Storm Gust
Storm gust is a key skill used by Wizards in all areas of play. Its ability to freeze without failure (excluding specialized equipment) gives it an important role in immobilizing opponents. It is simultaneously accepted as the hardest-hitting of the three Wizard Area of Effect skills, alongside Lord of Vermilion and Meteor Storm.
Description
Summon a blizzard upon a targeted area, striking enemies within range a total of 10 times, pushing them in random directions. Enemies that are hit 3 times by Storm Gust may freeze, although this skill cannot freeze Boss and Undead monsters. The casting of Storm Gust is followed by a 5 second Skill Delay after it has been cast.
| Skill Level | MATK | Cast Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 140% | 6 sec |
| 2 | 180% | 7 sec |
| 3 | 220% | 8 sec |
| 4 | 260% | 9 sec |
| 5 | 300% | 10 sec |
| 6 | 340% | 11 sec |
| 7 | 380% | 12 sec |
| 8 | 420% | 13 sec |
| 9 | 460% | 14 sec |
| 10 | 500% | 15 sec |
Applications
As one of the most reliable of Wizard skills, Storm Gust is a popular skill used to kill in all scenarios. At high DEX, all levels can be cast with reliable speed and thus are easily used in hit-and-run techniques. In WoE and PVP conditions, the damage modifier is high enough to deal significant damage to many classes, making Storm Gust a popular choice for WoE precasts. Since MVPs can not be frozen, Storm Gust is also a reliable damage dealer while simultaneously freezing mobs (assuming they can be frozen).
Storm Gust is commonly used to simply immobilize targets. Level 1 is sufficient for this purpose, although the delay remains the same. Since Frozen targets take more damage from Wind, targets that have been frozen are then more susceptible to Jupitel Thunder and Lord of Vermilion. Due to the DEF reduction, frozen targets can also be dealt with by heavy melee burst damage.
Most Wizards and High Wizards opt to have level 10 Storm Gust.
Tips
- Higher levels of this spell cast slower and hit harder.
- It is rumoured that players only need to be hit 3 times by Storm Gust to freeze. This is false. The third hit of Storm Gust -- regardless of whether it was the same one that did the first two times or not -- has a 150% chance to freeze the target. This means, with the exception of those immune to the Freezing status, players with high MDEF can lower this chance to under 100% and have a chance at not freezing on the third hit.
- Storm Gust does not stack with other Storm Gusts; two simultaneous Storm Gusts on one location has no more effect than simply one. This is important in WoE Precasts. The reason for this is that anything hit by Storm Gust is temporarily immune to the skill for a preset period (half a second). In this way it is similar to Lord of Vermilion and the priest skill Magnus Exorcismus.
- Each cell affected by Storm Gust unconditionally splashes a surrounding 3x3 area. This means that the actual area-of-effect of the skill is 11x11.