Seeking tips for a new Storm/DP/Soul Defender

First off ... no, this is not a "rate my build" post.

What this post is about is a request for "tips and tricks" of how to build for Storm/* and */Dual Pistols on a Defender. I've got an Empathy/Archery Defender already (parked at 50) and a couple Controllers (also parked at 50), a pair of Kheldians (one each, also 50), a Huntsman (also 50), and a Mastermind (also 50) ... so I've been around the block (a few times). I've got a "fair" notion of how to play the game, how to drive on the correct side of the road in Mids', and the sorts of challenges that can be encountered all the way through the game.

But I've never played Storm ... or Dual Pistols ... before, so both of these powersets are new to me. Which means I don't know, and am not steeped in the "Lore" of what people have discovered with these particular sets of powers. So before I jump in the deep end with Mids' and spend hours and hours re-inventing the wheel, I'd like to hear from people who have played Storm and/or DP powersets so that I can learn from your experiences.

What powers (if any) are "skippable" in Storm ... and why?
What powers are MUST HAVE ... and why?
What powers need heavy slotting in Storm?
Which ones only need moderate slotting?
Which powers are One Slot Wonders?
Which powers are "pick one of these two" choices?
What are some of the "tricks" that can be accomplished with certain powers through ingenious (franken)slotting?

Same again for Dual Pistols.



For example:

I'm looking at the fact that both Empty Clips and Bullet Rain can take Knockback Sets, and wondering if dropping a Force Feedback Proc into both of these powers would be ... prudent. Doubling up on AoE powers with this proc is not something I'd normally contemplate doing, but in this case I'm wondering if it might not pay off in terms of being able to keep the +Recharge flowing as often as possible.

I'm looking at Gale (yes ... Gale!) and wondering if it would be possible to work it into an attack chain with the rest of the Dual Pistols attacks, and 6-slot Gale with Kinetic Crash ... for a Mag 27+ Knockback o' Cone for both herding and chaos/disruption purposes. I'm thinking "Everybody! Into The Corner! NOW!!" type of Super Scooper action. Yes, I know this would prompt weapon redraw, and that you can do substantially the same thing with Hurricane (kinda), but still ...

I've seen in this forum that people were recently talking about slotting Lightning Storm with the Devastation Hold Proc. Has anyone done that and slotted the same Devastation Proc into Pistols and Dual Wield? Or is everyone too busy slotting Achilles' Heel Procs to worry about using Devastation?

Has anyone ever tried 6-slotting Tornado with Kinetic Crash? Or do people just reach for Positron's Blast by default for Tornado?

Thunderclap and Suppressive Fire? 5-slot Stupefy in both, or do something else like 6-slotting Razzle Dazzle instead? Or just skip both powers?



Mind you, I'm not (yet) looking at an overall Build Plan just yet. This is more an Information Gathering phase so that I can become at least passing familiar with the "quirks" of these two powersets that I've never played with before. I'm at the point where I'd like to get a better feel for what is possible (let alone reasonable) to achieve with the Storm/DP/Soul powersets so as to figure out how to best adapt what can be done into a good fit for my preferred playstyle.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

I don't think the PBAOE Of DP and Storm Synergies well.

For example, Hurricane which provides you a good amount of defense bonus requires you to be in melee range with mobs and then the KB sort of hampers your HOB attack. I do think it will go off if it is up and ready and you will connect with mobs as you knock them back. But if you screw up or lag out your pretty much messed up as your HOB goes off with the mobs too far away from you. Pretty much similar to when mobs die as the animation for HOB goes off, which has happen a few times during BAF prisoner section of the Trial for me.

I am not sure if Steamy Mist along with some other powers will or will not provide enough possible Range Defense which I think you will need. At least until you get into Hurricane range for the debuff to take effect.

I think storm needs some longer range attacks like Assault rifle maybe. Range defense cap and mid range Melee / AOE which Hurricane will bolster and keep mobs out of melee range but debuff them if they dare enter melee range.

Basically in this instance I think Full Auto is better then HOB.

OR is Beam gun coming over to defenders ?

Either way I think more things are coming then what they are saying atm. I would wait to make something NEW. Your talking weeks now I think, right ?

Yet another Or, skip HOB and take everything else.

Again I just don't know, storm is fun and cool but I find myself limited sometimes on my Storm Rad on teams. Players have a propensity to dislike storm players and many players perpetuate that feeling by running around with Hurricane on 24x7 and knocking everything that can be knocked back all over the place sometimes. Many do not understand that you can use hurricane in short burst when needed as a herding / blocking tool. Instead of running past the mobs and then turning hurricane on to block mobs from running, instead they run through the mobs with hurricane on.

Sorry just not feeling this combo. But I know your the kind of player that likes these sort of challenges, so I would go with Range cap and forgo HOB maybe.

Hurricane's drawbacks are mostly nullified if you turn it on for just a split second, then turn it off again. The tohit and range debuffs will "stick" to affected mobs for 10 seconds, but the knockback and repel will stop immediately.

First, let me say: I have a level 50 Storm/Dual Pistol Defender on Virtue. It was a fast and enjoyable ride. I didn't use AE

Storm is a swiss army knife. Remember, even like a swiss army knife, it isn't nearly as effective if all the blades are 'out' at the same time. There are three stages in storm fights. Position, debuff, kill. Many times groups are tightly packed by tankers in the middle. Position doesn't take long. Debuffing is always AoE style with the storm primary, but your secondary stacks so it counts, too. The kill phase is when your AoEs cut loose. Storms have AoE debuffs, dual pistols has 3 very nice AoE attacks that make the kill phase successful.

Please refer to Midnight_Tempest as my comments are intended to augment what that poster described. Gale and Snow Storm are truly the minimalist slotting powers. I always aim for two slots: accuracy for gale, endurance reduction for snow storm. Another caveat: between snowstorm unenhanced for slow and freezing rain unenhanced for slow, the combination of those powers will always bring the spawn to the slow cap - they can't go any slower, don't waste slow slots unless you have an IO set favorite you are aiming for.

My preference for Gale has increased as my veteran months click off. Gale has one very, VERY important feature, much like some controller powers. Gale will interrupt the alpha strike from your foes. Especially on blaster/defender teams the kb isn't as onerous to the teammates. Also, many tanks do not mind shifting taunt tactics to taunt to corner, dead ends or tight rooms in conjunction with your stormy preferences. Gale is indeed the Super Scooper you described. That way, your use of hurricane for positioning takes less time. It CAN be used as an oh-crap power in certain bleak cases, but certainly not every case.

Steamy mist is another six-slotter in my book. ~45% end reduction, defense, resistance and the power takes both defense and resistance sets. This is where you can get your -kb proc for your hero. You can slot set enhancements that improve mezz protection and psy blast resistance. It will take LotG 7.5% enhancements, too.

Freezing Rain and Lightning Storm are definitely six-slotters, thunderstrikes especially in Lightning storm, and both can take procs to the extent that their function is still supported.

Freezing Rain and Lightning Storm are terrific set-defining powers for debuff and damage. One trick with Lightning Storm: with a flight power, I take hover, position the storm higher, so that the bolts strike downward and reduce splaying the foes from the debuff zone.

Ack! Risking TL;DR!

Hurricane and Tornado are my favorite stormy powers. Hurricane was nerfed shortly after PvP started shaping up. Some ATs complained hurricane was too powerful. Now, the knockback pulses are further apart. I sometimes catching myself in Issue 1 mode Less is more. Hurricane debuffs to-hit at the slight edge grazing. Knockback is further in. Shorter range from the stormer is the repel feature. Treat it like a scalpel and not an ax. If you are truly in need of moving a group, bounce in and debuff them all, and run to where you want them to follow you, preferably around a corner.

I talked about the kill phase earlier. The ultimate kill zone for a stormy is the corner office. Aggro them INTO the room, excuse me mr. tank, excuse me mastermind pets - stormy coming through. They will follow you right in unless molested by your team. Block the door with hurricane, and then cut loose with everything - lightning storm, tornado, aoe attacks, and the kitchen sink (if you have a gravity controller teammate ) Even if they bunch at the door, it is a corner, and easily a nice kill zone in all that.

Tornado, Mr. Twisty, is a buzz saw. He chews, he debuffs defense, he stuns, and he kills MoG Paragon Protectors DEAD! Indeed, he is the golden parachute when the rikti hit the fan. I use him to pull if I want a fraction of a room less than all or greater than 2 (caution: I use this when I can block a door like the funny tech room with the buff/debuffing labs in the four corners.) His AI has improved over the years, his 'leash' is a bit shorter and more substantial. Part of positioning, you can bounce freak tanks endlessly on tornado's head while you pin the freak in the corner of the room with the 'cane. Mr. Twisty switches targets when he achieves knockback (some theorize when he debuffs defense) but for sure, he sticks to kb-resistant foes and chews until his time is up or the foe is defeated. Mr. Twisty is NEVER defeated. Another thing to recall, in a hot fight, when Tornado runs out of targets, there is a lull, he WILL come back to your defender, knocking things out of his way to defending your defender. My stormies ask, can I use tornado here, not: oh no, can't use tornado, I don't have stone cages.

Thunderclap stuns minions, tornado stuns minions, suppressive fire stuns minions. Storm/DP alone can, not always, stun bosses.

/rant - this post was not intended to be this long. Also check out Draggyn's budding storm resource.

My advice would actually be to switch Soul Mastery for Dark Mastery if at all possible. The Dark Mastery version of Soul Drain has half the recharge of the Soul Mastery version (unless of course you're taking Soul Mastery for reasons other than Soul Drain in which case ignore this advice).

I will try to add briefly - many stormies have many themes that they are able to accentuate aspects to their liking. In the long, long ago of Issue 1, radiation blast on defenders was considered very good because in the low to mid levels, every teammate's accuracy benefitted. Maximizing defense debuff is out of fashion, but when you do find an AV resisting 80% of debuffs, there is no such thing as too much defense debuff. Resistance debuff is another feature. Even back in the days of the poster of renown, the Mighty Storm, whom I hope we see in F2P again, the Diso-queen stacked stuns: dark pit, thunderclap, tornado and now the dark mastery even has a PbAoE toggle of stun to couple/triple up with other storm stun features. My Storm/DP sought to keep the AoE debuff/attack going since DP has debuff features, too.

Has anyone ever tried slotting Lightning Storm for Endurance Modification rather than Damage, and used it as an Intangible Sapper that can still hit hostiles? I'm wondering about edge cases where you can use Hurricane to hold a choke point and pair that with Around The Corner Aggro Pulling via Lightning Storm which will drain problematic hostiles Endurance to either zero, or near zero, as a way of softening them up before "going for the kill" with other powers. I'm thinking in terms of being able to use a combination of Gale, Hurricane and Lightning Storm to juggle/drain heavy hitters that would otherwise be "to dangerous to take on" without softening them up first.

And how useful is Endurance Drain/Recovery Debuffing against EBs and AVs? Are they heavily resisted (just like everything else) ... or are they "useful" attributes to bring to the fight? I know that against Minion and LT class hostiles, Endurance Draining "isn't useful" unless you can drain their endurance bars to zero in 2-3 attacks (and keep it there until defeating them), but against Boss/EB/AV class hostiles, is Endurance Draining going to be useful at all at a rate of -19 End per hit every 5.17 seconds? Or is that "not enough to be useful" unless it can be paired with something else ... like say ... a single target damage set Tempest Proc in both Pistols and Dual Wield on a Storm/DP Defender?



Basically I'm wondering if everyone just slots Lightning Storm for DAMAGE ... or if anyone ever slots it for Utility Debuffing.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Bleh. That's what I was afraid of.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Before the great PvP nerf made to Storm, Storm electric could stack end drain from short circuit with lightning storm. With the slower pulses in hurricane, they also nerfed the end drain in the lightning bolts.

A feature I think would be funny as well as add some 'charm' to storm is if the lightning bolts had a random low chance to rez foes or teammates as in the Frankenstein mythos. LoL