kheldians The (Almost) Complete guide to Kheldians

[Laucianna]

Updated -  14/07/2024 - Updated the form shift and numpad change binds to hopefully not break, thanks to @GargoyleKDR for testing this!

 

- Lauci x

[GargoyleKDR]

2 hours ago, Laucianna said:

In that case try putting the bar change at the start so:

/Macro Human "powexec_toggleoff White Dwarf$$powexec_toggleoff Bright Nova$$gototray 1"

And let me know if that works and I will update the guide ❤️

I've tested the revised macro in a MSR. It went the entire raid without a flaw. 

 

To make sure it worked I intentionally swapped forms (using all 3) after one, two, or 3 power activations (depending on form). The only thing that I ran into was having to press the macro twice when the animation swap didn't process on the first click.  I run into that issue frequently with all my form macros and key binds.

 

- Bayne II (Dr. Bayne Banzai, PB)

[smnolimits42]

ok i need help.  Fighting and Leadership pools, am i right in assuming that none of these powers work while in Squid or Lobster forms.

[Dungeoness Eloora]

39 minutes ago, smnolimits42 said:

ok i need help.  Fighting and Leadership pools, am i right in assuming that none of these powers work while in Squid or Lobster forms.

That is correct. If you run these toggles in human form and switch to nova or dwarf, they will suppress, remaining active if you switch back to human, but provide no benefit. Only team buffs from others, your own short duration buffs, and incarnate powers provide any benefit while shapeshifted.

[smnolimits42]

i was afraid of that, thanks for getting back to me

 

[Laucianna]

Updated - 22/07/2024 - Updated my build with the most recent version.

- Lauci x

[High_Beam]

Okay.  I have read this guide and this thread twice over as well as the linked other information points and I have decided to try again at running up a Kheld; this is attempt number 3 (Squid Markz lol from live and Illustrike (I released that name so have at it) from when I first came to Homecoming).  Keep an eye out for Glitterburn and don't be too mean 🙂

[Laucianna]

7 hours ago, High_Beam said:

Okay.  I have read this guide and this thread twice over as well as the linked other information points and I have decided to try again at running up a Kheld; this is attempt number 3 (Squid Markz lol from live and Illustrike (I released that name so have at it) from when I first came to Homecoming).  Keep an eye out for Glitterburn and don't be too mean 🙂

Best of luck hun and if you ever have questions make sure to reach out ❤️ But most of all enjoy!

[Laucianna]

Updated - 08/09/2024 - Updated both PB and WS infinity builds and added a Psi max PB build  ❤️

 

 - Lauci x

[chancekillion96]

So how do i go about making the binds for the rotation? lets say i dont want the teleport but want the rotation you had on the pylon. im 100% ignorant when it comes to making the key binds and macros. 

 

[Nightlinkarm]

Hey! So I cant get Mids Reborn to fun on my device. Is there anywhere the Human Form build is posted that I can see without the script?

[Laucianna]

Updated - 11/09/2024 - Updated the changeling binds to mention about changing keys to what is comfortable for you!

 

 - Lauci x

[Laucianna]

20 hours ago, chancekillion96 said:

So how do i go about making the binds for the rotation? lets say i dont want the teleport but want the rotation you had on the pylon. im 100% ignorant when it comes to making the key binds and macros. 

 

The binds are in the guide under the "Changeling/Shifter" section ❤️ You don't need teleport to use them

[Laucianna]

19 hours ago, Nightlinkarm said:

Hey! So I cant get Mids Reborn to fun on my device. Is there anywhere the Human Form build is posted that I can see without the script?

Not at the moment, if you have anyway you want it viewed that you know of let me know and I can try to export it like that for you! 😄 

[Laucianna]

Updated - 02/10/2024 - Added a recommended build for Peacebringer alongside a video showcase of it

[Laucianna]

Updated - 06/10/2024 - Added a rotation guide to the General PB build 💛

[wesslen]

Maybe I've missed it somewhere, but some things about changelings I (sort of) didn't see mentioned in the guide or in other comments that may be worth spelling out. If not in the guide itself then, well... here:

 

 

Procs

(This one is easy to guess when looking at changeling builds, but still...)

Procs placed in the shapeshift toggles have a chance to trigger not just periodically but also when activating the toggle, which for changelings can be multiple times per second.

This makes Performance Shifter: +End, Power Transfer: +Heal, and Gaussian: Build Up very powerful when placed in the toggles.

 

Using procs to heal / recover endurance

Less intuitively, the above means that if you've slotted said procs, it's possible to heal and recover endurance by spamming your changeling binds. When you're out of endurance, as long as you have the miniscule 0.13 endurance required to activate the toggle, you have a chance of getting 10% endurance back by attempting to attack, even if the attack itself never fires.

 

It's even somewhat useful to have binds which toggle the forms on-and-off without an attack, for use specifically to heal and recover endurnace:

/bind 1 "+$$powexec_toggleoff Black Dwarf$$powexec_toggleon Black Dwarf"

/bind 3 "+$$powexec_toggleoff Dark Nova$$powexec_toggleon Dark Nova"

 

 

The two changeling rythms

In my first attempt at playing a changeling, several months ago, I never managed to figure this one out and as a result played a lot slower than possible and suffered an unnecessary amount of jank...

Now that I've learned it myself on a second attempt, I can see that it's sort of already mentioned in the guide, so I'm not sure if I missed it last time or if it wasn't here then, but to spell it out more explicitly:

 

There's a rythym to using changeling binds in a "well-behaved" way, where you shift into a form, fire off the power, and shift back to human at the end. If you release the button too quickly you'll stay in a shapeshift form. It's absolutely worth trying to learn this, to be able to fire off a power as quickly as possible and return to human.

 

... but when you're trying to fire off a sequence of attacks as quickly as possible, the "well-behaved" rythm is both sub-optimal and unnecessarily difficult.

If both the "current" and "next" power you want to use are changeling binds, you can just tap the first button as quickly as possible and then press the second. Only the "last" changeling bind you use risks getting stuck in a shapeshift if released too quickly.

 

This means that if all you're doing for a while is firing off shapeshift powers ("infinity changeling"), then timing is actually very lenient, and the thing to learn is not the proper time to keep a button down in order to avoid staying in shapeshift, but rather how quickly you can press the next button to get all the powers out without one being skipped. And the answer here is that you can press very quickly. Animation-cancelling makes infinity changelings attack rate quite frantic. When in doubt; go faster!

 

It's still worth learning the hold-timing to be able to return to human smoothly, but it shouldn't be used all the time.

Edited October 12 by wesslen
Fixed binds

[Octogoat]

Trying to figure out if I should go for the general build or infinity.

[Laucianna]

3 hours ago, wesslen said:

Maybe I've missed it somewhere, but some things about changelings I (sort of) didn't see mentioned in the guide or in other comments that may be worth spelling out. If not in the guide itself then, well... here:

 

 

Procs

(This one is easy to guess when looking at changeling builds, but still...)

Procs placed in the shapeshift toggles have a chance to trigger not just periodically but also when activating the toggle, which for changelings can be multiple times per second.

This makes Performance Shifter: +End, Power Transfer: +Heal, and Gaussian: Build Up very powerful when placed in the toggles.

 

Using procs to heal / recover endurance

Less intuitively, the above means that if you've slotted said procs, it's possible to heal and recover endurance by spamming your changeling binds. When you're out of endurance, as long as you have the miniscule 0.13 endurance required to activate the toggle, you have a chance of getting 10% endurance back by attempting to attack, even if the attack itself never fires.

 

It's even somewhat useful to have binds which toggle the forms on-and-off without an attack, for use specifically to heal and recover endurnace:

/bind 1 "+$$powexec_toggleoff Black Dwarf$$powexec_toggleon Black Dwarf"

/bind 3 "+$$powexec_toggleoff Dark Nova$$powexec_toggleon Dark Nova"

 

 

The two changeling rythms

In my first attempt at playing a changeling, several months ago, I never managed to figure this one out and as a result played a lot slower than possible and suffered an unnecessary amount of jank...

Now that I've learned it myself on a second attempt, I can see that it's sort of already mentioned in the guide, so I'm not sure if I missed it last time or if it wasn't here then, but to spell it out more explicitly:

 

There's a rythym to using changeling binds in a "well-behaved" way, where you shift into a form, fire off the power, and shift back to human at the end. If you release the button too quickly you'll stay in a shapeshift form. It's absolutely worth trying to learn this, to be able to fire off a power as quickly as possible and return to human.

 

... but when you're trying to fire off a sequence of attacks as quickly as possible, the "well-behaved" rythm is both sub-optimal and unnecessarily difficult.

If both the "current" and "next" power you want to use are changeling binds, you can just tap the first button as quickly as possible and then press the second. Only the "last" changeling bind you use risks getting stuck in a shapeshift if released too quickly.

 

This means that if all you're doing for a while is firing off shapeshift powers ("infinity changeling"), then timing is actually very lenient, and the thing to learn is not the proper time to keep a button down in order to avoid staying in shapeshift, but rather how quickly you can press the next button to get all the powers out without one being skipped. And the answer here is that you can press very quickly. Animation-cancelling makes infinity changelings attack rate quite frantic. When in doubt; go faster!

 

It's still worth learning the hold-timing to be able to return to human smoothly, but it shouldn't be used all the time.

I haven't mentioned procs yet as I haven't mentioned how to build Kheldians but if you think that is something that should be included I can as there are a few things for building Kheldians that can be useful such as the two ways to slot the ATOs depending on what you need or our reliance on procs due to low base damage 💛

For the second part I do mention about starting off slowly with a few powers and building up that tempo whilst adding more powers to the rotation, so far this is the best way I can think of to learn it but if you have another way to get into the rhythm please let me know! 🥰

[Laucianna]

2 hours ago, Octogoat said:

Trying to figure out if I should go for the general build or infinity.

I would suggest general as it's safer for majority of content, infinity is a more high risk with high reward build once you get used to the playstyle 💛

[wesslen]

37 minutes ago, Laucianna said:

I haven't mentioned procs yet as I haven't mentioned how to build Kheldians but if you think that is something that should be included I can as there are a few things for building Kheldians that can be useful such as the two ways to slot the ATOs depending on what you need or our reliance on procs due to low base damage 💛

For the second part I do mention about starting off slowly with a few powers and building up that tempo whilst adding more powers to the rotation, so far this is the best way I can think of to learn it but if you have another way to get into the rhythm please let me know! 🥰

 

Turns out both parts were actually mentioned in the guide already - I went through it now and expanded every section so I could search them, and found mention of procs in the PvP section:

Quote

A way to help with this is the current Changeling exploit (REMEMBER, IT WILL BE REMOVED SO DO NOT RELY ON IT SOLEY) to help boost your dps and use the health and end procs to help heal whilst your powers are on cooldown[...]

 

 

I feel this puts it in about the same category as my other point about the "two rythms" though - the information exists in the guide, and I'm not at all suggesting that the guide is wrong - it's excellent, and thank you for writing it! I'm just saying that this is information that despite existing in the guide, and my having read the guide, I still had to "discover" for myself, as the information didn't sink in when reading. I think that's because it's more alluded to than spelled out directly.

 

 

In the changeling section of the guide, the part about going faster ("However if you want to go at full speed...") is placed almost as part of the introduction, three paragraphs before the instructions for how to learn the "normal" speed, but seems written as if it should be placed after the training instructions.

 

I think it would be helpful to have something written about "there are two speeds - one that leaves you as human after the powers is done, and a faster one that leaves you shifted", and then explains when each is useful.

 

Regarding procs, I also think that's good to spell out directly even if nothing else is mentioned about builds, since the ability to get proc rolls multiple times per second is quite unique to changelings.

[Laucianna]

Updated - 16/10/2024 - Added a section about enhancements are resorted the Changeling section slightly ❤️ 

[Black_Assassin]

On 1/3/2023 at 11:38 PM, Laucianna said:

Essence Transfer

Essence Transfer is one of those sets where you need to chose between splitting it between two powers or getting a full bonus, because at 3 of the enhancement in a single power grants you 6.25% recharge (10% for superior) which means you can get that bonus twice if you split it between two powers (3 in each), or you could look at the great def bonus a full set will give you: 3.13% Ranged and 3.75% Melee (5% each for superior). On top of that the proc works a lot like the "Power Transfer: Chance to Heal Self" where you have a strong chance to heal yourself whenever the power is used.

 

 

I thought the heal was a global proc?

 

 

[mistagoat]

Where is the artwork at the bottom of the OP from, it's lovely!

 

Khelds still intimidate me a bit, I'm a dirty clicker and is seems like binds are pretty important to playing them well. I could probably convert them to macros but I suspect that's not very efficient. At some point I'll definitely try them and I'll be referencing this guide heavily! Thanks!

[Laucianna]

7 hours ago, Black_Assassin said:

 

 

I thought the heal was a global proc?

 

 

It's a weird mix of a global and a normal, you need to use the power first to activate the global side effect for it on that map alone. If you put it in a power you never use you will never get the heal proc for instance, will try and clear it up a bit in the post 😄

"On top of that the proc works a lot like the "Power Transfer: Chance to Heal Self" where you have a strong chance to heal yourself whenever the power is used, once the power with it in is used once on a map it then becomes a global proc giving you a chance to heal on all your attacks."