Storm/Storm build. Looking to improve defence especially ranged.

[BurtHutt]

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Hey all, here's my quick build. A bit of a gimmick build. I want to improve defence and keep the high recharge option and so on.

[Bionic_Flea]

4 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

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Hey all, here's my quick build. A bit of a gimmick build. I want to improve defence and keep the high recharge option and so on.

There's no link there.  It's just an image

 

[Crysis]

Newest version of MIDS has a jacked up Forum build export.  They are aware.

 

**Edit**

 

OP, upload your build as an attachment and I'll take a look.

 

A couple of suggestions I found to get me to Ranged softcap:

 

+Artillery 6-piece in both Cat5 and Storm Cell

+Sting of the Manticore 5-piece in Direct Strike

+6-piece Gaussian in Intensify

 

That plus some other set bonuses from the 3-slot Thunderstrike in Hailstone and the 2-slot Zephyr's in SuperSpeed and you'll get to Ranged Softcap.  With Agility, you'll softcap Melee also.  I have stacks of Defense Amplifiers that also gets me another 10% through later game until you get Agility...you don't need them past that point unless you want them.

 

Here's how mine looks...and again, props to Darkir for the template.  This is a cheap build really, outside of the ATO's and the one Winter set.  Once you T3 out your Incarnates, you can swap in some purples if you want more damage but given Soul Drain is near perma you likely won't need them.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Crysis

[BurtHutt]

So I went this route. Any suggestions? 

 

@Crysis, I like your build too but one concern is your END.

[Crysis]

53 minutes ago, BurtHutt said:

So I went this route. Any suggestions? 

 

@Crysis, I like your build too but one concern is your END.

All /Stormies will have some END issues.  There’s plenty of ways to mitigate that, and once you have Dark Consumption and later Ageless your END issues evaporate.  Until then there’s Recovery Serum and smart slotting like the PerfShifter +End in LS…with that you actually -gain- End with every cast of the power.

 

After more than a dozen Stormies of varying builds you just learn to manage it.

[BurtHutt]

1 hour ago, Crysis said:

All /Stormies will have some END issues.  There’s plenty of ways to mitigate that, and once you have Dark Consumption and later Ageless your END issues evaporate.  Until then there’s Recovery Serum and smart slotting like the PerfShifter +End in LS…with that you actually -gain- End with every cast of the power.

 

After more than a dozen Stormies of varying builds you just learn to manage it.

 

Yeah I get that. I like the methods I implemented so far. Anything you see that I should change or adjust?

[SeraphimKensai]

Thoughts between corruptor vs defender? I only spent a minor amount of time checking out storm blast as it went through testing. Now that it's live I figured I'd roll one. Just debating mostly internally about whether to go defender or corruptor with it.

 

What do you all think?

[StrawberryWitch]

8 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Thoughts between corruptor vs defender? I only spent a minor amount of time checking out storm blast as it went through testing. Now that it's live I figured I'd roll one. Just debating mostly internally about whether to go defender or corruptor with it.

 

What do you all think?

I went Storm/Storm Mu Mastery Defender. Pretty fun so far. Haven't tested Corruptor yet though.

[SeraphimKensai]

2 hours ago, Queen Marella said:

I went Storm/Storm Mu Mastery Defender. Pretty fun so far. Haven't tested Corruptor yet though.

How far have you taken it?

[Crysis]

3 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Thoughts between corruptor vs defender? I only spent a minor amount of time checking out storm blast as it went through testing. Now that it's live I figured I'd roll one. Just debating mostly internally about whether to go defender or corruptor with it.

 

What do you all think?

 

I think you could go with either an “Offender” build or a Corruptor build, with all the old arguments pro/con one or the other pretty much boiling down to playstyle preferences.  

 

Since I’m playing with a perma-SoulDrain build (or darn near it with all the +Recharge procs going off), I wanted the higher damage cap of a Corruptor.  It would be easier on a Defender to cap out your Defenses and you get some nice bonuses on your debuffs.  But given how much a Storm/Storm is dealing a ton of collateral damage from several small DoT powers -and- the foe is just pretty much flopping around helpless while they are whittled down by scourge damage…just seemed like a perfect fit for a Corruptor.

 

Now I will say if it was pairing something like Kinetics or Time with Storm Blast, I’d likely look a little harder at the Defender setups.  The benefits from additional buffs likely shift things in favor of a Defender.

[BurtHutt]

I wanted the extra damage of the CORR. I have a storm/energy DEF and it's a blast. I changed it up this time and just trying to slot and play. It looks like it'll be great for AoE and has lots of mitigation against large numbers of foes. So far, it's a fun toon! 

[StrawberryWitch]

18 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

How far have you taken it?

All IO'd out, with Destiny and Hybrid T4. No end issues and mobs go down pretty fast at +4/+8. Will do more testing later.

[skylee131]

Anyone willing to post a build that includes flight or hover and includes incarnates?  For those of us that are building impaired please

[Bionic_Flea]

I started mine before Mids came out so I just winged it.  Mids was updated while I was still leveling and I was using too much end and I came up with the build below with the expectation that I would respec into it.  But after reaching T4 on all incarnate slots, I feel it's working well enough.  Damn well, in fact.  When I have some time I'll make my in-game build in Mids and post it.

 

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[Guardian Rhykon]

On 5/1/2023 at 1:27 PM, Queen Marella said:

I went Storm/Storm Mu Mastery Defender. Pretty fun so far. Haven't tested Corruptor yet though.

Can you post the build?

 

[Captain Fabulous]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:20 AM, Crysis said:

Newest version of MIDS has a jacked up Forum build export.  They are aware.

 

**Edit**

 

OP, upload your build as an attachment and I'll take a look.

 

A couple of suggestions I found to get me to Ranged softcap:

 

+Artillery 6-piece in both Cat5 and Storm Cell

+Sting of the Manticore 5-piece in Direct Strike

+6-piece Gaussian in Intensify

 

That plus some other set bonuses from the 3-slot Thunderstrike in Hailstone and the 2-slot Zephyr's in SuperSpeed and you'll get to Ranged Softcap.  With Agility, you'll softcap Melee also.  I have stacks of Defense Amplifiers that also gets me another 10% through later game until you get Agility...you don't need them past that point unless you want them.

 

Here's how mine looks...and again, props to Darkir for the template.  This is a cheap build really, outside of the ATO's and the one Winter set.  Once you T3 out your Incarnates, you can swap in some purples if you want more damage but given Soul Drain is near perma you likely won't need them.

 

 

Can you post a link for this?

[Crysis]

On 5/28/2023 at 5:09 PM, Captain Fabulous said:

Can you post a link for this?

 

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

[Captain Fabulous]

3 hours ago, Crysis said:

 

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 47.57 kB · 1 download

Got it, thanks. My build is a bit different, but I did want to see which sets you were using as a baseline to work from.

[Captain Fabulous]

OK, here is what I built. No incarnates yet, but seems pretty solid. Conserve Power really goes a long way in mitigating end issues. 


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[Crysis]

7 hours ago, Captain Fabulous said:

OK, here is what I built. No incarnates yet, but seems pretty solid. Conserve Power really goes a long way in mitigating end issues. 


View This Build In MRB

 

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.

[Captain Fabulous]

1 hour ago, Crysis said:

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.

Are you using the latest version? When I opened your build I got a message saying it was created using an older version.

 

1 hour ago, Crysis said:

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). 

If I find I can get end relief via Incarnates I'll probably drop Conserve Power and take Charged Armor for some more resistances. I wasn't able to squeeze in as much +recharge as I would have liked as I was pushing for as much +def as possible, but I got in 5 Force Feedbacks. I have no idea if that's a good idea or not LOL. It's hard to judge how much of an impact it makes. I'll probably replace 2 of them in favor of a 6th set IO that will give me an additional 16.25% +recharge. I'm pretty green when it comes to procs, so I tend to avoid them.

I'm not looking to build an "OMG I'm ub3rl33t and can solo zerg 4* +4x8" character. I just want a solid end game team build without having to take powers I don't want or that are off-theme. I tested at +2x8 and the only ones that gave me problems were Arachnos, and I'm convinced it's due to the Tarantula's Mind Scramble power that seems to always hit and strips away half my defense. I didn't try Carnies because I'm not that much of punishment glutton. I did get mezzed a fair number of times, which makes me want to go Clarion, but we'll see.

Now to make this on live. 😒 I wish there was a function like on Test where you can import your Mids build and instead of putting all the enhancements in your inventory it puts them on the AH. 

[Crysis]

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.

[Captain Fabulous]

1 hour ago, Crysis said:

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.

I just love that it's different than other sets, something the original devs never really tried to do. And it's hella fun. The mass chaos I can inflict is GLORIOUS.

I looked up the Tarantula Mistress' Mental Scramble (-def, -tohit, -perception) power in CoD, and not only does it have a 100' range it's also autohit. Which explains why I had so much trouble.

[Lumin]

I'm not 50 yet  but this is the build I've been using. No prob with END... so far.

 

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Edited June 1, 2023 by Lumin

[BroadwayRoyale]

Did anyone ever figure out how to get the Mids links to work, or are they just completely busted forever?