Storm Summoning Guide excerpt for feedback(Thunder Clap)
Thunder Clap (Basic Version):
Thunderclap is player based, click, area of effect stun that will stun minions. (I know, a storm power that only does one thing...I'm shocked too!)
Should I take this power? 2/5
Whether this power is useful to you or not will depend entirely on your play style. You need to be near your enemies in order to stun them with Thunder Clap so if you run Hurricane all the time then Hurricane's 25 ft radius will push enemies out of Thunder Clap's range making it hard to stun enemies. If you have another stun power, Thunder Clap can be stacked with it in order to effect lieutenant and bosses making it more appealing. Although on its own Thunder Clap can only stun minions, minions can be some of the most troublesome enemies in the game (Circle of Thorn, Earth Mages; Malta, Sappers; Sky Raider, Engineers for instance) so don't discount the power solely on this basis.
How should I slot it? (basic version)
Like Gale, Thunder Clap has a reduced accuracy, so if you are planning on using this power first and foremost slot for accuracy. I would recommend at least two accuracy in Thunder Clap, see the advanced section for why. After that you can decide if you want enemies to stay stunned longer, in which case you can slot stun duration, or if you want to be able to stun enemies more frequently in which case you can choose recharge. Unless you are finding you are using Thunder Clap a lot, or are planning on being able to perma-stun (reapply the stun often enough that enemies are always stunned) then the simple accuracy enhancers are sufficient. I don't use Thunder Clap often enough to make endurance slotting worthwhile, but your experience may differ. You will see a more detailed discussion of slotting options in the advanced section. As always, when slotting remember not to slot more than three single origin enhancements worth of any one attribute due to enhancement diversification.
Thunder Clap (Advanced Version):
What are Thunder Clap's Stats? (For Defenders):
Available Level: 18
Activation Time: 2.37s
Recharge Time: 45.00s
Endurance Cost: 10.40
Accuracy: 0.80X
Power Type: Click
Target Type: Self Effect Area: AoE -- 25.00 ft. radius (16 targets max)
Attack Types: AoE
Effects:
2.00 magnitude stun for 14.90s on targetWhat Does a magnitude 2 disorient mean?
A magnitude 2 disorient means that Thunder Clap will stun most minions. Lieutenants typically require a magnitude 3 stun and bosses a magnitude 4 stun. For information on status effect magnitude see the appendix.
Strategy:
How do I use Thunder Clap as an opener?
Thunder Clap can make for an excellent opening move. Ideally you would have full invisibility provided by Steamy Mist in conjunction with one other form of stealth (Super Speed or stealth invention enhancement, but not the pool power stealth). This would allow you to position yourself in the middle of a mob without being noticed, and permits you to incapacitate all of the minions before the battle even begins. If you are fighting large spawns though, be warned that there may be a substantial number of lieutenants or bosses who will not be affected by the stun and may retaliate.
Even without full invisibility steamy mist will provide you enough cover that, if you are quick, you can jump in and Thunder Clap before the mobs fully notice. They will identify you at 35 feet, but you get a bit of a window while they turn around and pull their weapons out to avoid suffering a full alpha strike.
As with most situations, know your enemies. If the group has a number of status effect inducing Lieutenants, you may not want to attempt to open with Thunder Clap as you may find yourself mezzed in the middle of a group (of course this is one use of break frees) and the focus of all the enemies you failed to hit. If you are solo, then you may choose to turn on Hurricane immediately after Thunder Clap in order to debuff all of the enemies who were not just hit. If you are on a team however, turning on Hurricane will scatter the enemies making it harder for your team to finish off the group with area of effect attacks.
Awesome I'm going to use Thunder Clap all the time!
Let's wait just a minute, although opening with Thunder Clap may be fun, if you are on a team with a tank this may not be the most effective opener. Allowing the tank to enter first means that enemies that aren't stunned will attack the tank rather than you, making it much safer to use Thunder Clap. In addition, the tank will usually be able to get enemies bunched up trying to attack him, making it easier for teammates (yourself included) to use area of effect attacks to efficiently finish off the group. If all of the enemies are stunned at the beginning of a fight, then the tank will be unable to group them. Although you can do some grouping post stun with Hurricane, it is easier to let the Tank do it initially.
Defenders please ignore this question: I'm a controller, can Thunder Clap overpower?
For those of you that don't know what this question means: Controllers have an inherent ability (well, technically it's a special version of the power in terms of game mechanics, but we'll call it an inherent ability) that means that when they us e a status effect power there is a chance for an additional point of magnitude to be added. Thus a standard magnitude 3 hold may become a magnitude 4 hold and be able to hold a boss. Unfortunately NO, Thunderclap does not have a chance to overpower, so even on controllers it will only stun minions, although it will stun them for longer. Also, like most status effects, stunned enemies will take double damage from containment for controllers.
How should I slot it? (Advanced Version):
How much accuracy do I need to slot in Thunder Clap?
Since Thunder Clap has an inherent accuracy penalty it requires accuracy slotting more than other powers. Sadly the power used to be auto hit, but those days are long gone. In terms of how much accuracy you need, in order to be at the to-hit cap (95% chance to hit) against even con mobs, 58% accuracy; against +1, 83%; against +2, 112% (at which point you will need set bonuses to offset enhancement diversification.). To understand how to perform to-hit calculation see the appendix.
Can I stun Lieutenants by slotting stun?
No. Slotting for Stun enhances the duration of the stun, but not it's magnitude. With the exception of dominator's domination, and the Controller's chance to overpower, there are no powers in game that increase the magnitude of a status effect. People sometimes claim that power boost or power build up can have this effect; Those people are wrong, ignore them.
How do I slot Thunder Clap if I want to perma-stun?
When I say perma-stun I mean: be able to keep enemies in a perpetual state of being stunned such that they are rendered unable to attack indefinitely as long as Thunder Clap hits. With a single application, it is only possible to stun minions, so although I will refer to perma-stunning bosses (and thus Lieutenants) this is only after a second application of Thunder Clap and not initially. Let me say, that I think trying to set up Thunder Clap to perma-stun is a bit of a waste since you should be able to take down enemies fast enough thanks to all of your debuffing, or at least bring the groups down to manageable levels that a second application of Thunder Clap should rarely be necessary. Although the ability to perma-stun bosses may be nice, I would much prefer to charge them with Hurricane instead. Also, note that a boss will not be stunned until a second application of Thunder Clap so you can't expect to take bosses out of the fight immediately unless you have a second stun to stack with Thunder Clap.
Despite my own reservations, someone asked me to include information on how much recharge would be required to perma-stun so here are the numbers for a defender. (Note that controllers have a longer duration stun, and therefore require less recharge) :
If you have 0% stun duration enhancement then you need 259% recharge to perma-stun minions on a defender.
If you have 33% stun duration enhancement (~1 single origin enhancement) then you need 157% recharge to perma-stun minions on a defender.
If you have a 66% stun duration enhancement (~2 single origin enhancments)then you need 101% recharge to perma-stun minions and 350% to perma-stun bosses (mag 4, after two applications).
If you have 95% stun duration enhancement (~3 single origin enhancements) then you need 68% recharge to perma-stun minions, and 270% recharge to perma-stun bosses (mag 4, after two applications).
Should I slot Absolute Amazemnt: Chance for To-Hit Debuff?
At the current time this enhancement is only functioning in Player vs. Player combat, and there is no fix reported to be in the pipes, so for the time being avoid this enhancement.
What about Razzle Dazzle: Chance For Immobilize?
This proc is almost certainly a waste. The advantage of this proc is that instead of staggering around while stunned, enemies are rooted in place, effectively turning a stun into a hold. However, while stunned the enemies aren't going to be traveling very far with their random walk, and if they are slowed by Snow Storm or Freezing Rain, they really aren't going to be going anywhere. Thus this proc is mostly redundant. This proc could affect enemies that have more than magnitude 2 stun protection, preventing them from closing melee range to attack you, but they can still blast you from range, so as a defensive maneuver it pales in comparison to Hurricane..
How about Stupefy: Chance for Knockback?
Please don't. Slotting this proc in Thunder Clap will only serve to continue to give Storm Defenders a bad name. After enemies are stunned is an ideal time for your team mates to use their high damage, aggro drawing, area of effect attack since enemies cannot retaliate. If you slot this in Thunder Clap then that nicely bunched group of enemies you just stunned will be tossed all over the place making it harder for your team mates to target them with their area of effect attacks. If you are solo, you also want the enemies to stay clumped so that you can hit them all with Freezing Rain.
What IO sets should I slot in Thunder Clap?
If you are aiming for recharge in your build then with 5 absolute Amazement (skip the proc) you can get 10% recharge. For a cheaper approach to gaining recharge, 5 Stupefy's (again skip the proc) will give you a 6.25% recharge bonus. Although a 6th will give you 3.13% ranged defense, it will render Thunder Clap irritating due to the knockback, so slot with caution. If you are willing to slot lower level enhancements (which many people do because you can exemplar to a lower level and keep your set bonuses) than 5 Razzle Dazzle (again, I would skip the proc) which max out at level 30 will give you 2.5% melee defense, and the sixth will give you 2.5% area of effect defense.
Thunder Clap can also make an excellent place to Frankenslot (mix enhancments from different sets) in order to maximize accuracy, recharge, or stun depending on your style. If you go this route, try to slot at least 2 from a given set so that you can get the recovery bonus (Absolute Amazement, Stupefy, Razzle Dazzle) or the regeneration bonus (Rope A Dope).
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
Appendix: Thunder Clap
How do status effect magnitudes relate to NPCs?
In the appendix associated with O2 boost you can see a discussion on status effect magnitudes and durations as they relate to players. The rules are the same when it comes to non player characters, except that unlike players, they get an inherent status effect protection:
Minions: magnitude 1 protectionHow do I perform toHit calculations? (Thunder Clap example)
Lieutenants: magnitude 2 protection
Bosses: magnitude 3 protection
Elite Bosses: magnitude 6 protections
Archvillains: magnitude 3 base, but magnitude 53 when the purple triangles are up (excluding sleep and immobilize), although Archvillains will often have powers (such as unstoppable) that may increase their status protection even further.
The details of to hit can be found here.
But I will explain some highlights here. (Note this is just a repeat of the explanation in the gale appendix but with a different example) The calculation all comes down to this formula:
HitChance = Clamp( AccMods × Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) ) where HitChance is the chance that you will hit.
AccMods: AccMods are a combination of your enhancement and set bonus improvements coupled with the inherent accuracy of a power:
AccMods = the power's inherent Accuracy × (1.0 + the power's Accuracy Enhancements + all global Set Accuracy bonuses)
In the case of Thunder Clap, if you have 40% accuracy from enhancements, and 12% accuracy from set bonuses, your AccMod would be (.8*(1+(.4+.12))) = 1.22
BaseHitChance: this is your base chance of hitting a mob with no modifiers:
even level mobs:75%
+1 : 65%
+2: 56%
+3: 48%
+4: 39%
additional values can be found here.
ToHitMods: For this simply sum up all +tohit (say from tactics) and all -tohit (say from dark based power)
DefMods: this is any +defense that the mob has from their powers or any -def (say from tornado or FR) that you have applied to them.
The Clamp Function means to make sure the value is between 5% and 95% and to lower it or increase it if it does not fall within this range.
So, with the Thunder Clap example above, if you are fighting a +1 mob and the mob has a 5% defense and you're running tactics unenhanced, then your chance to hit is:
HitChance = Clamp(1.22*Clamp(65% +12.5%-5%))=Clamp(1.22*72.5)=Clamp(88.45)=88.45% chance to hit.
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
Well, that took a lot longer to complete than I had intended. Life got surprisingly hectic for me for a bit there, but at long last, the much anticipated Thunder Clap section of my guide.
). Feel free to point out typos but don't spend time proofreading as things may change in the final draft (Early sections have already been substantially rewritten).
Back in 2009 I started working on this guide and have been expanding it power by power over the last year. The original target of the guide was for relatively experienced players, but those that didn't have a firm grasp of underlying game mechanics. The goal of this guide was also to be one stop shopping for any questions you might have about Storm Summoning so it is quite comprehensive (I hope). Based on feedback I have modified the structure of the guide to attempt to make it more accessible to new players, although it now has a strange combination of treating you like you know a lot and like you know nothing.
All feedback is welcome and I am particularly interested if there are any questions you have about Thunder Clap that you don't see answered, or information that you believe I have wrong. I like to think about this guide a little as a cumulative effort of the community (although my opinion will trump yours
The other sections can be found at:
Gale
O2 Boost
Snow Storm
Steamy Mist
Freezing Rain
Hurricane
Tornado
And without further ado, the guide!
And I believe the Guide is now up with active links
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