Ash: Blade Storm.

[Kurochikun]

For 100 energy it:

Ash becomes invulnerable for the duration.

Can hit up to 7/9/12 enemies.

Each strike deals 1000 / 1000 / 1000 (improved by Power Strength).

Which is nice, but hear me out.

12 Enemies is not that many, sure doing 1000 damage to each is good, but that would only be useful if you were surrounded by 12 heavy enemies.

Smoke Bomb allows you to turn invisible for 7 seconds, in those 7 seconds you can do 5 or 6 charged melee strikes, which can do 200+ damage if you have a good melee weapon and with streamline you can use smoke bomb about 4 times. So I think it's range needs to be improved because it's not often that you hit all 12. I don't use blade storm, simply because Smoke Bomb is much more reliable. Not to mention I can use it to escape too, while If I don't kill everyone in the area withthat blade storm, I'll likely go down.

Possibly it's range needs to increase or the numbers need to increase, compared to frost or Volt, their Ultimate attacks seem much more useful.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Kurochikun

[neKroMancer]

Compare to other AOE 4th, Bladestrom is pretty solid due to the fact that damage from it is unaffected by armor. Avalanche, Overload, Crush have reduced damage against armor. Unmodded AOE can't OHK normal lancer in Pluto while Bladestrom can do it without any mod.

Overload has reduced damage when there's no lightsource around the location. Avalanche and Crush simply can't kill high level mob. New card system turn them into 'needy' power, require lots of investment to be useful. To be honest, the AOEs are those which require an intensive rework to be more than just screen-wiping power.

[SoulEchelon]

Bladestorm currently is perfectly fine. During Beta, it was one of the weaker ultimates because the AOE ones were able to basically encompass multiple rooms in one shot. Now, though, Bladestorm is one of the best abilities in the game. It has surprisingly high amount of range and does an excellent amount of damage while keeping you invulnerable. It's good stuff.

Frankly, at the moment, the only truly bad ultimate is Ember's. Keeps you invulnerable for about 5 seconds, but it has a huge windup time and is not very helpful in many situations. But this thread isn't about Ember so I'll stop my explanation there.

[Schalimah]

Compare to other AOE 4th, Bladestrom is pretty solid due to the fact that damage from it is unaffected by armor. Avalanche, Overload, Crush have reduced damage against armor. Unmodded AOE can't OHK normal lancer in Pluto while Bladestrom can do it without any mod.

Overload has reduced damage when there's no lightsource around the location. Avalanche and Crush simply can't kill high level mob. New card system turn them into 'needy' power, require lots of investment to be useful. To be honest, the AOEs are those which require an intensive rework to be more than just screen-wiping power.

I agree. On high level infested defense missions a bladestorm or radial javelin are a must have. Have you ever used Crush on a level 70 ancient? it deals a whooping 60 damage. That is with 20% power strength. Allthough i'm not sure if it applies to Crush.

[Geistheiler]

Blade storm would be fine, if it hits. But I've experienced several times, that it kills five to seven enemies, even if there are more (my bladestorm is upgraded to the max, so it should hit 12) in close combat situations, but when I'm using it in open environment situations, it kills 10 to 12 enemies, that should be out of range afaik. I have no power range equipped, so it seems to be still unreliable to me.