Index
i - Introduction
ii - Basic General Strageties
(a) Arena
(b) Zones
iii - Indepth Analysis of each Archtype
(a) Masterminds
(b) Brute
(c) Stalker
(d) Corrupter
(e) Dominater
(f) Controller
(g) Scrapper
(h) Tanker
(i) Defender
(j) Blaster
(k) Blapper
(l) Peacebringers
(m) Other Warshades
iv - Some Tips and tricks
v - Run-down of Powers with PvP in Mind
i - Introduction
So you've gotten your first character to 50, and decided to make a Warshade. First off, congratulations for getting to 50! Now, for all those that are looking to PvP with this new "Epic Archtype", I give you a guide to help you suceed. Before we start, I want to warn you that everything in here is my opinion, and you don't have to agree with what I say.
ii - Basic General Strategies
Here are some strategies I have come of with. There will be two sections, one for the Arena and one for the PvP zones. I haven't gone to Warburg or RV yet with my Warshade, so my experiences there are rather limited.
Subsection A: The Arena
The Arena is a place for Heroes and Villains to duke it out one one one, or team with others too defeat the opposing team. There are two types of Arena Battles, Normal and Gladiator, in which you fight with pets that function like MM pets do.
<ul type="square"> [*]Knowledge: Always try and know your surroundings. Sometimes knowing what mobs are where can save your life, and a trip to the hospital. Since Warshades have to adapt to their opponents, finding out the powersets and playstyle may make or break the game. In the Arena you cannot run away, so you must know where your opponent is at all times in order to avoid them.
[*]Disorienting: This is not actually about making your opponent be disoriented in game, it's more of a psychological effect. By attacking from differnent angles, and quickly leaving, you cause your opponent to become anxious. He's then more likely to make small but fatal errors. This applies to PvP zones as well.
[/list]Subsection B: PvP zones
PvP zones are maps designed for PvP fights. All PvP zones have an objective that you and your opponents compete against to complete. You have to be very careful in PvP zones, as you do not when or where an opponent can attack you.
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[*]The Element of Surprise: One of the biggest advantages in PvP zones is the element of surprise. This is because sometimes a high power character can kill you in 1 or 2 shots, or hold you and kill you slowly if its a holder. Because it is so important, you must NEVER let the opponent get it. Always try to come from the sky, in Nova Form as most people tend to look on only the horzontal plane. Silly them
[*]Escape Route: There are two things that can affect combat, before the fighting starts. One of these is the
entrance, which is discussed above. The other is your escape route. Every opponent can prove a dangerous one, so always have an exit planning in case you don't want to pay the hospital bills.
[*]Teamwork: This comes into factor in the Arena, but only really becomes a factor in the PvP zones. Opponents may have teamates near, so that easy looking Dominater over there may be surrounded by Stalkers just waiting for you to come into their grasp. However, teamates can also work to your favor. Remember that the next to the lure and bait trick works on you. The most important thing while teaming though is that you gain boosts while in Human Form for every not Keldhian on the team. You can get up to 140% +damage, 70% +resistance, or 8 Mag Resistance, depending on wether you have defenders and tanks, blasters and scrappers, or controllers on your teams.
iii - Indepth Analysis of Each Archtype
Masterminds: MMs will try to hide behind their army of henchmen. They will often make their henchmen go into Bodyguard mode, which makes all damage coming to them be cut into 7 or 8 little slices, with each pet taking 1 slice and the MMs taking 2 slices. While they are in BG mode their pets will not attack you until you attack them, so you have the advantage. So if the pets attack you first, you know the MM is an easy target. Otherwise drop in and use Sunless Mire in Human Form, then switch to the Dwarf form to use it again. Then simply change to Nova and Scatter/Detonate them all. Since the MM will likely still be in BG mode every pet will take even more damage then they usually would from this attack. This is called a Double Mire, a strategy that can prove deadly to most MMs. Sometimes */traps MMs will try and TP-Foe you into an array of traps, designed to hold and greatly damage you. If they manage to do so you will likely die. If you don't die immediatly try an tp out of their. If you can switch to Dwarf Form for the resistances. This goes with the Element of Surprise thing I talked about earlier.
Brutes: Brutes are surprisingly easy to you. Simply switch to Nova and you should be able to beat them without much trouble, since they won't usually be able to hit you. If they have Fly they also have surpression, so you can defeat them in the air as well. Just don't go down and melee them in Human or Dwarf Forms. They will kill you their with their Fury.
Stalkers: Stalkers are some of the hardest to beat character in the PvP game. If you can, try and get IR goggles to see them before they kill you. Two Stalkers can kill you through the base resistances of the Dwarf with about 1 hit each. I suggest Human Form for these guys, with the +Perception stealth and the ability to use IR goggles and Tactics. Orbiting Death can be be useful here, as it can hit anyone Stealthed or not in its range. This can stop Stalkers from using their strongest attack, AS. However they can still manage to hit criticals with their other attacks. If you see a stalker in Human Form you might be able to pop some Insights and switch to Nova. If you can manage this you can defeat them just as you did the Brute.
Corrupter: Some corrupters can do great burst damage, and slow you down considerably as well as debuff you in other ways. Fighting Corrupters can be a matter of who hits first. Gravity Well is your friend here, as it can hold them long enough to kill them in Nova Form. You can fight these guys in any Form you want, but I recommend Dwarf Form for its resistances and heal.
Dominaters: Dominaters can screw you up big time in PvP if you play them wrong. They can easily break the Dwarfs mez resistances with Domination, so using him is almost not an option. I like to hold them with GW before switching to Nova to finish them off. If they start winning leave the fight ASAP so they have no chance of using Domination. Nova Forms Knockbacks are your friends in this fight, as is any mez.
Controllers: By the time you fight them in Warburg most Controllers will have gotten their pets, and be able to deal tons of damage to you easily. They are a combination of Dominater and Corrupter, with slightly stronger holds then the dominater (not under domination) and about as good debuffing skills as the Corrupter. These guys should be considered EXTREMELY dangerous and taken carefully. If you can knockthem back with Nova then drop down to them in Dwarf. Try and keep him healing himself or not fighting, as these guys can stop you in your tracks. If they do manage to hold you they will basically critical on EVERY hit so you should try and stop that from happening...
Scrapper: A scrapper should be fought like you would fight a Brute. A Spines scrapper will be your mortal enemy though, because he will try and use impale on you, stopping your flying. If they do somehow drop you out of flight try and Dwarf Form them. Overall stay out of longterm melee brawls with them and you will be fine.
Tankers: Tankers have the best resistances of any Archtype in the game. This makes them incredibly hard to kill with any Form, and especially Dwarf form because of its weaker resistances and attacks. Nova Form is suggested for these guys, as it will deal the best damage to them and be pretty immune to their attacks. On a side note, some tankers have powers like Impale that cause you to drop like a rock out of the sky. If they can get to fall they can usually out damage Dwarfy and easily defeat Human Form ( KO Blow anyone?). Simply play them safe and try and to stop them from meleeing you and you should be fine.
Blasters: Blasters are ranged high damage dealers. They can out-damage the Nova, so its use here is limited at best. If you can get a GW on them they usually can be taken down without threat. Suggested Form here is either Human or Dwarf form. The most dangerous Blasters are either Ice/* or */Energy.
Blappers: While Blappers are actually Blasters they play incredibly differently. While Blasters tend to stay back and simply try and shoot you down Blappers try and 2 shot you with the very strong melee attacks of some Blaster Secondaries. Most Blappers are either */Electricity or */Energy. I suggest trying to Nova them, as both Human and Dwarf are vulnerable to them (Human because of squishy-ness, Dwarf because of Blappers tendencies to drop toggles).
Peacebringers: Peacebringers have many self heals, and the same Forms as you have. They will be able to outdamage your Nova through Build-Up, so none of that. If you can catch them in Human you should immediatly try to GW them, then switch to Nova after Mireing them to try and get a bit of damage on them. If you can get Mire on them you will beat them Human to Human, but their Incandescant Strike can easily put you between a rock and a hard place. Dwarf to Dwarf you should win, because of Siphon Life, a 4th Single Target attack and a moderate heal. Try to switch win they switch, and stay away from Built Up Nova or Human Forms. This will not be a quick fight, but it is achieveable.
Other Warshades: Against other Warshades you will find your own skills used against you. They will try and GW you in Human Form, or shoot you with Nova Form. Our weakness (as in theres) is in fighting Nova to Dwarf. If you see them try and go Dwarf Form, immediatly go Nova and start blasting like crazy. If you try and go Nova to Nova you will likely be equally matched. They might try to go to Human Form and Snare you, stopping you from flying in Nova Form. To beat yourself you will need to be quick to change and to take advantage of any weakness.
iv - Tips and Tricks
- "Bombing" - This is a term I have coined for diving down in Nova Form, just to deliver one attack, then pulling back up.
- Double Mired Nova - This will mainly be used when fighting MMs though can be used whenever. This is just a stealthed jump in while in Human Form, hit Mire, switch to Dwarf, hit Mire again, Nova Form.
- In Battle Pitstop - To draw and quickly kill a minion or henchman while in battle, then use Stygian Circle.
- Teamate Quick-Save - This is just a quick Shadow Recall of teamate while they are in danger.
- Oppenent TP- Trapping - Remember how I told that sometimes MMs would try to TP-Foe into traps? Well you can do that too
To do so simply get the power Starless Step. Presto, you can TP-Foe someone into your teamates waiting hands (or your own, but you don't need to pull with SS)
Rundown of Powers with PvP in Mind
For Reference I use I simple 5 point scale :
Now for the Powers: Inherent first
1. Absorpation: A pretty useless power as far as PvP is concerned.
2. Dark Sustenence: A great power when teaming, makes your human form stronger for every nearby teamate.
3. Shadow Step: Your travel power, and a pretty good one for PvP too (as players can't stop by immobilizing you, which often have -jump and -fly effects)
4. Shadow Recall: Pretty usefull for saving a teamate, but not anywhere near something you'll use a lot.
Umbral Blast:
1. Shadow Bolt: May be marginally useful but not much.
2. Ebon Eye: A staple of your Human Attack Chain, this is a must.
3. Gravimetric Snare: Usefull for grounding Flyers and stopping SJers, this power can ruin an escapees day.
4. Dark Nova: Get it, slot it, love it! This is 1/3d of your power. Think about that before you talk.
5. Shadow Blast: Another Must for Human, this attack is stronger and slower then EE.
6. Starless Step: A semi-usefull power for teams, not great, but you'll like it when you need it.
7. Sunless Mire: A +damage and +acc buff, that can be stronger then BU. What else can I say?
8. Dark Detonation: A targetted AoE attack, meh. Nova has something exactly like this, that does more damage and costs less end.
9. Gravity Well: A Supreme Damage melee hold. Whats not to love?
10. Essence Drain: Same as the Dwarfs Siphon Life, take this for another heal.
11. Gravmatic Emenation: Same as Novas, see Dark Detonation for my thoughts about it.
I go no farther, for I have not gotten past this point.
Umbral Aura
1. Gravity Shield: Might as well take it for a little smashing and lethal resistance. Which is always useful
2. Orbiting Death: I like it. I protects me from stalkers and tha is always a good thing
3. Penumbral Shield: Unlike Gravity Shield, this shield protects for ice and fire. These attacks are much rarer then smashing and lethal, so this is not always great.
4. Shadow CLoak: This power is great, but not for its stealth. Almost every single person in PvP will be able to see through this. However, this power does give +perception, which is a good thing.
5. Twilight Shield: I like this shield even less then the previous one. Even rarer form of energy, and another toggle. Meh, not needed or wanted
6. Black Dwarf: The last 1/3rd of your power, the Black Dwarf is really good resistance and mez resistance. Another Get it, Slot it, Love it!
7. Stygian Circle: A heal that works on defeated foes corpses. It only takes 3 to fully heal and rejuvenate you. Very good.
I go no farther.
Nova:
1. Dark Nova Fly: The only non supressed fly in game, and faster then the travel power.
2. Dark Nova Bolt: Quick Single Target damage, this is a bread and butter of the single target Nova attacks.
3. Dark Nova Blast: Slower then Bolt, but stronger. This attack is the second of the bread and butter Nova Single Targets.
4. Dark Nova Emenation: A cone attack that deal Blast damage over multiple targets. Great
5. Dark Nova Detonation: If bolt and blast were your single target bread and butter attacks, this and emenation are you AoEs.
Dwarf:
1. Dark Dwarf Strike: Fast low damage attack.
2. Dark Dwarf Smite: Slow, but harder hitting.
3. Dark Dwarf Drain: Moderate damage, but the heal is what you're looking for.
4. Black Dwarf Mire: A second Mire? Count me in
5. Black Dwarf Step: Useful when you use it to safely travel or get away.
6. Black Dwarf Antagonize: A taunt. Useful in tanking, but not in PvPing.
So what do you think? No I'm not giving a build.
