Cool guide, and I really enjoyed your tactics.
One question, though - does ST stand for STorm Summoning? I didn't see any power with those initials, but the way you use it it seems you're referring to the Storm powerset.
ST would be short for single-target (crush, lift, propel, grav. distortion) powers, not storm summoning.
Also, bravo on the grav/storm guide. It's not excessively detailed on the specific uses of some of the sets' less-user-friendly powers, but it gives enough advice for someone with half a brain to understand how they work with a little field experience.
Rule number six of an empathy defender is NEVER underestimate a blaster's ability to die. I don't care if he has CM, Fort, both RAs, bubbles (both FF and Sonic), and is fighting next to a Storm defender with hurricane on. If there is a way to die in that situation, the blaster will find it.
I am going to leave this as a work in progress, and perhaps cover every power in both sets eventually. I have had a few suggestions, some of them I had heard of before and some that I had not. I am going to play around with my build a bit more and see if I can improve on it any.
I will update this probably in a few days.
Nice guide Rein. I have a 34 Grav/Storm myself.
I agree with what you said about choosing between Crush and Lift: Both are good. My current build has no Crush only because i wanted another power and respec'd out of it, but i will be choosing it again. I think anything that adds to yer control is a good thing, and yes, Lift is great control in the form of damage mitigation.
I was curoius about one thing. You start talking about specing into leaping for KB protection in your 2nd post and my question would be-Why no Hover? Hover is great KB protection. I mean, not the best, certainly not better than Acro( as I have used both) but why not take that instead of AS?? Unless of course you prefer controlling the universe from the ground.
Other than that, great guide, especially for people starting on this set.
-Mohlvie
Actual Location: Inside the system itself.
"When the most exciting thing about Mace is AceMace's avatar, then it's time to get realistic."
Shield Guide
The only thing anyone in this game is "supposed to be doing" is having fun. Everything else is negotiable. -Jet Boy
[ QUOTE ]
Nice guide Rein. I have a 34 Grav/Storm myself.
I agree with what you said about choosing between Crush and Lift: Both are good. My current build has no Crush only because i wanted another power and respec'd out of it, but i will be choosing it again. I think anything that adds to yer control is a good thing, and yes, Lift is great control in the form of damage mitigation.
I was curoius about one thing. You start talking about specing into leaping for KB protection in your 2nd post and my question would be-Why no Hover? Hover is great KB protection. I mean, not the best, certainly not better than Acro( as I have used both) but why not take that instead of AS?? Unless of course you prefer controlling the universe from the ground.
Other than that, great guide, especially for people starting on this set.
-Mohlvie
[/ QUOTE ]
I can't hover, I need to be firmly planted on the ground. Someone else has suggested hover in another thread, I will be adding it to this guide soon.
Wow.. I've been thinking about making a Grav/Storm Controller for a while but I didn't know much about it.. your guide has cinched it for me! Thankies!
Rori
I went about the low levels differently. This was back in the pre-containment, pre-propel-love days when doing damage was totally out of the question for a grav/storm. I got O2 Boost and Haste early. In a typical battle I would lock up the enemy boss then start healing allies with O2 Boost. It worked quite well. Containment has made Reinman's more damage-oriented build possible but the more defender-ish build I used still should do fine, too.
Beware the Snowstorm, for it is a mighty endurance eater. Also, keep a CLOSE eye on your anchor for the power. If it runs off, make sure you drop the power fast or it could agro other spawns. That's plural folks - and they will be angry with you, not the tank. Best not to use Snowstorm on a teleporting enemy at all. I'm not saying this is a bad power - it's slowing ability really helps, particularly before you get freezing rain - it's just one that requires some practice.
At 50 I was able to respec out of Stamina. About the only time I find myself running out of endurance is against AV's and, when that happens, I just hit the Hibernate. That gives me my endurance back pretty fast. Meanwhile, my Singularity, my Lightning Storm, my Ice Storm, and my Tornado can all keep doing damage. Snowstorm's effect stops but the effect comes right back the instant I drop Hibernate.
---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: Marginalman
Level: 50
Archetype: Controller
Primary: Gravity Control
Secondary: Storm Summoning
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Crush==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Dmg(19) Dmg(21) Dmg(23)
01) --> Gale==> Acc(1)
02) --> Gravity Distortion==> Acc(2) Acc(3) Hold(5) Hold(7) Hold(9) Rechg(11)
04) --> Lift==> Acc(4) Acc(5) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(19)
06) --> Propel==> Acc(6) Acc(7) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(21)
08) --> Snow Storm==> Slow(8) Slow(9)
10) --> Crushing Field==> Acc(10) Acc(11) EndRdx(36) EndRdx(36) Immob(36) Immob(46)
12) --> Air Superiority==> Acc(12)
14) --> Fly==> EndRdx(14)
16) --> Freezing Rain==> Rechg(16) Rechg(17) Rechg(17) DefDeBuf(37) DefDeBuf(40) DefDeBuf(43)
18) --> Hurdle==> Jump(18)
20) --> Health==> Heal(20)
22) --> Stamina==> EndMod(22) EndMod(23) EndMod(25)
24) --> Hurricane==> TH_DeBuf(24) TH_DeBuf(25) TH_DeBuf(29)
26) --> Wormhole==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Acc(27) Rechg(29) Rechg(31) Rechg(31)
28) --> Hasten==> Rechg(28) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
30) --> Gravity Distortion Field==> Acc(30) Acc(31) Acc(34)
32) --> Singularity==> Dmg(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Hold(33) Hold(34) Hold(34)
35) --> O2 Boost==> Heal(35) Heal(43) Heal(50)
38) --> Lightning Storm==> Dmg(38) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(40) Rechg(40)
41) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(41) Acc(42) Dmg(42) Dmg(42) Dmg(43)
44) --> Frozen Armor==> DefBuf(44) DefBuf(45) DefBuf(45) EndRdx(45) EndRdx(46) EndRdx(46)
47) --> Ice Storm==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Dmg(48) Dmg(48) Dmg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Hibernate==> Rechg(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Containment==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------
This is my recommended build, with no respec.
Levels 1-15.
A bit slow, but you should easily be able to solo rugged.
Grouping:
In groups, you will have limited control. Propel, should be mainly used for self defense. If something comes to attack you crush + propel will get it off you and you will do good damage at the same time.
Hang back, Grav/Storm does not need to be in the thick of things, plus with hurricane you always want to be skirting the outside of the fight.
Always crush or Gravity distotion(GD) everything before you use any of you ST attacks.
Control your knockbacks, crush + propel will knockback, GD + propel, will not. Pay attention to what is needed in each situation. You are a Grav/Storm, you are the ultimate mob positioning hero. You should observe this even with your ST powers.
Over and Over and Over I keep hearing that everyone either takes Crush or Lift. For me, I think the decision should be between Lift and Propel, and to be honest, they are both my bread and butter moves, I couldn't imagine removing either.
Over the course of my heroes life, Lift has been more useful than Propel. In groups, Propel is nearly useless, with the long animation time my propel hits a dead target 90% of the time.
On the other hand, Lift has a quick animation, does reasonable damage, and provides a fairly decent period of soft control on a single target.
Lift - Quick, Damage, Control whats not to love. I also hear alot that grav/storm has enough control, and thus Lift is not needed. Lift has saved my life from countless boss's. When you take agro, and you have a +3 Crey Protector charging you, you will be happy to see him go flying up in the air and land on his head. Allowing you to reapply your hold, and/or ST Immob.
In combination, you will find that the Crush, Lift and Propel attack chain will be able to kill pretty much any single target and only take 1 hit at the beginning. Lift's (Ragdoll physics)soft control time is almost exactly as long as Propel's animation, surley as per design.
Control Attack chain (useful in groups)
Select target A, Hold,
Select target B, Crush + Lift
Select target C, Hold
Select target B, Crush + lift
Select target A or D, Hold
Etc Etc.
When Soloing, add in Propel at the end of lift. Boss's require 2 applications to hold, so in those situations, A & C should be the boss.
Levels 16-21
At level 16 you get Freezing rain, one of the best powers in the whole game. Only one drawback, it scatters. You always want to combine Freezing rain with Snow Storm and/or crushing field. In groups, there are a number of ways you can go about this. Lead with snow storm, and then cast freezing rain, then Crushing field. Leading with snow storm allows other people to get agro, before you throw the freezing rain and Crushing field out there. As a Grav/Storm you are not the best opener in the game, leave that to the Tank, or a Rad, or someone that can avoid alpha's better than you can. Later in life, the only missing piece to the puzzle will be the opening move, unless you can get out of LoS within wormhole range. Your will get a couple of techniques, and I will come to those later. Suffice it to say they are not every group type powers.
Solo, ...at these levels, you need to size up the group, you will be leading off with freezing rain and will take a 1/2 alpha when you cast it. Next get Snow storm on the most dangerous foe. Then start hammering away with your attack chain. At this level, going for small packs of high level foes yield the best experience. Packs of 3 containing a +1 leutenant, being my favorite. Don't be too afraid of the bosses either, Orange bosses will be easy enough to kill.
Levels 22-32
And so it begins...
22 - Hurricane, you need to be careful not to run through spawns with this on while on a team. You just want to knudge things with it to get the debuff, or too push something into a debuff zone, or push an anchor into another pack. If you see a boss on his own, away from the pack, immob him, and then ram him into a wall, and drive him until he stops. Corners are always your friend.
At times, you will see an opening where you can drive the whole spawn into a corner, and I say go for it, but figure out the direction of the push and be aware of which directions all the mobs around you are going to go. In a small room, running in with hurricane and pushing them to all 4 corners of the room is not really productive, when you could enter the romm with it off, stand in the corner, and activate it. This will drive them all into the opposite corner. Packing them, instead of scattering. I enter every fight, that i am not wormholing into a corner, with hurricane off, and then turn it on when the need arises. Also, I usually position myself first, then turn it on, this helps you line up the precision push.
Solo, once freezing rain runs out ram your targets and drive them into a wall or corner. Hold a different mob each time it pops, then immob and ST attack an unheld target. You will be surprised with SO's how many you can get held at once.
26-Wormhole.
This is the power that defines gravity. No other set has this ability, and combined with your other powers will make you unstoppable. You need to be careful though, you will take a FULL ALPHA if you lead off with this while having LoS.
Use it as a panic button, throwing your foes to maximum distance. Use it with the cornering technique. Use it when youy group has just agro'd an adjacent pack, then throw the "add" pack, ontop of the initial pack, to create a Mega Pack (tm). Use it to move small sub packs that are not in the debuff zone. There are too many, suffice it to say, there are a million ways to use this hugely enjoyable power.
In groups, let people know what you are doing. Get blasters to call out their nukes. Some people get upset when they unleash one of their powers, and just before it goes off, you throw the entire pack across the room.
The cornering technique as described above, goes as follows. You want to pick a corner to wormhole to, then stand so that your hurricane is well away from the apex of the corner. Wormhole the mobs into the corner, activate crushing field, and then run in with your hurricane and pack them all tight into the corner (you should stop when the hurricane graphic is just barely touching the apex of the corner, or you will get some baddies "sliding" out the sides.) , then cast freezing rain. From here it is ST damage time with the occasional Crushing field to keep them from running away. It is very good to duo with a blaster, as they can unleash all of their AoE fury on the pack with no worries of collateral damage.
28 Gravity Distortion field.
Due to the short duration, and massive recharge, this is no longer a staple of the set. Use it as a panick button, or you can lead off with it. Leading off with it is good, because then you can avoid the alpha associated with Wormhole. This is your best opening move as reffered to earlier in this guide. Oh and it is also good for building quick mag on boss's.
32 Sing
He is your personal body guard. He will save your life more times than you will even realize. He is always trailing behind you, and he really does have your back. He will also cover your escape when needed.
One of his best uses is that you can use him as your second opening move, which is one of his best attributes. Cast him right in front of a pack of foes, then wormhole the foes into a corner. Do not cast him in the middle of a pack of foes, or he will knock them all over the place. Like a khelds Nova, without the damage.
Level 33-40
35 - Tornado
Another panic button, and a boss killer. Do not use this regularly , it is ok when you have a single target. With a single boss spam GD and then cast Tornado once held, keep spamming GD afterward to keep knock back suppression active. The tornado will sit there on top of him and tick away, adding considerable damage. In groups this will scatter mobs everywhere, and people will not like you for it. this does not work with the cornering technique, it will get in behind the foes and blow them out of the corner, it really has limited use for a Grav troller. AV's and EB's are other good applications for this power.
Lightning storm The final piece to the puzzle.
Here is the AoE damage you have been looking for, for the last 38 levels, and it is awesome. After you have a pack of mobs cornered and trapped with hurricane as described above. Cast this and it will rip your foes to shreds. The minions will be dead by the end of it, so just use your ST attack for the bosses and leuts.
One other thing I love about this power is it doesn't go quiet until all are dead. I feel like my little cloud is saying "Hey! there is still one over there, where are you all going?"
When cornering is not possible, set this up well outside of the debuff/AoE zone. It tends to hit the closest target, and quite often will knockback escaping targets back into the debuff/AoE zone.
Level 41-50
Epic powers
Fire - Contained Fireball Need I say more. The game has now become too easy.
A popular choice is to start with the fire epic at 41, and then repec into Psi or Ice at 47.
General Comments
I didn't take steamy mist, but that is just personal preference, I have endurance issues as is.
Thunder clap, does not work that well with hurricane active, I didn't like the conflict and respec'd out of it.
Another option i have been toying around with is going for the leaping pool. More often than not, when things go bad for me it is because I get knockbacked, before I have the pack under control. Therefore, I am thinking more and more of going for Combat jumping, Super Jump and Acrobatics. Acrobatics to be added at Power slot 35 instead of O2 boost 3 slotted with end red.
My strategy most of the time is to wormhole entire packs into a corner, AoE immobilize them, pack them right into the corner with hurricane, and then let Lightning storm rip apart the minions while I unload Fireballs and my ST attack chain on the lieuts and boss's. This stops working around +4's, as you start to miss more than you hit, and then you end up dividing the packs which is counter productive.
I overslot my accuracy in both Wormhole, and Crushing field. I highly recommend at least 2 Acc's in each. You don't want to leave anyone behind, and it is annoying to have any of your victims escape being cornered. I do not slot wormhole for disorient, between Freezing rain, Hurricane, and lightning storm, once the mobs are trapped in the corner, I can't tell if they are disoriented or not as they are continually flopping around like fish, so I have found it unnecessary.
Everyday is not a good one for the Grav/Storm, somedays you are a god, other days well, it just doesn't always work out. Mezzers, stunners, things that won't fall down (Nemesis jaegers), Council Missile launchers, can all ruin a Grav/Storms day.
One thing, there is no in between for the Grav/Storm you need to either hang back and play a support role, or take charge and impose your will on the unwilling, only death lies between.
Play safe and have fun!