All About Storm/Sonic Defenders
Last Modified: June 10, 2021
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.
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
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.
