Part 7

Review of City of Heroes Storm Summoning, Dark Miasma, Empathy, and Force Field powers for Defenders and Controllers.

Rating - 1/5: Storm Summoning's powers leave something to be desired, making other sets a better choice for Defenders or Controllers. Snow Storm and Freezing Rain are good, but these are its main strengths. Storm Summoning can work if used correctly, but other sets are generally more effective.

Defenders: Primaries

Dark Miasma - Rating - 1/6: The only original Defender Primary, unfortunately also the worst. Twilight Grasp lowers a single target's Accuracy (ACC) and Damage (DAM) while healing you and allies, but other primaries perform this better. Tar Patch is horrible, offering only a Slow (SPD) debuff. Darkest Night reduces DAM and ACC, but other powersets do it better (henceforth known as OPDIB - Other Powersets Do It Better). Howling Twilight is a resurrect, which is considered useless. Shadow Fall adds defense and slight resistances, also OPDIB. Fearsome Stare is a fear spell, deemed very useless. Petrifying Gaze is a hold, which is useful but not very good. Black Hole makes everyone in an AoE impossible to hit, considered the most useless ability. Dark Servant is not great, with a long recharge for a one-battle per use spell, though it seems decent otherwise.

Empathy - Rating - 4/6: A standard healing set. Healing Aura and Heal Other are both nice. Absorb Pain is not great, with its health drain usage at risk. Resurrect is considered horrible, as dying should be avoided by Empathy Defenders/Controllers who should heal before death. Clear Mind is useful, though most heroes have their own disable prevention methods. Fortitude is a godsend, greatly helping tankers/scrappers. Recovery Aura is very good, better than Stamina, making it almost impossible to run out of endurance. Regeneration Aura's benefit is unknown. Adrenalin Boost is not thought to be very good, as Recovery Aura should provide enough endurance, and self-disorient sounds bad.

Force Field - Rating - 6/6: An alternative to Empathy that stops damage before it occurs. Personal Force Field is nice, making you nearly unkillable unless facing much higher-level enemies, and is good for escaping. Deflection Shield and Insulation Shield are very nice, providing significant damage reduction when cast on a hero. Force Bolt is bad, as Controllers and Defenders should not need knockback. Detention Field is rather worthless, potentially useful for disabling a boss while killing minions, but Controllers should use holds. Dispersion Bubble is a godsend, providing +DEF (Defense) to all attacks, stacking with shields, and resistances to disable powers; it is your best power and should be used constantly. Repulsion Field and Bomb are not good due to knockback's negative effects in groups. Force Bubble seems like an AoE Personal Force Field but is not thought to be worth the cost.

Kinetics: An interesting set. Transfusion is not bad, but not as good as Radiant Aura or Healing Aura because it requires a target. Siphon Power is excellent and should be used constantly. Repel is useless.