1. Damage buffs are not potency buffs. 80 potency from me is 200 damage. 80 potency from someone else could be 150 or 250. That 20% damage boost makes mine 240, the high end 300 and the low end 180. The 20% means more as your damage goes up. So to a well geared SMN boosted thunder does a hell of a lot more than boosted ruins
2. Anyone who thinks Thunder is not a huge part of SMN was a bad SMN.