Those outer ring powers are really good but the reason I personally always use the astral tadpole is the free flight on everyone.
Fly to get around the battlefield is stupidly overpowered especially if all your guys have it. It basically doubles your movement as soon as you get it since fly is 60 ft of movement.
Gale boom is how I finished honor mode so you’ll be happy to know it works fine. Good luck. Some of those act 3 fights are just plain unfair.