The fire does damage over time to the opponent, the tornado blows the opponent backwards or keeps them inside, the rocks will attempt to hit the opponent if they hit Cetrion(but they are highs) and the water will make it so Cetrion can block strings after being hit. It's like Aquaman's trait in Injustice. So if Cetrion is standing in it and gets hit by Scorpion's F3 when he's doing F34, she can still block the 4 follow up.
It costs both your bars of meter to throw out but it recharges faster then if you used a breakaway and whatnot.