Deus_Mortis

"I cannot imagine a situation where a stormy would not use freezing rain or a cold would not use sleet as soon as available. It's a HUGE debuff and alpha eater."

I agree here but the issue is that sleet is not always available. If you are defeating spawns before the DOT from sleet wears off AND sleet is recharged before you get to the next spawn Siren's use is very limited.

BUT

If you cannot take out a spawn before the DOT stops you can sleep them when the DOTs do stop and pick off the survivors with your single target attacks or buy sime time until sleet is back up.

If you are taking out mobs before the DOT of sleet wears off then sleet is not going to be up for the next spawn if you are moving at a quick pace so siren's has a place there as well.

I would say that Sirens's would could provide more mitigation than the fighting pool depending on playstyle. Also it is a playstyle that is unique to /sonic as far as defender secondaries go so it was a nice change of pace for me.

Not really more a experienced cold/sonic but my thoughts would be:

From a soloing standpoint: Siren's is always good for safety with the Siren's/screech combo and since Cold does not have a ton of self mitigation that could be a good thing. Cold's single target debuffs should not break the sleep (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Siren's would make it a little easier to use heat loss.

If you plan to use sleet often the usefullness of Siren's goes WAY down. Although it could be usefull to hit a spawn with it after Sleet stops ticking damage or when sleet is recharging.

I have a TA/DP and a TA/AR among other TA characters. The /DP just seems a lot slower. I think it is the cast time of Empty Clips (2.5s) and Bullet Rain (2.4s) back to back after laying down the arrow debuffs.

I have also notices that the clipping bug where the power fires before the animation is finished happend more often with the AR than the DP. It does not look good but it makes the powers seem to fire faster. It has been a while since I played either of the toons so this may have been addressed by now.

It does not take long to see if you can handle the redraw or not. Play one up to 20 or so and see how it drives.

If you don't like the redraw and like the TA side of things, try TA/sonic. It's one of my favorite combos.

In regards to Inv/Dark or Inv/Stone, I prefer Dark. For the most part specifically for AVs. The heal in /dark is more usefull that the KD in stone in those situations and Inv/anything ,built right, won't have much trouble with anything else in PVE. Also, I have found Inv's taunt aura + taunt is enough to keep the attention of masses of mobs without any problem.

I will say that Inv/stone would be more handy vs. large groups of Psy using mobs and more effective on an SO only build.

The same problem that everyone is having with that. The leathal kills the Oil Slick before the fire/nrg/etc get's a chance to hit it 1st. It's been a known problem from way back.

But... if you use say.. Exploding on a mob while OS is in that mob... it might work. I usually use Lightning ball with OS in the mob and it works about 95% of the time.[/QUOTE]

Exploding is smash and leathal damage so it will ont ignite OSA.

"The leathal kills the Oil Slick before the fire/nrg/etc get's a chance to hit it 1st. "

I knew there was a bug with OSA but this make a lot of sense. My DP/TA has trouble lighting OSA I assume b/c the fire damage with incendiary rounds is a small percent of the damage. My sonic/TA lights it pretty reliably with howl since the energy and smashing damage is equal.

Thanks Iron blade,
I don’t exemp much and foot stomp is really the only power that will have zero accuracy built into the sets so exemping under level 38 would not really be affected anyway. It is all really just a “see what happens” kind of build anyway.
I have a “kill everything” IO’ed SD/FM and a “survive everything” Def capped, perma Dull pain Inv/DM. This tank is just be a general purpose, aggro holding, foot stomping, team tanking kind of guy.

My new Project is a recharge intensive Ice/SS. I wanted to put 3 procs (two damage and a FF proc) in foot stomp if possible but still frankenslot to have damage and recharge as high as possible. With the to-hit capped in rage how much global accuracy is needed he hit +2 reliably with no accuracy in foot stomp? I have not plugged anything into Mids just kicking around some ideas. I should have around 30% +accuracy from sets without really trying.

Thanks in advance,

This is what I am currently running. Nice solid tank with decent damage, capped S,L,E,&NE defense, 89.3 S/L resist, perma Dull Pain, and Siphon life recharging in under 4 seconds when Hasten is up. There are some expensive IO's in the build but no purples.

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

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Eglin 2: Level 50 Mutation Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-EndRdx(3), RctvArm-ResDam(3), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A)
Level 2: Dull Pain -- Tr'ge-Heal/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(9), RgnTis-Heal/Rchg(43), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(43), Numna-Heal/Rchg(46)
Level 4: Resist Physical Damage -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(5), RctvArm-EndRdx(7), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(7), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(9)
Level 6: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 8: Unyielding -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam(40)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg(13), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(13), Mocking-Acc/Rchg(15), Mocking-Taunt/Rng(15), Mocking-Rchg(34)
Level 14: Super Speed -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Siphon Life -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(17), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(25), Theft-Acc/Heal(40), Theft-Heal(42)
Level 18: Invincibility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def(19), RedFtn-EndRdx(19), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(21), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21), LkGmblr-Rchg+(25)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(23)
Level 24: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 26: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(27), RctvArm-EndRdx(27), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(37)
Level 28: Soul Drain -- Erad-Acc/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(29), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(37), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 30: Tough Hide -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def(31), RedFtn-EndRdx(31), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 32: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def(33), RedFtn-EndRdx(33), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(34), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 35: Dark Consumption -- Erad-Acc/Rchg(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(36)
Level 38: Midnight Grasp -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(50)
Level 41: Char -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(42), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43)
Level 44: Fire Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(45), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(50), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 6% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 6% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 6% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 6% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 6% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 6% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 6% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 6% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 16.8% Defense(Smashing)
• 16.8% Defense(Lethal)
• 6.13% Defense(Fire)
• 6.13% Defense(Cold)
• 16.8% Defense(Energy)
• 16.8% Defense(Negative)
• 3% Defense(Psionic)
• 9.88% Defense(Melee)
• 11.8% Defense(Ranged)
• 4.56% Defense(AoE)
• 7.65% Max End
• 57.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 9% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 77.3 HP (4.13%) HitPoints
• MezResist(Held) 2.75%
• MezResist(Immobilize) 18.2%
• 8% (0.13 End/sec) Recovery
• 10% (0.78 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 5.36% Resistance(Fire)
• 5.36% Resistance(Cold)

[ QUOTE ]
I'm still a lover of Device even with the lack of BU, for the only power of Caltrops which do magic to allow you to deliver that killer chain of cones.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have your cake and eat it to! Ice patch is great in /ice for mitigation and getting the most out of ignite but Shiver is the standout of the set for me. Keeps them at range for your cones and slows recharge. You also get a single target hold to stack with one of the epic holds. PLUS you get build up.

What is this "work" thing you people are talking about. I get my $14.99 from vending machine coin slots and that cash cow know as the wishing pool at the picadilly. Man that thing financed my sweet gaming rig I play in my van..DOWN BY THE RIVER.

Nice guide Hopesmasher.

I will add a little about frostbreath. Tar patch makes Frostbreath much easier to use. Place the patch in front of the group, pull with darkest night and you have a nice tight group a baddies to target. Like most of the cones, you just need to get used firing it off at max range so you hit the group with the largest part of the cone. It also seems to add to the slow when your rain scatters the group off of your patch.

As you stated, if you want to concentrate on AOE, frostbreath will help. As part of your regular attack chain...not so good.

Thanks for taking the time to write the guide. It's always good to get a new perspective on your favorite toon.