to alleviate it with Energize. But one must not forget to use Energize while Force of Nature is on. For the moment I'll keep it, but it is a question mark. I could replace it with a last LOTG mule. Or maybe I'll keep it. The +rech proc. If you mean the Force feedback one, I also have my doubts about it. I used it on other toons and I noticed that one is far from enough. It tends to proc when one doesn't need it and not to proc when one needs it . Also , Mids is misguiding. The recharge numbers in Mids assume that the proc is always on, which is very, and I mean very very, far from reality. I guess to make it work, one would need at least 3 in a main attack chain. Which I guess is not feasible with most characters. In the energy/energy blaster case, I don't see where I could fit 3 FF procs in an attack chain that makes sense. And also, too much would be given up (KB to KD, -res proc...).

Here is my version. So far it is only level 45, but it feels very promising in game. A few remarks: - Inspired buy my Elec/Shield stalker, I choose to use Spring Attack. I am pretty happy with this choice. Spring attack has a triple effect: softening the mobs a bit, knocking them down, and applying the -res proc very reliably. I then apply Nova. Spring Attack is really fun when used from hovering above the mobs, the blaster looks like a dive bomber. - So my first AOE attack chain is Spring Attack + Nova. When Nova is on cooldown, I use my second AOE attack chain: Repulsion Bomb + Explosive Blast + Energy Torrent. It takes longer to kill mobs this way and can require some kiting or hovering. But it is an alternative to waiting for Nova to be up again. - I choose to cap ranged defense only. I have another build with capped S/L on top of ranged, but feel it gives up too much in recharge. Recharge is I feel what I need the most with this character. Cobalt Man - KB to KD.mxd