Triform WS powers and playstyle questions

[oxmox]

I'm leveling a Warshade for the first time (just hit 31) and enjoying it although it feels a little janky in some aspects. I just wanted to see how my impressions stack up with more experienced players or if I'm missing something.

 

I am under the impression that most people consider triform more optimal from an effectiveness standpoint. That seems likely to me given how big the bonuses are, but it does hurt the utility of the human form toggles a lot and makes most pool powers less useful.

 

Am I correct in feeling like the human armor toggles and the human version of blasts shared by nova form are pretty useless if playing triform? The toggles have to be reused constantly and the blasts seem straight inferior to the nova versions. Are the high end human form blasts (quasar and the corpse targeted one) worth using or should I stick to nova form for damage.

 

Likewise, do people find it worth slotting the dwarf attacks? I find sometimes when I have to play the tank role in a team i get stuck in dwarf form due to aggro and really wish for better attacks. Other times when we have melees or enough lockdown that I don't have to manage aggro I hardly use dwarf attacks except mire, so I'm not sure spending slots there is valuable enough.

 

 

My rough outline for tackling enemies involves running in human form with stealth and armor toggles up, mire, dwarf form, dwarf mire, then back off in nova form and use the AoE attacks. Refill with stygian circle as needed. I may open with the hold vs a quantum or hang out in dwarf a bit longer if I have all the aggro, but that's how most fights go. Is using human/dwarf forms mainly for mires then going nova to blast the typical approach for clearing groups?

 

It seems like the top end powers are really strong; should I expect to shift towards mostly fighting in human form as I hit higher levels? 

 

Do people typically just turtle in dwarf form against heavy Mez? I thought it would be a great answer but having to stay in dwarf mode for an entire fight is a drag. I've been thinking about rune of protection from the sorcery pool to help with that, especially since I imagine my late game build will be heavy on recharge as is.

 

Thanks for any help or suggestions! It's been a blast so far, I just can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something on how to put it all together!

Edited September 23, 2019 by oxmox

[Redlynne]

I'll just leave this here for you to peruse ...

[Microcosm]

1. Some people go human form and skip the forms to make full use of those powers and pool powers. I personally prefer triform, but yes, pool powers are not great for tris other than hasten.

2. The toggles armors are useless if you are swapping forms. The eye blast may look inferior, but fired from Nova it gets a damage modifier boost so it's actually good. I don't find shadow blast useful on dwarf. Quasar is great now; I don't like Unchain Essence, but others do. Its activation and recharge times are way too long.

3. If you play dwarf, slot dwarf, but you don't have to 6 slot the attacks. 4 kinetic combats grabs you a bunch of s/l defense and adequately boosts the attacks given the slot crunch. Dwarf mire is one of the best attacks you have, so slot that guy.

4. Your approach is good. You can also find the double mire trick if you search some older threads to simultaneously execute both mires. This is excellent for nuking, or for just keeping yourself at the damage cap when you get enough recharge.

5. Your approach won't change much at high levels, except you'll be able to nuke every other mob without switching to a form of you get your recharge up and double mire. It will be super safe though with eclipse.

6. Some rely on dwarf for mez protection, and some only play at 50 with Clarion destiny. The easiest answer to me is to use insp combining to keep a stream of break frees in your tray. This is a shameless plug, as I wrote the guide on insp combination which can be found in the guides subsection of the boards.

 

You'll get the hang of it (sounds like you partially already have). Also learn the power of gravitic emanation (with the kb to kd io for me) and get some io sets going. The pets, eclipse and the nuke are real game changers when you get there.