Layout: 5 x 3.5 x 2.5
Surface: Reacta Gloss
Rev Rate: 470
Tilt: 8*
Speed: 17mph

The New Storm Revenant brings back the same core/coverstock combination from the recently USBC banned Spectre but with the new Reacta Gloss Finish.  I found a very similar overall shape to the Spectre but with the Reacta Gloss Finish, I found the Revenant to be a slighty smoother shape overall.  The higher RG value of 2.54 gives me a little too much length for my style on both the house and sport patterns.  With my house pattern being 44ft, it is hard to be able to use a ball that gives a lot of length within a 3-game set.  The Revenant will be a really good late game ball in a longer tournament format or where the lanes are hooking a lot more than I am used to in my current league environment. 

Comparing the Revenant to the brand-new Absolute, I saw about a 4 board weaker motion and significantly more length throughout the whole lane.  In order to see closer ball motion, I changed the surface of the Revenant to 2000 abralon.  This gave me stronger ball motion and earlier hook where I needed to see it.  Depending on your style, the Revenant should allow you to stay in the same zone on the lane where you were using a stronger ball due to its overall length.  Those with higher rev rates will definitely see a skid flip reaction that is generally desired.  Those with lower rev rates might face a challenge seeing this one hook in the right part of the lane.  A surface adjustment or buying the stronger Fate would likely be a better alternative.

LANE CONDITION:
Length:43
Volume:High
Type (THS, Sport Pattern etc):THS

Ball:
Cover: R3S Pearl
Core: Vector
Finish: Reacta Gloss polish
RG: 2.55
Diff: 0.051

ME:
Right-Handed Tweener
Speed: 12-13 mph
Rev Rate: 315
Axis Tilt: 14°
Axis Rotation: 74°
PAP: 5 1/8 R 7/8 Up

Ball Layout: Pin over Ring 4 1/2 Pin to Pap 2 inch pin buffer


The Storm Revenant is definitely a second coming. Once again the team up of the R3S pearl cover and the symmetric Vector core gives the bowler a new shape that fills and important gap. Design intent places it between a hyroad and a trend/fate type ball. The reacta gloss finish really gets this ball through the front so you can unleash the energy in the mids to backend.

I tested the Revenant first on the long high volume house pattern at my home center. While the ball clears the front pretty effortlessly, it definitely has enough hook to use on the fresh. In fact throwing the ball up against the friction was a really good look. I think a lot of rev challenged bowlers who like to play up the outside but don't want to throw a lot of surface will really love this ball.

Transitioning to throwing the ball more left to right was pretty seamless. The ball has great predictable motion and continues very well through the pins. Higher rev guys will love this ball in the transition. It gave me serious Marvel Pearl vibes in this part of the lane which is about as high a compliment as I can pay to a ball.

When transitioning even further in when the lanes started to really burn up I did have to make some pretty substantial release changes. My lower ball speed did cause the ball to slow down a bit too much when I was trying to cover alot of boards out into the friction. Keeping it in play here for me required me to either trap the ball closer to the pocket down-lane or really rotate my hand around the side of the ball to delay the reaction and make it more angular off the spot. Both worked really well. I suspect that this problem won't translate much to the guys who have higher ball speeds.

The only glaring difference that I noticed between the Revenant and what I remembered of my spectre is that the reacta gloss finish seems to make it a touch cleaner and it reads a little less reliably in heavy oil as a result. While the added length is a big plus for me, guys with more ball speed may want to take this ball back to the old 1500 polished finish. It's a simple fix but it seems to work wonders as this ball takes well to surface changes.

Storm Revenant
Coverstock: R3S Pearl Reactive Coverstock
Core: Vector
Factory Finish: Reacta Gloss
Layout: 4 x 3 x 2

Revenant is defined as, “one that returns after death, or a long absence.” The Revenant is essentially the long awaited return of the Spectre, as it has the exact core/cover combination as the Spectre. I do see Spectre characteristics in the Revenant but I think the new out of box Reacta Gloss finish increases how clean the Revenant is compared to the Spectre out of box. The Revenant glides through the heads with ease but doesn’t seem to wiggle down lane in the oil, which is awesome on those misses inside. I see the Revenant as a bit stronger HyRoad Pearl and that logical step up from the Electrify line. I have thrown the Revenant at a couple of bowling centers on very different THS patterns. At one particular house, I find it hard to blend the lane with shiny balls. The Revenant was clean like my Phaze 5 but seemed to retain more energy and continue harder on the backend. Compared to my Fate, the Revenant is a nice step down.

Based on what I have seen, the new Revenant will excel in bowling centers with a lot of hook built into the pattern/lane (wood, high friction synthetics, etc.) and for bowlers with slower ball speeds and/or heavier handed bowlers… And, it smells great (Bear Claw).

YouTube: https://youtu.be/ToSAtUbsnio