NOTE! This page has not yet been adjusted for IOs and their affect on slotting and builds.
Shadow Bolt
Like every other powerset, this is the short, quick, but low damage attack that's your first option. Normally, I skip the first power in the set, but in play, I found that I often end up just short of killing everything in a group with my aoe combo. I figured having a small attack that's fast helps put down the leftovers faster so I jtagwrite="respeced"/> into it at level 24.
 | Unslotted Strength |  | 111% of Brawl |  |
Ebon Eye
Slower and slightly more powerful than Shadow Bolt. I ended up jtagwrite="respecing"/> out of it after a while because a bug/feature was introduced that makes your character scream every time you use the power. The scream is really dumb sounding and I needed a faster power so when I jtagwrite="respeced"/> into Shadow Bolt, I ditched Ebon Eye.
Note that in a recent update, they have fixed this horrible screaming, but I still don't like the activation delay.
| Unslotted Strength | | 185% of Brawl | |
Gravimetric Snare
Immobilizes and does a small amount of dot. It's ok, I suppose, but it takes too long to activate, does too little damage, and only immobilizes, not holds. It's a fairly unsatisfying power in all respects so I got rid of it in my first respec with no regrets.
| Unslotted Strength | | 213% of Brawl | |
Dark Nova
I'd be surprised if you hadn't seen at least one of these. For many reasons, kheldian players take the Nova_form. Those reason are usually the instant receipt of 4 powerful attacks (two of which are AOE), better endurance recovery, and flight (which a Warshade doesn't get by default like the Peacebringers do).
You can try to do an all human build, but my recommendation is to always take Nova until your first respec. It's just too convenient to have the extra powers. Also, some type of flight is almost required when using Teleport as a travel power so given the choice between Nova and Hover, Nova only make sense (not to mention kheldians are locked out of the flight pool). Nova form has very fast fly speed (hover is slow), it has a bonus to endurance recovery, and you get several nifty powers 
Here are the new powers you get. You might notice that each seems to have a corresponding attack in human form (which is true), but each of these is more powerful than the human counterpart.
Dark Nova Bolt
Same as Shadow Bolt, only stronger. Note that both this and the Dark Nova Blast powers are shown with no enhancements other than accuracy so you can get an idea of how powerful they are in relation to each other.
| Unslotted Strength | | 311% of Brawl | |
Dark Nova Blast
Same as Shadow Blast in human form, only stronger. You can see that unenhanced, it does about 60% more damage than Dark Nova Bolt.
| Unslotted Strength | | 519% of Brawl | |
Dark Nova Emanation
Same as Gravitic Emanation (without the disorient). A quick, cone based attack with high damage. The primary difference is that this doesn't induce disorient or knockback, while the human equivalent does. For this reason, most combos should start with this attack.
Note: this power is not fun, it's damn fun. When you use it, little individual bolts of dark energy fire from the tip of your tail to each enemy affected. Not only does this really make the spray of the power visable, there's a loud, satisfying "SHHHHHUNK!!" noise as it hits which is amplified for each target you hit. It always makes me smile when I take out an entire group of lowbies with this power.
| Unslotted Strength | | 517% of Brawl | |
Dark Nova Detonation
Same as Dark Matter Detonation, only stronger. Targetted aoe with knockback. It makes short work of hunting groups of enemies for badges such as skulls (like in this sample shot).
| Unslotted Strength | | 466% of Brawl | |
Shadow Blast
Like most ats, you have a basic, quick attack (Shadow Bolt) and a stronger, but slower attack (Shadow Blast). This is a good power for finishing off that mob that's barely clinging to life. I found it useful enough even without extra slots.
| Unslotted Strength | | 304% of Brawl | |
Starless Step
Teleport Foe with Warshade colors. This is one of the big advantages to a Warshade over a Peacebringer, bringing the Quantum/Void to you for immediate destruction. Slot with two Accuracy at a minimum because you don't want to miss.
Sunless Mire
A great power that works like the Dark Consumption power from the Scrapper's Dark Melee powerset. It does damage to all enemies who are close to you and gives you an accuracy and damage boost for each.
I don't like to spend much time in human form and you have the Mire power in Dwarf form too so I waited to take this power until after I had a few others. Don't get me wrong though, you should definitely get it. There's nothing like a “Double Mire" 
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| Unslotted Strength | | 223% of Brawl | |
I forgot to test the Brawl strength of Brawl itself after using Sunless Mire 
Dark Matter Detonation
A targeted aoe that does pretty decent damage to all foes near the detonation and might knock them back. Of the human powers, this is the one I slotted up right away.
As a tri-form, this is essential. If you're surrounded and in human or Dwarf form wanting to change to Nova without dying, blast this point blank to drop the enemies on their backs long enough to switch forms and unload those powerful Nova attacks.
/bind 1 "powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_name Dark Matter Detonation"
With this bind, any time I change to a human and have a targetted enemy, it fires the power blasting him and anyone nearby away so I can change to Nova or Dwarf (or run). It's good to note that while there are animation delays when changing to a non-human form, changing to human is instantaneous so it's like changing forms and firing an attack at the exact same time.
Note that in this picture, you can easily see the different in power between the human and Nova form detonation powers.
| Unslotted Strength | | 168% of Brawl | |
Rather than an attack, think of this more as a control power. Therefore, slot Slow before Damage.
Gravity Well
This is a must. It's a hold which will prevent your target from doing anything while held. What could we do with this power? Hmm. How about Starless Step a Quantum to you and then hold them while you “arrest" them senseless?
Most importantly, and I never realized this myself until I did the math, but Gravity well is by far your strongest power other than Quasar. As an attack, you'd want it anyway, but it also holds your enemy. This is top notch. Make sure to slot it all the way as soon as you can.
| Unslotted Strength | | 689% of Brawl | |
You might want two accuracy, but I found it to work very well with just one. Most Quantums and Voids are minions and if they're bosses, it's because you have a large team. You aren't likely to hit with Starless Step on a boss in the first place (let alone Gravity Well) and you'll have someone else to help you destroy/distract the Q/V so it's not as much of a problem.
Essense Drain
Suck some life from an enemy. You must have a nearby living enemy to use it on, and it has to hit. I never took this power because the Dwarf form has it built in, and I always had other ways to restore my life. As an all-human WS, this would be critical, but as a tri-form, it's low on the priority list. Not to mention you get a much better power later that makes this one kind of pointless.
| Unslotted Strength | | 223% of Brawl | |
| Unslotted Heal | | 10% of Your Life Total | |
Gravitic Emanation
For my tri-form WS, this is a great ending or middle blow to my aoe combo. As a human only, it's an exceptional opening attack. It does a decent amount of damage, knockback, and causes disorient in a wide cone.
| Unslotted Strength | | 74% of Brawl | |
Slotting for damage is almost a waste since the power of this attack is so low. If you find you have some slots to spare, go for it, but slot Disorient Duration or Slows first. This attack will help keep you alive by putting a semi-lockdown on a large group of foes.
Unchain Essence
This initially difficult to use power requires that you target a defeated enemy to activate. Then you click the power and it does its thing. Ok, here's the deal. Yes, it can be hard to not only kill, but then target the killed (oops, I mean arrested) enemy and you have to make sure there are enough other enemies nearby to make it worthwhile, but this attack is pretty good.
According to my tests, it's more powerful than Dark Nova Detonation (it's the 5th most powerful power you have and the 2nd most powerful AoE power). Better yet, it also stuns and slows them. It takes some getting used to, but it's worth it. I've worked it into my combo (which you'll see below in the Builds section) and it pwns!
| Unslotted Strength | | 483% of Brawl | |
Use the last slot for Recharge, Damage, or Disorient duration depending on your play style.
Dark Extraction
There might be a pet in coh that you would want to skip, but this isn't it. You know those nictus that Shadow Cyst Crystals spawn? Now you can do it too. Target a defeated enemy and activate this power to extract a nictus energy servant who flies and will blast enemies from far away with dark energy attacks. Unslotted, you can have up to two out at a time. Fully slotted and with Hasten, you can have up to 3 at a time!
| Pet Detonation | | 236% of Brawl | |
| Pet Emanation | | 236% of Brawl | |
These pets fire pretty quickly so they are great at drawing aggro from you. In this picture, you can see me resting while my pets distract the enemies. Just make sure to give them at least one accuracy enhancement so they can actually hit their targets. Also note that since any enhancment you give to your pet affects all of them, it doesn't make sense not to slot this to the very top right away. They even do a good amount of damage.
Quasar
It's a nova. Nuff said. Note that it has a built in accuracy boost so you don't need to slot accuracy.
In the picture to the right, you'll see the basic progression of the Warshade nova. It's a very satisfying explosion of massive power and you'll see that the poor victims of my demonstration are thrown very far away. Better yet (and I circled it so you can see it), there's a giant wave of negative energy rolling down the road afterward. It's a Nova you can really feel
If instead you want to see it in action, click on the video link. Check the distance that the Tsoo make
| Unslotted Strength | | 860% of Brawl | |
