Timeshadow

My fellow forumites have covered most of the important stuff. Keep them in mind (The forumites and the stuff ).

The community here is fantastic. Whenever you decide to create an AT (Archetype, our term for class) or powerset that you've never played before head down to the specific forums and ask around. You'll get tons of helpful advice from the experts there.

To answer the OP directly, no. There hasn't been a distinctive in-depth discussion about which duos are particularly (in)effective. That being said, there's no time like the present

As the others have said, the combination of damage and support really can't be beat. But since every AT can do some sort of damage and support comes in a lotta flavors it can be difficult, if not impossible, to nail down exactly what's best. Still, there are some general connections that can be drawn.

Tanks of all sorts pair well with Blasters. Blasters have the damage that Tanks lack while Tankers provide Blasters with the protection they need to avoid tasting the pavement. Generally speaking, this combo benefits from an AoE focused Blaster like Fire/ or Elec/ since it allows the duo to leverage the aggro cap to their full advantage.

Well after some testing everything seems to be working normally. Gonna have to go back and test this against Knives again to see if I was just imagining things.

Haven't checked the logs; I'll do that next. Every time it's happened I've been up against Knives of Artemis so I'll try it with some different enemy groups and post again a little later.

Hey fellow Khelds. Wanted to report what seems to be a disturbing new bug and see if anyone else was having the same issue.

I've always had a bind setup to drop form and use Stygian Circle. You're probably familiar with it. It goes as follows:

Looks like I'm in here a little late (Nothing new about that ).

The others covered a good deal of what I would've said. I agree with Bill about the Performance Shifters. I'd stick one in Stamina and call it a day. Achilles' Heel procs, on the other hand, are golden, plain and simple. Leverage 'em as much as possible.

As for that comment about PBs not being able to do what Warshades can, ignore it. Check out my guide for the reasons why as well as some further advice.

If by "power pools" you mean Ancillaries then no, VEATs don't have access to hero Ancillary pools at all.

And going Rogue wouldn't be enough to unlock them anyway. You have to go full hero or villain to gain access to Ancillary/Patron pools respectively (You also have to complete the Patron arc to unlock the Patron pools).

Unless it was changed during my break from the game, Praetorian characters won't unlock EATs of either side. The reason being because they reach level 20 prior to setting their alignment as either Hero or Villain. Thus, when the game checks to see if it should unlock Epics it sees a Praetorian alignment that doesn't meet its requirements.

But that could all be old news.

It's funny you bring this up. I was on an ITF with a WP Tank yesterday and she, like you, was having a tough time. At some points she was fine but there'd be times when she'd go from green to red in almost an instant.

A lot of it has to do with the way Willpower works. Its primary means of survival is +Regen so you've got a lotta stamina when it comes to most encounters. Enemies just don't have the damage necessary to bring you down.

Cimerorans are great at that kinda thing. They've got big spike damage (Especially the lieutenants and bosses) so they can kill you before you have a chance to regenerate any significant amount. Add to that the fact that your actual Defense against Smashing/Lethal is limited and they're reducing it with every successful attack and it's easy to see why you're struggling. It's not really your fault. You've just come across a weakness in your chosen set.

But there are some things you can do. Building for more Smashing/Lethal Defense is always good. Heightened Senses provides some debuff resistance so they won't be able to flatline yours as easily as others'. Enhancing RttC's -toHit will help as well. It'll combine with any increased Defense to make you even less likely to get hit.

In terms of actual play, be sure to use your mitigating powers often. Footstomp, Air Superiority, KO Blow, anything to keep that Centurion or Praefectus from hacking you up. Romans are tough; they were designed that way. It just so happens that Willpower suffers more against them than other Tanks.

Celebratory post for breaking 1,000 views! WOOHOO!!!

Thanks to everyone who's checked out the guide so far and I hope its been helpful to you. I know I haven't updated in a little while. Been distracted by RL stuff. I hope to finish the extra sections soon so keep an eye out.

Ill/Emp would be a great partner for your friend's PB. Illusion brings a lotta control via distraction and other non traditional means of CC that mesh well with a Kheldian's versatility. Combining it with Empathy will give you the means to control, tank, heal and buff. You'll both be plenty capable of adapting on the fly. Only problem is the lack of significant debuffs. Normally it won't be a big deal. You'll only really notice it when you come up against AVs and the like.

Shameless Self Plug: Tell your friend to check out my guide (Linked in my sig). It's designed to give prospective TriForm PBs some general guidance and there are some great comments that bring up alternative methods as well.

Glad you enjoyed and even more glad you decided to stick with your PB

It's tough to figure out what works for you as a Kheld because there are so many different options. My Peacebringer is, by far, the character I've burned the most respecs on. I've tried everything from SOs only to high recharge IO builds and everything in between. I finally settled on 30% Smashing/Lethal Defense because, like you, I found the toon to just be too damn squishy a lotta the time.

On the subject of what to take when you're looking for extra powers, the possibilities really are endless. Frankly, I don't use most of the extra stuff I picked up but it comes in handy sometimes and it fills up my trays Hope you can find just as much enjoyment in your PB as I've found in mine. Just wait until you start getting compliments from VEATs on TFs. It's oh so satisfying

Night Widow: Melee powerhouse with great ST damage, guaranteed crits from Hide, and decent AoE potential. But because the attacks are so fast activating it's easy to suck down your blue bar quickly. This can make long fights against hard targets difficult as you're left winded before the job's done

Fortunata: An excellent blend of control and damage. Primarily a ranged focused variant but can be viable in melee if built for it. ST damage can be a bit lackluster as there's a focus on AoEs. Mind Link is on a longer (+100s) recharge so its more difficult and more expensive to perma.

Bane: Closely related to Stalkers, they've got guaranteed crits from Hide and an "Executioner's Strike" as well as some nifty utility in the form of debuffs and pets. Unfortunately, their ranged Defense is higher than melee Defense unless IO'd for it. They also lack a click power to boost their Defense overall (i.e. Mind Link, Elude, etc.)

Crab: A ranged, AoE focused variant that features some excellent survivability. Has the potential to play as a pseudo Mastermind with a possible six total pets. ST damage isn't great compared to the more melee focused branches.

All of the VEATs suffer from a total lack of resistance to Defense debuffs. So, while its difficult to get hit in the first place, a single debuff can lead to cascading failure.