Deacon_NA

Slotting Arctic Fog for Def will get you that much more (to around 36-37% def).

I'd certainly work Howl in, a Cold/Sonic is a devastating Res debuffer and Howl is your aoe.

I have no doubt whatsoever that the team DPS lost whenever I retoggle Assault after a nuke pales in comparison to the team DPS gained by running it throughout the 99% of the rest of a mission. It takes less than 4 seconds to turn back on. The opportunity cost of retoggling versus throwing out a pew pew defender level blast is pretty minimal.

And obviously I know that +Dmg and -Res are not exactly the same, I illustrate that in my post by showing their interaction (multiplicative, so more powerful).

Even post 38, my experience isn't one of being on a fully damage capped team with kins FSing all members of the team at all times. Perhaps I run in the wrong circles.

Unless everyone, and I mean everyone, on the team is ready and prepared for it, don't use it. It's disorienting to a lot of players (myself included if I'm not expecting it). For others, it will lessen their effectiveness, such as cone users.

I'm going to guess you've heard a number of complaints TTPing around. I strongly suggest you stop using it in teams.

With the high -Res debuff Storm has, Assault is that much better of a pick.

The notion that "boosting damage is someone else's job" is a perplexing one when Freezing Rain debuffs resistance (ergo, increases team damage).

Against an even con, Freezing Rain is a 35% debuff so, combined with Assault's 18.75% damage buff, the additional team damage becomes 1.35 * .1875 = .25 (and change). In other words, Assault becomes a 25% damage buff, not 18.75%. Against +2s where FR is adjusted to a 28% debuff, the gain from Assault is 24%.

Your "job" (whatever a job is in a videogame) is to make your team better using whatever tools you have available, not to pigeonhole yourself into a role, unless you have some rp concept you're adhering to.

Assault on Darks and Storms will make a big impact to both for making a real improvement to a team.

If I slot TB with the Performance Shifter proc, will the proc roll for each target hit or is just based on the activation of the power? I have a feeling it's the latter. It would be nifty if it were the former, but I doubt it.

Just checking to see if anyone knew for sure.

I'm going to petition Maelstrom as soon as I see him in game. That's a Marvel character, a kin actually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maelstrom_(comics)

*I am just kidding so please don't give me your own maelstrom of fury about why petitioning would be wrong.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt to make sure the devs know this is a Marvel character (see: Bastion)

Well there already exists, in game, a female pet if you go with Ghost Widow patron. Maybe the Coralax too, who can tell?

I have a feeling the "explanations" I've seen listed for not having female henchmen is pure speculation. If you want to make a pimp with a ho, there's nothing stopping someone from doing it now, they just have to wait until level 47.

I certainly like it. It's one of those rare times in game where you just might fail. Heck, you're probably going to fail. Nothing wrong with that. It makes succeeding at it more satisfying.

I made some sublte mods.

Here's the executive summary - Philosophically, I don't believe a power (especially a key one) should be gimped in pursuit of set bonuses, with a few exceptions. For example - slotting Dreadful Wail with a stun set instead of damage.

With my edits, the following bonuses changed:
AOE def from 23.2 to 28.7
Range from 24.1 to 28.1
Recover 2.9/sec to 3.1/sec
End drain 1.72 to 1.76 (wrong direction but not too bad)
Global Rch from 13.8 to 22.5

To the details:

Sonic Siphon with 3 Acc was overkill. This power get an Acc and I call it a day.
I swapped out Reactive Armor from Dispersion to mix Steadfast (for 3% def and kb) with Impervium (nice Endurance bonuses).
Full set of Blessing of Zephyr in Fly
I threw in 5 of Fortunata Hypnosis, if you can afford the other stuff, this is a cheap purple.
I really didn't like what you had going on with Liquefy. I went with Dark Watchers to get the recharge bonus.
Eradication in Dreadful Wail for Defense bonuses and actually doing damage with your nuke.
I made the empty slot at 47 Sonic Cage just because that's a power that's fine with an Acc and letting it go.

Here it is with changes:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Phase Distortion mine: Level 50 Mutation Defender
Primary Power Set: Sonic Resonance
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery

Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1: Sonic Siphon Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Shriek Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(15), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 2: Scream Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(15), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31)
Level 4: Sonic Barrier Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(5), Aegis-ResDam(7), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(11), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 6: Sonic Haven Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(7), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(11), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Aegis-ResDam(25)
Level 8: Disruption Field EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(9), EndRdx-I(9)
Level 10: Hover LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 12: Sonic Dispersion S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(13), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(13), ImpArm-ResDam(31), ImpArm-ResPsi(42), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 14: Fly Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(37), Zephyr-ResKB(40)
Level 16: Swift Flight-I(A)
Level 18: Health Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(19), Numna-Heal/Rchg(19), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Numna-Heal(43), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(46)
Level 20: Stamina P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(21), P'Shift-End%(34)
Level 22: Shout Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(23), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 24: Amplify AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(A), AdjTgt-Rchg(25)
Level 26: Clarity EndRdx-I(A)
Level 28: Siren's Song FtnHyp-Plct%(A), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(29), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(29), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(46), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(48)
Level 30: Maneuvers RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(50), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(50), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 32: Liquefy DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(A), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(33), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(33), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(33), UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg(34), UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(34)
Level 35: Tactics GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(36), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(36), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(36), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(37), GSFC-Build%(37)
Level 38: Dreadful Wail Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(39), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Erad-%Dam(40)
Level 41: Dominate Acc-I(A)
Level 44: Mind Over Body Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(45), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(45), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Aegis-Psi/Status(46)
Level 47: Sonic Cage Acc-I(A)
Level 49: Assault EndRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance

Also, there's no shame in being a mooch. Say "Tp please" every time you exit a mission and you can really extend the life of your temp travel powers. Yes, I know you can replentish the temp fly power, but temp fly <<<<< temp jump and, as yet, there is no way to extend temp jump.

Stay away from Invader if you haven't gotten that Accolade yet. Sure it's tempting to go ahead and get since it's probably the easiest of the vill accolades. However, now that I've gone for Unbreakable on a character, I'm going to avoid Invader until I finish Unbreakable on all my future villains, since the +5% HP doesn't count for damage.

When I just did this for my Crab, I made a 2nd build, trained it up to lvl 15, triple slotting Health and Rest. Since it's a Crab, I get an automatic respec at 24, so this wasn't a waste for him. I used an even con Carny strongman who would whack me for about 800 dmg per hit.

I hate this badge so much. "Hey you're awesome, so you can't get this reward". My NW, who grinded (ground?) her way from 1-50 mostly solo still has < 1M damage.

Endurance management is the first priority. That's easy enough to do. There are only 2 powers that really need more recharge - both tier 9s.

My Sonic/Sonic def is low on my list to pimp out so I haven't really thought too much about it. I expect that building up a good emount of ranged Def should make you nigh unkillable. I wouldn't worry too much about melee Def because that's not where you want to be (mostly because of Howl).

I dunno, I can't imagine there's a big discrepancy between a 1.5B build and a 150M build for a Sonic/Sonic. I'm going to go for the latter when the time comes.

Very handy power I use on a Robot/Traps MM I'm currently leveling up (36 now).

I don't use it too much for spawn-to-spawn fights, I still lead off with Seekers to take alpha and I can waltz in and lay down traps. Further, with TTP there are a couple of seconds (that feel like an eternity) where I can't lay down traps because of the hovering post TTP. I love it, love it for teleporting up a ramp, like in the lab maps. Going up a ramp usually causes a couple of seconds where you get shot at while robots still move up into LOS, not a fun time. Mastering the art of manipulating the camera angle is a new type of fun so I can come from below a staircase to *BAMF* right in the middle.

I don't do it on teams unless there's a hallway that becomes excessively congested, to the point where people can't get through doors.

I can't say with enough emphasis...

PROVOKE PROVOKE PROVOKE. It's not even close.

I too leveled up a Ninja/Pain Dom and once I got Provoke (and slotted it well) life got a lot better. Maneuvers will slightly decrease the number of times your ninjas get one-shotted. Provoke will keep them from getting hit in the first place. I know you said you were unimpressed with it, but really, it needs a good 5 slots for Acc, Recharge and Taunt duration (cheap sets that I frankenslot since full sets don't give much Accuracy).

PD allows for very strong tankerminding. With BG mode, World of Pain (and eventually epic shield) I could easily heal back whatever damage I took from an alpha strike. If that alpha included a mez, things could potentially get interesting but you can adapt.

To me, this is akin to asking a Kin if they should take Fulcrum Shift or Whirlwind.

I'd say it doesn't matter at all. A Mind Dom will lock things down so thoroughly, I'd just go for high damage, without respect to pet survivability. That makes me lean to Thugs. For secondary, I'd just want to enable more damage, so /TA for all the -Res maybe.

When I was leveling up my Mind/Psi, I would periodically dual box to exemp down a Thugs/FF of mine on another account, set the Thugs to aggressive and man, that was easy street.

Any word of numbers yet? Specifically for FFG and Acid Trap. Defenders really need a big buff for these two or this will be, I hate to say it (I love my Traps MMs), a gimped set for Defs.

I look forward to it being proliferated to Controllers, they'll probably make the best use of traps than any other AT.

The progression for robots is not a straight linear chart. Level 18-25 are indeed the dark days. There's a lot of pew-pew-pew. With FF you'll have no problem surviving your missions at 25, you just won't have any way to increase your pet damage like Dark does. With Assbot and upgrade, your progression goes through the roof.

Never judge a MM by how things are at lvl 25, unless you're building a Silver Mantis runner.

In my opinion, all the mez breaking powers are worthwhile. The damage is trivial.

You need not keep it up on all team members. Yes, like all mez breaking powers, it's got a short duration and a long-ish animation. You don't have to worry about using it on non-squishies, but I do try to make all efforts to keep it up on someone else that can break a mez that hits me. 10% of the time, they may well actually hit you with an ID, or EM or whatever tool they have that could help.

I could rant here, this has become one of my bigger frustrations, even when typing in chat "zzz" getting no support when someone could de-mez, but I'll hold off.

IR is a perfectly viable travel power. It frankly amazes me when I see critics of it complain that they have to click a button every minute (or less). If you like flying around, that's fine, but IR is not a temp power, it's perma with absolutely no slotting or global recharge.

I have Amplify, Tactics and PBU.

Tactics is certainly plenty for standard fights. Amplify if you get hit with a To-Hit debuff (or fighting mobs with +Def) lastly PBU+Veng, well... it's a thing of beauty.

I'd like to see Combat Jumping in there somewhere. I find immobs to be one of the bigger dangers my Kin/Sonic faces (I'm specifically thinking of the Security Chief? mission of the STF).

I can't in good conscience go without urging you to include Increase Density. You'll see a lot of kins complain about it and so be it, it's another ally only buff you have to apply frequently, as if SB weren't enough. Still, it's very powerful and a great mez breaker. I consider it a "must have". You can stick a Steadfast Protection -kb IO in there and be done with it. The smart kin keeps it perma on the teammate that can break a mez that hits you (the emp, pain dom, etc).

Two accuracies is certainly overkill when you have Tactics. Howl is actually more effective with 2 range enhancers. At level 47, the damage/range HOs are dirt cheap. I say that because I'm trying to take best advantage of the 20% Res debuff to hit as many targets as possible to boost overall team damage.

Take out Fitness if you want, but be aware that Transfusion becomes a crutch and not used strategically. That is, you'll be using it frequently to fill your own end. I like using it when needed, post blaster nuke or teammate rez, for example.

I like putting 2 recharges in Siphon Power. "But it's useless after Fulcrum Shift" someone may say. It's not useless for AVs; it becomes a fabulous debuffing power.

At 50, you'll want 5 slots for Siren's Song because the purple set is dirt cheap (relatively).

Find a cheap Dmg/Rch for Dreadfull Wail and you can save a slot.

Kinetics goes fantastically with Sonic Assault. The multiplicative effect of DMG* RES is far more powerful than additively stacking -Res.

I have a 50 Sonic/Kin Corr and a 50 Kin/Sonic Defender. I wouldn't have duplicated if I were not a big fan of the combo. As with any Defender - Corruptor comparison, the Defender adds more team support, despite the advantage with individual damage the corruptor has. Yes, damage cap is damage cap, however, team members with higher damage caps will benefit more from the Defender, especially Brutes.

As far as I'm concerned, after HAVING PLAYED both sets, they're roughly equivalent for team contribution.

This is a bit off track from the OP's question, who doesn't want to do a Kin, but mostly I replied because of the notion above that TA gives an offensive edge over Kin is stunning. I would love to see any sort of analysis to support that.