May 14, 2007

Storm/Sonic Defender Powers

Filed under: Defenders,Guides — Jeremy

Making it easy to take out red level enemies. That's a defender.

Your primary powers are your main buff/debuff and control powers. Your secondary is generally ranged attacks (many of these powersets are shared with blasters, but are less powerful versions). You can afford to be a little more reckless than Blasters, but battles can take a lot longer due to your lower damage potential.

In most cases, you are best paired with high-damage dealers such as Blasters, Tanks, Scrappers, or Kheldians. Storm especially is good with Blasters because you can keep enemies out of melee range with your various powers.

Power Pool Recommendations

Read my Power Pools Guide for general information on the pools, but the following are Storm/Sonic Defender specific issues with power pools.

Remember my Jeremy's Advanced Travel Guide for avoiding travel powers until later levels allowing you to get more regular powers first.

Fighting

If you're desperate for the defensive bonuses of the last two powers in this set, go for it, but the melee range stuff is kind of a waste of time. As a Storm/Sonic, your goal is keep them out of melee range.
Concealment

The first power in this set, Stealth, is completely negated by your Steamy Mist power in your Primary. It's a team stealth power that gives you defense against everything, and resistance to Fire, Cold, and Energy. The second power, Grant Invisibility, is only good for sneaking teammates past enemies. Since you already have a team stealth power, this isn't as useful and there's a better option. With Recall Friend from the Teleporation pool, you can sneak to a target, then TP the team to you.
Presence

There's something to be said for taunting enemies into wanted to close to melee range and then knocking them back out of melee range. It's a concept that has potential, but not my choice of powers so far. I may try this if I have room at the higher levels (or on a different character).
Medicine

This can be useful because of the self heal. This pool also gives you a Resurrect which you lack, but an awaken with 02 Boost can be nearly as good.
Leadership

Useful for the buffs. The biggest problem here is that Storm/Sonic already has many powers that draw endurance and you won't really have the room for more.
Teleportation

I highly recommend Recall Friend for the Sneak and TP combo. Since you already have a stealth power, this works very well. TP Foe could be useful if your Snowstorm anchor tries to run or if you want to corner something, but don't have a good angle on it. As for TP as a travel power, I didn't think it fit well with my concept, but if you want to go for the Tsoo sorcerer thing, go for it.
Fitness

There are some Archetypes and builds that can skip the Stamina series. This is not one of them. The only real decision to make here is whether you want Swift or Hurdle. Take Swift if you plan on Fly as a travel power for the speed boost. Otherwise, it's up to preference.
Speed
I've noticed that most Defenders benefit from Hasten because they tend to have slow recharging powers. But the most important reason to get the Speed pool is for Super Speed. SS as a travel power is limited because you don't have the ability to move vertically, but by getting Hover, using the Jump Jet Pack (which you can buy separately if you don't have the special Box version of CoH that gives it to you), or by using a temporary travel power (earned on Safeguard missions), you can overcome this. SS with Steamy Mist gives you full invisibility which you can use to get awesome screenshots, sneak through entire missions (awesome for tfs), and travel completely safely (about the only thing that can see through this is Villains in pvp, Archvillains, and Monsters). Best of all, what better fun to whirl around with whirlwind right next to your pet Tornado? (Fun but mostly useless: more on this later).

Leaping

As a squishy character, Super Jump is a risky power to take because you can land in the middle of a group of enemies and get killed very quickly. However, if you're desperate to have Acrobatics for the immobilization defense, you don't really have an option.

Fly

Fly may be slow, but I've already got Swift from the Fitness pool which will speed it up slightly. It also gives me safe travel and it's the best power for badge hunting so if you are building a badge-er, Fly will be your best bet.

Inherent Powers

For many of my builds, I leave these unslotted. That's mostly because each power becomes useless over time. In this case, brawl is meaningless after a few levels because you'll use much better ranged attacks instead. Sprint is unnecessary after you get real (or temporary) travel powers so there's no point in taking the endurance drain to leave it on. Rest is useful until you get Health and Stamina and sometimes later too, but that's a judgment call based on experience. I find that I don't need it enough to slot it so I leave it unslotted too.

01: Brawl

01: Sprint

02: Rest

Sprint does have one major use and that's Stealth. If you get a stealth IO from EITHER the jump set or run, you can slot it into sprint and then turn sprint on when you want to sneak. Note that with a stealth IO and steamy mist, you are fully invisible (assuming you didn't take Super Speed which makes the IO pointless for PvE)

As for your Archetype power, Defenders get Vigilance. With Vigilance, your powers cost less endurance as your teammates lose life. This is useful because you can have a lot of teammates and any one of them that's skirting death will give you the bonus (theoretically). The idea is that in a pinch, you can go crazy launching powers to try and save your team.

More importantly, when soloing, it will give a significant damage bonus (which decreases as more people join your team). While this used to be a fairly lack-luster power, it now is pretty cool!

Screaming Gale's Storm/Sonic Defender Guide

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Gale’s Level 16 Build

Filed under: City of Heroes,Defenders,Guides,Screaming Gale — Jeremy

Updated: I16

01: Shriek

25%

38%

12%

25%

01: O2 Boost

23%

10%

01: Scream

25%

38%

12%

25%

04: Howl

25%

50%

25%

06: Hasten

19%

08: Steamy Mist

46%

27%

10: Shockwave

38%

12: Recall Friend

19%

14: Super Speed

19%

16: Freezing Rain

19%

download a sample Mid's planner build file here

Because of Recall Friend, I was set up for Teleport as a travel power which would work too, but I chose Super Speed instead for several reasons. First, the IO that gives stealth in run powers is very expensive. I could have had her fly instead and done stealth that way, but that didn't fit the character (one of the issues with doing character-based builds). However, I'm also a strong believer in making an effort to try different things and Super Speed is something I didn't use on many characters (I generally prefer fly).

Another reason for Super Speed is that the final power in the set is Whirlwind. A power I'd never taken, but looks like you're spinning around in a self-made tornado. Thematically, that's pure win.

Anyway, all that aside, this is built around being functional solo, but also able to team well by 16 for the Positron TF. Most importantly, you travel very fast and can drag slowpokes with you using Recall Friend. And because Super Speed with Steamy Mist makes you fully invisible, you can use the Sneak and TP combo.

Use Shockwave (with heavy accuracy) to control enemies) or blast runners back into a patch of Freezing Rain. Steamy Mist provides protection from energy fire and cold (used by Outcasts, CoT, and others in spades). O2 Boost, while no good for you alone, makes you greatly useful in teams and increases your chances of completing a mission quickly and efficiently by keeping your team members alive and immune to sleep, stun, etc.

Play Tips

Hanging in the Hollows

When anyone on your team uses an awaken, hit them with O2 boost to remove the stun effect so they can start using inspirations and powers immediately. This also heals them which is important if they were gutsy enough to come up before being fully out of range of attacks. Your well timed heal might save them from another death.
When playing in a team, try to spread your attacks out among all the enemies (constantly switch targets) so your secondary effect of lowering damage resistance affects more people.
When you see someone in serious trouble in your team window, but you're not in line-of-sight, TP them to you and hit them with O2 Boost a few times.

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Gale’s Sonic Blast Guide

Filed under: Amplify,City of Heroes,Defenders,Dreadful Wail,Guides,Howl,Powersets,Scream,Screech,Shockwave,Shout,Shriek,Sirens Song,Sonic Attack,Testing — Jeremy

Sonic involves a lot of noise which some people find annoying, but I'm much happier with it because it's a themed character (Gale is supposed to be noisy). Anyway, sonic's secondary effect is lowered damage resistance. This helps you and your team by making the enemies easier to hit.

Some power combinations really don't work conceptually, but Storm (my primary) works with anything. Psychic Storm, yeah, I can see that. Radiation Storm? Dark Storm? Yup. It's all good. Mostly I chose sonic because it's a set that I wanted to try, but didn't think fit well with most of the other primaries. A raging noisy storm made perfect sense and thus, Screaming Gale.

Shriek

Shriek - Your low damage attack

Score

4 of 5

Unslotted Strength

3 x Brawl

Summary

A basic low power attack It's nice that it has a secondary effect of lowering damage resistance because that means that the second time you hit anything, the harder you'll hit them.

How to Use

Not much to say for a basic attack just that if you're in a group and aggro is under control, you can use this as a debuff if you make sure to hit each enemy one after the other (instead of trying to drop the same enemy over and over). By doing this, you are spreading out the damage resistance effect.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 4 Slots )

There's no way to slot for resistance debuff so all you can do is the basics. Four slots is enough.

40%

Accuracy (40% Minimum)

Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%

Standard attack percentages. Make it accurate so it will hit.

80%

Damage (80% Minimum)

Default: 30 points
With max 100% enhancement: 60 points

As one of your main attacks from the start to the end of the game, make sure the hits count.

30%

Endurance Reduction (30% Minimum)

Default: 4 end
With max 100% enhancement: 2 end

There's never a reason not to slot some end reduction. If you give this power the four slots I recommend, you should easily be able to drop this a fair bit while hitting your accuracy and damage targets too.

20%

Recharge (20% Minimum)

Default: 3 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 1.5 sec

It already comes back fast so this isn't something you need to focus on.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 80 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 128 Feet

80's plenty. I've never though I needed more range on these attacks.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Scream

Scream - More powerful... Not much else to say

Score

4 of 5

Unslotted Strength

4.3 x Brawl

Summary

Looks a lot like Shriek, but they used a different sound effect for it. As with all damage sets, the second attack does more damage than the first, but it works basically the same way. I personally skipped this to save for other powers.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 4 Slots )

If you take this, slot it the same way for the same reasons as Shriek.

40%

Accuracy (40% Minimum)

Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%

Standard attack percentages. Make it accurate so it will hit.

80%

Damage (80% Minimum)

Default: 30 points
With max 100% enhancement: 60 points

As one of your main attacks from the start to the end of the game, make sure the hits count.

30%

Endurance Reduction (30% Minimum)

Default: 4 end
With max 100% enhancement: 2 end

20%

Recharge (20% Minimum)

Default: 3 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 1.5 sec

It already comes back fast so this isn't something you need to focus on.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 80 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 128 Feet

80's plenty. I've never though I needed more range on these attacks.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Howl

Howl - An AoE power. Yeah!

Score

5 of 5

Unslotted Strength

2.6 x Brawl

Summary

Aren't AoE powers fun? You burst forth a cone shaped blast of sonic nastiness. It does pretty decent damage in a nice wide cone and drops damage resistance too! It's a bit short range, but we can fix that.

How to Use

Unless you have someone else handling Aggro, make sure you don't use this as an opening move, but after that, make sure to use this as much as you can. It may be an attack, but it's also an AoE debuff! Using this first will guarantee your enemies get hit harder by all subsequent attacks.

As a cone power, make sure to back up before launching the power if you need to hit people a little wider out.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 6 Slots )

You still can't buff the secondary effects, but because you need some slots to fix the range issues, you'll need six for this one.

60%

Accuracy (60% Minimum)

Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%

If you use this as a debuff like I do, you'll want to make sure it hits. Go a little beyond normal for accuracy and shoot for about 60%

80%

Range (80% Minimum)

Default: 50 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 80 Feet

At a range of 50, you won't hit much. If you slot to 80+ percent for range, you'll get almost the same range on Howl as you would with your normal attacks (nearly 80 feet).

80%

Damage (80% Minimum)

Default: 29 points
With max 100% enhancement: 58 points

If you use this power a lot like I do, buff the damage as much as you can spare slots for.

30%

Endurance Reduction (30% Minimum)

Default: 10 end
With max 100% enhancement: 5 end

Because I use this constantly (unless fighting a single enemy), I need to bring down the end cost. 30% was enough in my case.

50%

Recharge (50% Minimum)

Default: 10 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 5 sec

Even though this isn't' the strongest attack around, using it over and over will drop enemies eventually and if you have more than one to kill (arrest), this is one of the few powers you have to hits more than one at a time).

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Shockwave

Shockwave - Does damage and knockback

Score

5 of 5

Unslotted Strength

2 x Brawl

Summary

If you took Storm Summoning as your primary like I did, you may find this unnecessary because of Gale. It's quite the opposite though. This power actually does decent damage so if you had to choose, this would be the one to take instead of Gale. However, because of my concept, I took both. If you're going to have all the knockback and positioning powers anyway, might as well have a backup in case Gale misses.

How to Use

Shockwave is useful for the same reason any knockback power is, enemies on their butt can't attack. As a character who's kinda Squishy, but who's attacks are all ranged anyway, this is great power to have. They can't get to melee range, but you can hit them just fine.

Use it to open your attack chain and prevent an Alpha Strike strike. Use it put enemies back into AoE effects or just keep them from running. Blow minions away while you handle the boss. There are tons of uses for Shockwave!

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 4 Slots )

Slot it like any other attack with the exception of accuracy.

60%

Accuracy (60% Minimum)

Default: 67%
With max 100% enhancement: 134%

As an AoE, you want high accuracy anyway, but if you use it for control and saving your butt, you want to make sure it doesn't miss!

80%

Damage (80% Minimum)

Default: 23 points
With max 100% enhancement: 46 points

Hey, why not!? It's actually a pretty strong attack that just happens to do knockback. Slot it up!

50%

Recharge (50% Minimum)

Default: 8 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 4 sec

If it misses the first time, or you're starting to get overwhelmed by too many enemies, it's good for you to have this back as soon as possible.

30%

Endurance Reduction (30% Minimum)

Default: 11 end
With max 100% enhancement: 5.5 end

Standard here.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 50 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 80 Feet

Even though this is short range, there's a reason you don't want to change that. If you buff this up like howl and then can hit people at almost 80 feet away, the ones you hit will be knocked out of attack range.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Shout

Shout - This is a pretty strong attack for a Defender

Score

4 of 5

Unslotted Strength

7 x Brawl

Summary

It's no different than Shriek or Scream, just more powerful. Note that it is half the range though. It also takes almost 3 seconds to full cast which is a bit of a downer, but it's strong enough to make up the difference.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 4 Slots )

If you take this, slot it the same way for the same reasons as Shriek with the exception of range.

40%

Accuracy (40% Minimum)

Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%

Standard attack percentages. Make it accurate so it will hit.

80%

Damage (80% Minimum)

Default: 76 points
With max 100% enhancement: 152 points

It's a beast. Make it even stronger 🙂

50%

Recharge (50% Minimum)

Default: 10 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 5 sec

Bring it back faster to increase your DPS.

30%

Endurance Reduction (30% Minimum)

Default: 11 end
With max 100% enhancement: 5.5 end

Standard.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 40 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 64 Feet

It's short range, but I've never really had to worry about that. I'm using Shout usually because I'm trying to kill a tough opponent or there's only one left (so I don't need my AoEs). Usually I'm close to the enemy at that point. It would be good to increase the range for sure, but I never really found I needed it.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Amplify

Amplify - Boosts accuracy and power

Score

5 of 5

Summary

The description says it "greatly" increases accuracy and "slightly" improves damage potential for a short time. According to Mid's, it's actually 50% ToHit and 50% percent damage for 10 seconds.

How to Use

As a Defender, you're not going to use this power to the same level as a Blaster would, but it does have it's uses. Last I checked, your pets get the bonus to accuracy and damage so if you use Amplify before summoning them, you give them at least those bonuses and might have time to launch a few attacks too.

This is good to use before Shockwave if you use it to open a battle so you don't miss. It's also good for other control power like Siren's Song or just when you want to increase your attack power for a bit.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 2 Slots )

You could probably get away with one if you only want to use it once every battle or so, but that's still 45 seconds. If you're moving at any decent rate, you'll want to give it at least two slots for better recharge

80%

Recharge (80% Minimum)

Default: 90 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 45 sec

The only downside to this power is how long it takes to come back so fix that as much as you can.

To Hit Buff (0% Minimum)

Default: 50%
With max 60% enhancement: 80%

The only time I've ever bothered with this was when I got a bonus accidentally while shooting for some kind of IO set bonus in this power. It's not really needed.

Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)

Default: 5 end
With max 100% enhancement: 2.5 end

Not enough to worry about.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Siren's Song

Siren's Song - Puts them to sleep

Score

4 of 5

Unslotted Strength

1.6 x Brawl

Summary

Pick a target and fire. It and everything nearby in range (in a cone) take minor damage and fall asleep. Note that as a Mag 3 power, this will put everything short of Bosses asleep on the first application.

How to Use

Sleep powers are very unsexy because the enemies pop right out of it the second you hit them with something. Using this when teaming can be a waste since it's so easy to disturb them, but don't underestimate it!

You could put down a couple of snipers or a second group that's attack your team or use it to make a hasty retreat when you find yourself in trouble. It is also useful when soloing so you can put them all to sleep and then take them out one at a time.

A good combo is to use Shockwave to knock a group back, Howl to debuff them, and Siren's Song to put them all to sleep. They're already positioned and debuffed and now they're asleep so they won't fight back.

The best approach is to consider this a weak-ish cone AoE attack that also happens to control part of your aggro. Also keep in mind that any IO sets for sleep tend to be super cheap and easy to get and one such power gives health back to you making this power a possible self heal too!

With Howl and Shockwave, you have a 3-attack chain for AoE and still plenty of single target powers.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 6 Slots )

If you take this power, give it some love.

80%

Accuracy (80% Minimum)

Default: 67%
With max 100% enhancement: 134%

For a control power, make sure it hits.

60%

Recharge (60% Minimum)

Default: 20 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 10 sec

For stacking reasons and when trying to control multiple enemy groups, you want the power to recharge as often as possible.

60%

Damage (60% Minimum)

Default: 18 points
With max 100% enhancement: 36 points

If you take my advice and treat this like an attack with side benefits, you definitely want to buff the damage.

30%

Range (30% Minimum)

Default: 40 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 64 Feet

This power has a 50 degree arc! To be able to hit the most possible, add depth to the cone by slotting some range.

25%

Endurance Reduction (25% Minimum)

Default: 15 end
With max 100% enhancement: 7.5 end

This is high so lower it at least a little.

Sleep (0% Minimum)

Default: 44sec
With max 100% enhancement: 88sec

This is already way long. Rather than extend it, you should focus on recharge and use it multiple times instead.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Screech

Screech - How many different ways can they come up with to say ''Scream''?

Score

4 of 5

Unslotted Strength

0.8 x Brawl

Summary

A single target disorient. Good for PvP or managing bosses or other tough opponents.

How to Use

While this isn't a strong attack, at least it's not one of those control powers that does no damage at all where it feels like a waste to use it. Keep this in your attack chain to keep whatever you're working on under control. It's got a long recharge, and a short duration that doesn't overlap, but that can be fixed.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 5 Slots )

This has several downsides that need to be compensated for.

80%

Accuracy (80% Minimum)

Default: 75%
With max 100% enhancement: 150%

For a control power, make sure it hits.

60%

Recharge (60% Minimum)

Default: 20 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 10 sec

Both for stacking or controlling multiple enemies, bring it back fast.

60%

Stun (60% Minimum)

Default: 15 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 30 sec

You need to drop recharge AND slot for stun duration if you want to be able to stack this power.

Damage (0% Minimum)

Default: 8 points
With max 100% enhancement: 16 points

It wouldn't be bad to buff this, but I used it more for control than damage so I never slotted this up.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 60 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 96 Feet

This is already fairly long though not as long as your attacks. You can buff it if you want to, but I wouldn't obsess over it.

Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)

Default: 10 end
With max 100% enhancement: 5 end

It's a little high, but you have other stuff to focus on.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Dreadful Wail

Dreadful Wail - Defender Nova - Mua ha ha ha!

Score

5 of 5

Unslotted Strength

19 x Brawl

Summary

Massive Smashing/Energy damage to all enemies around you as well as a Mag 3 stun.

How to use

It's not complicated or special. Just like any other Nova power, you fire this off to do massive damage to any nearby enemies, but you're drained of endurance. If you have one of the Epic power pools that has energy recovery (like Electric or Dark Mastery), you can fire this, use a blue inspiration and fire your other power to nullify that disadvantage.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 4 Slots )

Slot enough that you can up the damage and recharge plus a little accuracy.

85%

Recharge (85% Minimum)

Default: 360 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 180 sec

Standard nova recharge. Back as soon as possible!

60%

Damage (60% Minimum)

Default: 210 points
With max 100% enhancement: 420 points

Amp it up!

20%

Accuracy (20% Minimum)

Default: 105%
With max 100% enhancement: 210%

Give it a little bit. It has a bonus to hit already, but it's a crying shame when it misses.

Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)

Default: 20 end
With max 100% enhancement: 10 end

Kind of silly really. You'll be drained of end so why reduce the cost here unless you keep trying to use your nova when already out of endurance?

Stun (0% Minimum)

Default: 15 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 30 sec

You could slot for disorient, but there's little point to doing so. 15 seconds is enough to get things back under control before they snap out of it.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Summary

For defender secondaries, Sonic is not bad. Having played a D3 Defender, I could keep the enemies from hitting me, but damaging them was much tougher. With powers that not only do a really good amount of damage, but also reduce their resistance to further damage as a secondary effect, I can actually dish it out pretty well for once.

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Gale’s Storm Summoning Guide

Filed under: 02 Boost,Defenders,Freezing Rain,Gale,Guides,Hurricane,Lightning Storm,Powersets,Snow Storm,Storm Summoning,Thunder Clap,Tornado — Jeremy

Make no mistake, storm is FUN! It's also very useful or very useless depending on how you use it. Be sure if you're going to take this set that you know what kind of character you're going to play and how you're going to play them beforehand.

Gale

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

Score

2 of 5

Unslotted Strength

.25 x Brawl

Summary

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.

In the end, I marked it 2 out of 5 because it does take some creativity to use it right.

How to Use

There are many reasons you would want to move enemies around:

First, melee attacks are generally far more powerful than ranged (think Rikti and Lost with their big-ass swords). Keeping enemies at distance is very helpful here.
Say some enemies escape your AOE effects (like Freezing Rain) or they were never in it to begin with. You can pop them back in.
Keep runners from getting away (knock them down so they can't run)
Enemies that fall can't fight back. Particularly when soloing, using gale constantly helps keep you alive.
If on a team and people hate the knockback when they're busy fighting, you can still make yourself useful by blasting down enemies that are keeping their distance (sniping types or a second group that's already aggroed).
Some missions and situations require that you keep enemies away. The Terra Volta reactor for example.
When fighting Arch-villains or GMs that have minions surrounding them, you can use gale to blow away the little guys (AVs and GMs don't tend to get blown back).

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 it could be when used right, I might not have waited so long.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( Default Slot Only )

One slot is usually enough though it's better if you work to get some accuracy bonuses from sets. If you really depend on this power, 2 slots might be warranted, though I never really found that to be the case.

40%

Accuracy (40% Minimum)

Default: 67%
With max 100% enhancement: 134%

This is a bare, bare minimum. If you want to use this power to keep about half of enemy groups on their butts, fine, but if you really want to use it for the cool control and positioning things like I described, try for closer to 60% or better accuracy.

Recharge (0% Minimum)

Default: 8 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 4 sec

If you want to spam this on enemies, bump this up to 40% or better, but in my experience, the default recharge was fine (especially since I have other knockback powers already).

Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)

Default: 7 end
With max 100% enhancement: 3.5 end

It doesn't cost much and can't be used that quickly. I've never thought 'Man! I really need to lower the end cost on gale!'.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 50 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 80 Feet

50 feet is not as long as your attacks, but it's still pretty good.

Knockback (0% Minimum)

Default: 10 Feet
With max 180% enhancement: 28 Feet

You could bump this up for fun I guess, but if you want to learn to position people with it, you shouldn't be messing with the distance they're thrown. Learn the default distance and use it that way forever.

Though note that this is the ONLY power aspect that can be enhanced to almost 200% of the original value. If you max this out, people will be FLYING!

Damage (0% Minimum)

Default: 3 points
With max 100% enhancement: 6 points

This is a quarter the strength of brawl. It's totally not worth enhancing versus the other aspects of this power.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

O2 Boost

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

Score

4 of 5

Summary

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.

If you never team at all and you're not playing a Mastermind, Controller or any other AT that has a pet, you could skip this power. In all other cases, this is a great thing to have.

How to Use

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).

If you enhance this, it heals for over a third of your target's life total! Not so weak anymore!

If your team is fighting enemies that tend to stun, hit your teammates with O2 boost before the fight. Also remember that it prevents sleep, endurance drain, and increases their perception at the same time (which has useful PvP applications). The effects just mentioned last for 60 seconds so this power is quite a bit more useful than most people give it credit for.

As with any other single-target heal, when you see a team member go to yellow or red for their life total, just click their name and hit O2 Boost.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 2 Slots )

In my case, I was able to buff heal by a lot and endurance by a little while also getting a set bonus that improved my endurance recovery only using 2 slots.

50%

Heal (50% Minimum)

Default: 17%
With max 100% enhancement: 34%

Healing is this power's main point so buff it up. If you give it two slots, you can get more creative and buff other attributes, but concentrate on heal.

20%

Endurance Reduction (20% Minimum)

Default: 13 end
With max 100% enhancement: 6.5 end

Assuming you give O2 Boost more than one slot, reducing the endurance charge is not a bad idea since it's kind of expensive.

Recharge (0% Minimum)

Default: 4 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 2 sec

This has a very fast recharge for a heal. Put on auto, you'll practically be constantly healing with no room in the middle for attacks. If you can pull it with IO slotting or if you give this power more than 2 slots, recharge is possibly useful.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 80 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 128 Feet

80 feet is the same distance as your primary attacks and has always been long enough in my experience. Buff it if you must, but I didn't give this any attention.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Snow Storm

Don't skip it!

Score

4 of 5

Summary

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

How to Use

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.

Like other powers that have an AoE debuff on a targeted enemy, you run some risk of Aggroing other groups if your target bolts. However, since the effect is a very powerful slow, you don't really have to worry about them getting very far very fast.

Also, remember that it doesn't just slow their run speed. For enemies that often fly away (CoT and tsoo spirits for example), this prevents them from flying too. And best of all, it reduces their recharge rage by over 60%!

A great combo is to sneak up to a group of enemies, knock them down with Gale and then slap Snow Storm on one of them to keep them under control while you launch Freezing Rain or other powers.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 4 Slots )

4 slots is enough to max out both the endurance reduction and slow on this power. Use more if you want to add fun things like a chance of damage and less if you don't care to enhance the slow movement aspect. You could slot 2 endurance reduction and still get most of the benefit of this power.

80%

Endurance Reduction (80% Minimum)

Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second

This power is as expensive as running Super Speed in the middle of battle. Considering you have many other powers that drain endurance in spectacular fashion, lower this as much as you can.

50%

Slow (50% Minimum)

Default: 62%
With max 100% enhancement: 124%

While this only buffs the slow movement aspect of the power and not slow recharge rate, it's still very useful to keep enemies from running wherever they want. Especially if you have them pinned in an AoE effect like Freezing Rain.

Recharge (0% Minimum)

Default: 10 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 5 sec

You COULD slot recharge if you want, but 10 seconds is not that long. If you find you're having to reapply Snow Storm a lot during battle, the key is more about picking better targets (tougher ones).

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Steamy Mist

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

Score

6 of 5

Summary

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.

How to Use

If you haven't figured it out by now, Storm is an endurance-sucking monster! Do everything you can to increase your endurance recovery and reduce your endurance usage and you should be able (and will want to), keep this power active pretty much all the time.

If you haven't figured it out by now, Storm is an endurance-sucking monster!

Typically, the only time I turn this off is in crowded areas like the market (to be polite), during rikti raids (because people say the EBs won't come if stealth powers are on), and when trying to find the last enemy on a "defeat all" map (if they can see me, they might shoot me making them easier to find).

But if you don't take my advice or are too low level to keep it on all the time, at least turn it on:

Whenever you enter a mission. If enemies are close to the door, they won't see you or your teammates.
When fighting any enemies that use Cold, Fire, or any kind of energy (that's a lot by the way).

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 6 Slots )

As a power that increases both Defense AND Resistance, you will slot this to the max, guaranteed.

80%

Endurance Reduction (80% Minimum)

Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second

Just like Snow Storm, this power is as expensive as running Super Speed. Given the benefits, lower the end cost as much as you can so you can keep it on whenever you want.

40%

Defense Buff (40% Minimum)

Default: 51
With max 60% enhancement: 81

Very few powers provide team defense at this level. This is great for you, better if you're a Mastermind, and best when on teams.

40%

Damage Resist (40% Minimum)

Default: 20%
With max 60% enhancement: 32%

Maxed out, you get 25% or better damage resistance to Cold, Fire, and Energy.

20%

Recharge (20% Minimum)

Default: 15 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 7.5 sec

If you're not using IO's you might skip this, but it's trivial to get all of the above and recharge too otherwise. Get at least 20% so you can get it back faster if it drops.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Freezing Rain

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

Score

6 of 5

Unslotted Strength

3 x Brawl

Summary

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), lowers their recharge rate, and does a rapid amount of DoT damage. Yeah, that's good stuff.

How to Use

This makes a good opening move when solo since many of your enemies will immediately fall down instead of attacking you. I prefer instead to blast them back with Gale and then hit them with the Freezing Rain once I can see where they'll stop.

When teaming, make sure to wait until you see where the action is before dropping the power. The tank might Herd or he might just rush in. Don't waste your power putting it where it won't do any good.

It's also useful for tactical retreats (covering your ass), managing accidentally aggro'ed second groups, or those annoying enemies that tend to stand off and snipe from a distance.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 6 Slots )

Unless you're just completely strapped for slots, this power really deserves a lot. Besides recharge to bring it back faster, defense debuff is a great attribute, but you'll want a few slots to buff it's range, damage, or slow effects.

80%

Recharge (80% Minimum)

Default: 60 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 30 sec

The main value of this power is being able to use it often. Recharge is your priority hands down.

50%

Defense Debuff (50% Minimum)

Default: 30-1
With max 60% enhancement: 21-1

You can't buff the damage resistance debuff effect (which is -35%), so give it to the Defense debuff instead.

Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)

Default: 18 end
With max 100% enhancement: 9 end

Kind of expensive, but doesn't come up often enough to be a huge drain. You'll probably manage a little endurance reduction in your slotting, but don't make it a focus.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 60 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 96 Feet

If you didn't take Steamy Mist, you might need to increase the range so you can launch Freezing Rain undetected until it's too late, but you wouldn't skip Steamy Mist so no need to worry about that... right!?

Damage (0% Minimum)

Default: 30 points
With max 100% enhancement: 60 points

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 Aim or Build Up, and triple slot it for damage, but it will never be anything to write home about. You're better off adding Chance of Damage Procs instead (which is what I did).

Accuracy (0% Minimum)

Default: 150%
With max 100% enhancement: 300%

I'm not sure what accuracy does. It doesn't affect the damage which seems to be auto-hit. It doesn't seem to affect the damage and defense debuffs. It MAY affect whether the enemies fall down or not, but it's already at 150%. Not a huge priority.

Slow (0% Minimum)

Default: 60%
With max 100% enhancement: 120%

It's strong enough as is and you have Snow Storm anyway. If you didn't take Snow Storm, it might be worth buffing this power.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Hurricane

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

Score

4 of 5

Summary

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. According to Mid's, it also reduces their range. Lastly, it causes occasional knockback.

How to Use

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 or keeping them from running through a doorway to kill you.

Some people say I'm pushy 😉

Better yet, if fighting a small number of enemies or a single boss when solo, this accuracy debuff if almost as strong as that of a Dark user. You're survivability is very strong when they can't hit you and even if they try, you're knocking them down on their butt.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 3 Slots )

As a power that increases both Defense AND Resistance, you will slot this to the max, guaranteed.

80%

Endurance Reduction (80% Minimum)

Default: 0 end per second
With max 100% enhancement: 0 end per second

This power is even MORE expensive than Super Speed! Lower it as much as possible.

40%

To Hit Debuff (40% Minimum)

Default: 37%
With max 60% enhancement: 59.2%

Max slotted, you can get this close to 50% accuracy debuff which is awesome.

Recharge (0% Minimum)

Default: 10 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 5 sec

It doesn't take very long to come back so I've never really though about more recharge.

Knockback (0% Minimum)

Default: 0 Feet
With max 180% enhancement: 0 Feet

I'm not actually sure what the knockback value is, but it doesn't really matter. The power of this effect is only good when they're close to you so enhancing the knockback would be counter to the goal of keeping them close.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Thunder Clap

Thunder Clap - A wide area stun effect

Score

4 of 5

Summary

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 :D).

How to Use

As a Mag 2 stun, you won't get most enemies other than Minions without an added stun effect (but Tornado and Lightning Storm both have stun attributes). You can either use this for control of the minions in a mob, handling aggroed second mobs, or for stacking with your pets' stuns to stun bosses.

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 4 Slots )

Needing accuracy, recharge, and probably stun to be useful, 4 slots is probably a minimum

80%

Accuracy (80% Minimum)

Default: 60%
With max 100% enhancement: 120%

Go high. It starts out lower than most powers and needs to be high to be useful.

50%

Recharge (50% Minimum)

Default: 45 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 22.5 sec

This power is best when it comes back often. Both so you can stack it on the same enemy before the effect from the first wears off and because you can better control large rooms of enemies

20%

Stun (20% Minimum)

Default: 14 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 28 sec

Increase stun duration by at least 20% so the stun duration lasts long enough that you can launch the power again.

Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)

Default: 10 end
With max 100% enhancement: 5 end

Not a priority.

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Tornado

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

Score

4 of 5

Unslotted Strength

32 x Brawl

Summary

Ok, yes, the tornado is a bit random. Actually, chaotic might be more accurate. It wanders about randomly, tossing enemies about, and causing disorient and fear. 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, Tornado does damage while also reducing the defense of your enemies. You can use it to absorb an alpha too. It may take some getting used to, but it is a powerful tool when used properly.

Note that it can't actually absorb and alpha strike like other pets since it can't be targeted, but since it tosses your enemies around, they can't actually hit you, can they?

How to Use

Tornado scatters enemies and causes chaos, but sometimes that's ok. Whenever you're soloing, there's no reason not to use it. You might hold it for group battles, but in smaller rooms or areas where a second aggroed group needs to be distracted, Tornado is a great candidate.

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. Added with the stun and defense debuff aspects of Tornado, it's not only extremely powerful, but debuffs them at the same time. Most people highly underestimate Tornado.

Since Tornado can't be targeted (and therefore can't be killed), it will do damage and fling people around for as long as it's out (about 30 seconds).

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 6 Slots )

Slot this less than 6 and you're nuts!

80%

Recharge (80% Minimum)

Default: 60 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 30 sec

The only thing better than one Tornado, is two Tornados! You won't get there with enhancing this alone, but it doesn't take too much to make it happen (Hasten being your best bet and IO bonuses being your next.

40%

Defense Debuff (40% Minimum)

Default: 15-1
With max 60% enhancement: 10.5-1

This only makes you, your team, and Tornado itself hit harder. Bump this aspect as much as you can.

40%

Damage (40% Minimum)

Default: 407 points
With max 100% enhancement: 814 points

This thing hits hard when it does hit so give it all the damage enhancement you can spare.

Endurance Reduction (0% Minimum)

Default: 20 end
With max 100% enhancement: 10 end

There are other aspects that deserve your slots far more.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 60 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 96 Feet

If you can't think of anything else to enhance, range will let you drop the Tornado further from you. Not really a key issue, but you could do it if you wanted.

Stun (0% Minimum)

Default: 2 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 4 sec

The stun doesn't last long unless the Tornado has planted itself on just one enemy. It's not really worth enhancing.

Knockback (0% Minimum)

Default: 6 Feet
With max 180% enhancement: 16.8 Feet

Why? Leave it empty

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

Lightning Storm

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

Score

6 of 5

Unslotted Strength

4 x Brawl (per hit)

Summary

It does damage, knockback, and looks FREAKING COOL! It's a highly territorial power that will keep enemies away from wherever you place it and is invincible like Tornado. Point to note: it always forms directly over your head (can't be set at a targeted location).

You can't enhance it, but this also has a fear effect. Lastly, it drains endurance, and reduces your target's endurance recovery rate, but BOTH of these can be enhanced 😀

How to Use

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!

There's something so very satisfying about punishing the heck out of any enemy foolish enough to try and come within melee range 🙂

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

( 6 Slots )

Slot this less than 6 and you're nuts!

80%

Recharge (80% Minimum)

Default: 90 sec
With max 100% enhancement: 45 sec

With a duration of 60 seconds, you can get this to the point of overlap without any other recharge bonuses (and you should). The only thing better than a Lightning Storm is TWO Lightning Storms.

50%

Damage (50% Minimum)

Default: 50 points
With max 100% enhancement: 100 points

This greatly adds to your over-all damage potential so don't leave it hanging.

Range (0% Minimum)

Default: 0 Feet
With max 60% enhancement: 0 Feet

According to Mid's planner, you can enhance the range of LS, but since you can't choose a casting position, I can only assume this increases the attack range of the storm. There are probably a bunch of applications for this, but I gave priority to other aspects.

Endurance Modification (0% Minimum)

Default: 10%
With max 100% enhancement: 20%

This not only drains their endurance, but prevents recovery of endurance. Against AVs or bosses, this could be highly valuable so consider buffing this some if you can spare the slots.

15%

Endurance Reduction (15% Minimum)

Default: 31 end
With max 100% enhancement: 15.5 end

At 30 points endurance, drop it a little if you can.

Accuracy (0% Minimum)

Default: 150%
With max 100% enhancement: 300%

With no enhancement at all, it already hits almost all the time because of it's inherent bonus to hit.

Knockback (0% Minimum)

Default: 6 Feet
With max 180% enhancement: 16.8 Feet

Meh. Not necessary

Help

The enhanceable properties of this power are listed in order of importance. Hover the mouse over each for detailed information and a description.

This power more than most is very versitile. If you want stronger control, buffing endurance mod, range, and knockback isn't a bad idea. For increasing your damage output, Damage. In ANY case, buff recharge to the max! Lightning storm is just cool!

Summary

That reactor is mine... and wing raiders can't play! (Video: 5.5Mb)

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!

Comments (2)

All About Storm/Sonic Defenders

Filed under: Defenders,Guides — Jeremy

Background

Gale came out of a powerset combination concept I had for a raging storm. I figured sonic/storm made sense thematically and was also a power combination I hadn't tried. Unfortunately, I could get the costume right at first and ended up deleting the first version of Screaming Gale.

Gale's second costume.

Fortunately, it occurred to me that the concept of a loud and chaotic Noob would work well in the comic and came up with a costume and character theme I really liked. Since then, I've played Gale through the levels and found that she's a lot of fun to play!

Pros

Pinning enemies into a corner.

Sonic's secondary effect is decreased damage resistance which makes you more powerful than many other defenders. At the very least, the more you attack, the faster and easier it will be to take down enemies.

While the attack set is pretty one-dimensional, Storm powers are extremely varied and versatile. You get two pets (sort of) and can debuff defense, accuracy, and speed. You have an AOE control power, knockback, and one of the very few "pushing" powers in the game. It can be a challenge to play well, but is amazing when you do!

Cons

Defenders are mostly about altering the battle. You have debuffs, buffs, heals, and stuff that knock the enemies all over the place. These are powerful, interesting, and useful, but hard to control. It takes time to learn and use your powers well enough not to piss off your team members.

For example, a Storm/Sonic Defender has tons of knockback (unless you try very hard to avoid all the powers that have this), but most teams hate Knockback. That's because most teams don't realize that you can boot runners back into the herd, pin enemies in the corner, and save a team from a wipe. Because you have one little heal, you have to train anyone who doesn't understand Defenders that you are not a "healer".

Summary

I play a Defender because of the wide variety of things they can do in battle. You can fight, you can support, you can control. Because of you, your team can take on groups of enemies at levels far too hard otherwise. But more than anything, what makes Storm/sonic fun is playing it in a way that no one has seen before. Because of the strong theme of powers and story, Gale is one of my all-time favorite characters :D.

Comments (0)

Screaming Gale’s Story

Filed under: Defenders,Guides — Jeremy

Origin and AT: Mutation Defender
Powersets: Storm Summoning, Sonic Blast, Electric Mastery
Age: 17 Years old
Distinguishing Traits: Loud voice. Pony tail. Trail of destruction wherever she goes.
Catchphrase: OMG! TAHTS A LOT OF ENMEIES!!1!

Story

(as told by her father)

Screaming Gale - Storm/Sonic Defender

Gale was a pretty normal kid. Well, I guess looking back she really wasn't, but we didn't know any different. I mean every kid is loud. How were we supposed to know? Sure, there were clues like how my wife always said Gale's crying gave her headaches. Or the time she fell off her bike and scraped her knee. Her bawling set off every dog in the neighborhood. And then there was the time she threw a tantrum because we were having broccoli casserole for dinner… Shattered every piece of glass in the room, heh. I guess that was a pretty good clue right there.

Another thing, and we didn't think anything of it then, but she would watch storms for hours. Rain storms I mean. Anyway, if it was thundering and blasting bolts all across the sky, even better. She wasn't ever afraid like some other kids. Sometimes we'd find her outside soaking wet and cold and her mother'd go on for days after about "common sense" and "coming in out of the rain" and such. Gale would just say she couldn't hear the "song of the storm" as well from inside which would just set my wife off again.

We never could get her to stop standing in the rain. Whenever she was sad, it seemed like a good rainstorm was the only thing that would cheer her up. Come to think of it, it did seem to rain a lot when she was feeling blue. Well, anyway, it became pretty clear that she had "powers" not too long before she turned 15. Her little brother decided to give her a really good scare and hid behind the door. Whew! That was one loud scream. But not just that, it blasted the kitchen stove through the wall and across the yard! And then lightning struck it… three times! Blam! Blam! Whop! Thank goodness it was just the stove (shudder).

So it was about that time we figured that we better get her some training before we lost any more appliances… or worse. We took her down to Hero registration and signed her up. Now, she wasn't too excited about Hero work. She never was too good with scary things and there's a lot of scary stuff in Hero work. But, she's met some real fine kids who seem to be taking her under their wing. Like that Jordan girl. She's got a darkness about her, but I can tell she has a good heart. Seems she's been doing real well in the Hero business so hopefully our Gale can learn a thing or two from her.

Screaming Gale's Storm/Sonic Defender Guide

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Character Generation Intro

Filed under: Customizing,Guides — Jeremy

It's widely accepted that CoH/V has the best character generation engine of any MMO. Use it to make the perfect character to suit your personality and playstyle.

Spend some time thinking about what kind of character you want to play. I've noticed that many people have a great fondness for their first characters while others are Altoholics. Either way, the attachment and fun that people have in CoH/V is often directly related to how much effort is put in to the character's design and story.

Right now, you can plan everything out about your character except for their exact look because the character creation engine is not available until your account is active.

The Devs have been harassed for a long time by myself and others to allow the character generation function to be accessed before activating an account. Their reason (as I understand) for not doing this is because people will make characters that look like copyrighted characters. Well, they either will or won't and having an active account or not has no bearing on it.

First of all, people who have never played are typically reeled in by the character generator. It's how I became interested and it's how I got a friend interested. Secondly, people like me who have played before get really excited about starting up again because of a character design I thought of. Being able to fully build that character offline would give me great encouragement to reactivate.

Anyway, that's what they decided and while I disagree with that decision, out of respect, I will not tell you about the "city of heroes korean character creator" which was leaked out over the Internet a while back. It's fairly old anyway which means it doesn't include a lot of the newer costume pieces and such so I won't mention it. The Korean character creator that is.

Some of my many heroes and villains

The normal method versus a "theme"

Typically, character generation goes from server selection to Origin, Archetype, powers, character design, story/name/battle cry, and starting city. However, there's no such thing as an order to creating a hero. Some start by picking the powers. Others by the sex. Still others think of a great name and build a theme entirely around that. The key to making a character that you will enjoy playing and showing off to others is to put some time and effort into it. But first, let's explain what Origin and Archetypes are.

Comments (0)

Character Creation – Wrap Up

Filed under: Customizing,Guides — Jeremy

2021 private servers

Click the pic to start the magic!

Old stuff

I'm pretty nostalgic and can't bring myself to delete the below. Click the above pic to play TODAY, but below is some historic information for what the game use to be 🙂

Just a few more things before your character is complete and playable:

Server

Choosing a server

There are several servers to choose from when creating a new character. All have heroic names such as Triumph, Liberty, Justice, etc. Once you have created a character on a server, they cannot be moved (ok, as of I11 or 12, you can, but you have to pay money to move them), but you can create up to 14 (I think that's right…) characters per server (also recently changed, but again, you pay money for more slots on the same server).

Most people don't put much thought into which server to play on, but you will find that taking some time to choose a server will benefit you. For example, most of my characters are on the Triumph server because that's where a lot of my forum friends at the time played. I wanted to be where I could team with the awesome people I'd been talking to in the forums and I did a few times. Since I knew they were all patient and experience players, the teams went well.

You can have 14 total heroes or villains per server

Some servers are busier than others. Freedom and Virtue tend to have high use compared to most others which is why I've avoided them in the past, but recently, I've been rethinking that. Some of the best fun in the game is seeing the other creative characters others come up with and running into random heroes while you play. Plus, it's easier to put together teams and TFs when there are a lot of people around. Just watch out for Lag issues if your computer or Internet connection are slow.

City Selection

Outbreak. The tutorial zone

You should have everything you need for creating your character now. The last thing you'll be asked is if you want to enter the tutorial zone (if you are brand new to the game, doing so is a good idea, but otherwise, it's kind of a waste of time), and then which city to start in, Galaxy or Atlas.

Starting City

You can choose one of two cities to start in, Galaxy City or Atlas Park. There are some good reasons to go to each.

Galaxy

Galaxy City

Galaxy is flatter than Atlas so it's easier to get around. Atlas has a bunch of high walls so you can get stuck which is a real problem when you have no travel power of any kind.
It's directly connected to Kings Row which is the lowest level zone where you can get a scanner for SGs. Of course, you can just take the train to get there too.
If you like to hang out in Perez Park, but you don't want to fight Hellions, the entrance to Perez from Galaxy is where the Skulls hang out.
If you are playing a WS, your contact is in Galaxy so it makes sense to start there.
There are generally less people in Galaxy so if you have trouble with lag, it's better to start there.

Atlas

Atlas City

There are more people around so if you like to have a bunch of people for low level teams, you'll have better luck here.
Atlas has a Sewer Entrance. Many people use the Sewers to very quickly go up to level 6-10 or so since they're full of large enemy groups leading gradually from level 3 to level 10 or so. It's very common in Atlas to hear broadcasts for "Sewer team forming!" or such.
Atlas is directly connected to four zones one of which is the Hollows. This matters because one of your early contacts is sure to send you there on an Introduction Mission.
If you are playing a PB, your contact is in Atlas so it makes sense to start there.

Congratulations!!

You have now built a character in City of Heroes. Enjoy playing and remember, if you like the powers, but made some bad choices as you level, you can Repec out of them later (don't create a new character from scratch like I did). If you decide that the costume isn't as good as you wanted, by level 14 or so, you can take a mission that will allow you to create alternate costumes or permanent modifications to your current one. As of issue 13, you can change anything but sex, height and build (and as of the Superscience Booster, you can change those too :)).

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Character Costumes

Filed under: Customizing,Guides — Jeremy

The character generation screen

Wa ha ha! The best part of all. Now you get to choose their physical look. They've recently added a "Random" button that designs a character for you, but if you were that type, then you wouldn't have bothered reading this far to begin with. At best, it can be useful to hit it a few times to get some ideas to start from, but that's about it.

Here you can see the various costumes I've created for Jordan Yen. Keep in mind that this is just a small amount of possibilities for just one character! There are tons of combinations and the costume items are constantly growing as well.

Some of the many costumes I've designed for Jordan, but I have more 😀

Costume First

Arrgh! When I saw his face, the rest of the character flowed from that alone.

Browsing through costume pieces is a great way to design a character. I already explained in the earlier sections how seeing certain costume pieces can inspire name, story, powers, etc. The two ways for this to happen is that you're building something completely different and accidentally hit a piece you find really interesting or you have no idea what to build so just start throwing things together until something inspires you.

The The Internet Predator NOT my idea

Costume after Name

Sometimes you'll see a name or term that just strikes you as funny or interesting (as with my Bugg Zapper example before). Or in the case of my friends from the Veggie Medley and Fantastic Fruits, they would think of a name that was related to food (Das Carrot, The Big Apple, Evil Lemons to name a few) and do their best to create a costume that matched.

Costume from Origin

From the left: Natural, Magic, Science, Mutation, Technology

In this case, I made particular effort to create people who's looks match their origin, but you can always alternate. So he's wearing a lab coat, so what? Is he tech or science. For wall we know, he's magic or mutation. Origin doesn't really lend itself to costume creation unless you try pretty hard.

Costume from Archetype

You can go directly from AT to costume by picking a style that works well for your character type like going with a gigantic tough looking dude for tanks or a smaller delicate person for a controller. However, there are several times where you will ignore or go directly in the face of normal conventions because it's more interesting. For example a little girl as a tank or a giant beastly looking guy as a defender or a beautiful angel who is a brute (this usually happens as a result of the story you've chosen)

Costume from Story

And speaking of, story is the most common and (IMO) the best way to create a great costume. Your story will involve the way they look, the way they act, their powers, and their archetype. In other words, it brings EVERYTHING together.

Fire and Ice

Costume from Powers

If you haven't thought of a story yet, a simple way to pick your costume is to just go based on your powers. This can be the most fun way to determine a costume, especially one that's more "classic" in nature (tights). For example, in this picture you can see Shazel in her classic outfit and then what she would look like with ice (At one point I considered making a fire/ice character, but eventually decided on just fire/fire).

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Character Stories

Filed under: Customizing,Guides — Jeremy

Making a story isn't necessary, but I've noticed that I tend to like and play characters with stories much more than those without them. If you're not too good with stories, but want one for your character, ask for help in the Rebirth Forums forums.

Story First

You might know or have heard about a situation that you think really needs a character. The bullied kid in school example that I used before for instance. Another might be a martial artist who roams the world gathering more and more powerful techniques.

Story from Name

Some names just give you the story. The Mad Onion, Para-Noid, Grease Monkey, BallBuster etc. If you have trouble starting a story, just answer this question: "How did X get this name?"

You show me respect or I show you pain

She may have started as just the gang leader's girl, but the grunts soon learned to treat her with respect. She was rutheless, and cold, but loyal to her group. She earned the name "BallBuster" when the boss slapped her for scratching his bike and she meekly responded by crushing his, ah… organs with a baseball bat. No one questioned her when she assumed command and by the time the boss came out of the hospital, the gang was fully hers.

This one's Definitely shaping up to be a Thug Mastermind.

Story from Origin

Generally it's the other way around, but if you do manage to think of an Origin first, story is easy. For example, say you've decided that a science accident caused the powers. Who was involved in the accident? Was it a researcher, a bystander, or someone who wasn't even nearby? What caused the accident? Where did the accident happen?

"Research subjects wanted", read the headline in the paper that Harry Grundson picked up. Age-B-Gone was designed to reverse the effects of aging with only natural substances. It sounded safe enough and he needed the money so he walked to the address listed in the ad.

He arrived late and sat in the back of the room where about 20 other people were already listening to the head "nutritionist". The last thing he remembered was an intern handing him his three brightly colored pills and a small paper cup full of water.

The rest depends on what powers I want him to have.

Story from Archetype

Archetype gives you some characteristics to work with. For example, Tanks are tough, Scrappers are powerful and resiliant, Stalkers are masters of stealthy surprise attacks, and Masterminds have henchmen. This gives you a great starting point for the character of your… uh, character.

Story from Powers

This almost always goes back to Origin in that you'll be writing about how your character got these powers. For example, I just have to have a Ninja Blade. Well, where did my character get the blade? Did they find it or was it given to them? Were they trained in battle or is the weapon superior technology/magical/possessed? Etc. etc.

Even when Jordan was young, her mother knew she was different. She'd never known anyone to have such deep black eyes. And late at night before her mother would turn on the night light in her nursery, her mother could swear they gave off a faint purple light.

When she began eating solids, Jordan would drop food she didn't like into the shadows under her chair. But, when her mother came to clean up later, the food was gone. "The dog must have eaten it," she thought. Later when she began to walk, she would be found hiding in the closest, the basement, the dryer and any other place that was dark. She had learned to talk very early and would explain how she could talk to her shadow friends, but only in dark places. Her father assumed she meant imaginary friends, but her mother suspected otherwise.

This is the story of Jordan's early days. Jordan of course is my Dark Defender and the star of my comic.

Story from Costume

You're flipping through and see the gladiator armor. Maybe the demon horns inspire you. How about a gas mask? She's got one robotic arm? How did that happen? Sometimes costume pieces inspire stories where you try to think of why your character is that way. He's got a third eye? Wonder what that was like as a kid.

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May 14, 2007

Power Pool Recommendations

Fighting

Concealment

Presence

Medicine

Leadership

Teleportation

Fitness

Speed

Leaping

Fly

Inherent Powers

Updated: I16

Play Tips

Shriek

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Scream

Summary

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Howl

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Shockwave

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Shout

Summary

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Amplify

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Siren's Song

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Screech

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Dreadful Wail

Summary

How to use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Summary

Gale

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

O2 Boost

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Snow Storm

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Steamy Mist

Summary

How to Use

Recommended # of Slots and Enhancement Priority

Help

Freezing Rain