Frosticus

Short term damage buffs don't work well with Cat 5 or storm cell. When the buff expires on you it expires on those psuedopets as well. Unfortunately, buffs put on you after casting storm cell/cat 5 do not transfer over. Essentially if you use intensify then storm cell you'd get maybe 3 blasts off with higher proc chance and boosted damage, which then cause storm cell to potentially fire off boosted lightning. If you storm cell then intensify you'd get 4-5 blasts off with higher proc chance and boosted damage, which do not cause storm cell to potentially fire off boosted lightning. Your attacks "tease" storm cell into casting its powers. It's powers are governed by the enhancement values you have slotted into storm cell and the buffs you manage to pass on to the power at the time it uses said attack. Long story short you want long duration damage buffs applied prior to casting storm cell. Things like fulcrum shift (45sec) or perhaps best - overgrowth (60 sec and boosts tohit chance of storm cell)* *I'll do a follow up post on why slotting acc into storm cell is paramount. The way the power works isn't entirely unique, but it is the first time the player base will likely have to consider the shortcomings of psuedopet based attacks.

It does, but damage buffs need to be active prior to casting storm cell to benefit the lightning aura power's damage for the duration of said damage buff. You'd likely want to use intensify after storm cell to maximize proc chances on your attacks, but you'd ideally want something like fulcrum shift on you prior to casting it as those damage procs can really add up.

That's all well and good. And if people want to cite that aspect from the closed beta each time it gets brought up that is fine. "Just recast it" is fine too, but the people saying that is a high pre-blast tax aren't wrong either. It costs 15 end, requires you to be very close to the spawn and takes close to 2.5 seconds, every fight that you recast it for because the movement aspect is not intended to be reliable... Likening it to the "rain powers" is not a great comparison imo. Rain attacks (rain of fire/ice storm) aren't hugely popular, but the sets they come from are very powerful even without them, they also recharge faster so they are up every spawn. And Rain debuffs (freezing rain/sleet) blow storm cell out of the water because they benefit the entire team tremendously and recharge way faster, which the common theme is having them up every spawn. Finally while leveling it actually isn't up every spawn solo unless you set it at about x5 spawns (for me at least in the 20-30s on my storm/kin), but that can be very challenging for a leveling squishy. Teams while leveling it either is or isn't, just depends how the team runs. It is a cool set and satisfactorily powerful, but I really think the handwaving away of the concerns over storm cell are not helpful. The sentiment of the set is pretty clear - players will strive to blast while under storm cell because everything about the set encourages that behavior. . Either the devs embrace that and facilitate it, or they don't. As of now it: costs considerable endurance, has a very short range, animates on the slow side, and recharges a bit slow for a frequent recast. It's fine, but it could also be improved a bit for better QoL.

Has anyone put much time into testing how damage procs work in Storm Cell? I've tried it slotted with: Bombardment - aoe damage Explosive strike - knockback Ice Minstrel - slow I believe it is checking the procs when storm cell casts the various lightning aura powers for the AoE and knockback procs 25ft aoe 1-4 targets depending I believe it is checking the slow procs when storm cell casts windspeed. 25ft aoe, 16 targets, checks every 10 seconds and whenever one of your attacks triggers additional windspeed. As the power casts windspeed without any further interaction this means it can draw immediate aggro if one of the slow procs lands I didn't test extensively, but I did see Ice Minstrel trigger a decent amount. I saw enough bombardment that I will consider aoe damage procs and I rarely saw explosive strike (dunno why). Slotting the slow damage procs is definitely worth considering if you don't care about giving up the non-aggro ability of storm cell.

I think it is the same speed as creepers. But you could argue all day that creepers make sense to move fairly slow as they are tunneling through the ground, they creep along (as the name suggests) and are fairly passive until they feed upon a defeated foe. Storm cell's implementation and behavior doesn't make a ton of sense, but the set is still fun and feels powerful in spite of those characteristics. They should add something to the description indicating that storm cell can travel like a light breeze... :)

I think the cast time on storm cell is too long and the range is too short. 1.17 sec and 80ft is going to play a lot better for a power that many users will try to have up on nearly every spawn. The pre-blast tax + backloaded dot damage is extremely underwhelming on any quick moving team. Compared to a previously underwhelming set, a Psy blaster can get out psy nado and psi darts in nearly the same time as you put down storm cell. And then psi wail deletes the spawn before you've even finished casting category 5. So ya, a psy blaster gets out 370 base aoe damage before the first tick of category 5 starts. It is fine to be more solo/slow team focused, but storm blast is currently double punished on teams. I mostly solo, so not a huge issue for me personally.

I've played around with this set a lot more now. I think this set shines brightest on corruptors and sentinels (aside from the laughably short range of storm cell). Corruptors are backloaded damage dealers and the way this set ramps up as the fight goes on + scourge, causes the damage to crescendo in a very satisfying manner. I think I'll play a storm/kinetics/psy Sentinels are hardy enough to not really care that they can't delete half the spawn in the alpha and the synergy between storm cell + category 5 (on the way faster sentinel recharge) is really fun. I tried a storm/em blaster (for boost range as I find storm cells base range too short unless I proceed very cautiously). It wasn't clicking for me because blasters sort of need to be able to kill off part of the spawn immediately and/or have a lot more utility (ie sonic blast, dark blast, or water blast) if they are going to kill slowly. That said, I hope it is very popular because crashless blaster nukes are one of the most detrimental changes made to this game. Cat 5 not deleting entire spawns in the blink of an eye will be great for everyone else wanting to have fun on the team. The set isn't perfect - cloud burst needs more impact. Chain lightning animation leaves a lot to be desired and storm cell could be tweaked to be improved slightly (but unlikely to find a way that satisfies the majority). Aside from that it is fun, visually impressive and extremely thematic.

Personally I like that it can move. Some fights are entirely static kill zones, but some aren't. The movement gives a bit more versatility and helps in some scenarios such as an ambush rounding the corner. However, I want to be more in control of when it moves. People liken this power to carrion creepers, but I see them as fundamentally different in that I unleash the creepers (which fits visually and given how the power functions relative to enemies and enemy defeats), whereas I summon and command the storm cell (which fits visually and how the power interacts based on my actions). I don't expect everyone to see it that way of course. The base rech/duration seems fine to me. It is an attrition set and as such will feel as useful as other attrition sets when playing with front loaded damage dealers.

hmm I'd change storm cell to be target centered rather than location based. I'd leave it as not requiring line of sight. The reason I'd do that is twofold: 1. I can't imagine most players actually use target location binds, so while I do, most players probably have to click and place it, which can be pretty tedious. 2. More importantly and the main reason to make it targeted is because it should work more like haunt and be taunted on to the target you select for the duration/defeat and then star moving around freely. I think it would work better in practice with that behavior as right now I am unsure who it decides to start following if the mob scatters.

Observation: Single target attack chain isn't very inspiring with not a lot of punch as well as quite a bit of dot damage It seems to be an attrition set and probably plays underwhelming on fast teams. Probably ideal for solo or small teams Bug: Storm cell can slot just about everything under the sun for sets. Ranged aoe damage procs and knockback damage procs seem to have no effect. Self buffing procs like defender bastion forcefeedback, power transfer, etc do trigger on cast. Used category 5 (unslotted) on top of Storm Cell slotted with damage procs and didn't see then trigger at all in the logs. But more testing is probably needed.

Took my melee fort for a spin. Previous single target attacks were: Swipe, Strike, Follow up, Lunge Did a respec so my single target attacks are now: tk blast, lunge, follow up, dominate and shatter armor Mixing such attacks before was untenable. It seems to work quite smoothly now, so not only a huge improvement in feel of the character, but also a major buff in overall power of my single target dps and control. I think this really breathes new life into the VEATs.

Triple redraw bane no more?

Truthfully I hate the rage crash too. I still play the set, but I really dislike the "time out" of the crash. Stone melee is a nice alternative with a lot of screen shake, but it falls a bit short in performance for me. TW is another option. Arc of destruction is a very satisfying attack.

Ya I paired it up with /stone. I think stone armor is pretty strong for stalkers (maybe for everyone), but mostly I find that brimstone adds the right amount of fire dot damage to really flesh out the build. As good as fire melee is now the fire dot is a bit underwhelming, but brimstone gives you lots of satisfying dot, plus it crits.

Ya it's not my favorite AS animation and it is also one of the slower "fast" AS's.

5 stacks is well worthwhile to consume on rending flurry. It gains decent base damage and expands the aoe to 15ft (up from 8ft) 5 stacks is not really worthwhile to consume on hemo. I'd probably skip hemo if you can. The dot is very slow and it really doesn't do enough damage to warrant being a consumer. You need 3 stacks (iirc) for it to even do the correct base damage for a 14 sec attack. Exhaustion isn't a debuff, it just blocks you from gaining the buff of frenzy. Semantics I suppose.

Is it hard to sneak around with a giant flaming sword? Not if you melt their eyes first... However you reconcile being sneaking with fire melee, I suggest giving it a try. The improvements are tangible and I believe stalkers have the best version of fire melee giving up incinerate for AS. Cremate is ample control for bosses and Greater firesword triggering achilies makes single targets drop very rapidly. Even faster in game than on paper as fire damage is rarely resisted. It isn't an aoe powerhouse, but that isn't really what stalkers specialize in.

I have a lowbie ice/stone. Minimal Crystal visuals look pretty good with the ice attacks. Stone armor does everything pretty well with the only real hole being slow/recharge debuffs, which are easy enough to cover decently with a few partial winter sets. I've never gotten on the /ea train. Granted I've only ever really used it auto leveled on test server, but it never feels as robust as people praise it as being. I might gravitate towards different content that exposes the psi weakness more though.

No real input other than to suggest that 2 +5 rech IOs is close enough to 3 rech IO's that it probably isn't worth the extra slot in most cases, freeing up quite a few slots in your original build. Also, with regard to dark servant it is (perhaps) important to understand how it works. When you slot a tohit debuff set IO it only impacts the powers that have tohit debuffs. Same for a hold set IO. It also has to hit things for most of its powers to do anything. I see nerve radial to help with acc, I went vigor radial on my ill/dark as it has an impact on more of your key powers, at least for me. 3 +5 def/rech IO's in fade is nice.

Sure, but back then it was more like being impressed by killing lvl 50 chimera, or spending an hr+ to kill lusca. Lvl 54 Seige w/ rings, Sinclair, Ghost Widow, or Director 11. GM's like Boomtown goliath, or Ripple surge - those things require a lot more than 94 dps. Let alone scenarios like the Twins where you are fighting both and vandal shows up, or Hro'dritz+honoree in Lady Grey TF. Those situations will squash or stalemate most builds, including most builds people are taking in to HM content because they are a different focus. Anyone can load up on super insp and pop a longbow lore I guess, but not needing those things is a lot better than needing them. I think when people talk about AV/GM killers they mean without many outside aids and ideally without lore. Confusing AV's is one of the least efficient methods. My ill/sav dom does it because that's all it can do vs AV's (literally), but a "better" AV killer has already downed it and moved on before I've even confused it... I tip my hat to those doing such, but it is a different focus. The force multiplication on even small teams is off the scales in this game. I'll personally be more impressed by those solo'ing HM on 2+ w/ minimal deaths, insp, or crutches like lore, but that is just me.* * 1 star is pretty easy, my ill/cold has solo'd both ITF and Aeon w/o insp/lore.

Most offensive def builds will out dps and out survive the mirror corr while solo. Defs have higher self buff modifiers and more powerful debuffs. It is actually fairly pronounced on some combos like poison w/ soul drain. Less so on some combos that don't properly use AT modifiers (like cold). Corrs massively outdamage defenders in high buff team situations and still provide "enough" team utility that they are almost always the better team choice with a few exceptions. Blaster damage is front loaded. Corr damage is back loaded. The longer the fight the closer a corr gets to equalizing their damage.

For regular content I'd take it and just leave it unslotted. Throw it down for longer lasting encounters as it just makes everything a bit easier. For HM it is a must have for the new FF for all the reasons @Zect states. The devs basically said lol @ balance with the new FF changes. It makes me look forward to unlimited-target chaining poison debuffs or something coming down the pipeline for that set.

I'm not entirely sure that the small bump in personal damage is going to overshadow the large decrease in team damage as envenom, poison trap (proc'd) and venomous gas all contribute quite a bit to team kill speed. Of the two I'd go with /psi over /rad. Some of the cast times in rad assault are just painfully long.

It's not my personal approach, but I like what you've done! I usually put 4 damage procs and 2 +5 dam/end with musc or intuition radial The base damage and proc chance on call hawk are both so high, that I strive to maximize both when I can.

You probably won't without hasten. You also don't need to on a dom as they are far less important than on a troller because they function very differently. They aren't much more important that fire imps really in that they just add supplemental damage for a dom. A dom with high uptime of PA is a perma dom so the little control they throw out is a drop in the bucket, but extra damage is always welcome.