weather effects

im trying to make a passive skill that is basically a tranquility aura, and i was hoping to use one of the weather effects. one of the weather effects that i really like is the rays of light coming down. i was hoping to just set this as the animation (concidering i cant do triggers), but i cant find the animation anywere...
help?

I'm afraid I don't know what the model used for that is, nor for the other weather effects, and I'm not sure where to look to find out. However, it wouldn't be a terribly complicated trigger to center a region on the unit with the ability and set the region to use that weather effect. They could certainly help you sort out enough to do that in the Trigger Haven.

Learning to trigger is worthwhile. You'll be severely limited in what you can do with game mechanics and custom abilities compared to what's available.

also, how do i get the animation for the dreadlord dieing? anybody know the path?

Most of that animation is part of the model of the dreadlord. You can recreate it by making a dreadlord-model unit at the location and playing it's death animation.

Otherwise, the very end of the animation is this: Objects\Spawnmodels\Undead\UndeadDissipate\UndeadDissipate.mdl