Crysis

Fire is pretty universally regarded as the best overall DPS. As a Corr, you have to figure in how it synergizes with your inherent (Scourge) and from that look at DOT versus Rains vs psuedopet damage output and all sorts of slotting mechanics. I just go by "common tongue" on the boards and stick with Fire as my vote. I love it paired with Kinetics because you can self-augment your native unslotted damage and then go a bit nuts with IO sets or procs. I also think it works really well with any secondary that has lots of -RES in it. Cold, Storm, Rad and a few others come to mind. -RES is also a damage multiplier. So I'd say if you go Fire, you have many options to make a high damage Corruptor. But Ice, Water, Seismic, BR etc ain't bad either btw.... *EDIT* @Voltak has a really solid Fire/Kin/Soul build posted on the forums, along with a thread to support it. I can vouch for it, it's incredibly powerful. I might prefer going with Dark instead because being able to hit Fulcrum Shift followed by Soul Drain is amazing in large spawns, and Soul Drain does some damage as well. Even if you just alternate them, it's still a really potent combination of powers. The other way to go is @Darkir's approach of Fire/Kin "tanking" builds. Several different builds posted in this lengthy (and classic!) thread.

Full set of Artillery IO's. Gives you ~+4% Ranged, Energy/NE +DEF and +9% Accuracy bonus. The fact that it does damage slotted that way is also a bonus. I've actually done a build on test that does away with Storm Cell but keeps Cloudburst. Solo'd, the loss of damage is noticeable but not bad. Teamed, which is a bit harder to test on Test, it's totally skippable as is Cat 5. Stuff dies too fast when teamed to really make much use of either of those two powers.

S/L or Ranged 45% Def, often can achieve both. Permahasten +Damage Don't have a single blaster without all three of those in place.

I think it’s pretty well acknowledged now that Storm Blast was built -specifically- to underperform other legacy blast sets to avoid continued power creep. So no matter how you build it it will likely remain smack middle-class for damage, or possibly even lower than that depending on your secondary buffs/debuffs relative to +DPS output. But with Storm/Storm I comfortably solo’d almost everything at +2/x8 by mid 30’s, +3/x8 by mid 40’s and +4/x8 for 45+ game. As I’ve stated I chose to not pursue the Incarnate path with this AT as I don’t think the investment in time is worth the effort relative to other projects I’m working on. It’s definitely not a bad set, but 50 is about as good as it gets. I didn’t have any END issues post Dark Consumption, and Carnies nor Arachnos cause many issues as long as you keep your LS and Tornado up (or double up with high enough +RCHG). You definitely have the high Recharge going for you with all those FF procs. I was averaging about +250% recharge ever spawn. But that just means you’ll be using your blasts more as they are always up. It really is a gorgeous set to play. To some extent, given the mechanics of Cat 5 and Storm Cell, I almost think it’s best to play solo rather than on teams as you’ll actually be able to make use of all your powers to see the full extent of their impact. You lose a whole bunch of your maximum capabilities on teams where stuff is gone well before your T9 from Storm Blast can do more than look “theatrical” on the battlefield. But that’s why it’s so easy to solo +4/x8….lots of stuff to keep the spawn busy while you whittle them down. PS - on Arachnos, I even have trouble with them in the early 40’s with some of my Brute builds. Their ranged attacks hurt more than their melee. I tend to pull spawns around the corner where I’ve already got a LS up and then drop freezing rain. Then I pop Soul Drain for the mini-fulcrum, Dark Consumption as an attack/+END and mop up the rest. Takes a little more effort but they pose far less threat than taking ranged shots in the open.

Might be just me, but whenever I click on these new forum exports, it opens Mids and I either get an unexpected exception error or it just opens...nothing. Re: Conserve Power, yes it will go a long ways to helping you with all the /storm summoning endurance issues. Especially if you build for high recharge, which most Stormies would do. But that's also why I typically go with Dark instead for Dark Consumption (+END, and doubles as an attack) and Soul Drain (+DMG). I've even had -limited- success with just taking Victory Rush from the Leadership pool. It's not great, but does work in a pinch. Nonetheless, most of this gets covered by the time you take Destiny Ageless anyways, should you follow that path.

You spent 420 -BILLION- on costumes?

I still can't get Forum build export working inside of MIDS, but here's my most current build if you can load it. Please bear in mind I use Defense and Survival Amplifiers pre-Incarnates. You'll have to toggle those on in Mids to see in-game impact (which is significant for +DEF numbers). Although I'm not choosing to take this one through the Incarnate slog (don't find the set to be worth it IMHO), I'd take the Incarnate powers in the build to round it out and/or shore up the obvious deficiencies with all stormies, mainly more Endurance. Texas_Tornado_Ellie_LevelingBuild.mbd

I still don't understand what this "sound" is everyone talks about in this game? Am I the only one who plays with sound turned off?

When I try to share build I get an Unhandled Exception error.

I've taken Storm Blast to 50 on a Storm/Storm Corruptor. I debated doing on a defender but felt the Scourge damage + perma Soul Drain for +DMG negated any debuff advantages I'd get playing a Defender. As many others have pointed out, Storm Blast appears -designed- to be a middle-tier blast set. Your damage is back-loaded and in the 40+ game that means you could effectively just respec out of your T9 Cat5 "reverse nuke." It's just not going to be very usable as most stuff dies well before you can get any utility out of the endurance you'll spend to cast it. And while we are at it, Storm Cell is pretty "meh" as well, so you could conceivably skip both Storm Cell and Cat 5 and then...why are you playing Storm Blast? There's nothing "wrong" with the set. It's the Sentinel of blast sets. It's intentionally designed to be middle of the road. Now thematically and artistically....the set is gorgeous. Real FX Flex appeal. Just don't expect your "Go" to equal the "Show" with the set. TLDR; I'd go with Elec.

Am aware. But if I logged in every day for past 15 days and I've had 15 updates....I can't find any record of 15 updates in 15 days. So, what else could be happening?

I admit to playing COH on some unconventional hardware. Namely a SteamDeck and a GDP Win4 handheld Windows device. It's my "minimalist" computing hobby. For about the past 2 months, on both the SteamDeck and the Win4 device, the Homecoming launcher -constantly- wants to update. There are no new updates. But it seems to think there are so I have to wait for it to update to the same version I played last time. I wouldn't mind it so much if I was just burning hotel WiFi but more often I'm burning my 5G/LTE data plan since I'm tethered to my phone's hotspot function. Is there a way to make an update "stick" somehow and I'm just missing the setting?

Look I’m all for fixing this mess, but I think handing all of a T4 Incarnate’s Judgement power stats to Chain is a bit overkill. That said, this is a meme/theme set only. Nothing wrong with that really, but players should be forewarned that the set is a first release and maybe only release. You get what you get. Don’t overinvest in the set as it’s not going to give you much in the way of returns.

Even if you had multiple players stacking multiple different -Res powers I’m not sure you can get to 5-digit single attack damage. And you’d need an AV or pylon to target most likely to even see it.

Should be solid. TJ begs to get you into melee range so you might want to focus on Melee DEF softcap. Farsight helps there as does the -TOHIT from TJ. You have plenty of patron pool choices, although I’d still likely look at /Dark epic for Soul Drain.

Dev or not, I think your insights are spot-on. I often feel with the new(ish) sets like the Sentinel AT or new power proliferation that the real issue isn't that anything new is anemic in terms of capabilities, but that all that old stuff is just overpowered by comparison. But that's a bit of a Catch-22. If the new powers/AT's aren't going to perform up to par with older efforts, then that sort of takes some of the shine off the new penny. Not sure how to fix that as I'm not in favor of global nerfs...but I'm willing to bet that's one of the only ways to address it. For example, a global Proc nerf would neuter a lot of the "exploitable" synergies out there since the procs pretty much allow a lot more (damage, buff/debuff effect, whatever) stuff than what the original design of the base powers allowed for minus procs. I'm not asking for nerfs, but I just don't see the new stuff ever really taking off until/unless it performs at the levels of the old stuff. Thanks for contributing your thoughts.

I seem to recall quite a bit of proc testing in the Focused Feedback thread for Storm Blast. Might want to check there. So I hit level 50 last night. Here’s some observations: 1) Storm/Storm/Dark is as viable as any other AT/powerset in the game. The content in this game isn’t all that hard, you can pretty much roll with even intentionally gimped builds like petless MM’s or all-power-pool attacks and with the right team makeup do just fine, have fun, etc. This isn’t a “wasted” build, you can get it to work just fine. I almost always take /Dark as my epic pool pick on Corrs because of Soul Drain and in this build it’s pretty much perma if the proc gods smile on you from all the Force Feedback +Recharge procs. Endurance is a challenge, but throwing the extra Perf Shifter into LS makes it almost pay for itself and Dark Consumption covers the gaps until you get to Ageless (more on that in a moment). I run with a great team of SG mates who really understand the game, all the shortcuts, make good builds and play very nicely together. This set works fine on teams like that or pure PUG’s. It’s interesting and viable and contributes. Just not as much as almost any other pairing with /Storm Summoning/Dark would with a Corr. I have a Fire/Storm/Dark, a Water/Storm/Dark, an Ice/Storm/Dark and so many other storm builds in so many other AT’s. I’d say just about any of them are more powerful than this build is capable of ever being. 2) Visually, it’s -absolutely stunning- and with Storm/Storm you have some glorious chaos on the battlefield. However, that also can be annoying on certain maps for your teammates as depending on how you color the powers you can all but blind the remainder of the team (and even yourself) with all the f/x going off. But to call down the lightning with your hand while targetting an opponent across the room….that’s some glorious looking visuals. 3) If you are a min/max player (and I am) this is NOT the set for you. There may be a better pairing for it on a Defender or Corruptor. Dark or Kin come to mind. Maybe Electric, but not for sapping (sapping as all min/max players know gets you nowhere really relative to max DPS). But that’s also going to be a huge drawback as you are only rewarded for the sets mechanic of Storm Cell + Cat5 when you use your Storm Blast attacks. You are actively -penalized- if you use any of your secondary/pool attacks. I mean Storm Blast itself takes nothing away from you if you use your secondary/pool attacks, other than the END and time you pretty much wasted with all the setup time required for Storm Cell and Cat5. So in that sense, Storm Summoning is a great secondary both thematically and from a min/max perspective as LS and Tornado just go do their thing while you get back to Storm Blasting in a vain attempt to make all that setup of Storm Cell+Cat5 actually -do something meaningful- with your attacks. And Storm Blast attacks aren’t all that effective in their own right. Chain rarely chains and the remainder are just meh outside of the snipe. In fact, I use the snipe and hailstones almost more than any other powers, even on their own, as they are the only ones to reliably create DPS. But again, for a min/max mindset/playstyle….this ain’t it folks. Look elsewhere. 4) All that said…not a great candidate to go thru the Incarnate slog. Even with all the perks Incarnate powers will give you….allowing you do crazy things like proc monster out all the primary attacks and just ignore endurance and drop a god-tier nuke every few spawns….it’s just not going to be worth the investment for me. And I’m one of those “completist” kinds of personalities. It will bug me that this toon is sitting there at 50 without incarnates. So maybe at some point when I’m jonesing for some BAF chatter I’ll pull i tback out for a run or three. But I know right now that I’m not chasing anything ‘special’ with this build. TLDR: If Storm/Storm/Dark as a Corruptor was a beer, it would be a Miller Lite. Meaning everything you ever wanted in a superhero…but less.

That’s a common and fair sentiment in that between Barrier and the Nuke pretty much anyone is a god (little g) but that’s also the Lore of the Incarnates powers. You basically -are- becoming a minor deity. But yeah, the Amplifiers basically grant you near-Incarnate benefits in the below-50 game. If you run all three (Defense, Survival and Offense) you basically are playing at +1 to your actual level in most regards. But if you hate taking the time to respec (I despise it) it allows you to play an end-game build from the ground up without having to do a full respec at 50, because you’ve already considered your Incarnate powers in your leveling build. A shortcut for sure, but a nice one. For those of us who bought hordes of Winter packs during the sales of yesteryear, it’s not uncommon to have hundreds if not thousands of these amplifiers laying around unused so….great use! Even if you have to buy them, still great value I think.

In most trials, yes. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them turned off other than maybe in the new 2-4 star “hard mode” stuff but I really don’t even notice them there because I seldom am running them by that point in the game. But you don’t really need them past T4’ing out your Incarnate powers. I consider them a cheap way to address shortcomings prior to Incarnates.

Exactly my feelings. It’s a set that was designed around a solo player/playstyle, tested by soloists (mostly at least, and out of necessity) and put into production without really understanding the ecosystem of teaming, the environment or how literally every other “nuke” and/or blast set plays. They just missed it. Gorgeous and vapid. That’s the best way I can describe it. Sort of like some of my ex’s.

Well we are playing two different Meta’s then, because I’m finding it’s far more common now with everyone carrying around Fold Space and/or Bonfire (or both) that herding is now back in ‘vogue’ so usually you’ve got one/two players pulling the entire room to a chokepoint via aura’s (seldom tankers these days) and/or warping fresh kills into the pile from nearby spawns. If we have one player running ahead of the rest of the team constantly, it’s usually on a PuG.

If you are leapfrogging ahead of the team then you are more soloing within a team than being a team player, aren’t you? I’ll go run some Pylons between the two builds. I’ve never done the Trapdoor thing.

Yes, I was being inflammatory and hyperbolic. As far as Storm Blast goes, it was released as-is -despite- a lot of really creative and insightful playtesting feedback in the Focused Feedback thread. I tested it, many others tested it, and it’s a gorgeous set with incredible FX and with an “interesting” mechanic that basically forces you to blast like crazy and ignore your secondary/tertiary attacks almost completely to get any kind of acceptable damage. And most of that is back loaded, meaning it totally ignores how the 40-50+ game is played via steamrolling teams. For the Sent class, the only logical way I could see ever taking Storm Blast -besides for meme/theme builds- is with a secondary that either has a damage aura or likely Bio with some ways to passively amplify your damage. It’s just a really underwhelming mechanic. Hyperbole -NOT- intended, I have a Storm/Storm/Dark Corruptor build on Test right now where I dropped Storm Cell and Cat 5 entirely….the two set defining (albeit poorly IMO) powers- and took Cross Punch and Whirlwind, both procc’d out. I’m seeing spawn clear times of >40% faster now solo with those two changes. Which at that point means…why am I taking Storm Blast at all? I may try to setup a Storm/Bio Sent on Test and do likewise. But my expectations are quite low beyond thematics (again, gorgeous) because Sentinels are still fundamentally underpowered versus almost any other builds for the same investment of powers, slotting and enhancements.

I’ve made several changes to the original build I posted and don’t forget I run with Defense Amplifier as I’ve got stacks of those things. That way I don’t have to chase wonky slotting for softcapping. Here’s what new build looks like:

Which in the cast of Category 5 means you’ll be able to drop your T9 nuke really fast and -almost- equal another Sentinel dropping their T9 nuke ONCE. Because of how the damage is back-loaded, and even with that penalty, you aren’t rewarded by getting a higher damage T9 or larger radius or anything. Taking Storm Blast on a Sentinel makes almost no sense for me. You take an AT that already has lots of opportunity for improvement and cripple it with a new blast set that really was designed around a solo player as most of it’s best powers don’t work on steamrolling teams and you have basically a door sitter who moves from mission to mission.