The_Spad_EU

I'd like to get some feedback on my Human-Form build, not because I'm having any particular problems - in fact I love playing my Warshade - but more to see if there are any obvious ways I can tweak it to improve my play (She's already at Lv50 and has a T3 Spiritual slotted).

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Negative Energy: Level 50 Science Warshade
Primary Power Set: Umbral Blast
Secondary Power Set: Umbral Aura
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Bolt -- Dam%(A)
Level 1: Absorption -- ResKB(A), Status(7), Psi/Status(7)
Level 2: Gravity Shield -- ResDam/EndRdx(A), ResDam/Rchg(11), ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13), ResDam(13)
Level 4: Gravimetric Snare -- Acc/Rchg(A), EndRdx/Immob(17), Immob/Rng(19), Acc/Immob/Rchg(19), Acc/Immob(23)
Level 6: Shadow Blast -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/EndRdx(25), Dmg/Rchg(25), Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Build%(42)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(9)
Level 10: Penumbral Shield -- ResDam/EndRdx(A), ResDam/Rchg(15), ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15), ResDam(17)
Level 12: Sunless Mire -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/Rchg(29), Acc/Rchg(29), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31)
Level 14: Shadow Cloak -- Rchg+(A)
Level 16: Dark Detonation -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/Rchg(45), Dmg/EndRdx(45), Dmg/Rng(45), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 18: Gravity Well -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/EndRdx(36), Dmg/Rchg(36), Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 20: Twilight Shield -- ResDam(A), ResDam/EndRdx(21), ResDam/Rchg(21), ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(23)
Level 22: Stygian Circle -- Heal/EndRdx(A), Heal/Rchg(42), Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Heal(43), Rchg(43)
Level 24: Orbiting Death -- Dmg(A), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Acc/Rchg(50), Dmg/Rchg(50), Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 26: Gravitic Emanation -- Acc/Rchg(A), EndRdx/Stun(33), Acc/EndRdx(34), Stun/Rng(34), Acc/Stun/Rchg(34)
Level 28: Inky Aspect -- Stun(A), Stun/Rchg(31), Acc/Stun/Rchg(31), Acc/Rchg(33), EndRdx/Stun(33)
Level 30: Unchain Essence -- Dmg(A), Dmg/Rchg(46), Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Acc/Rchg(48), Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 32: Dark Extraction -- Acc/Rchg(A), Acc/Dmg(37), Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(42)
Level 35: Super Speed -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 38: Eclipse -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(39), ResDam-I(39), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 41: Stygian Return -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Combat Jumping -- Rchg+(A)
Level 47: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 49: Acrobatics -- EndRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Dark Sustenance
Level 1: Shadow Step -- EndRdx(A), Rng(5), Stlth(5)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 10: Shadow Recall -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(3), Heal-I(11)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(3)
------------

Cheers.

Not taking Penumbral or Twilight Shield will make you very squishy if Eclipse is down and obviously requires more mobs to get you to the RES cap.

Personally I dropped Nebulous form a while back because its cast time makes it ineffective as a panic button and with Shadow Cloak and either a Stealth Proc or SS you don't need its stealth - I guess you could use it as a pseudo travel power.

I think we're overlooking the obvious answer here; it's all a Nemesis plot.

Here's a question for you; will they be linking up Global Chat in any way or will playing on the US servers still mean being isolated from your EU friends and channels?

CoHHelper will help you dump the relevant bits of info.

I've seen Imperious go to town on our "Heroic" Brute during an ITF, but he got bored after a bit and went back back to his usual Friend/Foe targeting.

Alignment Merits. See:

http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Hero_Alignment_Merits

It's a typo; it's still just Smash/Lethal.

Yes, make sure it's not one of the Sandy Bridge boards with the SATA chipset issue that Intel have been shipping to OEMs

Not so much complete failures, but more and more often these days movies that weren't quite as successful as hoped or movie franchises that had started to run out of steam, such as Spiderman, Fast & Furious and, arguably, X-Men First Class.

After reading a few threads about all the movie reboots that are in the works at the moment I had a thought; they're all just respecs. Bear with me here.

You want to make a new character, so you decide on a name, a back-story, work out the archetype, powersets, the core powers you need to include. Then you go to work on the details, the costume, the pool powers, the enhancements.

You put a lot of time, effort & "money" into building your character up until finally you unleash them upon the world, eagerly awaiting the inevitable success and adulation. But it's soon obvious that something isn't quite right; it's just not as good as you expected, people don't respond well to them, success remains tantalizingly out of reach and so, reluctantly, you chalk it all up to experience and put them away into storage.

Then, months later, while searching for something new to play, your gaze falls upon your old character and you think to yourself: Maybe, with just a few changes here and there, I could make them a success after all. So you break out Mids' and trawl the forums, swap some powers around here, some slots around there, create a newer costume, make a few changes to the back-story and maybe add a pet Rikti Monkey sidekick for good measure. Finally, you change your character title to "The" and send them out into the world anew, all the while pretending that their former incarnation never existed.

Surely, this time, success will come and if not, you can always wait a little while and try respeccing again...

The one change I've made to that is to take the Heal/End/Rchg from Aid Self and put another Eradication into Combustion as it gives a 2.25% instead of 1.875% HP bonus.

Otherwise I think I've got myself a workable build

My Warshade was total and utter agony to play until I got to 38, took Eclipse and switched to a Human-Form build. Now I'm at 50(+1) and halfway through IO Setting and she's by far my favourite toon to play these days.

Doubtless I'll get lots of people telling me that I'm crippling myself by not playing Dual or Tri form, but I just didn't like the playstyle or the sacrifices I had to make to slot the forms to a reasonable degree

Something else that hasn't been mentioned so far is Mids' Hero Designer which is very handy for playing around with the various ATs and Powersets to see what you fancy.

While the in game power information has improved phenomenally since the early days, it can still be a bit clunky to navigate if you just want to have a quick play around to see whether a Stone/Ice Tanker takes your fancy.

More importantly, once you get up beyond one or two characters, Mids' is by far the best way to keep track of which powers, slots and enhancements you want to take for each one and, as you'll see from looking around the forums, it's also the best way to post a copy of your build for other people to look at.

Don't focus too much on the numbers early on though; fun is much more important and that's difficult to quantify

OK, a few mods; dropped the epic pool to get Aid Self as I find it very handy, but kept Permafrost for the Fire RES and the 3% Global DEF IO; moved the spare slots around to give a couple of extra set bonuses.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Tanker
Primary Power Set: Ice Armor
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Melee
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Medicine

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Frozen Armor -- Def/EndRdx(A), Def/Rchg(3), Def/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Def(5)
Level 1: Scorch -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/EndRdx(5), Dmg/Rchg(7), Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Hoarfrost -- Rchg(A), Heal/EndRdx(11), EndRdx/Rchg(13), Heal/Rchg(13), Heal(15)
Level 4: Chilling Embrace -- EndRdx-I(A), -Rchg%(17)
Level 6: Combustion -- Dmg(A), Dmg/Rchg(7), Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Dmg/EndRdx(23), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23)
Level 8: Wet Ice -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 10: Air Superiority -- Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Dmg/EndRdx(31), Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Acc/Dmg(50), Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 12: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 14: Taunt -- Taunt(A), Taunt/Rchg(15), Taunt/Rchg/Rng(27), Acc/Rchg(31), Taunt/Rng(42), Rchg(45)
Level 16: Icicles -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/EndRdx(21), Dmg/Rchg(37), Acc/EndRdx(39), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 18: Glacial Armor -- Def/EndRdx(A), Def/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Def(29), Def/Rchg(29)
Level 20: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21)
Level 22: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 26: Energy Absorption -- EndMod/Rchg(A), EndMod/Acc/Rchg(31), EndMod(33), Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Def(36), Def/Rchg(36)
Level 28: Fire Sword Circle -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/EndRdx(33), Dmg/Rchg(33), Acc/Rchg(34), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 30: Tough -- ResDam/EndRdx(A), ResDam/Rchg(34), ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), ResDam(39)
Level 32: Hibernate -- Heal-I(A), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 35: Incinerate -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/EndRdx(37), Dmg/Rchg(37), Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 38: Greater Fire Sword -- Acc/Dmg(A), Dmg/EndRdx(42), Dmg/Rchg(43), Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 41: Weave -- Def/EndRdx(A), Def/Rchg(42), Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Def(48)
Level 44: Aid Other -- IntRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Aid Self -- IntRdx-I(A), Heal-I(48), Heal-I(48)
Level 49: Permafrost -- ResDam/Def+(A), ResDam/EndRdx(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal(25), Regen/Rcvry+(40)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod(17), End%(19)

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

TBH I wouldn't recommend Steam here, normally it's great, but it's not really designed to work that well with games that have their own updaters, such as CoX and I've had a couple of issues with it since I bought the Going Rogue expansion.

As you've already got the game downloaded, all you need to play "fully" is an activation code, so plaync.com is probably the way to go

You should be getting better than that - although a lot depends on the graphical detail level. I've got an 8800GT and I find that Ultra is just a tiny bit too laggy for me, but I'm not sure how the game handles SLI these days (I've only just come back to it so I'm a little behind on these things).

I presume you're playing on the US servers? In which case I'm not the guy to ask about them

There are 3 main "loot" systems in CoX:

Enhancements - These come in several flavours: Training, Dual Origin & Single Origin are the 3 core ones that drop during normal combat and can be purchased from stores. They span a 5 level range of usefulness (so a Lv20 enhancement can be used from Lv18-22) and you probably won't be able to afford full sets of them until you're Lv30+ on your first couple of characters.

Invention Salvage/Recipes - These are used to craft Invention Enhancements which are more powerful than the standard ones and come in both "Singles" and Sets. The Sets grant additional bonuses based on how many you have slotted in a single power. Again, these drop during normal combat, although some can only be obtained from running Task Forces (A series of linked missions for teams).

Both Invention stuff and Enhancements can also be traded at the Auction House.

The Incarnate stuff is rarer and only drops at Lv50+ and can't be traded.

It's more than possible to get by with just basic enhancements, but if you want to put the time/effort into IOs and Incarnate stuff then you can make your characters extremely powerful.

The other thing that's important and most other games lack is the Sidekick/Lackey and Exemplar/Malefactor systems that mean you can team with players at totally different levels without being too under or overpowered. It means that even if your friends are 20 or 30 levels above or behind you, you can still team with them.

Everyone please repeat after me:

"Adding security questions to your login process is *not* the same as 2-Factor Authentication"

It is, at best, marginally more secure and at worst gives a false sense of security by adding nothing to security of the system. Anyone who knows me would know my mother's maiden name and my town of birth and anyone who cared even slightly about getting access to my account could find out.

If you want to improve account security, do it properly with proper 2-Factor authentication like Google & Blizzard do and all Banks should but usually don't do. You don't even have to send out loads of tokens or SMS messages as most people these days have smartphones and can run token apps on them.

A false sense of security (and all the hassle it's caused in this instance) is worse than no security at all.