Woo! 50!

Shazel was something else for me. She was the first blaster I was able to play and enjoy. Besides graphically looking awesome (everything's on fire), your power is unmatched by pretty much anything in the game.

You'll need to learn to use your powers wisely so that you can dish it without dying, but even if you do die, you can come right back (Rise of the Phoenix) and keep on going! If you prefer to avoid debt, get used to popping purple inspirations before most battles to deflect some of the damage or stay on teams. Just be sure to let someone else fully grab the aggro before firing.

If asked whether I recommend this type of character to anyone else, I definitely do. While I like the complexity and utility of Defenders and Controllers (and even some Blaster builds), this is one of the most straightforward, and therefore easiest, characters you can play.

Probably the biggest challenge with a F3 Blaster is learning to control your aggro. There aren't many tanks that can keep the enemy's attention once you start firing!

Also this: Shazel's multi-billion influence build

Updated: I16

01: Gale

47%47%21%

01: Shriek

45%94%45%45%

02: O2 Boost

62%24%17%

04: Howl

48%95%21%41%26%

06: Steamy Mist

90%52%47%42%

08: Hasten

83%

10: Freezing Rain

74%88%47%

12: Recall Friend

42%

14: Super Speed

35%

16: Snow Storm

83%83%42%

18: Hurdle

42%

20: Shout

66%90%45%40%

22: Health

83%

24: Stamina

83%

26: Tornado

89%70%70%70%

28: Hurricane

92%54%42%

30: Shockwave

47%88%37%26%

32: Lightning Storm

86%90%45%40%22%

35: Siren's Song

48%48%27%16%13%

38: Dreadful Wail

95%95%21%

41: Thunder Strike

90%71%40%

44: Charged Armor

69%41%

47: Shocking Bolt

89%89%47%45%19%

49: Power Sink

83%42%

At this point (if you slotted well), play goes very fast. You can toss out tornados, lightning storms, and beat people down with fists of lightning. You're a great debuffer and fantastic at moving things around. Playing something this chaotic is pretty darned cool.

Now that you've made it to 50, remember to use your Nova power as often as you like. I tended to hold it when I was married to that idea of taking Whirlwind as my level 50 power, but it seems so unnecessary when you already have hurricane and other powers that push people around.

Instead, I took an endurance recovery power which makes it possible to use my nova without worries (since I can get all my endurance back as long as I have a blue inspiration on me before I use it).

If you do what I did and put a "Chance of self heal" into Siren's Song and even if you didn't, use it as much as possible during battle. It's not strong damage, but decent and most importantly, it will keep some enemies from being able to fight you while they sleep. This is especially true when soloing compared to teaming.

Most everything else that I can say about playing a noisy stormer has been said so I will give you this instead:

Gale's 50

WOO! IM FIFTEE! I CAN HAZ WINGS!?

Shazel and Garuk by Christopher Robin

A real artist and player of the game noticed my comic and decided to do this piece after seeing New Friends, Part 8 - Sunset (Finale) which he found inspiring for some reason. Probably he couldn't stand how wrong I was doing some of the costume details like Garuk's horns 🙂

Speaking of, he's got a special post with samples of those particular horns because they give all us amateurs trouble 😀

On the other hand, he said this was his first time trying anime-style eyes and asked if I had any input. I modified the faces a bit to be more in-line with the style here:

Psuedo-anime modification to Christopher Robin's art.

Updated: I16

01: Gale

35%

01: Shriek

40%80%40%22%

02: O2 Boost

40%40%17%

04: Howl

40%80%35%24%

06: Hasten

69%

08: Swift

34%

10: Shockwave

22%87%22%13%22%

12: Steamy Mist

62%34%45%17%

14: Super Speed

35%

16: Recall Friend

35%

18: Freezing Rain

93%40%40%

20: Health

69%

22: Snow Storm

85%52%52%

24: Stamina

69%

26: Tornado

89%34%22%

26: Hurricane

74%24%17%

28: Siren's Song

40%40%40%13%

32: Lightning Storm

35%

Combos

When enemy groups are near a wall or corner, try this:

1. Turn on hurricane.
2. Before they see you, use Shockwave and Gale to knock everything back to the wall/corner.
3. Use hurricane to push any remainders back and to pin the rest down.
4. Use Freezing Rain. The enemies that have just gotten up will be further slowed and many will fall down.
5. Start attacking. Use Shockwave, Howl, and Siren's Song to AoE them to death. Switch to single-target attacks once enough are gone.
6. If high enough level, use Lightning Storm to add to your damage and keep them pinned (Tornado will NOT help here because it will toss people out of your controlling area.

In wide open areas:

1. Target the toughest enemy or the one most centrally located. Use Freezing Rain. Many will fall down, but have a heal inspiration ready just in case.
2. Use Snow Storm on the enemy you already targeted. This keeps them from running out of the storm.
3. Use Hurricane and run around the room trying to push any that weren't in the rain into the rain and prevent escape. If you have a good handle on the range of Gale and Shockwave, you can use these powers to knock runners back into the crowd.
4. Start attacking. Reapply Freezing Rain as needed.

Play Tips

Whenever facing a group that's extremely tough or too numerous, look for a door or corner. Stand just to the side so that as soon as they come through, they'll be debuffed by your hurricane before they can fire on you. Lightning storm and Tornado will keep them on their butts while dealing strong damage. If one gets too close or is blown where you don't want them, use Shockwave and Gale to deal with them.

Another note on Tornado, when fighting strong enemies like bosses or AVs, Tornado won't wander and will piledrive the bad guy constantly dealing damage while debuffing defense. Many people see Tornado and how chaotic it is and skip it, but that's a huge mistake.

While on teams, you won't want to use it because it will mess up people's nicely packed groups (and thus AoE damage), but when solo or when there aren't other little enemies around, fire away. Also note that for some types of missions, if all your tanks, scrappers etc. are focused on the AV and ignoring the minions, you can use Tornado and other powers to keep the squishies (yourself included) from being beaten too much.

While it may be tempting to not hit enemy groups with Snow Storm because of the endurance drain, remember that it's not just a slow power, but one that lowers enemy recharge rate too!

Jordan and pet sketch

I wanted this picture to get across how Jordan is both peaceful and dangerous at the same time. Her powers of darkness are very strong, but safe so long as you don't get on her bad side 😉

In looking for a good screen capture to match the sketch, I came across this one from an Eden trial and liked it.