Timeshadow

Like most things with Kheldians, that really depends on your playstyle. Whatever powers you use most often should take priority. If your build is similar to the guide those are gonna be your forms and their corresponding powers. Without more detail its difficult for me to give specific suggestions.

Yes, you're absolutely right. You won't be very effective in Light Form with Radiant and Incandescent Strike alone. So if it's a power that you use often I endorse taking some other things so you'll have enough attacks to make your DPS worthwhile.

Personally speaking (See what I did there? ), I don't use Light Form enough for it to matter. My damage comes from Nova. I may not be able to use Assault but I've got Achilles' Heel -20% Resistance procs slotted in Bright Nova Bolt and Detonation. So I've got a good chance to do 20% more damage to mobs without spending anymore Endurance than I would by blasting as usual.

Only half kidding. I play Kheldians because they can shapeshift. I'd never give that up. I've got nothing against everyone playing their Khelds as they see fit (That's what makes them so great) but I'll always endorse TriFormers.

That's the in-game description. If you're looking for precise damage numbers I'm not sure.

Might I suggest takin' a look at my guide?

I can see that approach being very effective. It's true that ST DPS is higher in human form thanks to Radiant and Incandescent being on fairly short recharges and dealing "Superior" and "Extreme" damage respectively. I use 'em as my alpha strike and often drop form when they're available to knock another big chunk of HP off whatever I'm fighting.

My personal build has about 30% Smashing/Lethal Defense so one small purple inspiration puts me a pithy 2% away from the softcap. Survivability's not really an issue for me so I can afford to get away without using Light Form. That being said, the power's still great. It just doesn't really work for me and my playstyle.

Decimation:
Doctored Wounds:
Call to Arms:
Positron's Blast:
There are more IO sets that have global Recharge as part of their bonuses. I'll add the ones that are relevant to Peacebringers in due time. But for now let's move on to some of the more unique pieces that you may find beneficial.

Achilles' Heel: Chance for Resistance Debuff
Aegis: Psionic/Status Resistance (Unique)
Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge
Rectified Reticle: Increased Perception
Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Defense +3% (Unique)
Steadfast Protection: Knockback Protection and Karma: Knockback Protection
That's all for now. For help planning your builds I recommend Mids' Hero/Villain Designer (Can be downloaded and used offline) or SuckerPunch's Online Planner. Both are hosted on the Titan Network and can be found here

Next, you're gonna need a set of form shifting binds. These are made up of two parts. The first toggles the desired form and the second switches your power tray to whichever one you have that form's corresponding powers on. They should look like the example below:

Form Shifting
Here's a cool little trick. You can create a bind that'll detoggle either Bright Nova or White Dwarf and activate a human form power. That'll save you a few seconds in the heat of fight. But what really makes this method interesting is that it can be used to bypass mezzes when shifting out of Dwarf. You see, the bind executes almost instantly, faster than the game server refreshes. So if you activate it it'll drop Dwarf and use whatever human power you wrote it to with no interference from control effects. I'm talking about something like this:

Dropping Form and Using A Power
Another useful bind to keep handy is one that allows you to detoggle Bright Nova without dropping out of the sky. Things can get pretty nasty down in melee range and its best to stay out if that's not specifically where you wanna be. All you need is something like this:

Dropping Bright Nova While Sustaning Flight
And who can forget the importance of making teleport less of a pain in the ss. That's a simple matter of binding the power to your mouse. That way you'll teleport to wherever the cursor is pointing as soon as you click the assigned mouse button. For this task, my bind is set up as follows:

Teleporting In White Dwarf
Those will go a long way to making your Peacebringer even more awesome, in addition to reducing your risk of carpal tunnel from pounding the keys There are even more great binds in this thread on the Kheldian boards.

Before We Get Started

Keep in mind that this is a guide to building a successful TriForm PB. I’ve seen quite a few human only builds both in game and requested on the forums. I’ve always found that particular route unsatisfying. That’s not to say it’s ineffective but I’m an advocate of all Khelds, be they Peacebringer or Warshade, taking and using their forms.

I won’t be listing and describing each power in detail or running through a market analysis to get you the cheapest prices on IOs. Those are things you’ll just have to figure out for yourself. Instead I’ll be giving an overview of powers that I consider worth taking to build a great Peacebringer. This guide will take you through the leveling process in a series of phases and provide some insight on strategy.

“Why Peacebringers?” you ask. Good question. After all, everyone knows Warshades are better, right? Nope, not the case if you ask me. Both Kheldian variants are great ATs but they excel at different things. Peacebringers are steadier performers than Warshades because they’re not dependent on baddies, alive or dead, to fuel their various buffs and abilities. When built and played well a Peacebringer can perform feats just as impressive, albeit different, from their dark cousins.

The lighter side of HEATs (That’s Hero Epic Archetypes for those who aren’t in the know) excel at fighting hard targets like bosses and making short work of troublesome enemies. They pack enough firepower to do the job while also having enough mitigation and survival tools to not get flattened. Don’t get me wrong here; I think Warshades are great. But when all the minions are dead and there’s no more fuel for all those shadowy powers they’re likely to find themselves in a tight spot when the angry big boss hones in on ‘em. A Peacebringer, on the other hand, is just as prepared to take on that Rikti Chief Soldier or Greater Devoured as they would be to wreck face against some random stooge.

So as you read this guide keep in mind that the aim isn’t to build a Peacebringer to compete with your friend’s purpled out ‘Shade (Oh Castle or BaBs or whoever made that joke, how I miss you ). The two ATs function differently so that’s not even really possible. Rather, this is about building a PB that does what it’s intended to do better than anyone else. Now, without further ado, let’s get down to business.

Phase I: Starting Out Right (Levels 1-5)

The early life of a Peacebringer is much like that of any other character. You’ve got your standard tier 1 and 2 blasts that may or may not be important to you throughout your extraterrestrial life. Of the three available before level 6 I prefer Glinting Eye. The reason being because shooting beams of white hot cosmic power from your eyes is FREAKIN’ AWESOME!!! The Tier 2, Gleaming Blast, is a solid ranged attack and worth picking up as well.

Peacebringers also get some nice defensive powers during this phase. Essence Boost is a big deal. The boost to your maximum HP is great when combined with other powers you’ll get later on. For the time being it works well as a big heal on a long recharge. Shining Shield is your basic Resistance toggle. In a TriForm build the shields' various Resistance components are largely overshadowed by Dwarf form. However, they will allow you to maintain the higher damage output of Human form while having more survivability than you would otherwise.

This early in the game it’s best to use your inherent flight powers to stay at range and blast your enemies from afar. It’s not the most exciting way to do things but a good sewer run or Architect team (Notice I said team, not farm) will make it go by pretty fast. Before you know it you’ll be ready for…

Phase II: Go, go gadget tentacle death machine! (Levels 6-19)

At level 6 your Peacebringer’s going to change drastically. Why? Because that’s when you get access to Bright Nova Form. This is a game changer folks. It grants a 45% buff to Smashing and Energy damage (The two kinds your attacks do), a 9% toHit buff, and 15% Resistance to Energy and Negative Energy damage. It also comes with a slight Recovery buff, just enough to cover the Endurance usage of the form itself.

Bright Nova’s ability to hover over the battlefield and rain death is fantastic. But there is a downside. It's one that plagues not only Bright Nova, but Peacebringers in general. I'm talking about the unpredictable knockback they bring to the table. Now I’m not against KB. Hell, I love watchin’ things ragdoll around a room. But it requires control and forethought to use well and absolutely nothing to use poorly. So take the time to learn how to position yourself in order to get maximum coverage for Bright Nova’s AoEs and maximum mitigation from the associated knockback.

Level 6 is also when you should set up your first form shifting bind. It’ll keep extraneous powers off your trays and make your life as a Peacebringer much easier. I keep Bright Nova bound to the W key and place the form’s powers on tray 3. So I use a bind that looks like this:

This is also the time when you’ll gain access to Radiant Strike and Incandescent Strike, two hard hitting melee attacks that I absolutely love. In addition to packing a punch, they also come with some nice control effects (Knockback for Radiant and Hold for Incandescent) that’ll really come in handy. I like to open with Radiant Strike because it’s quick to animate and doesn’t give the enemy an opportunity to attack while it goes off.

Inner Light also comes along during this phase. It's a great power that does things its predecessor, Build Up, never could. Inner Light starts off by providing a big boost to your damage and ToHit (72% and 18% respectively) for the first ten seconds of its duration. After that the buff diminishes to 28.8% damage and 6.93% for another 30 seconds. Inner Light's longer duration means its effects will carry over into your other forms, allowing you more flexibility in its use.

The AoE blasts that become available during this phase are entirely skippable since you'll be using Bright Nova. Also, for the sanity of your teammates, don’t even think about Group Energy Flight. If you’ve ever experienced the ridiculous ToHit debuff (-25% ) it applies to anyone in its radius you know full well that it’s not worth the waste of a power pick.

I’d really like to be able to recommend Pulsar but, sadly, it’s not all that. As an AoE Stun it seems great but it takes too long to activate and only applies a Mag 2 Stun with a chance for Mag 3. That means it’ll only reliably Stun Minions. Anything with a higher rank won’t even notice it and you don’t have any other Stuns to stack it with.

Phase III: Totally Phenomenal, Semi-Cosmic Power!!! (Levels 20-31)

Ok, this is where the real fun starts. Grab White Dwarf Form at 20 to add another fantastic power to your ever more impressive repertoire. It increases your maximum HP and has 37.5% unenhanced Resistance to all damage except Psionics. Fully slotted with normal IOs the Resistance caps out around 60%. Just like Bright Nova, White Dwarf comes with a slight Recovery buff that covers the cost of the form so no EndMod or EndRedux enhancements are needed. Most importantly, while in White Dwarf you have Mag 15 mezz protection!!!

White Dwarf is more defense oriented than Black Dwarf, its Warshade counterpart. It has no means of boosting its own damage. Instead it features a very potent self-heal and White Dwarf Flare, an AoE knockdown that consumes a considerable amount of Endurance but serves as a great source of mitigation when in a crowd. Those two features make the form great for frontline tanking and dealing with annoying mezzers. White Dwarf can also teleport so getting into and out of combat is a breeze in most situations.

Now’s the time to set up another couple of binds. I use the E key to shift and keep my Dwarf powers on tray 4. I also have a bind setup to make teleporting around in this form much easier. They go as follows:

Reform Essence should be your next pick at level 22. It’s your bread and butter self-heal and you’ll come to instinctively know when it’s available for use. The thing to remember about this power is not to wait until you’re in dire need. Using it when you’re close to 50% HP is a much better choice than waiting until 25%. Considering you’re likely to still be taking damage, by that time you’ll need more than just Reform Essence to keep your face off the floor.

Conserve Energy comes up during this phase. I’ve got a split opinion on this power. While having a 134% Endurance discount for 90 seconds is great it’s somewhat offset by the fact that you shouldn’t have a need for it if your powers are slotted well. Whether you pick this up or not is really a matter of taste.

At level 26 Solar Flare comes along. It's a PBAoE with a wicked animation and pretty good damage to boot. Balancing all that is its knockback component. Now I know what you're thinking, "A PBAoE with knockback?! Definitely skipping that. No way I'm dealing with the scatter!" That's a valid opinion. Plenty of requests have been made to change the effect to knockdown instead. The Devs have responded by directly stating that Solar Flare's knockback is intended to keep the power balanced. Still, its a solid choice, especially if you're looking to increase your damage output in Human form.

Available at level 28 is Quantum Flight, a personal favorite of mine. It’s Intangibility and flight rolled up into a single Endurance guzzling power. You heard me right; this power sucks down more Endurance than a Hoover. That means it’s not something you wanna be activating just to look cool. I find Q-Flight functions best as an emergency escape tool for when things are really going south and there’s no way to turn the tide.

Phase IV: The Future’s Looking So Bright (Levels 32+)

Level 32 begins a very interesting phase in your Peacebringer’s life. At this point you already have all the essential powers to be a great shapeshifting deliverer of cosmic justice. So what’s left to do? That’s largely a matter of personal opinion. First off, you’ll wanna make a choice as to whether you prefer exploding in a shower of cosmic energy or creating three nasty little self-guided pets who’ll explode for you. I’m speaking, of course, about Dawn Strike and Photon Seekers.

Dawn Strike is your standard nuke. Like all powers of its kind, it packs a wallop (216 points of damage unenhanced) and it'll deal that damage to everything within a 25' radius. It also comes with a Mag 18 knockback. If you've ever seen this power used or, better yet, used it yourself you know that it'll leave you cackling in delight that's probably unbecoming of a hero (But with Going Rogue you could be an evil PB so who cares?). On the downside, Dawn Strike does all that at the cost of all your Endurance and hits you with a temporary -100% Recovery debuff. That's enough to make me avoid the power but I've seen plenty of builds that include it and can't deny that it makes for a very impressive light show.

Photon Seekers, on the other hand, creates three pets that will follow you around until they detect an enemy. Once that happens they’ll zoom in and detonate themselves, dealing damage and knocking back anything within their small blast radius. I like Photon Seekers quite a bit but they too have their cons. In addition to having a small AoE (10' to be exact) their AI isn’t the best. When targets are too spread out the Seekers have a tendency to go after individual mobs instead of concentrating on one for maximum effect.

Once you’re past that agonizing decision you can pick and choose more powers as you see fit. However, you’ll probably still be trying to get slots into more essential powers that you took earlier but haven’t been able to adequately enhance until now. So it’s best to choose powers that provide you with their maximum benefit for a minimal amount of slot investment.

Restore Essence is one of those powers. Some people dislike self-rezzes. Their philosophy is, “What good is a power if I have to be dead to use it? Besides, I carry Awakens.” While Awakens are all well and good (I always keep a full column of medium ones) they’re better suited for out of combat duty. In the heat of a fight rezzing with less than 50% HP, even less Endurance and a Mag 5 Stun is far from ideal. Restore Essence will bring you back with a nearly full green bar and 50% End.

At level 38 Light Form becomes available. It’s your Tier 9 defensive power and has seen some very beneficial changes recently. It now has a much shorter Recharge and its effects will carry over into your other forms. At the baseline Light Form provides 52.5% Resistance to all damage except Psionics unenhanced. With enhancements it easily beats White Dwarf for sheer toughness. In addition, it also removes any rooting effects that are built into your powers. That means you can launch any attack you please as you see fit. No need to worry about getting stuck somewhere you don't wanna be. Kite to your psychotic little Blaster heart's content

Of course, any power with those kinds of benefits has to come with some disadvantages. When Light Form's duration ends it'll take half of your Endurance and maximum HP. That's actually much improved from the total crash it used to have prior to Issue 21 but it's still a bit of a bummer.

By now you're probably noticing that you've got the powers you want and can't really think of anything else to grab that doesn't require significant slot investment to be any good. I recommend looking into pool powers for some utility. I dipped into Medicine for Stimulant so I could do something about mezzed, squishy team mates and Grant Invisibility from Concealment because there's nothing worse than a Stalker who forgets to turn Hide on Seriously though, this is the time to have some fun with your power selections. Grab a few that seem interesting and try 'em out. If they're not to your liking you can always respec.

By this time your Peacebringer should be fully capable of performing whatever role a team needs at any particular moment short of dedicated healing. On top of that, it can lay down nasty AoEs to vaporize crowds or pulverize hard targets with a mixture of ranged blasts and melee fisticuffs. Combined with an experienced player at the controls (That’s you ) it’ll be a true force to be reckoned with whatever the task at hand may be.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my guide and found it helpful. Be sure to check out more binds, tips and IO slotting advice in their respective sections.

I'm with ya Gruff and I'm willing to bet the rest of the posters to this thread are too. We love playing our PBs; that's exactly why we wanna see them get a tune up. I don't think anyone wants to see them out do any particular AT; that would compromise the main focus of their design, versatility. What we do want is to be able to perform as advertised without lagging behind too badly.

My initial suggestion for helping Peacebringers was to simply raise their base damage but after reading some of the fine suggestions here I'm starting to change my viewpoint. For TriFormers it makes more sense to add another attack or two to each form. But that creates a bit of a balance issue since it'll have to be weighed against Warshades' forms. And there's no way Warshade players (Myself included) won't be clamoring for added attacks of their own.

This is correct. Nova form will take both toHit buff and Flight IO sets.

There's no reason to slot Nova for a whole lot of anything in terms of raw stats. It functions plenty well out of the box. If you want/need more Accuracy you should be slotting the attacks.

Nova is, however, a good place for procs and globals. Which one(s) is really a matter of personal preference. I'm of like mind with Mr_Right and keep a +Perception IO in Nova. Others prefer the +Stealth IO from Freebird or the Chance for +Endurance from Performance Shifter. It's really up to you.

Don't mean to sound snarky but yeaaaah....that's a pretty big deal. Slotting Resistance into Dwarf form is something you should do as soon as you can spare the slots.

This right here is one of the few lingering problems that Peacebringers have. As you said, a TriForm PB who's forced into White Dwarf to counteract mezzes suffers a significant DPS hit.

That's largely due to the fact that White Dwarf, and Peacebringers in general, lacks any method of significantly boosting damage output over an extended period of time. It creates a rather pronounced performance gap between Human only PBs and those who make use of the forms (And if I recall correctly, Castle once stated that taking and utilizing the forms was the intended playstyle for both Kheldian ATs).

Agreed. Frankly, you can probably IO them both if you want. I've got a PB and Warshade at 50 and their builds didn't cost me more than 200 million after factoring in Architect tickets and Reward Merits. Alignment Merits didn't exist when I was IOing them out but now that they're in the game it'd probably be even cheaper.

One other piece of advice, I don't recommend building for Recharge with a Peacebinger. I did it with mine and was fairly unsatisfied with the performance I got. I'm not a fan of +Recharge builds in general because they're widely utilized which makes getting the IOs you need more expensive.

I find the highlighted portion interesting. It seems like the difference in Alpha Slotting for PBs is more dependent on how heavily you make use of forms.

With the slots being spread more thinly certain aspects are bound to suffer. I'd be very interested to see a DPS comparison between a human only and TriFormer.