about gale force

[Aerodude]

I know its a hard skill to master and that's what I'm trying right now and I am wondering if someone could say maybe a couple of things on how to use it at its best in pve or pvp

[MysticRob]

This is a good thread about using gale:

http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?214606-Gale-without-speed-update

[e5c4p3artist]

Gale Force Pros:
1. Vs. Fireball - same amount of damage but can hit max 6 enemies (Fireball only 4)
2. Vs. Fireball - built-in chance for 3.5 sec knockdown without any upgrades or being charged (Fireball needs upgrade/charged)
3. With Speed of Wind upgrade, you can dash across maps faster
4. With upgrade, can increase enemy knockdown to 5.5 secs HOWEVER I have found this to do very little. Either it doesn't seem to work (mobs get up before 5.5 secs) or the mob is dead within 3.5 secs anyway.

Gale Force Cons:
1. Without upgrade, it only shoots the direction you are facing (for comparison, Fireball shoots at enemies even if you are running from them)
2. The range is 9m (Fireball is 14m)
3. With upgrade, it becomes an AoE attack centered on your location but only when charged. This is an advantage over the base "shoots the direction you are facing" skill, but means you have to be standing in the middle of a crowd of mobs to use it most effectively. For comparison, Fireball is a ranged attack that you can hit enemies with, without them being close enough to hit you. And it still only has a 9m range.
4. With Speed of Wind upgrade, you can inadvertently dash into groups of enemies faster
5. 5.5 sec cooldown (versus Fireball 4 sec)

I liked it, but I ended up re-speccing and getting rid of it because I prefer ranged-attack skills. So I chose to keep Fireball for my crowd-control attack skill. And I already had three other skills I like to use better. At the level I am at now, I do have a couple extra skill points, and I may end up training it back as a fifth skill to use on certain occasions, like in the tombs where you are always in the middle of large crowds, but I haven't decided on that for sure yet.

[Madnex]

I'll just add that you can always use both, at least in PvE. Especially for watchers/kraag tombs, if you want the maximum efficiency of sorc's AoE, you need both skills active. Simply because Gale Force > Frost Bolt in there, allowing for faster times and larger pulls. Not much value for the extra knockdown time upgrade here.

In elites, I would only consider swapping shield with gale but that really needs mastery of your skill rotation to pick up without dying every five steps. Ice holds a much higher value in there, totally trumping gale. You can replace fireball with it but the results are so-so.

A new user tends to scatter mobs all over which is annoying for the whole party and increases the run times. You need to calculate where the mobs will be pushed and then angle yourself properly. Your aim is to stack the mobs into a nice pile and keep them rooted with time shift and ice. Walls are a very useful tool as well for scatter-control. I'd suggest not taking the AoE upgrade if you plan to use on endgame elites.

[Aerodude]

I'll just add that you can always use both, at least in PvE. Especially for watchers/kraag tombs, if you want the maximum efficiency of sorc's AoE, you need both skills active. Simply because Gale Force > Frost Bolt in there, allowing for faster times and larger pulls. Not much value for the extra knockdown time upgrade here.

In elites, I would only consider swapping shield with gale but that really needs mastery of your skill rotation to pick up without dying every five steps. Ice holds a much higher value in there, totally trumping gale. You can replace fireball with it but the results are so-so.

A new user tends to scatter mobs all over which is annoying for the whole party and increases the run times. You need to calculate where the mobs will be pushed and then angle yourself properly. Your aim is to stack the mobs into a nice pile and keep them rooted with time shift and ice. Walls are a very useful tool as well for scatter-control. I'd suggest not taking the AoE upgrade if you plan to use on endgame elites.
This this is what I'm a try to do so I can get used to it I usually use gale in wt4 km3 kt4 cause that 50% helps so I don't use shield anymore if solo but when in party I swap it with fireball