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Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
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Long Review Post: I can’t decide what to think about Storm (PX)
ESF
Posts: 1,944 ★★★★★
Hey, folks. Hope all is well.
Incoming long post, so here is the TL:DR version: Storm (Pyramid X) is a pretty good character. I think. Sometimes. Right? Maybe?
Folks, I have been here since the first week of the game, and I love testing characters, and I just might as well get this out here: Never in my time playing this game have I understood more about what a character’s kit is supposed to feel like but wonder how in the world I could execute it in punishing content.
I was lucky enough to pull Storm (PX) as a 5-star in the Early Access Bundles, and I have been trying to master the character since.
The kit probably isn’t the hardest to play in the game; to me, Hela is still harder to get right. Annihilus, Nova and Silver Surfer also require concentration to use as designed, and Quake and Ghost still require play-hours to use well.
But that doesn’t mean Storm (PX)’s true damage is easy to unlock, because it isn’t. Like every character I just mentioned, you can play them straight-up and do some good things, but with SPX, you almost have to try to line up 5-plus Prowess, at a minimum, before you launch an L2 or L3...and that comes with some risk in content where the AI is decently aggressive, because the multiplier mechanic that you can use to enhance the potency of the Prowess can be risky if you try to charge it just to maximize the number of Prowess charges you have.
Does that make sense?
You need Prowess with SPX, and those build when you hit power bars automatically. But they are on a timer after the third one, and it’s not a lengthy one. The Bishop synergy makes it longer, but when you’re trying to bait out specials and avoid getting backed into a corner by an aggressive AI, the Prowess runs out too quickly, which is why you will be tempted to charge the multiplier mechanic and fire off the SP2 or SP3.
That, my friends, can get you punched really hard, and unfortunately, Storm’s health pool ain’t exactly like Void’s. You feel it when you get hit square.
The character does include a Glancing mechanic that is very effective, to be fair, and at the end of the day, it’s just Storm — there are no immunities from bleed or poison, as you would expect.
She does have Coldsnap/Frostbite OR Shock mitigation...but only if you are in Ice Tempest OR Lightning Tempest mode. I am not a fan of that; I think those should be active at all times.
So at the end of it..man. I don’t know.
You can hit really hard with SPX. Really, really hard. I don’t deny that for a second.
And I kinda liked playing the character. Just pure fun factor. I don’t necessarily mind complexity in a kit.
But at the same time, I am not sure where I would use the character.
I need to start messing with 6.2-6.4, so to take the character there means I would need to take the kit to 4/55 at a minimum...and I don’t know if I can justify that kind of resource investment.
Maybe a slightly better player than me can — I am pretty solidly a B+ guy — but if I take her in that kind of content, I will just be using resources on her...and you really need to bring along Bishop, too.
So, yeah. Man, I don’t know.
This is all over the place because I don’t know what I truly think.
Part of me wants to take the kit up to 4/55 and see what it does...but part of me says that with no Regen or Power Control, and the overall complexity, there’s just no way to justify it.
Sorry, folks. I wanted to try to write something that explained a tight rotation that all of us could unlock, but unfortunately, I am not sure that all of us are gonna be able to play this character extremely well.
Hopefully when more people get her, I will be proven wrong!
Incoming long post, so here is the TL:DR version: Storm (Pyramid X) is a pretty good character. I think. Sometimes. Right? Maybe?
Folks, I have been here since the first week of the game, and I love testing characters, and I just might as well get this out here: Never in my time playing this game have I understood more about what a character’s kit is supposed to feel like but wonder how in the world I could execute it in punishing content.
I was lucky enough to pull Storm (PX) as a 5-star in the Early Access Bundles, and I have been trying to master the character since.
The kit probably isn’t the hardest to play in the game; to me, Hela is still harder to get right. Annihilus, Nova and Silver Surfer also require concentration to use as designed, and Quake and Ghost still require play-hours to use well.
But that doesn’t mean Storm (PX)’s true damage is easy to unlock, because it isn’t. Like every character I just mentioned, you can play them straight-up and do some good things, but with SPX, you almost have to try to line up 5-plus Prowess, at a minimum, before you launch an L2 or L3...and that comes with some risk in content where the AI is decently aggressive, because the multiplier mechanic that you can use to enhance the potency of the Prowess can be risky if you try to charge it just to maximize the number of Prowess charges you have.
Does that make sense?
You need Prowess with SPX, and those build when you hit power bars automatically. But they are on a timer after the third one, and it’s not a lengthy one. The Bishop synergy makes it longer, but when you’re trying to bait out specials and avoid getting backed into a corner by an aggressive AI, the Prowess runs out too quickly, which is why you will be tempted to charge the multiplier mechanic and fire off the SP2 or SP3.
That, my friends, can get you punched really hard, and unfortunately, Storm’s health pool ain’t exactly like Void’s. You feel it when you get hit square.
The character does include a Glancing mechanic that is very effective, to be fair, and at the end of the day, it’s just Storm — there are no immunities from bleed or poison, as you would expect.
She does have Coldsnap/Frostbite OR Shock mitigation...but only if you are in Ice Tempest OR Lightning Tempest mode. I am not a fan of that; I think those should be active at all times.
So at the end of it..man. I don’t know.
You can hit really hard with SPX. Really, really hard. I don’t deny that for a second.
And I kinda liked playing the character. Just pure fun factor. I don’t necessarily mind complexity in a kit.
But at the same time, I am not sure where I would use the character.
I need to start messing with 6.2-6.4, so to take the character there means I would need to take the kit to 4/55 at a minimum...and I don’t know if I can justify that kind of resource investment.
Maybe a slightly better player than me can — I am pretty solidly a B+ guy — but if I take her in that kind of content, I will just be using resources on her...and you really need to bring along Bishop, too.
So, yeah. Man, I don’t know.
This is all over the place because I don’t know what I truly think.
Part of me wants to take the kit up to 4/55 and see what it does...but part of me says that with no Regen or Power Control, and the overall complexity, there’s just no way to justify it.
Sorry, folks. I wanted to try to write something that explained a tight rotation that all of us could unlock, but unfortunately, I am not sure that all of us are gonna be able to play this character extremely well.
Hopefully when more people get her, I will be proven wrong!
7
Comments
I mean, if you are pretty good, you could probably do that and REALLY punish content, but holy smokes, her health pool is so low, you almost couldn’t eat a combo in really tough content...huh. I wonder.
A really good player could probably do it, though. They just have to be better than me, which is certainly possible
Thanks for the feedback — it helps, for characters like this. Not everyone is gonna be able to manage that health pool, but it might be worth it to try
It’s just a tough go, with all that you have to do to get the Prowess lined up and stacked, maybe even squeeze in charging the multiplier, for the Crit rate to be as low as it is
I totally understand that it shouldn’t be super easy to unlock the kind of DPS the kit can generate, but at the same time, I don’t think playing SPX is easy. There’s a level of complexity in there that requires you to have some skill and ability to process and play the game, and it feels like the low crit rate is almost a punishment for lining everything up perfectly, doing what you are supposed to do, but it still not Critting
Yeah, you can build a Crit team around her, but that is also a tough go if you want to take SPX into Act 6 because a standard X-Men Crit team means you are needing Magneto or Cyclops at a minimum, so now you are talking burning slots on characters who need reworks in some of the toughest content in the game
I don’t know. I will keep testing...you can get away with not bringing Bishop, but it is definitely more complicated keeping a good number of Prowess up without his timer extension
All that said, man, I knocked out a 59K SP3 when I lined everything up perfectly once. And the kit is fun to play — the animations are smooth
I don’t know. I will keep testing and see if I can figure out how to get the kit through some tough content that makes sense for everyone
For example, seatins latest video on her pitted her against the IMIW in Variant 1. I believe that throwing SP3’s and lining one up when he was around 20-25% would have seen a much better performance. Definitely don’t want to use the SP2 in that matchup as he has additional crit resistance
Again, I don’t have the champion, I can only go off of what I’ve seen. I really want her to good, her design and animation look incredible. I think right now, I would say she’s matching Havok for me, but I’m not a massive fan of Havok, so I might be a bit biased. If we can unlock her damage, she’s certainly got the utility to match or even surpass Havok. Sunspots a whole new problem and neither of them are touching him.
She misses the mark of the current meta. Maybe if the shocks had some extra benefit, with like a chance to apply on basic attacks. Maybe.
I think you are correct. That mindset is the way to get more consistency with high-end damage
SP2 simply isn’t reliable to Crit, even with a Crit team, and it’s risky to charge the damage multiplier just to fire it off, even when it’s Unblockable. It’s just not worth it
You don’t have to bring Bishop and Storm with you, but they help. Those lengthier timers on the Prowess and the Alternate Tempest give you just enough room to bait out specials and play a good tempo without having to expose yourself every second of a tough fight with that smaller health pool
Thanks for weighing in; I didn’t see that angle during testing. Glad you saw my post and took the time to offer some thoughts
Thanks to the feedback from @Lvernon15 , @SpideyFunko , and @Rockypantherx (with thanks to Colonaut and TP33 for taking the time to participate), I think I can offer a better final synopsis for Storm (PX):
1. First, please take the time to read through those guys’ posts. They deserve all the credit for helping me to process what I was seeing but not able to execute. We’re all in this together, when these new characters come out and they aren’t as simple as Star-Lord from back in the day. I absolutely took their insights and applied them, and again, they deserve credit.
2. I like playing the character because she has what I call “realistic utility.” It’s just Storm, at the end of the day. She can be poisoned and she bleeds, so no, she’s not traditionally Suicide friendly BUT if you do opt for the SP3 method, then obviously she can be used without Recoil penalty while you obtain the damage benefit.
3. While I would prefer that Coldsnap/Frostbite and Shock Immunity were active at all times as part of the base kit, it isn’t completely horrible that you can choose which you want as part of the Pre-Fight mechanism. It is useful utility, as is the fact that she does Energy damage with her attack — I never turn down another Korg killer — and she has enhanced Energy Resistance.
4. Combine that with the ability to apply Slow/Coldsnap on the SP1, then you do have the added utility of an Evade/Unstoppable counter, which is never, ever bad.
5. That passive stun when an active stun is shrugged off is also great utility — I am not saying that the Kingpins and Agent Venoms, Mole Man, and Masochism nodes of the world are the worst things ever, but who likes dealing with characters who shrug off Stun when you least expect it? Nobody, that’s who.
6. There are downsides, though, as mentioned in above posts, as well. The Crit rate...it’s just not good. Even with a Crit team, it’s just not good. It’s frustratingly bad, to be honest.
7. The health pool maybe isn’t in the same room as Wasp, but it’s definitely on the same floor in the same building. I don’t even want to think about how much chip damage SPX is gonna take against post-Cavalier, Act 6-level content, even when you have the Glancing mechanic active. Ouch. Yeah, if you’re running around Act 6, you really shouldn’t be getting hit a lot, but come on, man. Everyone gets tagged and has to parry/block, at some point.
8. The heavy-charging mechanic isn’t completely original, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t feel as fluid with Storm. I have gotten OK at using it at will, but it is definitely a risk proposition, every single time.
9. Monitoring, stacking and maintaining Prowess on SPX is challenging. It’s not impossible, but you need to do it. The character is not the easiest to play. Others are similar or harder to play, but let’s be clear about this: There’s work to be done if you want that Big Boy DPS. It’s not gonna be for everyone — again, the kit is absolutely playable. But you gotta work at it, too.
10. Animations are smooth and the character feels fluid to play. That’s always welcomed.
So, for me, after playing the character and incorporating the feedback from others and weighing the pros and cons, I am gonna take SPX to 4/55. There’s enough there to do that and see where the kit sits at that level.
As far as where I see her in the Mutant class, Namor, Omega Red, Iceman, and Domino are clearly superior. Sunspot and Colossus are better, as well.
SPX is in the same room as Havok and for those of you paying attention, Mister Sinister. Y’all really need to give Nathaniel Essex more respect. Just saying.
She’s a pretty good character with decent utility — no Regen or Power Control, but she shouldn’t have those, anyway.
But if you put in the time, are skilled and don’t get hit a lot, let me tell you, brother: That DPS is a tiebreaker for a lot of things.
Good luck to whoever lands her or grinds for her next week!
I look forward to hearing more of your insights in the future
If I had more time, I would honestly go back and do extended looks at a few undervalued characters, and rank each character’s kits (which is obviously subjective) from 1-the end
It’s such a fun game. Frustrating at times, but fun