I decided to have a go at writing a character guide and below is what I came up with. I posted it on my SG forum and it was suggested that I post it here. Have a read and let me know what you think. Its probably not perfect so any constructive criticism would be nice
[u]Tired Angels guide to being a Gravity Control/Storm Summoning Controller[u]
This is my first character guide but wanted to give writing one a try as I have learnt a lot from the ones I have read and have finally gotten to a point with my Grav/Storm troller Tired Angel (following more respecs than I can shake a stick at!) that I have a good understanding what works and what doesnt.
Hope people find it useful!
Overview:
Tired Angel is one of the earliest toons I created before I learnt more of CoXs game mechanics but rolling the combination of Grav and Storm I have learnt a lot about strengths and weaknesses the various powers provide.
I find Gravity Control a bit of a confusing power set at times. In some ways it outshines the other controller sets but in others it doesnt. It outshines them in that it has some great early single target damage from Propel and Lift, it is a purely ranged power set (no PBAoEs) and it has a great pet. However, it does lack some tricks that other power sets provide such as confuse or mass knockdown effects and its damage type (smashing) becomes very resisted as you get to higher levels.
Storm Summoning I find is quite similar to Gravity in that it has some great points and some rather disappointing ones. It has some great tricks such slows, mass knockdowns, a self/ally defence and resist shield and a couple of extra dealing powers. On the other hand its healing power is not as effective as others and is the second choice rather than the first and there is a lot of knockback powers which although useful you really need to think about using (especially in a team situation).
I will go over more about the synergy of the power sets when I discuss tactics at the end but now will describe the various powers available detailing positive and negative points and then giving an overview. Oh I have already mentioned that Gravity only does Smashing damage so I wont be giving that again when describing the powers.
I will also be mentioning Magnitude of various holds and immobilises of powers. Put simply each baddy has a certain magnitude of protection against a mez power and so to affect a foe you must do over that amount of protection (so a Lt with protection 2 must be with hit with a total of magnitude 3 to be mezzed). Also note that magnitudes can be stacked so hitting a foe with a magnitude 3 hold followed with a magnitude 2 hold means they are being hit by a total of magnitude 5. In general minions have protection of 1, lieutenants 2, bosses 3, elite bosses 6 and Archvillains/Heroes 50.
GRAVITY CONTROL
Crush
This is a ranged single target immobilise power that does moderate damage over time. It will slow movement speed even if the Immobilise is unsuccessful.
Positives It is a mag 4 immobilise power meaning that it will immobilise a boss in one shot. It sets up containment and does more damage than Lift which you also get to choose from at the start.
Negatives It is a damage over time power meaning there is a chance that the foe will get a chance to hit you before its taken down.
Overview Really there is nothing wrong with this power that would make me tell you not to take it (especially over lift), however depending on your play style you may decide not to take it if you prefer to deal your damage out in big chunks rather than over time.
Slots It is worth slotting this for damage rather than Immobilise. I would recommend 2x Accuracy, 2x Damage, 1x Endurance and 1x Recharge. There are several Procs you could slot in this as well including several chance of +damage, chance to hold, chance to disorientate, chance for end drain, chance to heal, chance of foes -recharge and chance to build up.
Lift
This is a single target ranged attack that deals moderate damage and causes a knockup effect.
Positives The damage is dealt in a single blow rather than other time. The knockup element is enough to send at least Bosses or lower into the air causing a brief moment where they cannot attack.
Negatives It does less damage than crush and there is a slight delay on damage as it is dealt at the end of the knockup animation EVEN if the foe doesnt move (e.g from being held by gravity distortion).
Overview Not much to say really, its a standard ranged attack. Although I prefer this power over Crush (because I dont like DoT), Crush is actually the better choice really.
Slots The slots I would recommend are the same for Crush, 2x Accuracy, 2x Damage, 1x Endurance, 1x Recharge. There are several Procs you could slot in this as well including a couple of chance +damage, chance to hold, chance of +recharge, chance for end drain, chance to heal and chance to build up.
Gravity Distortion
This is a single target ranged hold that deals minor damage over time. It will slow movement speed even if the hold is unsuccessful.
Positives In addition to its mag 3 hold which will hold minions and Lts it has a knockback debuff element meaning if it is hit with a power with knockback (e.g. Propel) the knockback is negated.
Negatives It is a tier 3 power rather than a tier 2 power like in most other Controller sets.
Overview This is one of the must have powers from the set. It is a pretty standard hold in terms of stats and becomes an early part of your attack chain and the knockback debuff is useful to negate some of your own knockback effects so to keep a character in the same AoE as other mobs. I have mentioned it being a tier 3 power rather than tier 2 because I know I would have chosen my powers in a different order if it was available at character creation.
Slots I would recommend 2x Accuracy, 1x Damage, 1x Hold, 1x Recharge, 1x Endurance. There are several Procs you could slot in this as well including several chance of +damage, chance to hold, chance to foe -recharge, chance for end drain, chance to heal and chance to build up.
Propel
This is a single target ranged attack that does moderate damage with an additional knockback effect.
Positives Well lets see you get to throw a toilet at someone! Oh and you get to throw a TV at someone! The fun never ends! Oh and it does decent damage, especially when combined with containment (Ive caused up to and over 200 when slotted). The knockback can be useful as well for stray baddies that are getting to close for comfort.
Negatives Its SLOW! The animation time of this power can be painful (it takes 3.5 seconds to activate plus travel time to hit the target). The clutter from the objects youve thrown can be a bit annoying. Also the knockback can be detrimental if you are not careful if you knock foes out of an AoE range.
Overview I love this power, it is great fun and has caused many a laugh in team chat and does some decent damage. However, the activation time is so slow that most the time the foe is already down before I have finishing casting it. So really this power is best in solo situations or used against stronger foes (e.g. Bosses, EBs and AVs).
Slots - The slots I would recommend are the same for Crush, 2x Accuracy, 2x Damage, 1x Endurance, 1x Recharge. There are several Procs you could slot in this as well including a couple of +damage, chance to hold, chance of +recharge, chance for end drain, chance to heal and chance to build up.
Crushing Field
A targeted area of effect immobilise power that causes minor damage over time. It will slow movement speed even if the immobilise is unsuccessful.
Positives A mass mag 3 immobilise power with a good duration so will keep minions and Lts in one place ready for other AoE powers.
Negatives It can be a bit endurance heavy if it is used a lot quickly and is a tier 5 power rather than a tier 3 in other sets. It is also an aggro magnet! Because it can hit a lot of foes at once you can end up faceplanting easily if you are not careful.
Overview Pretty much a standard AoE immobilise power but will become one of your standard attacks in your attack chain. It is good for setting up containment and because there is no knockback debuff it works well at keeping foes in range for Freezing Rain. Again it being a higher tier is mentioned because I would choose the order of my powers differently if it was lower.
Slots I wouldnt recommend slotting for damage as it is not that significant. I would recommend 2x Accuracy, 2x Endurance, 1x Immobilise and 1x Recharge. There are several Procs you could slot in this as well including several chance of +damage, chance to hold, chance to disorientate, chance for end drain, chance to heal, chance of foes -recharge and chance to build up.
Dimension Shift
This is a targeted area of effect power that will cause foes affected to become phase shifted so that they cannot affect you but you cannot affect them either.
Positives Well foes that are affected cannot attack you so cannot damage you.
Negatives Foes affected cannot be attacked by you so you could be sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for it to wear off.
Overview Now I havent taken this power myself so I am talking from a bit of theoretical point of view mixed with seeing others using the power. It is a VERY situational power. It could be a panic button in case you accidentally bite off more than you can chew (e.g. aggroing multiple mobs). Also HAILSTORM (my SG boss) has pointed out that the towers in the Statesmans TF can be phased so it could be used there. However, as there is no really way of telling a foe is phased it until attacking it so it can annoy fellow team mates who cannot damage their targets etc. Also as it is an AoE power it could possibly affect foes you dont want to, so cant really be used to target that one annoying boss that is in the way. I would say this power can be skipped unless you want to.
Slots Based on looking at the numbers (rather than experience) I would recommend 2x Accuracy, 1x Endurance, 1x Recharge and it doesnt take any IO sets.
Gravity Distortion Field
Works the same as Gravity Distortion (including knockback debuff) except that it is a targeted AoE power and does no damage.
Positives Can be useful as a panic button as it will hold multiple minions and Lts (its a mag 3 hold). Unlike some other mass hold control powers it is ranged.
Negatives Poor accuracy, short duration and long recharge the same as all other Controller mass hold powers. Also the mass knockback debuff can be detrimental to the effects of Freeving Rain.
Overview Well this power isnt particularly anything special especially when you first get it. It isnt a power to rely on and should be used in more strategic situations (such as being overwhelmed as it will hold most minions and Lts) or for stacking. I have found it has become more useful once its been slotted for recharge/accuracy and Ive started using hasten.
Slots I would recommend 2x Accuracy, 2x Recharge, 1x Endurance, 1x Hold. There are several Procs which you can use including several chance of +damage, chance of recharge and chance of hold.
Wormhole
This is a ranged targeted area of effect stun power that has an added teleport and knockback effect on foes.
Positives This power has many positive points. It is a mag 3 stun so will stun minions and Lts. The teleport is great than mag 12 so it will teleport all foes apart from archvillains. It has a good range PLUS you dont have to have line of sight with the target only with the exit. You can choose the exit point so can use it to place foes where ever you like.
Negatives There is a knockback element when the foes exit so unless you are putting them into a wall you will have to learn to compensate for the knockback when placing your exit point.
Overview This is brilliant power in my opinion. Because you dont require line of sight you can herd foes from around a corner. You can create a pseudo hold effect then by then putting on your Crushing Field on the foes that are disorientated. Also because even EBs can be teleported you will be able to control the battlefield how you like. Definitely take it!
Note I have also found this power to be extremely useful in PvP to send annoying blasters smack into a wall or off to the other side of the field!
Slot I would recommend 2x Accuracy, 1x Rechage, 1x Stun. An easy, effective and cheap way to slot this with IO sets is with Rope-A-Dope: Accuracy/Recharge and Accuracy/Stun/Recharge and Stupfy: Accuracy/Recharge and Accuracy/Stun/Recharge. This will max out Accuracy and Recharge along with a good boost to Stun. The set bonuses will give you a small boost to recovery and regeneration. If you have extra slots for Procs it is a very versatile power as it will take teleport IO sets so you can add a +knockback resistance along with chance to hit debuff, chance to knockback, chance to immobilise, +stealth, chance of +recharge, chance of +damage and slow resistance.
Singularity
This is the Gravity Control pet power. You summon a Singularity with the following powers (from wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Singularity#Singularity):
Repel - Auto, PBAoE, knockback
Crush - Ranged Immobilize, single target, smashing damage, slow
Lift - Ranged, single target, smashing damage, knockup
Gravity Distortion - Ranged Hold, single target, smashing damage, slow, knockback/knockup debuff
Resistance - Auto, Res to All, res to self-healing, res to hold, sleep, immobilize, stun, -tohit debuff, res to knockback, knockup, repell
Intangible
Flight
Positives The control powers it has stack with your own, it helps boost your damage output, it can take a lot of punishment, its repel power is a nice addition to keep you safe as you can hide inside it, it flies so will can follow you around without causing to much aggro. It also only has ranged powers so wont necessarily go running off aggroing additional mobs.
Negatives It cant be healed unfortunately. Also it isnt the most intelligent of pets in that it wont move forward to engage foes and will just sit still, so if you are attacking at the edge of your ranged powers and the Singularity is behind you it wont attack unless you move forward.
Overview This is a great pet in my opinion. Its powers stack nicely with your own. You can also leave it and not have to worry about it as it will just follow you and attack. The repel also helps keep you safe from melee foes. It is also highly resistant to damage and I have found it will only really die if you let it take all the aggro from an EB/AV or from large multiple mobs. Definitely, definitely take this!
Slots I would recommend 2x Accuracy, 2x Damage and 1x Hold. An interesting way to slot this would be with Kinetic Crash IO set. If you use Damage/Knockback, Accuracy/Knockback, Damage/Endurance/ Knockback and Accuracy/Damage/Knockback. This will give you give you 3mag knockback resistance and all you need to do is slot an Accuracy/Damage IO from another set to max out the Accuracy/Damage. This will then provide you with some knockback resistance. There are several Procs that can be slotted including a resistance and defence bonus to pets, chance to build up, taunt/plactate resist, chance of +recharge and chance of +damage.
STORM SUMMONING
Gale
A targeted cone attack that causes (very) minor smashing damage and a high chance of knockback.
Positives It has a high knockback magnitude so there is a chance to knockback most foes and it is large cone (80?) so will hit a lot of them.
Negatives The damage is virtually non-existent and the large cone makes it difficult to actually control where you are knocking foes back to.
Overview I dont particularly like this power. It can have it uses when soloing at lower levels at keeping foes out of melee range. However, there is no point using it for extra damage and in team situations it can be very chaotic unless you know you will be knocking foes into a corner. HOWEVER, you are stuck with it and you have to take it at level 1.
Note This power can actually be a lot of fun if you are on a team where knockback is not an issue. Having just played a Super KB team it was great seeing foes not getting a chance to stand for more than a few seconds because of the multiple Gales!
Slot 1x Accuracy or you can slot it with a Proc. The ones available are chance of knockdown, a couple of chance of +damage and a chance of +recharge.
O2 Boost
This is an ally single target heal that also grants disorientate, sleep and endurance drain resistance along with an enhanced perception (all lasting about a minute)
Positives It has a quick recharge so can be cast multiple times quickly. It grants some status protection and has a high range.
Negatives It is only a single target heal (and you cannot target yourself) and my impression is when looking at the numbers of the amount healed isnt that much higher compared to other powersets which do the same within an AoE. The endurance cost is also a bit high so casting it a lot quickly can drain your endurance bar. It is also a tier 2 power.
Overview To be honest this isnt the best healing power available to controllers in their secondary sets. As mentioned above there are powers that seem to do the job better than this one. This power isnt strong enough to be a team saver and at best will help with down time between mobs. If I could take this over Gale I would, however it is a tier 2 power so you will have to choose to take it after level 1. This is another reason I think it is inferior to other healing powers from controller secondaries. I havent taken this power as I dont have the room or slots on my main build but have taken it as a power on my second build which concentrates more of a support role.
Slot From my second build I would recommend 2x Health, 2x Endurance and 1x Recharge. The procs available are a +recovery, +regeneration or +regeneration/recovery.
Snow Storm
This is a targeted area of effect toggle power that will reduce the movement speed and recharge of all foes effected.
Positives It will help keep foes in one place or within an AoE (e.g. freezing rain) and will help with survivability as foes will attack at a slower rate. It doesnt require much slotting (2 slots with endurance reduction).
Negatives It can be a bit of endurance guzzler at first before slotting with SOs/IOs . It is an anchor power, so although it will affect multiple foes if the original target is defeated then it will stop affecting all foes.
Overview This is a nice little power, which assists with your overall control ability. Although there are some endurance problems at first (especially pre-stamina) these are easily overcome. The anchor issue can be overcome in teams by targeting the boss of the group rather than a minion and will help with stopping foes escaping an AoE.
Slots All this requires is 2x Endurance. If you have slots available you can slot a Proc and the ones available are chance of recharge or chance of +damage.
Steamy Mist
This is a toggle point blank area of effect power which grants the user and those affected with a small defence bonus and resistance bonus to Fire, Energy and Cold damage along with confuse effects. It also grants 35 feat of PvE stealth.
Positives You can get this power at level 10 which is good because as it will give you a bit of an edge in terms of resistance you would not otherwise get. The defence bonus is small but will stack with other defence buffs and the stealth aspect allows you to get a little closer to foes without notice which is useful in a strategic way. And on top of that any allies close to you get all the same bonuses!
Negatives This power can also be an endurance guzzler at first (especially if you are using Snow Storm as well). Unfortunately it doesnt stack with other stealth powers (such as those from the concealment pool or, if you are playing the illusion power set, superior invisibility) so if you put one on the other will switch off. HOWEVER, it will stack with Super Speed and a +stealth Proc which will grant you enough Stealth to ghost most missions. Also like all stealth powers it also reduces how far away from hostages you can get so you will have to detoggle when leading them out.
Overview A good power in my opinion well worth taking as soon as possible. The negatives are only minor (and can be overcome) in my opinion which are out weighed by the positives as this power provides some defence and resistance which controllers are lacking. I will note that it does go slightly against the ranged nature of the Gravity set as if you want melee toons to get the bonuses you will have to get up close as well.
Slots I would recommend 2x Endurnace, 2x Defence and 2x Resistance. The procs available are +recharge, + run speed, +accuracy, a couple of +knockback resistance, Psionic/Status Resistance, Psionic resistance, Status Resistance or +Defence.
Freezing Rain
This is a targeted area of effect power that causes minor cold damage over time, may cause knockdown on affected foes along with reducing their movement speed, recharge, defence and resistance.
Positives Where do I start! They are all listed above really and combined create a great little debuff patch that has some soft control. The defence and resistance debuff are both at 30% which is quite high and the base accuracy is also very high so no need to slot with lots of accuracy for it to become effective.
Negatives The only negatives of this power is that it is short lived (only 30 seconds duration) and can be a bit endurance heavy.
Overview This is one of the best powers in the Storm Summoning set in my opinion. It will be one of the most used and most versatile powers in the entire set and well worth taking as soon as possible.
Slots I would recommend 1x Accuracy, 2x Recharge, 1x Defence debuff and 1x Endurance. The procs available are chance of knockback, a few chance of +damage, chance of recharge and chance of resistance debuff (which is the only proc of this kind).
Hurricane
This is a toggle point blank area of effect power that will repel or knockdown any foes that come within the area of effect but will also create a to-hit debuff and reduce the range on all foes targeting you.
Positives This is a very useful power as not only does it protect you from foes trying to get within melee range but also those who are trying to attack you from afar. It works well with your ranged control powers as keeping foes far away with the reduced range will protect you and it is usable in teams as you are a ranged controller there is no need to enter melee and annoy the scrappers/tanks by chucking the foes around.
Negatives Another endurance guzzling power. From a practical point of view the animation itself can block your line of sight particularly if flying and looking down.
Overview This power is definitely worth getting but can wait until after you have stamina in my opinion. It will definitely increase your survivability. It is also quite versatile when it comes to slotting. You will need to slot it for endurance but am finding the knockback and to hit debuff are good enough unslotted but can be even more effective when it is.
Slot Depending on the slots you have you can either just have 2x Endurnace or 2x Endurance and 2x To Hit Debuff. Procs available are chance of +recharge, chance of +damage, chance of recharge and chance of recovery.
Thunder Clap -
This is a point blank area of effect power that will disorientate affected foes.
Positives Useful for catching those stray foes who are persistently harassing you.
Negatives It is only a mag 2 disorientate so will only affect minions without additional stacking. It has a very low base accuracy and requires you to be in melee range of the foes.
Overview This is a very disappointing power in my opinion which has been put in and taken out of my build several times. It goes against the ranged nature of the Gravity power set and the accuracy is very poor. However, you can stack it with your wormhole so it will allow you to stun bosses as well as minions and Lts. Currently I have it in my build for that reason but it is a power that can be skipped.
Slots I would recommend 2x Accuracy, 1x Rechage, 1x Stun. An easy, effective and cheap way to slot this with IOs is with Rope-A-Dope: Accuracy/Recharge and Accuracy/Stun/Recharge and Stupfy: Accuracy/Recharge and Accuracy/Stun/Recharge. This will max out Accuracy and Recharge along with a good boost to Stun. The set bonuses will give you a small boost to recovery and regeneration. If you have slots free for procs it takes are chance To Hit Debuff, chance of knockback and chance of immobilise.
Tornado
This summons a Tornado for a limited time which will chase down foes causing smashing damage and reducing their defence. It will also knock them back as well causing fear and stun effects.
Positives As described above this power is the embodiment of the storm summoning power set in one attack. It has a lot going on to help control foes as well as protecting you from their attacks (theyll either be knocked away, stunned or to scared!). It also helps boost your damage when used against foes with knockback resistance (e.g. AVs) as they will just take all the damage.
Negatives It can cause utter chaos! Apart from where you cast it you cannot control where it goes. The knockback can be very detrimental to any area of effects attacks or to team tactics.
Overview The ultimate panic button! This power will dismantle a mob in seconds sending them left, right and any other direction you can think of. In some ways it is a very situational power, in that you would use it against EBs/AVs or when a team wipe is inevitable but it works wonders in this situation. I would love to have this in my main build but unfortunately decided not to take it mainly for the fact I did not have the enhancement slots to do it justice. If you can fit it in, definitely go for it.
Slots I havent had much experience slotting this but it has been recommended that I slot for recharge and damage. So I would recommend 2x Recharge, 3x Damage and 1x Endurance. The sheer number of IO sets this takes means it has LOADS of procs available including chance To Hit Debuff, chance of knockback, chance of immobilise, a resistance and defence bonus to pets, chance to build up, taunt/plactate resist, chance of resistance debuff, chance of +recharge, chance of +To Hit and a few chance of +damage.
Lightening Storm
This summons a Lightening Storm that will attack foes that enter its range. It causes high energy damage and will now knock foes back. It will also drain foes endurance and causes them to be afraid briefly.
Positives This will help boost your damage out put as well help protect you from pesky foes that try to enter melee range.
Negatives The knockback is quite strong so if it is cast to near a group of foes you are trying to contain then Lightening Storm can be problematic as it will scatter them about. It can be a bit endurance heavy to cast.
Overall This is a useful power as it will help boost your damage potential with a damage type that isnt as resisted as the smashing from gravity is. It is worth noting that the cloud doesnt actually follow you so once summoned it will remain stationary. This can be useful as it can be set strategically to block a mob off or to hover and protect something. On the other hand, it can be a bit of a waste if you cast it and then have to move on before it is finished.
Slots I would recommend 1x Accuracy, 1x Recharge, 2x Damage and 1x Endurance. It takes the following Procs: a couple chance of +damage, chance of self heal, chance of endurance drain, chance of hold, chance of build up, chance of +endurance, chance of stun and chance of +recharge.
Thinking about IO Sets
Slotting IO sets can be an expensive job if you are looking for the more popular IO sets and for specific ones. I wont go into more detail than I have already in the above sections as I have not entirely mastered it myself. However, unless you are looking for some specific set bonuses it may be worth thinking about frankenslotting powers. This means by slotting IOs from different sets in an attempt to some set bonuses and maxing the enhancement of the power. A useful link to check set bonuses is this (thanks to HAILSTORM for this):
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Category:Invention_Sets
Thinking about Procs
I have mentioned Procs throughout the above section because I find them to useful and easy to use. Depending on what you think is lacking you can boost your recharge, your damage out put, add some status resistance or better your ability to hold.
A couple of examples I have used are the chance of +recharge in Lift. It is a power I spam a lot so there is a good chance it will go off. I also have a chance of hold in Gravity distortion so I have a chance to create a mag 5 hold so I can one shot bosses and help stack against EBs.
There are also global IO enhancements that will give you a bonus whether you are using the power or not. These include bonus to recharge and defence.
The sheer versatility of the Gravity/Storm combination means you can essentially go however you like with it all!
TRAVEL POWERS
Travel powers are something that I believe that is really best left down to character concept but they are worth thinking about in terms of a Grav/Storm controller. I took flight for Tired Angel as I think it is silly having an Angel that couldnt fly!
Flight
Air Superiority is a good soft control melee attack with the knockdown, but with the amount of ranged attacks and knockback powers it may not be worth getting.
Hover is a good way of keeping out of range of melee toons on the ground and boosts your defence slightly.
Fly itself is a simple and easy to use travel power; it will allow you to from A to B without any problems although it is a little slow!
Group Flight is not worth it at all, a very situational power and one of those situations (the Shadow Shard) is no longer an issue because you can buy Raptor Packs in Firebase Zulu.
Leaping
Jump Kick is similar to Air Superiority in that it will give you some soft control (knockdown) in the form of a melee attack, however the animation time on it is quite long and with your own knockback and ranged powers you probably wont be have need to use it.
Combat Jumping is a nice little power in that it costs little endurance, will help you manoeuvre around and provides you with some Immobilise resistance and a small defence buff.
Super Jump is fun travel power. It has a decent speed and allows enough manoeuvrability to traverse most maps, but you have to be careful you dont land in a mob full of trouble or crash into a wall!
Acrobatics is also a good power as it will provide you some more status resistance (knockback and hold) which Grav/Storm doesnt provide.
Speed
Flurry isnt the best power available from the power sets, but it provides a small chance at disorientating the target which you could stack with your other powers. Yet you still need to be in melee range (not good) and its not guaranteed.
Hasten is a great power, it boosts the recharge speed of all your powers, which is especially useful when you are facing an EB and want your stronger powers to charge faster. The endurance crash at the end of the duration can be problematic but with time you learn to predict it and so you can lessen the impact (e.g. pop a blue inspiration or stop attacking for a moment). A great power to take even if you dont take Speed as a travel power.
Super Speed is great travel power. It is fast but also provides you with some stealth (which stacks with your own from Steamy Mist). A great power for ghosting missions, however the lack of upward movement may mean you rely on temporary jump powers (e.g. GvsE jump pack) to help scale vertical walls. It may be worth taking Recall Friend with this if you are planning on ghosting missions.
Whirlwind is a pure chaos power and just knocks foes back, and as you have enough of that already its not really needed!
Teleportation
Recall Friend is one of the most selfless powers there is. Useful if you plan of teaming a lot and like to provide a great level of support. Also as you will probably be staying ranged you can use it to rescue fallen allies who are stuck in the middle of a mob.
Teleport Foe is a power Ive tried and it takes a little getting used to as you may still agro a mob by teleporting just one of them. It can be useful when soloing but when you have Wormhole you wont need it.
Teleport is a travel power I love and hate. It can be extremely quick but at the same time very difficult to control if you dont have a clear line in front of you.
Team Teleport is an interesting power. It essentially works like a short range version of teleport but will take you and your team mates. Useful for getting regrouping during a difficult encounter. Possibly worth taking but best discussed with the team you are in before its use for best results.
Overall I feel any of the travel powers would work with the Grav/Storm combo although I would say that Super Speed could potentially be a better choice. This is because I would recommend taking Hasten at some point in the build anyway so it will free up a power as you wont have to take two other powers from another pool. Also because the bonus to stealth will allow you to ghost missions, however it would be worth taking Recall Friend if you do this. However the other powers have uses as well in that Flight will allow you keep out melee range, Leaping provides some status resistance and Teleportation helps provide greater team support.
POWER POOLS
I will now do a brief overview of the other power pools available and how they work with the Grav/Storm combo:
Concealment This power pool can be avoided in my opinion. Two of the powers (Stealth and Invisibility) cant be on with Steamy Mist and a decent level of stealth can be achieved with Super Speed. Grant Invisibility may be useful to help boost an allys defence which already provided by Steamy Mist but the endurance cost is high and the duration is short. Phase Shift I havent tried although it could make a good panic button as you cannot be attacked, however to get it you will need two other powers from the pool, so is not worth the sacrifice.
Fighting - Boxing and Kick are two powers that are similar to the melee attacks in the travel powers above, they provide some soft control (knockdown or stun) but being a primarily ranged build with lots of knockback it may not be worth taking unless you wanted to get Tough and/or Weave. These are decent powers and will help boost your resistance/defence making your survivability greater. Worth considering if you have room in your build.
Fitness This is almost a must have pool (unless you can significantly boost your recovery with IO sets) as many of your Storm toggles have a high endurance cost. Swift and Hurdle can be a personal choice although I would recommend Swift with the Flight/Leaping travel powers and Hurdle with Speed. Health is good at increasing your regeneration and is a good place to slot the +recovery/+regeneration procs. Stamina is worth 3 slotting with Endurance Modification and will definitely help with the endurance heavy toggles.
Leadership This is a very versatile power pool. Manoeuvers will boost the defence of yourself and all allies in range and will stack with the defence bonus from Steamy Mist although it isnt by a large amount. Assault will boost your/allys damage by approximately 10%. This can very useful as it will help mitigate some of the problems from the smashing damage of Gravity being resisted. Tactics will boost your accuracy which can be useful at first when you may not be able to slot all the accuracy you need but I found now TA is properly slotted this isnt so much of an issue. However, it can also be useful as it grants +perception which will help mitigate any blindness caused by those pesky higher level mobs! Vengeance is the power to use when everything goes [censored] up as when an ally falls you can give you team mates a boost to defence, damage and accuracy. All these powers can happily fit in with a Grav/Storm controller so take whichever ones you can, but if you can only take one I would take Assault.
Medicine This pool can be of use if you want to play a more of a support role with your toon. Aid Other heals more than O2 boost but has a longer recharge and can be interrupted. Plus the range on it isnt as good. Stimulant will grant a large amount of mez protection to your allies but has a short duration and can be interrupted. Aid Self is useful for a self heal that Grav/Storm is missing and Resurrection will you to revive fallen allies. All these could help you fulfil a more supportive role within a group but you still wont be as effective a true healer.
Presence This is a power pool Ive always wanted to take but have never been able to fit into a toon. As for a Grav/Storm controller you wont have much use for (or really need, you can get lots of agro with just Crushing Field!) Challenge or Provoke but with Intimidate and Invoke Panic you could stack it with the fear caused by Tornado. The only problem is with Invoke Panic which is a point blank area of effect power which goes against the ranged nature of Gravity. I would say this pool is not needed at all but could be fun!
So overall I would recommend the Fitness power pool, Assault from Leadership (plus others if you can) and Hasten (if you havent taken Super Speed as your travel power). That would leave one more pool available if you have room for possibly your travel power (if not Super Speed) or possibly Fighting or Medicine.
ANCILLARY POWER POOLS
The ancillary power pools, or epic power pools, are a nice way to round off your character and fill any missing gaps they have. I had trouble settling on my choice for Epics with TA with each of them having merits. I will describe each below and how they could work with Grav/Storm.
Fire Mastery This pool is more simplistic than the others. The first two powers do damaging attacks, then you have a resistance based shield (covering smashing, lethal, fire and cold) and finishing with a point blank area of effect endurance drain power. Generally works well with Grav/Storm with Fireball giving you some decent extra damage (third highest AoE behind Ice Storm which has a longer recharge and Frost Breath which is a narrow cone) and Fire Shield stacking with the cold/fire resistance provided by Steamy Mist. Consume is useful as if you are attacking quickly with all your toggles on as your endurance can be drained quite quickly. You can also slot it with a chance to stun proc to stack with your existing stuns. However Consume is PBAoE so goes against the ranged nature of Grav/Storm.
Psionic Mastery This set provides some additional damage with its first and last power, provides some temporary status resistance with its other first power and then has a resistance based shield as its second power. Again this works well with Grav/Storm as Psionic Tornado helps boosts your damage output and provides a knockdown effect which you can use in junction with Freezing Rain. Mind Over Body provides resistance to Smashing, Lethal and Psionic damage. Although Psionic damage is one of the rarer damage types, its protection against it also as rare so could give you an edge. Indomitable Will provides you with some much needed status protection, but only temporarily. My issue with this power is that you cannot use while you are mezzed so you will need to judge careful when to use it and when not to.
Stone Mastery This set provides you with a lot of additional fire power, along with another hold, a defence based shield and a healing power. This set provides three additional attacks of varying ranges. A long ranged high damage one (Hurl Boulder) with knockback, a close ranged AoE (Fissure) with knockback and Stun and a melee attack with a hold element (Seismic Smash). Of these Fissure and Seismic Smash are the two worth considering but the problem with these are the range. Although they both provide mezzes that will stack with your own you have to get in close to use them, which goes against the ranged nature of Grav/Storm. The shield in this set is OK, my experience of using it though was that it didnt provide enough defence alone to be useful and found myself faceplanting more than I have with other shields. I think this would have been more useful if I had taken more defence boosting powers/IO sets in my build. The heal would be a good addition to your build as it is something you would lack, however it has a long recharge so cant necessarily be relied upon.
Ice Mastery This set provides two ranged attack powers (one of which is AoE) and a close range cone attack. It also provides a defence based shield and a heal/endurance recovering power. I dont have practical experience of this set so will basing this on theory and on observing others using the set. The attacks from this set all induce a slow and recharge affect on foes. Any of these attacks could prove useful, particularly Ice Storm as it will go nicely with your other AoE powers although the recharge on it is longer than the other AoE powers from the epic pools. My comments from the defence based shield from stone mastery would stand here as well, so I feel that it would benefit from a boost from other defence powers/IO sets. Although this power also does provide some resistance to Cold damage. Hibernate is a good panic button and self heal. You become encased in a block of ice, becoming invulnerable for up to 30 seconds. During this time your endurance and health recover at a fast rate. This means by the end you are completely recovered, which is very useful for long drawn out fights. The recharge on the power is long but it wont require as much repeated use as you will be able to fully recover from one use.
Primal Forces Mastery This set provides two ranged attack powers, an endurance discount power, a resistance based shield and power that boosts the effectiveness of all your mez attacks and debuffs. Again I dont have practical experience of this set so will basing this on theory and on observing others using the set. The attacks are quite basic, in that they only have an additional knockback effect. This means you would have to be careful not to knock them out of an AoE like Freezing Rain. The endurance discount power could be useful for longer fights (such as against AVs) as some of your powers, particularly the Storm ones, can be a bit Endurance heavy. The Temp Invulnerability resistance shield is probably the least effective as unlike the ones from Fire and Psi it only provides protection against Smashing and Lethal. The last power, Power Boost, could potentially be very effective however the duration is short lived and it has a long recharge time.
Overall any of the above could work well with the Grav/Storm combo. I finally have settled on Fire Mastery for Tired Angel mainly because Fireball provides a good ranged damage power with a decent recharge speed. The resistance shield is also quite good. Before that I tried Psi and Stone which were also effective but didnt really suit my play style. Out of the two I havent tried, Primal and Ice, I would consider going to Ice Mastery because of Hibernate and Ice Storm but am put off by the shield power it provides.
Synergy and Tactics
I have touched on this as I went through the powers above but when combining the Gravity Control and Storm Summoning Power sets they work well together in the following ways:
Gravity being a ranged power there are several storm powers which will either knock foes down (Freezing Rain) or knock them away (Tornado, Hurricane, Lightening Storm, Gale) so you will be able to keep them at a safe distance. Snow Storm is also useful at keeping foes away.
Combine the above with the stealth aspect or Steamy Mist and the range effect of Hurricane means you are able to stay out of attack range of ranged foes more easily.
The mass immobilise power Crushing Field works well in tandem with Freezing Rain to keeps foes from escaping an area of effect.
The slowing effects of many of Gravitys powers stack well with the slowing effects of Snow Storm and Freezing Rain.
You have the additional stun power (Thunder Clap) to stack with the gravity power Wormhole.
However there are some aspects which do not work as well together such as:
There are multiple area of effect powers (Crushing Field, Gravity Distortion Field, Wormhole, Freezing Rain) which may not be as effective if the knockback from both the storm and gravity powers are being used a lot
Thunder Clap requires you to be in the middle of the mob to be of any use so goes against the ranged nature of overall build.
When thinking of strategies I have found the following attack chains to be effective:
Freezing Rain Crushing Field [Epic AoE power] - Gravity Distortion Lift/Crush Propel
This is the basic attack chain that I use, you use Freezing Rain quickly followed by Crushing Field (which will set up containment). This will keep foes in the debuff/knockdown area, which will keep them from attacking you. You can then use Gravity Distortion, Lift/Crush, Propel to take out each individual foe easily. The knockback debuff from Gravity Distortion is useful here as it will keep the foe in the AoE of Freezing Rain even though you are hitting them with Propel. When at higher levels you can add your AoE epic power for greater damage.
Wormhole - Freezing Rain Crushing Field [Epic AoE power] - Gravity Distortion Lift/Crush Propel
As above except starting out with Wormhole to herd the mob, preferably, into a corner. Remember you dont need line of sight for this to work so could be safer than the first option. It will also create a pseudo hold (stun so cant attack and immobilise so cant move) on the foes.
Wormhole Thunder Clap - Freezing Rain Crushing Field [Epic AoE power] - Gravity Distortion Lift/Crush Propel
As above but a little riskier than the first as you will need to go into the mob but it will mean that you will be able to possibly stun bosses.
Other options you can do is activate Snow Storm on the highest ranking foe in the mob (Boss, EB, AV) which will help keep foes at bay and slow their attack rate.
A useful way of using Lightening Storm is if you have herded foes into a corner then you can activate this and it will just push foes back into the wall. You can even activate Lightening Storm before you teleport them. You can also do this using your Hurricane power but may be harder to manage as it may push foes around you and out of the corner.
Powers such as Tornado and Gravity Distortion Field should be used when the opportunity arises (e.g. completely overwhelmed by aggroing to many mobs). As mentioned Tornado is good at boosting damage against knockback resistant foes.
