City of Heroes Kheldians Ultimate Guide

Radiant Strike
Available: 6
Range: Melee (5 ft)
Activation: 1.07s
Recharge: 10s
End Cost: 10.19
At L50: 41.71 smashing + 40.04 energy damage, 30 seconds -1 fly, -9% defense for 6 seconds, 60% chance of knockback
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg; add an extra acc if you fight +3 or higher regularly. Add an endred in the late game, or recharge if you have stamina.
Description: My favorite melee attack. It doesn’t have the same drama or damage as Incadescent Strike, but you can’t beat the dps on this. It’s a super quick punch with a cool explosion of light that will often send your enemy flying. If you intend to fight in human form, this is a must-have attack.


Proton Scatter
Available: 8
Range: 40ft
Activation: 2.17s
Recharge: 12s
End Cost: 11.86
At L50: 34.41 energy
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: Don’t take this. If you do, 1acc/3dmg.
Description: This is a human form cone attack. You will almost never see this in a build. For a human-only build, I’d say it has a place… maybe. Like all human form blasts, the damage is fairly anemic. However, it is the equivalent of Glinting Eye, but in cone shape… but beware the short range (1/3 less than the nova form equivalent). Most tri-forms and even many human forms will prefer to pass on this attack.

Build Up
Available: 12
Range: Self
Activation: 1.17s
Recharge: 90s
End Cost: 5.2
At L50: +72% damage (all), +18% toHit buff, for 10 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 Rech.
Description: It’s a very large damage buff. You want it. Note it is weaker than the Scrapper and Blaster versions, since it does +72% instead of +100%. Even the tankers get +80%. That said, it’s still very useful, to the point of being mandatory. Keep in mind that it is long enough that you can use it and change to nova form for your AOE attacks, and this is 72% applied to your base damage, which is 120% of blaster scale.


Luminous Detonation
Available: 12
Range: 50ft
Activation: 1.67s
Recharge: 16s
End Cost: 15.18s
At L50: 31.28 energy damage, -9% def debuff, 50% chance of knockback
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: Don’t take this. If you do, 1acc/3 dmg.
Description: This is your other human-form AOE, and it carries the same anemic damage problem the cone attack does. Because you do less damage than a defender at range, you have to be dedicated to human form to want this. Of course, given a few teammates, your cosmic balance will make it somewhat better… but even at the damage cap (say, from 6 cosmic balance buffs, 3 SOs, and build up), you do less than a fire blaster’s fully slotted fireball. So if you’re all about human form, you may well want this; if not, you should skip it just like the cone.

Incandescent Strike
Available: 18
Range: Melee (5ft)
Activation: 3.3s
Recharge: 20s
End Cost: 18.51
At L50: 65.06 smashing + 83.42 energy damage, 80% chance of knockdown, -1 fly on target for 30s, -9% def debuff for 10s, Mag 3 hold for 13.41s
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg/1endred. You can add a rech later. 2 acc will probably not be needed due to higher base acc.
Description: This attack bears a lot of similarity to Total Focus. The critical difference is that the hold attached is mag 3 only, not mag 4, which means it will NOT hold bosses like the blaster and tanker version will. That having been said, this attack does a LOT of damage. And while it takes quite a while to fire off, and sucks end like a vacuum, it is still a centerpiece of your melee attacks. The hold is nice for using with your controller friends to stack on things, and of course, it is useful for holding voids and quantums, if they are less than boss level. (Although the long activation time means they will almost certainly get an attack off before this lands). In any event, almost any build can use this attack. It also has an inherent accuracy boost (20% more than normal), for smashing the especially tough-to-hit enemies.


Pulsar
Available: 18
Range: PBAoE (20ft burst)
Activation: 3s
Recharge: 45s
End Cost: 15.6
At L50: Mag2 stun for 13.41 seconds, 50% chance of additional Mag1 stun for 13.41 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 2acc/2disdur, and add recharges to taste; if you can’t afford at least 3 slots, do NOT take the power.
Description: Pulsar is a mixed bag. It’s purely a control power, and the only one like it that you have. Unfortunately, it isn’t that strong. It activates with the same animation and speed as Illusion’s Flash power. It has a much faster recharge than most AoE holds – if you slotted it for recharge, you could use it every battle. This power has an inherent penalty to accuracy (80% of normal accuracy), and so it requires even more slotting to hit. When it does hit, it only has a 50% chance to stun Lieutenants. When PBs started off, this power was nearly useless because of the wonky AI the mobs executed when disoriented. Since they no longer do things like jump 30 ft to get away while disoriented, this power is more useful. At higher levels, you can kill minions with 3 quickly chained AoEs… so you’re really taking this for two reasons: (1) For a 50% chance to disorient lieutenants, or (2) To stun very pesky minions who may have the resists to survive your AoE trio – for example, sappers. But you can also use Incandescent Strike for one-off dangerous minions. The other problem is that because Incandescent Strike is a hold, and this is a disorient, you can’t stack them. I’m not a big fan of the power, but if it is your bag, after knowing its limitations, more power to you. It certainly has its uses. My current build no longer uses it, but I had taken it in the past.


Glowing Touch
Available: 26
Range: 30ft
Activation: 2.27s
Recharge: 4s
End Cost: 13
At L50: Heals 188.906
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 heals. Add range down the road if you can spare it.
Description: An impressive ranged heal other. It is about 3/4 as strong as an Emp Defender’s Heal Other, and it has an equally impressive speedy recharge. It also looks quite cool. People will know whose heal that was! The downside is the short range… it’s very short, and that is hard to mitigate with enhancements, also, because they are only 20% each, and honestly, buffing range from 30ft to 42ft at the cost of 2 SOs doesn’t feel like much of a bargain. Still, for the jack-of-all-trades peacebringer, this is a nice power to have. The real issue is: will you ever be able to use it in a timely manner? You’re as likely as not to be busily punching or blasting things. When someone needs a heal in a pinch, will you be close enough and fast enough on the draw? Maybe, maybe not. Like Pulsar, this power is definitely skippable. Because I like the look and enjoy being able to dish out a heal, I took it, but it is very much optional. Like Pulsar, it is a matter of knowing its limitations, and whether or not you still want it. In my large team experience, it feels very much as if I’m the second person to get there with a heal.


Solar Flare
Available: 26
Range: PBAoE (15ft burst)
Activation: 2.1s
Recharge: 20s
End Cost: 18.51
At L50: 59.22 Energy, 80% chance of knockback, -18% def debuff for 10s
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg/1endred. Add an extra accuracy if you regularly fight +3 or higher, and +rech otherwise.
Description: Now this is the human form AoE you were waiting for. Unlike the anemic scatter and detonation ranged attacks, this is a melee attack, and it can dish it out. Just with SOs, it can be a useful attack, and when buffed by your team via cosmic balance, it can become downright impressive. That said, you can skip this attack if human form is not your bag. If you plan to fight in human regularly, this is a must have. If not, you can pass. However, it does have an interesting strategic use as well: it can be the “third AoE” for a Peacebringer. The attack sequence is: Build up, Go to Nova Form, bright nova scatter, bright nova detonation, then pop out of nova, land, and Solar Flare. If you time it right, you can actually make flare and the nova detonation hit at nearly the same instant, since the switch to human is instant, and thus you can hit a whole group with 3 AoEs. That really adds up, and even with ED in place, it can potentially let you solo a large group of minions in a matter of seconds.


Dawn Strike
Available: 32
Range: PBAoE (25ft burst)
Activation: 3s
Recharge: 360s
End Cost: 20.8 (and drains you dry)
At L50: 104.27 En Dmg + 52.13 En Dmg (75% chance) + 52.13 En Dmg (50% chance), -18% def debuff for 20 s, large knockback to all, and -100% recovery to self for 20 seconds.
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 damage. 3 recharge is optional. It has a large base acc (40% higher than a standard attack), and if you use Build Up first (which you ALWAYS SHOULD), then acc should not be needed.
Description: The real comparison here is one of damage. Fire/Energy nukes do 111/83(75%)/83(50%). Fire will also do another 100 damage in DoT. So your nuke is strong, by any measure, but not ridiculously strong. You won’t have Aim+BuildUp like most blasters do, and your BuildUp is weaker, and your damage cap (400%) is lower even with team buffs. That said, if you’re getting a fair number of cosmic balance damage buffs, you can rival a blaster here, if all they have is BU+Aim. You have one MAJOR advantage that blasters don’t have: Light Form. It is a click mega-defense power, so if it is running, you can nuke, and remain effectively nearly invincible. There’s a reason they don’t give blasters Unstoppable! And yet you can run the equivalent of Unstoppable, AND nuke. Like any nuke, this power is highly situational, and extremely destructive. Whether or not the details work out is up to you. It looks very cool.


Photon Seekers
Available: 32
Range: –
Activation: 2.03s
Recharge: 300s
End Cost: 31.2
At L50: Summons 3 dumb pets, which self-destruct, bursting for for base 111.22 Energy Damage in a 7ft sphere (+50% chance to knockback)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg; add 2 rech when you can; or perhaps 1rech/1endred. They have an acc bonus and should not need more than 1 acc.
Description: The recharge on this power is horrendous. The Seekers are so dumb, you’ll swear the devs programmed them JUST to frustrate you. That having been said: these things seriously dish it out. Stand aside nuke! A total of 333.66 damage unenhanced. There are two ways to use them: as accompanyment in an attack, or summon them right next to a target. The effective way is to summon them right next to something. If they spawn right next to an enemy, they will almost always all detonate immediately and simultaneously, meaning you have a nuke-and-a-half you can fire off, with no end penalty, but it only has a 7ft radius. You’d be surprised when stuff is packed in tight how much a 7ft radius can hit. My favorite use in the 30s and 40s for these so far is taking out Rikti portals. They’re worth a ton of xp and prestige, but they’re a pain because they summon up tough enemies. But right as one is appearing, you can conjure up the photon seekers, and blast the portal, the comm officer, and anything else foolish enough to be standing near at the time. If you summon them, then move in for an attack, they will pick targets quite randomly, and there’s a good chance the dumbest of them will just decide to float around watching you fight until it evaporates. This is not an exaggeration. The stupidity of photon seekers is legendary. Post I8 there was a patch to the seekers, and they’re still dumb, but they seem to have improved. Only once since the patch have I completely seen one fail to detonate, which was my major irk before. So they’re more aggressive. The only reliable use is still releasing them in melee, but they’re improved somewhat.


-=== Secondary Set: Luminous Aura ===-


Incandescence
Available: 1
Range: –
Activation: Auto
Recharge: –
End Cost: –
At L50: 11.25% res(energy,negative energy)
Plasma’s Rating:
Description: You have to take it. 11.25% resistance isn’t really going to impact much of anything. Oh, well.


Shining Shield
Available: 2
Range: –
Activation: .67s
Recharge: 2s
End Cost: .26/second
At L50: 22.5% res(smash, lethal)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 damres, or 1 endred/3 damres for pure/mostly human builds.
Description: This is a fairly standard shield. To compare, it is identical to the resists that Dark Armor scrappers get from Dark Embrace. That said, like all PB shields, if you don’t have mez protection, you are one tiny sleep/stun/hold away from all your toggles dropping, including this one, which is why I only rate it three smilies. On the other hand, smash and lethal are by far the most common attacks in the game. I think this shield is definitely is worth taking for situations where you have mez protection, to stack on Light form, and to augment team-based damage resistance buffs to these common damage types.


Essence Boost
Available: 4
Range: –
Activation: .73s
Recharge: 360s
End Cost: 10.4
At L50: +428 to max health (50% enhanceable) for 120 seconds, 428 heal, and 15% res(toxic) for 120s
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 heal, 3 rech. It’s tough to find these slots, but the power is awesome. Do 3 rech first.
Description: This is a great power, and I can’t imagine not taking it. It is Dull Pain repackaged, making it both a potent heal, and a substantial boost to your health. Half the boost to your max hp is enhanceable. With 3 recharge and 3 heal SOs, you are looking at a 836 point heal, and a 631 point boost to max health, or about 60%. Best of all, this is a click power, and so it carries through form changes. So you can run around in Nova form, blasting away, with nearly tanker-sized hp. You have to love it! Ordinarily, it would be up 120 seconds, down 64 if you just used 3 even level recharge SOs, but if you have 3-slotted Hasten, it will be more like 20-25 seconds of downtime. You should try to be aware of that, as you’ll be a lot less resilient for those 20-25 seconds. The hp boost adds SO MUCH to your survivability in nova and human forms (and some to dwarf, of course).


Thermal Shield
Available: 10
Range: –
Activation: .67
Recharge: 2
End Cost: .26/second
At L50: 22.5% resist (fire,cold)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 DamRes, or 1 EndRed, 3 DamRes for mostly/pure human builds.
Description: It’s a decent shield, same percentages as Shining Shield, but again, suffers from the detoggling issue. Also, if you’re using 3 forms, switching into forms ruins the shields. Also, because fire and cold are a lot less common than smashing and lethal, it’s just less useful. I took it in my current build, but I will probably get rid of it when I respec.


Quantum Shield
Available: 14
Range: –
Activation: .73s
Recharge: 2
End Cost: .26/second
At L50: 22.5% resist (energy, neg energy)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 DamRes, or 1 EndRed, 3 DamRes for mostly/pure human builds.
Description: Another so-so shield. This one stacks with your auto incandescence power; whether that means you are more likely or less likely to take it is up to you. I feel the same about this as about Thermal.



Group Energy Flight
Available: 16
Range: –
Activation: 2.03s
Recharge: –
End Cost: .52/sec
At L50: Group flight (sloooow), -25% tohit
Plasma’s Rating: meh.
Recommended Slotting: 2 taunt, 3 dam, 3 acc, 4 thbuf, and 5 PartInPearTre. Blah. You take it, you decide.
Description: This is just one of those powers, you know? You might use it on a hami raid, or perhaps exploring the shadow shard. But it is expensive, it is slow, and it is nigh useless in combat thanks to carrying a massive tohit debuff that was replaced by suppression on other fly powers. I could see taking this in the 40s so you could tote lowbies around the Hollows or something in a pinch, or help fly people to mitos in Hami raids. By and large, this power is eminently skippable.


White Dwarf
Available: 20
Range: –
Activation: 2.03s
Recharge: –
End Cost: .26/sec
At L50: 37.5% resist (all but psionic), +803 max hp (not enhanceable), boost to threat level, +15% recovery, +jump, effectively immune to knockback, -15.57 Mag (stun, hold, sleep, immobilize, confuse, fear), change forms, and acquire 6 inherent powers
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 damres is mandatory. After that, up to 2 EndMod, then 1 EndRed.
Description: This is your other shapechange form. This one is defensive, and it is great. For starters, you have a nice big resist (all but psi). Fully enhanced, that’s almost 60% resists. Because you’re in a form, you won’t get additional boosts from your auto powers, or team buffs, but that’s nothing to sneeze at. You get a hp boost that takes your hp level up to tank hitpoints, and essence boost will carry into the form, taking you up even higher. (In fact, if you have essence boost fullly slotted, you’ll actually cap out at your maximum max-hp, a total of about 225% of your kheldian base hp in human form). You’re very resistant to mez attacks, again equivalent to tanks. Your form itself cannot be detoggled in PvP either. (You can lose it if you run out of end or get mezzed through your strong mez protection, but toggle dropping attacks will not ever take it down). You pick up 6 inherent powers – a self-teleport, 3 attacks, a taunt, and a self-heal. Like nova form, you pick up a minor stamina-like recovery boost; initially, it only offsets the cost of the form itself, but it can be enhanced. The huge hp boost of this form is a big help in surviving against a quantum/void.

Reform Essence
Available: 22
Range: –
Activation: 0.73s
Recharge: 60s
End Cost: 10.4
At L50: Heal Self (267hp)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 heal, 1-3 rech. Keep in mind with Hasten up, recharge is 35s without slotting for it; 1 SO makes it 29.5, 3 reduces it to 22.6. So there are greatly diminishing returns.
Description: This heals you 1/4 of your base hp. It’s basically reconstruction rewrapped. It’s good, it does its job, it looks cool. It is possible to get by without this using dull pain, and the dwarf form heal, but I’d definitely recommend it.

Conserve Energy
Available: 24
Range: –
Activation: 1.17s
Recharge: 600s
End Cost: 7.8
At L50: 134.1% Endurance Discount for 90s
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 rech.
Description: One thing you can never have too much of: endurance. This cuts the endurance cost on your powers to 42% of their previous cost and stacks with EndRed enhancers. While this is running, you have to do some impressive work to run your end down. Peacebringers suck end like a Dyson with a nuclear reactor add-on, so you almost certainly want this power. Realistically, it will be up 90 seconds, down about 160, if you use Hasten. Otherwise, up 90, down 217. I have it, I love it.

Quantum Flight
Available: 28
Range: –
Activation: 0. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
Recharge: 60s
End Cost: 6/second
At L50: Capped fly speed, stealth, intangibility.
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 EndRed.
Description: This is the best panic button in existence. You click it, you are instantly untouchable. Caveat: enemy attacks activated before you click this power can still hit you, since after weapon draw/fire times they will land way after this works. Sadly, if one of those attacks happens to mez you, this toggle will drop, and will need 60s to recharge. That’s the downside. The upside is that unlike the painful 3s that phase shift takes, this power clicks on instantly. Back in the day, it also had 0 recharge, which made it a bit of an “I win” button for those with patience, since you could drop it, punch them, then toggle it back on. It’s gruesome on endurance, and after 45 seconds, it (and all your powers, for that matter) takes 4% more endurance each second, until it runs you dry. It is great for escaping tight situations, or taunting an alpha strike out of certain enemies without risk (say, voids, quantums, sappers).

Restore Essence
Available: 35
Range: –
Activation: 4.33s
Recharge: 300s
End Cost: –
At L50: Self-res, you return with 75% of your hp and 50% of your endurance, with 20s of debt protection
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 recharge
Description: It’s nice to have a self-rez, especially at higher levels where you’re doing Raids and such. Obviously, it is by no means necessary. Whether you take this is really a matter of preference.

Light Form
Available: 38
Range: –
Activation: 1.67s
Recharge: 1000s
End Cost: 2.6
At L50: 52.5% res(all but psi), nearly immune to knockback and repel, -15.57mag (hold, sleep, stun), -18.68 mag(immob), 100% recovery boost, all for 180seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 recharge is mandatory. You could add 3 DamRes if you don’t have shields; if you do, you could go 1 DamRes, 2 EndRec. Alternately, you could go 3 EndRec, and count on shields/team buffs to top off your resists. (3 blasters or scrappers will put you not quite at the cap)
Description: Ooh, baby. You transform yourself into a glowing ball of woop-[censored]. First, the downsides: you can’t shapeshift while this is running. You aren’t protected from fear and confuse. Hmm. Um… your enemies won’t be able to tell it’s you while you drop the hammer on them, big time? Yeah, well, there’s not a lot to dislike about this power. It’s very unique looking, and with 3 +3 DamRes SOs, you’re pushing right up against your resist cap. Also, this is NOT a shapeshift, and so you still get team buffs; so team buffs from Cosmic Balance can also easily push up to the resist cap a lot of the time. If you don’t have human form attacks, however, this form can be less than useful… after all, what good is being invincible if you can’t DO anything with it. If you have Solar Flare, Rad Strike, Incandescent Strike, and a couple blasts, you should more or less be a dervish of destruction. When the power ends, you crash to 10% hp and 0 endurance. With 3 Rech SOs and Hasten, you’ll find this is about a bit less than half the time. (180s up, 220s down is a good guess). If you’re only using Human form for clickies and utility powers, skip this. If you fight in human form, this is mandatory. As an added bonus, this form has a hefty 100% recovery bonus – that’s Stamina x4 – so you can get pretty crazy with your attacks without a problem. Even without Stamina, you have to use several toggles (say, all 3 shields) AND attack nonstop with Hasten running, to really burn through the amount of end you’re getting. Note that because each shield toggle uses .26 end/sec, and this form recovers an extra 1.67 end per second, you are better off turning on all three shields for +22.5% resist (base) and putting in 2 extra endrec slots into power (+1.1 end/sec) than you are putting those 2 slots into damage resistance. Obviously, it’s not a big edge, but it is notable (About equivalent to base stamina). But of course, don’t take the shields just to do that.

Non-Form Inherents

Dark Sustenance
Available: 1
AUTO: this power is always on (only in human form)
Range: 300ft
Effect: +20% Smashing/Energy damage per Blaster or Scrapper on team and within range, +10% res (all, including psi) for each Defender or Tanker on Team and within range, and -1 mag protection vs all mez effects per controller within range.
Description: Buffage. This can make teaming even at L1 fun, as you can see your damage rise as people join you. Note that this power doesn’t quite kick on instantly when you come out of a form, and it isn’t active at all while in a form (shapeshifted). Human only. The peacebringer version is, IMO, the more useful of the two, since it tends to make you better at whatever the team is missing. The major problem here is just that the mez protection is nigh useless, because -1Mag is pathetic. That will save you from one – yes one – minion or lieutenant mez. You’d need two controllers to avoid a single boss mez attack, and once they stack? Forget about it. A team full of controllers is worth less than a single Clear Mind. If I could pick one reasonable improvement for Kheldians, it would be to alter this buff to change this to -2 or -3Mag.

Shadow Step
Available: 1
Range: 300ft
Activation: 1.67s
Recharge: –
End Cost: 13
At L50: You teleport.
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: Range and EndRed. 3 Rng/2 EndRed would be about the ultimate travel power, but you will likely leave it at one slot indefinitely because slots are scarce.
Description: It’s teleport, with a Warshade visual. You get it free at level one. Teleporting around Outbreak is almost cool enough to make you do nothing but reroll Warshades all day long, and delete them at L2. See the “Binds” section in the strategy section for information on setting up binds for your Warshade’s teleporting, so you can use one bind regardless of form.

Shadow Recall
Available: 10
Range: 10,000 ft (not quite 2 miles)
Activation: 4s interruptible + 1.93
Recharge: 6s
End Cost: 20
At L50: You teleport an ally to you
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 range
Description: This will make you the world’s most popular teammate in the Hollows from L10-14. It’s recall friend, but for free at L10. Given that you can already teleport yourself around, it’s pretty nice to have at L10, and it remains useful throughout your career.

-=== Primary Set: Umbral Blast ===-

Shadow Bolt
Available: 1
Range: 50 ft
Activation: 1s
Recharge: 1.5s
End Cost: 3.12
At L50: 20.85 Negative Energy Damage, -20% Fly/Run speed, -20% recharge for 4 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 acc; if you are fighting in human form regularly, 1acc/3dmg
Description: This power is the equivalent of Neutrino Bolt from the Defender Rad Blast set. Fast activating, very fast recharge, minor damage. You can think of it almost like a ranged brawl – it does slightly more damage than Brawl and recharges faster. The good side is that it recharges so fast, it can fill almost any hole in an attack chain. The bad news is…well, it’s weak.

Ebon Eye
Available: 1
Range: 60ft
Activation: 1.67s
Recharge: 4s
End Cost: 5.2
At L50: 34.76 NegEnergy damage, -20% Run/Fly/Jump/Recharge for 6 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg.
Description: It’s not the best attack in the world, but shooting beams out of your eyes is always fun. The secondary effect is good.

Gravimetric Snare
Available: 2
Range: 40ft
Activation: 1.67s
Recharge: 4s
End Cost: 7.8
At L50: 5 ticks of 3.48smash+3.48 lethal over 9.2seconds, for a total of 34.80; Mag 20 immobilize; -20% jump/run/fly/recharge for 6 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg
Description: You start to feel how the Warshade is a bit more “controllery” (that’s not a word, is it?) with this power. Although this aspect of the Warshade is typically overemphasized, this is a useful power. It does good damage over time, if your enemy survives. By no means strong enough or useful enough to be a required power, but it can be useful.

Dark Nova
Available: 6
Range: –
Activation: 2.03s
Recharge: –
End Cost: 0.26/sec
At L50: fast flight; 15% to recovery; +45% damage (Smash, neg energy); 15% res (energy, neg energy); 9% tohit buff
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1fly
Description: This is your first shapeshift power, and it is juicy. Your transform into a flying artillery platform, with inherent buffs to accuracy, recovery, and damage. You have a fast flight which has some inertia, allowing you to do some interesting fly-by type maneuvers. In my mind, this power is your bread and butter for at least 15 levels. If you want to be at maximum effectiveness, it will get heavy use forever. See the Peacebringer Bright Nova for the full explanation, but you’re better of slotting EndRed in the powers most likely, rather than the form itself. 2 SOs of EndMod are less than an extra 12 End per minute. You get better return on slotting for EndRed.

Shadow Blast
Available: 6
Range: 50ft
Activation: 1.67s
Recharge: 8s
End Cost: 8.53
At L50: 57 Neg Energy, 20% run/jump/fly/recharge for 10 seconds, 10% chance of knockback
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc, 3dmg.
Description: This is a decent blast. Moderate damage won’t be pushing blasters aside just yet, but it has a nice secondary and it does start to do decent chunks once augmented by Mires or team buffs (or both). Like all the human form warshade attacks, the mires make this considerably more viable.


Starless Step
Available: 8
Range: 200ft
Activation: 1.93s
Recharge: 20s
End Cost: 15
At L50: Teleport a foe.
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc.
Description: This is teleport foe, keeping in theme with your teleport abilities. It has plenty of uses, including ganking bad mobs like Sappers or Quantums/Voids. Like TP Foe, it has a 50% chance to “alert” enemies which are within 10ft of your target when you use it.


Dark Detonation
Available: 12
Range: 50ft, hits AoE in 15ft radius
Activation: 1.67s
Recharge: 16s
End Cost: 15.18
At L50: 31.28 Neg Energy Damage, 50% chance knockback, -20% Run/Jump/Fly/Rech for 6 sec
Plasma’s Rating: meh
Recommended Slotting: Don’t take it. If you do, 1acc/3dmg.
Description: This power just doesn’t do the damage you’d want. If you go all-human, you may want it, but it largely just isn’t worth it. Otherwise, it’s about equivalent to fireball, save that it will do slightly less than half the damage. (Although it does have a knockback chance and a slow effect)


Sunless Mire
Available: 12
Range: PBAoE, 15ft radius
Activation: 2.37s
Recharge: 120s
End Cost: 15.6
At L50: 41.71 NegEn damage, -20% Run/Jump/Fly/Rech for 6 sec, 4.5% tohit and 11.25% damage (all) to self per for hit for 30 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 acc, 3 rech
Description: Yessssss! There is basically nothing to NOT like about this. It does nice damage, but that’s just a side effect: it gives you an enormous buff. You can hit up to 10 targets with it. That’s a +45% tohit buff, and a +112.5% damage buff, for 30 seconds. Wow. The downside is: you have to be in the middle of 10 mobs to get that buff. The upside is: it’s a huge buff, and lasts a long time compared to build up. (3x as long). It basically does not matter what build you have; you should slot this up early and enjoy. Incidentally, this power is one (more) reason to not take Dark Detonation: they’re both available at L12. And as Mr. T would say, I pity the fool who takes Detonation instead of this.


Essence Drain
Available: 18
Range: Melee
Activation: 1.93s
Recharge: 15s
End Cost: 15.6
At L50: 41.71 Neg En Damage, 107.09 heal to self, -20% Jump/Fly/Run/Rech for 6 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg, or 1acc/3heal, or 1acc/3dmg/2heal… or 1acc/3dmg/1heal/1rech.
Description: This is a strange power, in the sense that it can be many things to many people. It is a melee attack like Dark Melee’s siphon. The damage is tolerable; given some team buffs or mire buffs it will do enough to notice. But it is a self-heal which is also nice. The problem is, you have much better ways to do damage, and much better ways to heal. Also, your Dwarf Form gets a version of this power for free. Consequently, you may want to skip this, especially since it becomes available at a time when, frankly, there are higher priorities. Also at 18 is Gravity well, a must-have, and then at L20 is your Black Dwarf, then at L22 you can get Stygian Circle. I just don’t think it is optional to pass on any of those powers, unless you’re going for a pure human build.


Gravity Well
Available: 18
Range: Melee
Activation: 2.07s
Recharge: 20s
End Cost: 18.51
At L50: 65.06 NegEn damage, +50 NegEn DoT over 10 seconds, Mag 3 hold for 13.41 seconds, -30% Run/Jump/Fly/Rech for 10 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/2 holds to start; could go 1acc/2dmg/3hold, 2acc/3hold, 1acc/3dmg/2 hold.
Description: This power is hard to slot, and that’s about the only thing bad to say about it. It has a nice hold that will get anything except a boss, it is fast activating (the activation is 2.07s, but the power actually “hits” near the front end of that whole time), and does excellent damage. It isn’t quite as much damage as the Peacebringer Incandescent Strike, and some of it is as a DoT, but then again, you don’t have to leap way up into the air like a loony for 3 seconds to execute this power. Slotting is to taste; some people will slot purely for holds, adding 2 accs to make sure they hit the quantum/void on the first try. Others will use this as an attack. Just keep in mind: you have two mires (Sunless and the Dwarf Mire) to boost your damage, along with team buffs – so you may want to prioritize hold time over damage at first, which is why my default recommended slotting is acc/hld rather than acc/dmg.


Gravitic Emanation
Available: 26
Range: 40ft 45 degree cone
Activation: 1s
Recharge: 45s
End Cost: 14.35
At L50: 9.3Mag Knockback, Mag 3 stun for 13.41 seconds, -20% jump/fly/run/rech for 10s
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/2DisDur. Add a rech when you can, and another accuracy+disdur if you fight +3 or more often.
Description: This power is awesome. Not to be confused with the crappy, weak-damage cone attack that Peacebringers get, this is the same cone, but converted to a very handy control power. It comes out VERY fast, hits in a very wide cone, and has a 100% chance to knockback and a Mag 3 stun, which will nail minions and lieutenants. Unlike the PB Pulsar, this will ALWAYS get a lieutenant (unless they have Stun resistance). This power is very useful – both to reposition mobs and groups (for mires or AoEs) to the more obvious control power. Because it is SO fast AND at range, it is also extremely useful for taking out Quantums and Voids before they have a chance to tag you. Get it, slot it, love it.


Unchain Essence
Available: 26
Range: Corpse within 40ft, which explodes in a 20ft AoE burst
Activation: 3.17s
Recharge: 240s
End Cost: 26
At L50: 90.37 Neg Energy dag, Mag3 stun (50% chance) for 6.7s, -30% run/jump/fly/rech, 10% chance of knockback
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/2rch/3dmg
Description: Diablo 2 players will recognize this as the Power Formerly Known As Corpse Explosion. It has revitalized its career in City of, and it can do some pretty heft damage. It’s a LOT of damage for an AoE, especially when your mires have you at the damage cap. It has a stun, but the stun isn’t reliable, so I don’t recommend thinking about it much. This is a damage power. The downsides for this enormous damage are two-fold: First, you need a corpse. One major problem is that by the time you can use this power, is there much left standing that really requires another big AoE to kill? And Secondly, it takes a Looooong time to recharge. Even if you run fully slotted Hasten and have 2 recharges in this, you’ll wait nearly 2 minutes between activations. In balance, it is very much a mixed bag. I have it, I use it, but I often feel like I’m not getting the bang for my buck I deserve. When Kismet delivers the perfect circumstances to you for its use, the damage is fairly impressive; it’s just that givne the long recharge, those circumstances don’t come up half as often as you’d like. It’s takeable, or skippable. I find I have plenty of room for powers in my tri-form build, so I took it; just don’t spend slots on it when there are other powers that are more consistently useful that really need them.


Dark Extraction
Available: 32
Range: 40ft
Activation: 3.2s
Recharge: 240s
End Cost: 26
At L50: Summons a fluffy
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc, 3dmg, 2 rech.
Description: First: get this at 32, slot it full before you bother with anything else. Now that we have that clarified, let me regale you with the glory of the Extracted Essence, colloquially known as ‘Fluffy’. This thing is a beast. First, the actual summon usually looks VERY cool, as the body you extract spins up from the ground as you go all Shang Tsung on it – “Your soul is mine!” The pet itself lasts 200 seconds, and has a recharge of 240s. This means you can OFTEN have two out if you have Hasten up all the time, and add the recommended recharges. It has 3 attacks: Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, and Gravitic Emanation. They do, at L50, 26.69, 72.96, and 44.04 Neg En respectively. All 3 attacks have the standard -jump/fly/run/recharge. Unlike your controller-ish Gravitic Emanation, theirs is damage – like your nova form cone. The recharge on the powers is completely impressive. This thing will be blasting at all times. _Brev_ did a nice analysis of pets, and concluded that Warshade pets were competitive with imps as the most damaging pets. They are one of the coolest things about a warshade, and the fact that they will flank you and attack regardless of your form is nice. After you have these, you can be like a one man team – you summon a pet, and then go in and tank for your fluffies in Dwarf Form while they blast away! This is truly one of the must-haves from the set. It is the whole package: useful in every form, looks cool, highly effective.



Quasar
Available: 32
Range: PBAoE 25ft Radius
Activation: 3s
Recharge: 360s
End Cost: 20.8 (and drains your end dry)
At L50: 104.27 Neg Energy, 52.13 Neg En (75% chance), 52.13 Neg En (50% chance), large knockback, -30% run/jump/fly/rech for 20 seconds, -100% recovery to self for 20 s
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3dmg, 3rch.
Description: Unlike the Peacebringer version, your nuke tends to be a lot more useful. Why? Two words: damage cap. Peacebringers only get their Build Up to boost theirs, but Build Up + Enhancements only takes them to 267% of base damage. You have double-mires to use, and that means that when you go in to level some enemies, you will be at 400% of base (the cap). Otherwise, this is an ordinary nuke. It is STILL weaker than a blaster’s version. Your average base damage from this is 169. Compare that to Nova, at an average of 269, or fire, which does that much AND a DoT on top of it. Still, this is not to be sneezed at. As with the Peacebringer nuke, you have an advantage over blasters: you can be invincible. See the Eclipse power in the secondary Umbral Aura set, and you’ll figure out what I mean. The other nice thing is that thanks to Stygian Circle, one blue will get you completely back into battle.



-=== Secondary Set: Umbral Aura ===-

Absorption
Available: 1
Range: Self
Activation: Auto
Recharge: –
End Cost: –
At L50: 11.25% Res(Energy, Neg Energy)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 DamRes
Description: You have to take it, so it doesn’t require a lot of discussion. It’s a decent auto shield, but it only affects Energy and Negative Energy. They’re not the most common damage types, and so it isn’t that useful. Because the percentage is relatively small, I don’t generally recommend adding slots.


Gravity Shield
Available: 2
Range: Self
Activation: 0.67s
Recharge: 2s
End Cost: .26/second
At L50: 22.5% resistance (smash, lethal)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 end, or 1damres, or 1endred/3damres.
Description: This is your standard smash/lethal shield, same percentages as a Dark Armor scrapper gets, for example. That having been said, this power is skippable, because like all toggles: It can only be used in human form, and it is detoggled if you are mezzed. Those are big hurdles. Add to that it is often redundant. Then again, Smash/Lethal is the most common damage type, and if you get a weak hit on Eclipse, this can shore up your resistances. You may or may not want it; it is a mixed bag. You may want to see the sample builds and discussion of them to decide.


Orbiting Death
Available: 4
Range: PBAoE toggle, 20ft radius
Activation: 1.17s
Recharge: 4s
End Cost: 0.78/second
At L50: 7.09 Neg Energy every 2.5 seconds.
Plasma’s Rating: …
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg/2endred
Description: This power is another mixed bag. First, it’s yet another human form toggle. Shuts off when mezzed, shuts off when you change forms. Consequently, I found myself not using it. It looks EXTREMELY cool, especially while moving, and that alone earned it a 3rd from me. A lot of Warshade regulars like this power. When I respeced, I reluctantly got rid of it, because it is a toggle. If you are going human-only, which I am vehemently against for shades, you definitely want this. Otherwise… maybe. Again, see the sample builds. Because it is fairly expensive as a toggle, it is crippling to your endurance at lower levels, eating up half your end recovery.


Penumbral Shield
Available: 10
Range: Self
Activation: 0.67s
Recharge: 2s
End Cost: 0.26/second
At L50: 22.5% Resistance (fire, cold), 15% resist (toxic)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 endred, or 1 damres, or 1endred/3damres
Description: It’s the fire/cold shield. comments about human form toggles all still apply. I’m fairly skeptical about this power for warshades. It IS a good shield, it’s just that because you aren’t likely to stay unmezzed in human form, it just won’t be that useful. And turning on 3-6 toggles any time you shapechange or get mezzed is painful.


Shadow Cloak
Available: 14
Range: Self
Activation: 1.17s
Recharge: 20s
End Cost: 0.26/second
At L50: Stealth, +perception, 3.75% defense (ranged, melee)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1endred
Description: This power is pretty nice. It is stealth without a movement penalty, with an added bonus of +perception, which is useful in PvP or against things like Night Widows that hurt your perception. Mostly, this is great because adding a power like Super Speed makes you effectively invisible against mobs that don’t have perception bonuses, which is very useful for skipping to the end of missions and such. Since you automatically have recall friend, that makes you very useful for that sort of thing in things like the Cavern of Transcendence trial, or the Terra Volta trial.


Twilght Shield
Available: 16
Range: Self
Activation: 0.73
Recharge: 2s
End Cost: 0.26/second
At L50: 22.5% Resist (energy, Neg Energy)
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 endred, or 1 damres, or 1endred/3damres.
Description: Another decent shield. The thing that makes Warshade AND pb shields appealing is that they stack with team buffs from Cosmic Balance/Dark Sustenance. However, since you get YOUR +res buff from tankers and defenders, one has to wonder if you’ll CARE about your resists during the times you’re getting a bonus. On top of that, this stacks with your required Absorption power; whether that makes you more or less likely to take it is up to you. (For me, it meant less), and I wasn’t super inclined to take it to begin with.


Black Dwarf
Available: 20
Range: Self
Activation: 2.03s
Recharge: –
End Cost: 0.26/second
At L50: 37.5% res (all but psi), shift into dwarf form, +803 hp max health, +jump, 15% recovery, -15.57 MAg resist (hold, sleep, stun, confuse, fear), -18.684 Mag resist (immobilize), and gain 6 inherent attacks
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 3 damres first and foremost; after that, 2 endmod and then 1endred would be good.
Description: This is your defensive form shapechange. It’s great. You gain very strong resists, and pick up 6 inherent powers, including a teleport, taunt, and 4 attacks. You become a pretty good tank, and the large addition to your hp means you have the hp of a tank. And you get Mez protection, which you can’t get on your own any other way.

Black Dwarf Strike
Available: When you take Black Dwarf (min: 20)
Range: Melee
Activation: 1.2s
Recharge: 3s
End Cost: 4.37
At L50: 16 Smash dmg, 23.6 Neg Energy dmg, -20% jump/fly/run/rech for 6 sec, 30% chance knockdown, 5% chance toggle drop, Mag 4 Taunt for 13.5 seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3dmg.
Description: A respectable entry-level attack for the form. I didn’t slot it right away, but I did eventually slot it. Slotting your dwarf attacks makes dwarf feel like a ‘real form’, which is good, since it’s the only way you can get mez protection on your own (outside of break frees/disciplines).
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Black Dwarf Smite
Available: When you take Black Dwarf (min: 20)
Range: melee
Activation: 1.5s
Recharge: 6s
End Cost: 6.86
At L50: 15.18 smash dmg, 47.46 neg energy dmg, 30% knockdown chance, -fly, -20% jump/fly/run/rech for 10s, Mag 2 stun (10% chance) for 7 seconds, mag 4 taunt for 13.5 seconds.
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc, 3dmg. Add 2 rech if you like dwarf form.
Description: The beefier melee attack in dwarf form. Decent damage, good side effects, and pretty good damage given the recharge and end cost.
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Black Dwarf Mire
Available: When you take Black Dwarf (min: 20)
Range: PBAoE 15ft sphere
Activation: 0.73s
Recharge: 120s
End Cost: 15.6
At L50: 47.25 neg energy dmg, -20% jump/run/fly/rech for 6 seconds, +3.75% tohit and +11.25% dmg (Smash, Neg En) to self per enemy hit
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc, 3 rech. 2 dmg optional.
Description: This is your other Mire. The first, Sunless Mire, you get in human form at 12. This one features more damage, a larger +dmg buff, and the very convenient fact that you can do it while in dwarf form, meaning you have nice big resists to keep you alive while you’re ticking off a large group of enemies. It can hit up to 10 enemies, for a colossal +37.5% to hit buff, and a wonderful 112.5% damage buff, which last 30 seconds. This power alone is reason enough to take dwarf form. No, I’m not kidding. It is one of the reasons I think of human-only Warshade builds as so painfully “wrong” – because human-only means passing up on this.
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Black Dwarf Drain
Available: When you take Black Dwarf (min: 20)
Range: Melee
Activation: 1.93s
Recharge: 15s
End Cost: 15.6
At L50: 47.25 neg energy damage, +210hp heal, -20% run/jump/fly/rech for 6 sec, mag 4 taunt for 13.5 sec
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1acc/3 heal, or 1acc/3dmg, or 1acc/3heal/2dmg, or 1acc/3dmg/2heal, or 2acc/2dmg/2heal, or… yeah
Description: This attack carries a good heal, good damage. The downside is, it’s expensive and on a fairly long recharge – although the recharge is quite short compared to other heals. Slotting it depends on your needs; 1acc/3dmg for an attack, 1acc/3heal for heals. If you’re a big Dwarf Former, I can see going 2acc/2dmg/2heal. Note that 3 slotted with heals, it will restore about 1/4 of your dwarf form hp every 15 seconds; that’s only 8.8 seconds with Hasten running. That’s a pretty nice heal! I’d tend toward slotting this for accuracy and heal, and toss in a dmg or two later if you have slots – rely in the intervening time on your mires to boost the damage, and focus your dmg slots on smite and strike, which have much higher dps. (Although this attack outdamages strike, strikes MUCH lower recharge makes it more appropriate for dmg slots)
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Black Dwarf Step
Available: When you take Black Dwarf (min: 20)
Range: 300ft
Activation: 0.73s
Recharge: –
End Cost: 13
At L50: Teleport 300 ft.
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1endred.
Description: It’s teleport. You already have this, since your human form has been doing it since level one. However, it’s actually nice that you have it in dwarf form also, since you’re SLOW as a lobster. It has the same cost and function as all the other teleports.
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Black Dwarf Antagonize
Available: When you take Black Dwarf (min: 20)
Range: 60ft, AOE 15ft sphere, 5 target max
Activation: 1.67s
Recharge: 10s
End Cost: –
At L50: Mag 4 Taunt, for 8.24seconds
Plasma’s Rating:
Recommended Slotting: 1 TntDur; if you want to tank higher level stuff, 2-3TntDur, 1acc.
Description: This is your taunt. It works like tanker taunt, but requires an accuracy check. The good news is, it is by default highly accurate (50% more accurate than a standard power), but you MUST have a taunt SO in it at least to keep even an even-level minion taunted nonstop. The higher level stuff you’ll need more taunts, and you may start missing also. If you routinely play tank against +3s, I’d say 1acc/2 taunt will squeak by, but 1acc/3 taunt is better for overlapping them.

How can I make a Kheldian?

Get a hero to level 50. No, villains don’t count. Once you have a hero at 50 on any server (other than test) you can create a Kheldian on any server, not just the one your 50 is on.

Can Kheldians take pool powers?

Yes, with the exception of Flight and Teleportation. They can’t access those pools at all; but Peacebringers get Fly and Hover as inherents, and Warshades get teleport self and recall friend as inherents. PBs also get Group Fly as a power choice, and Shades get TP Foe as a power choice. Neither can take group teleport or Air Superiority. Both get a fast, unsuppressed flight in Nova form, and both get a teleport inherent in Dwarf form, as well. Otherwise, they can take any pool. Keep in mind, however, that toggles shut off when you enter a form.

Can Kheldians use XXX when in a form?

No. The only power a Kheldian can activate in Dwarf or Nova form are the inherents for that form. Accolade Auto powers still work in your forms, but other auto powers (including Fitness pool powers), and Kheldians inherent Cosmic Link/Dark Sustenance auto, shut off. All click powers DO carry into forms, which includes Hasten, Essence Boost, Mires, Eclipse, etc. All click powers do not function in forms, including temp powers like the Jump Jet and Pocket D VIP teleporter. Apparently Accolade click powers WILL function in forms. I didn’t bother to get them with my Kheldians yet, but I’ve been told the Dwarf form has an animation for busting out the Crey Pistol, for example.

Which Kheldian should I be? I played an XXXXX before, and I am (happy with that/want something new).

Kheldians do not map well to other ATs. There’s an oft-repeated and not-very-useful adage repeated on the boards that “PBs are scrapper/blasters and WSs are defender/controllers”. That’s a terrible piece of advice. First, both versions of Kheldians make very servicable Blasters AND very decent Tankers, because of their forms. That much is for sure. In human form, it would be accurate to say that Warshades have more controlling powers, because they do, but PBs also have 2. It would be accurate to say that PBs have more attacks, because it’s true, but WSs also have many blasts as well as Grav Well, which is a very strong melee attack arguably the equal (or superior!) of Incandescent Strike.

The most controllery thing about Warshades is their pets. The way PB “pets” (photon seekers) work, they’re more like a melee attack, because of their idiotic AI. Regardless, their DPA (damage per activation) is utterly inferior to the Extracted Essence, which is a “real” pet. (mind you, the burst damage on photon seekers is obscene; this isn’t about which is better, but which one more resembles a controller pet)

Realistically, though, each of them has SO many powers, each with so many caveats, it does them a great disservice to try to label them with the other ATs. They are their own unique packages. Each has a lot of good and bad things. About the only thing you can be sure of is: you will desperately wish you had more slots to place.

Because this question is asked SO much, I want to give a thorough answer, so:

Early levels (L1-L10):
Warshades and PBs feel about the same here. They have similar or the same blasts, they both get Nova form, and both Nova forms are remarkably similar. Warshades get a slow effect, PBs get -def. Perhaps the most noticable difference is their inherent buff power: Warshades act “like” their teammates, getting +dmg from offensive characters and +res from defensive characters. I’d characterize that as less useful than PBs, who “fill in the gaps” in their team by being more defensive (+res) when their teammates are offensive, and more damaging when their teammates are defensive (tanker/defender). And, of course, flying vs teleporting matters. But keep in mind, using forms, both can fly at 6, and both can teleport at 20. Given that the inherent fly is slower than the nova fly, I’d say the Warshade is slightly more useful, since it can then fly AND port by L6, and its fly is faster than the fly a PB gets at 1.

In the 20s: (L11-20)
The classes remain a remarkable similarity, and because Nova form is so obscenely strong, they may well play the same for a lot of this. A huge difference is Sunless Mire vs Build Up. They get them each at Level 12, and this is where the ultimate difference between them first manifests: Warshades are about abusing lots of enemies, whereas PBs are “independant”. This is a lot more noticable in the 40s, but you can see that in a team situation with someone to get aggro, your sunless mire lasts 3x as long as buildup and is stronger to boot. But a PB, all alone, can just use Build Up and attack.

Mid Levels: (L21-30)
The big differences manifest here, and this is where the board adage of “blapper” vs “blastroller” manifest. The PB now has 2 good melee attacks, and picks up a 3rd. It’s also a fairly rough stretch for PBs who aren’t leaning on the strength of their forms. Their early buffs like Build Up and Essence Boost don’t mean as much, and since the damage scaling is now evened out, their anemic blasts are not so useful as a human. Meanwhile, getting all the slots you’d want into Rad Strike, I Strike, and Solar Flare is tough. Warshades, on the other hand, pick up their best control power (Gravitic Emanation) and it helps a lot to keep them alive. Because their dwarf form has its own mire to add to their human mire, and both of them last 30 seconds, their dwarf form is a LOT more viable without heavy slotting than the PB version. Still, both of them still have the same highly powerful and useful nova form, both have dwarf form and can play tank, both are scooping up various utility powers. However, the other huge difference here is that PBs are really starting to hurt for endurance, especially in human form. Warshades get Stygian Circle, however, and it nearly ends their healing/endurance issues in one stroke. PBs do pick up conserve energy, but it is less consistent by far because of the super-long recharge.

Big Power Levels: (L31-40)
These are the levels where both ATs “come into their own”. Now the differences become dramatic, because those high end powers are so different either in form or application. For example, both get nukes, but the double-mired shade is a lot more dangerous with it. The PB gets photon seekers for burst damage, but the Warshade gets pets for higher sustained damage. Both get a self-rez (woop-de-doo), but at L38, the defensive powers could NOT be more different. The warshades is an ironclad defense which includes psi protection, but requries a bunch of enemies to power. This makes the shade a lot weaker soloing missions where big groups just aren’t around. The PB gets their own version of Unstoppable, complete with mez protection and a very large recovery boost. But they can’t change forms, whereas the Warshade can.

The Golden Age: (L41-50)
It really doesn’t matter which one you take. If your build is reasonablly efficient, you can now do it all: Blast, Tank, and generally terrorize enemies. The Peacebringer remains better when independant of a group and against smaller spawns. The Warshade really needs mez protection to realize her potential, but given that and a large team, the Warshade is less a character, more a force of nature. Perhaps most importantly: in this bracket, both are very, very fun. I can definitely see playing mine long past they reach 50, and I’m consequently very happy that I8 includes Police Band and Safeguard missions so we never run out of mission content. (Note to devs: L50s should get Praetorians in police band missions)

OMG, my Kheld sucks!

It is very, very easy to make a broken Kheldian. Honestly, even when you build an optimal build, Kheldians have some weak times, especially solo. I can’t emphasize this enough, though: you were meant to team. Really. If you want a solo toon, you’re better off not even making a Kheldian. That said, read through this whole guide and you should be well on your way to kicking rear and taking names, especially when you’re out of bubble gum. If you still are having a rough time, try to pinpoint what is making things rough:

* Are you not doing enough damage? (Look into using Nova more and slotting it more)
* Are you too squishy? (Make sure you use things like Essence Boost, or tactics like killing a few enemies, then dropping into human form to Sytgian Circle yourself back to health)
* Are quantum/voids kicking you around? (Look into the strategy section for dealing with Qs/Vs)
* Do all your powers feel anemic? (Realize you have to focus; you can’t just toss a couple slots into everything, you need some strong points – see the build advice)

Finally, realize Kheldians are late bloomers. They take a long time to pick up all the goodies and slot them. Even in the 40s, you’ll be wishing you had more slots. But by 20 the “golden era” of Nova Form is wearing off a bit, and depending on your build and skill level, you may find a rough patch until you get more powers and more slots. A lot of ATs fill their role well by 22 and the rest is gravy. Kheldians really do continue to dramatically change up to 39+.

Can a dwarf form really tank?

Unequivocally, yes. With 3 damres SOs, you are at nearly 60% resists to all but psi. That’s on par or better than the defenses of almost any tank. You also have clicky buffs that can carry through (mires, essence boost), as well as some kind of self-heal, and a taunt. And you get it all for a lot less powers and slots than a Tank has to burn. Your offense can also be fairly strong, but you usually have to dedicate a lot more slots than that.

What’s a better tank, a dwarf form, or a tank?

That depends on the tank, and the dwarf. Tanks get aoe punchvoke, whereas Dwarfs only get punchvoke on the target. Dwarves get a taunt, but it is not autohit. Dwarves get strong defense, but it can’t compare to the ridiculous defense some tanks can get with Tier 9s (Unstoppable, Granite) – not even close. Also, with buffs, tanks can hit a 90% resist cap, whereas the dwarf form caps at 85%, meaning even under ideal circumstances, you take 50% more damage. Also, real tanks don’t take massive damage from quantums and voids. So I’d say, off the cuff, that Dwarf form is a good but not a great tank. I’d say both dwarfs are superior to Fiery Aura Tanks, simply because fiery aura sucks. Otherwise, the other tanks are as good or better, and for stone and invuln, distinctly better at higher levels; although not so much better that a dwarf is a “bad” tank.

What’s a better blaster? Nova form, or a blaster?

Well, Blasters have a whole secondary, defensive and utility powers, and nukes, all of which Nova Form does not have. They have a higher damage cap. That having been said, I think a fully slotted Nova Form can blast with the best of them, and it is arguably the best AoE “blaster” in the game. Among blasters, that crown would be worn by fire, which has 2 solid AoEs and a third situational AoE (which requires enemies to be immobilize or seriously slowed). The Nova form has two very solid AoEs with good recharges. Also, the Nova form can be augmented with Build Up and Mires, to keep up with Build Up and Aim on a blaster. Best of all, the Nova form has a nice inherent buff and a very high base damage scale, which is 20% over the blaster damage scale. The nova form itself also has several useful buffs, like a recovery boost and a tohit buff, although the recovery+tohit is certainly inferior to Tactics+Stamina. Certainly, solo, the blaster is almost always better, and I have played every blaster set, 2 to 50 and several others into the 30s and 40s. In a large team, where the AoEs are of maximum effect, I think the Nova has a small edge. When you throw Eclipse and 2 mires into the mix, the fully-realized Warshade nova is quite possibly the strongest thing in City of, bar nothing… it lacks only mez protection, and has a void/quantum weakness; otherwise, those buffs do truly transform it into a tank mage (who dies to one hit from a quantum boss ).

Is a human-only (warshade/peacebringer) viable?

Yes, but it will be weaker than a bi-form, which is probably weaker than a tri-form. If you play human only, being in a team is CRITICAL. Your forms are constant, regardless of teammates or lack thereof. In human form, you are weaker – your damage is lower, your attacks cost more end and have longer recharges… but you can get significant buffs from teammates. Kheldians, of course, are better with teammates anyhow. Mez Protection, more enemies to mire/drain/eclipse/blast…

There is a strong appeal to human-form characters, of course. A lot of people decry the forms because in forms, every PB and every WS looks the same, and that’s very unlike City of. Also, a lot of people come up with neat concepts that they like the powers/visuals for, but the forms completely do not fit. I think that’s fine, and the game should be played however it is fun. But keep in mind that other people who invite you to a team may be expecting something you are not. I think putting “human only” in your team-find tag is a good courtesy to follow. And you WILL get less teams because of it, I imagine, because, as I said, human-only is weaker.

That’s not to say it isn’t effective. Everyone playing a human-only build has a set of tactics, strategies, and attack chains that work. They have a lot more slots for their human powers. But after having played at least 5 Kheldians, one of each well into the 40s, I have to say: they were meant to use all their powers.

How can I do this with so few slots?

This is a common frustration. An ordinary character has 12 powers at L20, and they will often wish they had more slots. A tri-form Kheldian has *22* powers at L20, and I guarantee you, you will not have enough slots. There are a few pieces of advice I can offer:

(1) Do something well. That means, if you’re going to melee with your PB, slot up Rad Strike, Inc Strike, and a blast or two (and Solar Flare when you get it). If you’re going to use Nova a lot (which I recommend), then slot up at least your AoEs, if not all your blasts.

(2) Beware of diminishing returns! A lot of people had plenty of slots to go around in their original build. They may have had a lot of powers they skipped or that could only really take 3 slots at all. so they could generously slot things. As a Kheldian, you simply will not have that luxury. This may mean putting 1-2 dmg enhancers in certain powers for a while, or it may mean getting by with 1acc/1mez in a control power when you’d rather have 2acc/3mez. But think of it this way: If a base effect is 100%, then adding an SO makes it 133%, a 33% increase. Adding a second SO makes it 166% effective, which is only a 25% increase. A third SO is even less effective, as ED kicks in and shaves some off, so going from 166 to 195% is only a 17.5% boost. (And if you are talking +3 SOs, then the effect is WAY more dramatic going from 2 to 3, with the 3rd SO only adding 12% effectiveness)… And the scaleback on powers which affect the divisor in a formula is worse. For example, end reducation: 1 SO means your power takes 1/(1+.33) end, or 25% less. A second SO only makes that (1+.66), or another 20% effectiveness; so End Reducation and Recharge SOs, because both operate on the divisor of a formula, are inherently “less effective” on a percentage basis than things which are strictly multiplicative like +dmg.

(3) Realize that slotting just the best powers from each form may not work at first. This is an offshoot of “do something well”. Trying to play fully tri-form too early can leave you without enough slots for any form. I tend to think many builds need to focus on 2 forms for a while; I usually recommend slotting up Nova first and foremost. Partially, this is because it is on par with the damage output from its contemporaries – blasters. A fully slotted up nova form is a match on a team for any blaster, and will outblast most because of the superior AoE damage. While you lack all the support, defensive, utility powers, as well as the blaps, you will blast with the best of them. Likewise, you can afford to put 2 extra slots into dwarf form to cap the resists, and I’d do that regardless of build… but slotting the attacks is optional. You really do have to choose to be more effective in human or dwarf form a lot of times. Note that you can respec – load up nova early, and respec yourself out later. In fact, there’s a bug currently with respecing that allows you to slot forms starting at L1 during a respec. It will no doubt be corrected, although lets hope the Devs take the time to send Photon Seekers to “how to attack an enemy” school before they correct bugs that actually benefit players But it means, for now, you can blow early slots on things like Dwarf Form if you’re so inclined. I don’t, but that’s just me.

(4) Think about how your powers interact . For example, with a Warshade, I like slotting my mires – especially the dwarf mire – as a priority, because that huge damage buff benefits every form. Slotting essence boost a lot early on can make your nova form a LOT more durable. Every build is different and every playstyle may merit tweaks, but with a Kheldian, you can’t afford to think about each power in a vacuum.

(5) Think about your playstyle – This is critical. Think about how you fit into a team. For a long time, I played a PB that only slotted up nova, dwarf, utility clickies (Essence Boost, Hasten), and didn’t even TAKE human attacks. Instead, I went for helpful buffs, like medicine pool things, grant invis. If the team needed offense, I was nova. If they needed tanking, I was a dwarf. If they needed healing or control, I had pulsar, glowing touch, and the medicine pool. But by knowing my role – which was to be one thing at a time – I was able to fill a role decently well.

Why is (Power X) so awful?

It just is. You didn’t think you’d have 26 primary and secondary powers and a dozen inherents and love them all, did you? See the powers part of the guide, and avoid powers that suck.

OMG, Voids and Quantums are slaughtering me!! Help!

They’re dangerous, but they’re manageable. There are several key things to dealing with them. See the “Dealing with Quantums and Voids” section of the strategies area for ideas. Using a bind to spot them is CRITICAL.

Why are all these Cysts showing up?

Originally, a dev claimed Shadow Cysts would ONLY show up in the high-level Kheldian story arcs. But now, they’ll spawn in any mission with enough players, on a team flagged as “with Kheldian”, and even occasionally in the street. A few notes about cysts:

(1) The more people nearby, the more unbound nictus they spawn. Buff up the heavy hitters and send them in.
(2) They explode when they die, and they do a LOT of damage. Don’t be there.
(3) The nictus fluffies are -rech, so make sure your Hasten is fresh and get your speed boost/adrenaline boost in place.
(4) They’re all Negative Energy damage. Keep that in mind before you send in your invuln tank, thinking he can hold them off.
(5) Or… just bypass them. You have teleport and recall friend. You can use them.

Why are Quantums/Voids showing up even though there’s not a Kheldian on the team?

The “Kheldian bit” on a team is really, really sticky. If one joins even for a second, then leaves, you’ll get the Qs/Vs spawning endlessly. I think completely deforming and reforming the party will stop it, but maybe not then. On the other hand, Qs and Vs are weak, and you shouldn’t care unless you’re avoiding cysts. Those can be plenty tough, but Qs and Vs have attacks that are fairly weak when you’re not a Kheldian.

Can anything resist Quantum/Void Nictus damage?

No. The only way to be more resilient against Quantum Array weapons is to have more hit points; think Essence Boost and Dwarf Form.

(How/What/Why) does (Power X) work?

If you find a question that isn’t answered in the individual power descriptions, then I’ll add it there. I think most common questions about how powers work or their precise effect is listed with the individual powers.

Should I take power X or power Y at level Z?

This is one of the most-asked questions. You’re not going to get a coherent answer unless you’re asking something like, “Should I take Stygian Return or Eclipse at 38?” in which case, you’ll probably find a rare case of agreement. Your best bet is to look at what the power does, consult the notes on that power, and try to see what works for you. Some powers are SO strong, it’s hard to avoid them. I find that’s more often the case with the Warshade, which has more weak powers and more strong powers, whereas the PB is more a matter of trying to fill in your own style. In any event, if this guide can’t answer that question for you already, then you should be more specific when you ask this, since Kheldian power choices have to fit you — they don’t exist in a vacuum.

This AT doesn’t feel epic. Isn’t this supposed to be an epic AT?
Are Kheldians easier or harder to play than normal ATs

I’ve grouped these questions together because they’re closely related. These ATs are referred to as “Epic” ATs, and consequently, people expect them to be “epic” in terms of power level. The devs have noted “epic” is more that they are involved in the story of the City Of … world, and not that they’re supposed to be overpowered. Kheldians ARE difficult to play, especially to their maximum potential. (It may be easy to play a fully-dwarf-form Kheldian, but then they are also far less effective than they could be) Some posters have commented that Kheldians are, in fact, “Hard Mode” for CoH. It may be true. I have 3 deleted Kheldians and at least 4-5 respecs under my belt for the two survivors, and I still think there’s a lot of room for new tactics and tricks. I have 4 L50s and a host of 30s and 40s, and I’ve never faced as much of a challenge as playing my Kheldians. On the other hand, the high end Kheldians get to be fairly ridiculous in strength. They’re certainly capable of a lot of things at higher levels that other ATs can only dream of. They always have weaknesses – voids and quantums most notably. No matter how strong you are, a Quantum Boss will likely one-shot you at range, and that’s all there is to it. You usually lack mez protection. If you work around your weak spots, however, you can eventually be of amazing strength. Kheldians are, in my opinion, a fairly masterful design effort. You get out what you put into them. If you expect them to just steamroll for you, you’ll just die and hate them. If you make the effort to truly master them, your capabilities are amazing. In any event, if you want easy mode, you’re looking in the wrong place, big time.

pb_whitedwarf.txt

pb_nova.txt

What the above binds assume is that you put your nova blasts in tray 4, your dwarf attacks in tray 3, and you use use 1/2/5 for three trays of human junk. What matters is that tray 1 is normally on the bottom, and 3 and 4 are off-screen normally, but swap in when you change forms .

A lot of people use similar binds and toggle on shields in their switch from Dwarf to human mode. I used to, but it irked me when it interference with things like the PB Triple-Alpha (see below), or when popping out of Black Dwarf to do a 2nd Mire.

With these binds, the q key switches you to nova form, and the e key is dwarf. If you’re already in the form you pick, you switch back to human. (But if you’re in nova and click e, you’ll drop nova and immediately begin shifting to dwarf form)

Here’s the set for warshades:

ws_humanform.txt

ws_blackdwarf.txt

ws_nova.txt