Storm Summoning

Gale

Score

4 of 5

Blasting enemies away with Gale (the power, not the person)

Does a very minor amount of damage and knocks back enemies in a wide cone in front of you. Most players really hate Knockback, but you can use this to great advantage if you know how. For example, if there's a group where a few enemies are poorly positioned for AoE damage, you can toss them over to the rest of the group to keep them together.

Even better, if you have a corner nearby, you can use Gale to position them in the corner where it's easy to keep them off balance and under control while the walls hold them in place.

Best of all, think of the situations where whacking some enemies away is a good thing. For example, the Terra Volta reactor, when you or your team need to run, or when trying to control the minions surrounding an Arch Villain (because the AV won't get blown away, but the Minions usually will).

Minimum Slotting

Unslotted Strength

32% of Brawl

To be honest, I waited a while for this one. There were a bunch of other powers I thought I needed first. But Gale is Gale's signature power and there was no way I was going to skip it altogether. However, if I had known how useful cornering enemies was earlier, I probably wouldn't have waited so long.

O2 Boost

Score

5 of 5

O2 Boost - Not a strong heal, but it removes disorient. Very useful

It's a decent single target heal that has two important advantages and two important disadvantages. The disadvantages are that it only works on team members (not you), and that it's fairly low power as heals go. The advantages are that it recharges VERY fast and it removes (and prevents) disorient/sleep effects.

Besides the fact that even a weak heal can change the pace of the team, the disorient removal/protection is awesome! For example, if a team member dies and uses an Awaken, you can use O2 Boost to both heal them and remove the disorient effect immediately thus allowing them to slap back on their Toggles, pop Inspirations, and get back into the fight right away (or at least not die again).

Minimum Slotting

Unslotted Strength

?

There's no reason to slot for end reduction or recharge because it doesn't use much endurance and it recharges faster than about any power I've ever seen. I didn't get a chance to check it's strength as a heal for the guide. But the picture shows me healing for 20 points when I'm level 3 if that helps.

Snow Storm

Score

4 of 5

Not exciting, but very useful. Don't skip it!

Pick a target and fire Snow Storm. Besides having a cool animation, your target and everyone in a wide area around him will be slowed tremendously. The effect is a toggle so it will last as long as you keep the power active and you have enough endurance, but it will also stop when your target dies so always target big beefy nasty things that are tough so you don't waste the power.

Minimum Slotting

A lot of people underestimate the power of powers that slow enemies. If it helps, think of it as doubling your entire team's speed instead.

Steamy Mist

Score

5 of 5

Steamy Mist - Look for the small cloud of steam at my feet. It's easy to see its effective range

This has to be one of the best Team AoE Buffs ever. Not only is it a team stealth, but it raises your defense against everything and ups resistance to Cold, Fire, and Energy. Combine with Super Speed for true invisibility and Recall Friend for the almighty Sneak and TP combo.

Minimum Slotting

You could skip the End reducer if you find that you have enough to spare (pfft, yeah right), but you should max out the Defense Buffs. As a squishy defender, you will benefit from as much defense as possible.

Freezing Rain

Score

6 of 5

Freezing Rain - It's a mess out there, better stay inside...

This power is chock full of neat stuff. It slows, lowers defense and resistance, makes enemies fall down constantly, makes them run so they stop attacking (but they can't), and does a rapid amount of DoT damage. Yeah, that's good stuff.

Minimum Slotting

Unslotted Strength

Special

Just like most powers of this kind, you get a lot of orange floating numbers very fast, but they're all 1's. To do more damage, you can pop a lot of inspirations, use Amplify, and triple slot it for damage. However, I think the slots for damage enhancements are wasted since the defense debuff will increase your whole team's damage potential. Slow will help you and your team more than damage because you're not a strong damage dealer now matter what you do to this power.

Hurricane

Score

3 of 5

Hurricane - If you want to be pushy... In this case, I have several Fir Bolg trapped in a corner

There's a bit of an activation delay so this is no "emergency power", but it's very useful. If you've ever fought Tsoo Sorcerers or Storm Mavens, you already know exactly how this power works. It swirls around you pushing everything away and occasionally knocking them down.

I didn't realize it until I actually had a Storm Defender, but it also has a fairly strong accuracy debuff effect as well.

Minimum Slotting

This power can be difficult to control because it slowly pushes away everything from you, but it's great for herding up loose enemies that have escaped AoE effects of your teammates. It's also one of your main powers for keeping enemies trapped in corners.

Thunder Clap

Score

4 of 5

Thunder Clap - A wide area stun effect

I sometimes find it hard to take a control power over an attack, but if you can find room for it, I recommend it. Thunderclap will (with a really powerful looking animation of lightning) stun everything around you. If you want to keep enemies from running, turn the tide of a battle gone wrong, or play in PvP, this is a good power to have. It's also great if you are working on a themed character (like I am ).

Minimum Slotting

There are two ways to go here. For battles with large crowds of enemies that you only want to stun most of, but not all, one accuracy enhancement is probably fine. If you want to stun other players, archvillains or monsters as well, I would recommend a minimum of two. Either way, for best performance, slot as many extra disorient durations as you can.

Tornado

Score

6 of 5

Tornado - It may be random, but it's a pet! Always take the pet!

Ok, yes, the tornado is a bit random. Actually, chaotic might be more accurate. It wanders about randomly, tossing enemies about, and causing disorient. The main reason to use it is that it's a pet! This is especially useful in situations where you are fighting tough enemies that need to be distracted (like AVs or other players in PvP).

Best of all, you have some wicked synergy if you take Whirlwind from the Speed pool (as I did). This way you can spin right alongside your pet and cause mass chaos (mua ha ha ha!). But seriously, the Tornado does damage while also reducing the defense of your enemies. You can use it to absorb an Alpha Strike too. It may take some getting used to, but it is a powerful tool when used properly.

The main advantage to tornado is when you have a single enemy or the enemies are held. That means the tornado will spin there doing solid DoT damage (especially useful for AVs and Monsters.

Minimum Slotting

Unslotted Strength

Depends…

The damage factor is a DoT of some amount generally a little less than brawl, but has about a half second tic. It's a steady stream of orange numbers floating up, but only for as long as the tornado is paying attention.

Lightning Storm

Score

6 of 5

Lightning Storm - Pet number two. Stationary, but badass!

It does damage, knockback, and looks FREAKING COOL! It's a highly territorial power that will keep enemies away from wherever you place it. Point to note: it always forms directly over your head, so don't expect to put it at a targeted location.

Minimum Slotting

Unslotted Strength

600% of Brawl

With a bunch of recharge, and hasten, you can get two of these out at a time, but even without hasten, you can pretty much keep it out all the time. As with other knockback powers, it can mess up your team's control pretty badly so it may take a while to get used to. But if you're guarding something, have only one or two enemies you're fighting, or it's already chaotic, fire away!

Summary

That reactor is mine... and wing raiders can't play! (Video 11 Mb)

Most of your powers push or throw enemies around. As such, you can easily bring chaos and destruction to yourself and your team. However, there are some amazing things you can do if you practice. By learning the distance of your knockback powers, you can position enemies anywhere. If your team is in trouble, you can stun, toss, or distract enemies. If there's a door, you own it. No one gets through without your say-so. And if you can get your enemies into a corner, then they're yours.

Oh.. And you are the KING/QUEEN of the Respec Trial (or any other mission where the goal is to keep enemies away from something). No one plays goalie better than a Stormie!