What Powers Are Skippable For A Storm/Elec Defender?
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-07-21 15:58 in Defenders
For Storm I would say Gale, Thunderclap and Tornado are all potentially skippable depending on your style. In Electrical Blast Aim, Zapp, Tesla Cage and Thunderous Blastare skippable, again depending on preferences.
Note that with the exception of Zapp I wouldn't say any of these are useless for your character (I don't care for snipes on a debuffing Defender) but these are the ones I'd consider optional when looking for room for power pools. In particular I'd advise taking at least one of Tesla Cage or Thunderclap since both are handy but different people will prefer one to the other.
Don't skip Tornado, it is way too useful to be skipped. Local_Man did a nice job basically explaining why to me in a small conversation we had over the topic.
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It also works as a fantastic panic button if things are going badly.
| Tornado is quite misleading on the amount of damage it does. Each "tick" at level 50 does about 6.67 damage unenhanced . . . not much. But this power lasts for 30 seconds, and does a "tick" every half second. Against a group of foes, it runs around and throws baddies all over the place. But if it can focus on one foe, like an AV or EB or a tough boss, then it does just over 400 damage unenhanced, or well over 750 enhanced. Since it takes 30 seconds, that AV is also doing some Regen at the same time, so the net total damage is less. Still, that's a pretty impressive amount of damage for a pet you cast once every 30 seconds. While Storm does not have a -Regen power, Tornado does enough damage to counteract the Regen for most, if not all, AVs. Plus it stacks a mag 2 stun and a 15% Defense Debuff with 1.3 Accuracy, meaning that it pretty much always hits even with no accuracy slotting. |
Depending your play style, the following a "skippable"
Storm Summoning: Gale, O2, Snow Storm, Hurricane, Thunder Clap, and Tornado.
Elec Blast: Short Circuit, Aim, Zapp, Tesla Cage, and Thunderous Blast.
Personal choices of skippable: Snow Storm, Thunder Clap, and Zapp.
Why? I dislike anchoring enemies for Snow Storm, and I dislike PBAoE disorient, but since you'll already be there for Short Circuit, you may consider it more useful. I dislike snipes.
50s: Bla- Arch/Mental Cont- Mind/FF, Earth/Cold, Ill/Therm, Earth/Rad Dominator- Plant/Psi, Elec/Earth Corr- Fire/Storm, Arch/Sonic, Rad/Kin, Beam/Sonic, Psi/Time Stalker- Elec/SR Def- Storm/Dark, Emp/Psi, Dark/Elec, FF/Arch, TA/Ice, TA/Elec, Kin/AR, Cold/DP, Traps/Psi Scrap- Fire/Shield Tanker- Dark/Mace, Ice/Kin Brute- Claws/WP, SS/Energy, BS/Elec
Thanks for the feedback guys. I am definitely taking Tornado because it just seems so damned cool. Also, I was wondering how I should be slotting a defender. Obviously for the primary I should be slotting for whatever buff/debuff the power grants. For electric, I was thinking, where available, should I be slotting for -endurance?
Thanks again for all the help so far. Please excuse the newbie questions as this is my first defender ever. I typically play tanks and blasters.
Well, the endurance stuff of elec blast is (typically per power) low except Short Circuit. As such, I slotted all of my stuff for damage and then short circuit for endurance mod and a bit of damage (3 eff adaptor & 3 eradication).
Elec blast is typically considered as low damage anyhow, why not counter act that. Otherwise while soloing your mobs won't be able to touch you, but it'll take you several minutes per mob to kill them (assuming you can keep your endurance going long enough to actually kill them).
50s: Bla- Arch/Mental Cont- Mind/FF, Earth/Cold, Ill/Therm, Earth/Rad Dominator- Plant/Psi, Elec/Earth Corr- Fire/Storm, Arch/Sonic, Rad/Kin, Beam/Sonic, Psi/Time Stalker- Elec/SR Def- Storm/Dark, Emp/Psi, Dark/Elec, FF/Arch, TA/Ice, TA/Elec, Kin/AR, Cold/DP, Traps/Psi Scrap- Fire/Shield Tanker- Dark/Mace, Ice/Kin Brute- Claws/WP, SS/Energy, BS/Elec
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Gale: I agree you could skip or delay to a 'fill' spot like level 30.|
Originally Posted by StormyDarkness
Depending your play style, the following a "skippable"
Storm Summoning: Gale, O2, Snow Storm, Hurricane, Thunder Clap, and Tornado. Elec Blast: Short Circuit, Aim, Zapp, Tesla Cage, and Thunderous Blast. Personal choices of skippable: Snow Storm, Thunder Clap, and Zapp. Why? I dislike anchoring enemies for Snow Storm, and I dislike PBAoE disorient, but since you'll already be there for Short Circuit, you may consider it more useful. I dislike snipes. |
O2: This buff that also heals protects teammates from sleep, stun, and endurance drain.
Snow Storm: What other -fly power do you have? It also is an AoE interrupt for embalmeds, sky raider engineers, rikti communication officers, and CoT suicide bombers
Hurricane: When you want a -tohit power of 37.5% per Mids, where else would you find one?
Thunderclap I agree is optional since you have competing interests in using it and hurricane.
Tornado: This power is totally underrated. You can use it when the fit hits the shan. It does pretty well in tunnels, debuffing and stunning foes in a corridor of doom. Tornado attaches itself to bosses that resist kb and literally acts like a buzzsaw chewing away with damage ticking away like mad. You can position tornado with hurricane and 'float' freakshow tanks or paragon protectors on top of it, again buzzing away with damage. Would you skip a power that could potentially do 400 pts of damage to a single foe?
I would suggest if you skip a storm power from your build you skip just _one_
Triumphant Defenders Forever
Psylenz FF/Psi, ArticQuark Storm/Rad, Symon BarSisyphus Bots/psn, Max VanSydow Thugs/Dk, Cyclone Symon Bots/stm, Blue Loki Ice/Cd, Widow 46526
HelinCarnate:OMG it is so terrible. I have the option to take 3 more powers but no additional slots. Boo F'ing hoo.
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I disagree with delaying, I find the most use out of it in early (pre-hurricane) levels to keep melee away from you.|
Originally Posted by Psylenz
Gale: I agree you could skip or delay to a 'fill' spot like level 30.
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| O2: This buff that also heals protects teammates from sleep, stun, and endurance drain. |
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| Snow Storm: What other -fly power do you have? It also is an AoE interrupt for embalmeds, sky raider engineers, rikti communication officers, and CoT suicide bombers |
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| Hurricane: When you want a -tohit power of 37.5% per Mids, where else would you find one? |
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| Thunderclap I agree is optional since you have competing interests in using it and hurricane. |
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| Tornado: This power is totally underrated. You can use it when the fit hits the shan. It does pretty well in tunnels, debuffing and stunning foes in a corridor of doom. Tornado attaches itself to bosses that resist kb and literally acts like a buzzsaw chewing away with damage ticking away like mad. You can position tornado with hurricane and 'float' freakshow tanks or paragon protectors on top of it, again buzzing away with damage. Would you skip a power that could potentially do 400 pts of damage to a single foe? |
Edit: added some to O2 and fixed my quote thing for Gale.
50s: Bla- Arch/Mental Cont- Mind/FF, Earth/Cold, Ill/Therm, Earth/Rad Dominator- Plant/Psi, Elec/Earth Corr- Fire/Storm, Arch/Sonic, Rad/Kin, Beam/Sonic, Psi/Time Stalker- Elec/SR Def- Storm/Dark, Emp/Psi, Dark/Elec, FF/Arch, TA/Ice, TA/Elec, Kin/AR, Cold/DP, Traps/Psi Scrap- Fire/Shield Tanker- Dark/Mace, Ice/Kin Brute- Claws/WP, SS/Energy, BS/Elec
Ranked by skippability
Gale (High): Easy to use wrong. Unless you are only planning on soloing (and therefore don't need O2 boost) skip it.
O2 Boost (medium...but you really shouldn't): If you are planning on teaming, take it. Yes it's irrelevant if solo, on a team though it is a nice boon.
Snow Storm (low, although it's skippability increases as you level): High end cost, but since you will have limited recharge on Freezing Rain at lower levels this is a key mitigation tool. You can respec out of it as you get FR recharge faster and get better with your mitigation tools
Steam Mist (don't): Slot it up, toggle it on, forget about it.
Freezing Rain (don't): One of the most powerful debuffs in the game.
Hurricane (don't): Yes, StormyDarkness is correct, this power is easy to use wrong, and you should not leave it toggled on all the time (the endurance draw is quite high and the kb is chaotic), but slotted this power will give you and your teammates soft capped defense (lowest chance possible to be hit in the game) and that is not an ability that should be passed up. Hurricane has saved my behind many a time: I can tank ambushes on the ITF if necessary, or take alphas when running low level TFs because the tank doesn't have enough defense at that level.
Thunderclap (high): meh. It's a nice costume change power, and works much better for /dark and other builds that have a stun to stack with it, so if you're going to take Opressive Gloom, then maybe. But otherwise this power will only stun minions (granted a lot of the most annoying units are minions (CoT casters, malta sappers, but I find in my play style, I just don't get any use out of it). I say try it and see, that's what respecs are for. If you're not finding it useful though, ditch it.
Tornado(medium): Since you're already decided I won't say much. I love this power, but it is very situational and unfortunately doesn't get a whole lot of use, but I wouldn't get rid of it.
LS (low): it's some extra damage and some extra positioning/control and looks cool. I say go with it.
To understand more of my viewpoint on powers up through Freezing Rain, glance at the guide in my sig.
Draggynn on Virtue: lvl 50 Storm/Psi, 1389 badges
Draggynn's Guide to Storm Summoning(Gale-Tornado, updated 6/25/2011)
Avatar by Wassy full reference here
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In general you want to slot your blasts for damage. Short circuit is the main exception, it's worth slotting for both damage and -endurance through the magic of Frankenslotting.|
Originally Posted by Invisobill
Thanks for the feedback guys. I am definitely taking Tornado because it just seems so damned cool. Also, I was wondering how I should be slotting a defender. Obviously for the primary I should be slotting for whatever buff/debuff the power grants. For electric, I was thinking, where available, should I be slotting for -endurance
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Fulmens has a good guide on it here:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...7&postcount=23
For completeness sake I'll point out the +perception in O2 Boost as well .. the +perception is seldom noted, until you find you can't target a thing because the one foe (hey there Ms Night Widow) keeps make the "Blinded" status relevant.
Edit: Obviously this has to be used on an Ally but chances are good if you are blind, at least one other Ally is as well.
It may also be the only Sleep Protection for the team and mighty useful if the rest of the team mez protection is from a FF or Sonic Bubbler with their note worthy lack of sleep protection.
Wow, thank you everyone! You guys are so nice. Defenders seem like the cool people here in the forums LOL. Well, I was thinking of respecifying out of Gale when I hit 24. I love it, but it seems like it would suck even slotted out going up against lieutenants on up. From what I can tell, it's a good low level solo power and that's about it.
As for 02 boost, I have 3 empty slots in it now. I want to take it just for teaming, but should it even be slotted?
As for what I decided skipping so far it would be Zap (I'm a defender, not a blaster), Gale, potentially O2 boost as I find it quite underwhelming even though I'm at level 10. I just see it not being that great. I don't know if I should take Thunderclap or Tesla Cage. I guess I can take both since I don't want Snow Storm?
I'm with Stormy Darkness on this one and I never cared much for -fly as my defender is a flier and he can just as well fly towards any bad guys and lock their keisters down. I don't think I'm going to be taking Snow Storm so I have some room to breathe as far as power choices go. Any thoughts on PPP's?
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Recognize that Gale is a positioning power and a defensive power (due to it's Knockback), not a damage power. Since I suspect that's what you mean when you say it's not good against anything against Lts, since Gale has a high enough mag knockback to push bosses around. After about lvl 5 though it does squat for damage. (again this is addressed rather extensively in my guide, although I dislike Gale and that comes across rather heavy handed)|
Originally Posted by Invisobill
Wow, thank you everyone! You guys are so nice. Defenders seem like the cool people here in the forums LOL. Well, I was thinking of respecifying out of Gale when I hit 24. I love it, but it seems like it would suck even slotted out going up against lieutenants on up. From what I can tell, it's a good low level solo power and that's about it.
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| As for 02 boost, I have 3 empty slots in it now. I want to take it just for teaming, but should it even be slotted? .. potentially O2 boost as I find it quite underwhelming even though I'm at level 10. |
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| I'm with Stormy Darkness on this one and I never cared much for -fly as my defender is a flier and he can just as well fly towards any bad guys and lock their keisters down. |
Draggynn on Virtue: lvl 50 Storm/Psi, 1389 badges
Draggynn's Guide to Storm Summoning(Gale-Tornado, updated 6/25/2011)
Avatar by Wassy full reference here
I wouldn't be so quick to poo-poo Gale. Put a few slots of Kinetic Crash and you have yourself some kb protection. Just a couple more slots will get you a very nice global recharge buff.
Global = Hedgefund (or some derivation thereof)
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I find there being more minions that are bothersome with fly than AVs. The only flying AVs I can think of is Nictus of ITF, Numina/Luminary praetorian, Numina/Sister/Luminary Heroes, Duray (from Silver Mantis). Most of these don't usually use flying away as a tactic, or flying higher above you. Most tend to be fairly straightforward in my experience.|
Originally Posted by Draggynn
You may be able to fly, but can the rest of your team? You may find this especially valuable against flying AVs in the later game. It also means that they don't make it as far when they try to flee.
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Because of this, I consider Snow Storm more of a -rech and slow power. I find -rech as more of an added bonus to powers as -rech only really helps after they go through attacks. Slows I consider (mostly) useless. That going against my irritation with anchors, I find it best to not use it most of the time and thus find it silly to have it when I'm not using it.
50s: Bla- Arch/Mental Cont- Mind/FF, Earth/Cold, Ill/Therm, Earth/Rad Dominator- Plant/Psi, Elec/Earth Corr- Fire/Storm, Arch/Sonic, Rad/Kin, Beam/Sonic, Psi/Time Stalker- Elec/SR Def- Storm/Dark, Emp/Psi, Dark/Elec, FF/Arch, TA/Ice, TA/Elec, Kin/AR, Cold/DP, Traps/Psi Scrap- Fire/Shield Tanker- Dark/Mace, Ice/Kin Brute- Claws/WP, SS/Energy, BS/Elec
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Waste of slots in my opinion. You can get more KB protection from 1 slot in a travel power and equivalent recharge for 1 slot in a defensive power. If you are only using Gale as an IO mule, unless it's a very particular build, then there are better choices.|
Originally Posted by Deacon_NA
I wouldn't be so quick to poo-poo Gale. Put a few slots of Kinetic Crash and you have yourself some kb protection. Just a couple more slots will get you a very nice global recharge buff.
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Originally Posted by StormyDarkness
I find there being more minions that are bothersome with fly than AVs. The only flying AVs I can think of is Nictus of ITF, Numina/Luminary praetorian, Numina/Sister/Luminary Heroes, Duray (from Silver Mantis). Most of these don't usually use flying away as a tactic, or flying higher above you. Most tend to be fairly straightforward in my experience.
Because of this, I consider Snow Storm more of a -rech and slow power. I find -rech as more of an added bonus to powers as -rech only really helps after they go through attacks. Slows I consider (mostly) useless. That going against my irritation with anchors, I find it best to not use it most of the time and thus find it silly to have it when I'm not using it. |
There is also: Positron/Anti-Matter, Citadel/Siege, Sister Psyche/Mother Mayhem, Statesman/Tyrant/Reichsman, Ghost Widow, Scirocco, Ice Mistral, Aurora Borealis, Swan. And I may be missing some.
Although it is true that under normal circumstances most of the AVs won't go fleeing regularly (well, diabolique does, but Snow Storm won't help you there), a Stormy with enough recharge can easily generate enough afraid to cause an AV to consider fleeing (especially if other folks on the team are using powers that generate afraid). There are also other AI triggers like not hitting targets that can make AVs flee. I have often found myself very thankful to have a "get down here" power in those situations.
I agree that Snow Storm is not mainly a -fly power, but i think you underestimate the power of slows. The effectiveness of slows is entirely dependent on how long a fight lasts. If the team is taking down mobs very quickly, then -recharge will have little effect, if the fights are lasting longer then -recharge can become quite powerful.
Slows are also potent for wasting enemies time while they try to position themselves, and thus are moving very slowly. If an enemy is trying to run in to use his melee attack, it doesn't matter that it's recharge because he won't make it to you before you have time to kill him.
Draggynn on Virtue: lvl 50 Storm/Psi, 1389 badges
Draggynn's Guide to Storm Summoning(Gale-Tornado, updated 6/25/2011)
Avatar by Wassy full reference here
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Ah, seems that I've not had much problems with them and their flying or I don't go against them enough (or both). I do remember Ghost Widow and Reichsman being a bit bothersome, but not enough for me to remember snow storm's -fly and wish I had it.
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Originally Posted by Draggynn
Praetorian Luminary is Night Star. Praetorian Numina is Dabolique.
There is also: Positron/Anti-Matter, Citadel/Siege, Sister Psyche/Mother Mayhem, Statesman/Tyrant/Reichsman, Ghost Widow, Scirocco, Ice Mistral, Aurora Borealis, Swan. And I may be missing some. |
50s: Bla- Arch/Mental Cont- Mind/FF, Earth/Cold, Ill/Therm, Earth/Rad Dominator- Plant/Psi, Elec/Earth Corr- Fire/Storm, Arch/Sonic, Rad/Kin, Beam/Sonic, Psi/Time Stalker- Elec/SR Def- Storm/Dark, Emp/Psi, Dark/Elec, FF/Arch, TA/Ice, TA/Elec, Kin/AR, Cold/DP, Traps/Psi Scrap- Fire/Shield Tanker- Dark/Mace, Ice/Kin Brute- Claws/WP, SS/Energy, BS/Elec
Once I've decided to 1) keep O2 in the build and 2) get to the point where I'm using sets I'll generally be 5 slotting with Doctored Wounds.
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Ok, thank you for your opinion. It's not "either/or". You can still slot an LOTG in a def power and take Gale And you can save a significant amount of inf, if someone is looking for value, in slotting KC instead of BotZ -kb.
| Waste of slots in my opinion. You can get more KB protection from 1 slot in a travel power and equivalent recharge for 1 slot in a defensive power. If you are only using Gale as an IO mule, unless it's a very particular build, then there are better choices. |
Global = Hedgefund (or some derivation thereof)
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Sorry, it was not my intention to be curt in tone as you seemed to read. True, I guess I've just gotten so used to people requesting builds with no inf limit that I wasn't thinking about the possibility. However, although Blessing of the Zephyr is 240 merits, the Steadfast Protection (resistance power) and Karma (defense power) knock protection IOs are only 75 merits, which makes them relatively cheap (but of course that is relative as many players don't play a single character enough to even have that many merits to spend).|
Originally Posted by Deacon_NA
Ok, thank you for your opinion. It's not "either/or". You can still slot an LOTG in a def power and take Gale And you can save a significant amount of inf, if someone is looking for value, in slotting KC instead of BotZ -kb.
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If looking for an intermediate build, I suppose there's potential, but for a high end build such slotting would be suboptimal, and a waste if the player was not going to use Gale.
Draggynn on Virtue: lvl 50 Storm/Psi, 1389 badges
Draggynn's Guide to Storm Summoning(Gale-Tornado, updated 6/25/2011)
Avatar by Wassy full reference here
Hi guys! Just rolled a Storm/Elec defender and I was wondering what powers were skippable, other than Gale, as from what I read it seems I may have chosen a power set where there isn't much to skip. Pointers much appreciated. Thanks!