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Warshade or Fortunata?


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I'm posting this in both the warshade and the widow forums to hopefully get a good well rounded answer. I tried googling it but nothing really compared the two directly.

 

So i'm not so much looking for builds but more looking for what one can do that the other cant. General break down on play style and stuff like that.

 

What i'm looking for in the archetype is something is fun and useful in a group but can also solo at a higher difficulty then 0x0 I don't need to go at +4x8 but higher then normal anyway. I also prefer it to be a ranged class as i just cant seem to get into melee lately. It would also be nice if they can do this without a super expensive build. But if needed that can come later as both my warshade and widow are 24. Mostly just looking for tips on which one to focus on.

I'm leaning warshade but figured i would see what people have to say before i commit.

 

I have been reading through this guide as i definitely want to stick with human form only if i go warshade.

 

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Boiled-down, simple version:

 

Fortunata is basically a dominator/controller with high defence and scaling resistances - the more you beat them up, the harder they are to beat up, which people often forget as it doesn't show up in build planners. They give defence, ToHit and damage buffs to teams, which mean that every team you'll ever be on is better for you being there. Other than that, they mostly play like controllers or dominators doing psi damage, mezzing and throwing out mind link when it comes up for a big defence whoosh. Note that up until level 24, you're basically a scrapper with Leadership so early game doesn't represent late game *at all* due to the branching powersets. They can also do melee damage quite capably, but you don't want that and you can build around it. 

 

Warshades are basically a blaster with a sideline in mezzes with really high resistances and a bit of defence. They get buffs from teaming and from enemies so how powerful and protected they are shoots up and down and feels different solo and in groups.

 

I would argue that if you're going human-only, peacebringer may be a better option as warshade builds tend to form swap a lot to stack buffs (look up MF warshade - top tier spec with higher difficulty), while peacebringers' buffs are almost all human-form. Warshades are harder work for higher results, while peacebringers can just rocket through things hoping Light Form doesn't crash at the wrong time but never quite hit the epic highs of a warshade. I'm sure it can be done well, though and aesthetic is 90% of the law in City of Heroes so I get it if you want dark and spoopy. 

Edited by Gulbasaur
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Doctor Fortune  Soulwright Mother Blight Brightwarden Storm Lantern Shadow Self Corona Borealis
Blood Fortunado Dark/Dark Corruptor Rad/Rad Brute Gravity/Time Controller Storm/Water Defender Warshade Dark/Dark Tanker
The Good Missions Guide: A Heroic Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Blueside Guide Easy IO Cheat Sheet 
The Mean Missions Guide: A Villainous Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Redside Guide Fortunatas are the Bestunatas
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1 hour ago, Gulbasaur said:

Boiled-down, simple version:

 

So far i spent all day on the warshade and it is a lot of fun in groups but as soon as i try to solo i just feel like a squishy mess. Which i know is partly because i'm only 35 on it now but i tend to play during non peak hours so soloing happens a lot. And if i cant solo at lower levels it doesn't work very well for me.

 

So now to try and level the Fort to 35 in groups and solo and see how i like that. I did try the night widow which i may try and run a build as night widow for solo later but at least in groups i didnt like it at all. I'm just not a fan of melee on 8 man teams. Too much going on and i can see what im attacking or a knockback, and i cant find the mob i was hitting lol.

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9 hours ago, lokiie1984 said:

So far i spent all day on the warshade and it is a lot of fun in groups but as soon as i try to solo i just feel like a squishy mess. Which i know is partly because i'm only 35 on it now but i tend to play during non peak hours so soloing happens a lot. And if i cant solo at lower levels it doesn't work very well for me.

 

So now to try and level the Fort to 35 in groups and solo and see how i like that. I did try the night widow which i may try and run a build as night widow for solo later but at least in groups i didnt like it at all. I'm just not a fan of melee on 8 man teams. Too much going on and i can see what im attacking or a knockback, and i cant find the mob i was hitting lol.

For realsies. Kheldians are complete powerhouses in teams due to their inherents, but solo they need some building, especially if you avoid forms (nova until you're nearly dead then pop into dwarf to heal up and rest a bit). 

 

Fortunatas are pretty much the same in and out of groups. High control and decent melee options. I tend to confuse a lieutenant, hold someone else and then start stabbing away, throwing AoEs and stuff about when I can. 

Doctor Fortune  Soulwright Mother Blight Brightwarden Storm Lantern Shadow Self Corona Borealis
Blood Fortunado Dark/Dark Corruptor Rad/Rad Brute Gravity/Time Controller Storm/Water Defender Warshade Dark/Dark Tanker
The Good Missions Guide: A Heroic Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Blueside Guide Easy IO Cheat Sheet 
The Mean Missions Guide: A Villainous Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Redside Guide Fortunatas are the Bestunatas
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Forts should be able to solo just fine.  Forts also have the option of going all ranged.  This isn't highest damage but it is extremely safe.  You're a Psi blaster with much better defenses and much better team buffs.

 

You can also use your second build and make a Night Widow as either a stalker/scrapper or go more tanky with Confront and Tough and have a real chance at tanking AVs.  My Night Widow solos just fine at +3 (although this was after a moderately expensive IO Set build.  I'm sure it would do fine at +0 with just basic IOs.)

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4 hours ago, gameboy1234 said:

Forts should be able to solo just fine.  Forts also have the option of going all ranged.  This isn't highest damage but it is extremely safe.  You're a Psi blaster with much better defenses and much better team buffs.

 

You can also use your second build and make a Night Widow as either a stalker/scrapper or go more tanky with Confront and Tough and have a real chance at tanking AVs.  My Night Widow solos just fine at +3 (although this was after a moderately expensive IO Set build.  I'm sure it would do fine at +0 with just basic IOs.)

(Just wanted to say thank you for your guides from the Olden Days - really useful and still up on the Internet Archive and absolutely helped me get started). 

 

I have gone 50% melee and 50% range and I think it makes a really good compromise. I mostly go melee if I'm DPSing, but can fall back and start throwing around holds and do ranged damage if I need to. Start off with a crit on Lunge, then go into a fairly quick rotation while my damage ramps up from Follow Up and toxic damage procs. Mass Confusion, Psychic Wail and Psychic Tornado (technically knockback, but it seems to be based in the ground so it mostly knocks up) are all very powerful AoE dps/control hybrid powers. I did think about posting my build, but I keep umming and ahhing about something trivial so I've never done it. 

 

Tanky enough that I have tanked for groups of squishies (health gets to 50% then stops moving thanks to scaling resistance, can be improved with absorb proc and scaling res proc so at 50% health you have ~70% resistance and easily capped defence). Confuse is the most powerful control power in the game and I've got lots of it (go for the "annoying" mobs, like menders, forcefield generators, surgeons etc - make them heal and buff you). Soloing has never been an issue, though I haven't exactly been going up against AVs. Elite bosses aren't a threat if I have a few inspirations. No purples other than the ATO sets, a few yellows in there for some quick bonuses... nothing out of reach if you do a bit of converter flipping in your down time. 

Edited by Gulbasaur
Doctor Fortune  Soulwright Mother Blight Brightwarden Storm Lantern Shadow Self Corona Borealis
Blood Fortunado Dark/Dark Corruptor Rad/Rad Brute Gravity/Time Controller Storm/Water Defender Warshade Dark/Dark Tanker
The Good Missions Guide: A Heroic Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Blueside Guide Easy IO Cheat Sheet 
The Mean Missions Guide: A Villainous Levelling Journey through Story Arcs Redside Guide Fortunatas are the Bestunatas
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I have both fully IO'd, warshade with a MF-3 Form build and What I call a FortNight (multi build using Fortunate/Night Widow with full IO set builds, while mine also has a third build for a support based blood widow as well).

 

The Warshade is fun if you can have density, and it's a very active build hot swapping forms on the fly multiple times per enemy group, it relies on damage resistance.

 

The FortNight is fun, although super expensive, for mine I bought IO's for.3 builds (eg. 15 LotG 7.5's), you can swap forms once/minute. Less active than the Warshade. Lots of Leadership, and super defense softcaps for incarnate content. (Drawback to a FortNight, when you swap builds all your CD's go on cool down immediately, including long recharge prestige powers like ATT).

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