Category:Stormlords

All mages learn some magic that harnesses the power of the sky, but only a few have the dedication to become Stormlords. Masters of the weather, Stormlords wield a unique arsenal of sustained damage-over-time spells. They are tougher than mages, but give up some of their surging power as they favor more reliable, consistant damage. Like all Prestige Classes, they retain the original class's Prime Requisite, in this case, Intelligence. Stormlords find the magic of Sorcerors to be a perversion of nature, and thus never gain access to that Remort Class.

Abbreviation: Stm.

Base Class: Mage.

Prime Requisite: Intelligence.

Stormlords in General

See Mages for an example.

Stormlords are quite similar to mages, but have several notable differences. The main difference is in how they deal damage. While mages are for the most part about dealing big damage quickly, stormlords are more the "slow and steady" type. Except "slow" makes them sound worse than they actually are; they can still rack up the damage pretty quickly. They are one of the better casting classes when it comes to hitting in groups as well, as they do not burn off mana quickly at all and only need to type 1 command per fight after they reach hero 101. However, their ability to surge is reduced to a maximum of 3, so a mage or wizard may be preferred for really big mobs that just need to die fast.

One of the things that makes stm really stand out is the fact they're just as useful off of the battlefield as they are on it. Like mages, they have access to Enchant Armor, Enchant Weapon and Enchant Bow (they do lack Charge Shield, though), but what really separates them from the pack is Spring Rain. This spell refreshes the Mana Points and Move Points of everyone in the room every round while it is being sustained. This can be extremely helpful both for helping group members regen quickly, or just as a kind gesture to other Avatarians by casting it in places such as the Sanctum infirmary.

Being a prestige class, stormlords lose out on some hero skills and spells that mages get, such as most rogue and psionicist ones. However they are well off with what they do receive and sneaking can still be done via racials or gear.

Stormlord Creation

To become a Stormlord you need to have three requirements:

1) Any race can become a Stormlord as long as they DO NOT have the no-sun racial. Gargoyles are exempt from the no-sun rule, however.

2) The weather must be stormy (lightning). To accomplish this, cast Control Weather with the argument "worse" once per game hour (about 10 rl minutes) until it starts to storm. This can take a while, so if you have other alts you can run or other rl activities to tend to, this is a great time to do that.

3) Level 50 mage.

Once these requirements have been met, seek out Yazimetra in the Air of Avatar (portable), and she will induct you.

Stormlords at Hero Tier

Training

As with most classes, Wisdom should be your first consideration, followed by intelligence and constitution. Int is more important than con in this case, as it is your prime stat and gives you more mana per levelup. When considering wisdom, it may be helpful if you are low on pracs to look at the table on the wisdom page on this site and determine which value of wisdom will increase your number of practice gains. If you can achieve the same number of practices per level without training wisdom to max, or if you have DC quest insignia that provides wisdom it may not be necessary to train it to the max right away, allowing you to focus on int and con. Dex and str aren't as vitally as important as the other three, although dex will help with your AC. As long as you train these to 1 under their max you will be fine, as giant strength and adrenaline pump will still raise them to as high as they can go

Practicing

You really only need to practice surge and disintegrate, concentration and shield block help if you are tanking. Sanctuary and its prerequesits can help in a pinch, most notably protection good/evil which only comes in an awen-including spellup. Practice your STM skills at 101, and either solo with disintegrate or use them in groups. You can solo with your stm spells as well, but it takes a little bit of practice (see below).

Devoting

SHZ is best for stats and enchanting, Bhyss is best for damage.

Fighting

Soloing: Get a decent set of ac, use the bots for spells, and surge 2ish disintegrate. Tortugas are awesome. Once you hit 101, begin using your weather spells instead, preferably Hail Storm to knock out several mobs at a time in areas such as Frozen Wastes. Note that to be able to use your stormlord spells you need to be on top of the target you're fighting; and you need to recast your sustained spells before every round of combat. Relogging your char just before setting off for combat will insure you are on top 95% of the time; the only things that will screw you up are repops while you're running and mobs that cast/breathe.

Tanking: Stormlords can tank same as mage, and to be able to use their stormlord spells they need to be on top of the target they are fighting. Again, same deal. Relog your char just before combat, although with a group this can be rather annoying for the other members, if you have enough hitters it's probably just easier to disintegrate, although hail storm is still helpful if you're facing multiple mobs.

Hitting: Make pretty decent hitters once they get some mana. Cloudburst does better damage than disintegrate, and for a much lower cost, as on top of stormlord spells' low mana cost they work with chaos channel; even a stm with relatively low mana can run for a pretty long time. Again, hail storm if your tank is fighting multiple mobs

Healing: Can brandish at lower hero levels if necessary, although since stormlords usually worship deities that reduce healing effectiveness, a cleric is far preferred. I've found my heal spell has rather nasty out of class lag too, despite Shizaga's bonus to cast lag, and it only heals about half as much as my cleric's does. It's doable, but don't expect to be the best healer in the realm.

Stormlords at Lord Tier

Here is where STM shines. You won't have much mana, but it seems to last pretty well. Maelstrom doesn't do much damage with STM, but Thunderhead and blizzard are awesome. Another amazing utility you have is stratum, which while you actually get it at hero tier, I find it's not nearly as useful there other than spring rain botting, as it drains mana and is easily interrupted. At lord, though, the drain on mana is less noticeable and the affects are highly useful. Using a gale stratum will allow you to avoid most area effect spells which would have damaged you as well as stopped your sustained spell. Sleet stratum lowers your chances of getting aggied, although it'll break the first time you do get aggied and you can't stratum again for a few ticks after. Thunderhead or blizzard stratum raise the damage done by their respective spells, allowing you to hit harder. At lord level 25, you become able to learn strata control, which essentially lets you have 2 strata at the same time (they can't be 2 of the same, though). All strata will break if you are aggied or if you rest/sleep, and forced breaking such as that render it exhausted for about 4 ticks. If you need quick surge damage Maelstrom is still an option as well, and can be nice at times if a lot of area attacks are being used and you can't use a gale stratum. All in all, stormlords serve the same role in groups as mages do, damage dealers. They don't deal raw damage as quickly as mages, but their mana lasts a fairly long time and their damage is consistent. Stormlords who finish regenning before the rest of the group can also provide spring rain to speed up regen of their groupies, and of course there's always room for abuse at home.

Stormlord Remort Options

Stormlords cannot remort classes, so racial remort only. As usual for a caster class, any race with good magical abilities will do well. High elf, sprite, demonseed, tuataur and dragon are all good options, just watch out for sprite's poor survivability and dragon's tnl. The extra hp of stm may help sprites. More novelty choices include minotaur, troll or golem, but select these at your own risk. On the other hand, at the lord tier, STMs have to only successfully cast once per battle, making these races more viable as STM than other casting choices.