IndustrialRM

My first guide ever. Be kind!
PuG Exile? or Indy's Awesome AR/Storm Guide?

[u]POWER POOLS[u]

Concealment
This is kind of a redundant power pool. You already have stealth in Steamy Mist so you really don’t need Stealth or Invisibility. I suppose you could make your team extra hard to see with Grant Invisibility but that’s also not necessary. Phase Shift has its applications, although I wouldn’t take two unnecessary powers to get it.

Fighting
Melee bad. Cones good.

On a more serious note, Tough and Weave are decent powers but I wouldn’t waste a power pick on a melee attack to get either.

Fitness
Yay fitness! Swift works well with Flight (a common choice for Stormies) and is just good in general for mobility. Hurdle is another can’t go wrong pick. Health is kind of debatable since as a Corruptor you really don’t have many hit points; but hey, you can never have enough regeneration. Stamina should be obvious, but just in case: you’ll want this three slotted too since you’re running a lot of toggles and throwing out some high-cost powers.

Flight
This is one of the most common pools for Stormies to take since it fits both practically and thematically. Flying allows more 3D control over the battlefield and your knockback effects. Knockback protection in Hover (versus taking three powers to get Acrobatics from Leaping or paying the ridiculous prices on the Black Market) is a nice bonus. In addition, Hover was recently given resistance to –fly effects.

I would normally suggest Air Superiority as a great attack, and it still is; however, I don’t think it’s being used to it’s fullest potential in this build as you are so loaded with knockback/debuffs that nothing should be getting that close to you in the first place. Even if they do, you should be able to get them away (or yourself) just as easily. Redraw still stinks too.

One of my favorite tricks is to combine Hover with Combat Jumping. Fight as you normally would, but when you want to aim your cones downward, jump into the air, activate Hover, fire, and toggle Hover off. Knockback becomes knockdown rather easily like this.

Leadership
Every little bit helps but I personally don’t think this is the best use of our endurance. When stacked though, Leadership is an A+ pool. Assault and Tactics are loved universally. And on the occasion that a teammate falls, what better than Vengeance to keep morale up?

Leaping
Jump kick is okay but I don’t recommend it. Combat Jumping is awesome with Hurdle and lets you use the repel from Hurricane a bit easier. Super Jump is great for villains since our zones are a lot more vertical than hero zones. Finally, Acrobatics still gives a powerful knockback protection, even post-nerf. The knockback resistance is also enhanceable; although I would just slot endurance reduction. Remember too that you have a few prime candidates for the Kinetic Crash IO set that grants +3 knockback resistance.

Medicine
Aid Other is somewhat helpful but I’ve found Stimulant to be a better choice. Throw it on a squishy before entering a mez-heavy mob and they’ll love you for it. Plus, their contributions are much greater since they aren’t constantly getting mezzed.

Some people take Aid-Self on every toon they make. There’s definitely a case for that, so I leave the decision to you. On a personal note, I didn’t take it.

Resurrect is nice but I find teams never really need it. People will inevitably die, sure; but with i12’s inspiration combining, it’s easier to change three blues or something for an Awaken than use a power selection.

Presence
I guess you could taunt people and herd them into your death traps. But then you’d probably get rocked in the process. Just pull the old fashioned way (shooting things).

Speed
I’m one of those that say Hasten makes every build better, BUT no build NEEDS it.

Super Speed is pretty awesome. It’s very helpful for positioning and gives you full invisibility when combined with Steamy Mist.

No Whirlwind. It’s completely redundant since you already have Hurricane and the stacking effects don’t really make up for the ridiculous endurance cost.

Teleportation
Recall Friend can be helpful when traversing large zones or to assemble your team after sneaking through your mission.

Teleport Foe is a great way to get a specific enemy (sappers, etc.) into your death traps so you can eliminate them right away.

Teleport, the fastest travel power in the game, is also completely cumbersome to use. Nothing beats it for quick escapes though. Use a teleport bind like “bind shift+lbutton powexecname teleport.”

Team Teleport is fun but not really useful.

[u]PATRON POWER POOLS[u]

Leviathan Mastery
School of Sharks is a good immobilize but it requires that the mob be near the ground to hit. It’s nice for keeping enemies from running away from things like Ignite. Most enemies hate being on fire; even when they themselves are made of fire.

Shark Skin is for bringing up your cold resistance. Like the shields from Mu and Soul Mastery, Shark Skin also provides smashing/lethal resistance.

The Leviathan hold is a fairly standard hold. It requires special mention however, because the size of the spirit shark it generates varies upon the size of its target. If yours is the hold that snags a Kronos Titan for instance…

I don’t have any experience with the pet. I’m told it’s terrible but I’m open to hearing more opinions.

Mace Mastery
Web Envelope is nice since it is AoE, will slow if it can’t immobilize, and doesn’t require the enemies to be on the ground to hit. Slow and immobilize are both welcome debuffs (especially immobilize) when playing with Ignite. It also has –fly. I also like the Scorpion Shield since it’s defense-based and squishies seem to benefit more from defense because of their low max health.

Again, I have no experience with the pet.

Mu Mastery
Scirocco offers some decent powers for the Assault Rifle/Storm Summoning Corruptor. The biggest addition is probably Power Sink. This move has a somewhat small radius but is auto-hit and drains enemy endurance while replenishing your own. It’s a bit slow to recharge though and it forces you into melee range. Charged Armor stacks well with Steamy Mist by bringing your energy resistance to a substantial number. Electric Shackles is a little hold that’s nice if you need to neutralize an enemy and didn’t take Beanbag. Finally, the Mu Adept pet offers some soft mez and you can also keep him safe in your squishy tent because if you need to move, he flies!

Soul Mastery
The hold is cool looking and that’s about it. It gets the job done but it’s nothing fancy beyond the animation.

Soul Drain does minor damage and also buffs your to-hit and damage output. Be warned however, because the buff is not Dark Melee levels. In fact, it’s a little disappointing. It’s also PBAoE and forces you to be right in the middle of everything where your cones don’t do much.

The Fortunata attacks with psychic attacks though. Woot! And then dies…


[u]TIPS/CONSIDERATIONS[u]

Okay. So you read all that stuff above. These are a few tips from a personal playstyle standpoint. It’s a detailing of how I like to play mixed with a few tips that I think we can all benefit from.

Endurance Usage/Conservation
There are little things you can do to save endurance (especially in the pre-Stamina levels). Storm toggles DEVOUR endurance. Add some attacks into the mix and you’re probably hurting (I’m looking at you, Flamethrower). A thought-out endurance conservation plan is helpful for any AT.

A lot of people complain about toggling on and off this and that and blah blah blah. Well, don’t be so lazy. It’s really not that difficult and it’ll help.

Scourge Info
Everyone pretty much understands scourge: the less health the target has, the higher the chance to scourge and deal double damage. What may not be common knowledge is that the scourge mechanic is based on the health that the target has before the attack is activated. The ticks do not roll separate chances. Thus, a damage over time (DoT) attack will either have all or none of the ticks scourge. The exception to this rule is Ignite. Ignite will roll to scourge on every tick. That also means the odds of scourging increase after every tick. Madness.

Also, scourge rolls per target and not per activation. This means firing on a mob of five could result in any number (0-5) of scourge hits.

Freezing Rain and Tornado do not scourge; which is possibly due to the game considering them pets. Gale however, does scourge (lol) as does Lightning Storm (but shouldn’t this be considered a pet too?)

Cones and You! (Warning: thoughts ahead)
This section might seem superfluous to some, but I constantly hear complaints about how the cones aren’t hitting properly or that they’re hard to use. I personally don’t think it’s difficult to hit multiple enemies with the Sand of Mu temp power or Headsplitter from the Broadsword scrapper set. If for whatever reason you don’t play well with cones, read on.

I think the reason people have problems with cones is because they are somewhat complicated when compared to targeted AoEs or single target attacks. Single target attacks just have distance to the target to worry about. AoEs have a splash radius but are still localized around a single point some distance away. Cones have something akin to both.

Your cone is at its most narrow at melee range. If you have a mob on you and fire while in melee, chances are you’ll only hit one enemy. Simply hop back a space and fire upon the same target and you’ll probably hit everything that was just surrounding you.

I’m no mathematician, but as I see it, the degree of the cone’s angle dictates the radius and thus how wide the circular base (max range) of the cone is. The wider the base of the cone, the further apart your enemies can be and still be hit. Range is how far the cone extends. This is the furthest distance you can be from your target and still hit them with the base of the cone. At this distance, the radius is also at its widest and the total hit box is at its greatest area.

Therefore, it seems advantageous to use cones from the maximum distance in order to increase the area of the hit box. This is especially important when attempting to hit large groups. Remember when I was talking about aiming cones down? The cone ends up becoming an AoE.

Quick version: Draw imaginary lines through your mobs. Whatever line hits the most enemies is the one you should fire along. Don’t waste shots/endurance when every cone/AoE you have should be hitting at least two enemies.

Practice using cones and you won’t be disappointed.

Hurricane’s Repel
The repel effect on Hurricane is on at all times and there’s no to-hit check. I.e.: if you touch an enemy with Hurricane and they don’t have repel resistance, they will be pushed back. This is good and dandy. Hurricane’s repel is best used to nudge mobs into corners and other areas where they can be handled with more ease. If you are familiar with Repulsion Bubble from Force Field, or to a lesser extent, Telekinesis from the various Mind sets, this should be a familiar concept.

Because Hurricane is a PBAoE, the repel effect is emanating from you in all directions. This means that an enemy that engages you will be repelled at nearly the same angle as their approach. This also means that should you approach a mob lined up horizontally to you, they would be scattered out in a wide arc. That’s bad.

To best utilize the repel effect, we want to turn it into something more akin to Telekinesis. Telekinesis anchors on a target and repels them from you. For the purpose of explanation, consider yourself then, as a separate anchor for the repel effect (vs. the anchor of the Telekinesis power itself). The direction in which the victim travels is entirely based on where you move. You hover up, the victim moves down. You move left, the victim moves right. Etc.

Keeping this in mind, use Hurricane to gently brush your victim and move them in the direction you want them to go. If you want them to fall into a corner back and to the left, approach them diagonally from the front and on the right. You are the anchor that dictates where bodies go.

Earlier, I mentioned a line of enemies. Let’s say there are only three in the mob. In order to repel them into a neat little pile, you would approach from one side first (we’ll say left) and repel the one on the left near the one in the middle. Then we can take both of them and push them into the one on the far right. Now they’re probably beginning to space out a bit so we switch sides, come in from below and to the right, and all three are being repelled cleanly to the left side. Keep in mind that knockback may create a few strays.

This process is less complicated than it sounds. For more help on this concept, please consult Guide to Telekinesis (which I can’t seem to find anymore).

More Notes on Knockback

No, no. I’m kidding. I’ve said enough. Please just be responsible.


IN CONCLUSION

With any luck, this guide was helpful to you and maybe cast new light on the sets. It’ll never be a FOTM and I honestly don’t expect to see more Assault Rifle/Storm Corruptors, but a man can dream! Thank you for reading my first guide ever, and I’ll see you on the servers!

[u]STORM SUMMONING POWERS[u]

Gale
Rating out the gate: 1/5
Rating with practice: 3/5
Level available: 1
Accuracy: 0.9
Range: 50 feet (80 degrees)
Damage: 4.17 smashing
Knockback: Mag 8
Recharge: 8 seconds
Activation time: 2.17 seconds
Endurance cost: 7.8

Ah Gale. This is a hated power in many circles and by simply taking it, you may find yourself in pick-up group (PuG) exile. Well those people can stuff it. When used well, Gale is a significant boon to the team.

Gale gets its hate from the fact that some Stormies end up abusing the power. It’s a cool looking move and watching bodies fly around is funny, but that isn’t what the team is looking for you to do (usually). It ruins grouping when used like this. Brute auras that allow them to maintain agro and thus build fury are negated, AoE attacks suffer severely reduced effectiveness, and melee-types have to chase targets down. It’s just bad overall.

A common usage for this power has been to toss enemies back as they close on melee range of squishies. I don’t care for this tactic as squishies usually have contingency plans for this situation (mez it, kill it, or run away).

Another common usage is to save a Brute that looks like they’re in trouble. For reasons stated above, this is also less than helpful in the long run.

The best possible use I have found for Gale is positioning. Use it to move entire mobs to some destination (usually a wall or a corner). If you absolutely need to save that brute, fly overhead and aim Gale DOWN. The cone will still hit the mob but turn the knockback into knockdown and not scatter the group.

Note: Jumping overhead also accomplishes the same task of aiming the cone down but I feel the timing is a bit strict (if you miss your angle you’ll still knock them back) and would not recommend this tactic without heavy practice.

Take the time to figure out your ranges. Gale’s cone is very wide and can be awkward. It also seems to have two phases of knockback so it’s even more unwieldy. It takes some work to use this move to its potential and not just be another jackass; but with proper use, you will be loved.

It’s got a penalty to accuracy (0.9). Slot to make up for it.

IO note: This is a nice place to slot Kinetic Combat. Four will get you 3 points of knockback resistance.

Recommended slotting: 1-2 Accuracy, 0-1 endurance reduction

O2 Boost
Rating: 3/5
Level available: 2
Range: 80 feet
Heal: 155.49
Resist: Stun/sleep (mag 6), recovery/endurance drain (69.2%)
Perception: +86.5
Duration: 60 seconds
Recharge: 8 seconds
Activation time: 2.17 seconds
Endurance cost: 7.8

O2 Boost is a decent single-target heal when slotted. After adding endurance reductions, this becomes a very spamable power. But wait, you aren’t here for that, are you?

For our purposes, O2 Boost is more a Swiss Army knife. We want it because it negates sleep and disorient, adds resistance to endurance drain, adds perception for those damn smoke grenades, and in a big pinch… heals.

I’m not going to get into the whole “To Heal or Not to Heal” thing. At the end of the day, I say if you feel like healing, do it and if you don’t feel like healing, don’t. Keep in mind that most of the time, using some other power should take precedence over O2 Boost. But don’t let people die just because “hey, I’m not a healer.” This power is definitely not necessary (especially if you solo, obviously) but it does add a bit of survivability to a team and is worth the power pick. If you decide to skip this though, I would not be heartbroken.

Recommended heal slotting: 1-2 endurance reduction, 1 recharge reduction, 3 heal
Recommended slotting: 1 endurance reduction

Snow Storm
Rating: 3/5
Level available: 4
Range: 50 feet (25 ft radius)
Foe Movement: -50%
Foe Recharge: -50%
Recharge: 10 seconds
Activation time: 2.03 seconds
Endurance cost: 0.26 per second

This little toggle is a great friend to us in our pursuit of cones. It reduces speed and hits enemies with –fly, so they’re pretty much stuck. It also has –recharge which lets us avoid a few attacks which might have otherwise been used.

Like any anchored debuff, you’ll want to pick the best target for Snow Storm. On single-target attack teams, it can be a minion. On AoE teams, you’ll probably want to pick a boss or lieutenant. On fast-moving teams though, this power may not be needed at all since you’re steamrolling everything.

I really love the slow effect. This combined with Freezing Rain will hit the slow cap and help lock enemies down for cone madness.

Recommended slotting: 1-2 endurance reduction

Steamy Mist
Rating: 4/5
Level available: 10
Range: 40 ft radius
Resist: 15% (fire/cold/energy), 173% (confuse)
Defense: 3.75% (all)
Stealth: 389 ft radius
Recharge: 15 seconds
Activation time: 1.87 seconds
Endurance cost: 0.26 per second

Steamy Mist gives the team a tiny increase to defense, decent resistance to fire, cold and energy damage, stealth, and confusion resistance (take that Succubi!). These are all great buffs to have and you’ll want them fairly early. You will definitely feel the endurance drain in the pre-Stamina days, but after slotting you won’t be hurting much.

I’ve noticed a trend of people slotting for defense. It’s not that this is a bad thing; it’s just that the resistance percentages are better. On the flip side, defense percentages go a longer way than resistance in damage mitigation. Plus, those VEATS have some nifty defense powers to stack with.

I chose to slot for resistance early on. Pretty much everyone has some kind of resistance toggle because of the patron power pools (unless you pick Black Scorpion) and when you combine them, you end up with a very respectable resistance level to either energy or cold. The resistance also stacks well with most Brute armors.

Whether it’s additional resistance or defense, I’ll take it.

Recommended slotting: 2-3 endurance reduction, 3 resistance

Freezing Rain
Rating: 5/5
Available level: 16
Range: 60 feet (20 ft radius)
Damage: ? ticks of 0.33 cold (? total)
Resistance debuff: -30% for 30 seconds
Defense debuff: -30% for 30 seconds
Foe Movement: -50%
Foe Recharge: -20%
Knockdown: 5% chance
Recharge: 60 seconds
Activation time: 2.03 seconds
Duration: 20 seconds
Endurance cost: 18.2 per second

Freezing Rain is fun to use and simply put: rocks. Look at all the debuffs! It even has a chance to cause knockdown! This move goes well with nearly everything else in your arsenal.

One thing to note is the fear effect. Like other rains, enemies will try to get out of the AoE as soon as they’re hit. Even with the slow and knockdown effects, they will eventually escape. Try to use this power in conjunction with something like Snow Storm to hit the slow cap or Gale/Hurricane to throw them back into the rain.

In many cases, this will be your opening attack PROVIDED that you use it from a good hiding spot. Using this in the open (line of sight) is asking to be alpha’d into oblivion. Go in for the kill after they’re on their backs.

I highly recommend slotting for recharge early. Freezing Rain just does so much that you’ll want this up as often as possible. You don’t really need to slot for accuracy since each tick rolls a to-hit check and the defense debuff triggers after any one hit. The extra accuracy is nice for fighting purple enemies and things with high defense though. You also won’t need to slot defense debuff if you fight even-level enemies. I slot them because I often fight purple mobs and also to cut through especially defense-oriented foes.

Note: The debuffs are not reapplied with each tick. That means that if a foe is hit with the debuff, walks out, and is thrown back in, the debuffs will not affect them again or even reapply should the original have worn off.

IO Note: Since you’re probably using this on every mob, this is a fantastic place to put the Achilles’ Heel Chance for –Res proc. -50% resistance? Obscene.

Recommended slotting: 2-3 recharge reduction, 0-2 slow, 0-2 defense debuff, 0-1 accuracy

Hurricane
Rating: 3/5
Level available: 20
Range: 25 ft radius
Foe Range: -60%
Foe to-hit: -30%
Knockback: 5% chance
Recharge: 10 seconds
Activation time: 2.03 seconds
Endurance cost: 0.16 per second

Hurricane not only has the fun effects of repel and knockback, but comes with two mean debuffs: -to-hit and -range. With this toggle, you can pin enemies in corners and pretty much leave them there to struggle. Melee is out at that point and ranged attacks are so debuffed that they have to be used just outside melee. Chances are that most enemies won’t be able to get there.

As with any knockback/repel move, one should exercise restraint in its use. Jumping into a mob is a sure-fire way to anger teammates. Good uses for Hurricane are positioning mobs or setting up a tent for squishies to blast from. Another less common use is just grazing the enemies with Hurricane so that the to-hit debuff lands but before they get knocked back or repelled. This is difficult to achieve unless you have some kind of fast travel (Super Jump, Super Speed, Speed Boost, Combat Jumping+Hurdle, etc.).

You won’t, and really shouldn’t, have the power on at all times. But when you need the tricks this offers, you’ll be glad to have it.

Utilizing Hurricane’s repel is discussed more in a later section.

Recommended slotting: 1-2 endurance reduction, 2-3 to-hit debuff

Thunder Clap
Rating: 2/5
Level available: 28
Accuracy: 0.80
Range: 25 ft radius
Stun: 11 seconds (mag 2)
Recharge: 45 seconds
Activation time: 2.37 seconds
Endurance cost: 10.4

I have been not been impressed with Thunder Clap. It has a penalty to accuracy, low duration, and is only a mag 2 stun. One good use for this power is to couple it with other stuns (like the aforementioned Beanbag). You can also drop Freezing Rain first from a hiding spot and then jump in to Thunder Clap and stun the mob. This also causes them to move even slower since they’ll be doing the stupid-walk while being pelted with slows.

In general though, I just didn’t find much use for this move. Because it’s a PBAoE, you can’t reliably use it to prevent an alpha strike. Even if you drop Freezing Rain, you’ll still get hit some before the stun can go off. And if you let something else take the agro, you can just skip to positioning/killing.

At least it looks cool.

Recommended slotting: 2 accuracy, 1-2 stun duration, 2 recharge reduction

Tornado
Rating: 2/5
Level available: 35
Accuracy: 1.3
Damage: ? ticks of 6.67 smashing (? Total)
Knockup/back: Mag 6/mag 12
Stun: 14 seconds (mag 2)
Defense debuff: -15% for 8 seconds
Recharge: 60 seconds
Activation time: 1.17 seconds
Endurance cost: 20.8

Tornado is a jack of all trades. It has several different effects for just the one activation. The biggest problems are the erratic nature of its AI and the high magnitude knockback.

The first issue is really only problematic because of the second issue. The AI will randomly attack any enemy in sight; debuffing their defense, inducing fear, stunning, and knocking back whomever it touches. But the high magnitude knockback and the randomness of the AI make Tornado more an instrument of chaos than control.

Therefore, Tornado is really best used as a situational tool (but a powerful one). Some examples are:
* Stacking stuns – It’s somewhat unreliable since Tornado is all over the place but it does in fact stack with things like Thunder Clap and Beanbag.
* Cornered mob – Causing a little mayhem here. Just make sure that you can keep them in the corner before you go messing it all up.
* Archvillain/Hero/Giant Monster/Enemy with Knockback protection – Nice debuffs (even if they don’t stack) and concentrated damage will wreak havoc on anything with lots of knockback protection.
* Escape button - Throw it down and run like hell! Tornado prefers to be near you but it won’t hesitate to flip people for real if you summon it and then skip out.

As far as slotting goes, you really can’t go wrong. Just slot up whatever you like most. I will say that damage isn’t so hot unless you use this on an enemy with high knockback resistance.

IO note: This is a nice place to slot Kinetic Combat. Four will get you 3 points of knockback resistance. It’s also a prime candidate to frankenslot (slotting with several different IOs that boost multiple stats) for power effectiveness or cool IO bonuses.

Recommended slotting: 0-3 damage, 0-2 defense debuff, 0-3 disorient duration, 0-2 recharge

Lightning Storm
Rating: 5/5
Level available: 38
Accuracy: 1.4
Range: 100 ft
Damage: 40.04 energy per bolt
Knockback: Mag 1
Foe endurance drain: -7% per bolt
Foe recovery debuff: -90% for 4 seconds (30% chance) per bolt
Recharge: 90 seconds
Activation time: 2.03 seconds
Duration: 60 seconds
Endurance cost: 31.2

Now here’s fun. You can summon your very own angry cloud! This little guy will chuck lightning bolts at any enemies in range; draining some endurance with a chance to debuff recovery and occasionally knocking them back. Just set it and forget it! With enough recharge, you can actually have multiple Lightning Storms out at a time. This is also another wonderful power to fortify your squishy tent.

I recommend summoning this attack during a jump or while otherwise in midair. It doesn’t necessarily have to be high up; maybe just outside vertical melee. Also try to get this directly over the mob you’re engaging. This does a few things: first, the storm graphic is farther out of the way and so it won’t obscure the team’s vision. Second, it lets Lightning Storm hit a wider area. Cubicles, rocks, dips in the ground, and the like won’t block the line of sight and so the little storm can blast away. Finally, it turns the knockback effect into something that more closely resembles knockdown; similar to aiming your cones downward.

As you can see, the accuracy is pretty good unslotted. If you’re really paranoid you can slot for the accuracy but do it after damage and recharge. It also gets a bit costly when you have your recharge down low enough to have two or even three of these guys out at a time. I didn’t slot for endurance reduction but it’s definitely worth considering.

Recommended slotting: 2-3 recharge, 3 damage, 0-1 accuracy

[u]ASSAULT RIFLE POWERS[u]

Just FYI: Assault Rifle has a base accuracy of 1.05, as opposed the standard 1.0 that other no-draw sets have. Many of the attacks have even higher accuracy values: Sniper Rifle (1.25), Flamethrower (1.3), Ignite (2.0), Full Auto (1.35). Combined with some defense debuffs, you’ll rarely miss.

Burst
Rating: 3/5
Level available: 1
Range: 90 feet
Damage: 4 ticks of 11.26 lethal (45.04 total)
Defense debuff: -10% for 8 seconds
Recharge time: 4 seconds
Activation time: 1 second
Endurance cost: 5.2

Burst is a pretty standard tier 1 blast: less damage than tier 2 (Slug) but recharges faster. I think it’s a great attack overall. I went with Slug but I can absolutely see taking this. Your other attacks take a long time to recharge by comparison and it’s nice to have something that’s always ready. It also debuffs defense for a small percentage.

If you take this, you probably don’t want Slug. Assault Rifle/Storm Summoning is more interested in hitting multiple enemies and not single target damage. If you want to round out your single target damage though, go for it; the two together are great.

Recommended slotting: 2 accuracy, 1 endurance reduction, 3 damage

Slug
Rating: 5/5
Level available: 1
Range: 100 feet
Damage: 68.4 lethal
Knockback: 25% chance (mag 1)
Recharge time: 8 seconds
Activation time: 1.67 seconds
Endurance cost: 8.53

Slug is an awesome attack from the start of the game all the way to the end levels. It does a solid amount of damage and has knockback for damage mitigation. Combining this with some of your other attacks will keep especially pesky enemies on their backs.

If you take this, you probably don’t want Burst. Assault Rifle/Storm Summoning is more interested in hitting multiple enemies and not single target damage. If you want to round out your single target damage though, go for it; he two together are great.

Recommended slotting: 2 accuracy, 1 endurance reduction, 3 damage

Buckshot
Rating: 5/5
Level available: 2
Range: 40 feet (30 degree cone)
Damage: 37.95 lethal
Knockback: 50% chance (mag 1)
Recharge time: 8 seconds
Activation time: 1.67 seconds
Endurance cost: 10.19

Celebrate your first cone! From here out, you will be putting a serious dent on mobs (and getting a lot of agro if you aren’t careful). For a tiny bit more endurance than Slug, you’ve got something that hits multiple targets for nearly Burst damage. It can also cause knockback on anyone it hits. This is a poor man’s positioning tool as well since you can use it to toss baddies into a wall; although somewhat unreliably.

Recommended slotting: 2 accuracy, 1 endurance reduction, 3 damage

M30 Grenade
Rating: 2/5
Level available: 6
Range: 80 feet (15 ft radius)
Damage: 12.51 smashing + 25.03, lethal (37.54 total)
Knockback: 50% chance (mag 3)
Recharge time: 16 seconds
Activation time: 1.67 seconds
Endurance cost: 15.18

This attack gives you a long range AoE (no positioning cones) that does about the same damage as Buckshot but as two different damage types and with a higher magnitude knockback. It’s also worth pointing out that this is just fun to use. The downsides are that the power costs more endurance, has a longer recharge time, and… has a higher magnitude knockback.

The knockback magnitude just makes M30 Grenade hard to incorporate into a regular attack chain. Sure, you’ll be able to push around tougher enemies but at the same time, you’ll probably end up flinging them when you don’t want to. Not to mention that many times, you’ll find that there are no nearby walls or corners to let you safely knock mobs back. You’ll just scatter the mob if you use M30 in this situation. The freedom of not having to position cones is countered by the wild knockback. If you really want that attack chain, grab Hasten from the Speed pool and slot recharge reductions/IOs in your other attacks.

If you decide to take this, make sure you use it as the last attack in your chain or take other precautions against annoying people with the knockback. If you’re a flier, for example, you’re golden. You can just hover and aim the M30 Grenade straight down at a target in the middle of the mob to turn knockback into knockdown.

The bottom line is that you have plenty of other ways to toss people or do damage. Both traits in one move is not necessarily better, though that damage is pretty sweet. Choose wisely!

Recommended slotting: 1-2 accuracy, 1 endurance reduction, 3 damage, 0-1 recharge reduction

Beanbag
Rating: 3/5
Level available: 8
Range: 60 feet
Damage: 8.34 smashing
Stun: 11 seconds (mag 3)
Recharge time: 20 seconds
Activation time: 1.87 seconds
Endurance cost: 10.19

Beanbag is a nice way to remove an especially pesky minion or lieutenant from combat. It’s a little slow for stunning bosses but it can definitely get the job done. As an AoE/cone Corruptor that teams with the Super Group a lot, I skipped this power in favor of doing more damage/positioning. But I definitely see Beanbag’s value for bopping things like Sappers or Longbow Nullifiers. In fact, this is a good substitute for taking a patron hold if you aren’t trying to get the pet.

If you plan on taking Thunder Clap from the Storm secondary, the stuns can stack nicely to neutralize a boss and the surrounding minions. This little one-two also facilitates repelling and positioning without fear of taking heavy retaliation.

Recommended slotting: 2 accuracy, 1 endurance reduction, 2 stun duration, 1 recharge reduction

Snipe
Rating: 3/5
Level available: 12
Range: 150 feet
Damage: 115.11 lethal
Knockback: 50% chance (mag 3)
Recharge time: 12 seconds
Activation time: 4.87 seconds
Interrupt time: 3 seconds
Endurance cost: 14.35

Snipe is…a snipe. It’s a long range, high accuracy, high damage attack with chance to knockback. You can use it to pull. You can use it to finish off a runner. You can reduce the interrupt time to be usable in mid-battle. You can tag people in PvP and run away like a jerk! It’s a good time all around!

With that said, Snipe is completely skippable. You just don’t want single-target attacks when you’re Assault Rifle/Storm. You can pull pretty well with Slug anyway because of the extra range and stealth from Steamy Mist. Sorry Snipe. You’ll always have a place in my heart, though not in my power tray.

Recommended slotting: 1 accuracy, 3 damage

IO Note: Snipe sets are about the cheapest things you’ll find. They usually provide pretty good bonuses as well. Here’s your chance for some nice and easy to obtain buffs.

Flamethrower
Rating: 5/5
Level available: 18
Range: 40 feet (45 degrees)
Damage: 8 ticks of 10.09 fire (80.72 total)
Recharge time: 20 seconds
Activation time: 3.5 seconds
Endurance cost: 21.84

You ever see that episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets the new job at Globex Corporation working for Hank Scorpio? Remember Hank using the flamethrower? That’s how I laugh every time I use this power.

High fire damage, good recharge (considering the damage), and overall cool factor make cone number two, Flamethrower, a win. The endurance cost is a bit high, so be careful with spamming this early on; but look at what you get for it! Slot it up and laugh at your foes. Circle of Thorns ghosts now weep at your name.

Recommended slotting: 1-2 accuracy, 1 endurance reduction, 3 damage, 0-1 recharge reduction

Ignite
Rating: 5/5
Level available: 26
Range: 40 feet
Damage: ? ticks of 5.56 fire (Insane total)
Recharge time: 3 seconds
Activation time: 4 seconds
Endurance cost: 5.2

Previously, common usages for this power have been to block doors or mission objects that need to be protected. Enemies will avoid patches of Ignite more than nearly anything else. Fear doesn’t even cause the kind of fear that Ignite will.

But have you ever stopped and considered the damage? Sure, it’s a hojillion ticks and enemies only ever get hit by a few before they run off screaming, but sheesh! The damage is insane! If only enemies were stupid enough to just stand there instead of hauling [censored] the second they touched it.

BAM! Combined with some Storm powers, you can lock a mob down, throw Ignite under them, and watch them burn. Hell, Freezing Rain practically does the job by itself. Add in Snow Storm to slow their running speed and maybe a Gale aforehand to put them into a corner and you’re gold. The Black Scorpion patron pool also gives you a group immobilize to play with. Ignite recharges nearly as soon as it’s cast and doesn’t cost much endurance to use either.

One thing to note is that Arch-Villains/Heroes, Giant Monsters, and certain robots just don’t seem to care much that they’re on fire. You can actually do some pretty vicious damage just by spamming Ignite over and over in lieu of other powers.

And each individual tick rolls a chance to scourge.

Get Ignite. Love Ignite. Devour your enemies like sweet candy.

Recommended slotting: 3 damage

Full Auto
Rating: 4/5
Level available: 32
Range: 80 feet (20 degrees)
Damage: 17 ticks of 6.76 lethal (114.92 total)
Recharge time: 60 seconds
Activation time: 6 seconds
Endurance cost: 15.6
10% chance for extra damage (41.71, lethal)

Unlike other Corruptor tier 9s, Full Auto IS NOT A NUKE. Do not use it like one! Think of this more like cone number three. It does solid damage, recharges VERY quickly in comparison to other tier 9s, and doesn’t crash your endurance when you use it; in fact, it costs less than Flamethrower!

At a base recharge of 60 seconds, you should be able to use this on every other mob if not every mob. While you won’t be smacking people with the front-loaded damage that INFERNO!!!! and other nukes would, you’ll be able to fire this, finish the stragglers, and be fresh and ready for the next group.

The biggest downside for most people is the activation time. Yes, you will be standing there for six whole seconds while you unload a hail of DoT gunfire on your enemies. This is plenty of time for them to kick you in the face and leave you a crumpled heap before Full Auto has even finished. The solution to this (and most other problems) is to use your brain.

You shouldn’t be firing this as an opener. Remember, Full Auto is not a nuke. The DoT factor lets enemies get some hits in before they die and your rooted animation also lets them close in for harder hitting melee attacks. Make sure that either someone else has taken the alpha/agro or that you’ve already laid out Freezing Rain.
Note: Camera spins add 900% damage and +15 mag awesome.

Recommended slotting: 1 accuracy, 3 damage, 1-2 recharge reduction

Note: Cosmetic changes to increase readability are on the way!

[u]HAHAHA! ASSAULT RIFLE/STORM SUMMONING![u]

Indeed! Welcome to the world of Assault Rifle/Storm Summoning. This guide is written for the cone/aoe-minded Corruptor who likes being highly active and micro-managing the battlefield during play (or the player like me who really fancied the idea of Assault Rifle but just couldn’t find a set with good synergy). Unless otherwise stated, the information contained below is for use in PvE gameplay.


[u]HEY WAIT, YOU’RE BEING SERIOUS?[u]

I sure am. The unlikely combo of gimpy Assault Rifle with the hated Storm Summoning actually ends up being quite the PvE powerhouse when used correctly. There are several reasons why the sets are hated. Let’s get those out of the way now.

Cones (Assault Rifle and Gale from Storm Summoning)
Some people don’t like lining up cones. I really don’t think it’s that hard; especially if you’re familiar with herding. One method is to pick a target that’s far away and then stand so another enemy or two is in between you and the target. I’ll be talking more about utilizing cones in a later segment.

Low/Lethal Damage Type (Assault Rifle)
Yes, Assault Rifle does lethal damage and yes, it is one of the most resisted types of damage. In order to compensate somewhat, Assault Rifle attacks have a higher base accuracy and damage. Assault Rifle also deals fire damage though. Flamethrower will be your very best friend and one of your primary sources of damage. Oh, and ignite (no, really).

Knockback (Both)
When used improperly, knockback will get you cursed at more than nearly anything else you can do. When used well, you will be a huge asset to the team by contributing both damage mitigation (enemies can’t hit you when they’re flopping around) and damage output when combined with your Assault Rifle attacks.

R U H34L0RZ?! (Storm Summoning)
This isn’t as much an issue villain-side where the Archtypes are built to be more independent, but you’ll still occasionally be asked about your ability to heal. Storm Summoning is a debuff set with a minor heal. It is not the focal point of the powerset and pales in comparison to the numerous other tools at your disposal. (But if someone is going to die, don’t be a jerk and let them just because you don’t want to be a “healer”).

Wah! We can’t see! (Storm Summoning)
Stormies make a lot of visual effects. Your team may complain that your powers are causing them to lag or be blinded or otherwise affecting their gameplay. In an effort to be courteous, some strategies are mentioned below to minimize the visual hindrance on teammates. If there are further complaints, kindly remind them that all those powers are in fact helping the team and that they can disable many of the visual effects through their options screen. Turning down the particle count helps a lot (or so I’m told by people with crappy computers. Bwahahaha).


[u]SO WHY AM I TAKING THESE SETS AGAIN?[u]

It’s a fun little villain that approaches every mob differently. It’s a thinker’s build: You’ll be lining up cones, looking for walls and corners to push enemies into, and setting up all sorts of little traps to facilitate both. If you’re looking for a Corruptor that can stand in one place and just spam attacks… go roll something else!


[u]INVENTION ORIGIN ENHANCEMENTS (IOS)[u]

I don’t really talk much about IOs since I feel that this more a playstyle choice than anything else. This is probably the single biggest way to differentiate oneself from another who has a similar or even the same build. Mostly, I talk about what area of the power should be enhanced over others (slot accuracy before damage, etc.). I make small notes here and there, but the slotting of IOs is largely up to you and what you think fits best with your way of play.

[u]RATING[u]

I rate on a number system and am of the firm belief that no power is completely useless. The caveat to this is that some powers are naturally more useful than others.

I also appreciate that some people will read this guide for information on the sets Assault Rifle and Storm Summoning but not necessarily the two together. My comments are primarily based on taking the two sets together, though I will make some comments for those who are just reading for info on one particular set.


5 – Staple; used constantly and desired above most other powers.
4 – Solid; great power with minor flaws.
3 – Decent but more likely to be overshadowed or underutilized.
2 – Situational or even sub-par performance.
1 – Highly situational or poor performance overall.