I don't do much with fancy builds, but I play lots of Storm characters. My comments:
You didn't take Hurricane! And on a Dark/, at that! You want it. It greatly improves survability, especially on a corr/defender, and even more so on a Dark Blast user since the -acc from the blasts stacks with the -acc from Hurricane.
O2 Boost is skippable for non-pet users.
Lightning Cloud is a good damage power; you want it slotted for damage, recharge and endurance reduction.
Tornado is auto-hit and doesn't need accuracy. Slot it for damage, recharge and endurance reduction.
Steamy Mist is a good mule for both Resist and Defense sets, you can use it instead of taking pool powers. There's too many good /Storm powers.
You want more recharge and some endurance reduction in Freezing Rain; the def debuff doesn't need much if any enhancement. And a little accuracy if you are going to put a proc in it since the proc checks for activation before the FR debuffs hit.
I'd take Dark Blast as well instead of Gloom by itself for more single target damage.
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Good ideas. THanks. Storm's one of those that looks kinda weird if you haven't played one. I'll figure it out for myself from here, but it'd be nice to have a decent idea for my first build, so I don't need more then my vet/trial respecs to fix whatever I think isn't working.
Quote:
I play a lot of Stormies, but most as Defs and Trollers, so, this may not be 100% applicable, but...|
Originally Posted by Elimist
I'm curious what most people build their stormies for? Seems like they draw alot of aggro, but they can control the battle well enough that they can survive without capped defenses. Especially with 3x mag2 stuns in this combo I've got. Am I off the mark? Should I set for recharge because of the focus being my 3 aoe stuns?
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I slot for
1a) Defense
1b) Recharge
Shock there...
2) Damage
Feedback....
Love the idea of stacking stuns. I have stacked 2 AOE stuns and loved it, 3 may be overkill, but I honestly think it'll be awesome.. With all that stun, and all the other stuff the sets have, and a 1/2way decent def, I wouldn't worry overmuch about aggro, unless you wanna run x8 and crank the lvl dif up.
Totally agree with a previous poster. Squeeze hurricane in, eve if you have to slot it with only 1 end reduction.. It's that good it's even worth it out of the box once you get used to it.
Disagree with a previous poster about O2 and it's disposability. Unless you plan to never team, I'd want this power. Heal and Mez breaker and mez resist in one power. Granted, not the most damage, or not good vs every mez type, but always well worth it in my opinion. I've respecced many times on my stormies, and never dropped the power, only on occasion dropped the number of slots I dedicated to it.
Otherwise, totally agree with Obscure Blade, especially on the slotting for Freezing Rain. You want it up as often as possible. By all means put the -res proc in there, too tho. Maybe add a damage proc.
I have a fire/storm controller at 50, He is my first character. (see start date 
and a storm/elec defender at 40.
My experience with storm is that only (IMO) gale is a suck power, it just blows.
The rest all depend on what you want to do with the character. Many of the powers have been discussed above, in addition to those suggestions, Snow Storm is an awesome debuff. The game engine was changed at one point because of Snow Storm + Freezing Rain, slotted with maybe one slow SO each could reduce mobs to being unable to move. Now there is a minimum movement rate which the two powers can easily reduce an entire spawn to crawl speed. Snow Storm also has -recharge and is a very good debuff FOR AV fights.
The Achilles -20% damage resist proc can go in both freezing rain and tornado.
I dont know, does the Dark Immob have a -kb power like the fire Immob? If so you can negate the KB of tornado and lightning storm as you wish, on teams where people can find it disruptive for example. When solo and/or when a big fight (oops multi-spawn pull tank is down) all that KB can stop a wipe.
Hurricane can be slotted to do some gross things. As I recall my defender has it slotted to give -60% to hit and has two procs in it for - recover and -recharge. Since I corner groups a lot they seem worth wile to me. Not everyone agrees.
Tornado stuns, it is just good for control + damage, fire and forget. It can also take an immob proc to stun and effectively hold as well. I have watched tornado sit on an immobed (or randomly pushed into a corner) boss and eat them alive. It can hit up to five targets. Tornado also has a good -Def debuff as well.
Lightning storm hits hard (for a defender/controller) fires on its own and just keeps going and going. With recharge they can be overlapped. Back before the hasten nerf I could keep two out full time. Now I get significant overlap. Lightning Storm like Tornado can also hit up to 5 targets. It will strike the closest mob to you and has a small AOE. It can take the devastation 15% chance for hold proc which I regularly see go off.
Thunder Clap has a short recharge for an AOE control power. It can be used frequently with the right slotting. Some of the stun sets have good bonuses.
Dark/Storm would give you a lot of debuffing -Acc -Def -Resist all in all it seems like a good mix. You could build to do good damage with debuffs. I see a lot of viable ways to build the character depending on your play style and goal.
Since both Tornado and LS are not limited to one use they can both be overlapped with even moderate recharge and as recharge gets better they can both be out more.
A last thing to consider is that melee heavy teams wont like tornado unless you lock down the mobs with -kb. I can appreciate not wanting to chase down multiple targets. Storm is not appreciated by everyone and can affect your ability to get a team. If you properly use Hurricane and Tornado however the KB is minimal.
Edit - just took a brief look at the build. IMHO Tornado and LS are powers to slot heavily. I use 6 slots on both characters for each. With tight slotting I could see them down to maybe 4 each. Also dont forget Storm is an END hog. If your going to use toggles with Storm IO for +recover and +max end and plan for the cardiac Alpha.
A thought that just occurred to me; if you have the first Veteran Attacks, this is one of the few cases where you might want to take the Ghost Slaying Axe, to deal with those heavily Negative Energy resistant undead.
Quote:
Nope. Which means Tornado is best used when you are down to that last Boss or EB/AV.
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Originally Posted by _Zep_
I dont know, does the Dark Immob have a -kb power like the fire Immob? If so you can negate the KB of tornado and lightning storm as you wish, on teams where people can find it disruptive for example.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Just a quick note, as this powerset is my personal favorite. After having played with various Dark/Storm and Storm/Dark builds, here is my advice.
From 1-20, Gale is rather useful but after that, I highly recommend respeccing. Its just not worth keeping when there are so many others.
After 30, I also find snow storm to be more of a filler power. I only ever use it on AV's or to bring flyers down. I have been considering replacing it with Thunderclap but I feel I get better use out of snowstorm overall.
Thunderclap, OP stated he wanted to keep and Ill be honest, I don't have much experience with this power. I tried it early on and just hated it. I couldn't really justify having it. I may respec and try it again but it just never seemed that important to me when you have better powers to choose from.
I highly recommend, as did others, keeping hurricane. It is one of the better powers IF you learn how to use it properly. In other words, its not something you want toggled on all the time unless you are solo, surrounded by +2's or if your up close with an AV. Its very situational and touchy but once you learn the strategy, it really helps. For instance, you have a 14 mobs straggled down a hall rather than grouped nicely. Turn on your hurricane and start pushing them together while you lay down freezing rain at the optimal spot and stop short so you don't overcut freezing rain while hitting them with tentacles.
Another, as someone else mentioned before, is Steamy Mist. Not only is it one of your only defense's, it also gives you a bit of stealth. Drop a Cerelity: Stealth proc in sprint and you are completely invisible to all mobs except those with crazy high perceptions. I wished I had done that in my early levels, would have saved alot of anguish.
Now, Tornado is... touchy. I find I only whip it out in emergencys or against an AV and, admittedly, in tiny rooms because I find it hilarious to see random mobs being flung about through small doorways. Drop Freezing Rain, throw in tornado and hurricane at the doorway so they can't run out and you have your own little chaos room. As for slotting, I put in pet damage sets with one or two Lady Grey debuff for that little extra oomph.
Lightening Storm, now is much different. First, I 6 slotted with Devastation but considering taking out one or two and slotting for recharge. At the moment, I can have two up but I really want to get to three. Lightening Storm is one of your more dangerous powers but.. as was mentioned, there is the knockback. However, if placed correctly, you can have it knockdown which is much better for times when your hovering over a group and laying down freezing rain. You don't want Cloudy to knock them out of it or away from team mates. Chances are, it will though but nothing in your arsenal will negate that. I know its been said but just pointing that out yet again.
As for Epics, I rather liked dark overall but respecced to the Power mastery. To be honest, I was underwhelmed and was going to go back to dark until I noticed how often I use Conserve Power. Now, I can't live without it. Comparing it with Dark Consumption, its just that much better.
I know the OP stated he wanted Oppressive Gloom but.. I personally stay away from anything thats going to hit my HP bar, let alone a disorient when you have two other disorients already available. Thats a bit of overkill and dangerous overkill at that. Slot stupefy in Dark Pit and Thunder Clap and your pretty much covered.
If you can, I would try making a second build with Power Mastery just to see how you like it. It doesn't have a self rez, unfortunately which is one of the few things I miss about the Dark epic.
Cool. THanks for the suggestions. All I need now is to test it, and respecs will do the rest.
I really like this combo, someone called it the Swiss Army Knife of builds and they are right, extremely versatile and brings a lot to the table while taking the bare minimum off. I will add some more love for the hurricane, its a real useful power although I don't slot it up much myself, just some endurance reduction as I use it for emergencies.
O2Boost-if you team at all this is a pretty decent heal but it needs an endurance reduction and a couple of heals to shine.
Snowstorm-I dont like this once you get freezing rain, long animation, endurance drain and with all your other controls not really worth the bang for your buck, once I get to 24 I almost always respec this out. I would recommend adding dark blast!
Darkblast-fast cheap, and lots of good IO's you can load in here, in fact I would consider turning this into an IO mule for a bit extra single target damage and completes your single target attack chain of DB, Gloom, LifeBlast (underwhelming single target damage but still a chain). Tornado, Lighting Storm add a heck of a lot of single target damage to this build and is part of the insanely good synergy of these two sets.
Tornado-good set mule and when soloing or fighting AV/EB it is awesome so I would keep that slotting or reduce it to just the Expedient Reinforcement IO's.
Lighting Storm-very good power a lot of people swear by putting the Hold/stun??? IO in here, I think the purple one is the one they use. Also since you already have hasten remember to pop hasten before you pop this off it carries over to LS and is really nice. The one down side is knockback and the endurance cost of this power, so some add range if there is room, I would six slot this power.
Life Drain-I really dont like that chance to hold proc in here, this power is really good but difficult to get full value out of. You want as much healing, damage, accuracy, recharge as you can get in that order as quick as you can, the hold proc just gets in the way.
Teneberous Tentacles-this actually gives pretty good damage, and is a mainstay of my attack chain. I am not feeling the gravitational anchor set in here but never tried it so cant be sure.
Gale-decent power and as a corruptor you dont have any choice in taking it. Can't say I like the positron blast set here if recharge is that important look into Luck of Gambler Recharges you can throw one in Steamy Mist and get same recharge bonus while saving 4 slots.
Steamy Mist-very underslotted, if you are going to get weave, I would add slots to this power and put in defense, also the recharge bonus LoTG IO too. If you dont go with the Epic S/L shield than I also think you need to consider a knockback IO in here since you didnt go hover route.
Thunderclap/Dark Pit/Oppressive gloom-are you sure this isnt overkill? Isnt mag 4 all you really need and the first two get you that? I would lean towards getting the S/L epic shield or more endurance management in the build. Storm is a major endurance hog, Lighting Storm, Hurricane and Freezing rain all suck down the blue bar pretty fast. If you are still set on getting OG than I really think you need to make sure you have as high a defense as you can get and also add hover or the knockbackIO pronto.
Also, I might be the only person to say this, but I really dont think buying all those purples helps this toon as much as other toons. Your build is heavily tilted towards recharge and my point is which powers are you trying to cycle faster? The pets are all limited to one at a time and almost/essentially permanment with built in IO/SO load outs. The blasts are all already on ridiculously fast timers, it does help lifeblast quite a bit but that is about it.
I would build for the following bonuses in this order: defense, damage, endurance management and then whatever recharge you could work in. Good luck!
All good thoughts. I've got a few corruptors, and I can say aiming for s/l cap is great, and would work on this one for sure. I'm just bored of playing the same way and want to try something new, even if it's not min/maxing. I'll probably slot the powers I put purples in on my mids build with and sets I can find with recharge, or possibly just regular IOs for testing purposes. I adjusted my build a bit with some of your comments in mind, but I think I want to at least take it on a few missions with all 3 stuns in it, just for kicks and to test it. And yeah, it's a bit of overkill, but I think it could be really handy for really aggro capped teams. Baracuda ambushes, ITF (although with i19 ITF is a joke sadly), things like that. From the adjusted build I'm looking at, I'd be able to immediately hit dark pit and thunder clap and have pretty much everything locked down with 4 mags of stun. From there, once I'm in the middle of it, OG will add another 2 mags to random enemies when it hits them. On this build, thunder clap has a recharge of 11 seconds. So if ambushes come in, this will be recharged before the initial round of stuns lets them recover. Hit the over aggro mobs with it, and you've got a mob hit with a mag 4, extras hit with another 2, and then whatever OG picks up as far as stragglers. I can even take the hit and charge in straight after the tank. I've heard jokes from blasters about rise of the phoenix being an important part of their attack chain. In this case it would be something like, Clap-Pit-dead-SoulTrans-(OG throughout)-Summon, summon, DarkConsume-Repeat repeat repeat attacking whenever you can manage it, and throwing down freezing rain as often as I feel they're safely locked down so I can do so. That would be handy on baracudas I think, and just whenever I felt like playing around with a self rez attack chain for laughs. Other times, I'd be using my hurricane to herd mobs, like in offices. When I'm on one of those teams that has no real need at all for strong controls because they're so solid, I fall back on my debuffs, herd control, Occasional 02 boost if a squishy needs it, or to buff some mez resists, and attacks (which aren't so great, but I'm a corr, so there's always scurge FTW)
Are there better ways? Yes, I'm sure there are. Are there safer builds with more defense? Oh god yeah. But would this be a fun toon to play around with when I'm bored of my other 14x 50s? Sure. Thanks everyone for all your suggestions, I've tweaked my build a bit based on your thoughts. Appreciate the input, and I'll be testing this in a few more levels when he snags that 50 DING!!!
I want to use thunder clap, oppressive gloom, and dark pit together. I haven't found the time to work the build, and I've got this extremely rough and unfinished build so far. Was curious what anyone had to say about the combination of power sets. Those are about the only 3 powers I'm dead set on taking. Life drain is a must I'm sure. Seems like dark consumption, soul transfer, and soul drain are obvious keepers. Never ran a storm toon before, so I'm not sure what is skippable. I'll check the forums and play around with mids when I get around to it, but I figured I'd post this for now.
I'm curious what most people build their stormies for? Seems like they draw alot of aggro, but they can control the battle well enough that they can survive without capped defenses. Especially with 3x mag2 stuns in this combo I've got. Am I off the mark? Should I set for recharge because of the focus being my 3 aoe stuns?
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Dark Blast
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Gloom
- (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
- (3) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
- (3) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
- (5) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (5) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
Level 1: Gale- (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
- (11) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
- (43) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
- (43) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
- (45) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
Level 2: O2 Boost- (A) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
- (7) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
- (7) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
- (9) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (9) Doctored Wounds - Heal
Level 4: Snow Storm- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
Level 6: Dark Pit- (A) Stupefy - Accuracy/Recharge
- (11) Stupefy - Endurance/Stun
- (13) Stupefy - Accuracy/Endurance
- (13) Stupefy - Stun/Range
- (15) Stupefy - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
Level 8: Hasten- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (15) Recharge Reduction IO
- (17) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 10: Steamy Mist- (A) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure
- (17) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (19) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
Level 12: Tenebrous Tentacles- (A) Gravitational Anchor - Chance for Hold
- (19) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize/Recharge
- (39) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
- (39) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Recharge
- (40) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize/Endurance
Level 14: Super Speed- (A) Empty
Level 16: Freezing Rain- (A) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff
- (25) Achilles' Heel - Defense Debuff/Recharge
- (33) Achilles' Heel - Defense Debuff
Level 18: Night Fall- (A) Ragnarok - Damage
- (21) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge
- (21) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (23) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge
- (23) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance
Level 20: Kick- (A) Empty
Level 22: Tough- (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
Level 24: Weave- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (37) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (39) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure
Level 26: Life Drain- (A) Touch of the Nictus - Healing
- (27) Touch of the Nictus - Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration/Recharge
- (27) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing
- (29) Devastation - Chance of Hold
- (29) Devastation - Damage/Recharge
- (33) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
Level 28: Thunder Clap- (A) Stupefy - Accuracy/Recharge
- (31) Stupefy - Accuracy/Endurance
- (31) Stupefy - Endurance/Stun
- (31) Stupefy - Stun/Range
- (33) Stupefy - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
Level 30: Combat Jumping- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (40) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (40) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure
Level 32: Stealth- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 35: Tornado- (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge
- (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
- (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
- (36) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (37) Soulbound Allegiance - Damage/Recharge
Level 38: Lightning Storm- (A) Empty
Level 41: Oppressive Gloom- (A) Absolute Amazement - Chance for ToHit Debuff
- (42) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge
- (42) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
- (42) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Recharge
- (43) Absolute Amazement - Endurance/Stun
Level 44: Dark Consumption- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (45) Recharge Reduction IO
- (45) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 47: Soul Transfer- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (48) Recharge Reduction IO
- (48) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 49: Soul Drain- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (50) Recharge Reduction IO
- (50) Recharge Reduction IO
------------Level 1: Brawl
- (A) Empty
Level 1: ScourgeLevel 1: Sprint
- (A) Empty
Level 2: Rest- (A) Empty
Level 4: Ninja RunLevel 2: Swift
- (A) Empty
Level 2: Health- (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
- (25) Numina's Convalescence - Heal
- (34) Miracle - +Recovery
- (34) Miracle - Heal
Level 2: Hurdle- (A) Empty
Level 2: Stamina