IO Sets and Slotting for a 50+ Warshade Tri-Form

[MadnessAsMuse]

Greetings True Believers! I play as Vixen O'Morph on Excelsior server, the Kitsune fox lady who transforms into Kheldian forms. I'm new to IO sets, slotting in general, and while I know the grind for Influence will be long, I'd like a plan to maximize my build plan to run 54+ 8+ team missions. I'd like some help from the Mids addicts and helpful Khelds to suggest ways to optimize my build plan. I'll be grateful since this is my first Kheldian and I'm new to 50+ content. Thanks in advance. I'm dying out there without Set bonuses and could really use your help. Mids and /ah are my least favorite parts of the game but they seem necessary to keep up with high level teams, I'm not there to level up - I want to play.

 

I've added screenshot of my Mids as well as my MidsReborn file.

 

I tried the Beta server to test things, the the NobleKangaroo Freebies macro was missing live IO sets so I didn't bother doing a half complete build.

 

I plan to buy enhancements attuned or attune IOs myself.

 

Frankly, this process makes me nauseous. I followed the MF Warshade build to some extent, plagiarized Doom's Mids builds, but my personal style is to build a high defense human form with PbAoes and minimal overlap between human and Kheldian powers, Mire exception. I Starless step into mobs to pop Mire, then turn Dwarf and pop mire again, then either turn Nova to use Detonate or human to use Quasar & Gravity Well. I use Dwarf to absorb damage while I have aggro but spend most the fight in Nova waiting for my quasar and mires to reload so I get the mire to-hit bonus and quasar extreme damage. I use Unchain Essence as a PBAoE to target nearest enemy while I'm in a mob, can't be bothered to use it ranged and mouse target defeated enemies. I haven't built a strat around Shadow Slip because my accuracy is too low, but it will eventually revolve around PBAoEs and Dwarf until I lose aggro via a team tank and go Nova for ranged AoEs and single targets.

I have End, Recharge, Dmg, Accuracy, Def, and Resist problems, last two explain the Def toggles. The toggles are all tolerable End wise until Orbiting Death which kills End fast.

 

I skipped Umbral shields for Fighting [kick not priority], skipped Stygian Return for P2W Return to Battle Nebulous form to go ghost instead of dying, I failed the body check too often).

 

I thought with Luck of the Gambler was two 4 slots were better than two six slots, idk.

 

Changed knock back to knock down for good team manners.

 

I've tried all Umbral powers and know I don't want any more (Blasts are redundant to Nova and Dwarf except Snare which I rather have Gravity Shield for Def and Resistance problems). Pool powers besides Hasten I'm open to suggestion except TP and Stealth for obvious reasons.

 

VixenOMorphExcelsiorCOLLAB.mbd

[GM Crumpet]

I'm terrible at builds, but WS it's all about the enemies. My builds are here. I started with Dooms, discussed with Laucianna at great length about my play style, then tweaked and adjusted through playing to make it as good as I could.

And I'm loving my WS but tend to play it as dwarf primary, squid as secondary for those times I need range (MSR, Hami and annoying flying enemies) with human just for the buffs/debuffs/nuke and pets.

My usual tactic is TP in, shadow slip to collect as many enemies as are in range, eclipse- dwarf mire-human mire-human nuke-dark extraction, then dwarf to mop up the survivors. Essence drain when required, and stygian return for those times I overextend myself and die.

Teaming is amazing with the inherent, and outside of some enemy groups with some unfortunate debuffs I can handle +8 well solo. I generally play +4 though as it takes forever to clear large mobs. (Fun though 😛 )

 

The only binds I use are to swap forms quickly. I have the forms on keys I can hit with my little finger, plus the teleports. Other players swear by their binds and macro's, I personally don't need much more than a fast shapechange.

Edited December 9, 2023 by GM Crumpet

[Laucianna]

My Mids is playing up and for some reason and won't let me updated as it's moving some sets around to be impossible, but cross comparing it to the picture you posted there is a few things:

 - Resistance, With Eclipse your resistance is normally sorted with only a few slots and hitting a few enemies, so you could save some slots in that power (I have my Lightform version 4 slotted) and with powers like Absorption and Shadow Cloak you could swap out the extra resist procs for an extra slot and another Kismet to boost your accuracy (As hitting things is essential to a WS)

 - Attack slots, I don't know what your attack rotation is but you have a lot of slots spread out amongst attack powers, if you use all of them great! But if you find yourself not using powers as much you could slot them in your other attacks to limit how many attacks you need on your bar and increase the damage of powers you do use 🙂

 - Form enhancements, Now depending on how much time you spend in the form depends on what you slot here, if you are quickly in and out of forms a build up proc in nova and end proc in dwarf is a good choice, if you are spending a lot of time in the form then things to boost the forms key boost is good (to hit for nova, hp for dwarf) as your eclipse will carry into the form and boost your Resistant to cap still

 

Without being able to see the build probably (Error on my end lol) I couldn't suggest more, but overall it looks like a good build just feels a little spread too thin for my personal taste 😄 

 

 - Lauci x

[GM Crumpet]

@Laucianna Mids tends to be a pain when they update. Sometimes it's just easier to delete it and start again with the new version. 

 

And yes, that's one of the main problem with khelds in general. So many powers to pick from, so few slots. It's why I never got a good handle on PB and WS all these years. There are optimal builds for different play styles, the hard part is working out what that build is. I've got the builds that work for me, and the playstyle that makes me comfortable and feel powerful, but with all the options available my build isn't necessarily optimal for someone else. There are some powers I would consider absolute must haves, like light form, eclipse, mire and the various self rez, but you can play single form, dual form or tri-form as you like. As long as you have the inf to buy the best enhancements you can be quite viable even if you play in a way that someone else wouldn't.

[MadnessAsMuse]

Thanks for all the help. I've attached a current MidsBuild with screenshots of the set list and Human cumulative totals.

 

Eclipse caps 85% Res at 4 enemies. I listened to Laucianna regarding Eclipse Res, so I frankenslotted Impervium and Unbreakable as 2 slots Res/Recharge Res/End/Recharge - not that Eclipse needs End, I wanted more Recharge and the set bonuses. I started this build following the MF Warshade guide and went back to it for slot advice and they recommend two IO Accs in Eclipse so I don't save slots, but it is now better slotted than it was. 

 

Also Laucianna, I cycle through a lot of AoEs which is why I averaged 2 slots across 10 lesser used attacks, but I use them all. Mire to AoEs then use all my attacks until AoEs are available or only single targets remain, in which case it's time to round up more bodies. I changed Black Dwarf to Performance Shifter Proc +End and Power Transfer Proc + Heal. I'm Tri-Form all forms at once so these will pop often.

I have Performance Shifter Proc +End in Stamina. If I put one in Dwarf do they stack to 3PPM (triggered while dwarf once and once in human)?

 

This one I aimed for more recharge and recovery. Because Eclipse isn't Perma I wanted Res in Toxic and Psionic which I picked up in Weave

 

Thanks again everybody. Open to feedback.

 

 

 

VixenOMorphExcelsiorCOLLAB.mbd

Edited December 14, 2023 by MadnessAsMuse
Stared at mids longer, revised revision

[GM Crumpet]

11 hours ago, MadnessAsMuse said:

Thanks for all the help. I've attached a current MidsBuild with screenshots of the set list and Human cumulative totals.

 

Eclipse caps 85% Res at 4 enemies. I listened to Laucianna regarding Eclipse Res, so I frankenslotted Impervium and Unbreakable as 2 slots Res/Recharge Res/End/Recharge - not that Eclipse needs End, I wanted more Recharge and the set bonuses. I started this build following the MF Warshade guide and went back to it for slot advice and they recommend two IO Accs in Eclipse so I don't save slots, but it is now better slotted than it was. 

 

Also Laucianna, I cycle through a lot of AoEs which is why I averaged 2 slots across 10 lesser used attacks, but I use them all. Mire to AoEs then use all my attacks until AoEs are available or only single targets remain, in which case it's time to round up more bodies. I changed Black Dwarf to Performance Shifter Proc +End and Power Transfer Proc + Heal. I'm Tri-Form all forms at once so these will pop often.

I have Performance Shifter Proc +End in Stamina. If I put one in Dwarf do they stack to 3PPM (triggered while dwarf once and once in human)?

 

This one I aimed for more recharge and recovery. Because Eclipse isn't Perma I wanted Res in Toxic and Psionic which I picked up in Weave

 

Thanks again everybody. Open to feedback.

 

 

 

VixenOMorphExcelsiorCOLLAB.mbd 61.1 kB · 0 downloads

looking at the totals that's not too shabby at all. If it works for you with the power picks then that's all that matters. I'm sure someone would look at my build and go "why do you have X but missed out Y?" and my answer is "it works for me". There is no right or wrong here. What happened to me was I found my original build had things I didn't like or didn't need, and other things I found were super useful that I needed so it was a matter of evolving until I got to the point I am now. Sadly it's an expensive game when you redo your build to optimise yourself with real game experience, but totally worth it. Khelds in particular are a weird AT due to having so many options and sometimes what looks good on paper doesn't translate to your particular play style. I do try to prioritise the superior or purple enhancement if the power takes it though, so that's not cheap 😛 

[MadnessAsMuse]

Fixed 5 max cap on 9% Accuracy and 2.5% Recharge. Removed a slot from Dwarf drain, 3 LotG & 2 Kismet in Maneuvers to lose 1 LotG Acc bonus, in Eclipse switched Impervium to Unbreakable to fix 2.5% recovery max cap.

 

This is my first effort to understand Set bonuses and while I know there was a cap of 5 per, I did not realized I got every bonus in a set- I thought I just got one bonus per set until I looked at the build share Set Bonus Totals.

GM Crumpet There are a lot of powers for Warshade to choose from, but for me 8 of them were redundant when I have Nova and Dwarf, so I took 4 +Def pool powers and leave Resistance to Dwarf and Eclipse, then leave Bolt, Blast, Det and Emanation to Nova. Essense Drain is in Dwarf, as are Twilight and Penumbral Shields. I don't like Grav Snare. I can resurrect with P2W Return to Battle without Stygian Return and both bring me back without all my toggles so the plan is to not need a res in battle- just stay alive long enough to use Stygian Circle and Eclipse. I learned to love  my other powers so my attack rotation is full and all used. 

 

I look forward to more input. I may be ready for a repec by next week once I hear from some more people.

VixenOMorphExcelsiorCOLLAB.mbd

[Laucianna]

4 hours ago, MadnessAsMuse said:

Fixed 5 max cap on 9% Accuracy and 2.5% Recharge. Removed a slot from Dwarf drain, 3 LotG & 2 Kismet in Maneuvers to lose 1 LotG Acc bonus, in Eclipse switched Impervium to Unbreakable to fix 2.5% recovery max cap.

 

This is my first effort to understand Set bonuses and while I know there was a cap of 5 per, I did not realized I got every bonus in a set- I thought I just got one bonus per set until I looked at the build share Set Bonus Totals.

GM Crumpet There are a lot of powers for Warshade to choose from, but for me 8 of them were redundant when I have Nova and Dwarf, so I took 4 +Def pool powers and leave Resistance to Dwarf and Eclipse, then leave Bolt, Blast, Det and Emanation to Nova. Essense Drain is in Dwarf, as are Twilight and Penumbral Shields. I don't like Grav Snare. I can resurrect with P2W Return to Battle without Stygian Return and both bring me back without all my toggles so the plan is to not need a res in battle- just stay alive long enough to use Stygian Circle and Eclipse. I learned to love  my other powers so my attack rotation is full and all used. 

 

I look forward to more input. I may be ready for a repec by next week once I hear from some more people.

VixenOMorphExcelsiorCOLLAB.mbd 61.09 kB · 0 downloads

That's 100% looking a lot better! And yeah if you use the powers it's fine to have slots in them 😄 I personally only use 3 st attacks, 3 aoes, and the two nukes on PB hence why I was just making sure as we can never have enough slots as a Triform Kheldian lol. And like @GM Crumpet said about picking the powers you want, you may pick powers I swear against but if you want to use them then pick them 🙂 After all this is YOUR Kheldian and no one elses, we can just offer our opinion when asked ❤️ 

 

- Lauci x

[GM Crumpet]

19 hours ago, MadnessAsMuse said:

Fixed 5 max cap on 9% Accuracy and 2.5% Recharge. Removed a slot from Dwarf drain, 3 LotG & 2 Kismet in Maneuvers to lose 1 LotG Acc bonus, in Eclipse switched Impervium to Unbreakable to fix 2.5% recovery max cap.

 

This is my first effort to understand Set bonuses and while I know there was a cap of 5 per, I did not realized I got every bonus in a set- I thought I just got one bonus per set until I looked at the build share Set Bonus Totals.

GM Crumpet There are a lot of powers for Warshade to choose from, but for me 8 of them were redundant when I have Nova and Dwarf, so I took 4 +Def pool powers and leave Resistance to Dwarf and Eclipse, then leave Bolt, Blast, Det and Emanation to Nova. Essense Drain is in Dwarf, as are Twilight and Penumbral Shields. I don't like Grav Snare. I can resurrect with P2W Return to Battle without Stygian Return and both bring me back without all my toggles so the plan is to not need a res in battle- just stay alive long enough to use Stygian Circle and Eclipse. I learned to love  my other powers so my attack rotation is full and all used. 

 

I look forward to more input. I may be ready for a repec by next week once I hear from some more people.

VixenOMorphExcelsiorCOLLAB.mbd 61.09 kB · 1 download

I would say to pick stygian return, it has a short recharge time and gives more health and stamina the more enemies are round you. It also makes you invulnerable for a short time so you can pop your toggles back on and protects you from XP debt for 90 seconds. Return to battle is fine, but it's recharge is 60 minutes. SR just needs a recharge IO in it and you're done

[MadnessAsMuse]

GM Crumpet I'm thinking about swapping Unchain Essense for Stygian Return since my human form is all PBAoE focused I don't use my Ebon Eye in human. I tried binding Unchain to a key with target closest fallen enemy so I could use it quickly in a mob, but it missed often, targeted a far enemy too often, and didn't do enough damage for me to think it was worth it without IOs. Skill issue I know, other people make it work. I don't want to bind a key to cycle through fallen enemies for one power and I know the trick with Dark Extraction it has the same problem as the bind. 

 

I also don't know about Shadow Slip, but it seems good if it doesn't miss. 

 

If I swap out Unchain Essense for SR I'll have an extra slot. It's a wish list so I thought I'd 3 slot Orbiting Death and swap Fury of the Gladiator for 3 Superior Essense Transfer to pick up another 10% Enhance Recharge to get to +100% enhance recharge total.

 

 

[GM Crumpet]

8 hours ago, MadnessAsMuse said:

GM Crumpet I'm thinking about swapping Unchain Essense for Stygian Return since my human form is all PBAoE focused I don't use my Ebon Eye in human. I tried binding Unchain to a key with target closest fallen enemy so I could use it quickly in a mob, but it missed often, targeted a far enemy too often, and didn't do enough damage for me to think it was worth it without IOs. Skill issue I know, other people make it work. I don't want to bind a key to cycle through fallen enemies for one power and I know the trick with Dark Extraction it has the same problem as the bind. 

 

I also don't know about Shadow Slip, but it seems good if it doesn't miss. 

 

If I swap out Unchain Essense for SR I'll have an extra slot. It's a wish list so I thought I'd 3 slot Orbiting Death and swap Fury of the Gladiator for 3 Superior Essense Transfer to pick up another 10% Enhance Recharge to get to +100% enhance recharge total.

 

 

Unchain essence is an odd one. It's another good nuke, but you need a macro to get it to target. /macro dead ""targetcustomnext enemy defeated" then hit the power is what I use and have it set to a key along with my shapechanges. You can have the power on a key too so it's two key clicks. I tried it with the power activation in the macro but if there are multiple corpses it just cycles through them rather than exploding the targeted one. So annoying. But I agree that given the choice between that power and Stygian Return I'd pick the latter any day. As for Extract essence, that one does actually target the dead enemy automatically. You may have to hit it twice (I forget).

 

As for Shadow slip, I'm not sure about human based. I play dwarf based and only use human for the buffs. A warshade benefits from more enemies up close, so for me it's a must have. Gather the foes close, then all the different AoE powers straight after. Time it right and you can get 10+ buffs from eclipse, human mire and dwarf mire. The two mires are classed as different buffs so both is preferable. Then a quick nuke or two and it's just a matter of mopping up the survivors. Dwarf has a rather good heal as part of it's attacks as well.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by GM Crumpet

[unstatusthequo]

Nice build. Curious how it might be changed to perma-Eclipse or near perma? Even possible, @Laucianna? What could be sacrificed for that, and do you even think it's necessary? 

 

I do agree with @GM Crumpet on Unchain as well. I find myself never needing it and probably a waste for my build. 

[Laucianna]

35 minutes ago, unstatusthequo said:

Nice build. Curious how it might be changed to perma-Eclipse or near perma? Even possible, @Laucianna? What could be sacrificed for that, and do you even think it's necessary? 

 

I do agree with @GM Crumpet on Unchain as well. I find myself never needing it and probably a waste for my build. 

Perma Eclipse is 100% needed imo, and yeah super simple to make the updated build have it perma alongside perma hasten, just use Agility Core for your Alpha and that will sort it until you can get some more recharge from better enhancements or other sources ❤️ Also if you never use a power then yeah take it out, there are so many great powers we can slot as either attacks, utility, healing, or mules!

 

 - Lauci x

[unstatusthequo]

What do you recommend planning-wise to change the build to accommodate perma-hasten and perma-eclipse?  I'll have no issue slotting purple IOs where needed to make this workable. 

[Laucianna]

4 hours ago, unstatusthequo said:

What do you recommend planning-wise to change the build to accommodate perma-hasten and perma-eclipse?  I'll have no issue slotting purple IOs where needed to make this workable. 

Actually taking another look at the most updated version it isn't possible, it has 12 Superior Essence Transfer enhancements (2 in Ebon Eye, 4 in Gravity Well, 3 in Detonation, 3 in Smite) So I couldn't say how it would work on things like recharge as I don't fancy searching the entire build to see what else is bugged ❤️ 

 

 - Lauci x

[MadnessAsMuse]

I updated my slots and enhancements in Mids thanks to feedback. I appreciate all the help. Respec'd Dark Extraction for Essence Drain because I wasn't impressed with the pets so I spread the slots around instead. Now human has a melee chain instead of duping Nova with ranged attacks without the bonuses, even though Essence Drain is a duplicate of Dwarf drain I figured more heal in single target fights might help when Stygian Circle isn't an option and I slotted it for Negative damage. Couple other changes, one slot Stygian Circle and Stamina with no issues to six slot other powers. Mids says my set bonuses don't contradict and my new enhancements all fit in game, bought and slotted. I have much better Mez protection and Damage, very happy in farms and TFs so long as I keep Eclipse up.

 

I can aggro mobs to the tank with Super Speed Inky Aspect and Orbiting Death in human form with my resistance at 85% and my defenses all at 24-26% with toggles before team leadership bonuses. My Starless Step to Mires, Quasar, Nova Emanation, and Nova Detonation combo does massive damaged to mobs in quick succession, then I do it again with Dwarf Mire and Void if any survive. Sticking to MFing Warshade and aways grouping my enemies with aggro and Shadow Slip and staying liquid with my forms instead of aping other ATs for whole fights and missions.

 

I updated many enhancements to provide Mez resistance as well because that was a problem and I don't want to rely on Dwarf and Break Free too much.

 

I very satisfied with my new build. Much more durable. Thank you all for taking the time to help.

 

Side note: I have no idea why Mids says Dark Nova Blast does 256dmg and Ebon Eye does 150. Ebon Eye always does more damage than Nova Blast in game. It's not only inaccurate, it's backwards.  Nova blas is not 60% more damage, it does 13% less damage than Ebon Eye on my toon. Atlas Park level 3 goons Ebon Eye does 1246dmg and Nova Blast does 1095dmg, and that's with Nova Blast slotted for 53% damage and chance 107 Negative damage. Even in game the Nova Blast icon is bigger than Ebon Eye implying more damage, but Blast consistently does less damage than Ebon Eye. Weird and unbalanced that a level 6 power slotted for 53% damage does less than a level 2 power slotted for 48% damage. In higher missions. The damage on both is a tenth but the scale is the same, 120 to 109. Seems broken. Tradeoff for knockback I guess.

 

Edit: I haven't finished slotting Ragnarok in Nova Emanation, so those set bonuses are missing at this time. Soon.

VixenOMorph_respec.mbd

Edited February 29 by MadnessAsMuse
Clarified missing set bonuses

[unstatusthequo]

@MadnessAsMuse Nice. I like it! I think for me Dark Extraction is kind of fun and unique. I fully agree on avoiding duplication of attacks with Nova. 

 

When I use Starless Step, I always wonder if it's worth it. Why not just jump into the middle of the mob? Is it worth burning a power on that? I suppose it's to pop the ToHitt buff on the mires and nukes? 

 

How is your Eclipse recharge? Curious how it is mostly before having some serious Incarnates like you have in place. I'm lvl 40, doing Portal Jockey stuff now, so I'm a ways from getting into those on this toon. 

[MadnessAsMuse]

I removed my incarnates to test Eclipse for you.
Without Hasten, my Eclipse has a 110s recharge and a 90s effect time, so 20s gap without Eclipse.
With Hasten, Eclipse has an 88s recharge, so it's permanent with no overlap stacking, leaving me ready but vulnerable until I can activate it on the next mob.

 

Edit: I just finished my 5 slot of Ragnarok and Eclipse with Hasten has a recharge time of 75 seconds.

Hasten is 20s short of perma, 135s recharge time.

 

Reequipping my incarnates in particular did not effect recharge time.

 

Quote

 Starless Step... I suppose it's to pop the ToHit buff on the mires and nukes? 

Ding. While most the time in outdoor missions I fly over a mob then switch the dwarf and bomb the mob with Mire, I like the ToHit from Starless Step for Sunless Mire, Gravity Well, Quasar, and Eclipse. It makes it easy to position in the center of a mob and it's only a one slot power. I have a bind for Dwarf to TP to target which emulates Starless Step (which is also bound to tp to target) but it is noticeably slower. Combined with Super Speed, Starless Step makes moving around and positioning a mere thought away. It's great for indoor missions getting through crowded doors, enemies on upper levels, and with Gravity Well queued up I get a punch in on flying enemies to hold them.

 

At that level I can't think of better options except Pool powers like Maneuvers, Kick, Super Speed, Combat Jumping, but when exemplaring down, Starless Step + Sunless Mire is very powerful combo. I can't imagine my playstyle without it because I took it when it became available while leveling. I don't like to miss when mob takedowns involve four powers working perfectly: Eclipse > Sunless Mire > Dwarf Mire > Quasar. My Acc bonus is high now, but I still play early content so I take every bonus I can get at those levels.

Shadow Slip misses a lot so the Starless Step bonus really helps collect bodies for me to Eclipse and mire. 

 

Having the keybind BUTTON5 "powexec_LOCATION target STARLESS STEP" on my mouse makes it significantly more effective for quick use and I can use it to target friendly tanks so I'm centered in mobs for my PBAoEs.

 

tldr It's absolutely not necessary, but it's fun and I make frequent use of it.

Edited March 2 by MadnessAsMuse
Updated with new set bonus + 10% recharge

[Dungeoness Eloora]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:35 AM, unstatusthequo said:

@MadnessAsMuse When I use Starless Step, I always wonder if it's worth it. Why not just jump into the middle of the mob? Is it worth burning a power on that? I suppose it's to pop the ToHitt buff on the mires and nukes?

I've also experimented with having Starless Step in my builds. Its appeal is apparent - a lightning fast teleport suitable for use in combat, with a small boost to ToHit on top of it. It's fun! Ultimately though, Warshade builds tend to be very tight on power choices, and the above isn't a compelling enough reason to keep it in an endgame build IMO - particularly at the expense of legitimately useful powers like Gravitic Emanation.

 

Assuming a tri-form build, you already have access to 2 slow yet free teleport powers perfectly capable of escorting you into the middle of a pack of mobs, or to any target you choose, at 3 times the range, with no cooldown of any kind.

 

I don't want to rain on your parade, and you are free to build and play (and post on the forums) however you like. If what you are working with is fun for you, keep with it. I'll leave it to you to express whether you seek more serious build advice, or are just seeking to chronicle your Warshade journey.

[MadnessAsMuse]

Quote

Gravitic Emanation

I already have this in Nova form and I can't six slot them both. No offense taken on the rain. I'm glad there's diversity of thought on Starless Step. Always good to see different builds and takes. Ultimately it's a one slot power and I like it over the standard TP because it's 3x faster. I still use a standard TP as Dwarf in mobs  - on the upside, it gives me a second to sip my drink. If there's a better suggestion for a substitute of Essence Drain I don't cover below, I'd love to hear it. 

I can't see any good substitutes for me except Pool powers. Of which I'm limited to Speed, Leadership, Fighting, and Leaping, Leaping is negotiable. I'll take suggestions on Incarnates since I have the least experience testing these. I just switched to Clarion.

 

I already took Essence Drain which I didn't need. Looking down the list, while Warshade has a lot of powers, after testing, 10 of them are non-starters for me:

Shadow Bolt (weak, doesn't fit Dwarf attack chain is gapless from +recharge)

Gravimetric Snare (have Gravity Well for bosses, all other enemies go down in 4 hits. Waste of an attack animation)

Shadow Blast (nova dupe)

Dark Detonation (nova dupe)

Gravitic Emanation (nova dupe)

Unchain Essence (tried it, personal preference I'd rather use Detonation and Emanation than bother targeting the correct fallen enemy)

Dark Extraction (weak pets [tried 4 slot of Call to Arms + 5th solot Soulbound Allegiance Build up - Pets were fluffy paper bags I had to inflate every 60s] and fail to spawn often due to despawn meaning I remember to spawn on the last enemy of the group or stop attacking to spawn a pet - all for them to die on the next group)

Penumbral Sheild (eclipse makes +res irrelevant, took +def power instead)

Twilight Shield (eclipse makes +res irrelevant, took +def power instead)

Nebulous Form (I took Shadow Cloak, Super Speed +Celerity Stealth, and Stygian Return. I can stealth without it and I'd rather die in place to rez than run away. I tried it. If outdoors I just TP up. If I die then I still fall in the middle of the group so I can Stygian Return.)

 

Obviously there's disagreement from the Bi-Forms and Human Only Khelds, this is just my build philosophy and is not for toons who don't take both Nova and Dwarf.

[Carnifax]

Dark Extractions can pump out a lot of damage on my triform 

 

They are totally idiot paper bags though, they're still too willing to sneak in too close.

 

But when I've checked their damage output numbers after a few missions it's been surprisingly good 

 

Worst thing about them is how they dry up in AV fights, which is Warshades biggest issue overall. In the toughest fights you often can't heal from bodies, can't buff damage, can't get good numbers from Eclipse and can't raise fluffies.

[MadnessAsMuse]

Dark Extractions were pulling good numbers at about 150dmg per target on their Gravitic Emanation. I got sick of the summon missing unless it was part of my attack chain, it couldn't be an afterthought or it would hit a despawning enemy half the time. The slots played better elsewhere for me. It was emotionally draining to watch a long animation just to missing spawns or spawn then have them go down fast or time out 5 minutes later so a three spawn lasted a whole 60s. I know it works for some people but it would take a patch for me to reconsider it. A patch made my build possible with 7 toggles in suspended mode rather than toggled off while in Nova/Dwarf, so it's not impossible. I'd drop Orbiting Death or Essense Drain were Dark Extraction improved. I, irrationally I know, hate it.

[tidge]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:35 AM, unstatusthequo said:

When I use Starless Step, I always wonder if it's worth it. Why not just jump into the middle of the mob? Is it worth burning a power on that? I suppose it's to pop the ToHitt buff on the mires and nukes?

 

I am working on leveling a Warshade, and at my level 25 respec I put Starless Step into the build:

• I didn't have another Warshade power I wanted at that level (I don't need another single-target power(*1)), or I wanted in the final build, also...
• I didn't feel like taking a pool power, because per my plans it won't be until circa level 35 I can take another pool power.
• I like Combat Teleport, so this was a natural choice for me.

For the final bullet point, I have macros ready to jump into a targeted enemy's face. Less necessary for the blasts, but definitely needed for the PBAoE. I like the +ToHit, and even if that effect isn't buffed, I find myself eyeballing all the different travel powers for the 20% Slow Resistance global piece.... there are obviously a lot of options for it, but I find myself enhancing all those other travel powers in somewhat specific ways for Quality-of-Life reasons (Accuracy, Range, Endurance, ToHit, etc.)

 

It is possible that I find myself not using Starless Step so much, but I expect human form to get a lot of play. My approach is to go tri-form, but I can see myself leveraging a second build focused entirely on the human form. In that case, I may drop Starless Step, as I will be able to mimic it with the other Warshade powers.

 

(*1) I am using Gravitic Emination as a human-form attack. It's too good of a source of non-Negative AoE %damage to pass up IMO. Right now I have both Ebon Eye and Shadow Bolt for set bonuses and extra attacks for the non-human forms.

[MadnessAsMuse]

9 hours ago, tidge said:

Gravitic Emanation

I still don't understand this power for builds which take Nova. More power to you for Human only and Bi-Form Dwarf Khelds.By Mids numbers it's a far worse Nova Emanation. My brain can't comprehend the redundancy possible on Warshades. I'm still confused why I took Essense Drain when I have it in Dwarf form, except the same reason as you:

 

9 hours ago, tidge said:

I didn't have another Warshade power I wanted at that level

 

On Starless Step-

I use Starless Step constantly to get through blocked doorways. I always use it to close the gap with Gravity Well which can hit flying targets. It's really nice to start my PBoAE Attack Chain with +ToHit (Starless Step>Eclipse>Sunless Mire>Dwarf Mire>Starless Step>Quasar/Judgement Void>Stygian Circle>Dwarf Mire>Nova Detonation>Nova Emanation = Everybody is dead). 

 

9 hours ago, tidge said:

I have macros ready to jump into a targeted enemy's face.

Like this? BUTTON5 "powexec_LOCATION target STARLESS STEP"

Me too. Just click my mouse side button and go.

[Doomrider]

47 minutes ago, MadnessAsMuse said:

I still don't understand this power for builds which take Nova. More power to you for Human only and Bi-Form Dwarf Khelds.By Mids numbers it's a far worse Nova Emanation. My brain can't comprehend the redundancy possible on Warshades. 

 

Because you do things like this:


A 26 second mag 3 stun on 10 targets with guaranteed KB. Not this 50% chance of that mindlessly scatters like other aoes, and the power procs quite well making it also a very good DPA attack and another aoe. Great for any WS build. Plus you can stack the stun with Inky to mez bosses. It's one of the greatest powers in the Warshade toolkit.