Justaris

A brief caveat - people tend to do better with builds they've made themselves, be that with Mids or just by trial and error in-game. Any build will to some extent reflect the playstyle of the person playing that build. The same build with the same slotting will not work as well with a different person driving it. For this reason I always recommend people make their own builds and come to the forums to get criticism and help with fine-tuning, rather than taking full builds from other people and using them. That said, perhaps this will be of help to you:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Tearjerker: Level 50 Natural Defender
Primary Power Set: Empathy
Secondary Power Set: Psychic Blast
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(3), EndRdx-I(3), EndRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 1: Mental Blast -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(7), Dmg-I(11), Dmg-I(31), EndRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 2: Heal Other -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(5), EndRdx-I(5), EndRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 4: Psionic Lance -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(7), Dmg-I(9), Dmg-I(9), IntRdx-I(23), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 6: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 8: Recall Friend -- Range-I(A)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Fortitude -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), RechRdx-I(13), DefBuff-I(15), ToHit-I(15), DefBuff-I(17)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(17)
Level 18: Recovery Aura -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Clear Mind -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 24: Telekinetic Blast -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(25), Dmg-I(29), Dmg-I(29), EndRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 28: Will Domination -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(37), Sleep-I(39), Sleep-I(40), EndRdx-I(42), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 30: Psychic Scream -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(31), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(42), Range-I(45), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33), Heal-I(33), EndMod-I(33), EndMod-I(34)
Level 35: Scramble Thoughts -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(36), Dsrnt-I(36), Dsrnt-I(36), EndRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 38: Psychic Wail -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(43), Dmg-I(43), RechRdx-I(46), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- ResDam-I(A), EndRdx-I(45), ResDam-I(45)
Level 47: Total Focus -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(48), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(48), EndRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance

This is my empath's soloing build (the generic IO version and edited to swap in Recall Friend at your request) and it works quite well. You might consider dropping a few of the attacks and working in Leadership if there's interest in doing that (I'd drop Psychic Wail, Psychic Scream and Total Focus if you go that route), since Defenders get good numbers from those powers and there's great synergy between PBU and Vengeance.

In my experience Absorb Pain is a skippable tool since in most cases Heal Other will work almost as well without the significant costs involved in using AP. Since anyone can now make awakens using three of a kind inspirations, I often skip Resurrect. Unlike Mutation, Rise of the Phoenix or Howling Twilight, there's no extra benefit to Resurrect that can't be had with a simple awaken + Clear Mind + Heal Other aside from the resurrected player having full endurance.

Which would also be interesting.

[ QUOTE ]
Dangers of Alcohol please take a moment to realize how life-threatening your "hobby" is

[/ QUOTE ]

Bit of an overreaction there. Alcohol brewing and/or consumption =/= alcoholism and/or abuse. Alcohol has been part of most world cultures for thousands of years and in moderation can actually be beneficial to your health. If he'd said he enjoyed hand-rolling cigarettes you might have had a case.

Well, you're asking a couple of different questions here. There are two types of Uniques - ones that function as Set Bonuses and procs. The ones that function as Set Bonuses will carry over just like Set Bonuses do.

The procs, however, will need to be renewed. Usually they're on a 120 second timer, meaning you'll have to activate them every two minutes. In order to get the benefits from, say, a Numina Unique slotted in Health, you'd have to hit human form for a second or two every two minutes. Once applied, the bonus would last for two minutes regardless of what form you are using before needing to be renewed again by dropping back to human form.

Normally this isn't a problem for tri-formers unless you're tanking something in Dwarf and dropping to human even for a moment would be lethal. If you plan to spend a great deal of time in Dwarf you might consider placing some of your procs there rather than in human form (i.e. in Sublimation/Drain rather than Health for the Big Three procs).

Popular "function as set bonus" IOs:<ul type="square">[*]Luck of the Gambler: +recharge[*]Steadfast Protection: resistance/defense (only the defense part functions as a Set Bonus)[*]Steadfast Protection: KB protect[*]Karma: KB protect[*]Blessing of the Zephyr: KB protect[*]Aegis: status resist[*]Winter's Gift: slow resist[*]Impervious Skin: status resist (not Unique)[/list]Popular proc IOs<ul type="square">[*]Numina's Convalescence: +regen/+recovery[*]Miracle: +recovery[*]Regenerative Tissue: +regen[*]Kismet: +accuracy[*]Performance Shifter: chance for +end (not Unique)[/list]
So to answer your specific questions: yes, a Numina slotted in Health would provide the +regen/+recovery in Nova/Dwarf forms, provided you'd been in human form sometime in the last two minutes to activate it. Same as any click power if that helps you to think about it that way.

As for Performance Shifter's Chance for +End, that's a chance for a one-time bonus rather than a buff (you just have a chance to get a chunk of endurance rather than a buff that always helps with endurance). This would therefore work only in human form. You'd no longer be rolling for 'chances for end' when in another form, though of course any bonus endurance you got while in human form you would retain.

The other popular proc IOs give a buff for 120 seconds but any proc that's "chance for ___" is going to just roll every so often and possibly produce that effect. IOs like this will never work in other forms since the power they are in must be active for the "chance for ___" roll to occur. So if it's in Stamina, you have to be in human form to get benefit.

I think it's in reference to the time period you have to wait before switching between builds in the Dual Builds feature. If you switch from your Human-Only build to your Tri-Form build, for instance, you have to wait 15 minutes before you can switch back again.

Since most missions or other activities take longer than fifteen minutes to do (hell, most teams take about that long just to form), I'm not sure why it's so 'retarded'. It's not like it's an hour, or three days. It's fifteen minutes. The only trouble I can see is if you changed prior to a mission and then subsequently decided you ought to have remained in the other build - but even then, by the time you got to the mission, got far enough in to make that determination and returned to a trainer to make the switch, chances are you're getting close to fifteen minutes.

Unless the point was there should be no time limit imposed at all, but I can see the reasoning behind not allowing players to sit there and toggle between their builds ten times a minute.

LordXenite is correct.

The only addendum I have is that the inherent is an exception to the rule on passive powers. Unlike other passive ("auto") powers, the inherent is always on regardless of form.

Well, there's the lag reason that's already been covered - you might want the bind to just turn the power on or just turn the power off. Sometimes it's more convenient to use the bind to toggle it on and off and sometimes it's not.

Other reasons to use toggleon and toggleff - well, for toggleoff there's turning off a bunch of powers in one bind. You can only use one powexecname command in a bind but you can turn off as many powers as you like in one press. Many of my Tankers have a bind like that that turns off all armors and switches costume, and I've found it useful on my PB as well.

As for toggleon, it's useful for turning on a number of toggles. As mentioned, you can only use one powexecname command in a string, but you can use multiple toggleons. You'll need multiple keypresses for this one, but each time it'll bypass a toggleon command (because the toggle is already on) and proceed to the next toggle. In this way one bind can be used to turn on many toggles, though it requires a key press for each power turned on.

Actually, the Kheldian boards are usually pretty light on drama, aside from the occasional troll.

The guides are still very much relevant, that's quite correct, pretty much the only recent changes of consequence are the inherent now working in the forms and Inventions (which would require an extremely comprehensive overhaul to update a guide with if one wanted to do more than simply give one's own build preferences).

There is no one 'best' or 'most powerful' build out there. That's the beauty of this AT. If you make a build and post it, we'll try and help you fine-tune to do what you want to do. If you're looking for the Right Build, it doesn't exist.

That's actually how all passives work in the forms, but I generally say they don't work because it's less convoluted than trying to explain the extremely brief, extremely limited way in which they do work, i.e. a sort of decay. They also take a short time to kick in once you return to human form, sort of a 'warm up'. This applies to Fitness powers as well.

Just to clarify...

The Warshade inherent is Dark Sustenance. Cosmic Balance and Dark Sustenance now work in the forms.

Incandescence and Absorption (the level 1 passive resistance powers) work only in human form.

Such as "never listen to Not_Rhino"?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I can understand some restrictions on trial accounts but the chat restrictions just seem extremely unneeded and like they're just gonna drive people away from the game.

[/ QUOTE ]
Sadly, the chat restrictions are absolutely VITAL

[/ QUOTE ]I'd like them to expand the trial privileges, and let them reply to tells, if not initiate them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd support that.

While I've been concerned about the trial restrictions for a while now, as I really think they may be costing us potential subscribers, they've also massively reduced the spam we were getting from the RMT scumbags. I can understand why the restrictions were done the way they were, I just worry that we're throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Whether or not you keep Black Dwarf is really something you'll have to decide for yourself. It's very good at what it does, which is provide you a form that's very survivable and proof against mezzers. With heavy slotting and IOs, you can get it fairly scrappy, but it's not a form optimized for damage - that's your Dark Nova. Black Dwarf is in many ways an inverse of that form, strong where Nova is weak and vice versa.

As for the Mires, if you time it correctly you can stack them together to get a very powerful buff for a short while, but the Dwarf Mire more often will be useful to buff up your damage output while in Dwarf and to help you maintain aggro if you're playing tank for a team.

Personally, I love the Dwarf form. I'd recommend playing with it for at least a few levels before deciding if you want to keep it.

There's not really anything wrong with getting all three forms - that's a perfectly viable way to play a Kheldian, usually called "Tri-Form". There's a definite slot crunch, but it's doable.

There are plenty of popular and workable builds for both PBs and Warshades, ranging from Human Only builds to Tri-Form and with many shades in between. Welcome!

I recommend you start off by reading this.

You may need to drop your difficulty - on the lowest difficulty (Heroic), the AVs will spawn as Elite Bosses instead, which you can probably handle.

You might be able to take them down as full on AVs, especially with Shivans, though it's more dangerous and you're more likely to get flattened. I'd get a team if you want to fight them as AVs.

Illusion Controllers get Phantom Army to keep the AVs from pounding them - your imps aren't going to be much of a roadblock. Oh, and we call them "missions" in this game, not quests.

Actually, that's not entirely true. If there is more than one instance of Mercy Island, the Black Helicopter by Kalinda will allow you to move between them (e.g. move from Mercy Island 2 to Mercy Island 3). That way lowbies don't have to hike all the way to the Port Oakes ferry just to be in the same zone if they end up in different ones.

Still, the belief that it does nothing is perfectly understandable, as multiple instances of Mercy Island are quite rare outside of reactivation weekends, double xp weekends or other special events.

It's time to go to Cap Au Diable.

After you finish with Mercy Island, the rest of the City of Villains contact system works off of Brokers. You automatically get assigned a Broker the first time you visit a zone (other than Mercy, which as the starting zone does not have them). You'll need to do newspaper missions until the Broker offers you a Mayhem mission. Once the Mayhem is complete, the Broker will offer you a choice between several regular contacts in the same zone. You'll need to repeat this process each time you outlevel a zone and relocate to the next.

What you can do at level 41 (and get xp, there's plenty of other things to do in addition to what's below if you don't mind not getting xp for them)
<ul type="square">[*] Shadow Shard TFs - Dr Quaterfield (40-44), Sara Moore (40-50)[*] Praetorian arcs for the Dimensional Warder badge - Tine McIntyre (40-45), Maria Jenkiins (45-50)[*] Rikti War Zone arcs[*] Cimerora arcs[*] Imperious Task Force[*] Eden Spire Trial[*] Second Tier (34-43 range) Respec Trial. You fight Freakshow on this one in your attempt to save the Terra Volta reactor. Starts in Founders Falls at Captain James Harlan.[*] Other strory arcs. Indigo (Malta), Maxwell Christopher (Nemesis), Janet Kellum (Crey), Madeline Casey (Carnies) and Angus McQueen (Rikti) are in this range. I personally recommend Janet Kellum's story arc if you haven't done it before. [*] PvP missions in Warburg[*] MA missions - plenty there to keep you busy, well, forever.[*] Of course, there's always scanner missions and Safeguards.[/list]

Yeah, going rogue doesn't really fit with any of my Warshades since I've played them all pretty much according to the CoH lore which says they're reformed villains.

A reformed villain who goes rogue just seems to lack conviction to me, though I suppose you could make a case for a traumatic event that cause a loss of faith and a relapse to the old ways. Or maybe the villain was only pretending to reform, but the double agent thing I don't really buy - it seems like experienced Warshades like Shadowstar would spot a Nictus who was only faking remorse.

I can definitely see a Peacebringer getting all self-righteous and going rogue that way though - people who're convinced they're acting for the greater good often make the best villains. I'm also interested in reforming a few of my VEATs.

The Quantum/Void damage used to be Nictus damage (unresistable). It was changed to Negative Energy damage, which you get two powers to resist.

Those two powers are Incandescence/Absorption and Quantum Shield/Twilight Shield. You also gain negative energy resistance, among other kinds, in the tier nine power (Light Form/Eclipse). Of course, you also gain resistance to through the inherent if you have the right teammates nearby. The resistance in the inherent is not enhanceable, but the other two are, though I'd only recommend enhancing the shield and not the passive.

A bind to the L key that switches to tray 5?

If Peacebringer:
/bind L "powexectoggleon White Dwarf$$gototray 5"

If Warshade:
/bind L "powexectoggleon Black Dwarf$$gototray 5"

Quantum damage was changed from Nictus damage (unresistable) to Negative Energy damage (very much resistable) a good while ago. I'll see if I can dig up the Patch Notes for it and edit with a link.

Edit: Link

Controllers in general are pretty low in damage. Fire's the exception in that regard, with Illusion also offering some fair damage in Spectral Wounds and Phantom Army but not on the same level as Fire Control.

Storm has the single best -res debuff there is in Freezing Rain and with some other debuffs a high-damage team member isn't a strict requirement. With enough debuffs and/or buffs in play, everyone's a high-damage team member.

Perez Park is a hazard zone. Hazard zones can't be reached via trams, so you can't take the Yellow Line to get there. Instead, you must enter through a Hazard Gate from a zone which borders the one you want to enter.

You can get to Perez Park from Atlas Park, Galaxy City, Steel Canyon or Skyway City. Once you are in one of these four zones, look at your map and find a red dot marking a Hazard Gate. Some zones have more than one Hazard Gate, so be sure to get the right one (for example, Atlas Park has Hazard Gates to Perez Park and to The Hollows).

Actually, Master of Statesman's Task Force runs have been made successfully without a Tanker. Having X is less important than having eight intelligent people who can follow a simple plan.

Sticking to the familiar formula is the safe bet when you're putting together a pick up attempt, but among seasoned players who know what they're doing there are far more options available.

I remember reading not too long ago about a run that took down Ghost Widow without any Clear Mind, Clarity or Thaw on the team. They had multiple Dark Defenders and put so much debuff on her that she simply missed them. A lot.