IonBurst

I love my Illusion/Sonic Resonance controller more than any of my other trillion alts. Illusion and Sonic don't have a lot of synergy, it's true. But they don't need a lot of synergy.

Illusion has portable tanks, good damage (for a controller primary), single-target hard control, AoE soft control and hard control, invisibility, and the almighty Confuse. Sonic has +res, -res, Liquify which does several things at once, and anti-mez. Illusion isn't a terribly interactive set in a group (drop your pets, Confuse things and mop up) and neither is Sonic (throw rings on everyone, debuff the worst enemy's resistance and mop up) which means that you have ample time to employ both your primary and secondary without either stepping on the toes of the other.

If anything, the synergy in Illusion/Sonic lies in the fact that Illusion prevents the team from taking damage at all (via control and pets) and sonic lowers the amount of damage they take when they do get hit and increases the damage they deal. Why would any combo need more synergy than that? The single complaint I have with Ill/Sonic is that I don't have nearly enough power slots to take ALL the cool toys, and my pool power options are limited because little in the pool powers is as good as what I get from my primary and secondary.

Hi there! My name is Ion Burst, and I'm here to talk to you about the awesomeness of the Radiation/Sonic defender, or as I like to call it the "Green Scream". Rad/Sonic is an incredibly powerful and versatile set with a lot of control options, and it can be a lot of fun, and it's certainly blossoming as a new Flavor of the Month combo. This guide is written from a PvE viewpoint, though PvPers may find some useful information here as well. Just a warning, all numbers are provided for reference and are only an estimated value. If you want exact numbers, find a number cruncher. =D

First, let's look at your choice of primary, Radiation Emission. We'll break down the powers and I'll rate them on a completely biased scale of how useful I found them. After being named Virtue's "Respec Queen 2006" and "Respec First Runner Up 2007", I'm pretty sure I've tried every possible combination of Rad/Sonic, so hopefully my successes and failures with this combo will be useful to you.

First up, Rad/. Radiation is an excellent set with some fantastic utility. You can debuff your foes' accuracy, defense, resistance, damage, recovery and speed, and you have plenty of tools to keep your allies alive as well. The single biggest drawback to Radiation is its endurance-thirsty toggles, so be sure to manage your endurance carefully lest you lose half your abilities when you run out of blue bar. It can also be a bit annoying that you have to use enemy anchors to keep your two best abilities running, since in teams your anchors will often be the first foes killed. I've found it's easiest to target a lieutenant as your anchor, since everyone will be focused either on AoEing the minions or on dropping the bosses, and more often than not the lieutenants go unnoticed until last. Your mileage may vary.

Radiant Aura - Click PBAoE Healing
Range: 25'
Activation: 2 seconds
Recharge: 8 seconds
End Cost: 13 endurance
Best Slotting: Healing x3, End. Reduction x1 or x2, possibly Recharge x1
Rating: ****
Unslotted, RA grants a mediocre 10% healing to all allies in range, and it has a reasonably hefty endurance cost attached, but it comes up quickly and doesn't require a to-hit check like Kinetic's heal. You'll want to pick this up early and drop an endurance reducer or two in it, then fill it out with heal enhancements. It's a power you'll be using constantly throughout your career, and it will save your bacon time and time again.

Radiation Infection - Toggle Targeted AoE Defense/Accuracy Debuff
Range: 70' anchor, 15' AoE
Activation: 3 seconds
Recharge: 8 seconds
End Cost: .286 end/second
Best Slotting: ToHit Debuff x3, End. Reduction x3
Rating: *****
This is hands down the best ability in the entire Radiation primary, and you get it as early as level 1. Take it and try to have it 6-slotted as early as possible, since this ability will serve as your primary form of damage mitigation for the rest of your career. When you click the power, your target becomes the anchor for the cloud, and all foes within 15' of your anchor will have their accuracy massively reduced. Oddly, you'll want to stay in melee range of your foes more often than not because of this power. Be sure to announce to your team who you're anchoring, because it never fails that someone will see the glowing green guy and go straight for him, and nothing is more annoying than having your clouds knocked down as quickly as you put them up.

Accelerate Metabolism - Click PBAoE Team Resist+ (sleep, hold, disorient, immobilize), Damage+, Recharge+, Recovery+, Movement+
Range: 25'
Activation: 2 seconds
Recharge: 420 seconds
Duration: 120 seconds
End Cost: 15.6 endurance
Best Slotting: Recharge x3, End. Modification x0-3
Rating: *****
This is one of the best buffs in the game, and although it has a fairly hefty recharge, if you're running Hasten and have it slotted for Recharge you can have it up more often than not. You can safely wait until post-20 to pick it up if you choose to, although it will be useful even if you get it at level 2. Your allies will thank you for the green goodness you provide. Slot it for Recharge first, and then drop some End. Modification in it if you have the extra slots. If not, three recharges should be sufficient slotting and anything more is just gravy.

Enervating Field - Toggle Targeted AoE Resistance/Damage Debuff
Range: 70' anchor, 15' AoE
Activation: 1.5 seconds
Recharge: 8 seconds
End Cost: .572 end/second
Best Slotting: End. Reduction x3
Rating: *****
This is the second cloud in your one-two punch with Radiation Infection. RI makes the foes easier to hit and makes it harder for them to hit you, this cloud makes you do more damage to them and them do less to you. The resistance debuff is a fairly healthy amount and it stacks beautifully with the Sonic resistance debuffs from your secondary, and the damage debuff is about 1/3 of the enemy's default damage values, so between your two clouds you should be taking very little damage and dealing a great deal in return. The only real drawback to EF is its endurance cost, which is quite a bit higher than RI's, so be sure to slot it for Endurance Reduction early.

Mutation - Click Ally Rez, Damage+, Accuracy+, Recovery+, Speed+
Range: 15'
Activation: 3 seconds
Recharge: 180 seconds
Duration: 60 seconds
End Cost: 26 endurance
Best Slotting: Either Recharge x1 or Recharge x3
Rating: ***
This rez is a beast, because the lucky recipient will receive hefty buffs to his accuracy, damage, endurance recovery and attack speed for one minute after being rezzed. The downside is that when the mutation wears off your ally will take an endurance hit. The recharge also means you won't be acting as wipe-recovery for your team, which is why I'd recommend just sticking a Recharge in the default slot and leaving it at that. It's a great power, but use it for what it's for... getting the tank back into the battle or rezzing your one dead ally after the fight.

Lingering Radiation - Click AoE Speed/Recharge Debuff
Range: 80'
Activation: 1.5 seconds
Recharge: 90 seconds
Duration: 30 seconds
End cost: 15.6 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x2, Recharge x3, Slow x1
Rating: ****
I really like this power, it really floors the movement and recharge of your foes. The downside is that it requires a ToHit check, so it can miss at inopportune moments. However, a couple of Accuracy enhancements should take care of that. As for the rest of your slotting, you should focus on Recharge so you can use it every fight, and throw a Slow on there for good measure.

Choking Cloud - Toggle PBAoE Hold
Range: 15'
Activation: 2 seconds
Recharge: 90 seconds
End Cost: 4.16 end/second
Best Slotting: End. Reduction x3
Rating: *
I'm really, really, REALLY not a fan of Choking Cloud. It's the most endurance-thirsty toggle you have, and while you're running it all enemies nearby have a chance of being held. It seems to work by "pulsing" every few seconds, and enemies either take or evade the pulse. If the pulse lands (and that seems to be about half the time), your enemy is held for a short duration. The hold seems to be low-mag too, so don't expect to lock down bosses with this power. For such an endurance hog, this power seems rather pointless. Why hold your foes when they're already whiffing hits because of your clouds? I don't recommend taking this power at all, but if you do take it be sure to slot it with three Endurance Reduction enhancements as soon as possible to help make it a bit more manageable.

Fallout - Click Dead Ally AoE Attack
Range: 40'
Activation: 3 seconds
Recharge: 300 seconds
End Cost: 20.8 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x2, Damage x3, Recharge x1
Rating: **
Another stinker in my opinion, Fallout is a really weird concept. When one of your allies dies in battle, you can target them with Fallout and cause their body to release massive radiation energy upon nearby enemies. The damage is spectacular, but the problems are manyfold. First of all, one of your allies has to be dead for you to use it, so in the (hopefully) 99% of the time that everyone's alive you can't use this power. Second, it has a longish activation, so when an ally dies more often than not they use an awaken or someone else rezzes them before you can make them go boom. Third, if the enemies aren't within the blast's range (in other words, standing near your dead buddy), the power does nothing, so it's often only worth using on the melees. However, when all those conditions work out, this power can be nice for finishing off whatever it was that killed your buddy. This power can also be used in great conjunction with the Leadership pool's Vengeance, but test this one out before you decide to buy.

EM Pulse - Click PBAoE Foe Hold
Range: 60'
Activation: 3 seconds
Duration: 30 seconds
Recharge: 300 seconds
Best Slotting: Accuracy x2, Recharge x3, Hold Duration x1
Rating: ****
At last, the Radiation Emission ultimate. I really really love EM Pulse, it is one of the most powerful holds in the game AND it does (minor) bonus damage to mechanical foes. Enemies stay held for a good long time right out of the box, and if they're held they're not attacking you or your teammates, so you can attack with impunity. Be sure to slot it for Accuracy (or pop Aim before using it) since you really don't want it missing too many enemies, but don't hesitate to use this one. Its magnitude is so great that if you have another way of stacking holds first (either through an ally or another power), you can even hold archvillains for a short time with it.

Ultimately, Radiation is an incredibly powerful set with a few sparkling gems and a few real stinkers. Avoid Choking Cloud and Fallout if possible, but pick up Radiation Infection, Enervating Field, and Accelerate Metabolism if you don't take anything else.

Now let's look at your secondary, Sonic Blast. Sonic is one of the harder-hitting blast sets, it offers some excellent control options with a single target disorient and a cone sleep and knockback, and it has one of the most useful blaster nukes in the game. The downside is that all Sonic abilities have an inherent 5% accuracy debuff, so you're going to be missing a little more often. But your Radiation Infection from your primary will more than offset this, so for Rad/Sonic it's a minor drawback.

Shriek - Click Single Target Attack, Resistance Debuff (20%)
Accuracy: -5%
Range: 70'
Activation: 1.3 seconds
Recharge: 3 seconds
End Cost: 4.37 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x1, Damage x3
Rating: ***
Personally, I'm not a big fan of the blast tier 1 "plink" attacks. They're helpful in the lower levels, but compared to all the other powers in the set they're weak and tend to be pretty useless later on. Shriek is a slight exception, because it activates fast with a low endurance drain AND it adds a resistance debuff. If you plan on using Shriek, use it for the resistance debuff factor to help stack debuffs from your other attacks. Otherwise, feel free to spec the slots out of it as soon as you have an attack chain.

Scream - Click Single Target DoT Attack, Resistance Debuff (20%)
Accuracy: -5%
Range: 70'
Activation: 1.6 seconds
Recharge: 6 seconds
End Cost: 6.86 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x1, Damage x3, Recharge x2
Rating: *****
This is a really fantastic attack, and I strongly suggest you slot it out ASAP. Scream sends 8 rapid-fire waves of sound at one unlucky enemy, and because its built in resistance debuff hits on the first tick of damage, later ticks in the attack will do slightly more damage. This is a staple attack that you'll be using throughout your career.

Howl - Click Cone Attack, Resistance Debuff (20%)
Accuracy: -5%
Range: 60', 50-degree cone
Activation: 2.3 seconds
Recharge: 10 seconds
End Cost: 10.2 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x1, Damage x3 OR End Reduction x1, Recharge x1, Range x1
Rating: ***
Howl is a relatively weak attack with a wide cone and long range. If you're a soloer it probably won't be one of your favorite attacks, but on a team it can be impressive. Giving everything in the battle a 15% resistance debuff can help your AoE users deal ridiculous levels of damage. Also, it can be nice to Howl right before using Dreadful Wail, so Howl does have some potential. You can slot it for damage, or slot it to make it easier to apply the debuff. Just don't rely on the damage, you're not an AoE expert.

Shockwave - Click Cone Knockback, Resistance Debuff (20%)
Accuracy: -5%
Range: 60', 50-degree cone
Activation: 2.2 seconds
Recharge: 8 seconds
End Cost: 11.85 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x1, End Reduction x1
Rating: *
Oh boy, Shockwave. I really don't like Shockwave, for several reasons. First, Knockback can be annoying to your teammates, especially the melee ones. Second, the last thing you want to do is knock things OUT of your clouds. For other sets, this is a blah ability. For Rad/Sonic, it's terrible and should be avoided.

Shout - Click Single Target Attack, Resistance Debuff (20%)
Accuracy: -5%
Range: 20'
Activation: 2.7 seconds
Recharge: 10 seconds
End Cost: 11.85 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x1, Damage x3, End Reduction x1, Recharge x1
Rating: ****
Shout is a really great attack, and after Dreadful Wail it's the hardest hitting one you'll get. The unfortunate thing (for other builds, anyway) is that its range is limited to near-melee. However, you're going to be spending most of your time standing next to the enemies anyway to take advantage of your clouds, so range won't be an issue very often. Take it, slot it, love it.

Amplify - Click Self Accuracy/Damage Buff
Activation: 1.2 seconds
Recharge: 90 seconds
Duration: 10 seconds
End Cost: 5.2 endurance
Best Slotting: Recharge x3
Rating: ***
Amplify is just Aim for the Sonic set, so it works just like Aim. If you've never played a blaster or defender before, Aim is a quick little self-buff that increases the accuracy of your attacks by a huge amount, and the damage by a really good amount for 10 seconds. You'll want to use Amplify right before Dreadful Wail, or before Lingering Radiation if you really need the slow effect to hit everything. But because of the nature of Radiation Infection and Enervating Field, you really can leave off picking up Aim until you get Dreadful Wail if you choose to, or you could even leave it out of your build altogether if you're tight on space.

Siren's Song - Click Cone Sleep
Accuracy: -5%
Range: 60', 40-degree cone
Activation: 2 seconds
Recharge: 20 seconds
Duration: 30 seconds
End Cost: 15.6 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x2, End Reduction x1, possibly Recharge x3
Rating: *****
Siren's Song is a great ability. It's a cone sleep effect that does (insignificant) damage to all it hits. It's mag 3, so it will sleep minions and lieutenants, but it won't sleep bosses without a second application, so I'd recommend Recharge enhancements to allow you to stack it on bosses. The duration is very good, and it comes up faster than it wears off even without Recharge enhancements, so you can drop those if you don't mind not being able to sleep bosses. This ability can be used in a lot of neat ways. You could use it as an opener to put the spawn to sleep, then deal with the enemies one by one. You could use it to sleep really annoying non-bosses like Malta Sappers or various sniper enemies. You could use it to put your cloud anchor to sleep, so that your clouds are stationary. Definitely slot it for Accuracy as soon as possible if you choose to take this power, although you could substitute it with Screech instead.

Screech - Click Single Target Disorient, Resistance Debuff (20%)
Accuracy: -5%
Range: 60'
Activation: 1.5 seconds
Recharge: 20 seconds
End Cost: 10.2 endurance
Best Slotting: Accuracy x2, Recharge x3, End Reduction x1
Rating: *****
This is another awesome control ability. It's a mag 3 disorient, so you can use it to deal with annoying minions or lieutenants just like Siren's Song, but its best use is in stacking disorients on a boss or using it as a toggle-dropper. Not only will it disorient a boss on the second application, but it also debuffs resistance just like most of your other Sonic abilities. The only downside is that it's a bit endurance-thirsty, but few abilities can handle a boss better than Screech. You can take this and Siren's Song for maximum utility, or you can take one or the other if you don't mind sacrificing a little bit of control.

Dreadful Wail - Click PBAoE Nuke, Disorient, Resistance Debuff (45%)
Accuracy: -5%
Range: 30'
Activation: 2 seconds
Recharge: 360 seconds
End Cost: Full Crash and -Recovery for 15 seconds
Best Slotting: Damage x3, Recharge x3
Rating: *****
Here it is, one of the best nukes in the game. Dreadful Wail even has a cool screen-shake effect. The best part is, it has a very short activation time and a very long, high mag disorient. Always, ALWAYS use Amplify before Wailing. Not only does this free you up to put three Damage and three Recharge enhancements into it, but Amplify will buff Wail's damage. You might also consider slotting it with two Damage, two Recharge, and two Range enhancements to get a bigger bang at the cost of some damage and recharge time. Also, keep in mind that it's an endurance crash, so your toggles will drop after you use it. Be ready to eat a few blue inspirations immediately afterward. Lastly, be sure to Screech at any bosses before you Wail to ensure that Wail's disorient will stick. The last thing you want is an angry boss beating on you while you're out of endurance and your toggles are down.

Sonic has a lot of advantages to offset its lower base accuracy. The resistance debuff is a huge benefit and stacks very nicely with your Enervating Field. Siren's Song and Screech let you completely control the flow of battle. Dreadful Wail combos beautifully with EM Pulse to ensure that a spawn-locker is almost always available to you. And your single target attacks hit very hard and buff each other's damage.

Now let's discuss ancillary pools. Your options are Dark, Electric, Psychic, and Power Masteries. Unless you ABSOLUTELY have your heart set on something else, you'll want Power Mastery. Conserve Power gives you a minute and a half of 50% endurance use, which is brilliant for toggle-heavy Radiation. Power Build Up gives you a great damage buff and doubles the secondary effects of all your powers, so all your debuffs and mezzes are doubled for its duration. Temp Invul may not be the best epic armor but it provides a healthy resistance to Smash/Lethal, which means that when attacks make it through your Radiation Infection, you won't be taking much damage at all with Enervating Field and Temp Invul running. And then there's Total Focus. Unfortunately, it's the last power in your ancillary tree so it won't get the slotting it deserves. But it's a massive attack with a huge built-in disorient, so it stacks beautifully with Screech and Dreadful Wail's disorient effects. If you decide to go with Power Mastery (and you should), try to take Power Build Up first, then Conserve Power, then Total Focus, and lastly Temp Invul. That'll allow you to put some reasonable slots in Total Focus (hint: you'll want endurance reducers).

If you choose to take Psychic Mastery despite my recommendations, I'd recommend picking up Mass Hypnosis and Mind Over Body for sure, and possibly Dominate. Mass Hypnosis is another AoE Sleep effect, so it can be used to stack with Siren's Song. Mind Over Body is a great armor that provides resistance to Smash/Lethal and the hard-to-get Psionic. Dominate is a decent little single target hold. The last power is Telekinesis, an AoE mag 3 toggle hold. It sounds great, but it's incredibly endurance-intensive and your build really won't have enough endurance to support it, and while it's holding your enemies it's knocking them away. Avoid it.

The Electric Mastery APP offers few useful tools. Electric Fence is just a single target immobilize, so avoid it since you have the superior Screech. Thunder Strike is a massive (and massively endurance-heavy) attack with a chance to disorient, but if you take it you're going to have to slot it heavily for endurance reduction. Charged Armor is a pretty weak toggled armor, but it does offer resistance to the three most common damage types at endgame, Smash/Lethal and Energy. Power Sink, the last power in the pool, is its real gem. It's a PBAoE that leeches endurance out of all nearby enemies and gives it to you. I enjoyed trying it on the test server, it was nice to be able to fire off a Dreadful Wail, eat a blue inspiration, then use Power Sink to restore my own endurance from whatever happened to survive. Still, you have to take two other not-so-useful powers to get to this one, so it's up to you if Power Sink is worth it.

Lastly, there's the Dark Mastery pool. Oppressive Gloom is a toggle'd PBAoE aura that disorients nearby foes, so it can certainly be useful. The problem is that it's yet another toggle AND it drains your health while you use it, so be careful if you choose to go this route. Dark Consumption deals slight damage to all nearby enemies, and drains their endurance to give it to you. It's rather similar to Power Sink from the Electric Mastery pool, but it has a slightly smaller radius and doesn't drain quite as much. Dark Embrace is the armor of this set, and it's a good one. It gives decent resistance to four damage types, Smash/Lethal, Toxic, and Negative Energy, and it's relatively light on endurance as toggles go. The last power is Soul Drain, which allows you to deal slight damage to all enemies in a PBAoE, and for every enemy you damage your own accuracy and damage are buffed. This could be really useful if you intend to be more of an offender type. Dark Mastery is probably the strongest option after Power Mastery.

And then, of course, there are power pools.

Fitness - This is a must-have with such a toggle-heavy set as Radiation. Take Swift or Hurdle, Health, and Stamina. Slot Stamina, and if you're so inclined slot Health. But you NEED Stamina to protect your sanity.

Concealment - The defense boost provided by Stealth and Grant Invisibility are marginal, and Phase Shift is situational, so if you're going for Concealment you're probably doing it so you can ghost missions with Invisibility and Recall Friend.

Fighting - Unless you have your heart set on Tough, don't bother with this tree. Your sonic attacks are superior to Boxing and Kick, and Weave's defensive boost is pretty dismal for a power pool ultimate. Tough can be useful though.

Leadership - As a defender, you get the most use out of the Leadership powers. Maneuvers is a waste of endurance, but Assault and Tactics are both fantastic. Vengeance is a love-it-or-hate-it power, but it can stack beautifully with Fallout and Mutation.

Presence - If you're considering this tree, it's probably because you're wanting more control options. You have plenty of control options already though. Challenge could be used to grab enemies back into your clouds, I guess, but in general this tree is useless to you.

Medicine - You already have an AoE heal and a rez, but medicine could be useful with Stimulant and Resuscitate. Stimulant is like a ghetto Clear Mind, and Resuscitate would give you a second chance to resurrect your allies every few minutes. Still, Aid Other and Aid Self aren't that helpful to you at all.

Speed - As travel pools go, Speed is a strong contender. Super Speed gives you a stealth boost and doesn't suppress in combat, and Hasten is a great prerequisite. However, Flurry is Blah and Whirlwind can be deadly to you, so if you go this route just stick to Hasten and Super Speed.

Flight - Hover provides ghetto knockback resistance, Air Superiority is always a useful attack, and Fly has great maneuverability and the bonus of being able to set it to auto-run. Group Fly is stupid and an endurance hog, so avoid that one.

Leaping - Jump Kick is the worst power pool attack in the game, so avoid it. Combat Jumping gives you quite a bit of combat maneuverability and a tidy little defense bonus. Super Jumping can be amazingly fun, but jumping into the middle of a big nasty spawn by accident can be painful. Acrobatics is the best ultimate power in the movement pools, it provides knockback and hold resistance.

Teleportation - Recall Friend can be used with Invisibility to ghost missions, and it's always a team favorite. Teleport Foe is a great pulling technique and can be used to place things in your clouds (ranged enemies in particular). Teleport is the fastest movement power, but it lacks fine tuned control (though it can be fantastic in PvP). Team Teleport is much like Group Fly... stupid. I'd say take Teleport Foe and Teleport, unless you're wanting to ghost missions. In that case, drop Teleport Foe for Recall Friend.

Lastly, I want to provide you with a sample build. I'm not usually a fan of "going by the book", so please customize this build to suit your play style. This build seeks to strike a balance between soloing ability and group functionality. There's plenty of room to move things in and out, so don't feel restricted by this build. This is just a sample of what's possible with the awesome Radiation/Sonic defender. Have fun and good luck, and I hope this guide has been helpful to you!

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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Radiowave
Level: 50
Archetype: Defender
Primary: Radiation Emission
Secondary: Sonic Blast
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01) --> Radiation Infection==> EndRdx(1) EndRdx(7) EndRdx(7) TH_DeBuf(31) TH_DeBuf(31) TH_DeBuf(31)
01) --> Shriek==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(9)
02) --> Scream==> Acc(2) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(9) Rechg(46) Rechg(46)
04) --> Radiant Aura==> Heal(4) Heal(19) Heal(29)
06) --> Enervating Field==> EndRdx(6) EndRdx(11) EndRdx(11)
08) --> Hasten==> Rechg(8) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
10) --> Accelerate Metabolism==> Rechg(10) Rechg(15) Rechg(15)
12) --> Hurdle==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Speed==> Run(14)
16) --> Shout==> Acc(16) Dmg(17) Dmg(17) Dmg(19) EndRdx(34) Rechg(46)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Lingering Radiation==> Acc(22) Acc(23) Rechg(23) Rechg(25) Rechg(25) Slow(29)
24) --> Mutation==> Rechg(24)
26) --> Amplify==> Rechg(26) Rechg(27) Rechg(27)
28) --> Assault==> EndRdx(28) EndRdx(37) EndRdx(42)
30) --> Tactics==> EndRdx(30) EndRdx(39) EndRdx(43) TH_Buf(43) TH_Buf(43) TH_Buf(45)
32) --> EM Pulse==> Dmg(32) Acc(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(34) Hold(34)
35) --> Screech==> Acc(35) Acc(36) Rechg(36) Rechg(36) Rechg(37) EndRdx(37)
38) --> Dreadful Wail==> Dmg(38) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Rechg(40) Rechg(40) Rechg(40)
41) --> Power Build Up==> Rechg(41) Rechg(42) Rechg(42)
44) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(44) Rechg(45) Rechg(45)
47) --> Total Focus==> Acc(47) Dmg(48) Dmg(48) Dmg(48) EndRdx(50)
49) --> Temp Invulnerability==> EndRdx(49) EndRdx(50) EndRdx(50)
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01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Vigilance==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
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Dear Parent I Never Knew,

I wonder why I’m writing this? Maybe it’s because in the business I’m in everything is so uncertain. I worry that one day that little microchip that monitors my vital signs will fail and I’ll be killed before I can be teleported to a hospital. I don’t trust technology, which I guess is ironic since so much of me is made of metal and circuitry. And I’ve already got a lot of high-profile enemies who are constantly tracking me, so anything could happen. At any rate, I’ve decided to write you this letter so that you know I’m always thinking of you, even though we don’t really know each other that well. I want you to know who I am, and why I’m the person I’ve become.

My name, my real name, is Ian Baker. I’m 15 years old, and I live and work in Paragon City, Rhode Island. I’m a superhero. My paperwork at City Hall says I’m a radiation/sonic defender of mutant origin. It’s funny… in this city, strange powers and amazing abilities are so common that the politicians have categories and labels for us. Anyway, to truly understand me you need to know a bit of my background.

My earliest memory is of living at the Steel Canyon Children’s Home, an orphanage. I don’t remember much about the place, since I was really little when I was adopted, but I do remember there was a really nice lady there who looked after us kids. I wish I could remember her name, but she was so pretty and always smelled like flowers. Funny, the things we remember after so long. I don’t know why I was given up for adoption, but I never really wondered either.

Apparently, my mutant powers started showing up when I was very small, which is unusual since I’m told mutations don’t usually manifest until puberty. A lot of the other kids and some of the staff at the orphanage got really sick, and I guess it was my fault. I was leaking radiation and it was harming everyone around me. I’m sure the orphanage directors were in a panic. That must have been when she heard about me.

I never once thought of her as my mother, not once in all the years I belonged to her. In fact, she only stopped by to check in on me once every few months, and only then to observe how much progress the scientists and doctors had made. She never spoke directly to me nor called me by my name. To her, I was “the subject”. The Countess Crey may have adopted me, but she never called me her son.

Instead of toys and games, I grew up with tubes and chemicals. The scientists at the laboratory were my caretakers, but they weren’t very parental towards me either. They saw me as an experiment, a challenge, an equation to be balanced. They were cold and unfeeling, and life was a never-ending hell of needles and surgeries and scans.

The worst was when they cut off my arms. I don’t think I was supposed to know about that before the operation, but I overheard a doctor and an orderly talking about it in the lab that morning. I screamed. I screamed and didn’t stop screaming until the orderly had strapped me down and injected me with a sedative.

When I awoke, my arms were gone. In their place were these limbs of metal and wires and pistons. I couldn’t move them (that would come later, after months of training… apparently my brain had to learn how to send the right signals to my new cybernetic arms). The new arms were designed to amplify my ability to control and emit radioactive fields. They felt so alien, so cold, and yet they were a part of me. I spent a long time being trained in how to properly use them. I was as cold and dead inside as they were.

Two years after the surgery, I had finally mastered the use of my metal arms (though I still don’t understand the science behind them). I could crush a brick just by squeezing it, or I could pick a grain of sand up off of a table. And after countless, mind-numbing training sessions, I could emit several different types of radiation. I could make a large crowd of people sick to the point of vomiting, or I could make their muscles atrophy and their immune systems fail. I could even levitate small objects by focusing a stream of charged ions to magnetize them. Eventually, I was told that this ability would allow me to levitate and even fly, once I’d mastered it.

But that wasn’t enough. If I was to be a tool of Crey Biotech, I would have to be trained in the more violent arts. I was taught to infiltrate high-security buildings. I was taught to spy, to assassinate, to manipulate. I was undoubtedly the most deadly and dangerous 13 year old in Rhode Island, and probably beyond. But still, that wasn’t enough for her.

Apparently, a large number of heroes had been popping up all over the place with the power to control sound waves. Nobody really knew why there were so many sonic heroes showing up, but they were making quite an impression on the criminal element of Paragon City. The Countess coveted this new power, and ordered her scientists to come up with a way of emulating the ability using technology. I was the perfect lab rat, the guinea pig they used in all of their experiments. So naturally, they tested the new technology on me.

My larynx was removed and replaced with some sophisticated machinery they developed. It was based upon the technology in my cybernetic arms, except that instead of focusing and amplifying my natural radiation emission, it allowed me to emit sound waves of any frequency, pitch or tone. Like some sort of sick mechanical ventriloquist, I could emulate someone’s voice so closely that even a computerized voiceprint couldn’t tell the difference. I could blast sounds so loud that they could incapacitate the human brain. And I could focus my sound waves so precisely that I could hit an entire audience of people or target just one person in a large crowd. The drawback was that I’d have to wear a complicated audio speaker system in a metal faceguard at all times except when eating. Without that faceguard, I would be rendered completely mute.

I guess when I was 14 they finally decided I was ready. They implanted a tracking device in one of my arms and I was sent on a mission. I was to spy on and, if possible, incapacitate and abduct a young heroine named Snowbane. Why they wanted her I’ll probably never know, because as soon as I’d been given my orders and dropped off outside Snowbane’s apartment complex in Steel Canyon, I ripped the tracking implant out of my right arm and ran.

No doubt she was furious. I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of her employees were fired (or worse) that day. I didn’t care. I wasn’t thinking much at the time. The only thought in my mind was, “I have to get away or she’ll find me”. So I ran, wandering aimlessly down the dark, unlit alleyways of Steel Canyon. At one point, some gang members attacked me. I made short work of them, but one of my arms was damaged quite badly when it took a shotgun blast at almost point-blank range.

I must have run for hours. I was lost and cold and hungry, and I saw her around every street corner. That was when Positron found me. At first I thought he was one of her thugs, and I tried to fight him. But… come on, he’s Positron of the Freedom Phalanx. It took him no time at all to subdue me. He said he wouldn’t hurt me. I didn’t believe him. He said I was leaking radiation everywhere, and that his suit’s built-in monitors set off an alarm, and that that was how he’d tracked me. I didn’t care. He speculated that the leak was coming from my damaged arm. It didn’t matter to me.

Our friendship certainly didn’t start out on a bright note. I didn’t make it easy for him, but after what I’d been through it was hard for me to trust anyone. But over the months, we bonded. He explained to me why he has to wear his suit, and that he and I are alike. He helped me overcome my hatred for my metal arms and my distrust of people. He showed me that my radiation could be used to aid people by stimulating their immune systems and their natural healing abilities. And most importantly, he taught me that people are worth risking one’s life for. He showed me the value of humanity.

So here I am. A superhero. I registered the name Ion Burst with City Hall, and filled out all the paperwork to become a hero. The secretary who took my application was very snide, saying that they didn’t get many heroes with acne. My friend Positron glared at her, and she put me into the computer system without another word. I guess it pays to have friends in high places. Positron even helped me design a costume: bright green to match my glowing radiation fields, with an atom symbol on the chest. I like it. And I’m quickly making a name for myself. I’ve been knocked out a few times and sent to the hospital, but I’ve knocked a fair number of heads too.

And in the end, Positron is right. Paragon City is worth saving from the evil and depraved and scheming. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve saved ordinary citizens from terrible fates, only to have them run over and thank me profusely. They don’t see me as strange, and they don’t see me as a metal monstrosity. They see me as a hero and saviour, and that makes it worthwhile. So, if anything bad should happen to me, at least I know I will have done something to make the world a better place.

But, before the day I fall in battle, I will get my revenge. The Countess Crey will pay for what she has done to me, and for the evils she has brought into this city I love so much. It’s been a few years since my last run-in with Crey Biotech, but the rage and anger at the injustices done to me hasn’t subsided at all. I’m training every day, and soon I’ll be strong enough to take on anything Crey can throw at me. And when that day comes, Crey Biotech will crumble like a brick between my metal hands.

Mother, your little boy is all grown up and I’m coming home to see you…

Your "son",
Ion Burst

Hi guys, thanks for checking my thread and for helping me out. The reason I'm posting here is because I need the help of some more experienced role-players. See, my supergroup (the Silver Guard) is very very active in the RP department, and our group leader and I are planning on putting together a big surprise for them. We're going to put together a Silver Guard comic book and make print copies for each of the Guard members to keep!

But the problem is, I've been put in charge of the writing, and I have NO idea how to do this. I already have the storyline in mind, but I don't know how to write dialogue that would be believable, since these are other people's characters.

Basically, the storyline follows our in-game RP. We actually have TWO groups, the Silver Guard (our heroes), and the Shadows of Praetoria, our villain group. The SoP are Praetorian alter-egos of our heroes, and they're all evil (just like the Praetorians you fight in-game).

So far, the cast of characters obviously is my fellow Guard members, though the main characters are as follows:

Lightheart (he's our leader, late 20s, he's a sonic/energy mutant blaster)
Ion Burst (17-year-old me! I'm 3rd in command and I'm a radiation/sonic mutant defender)
Sonic Bolt (18 and she's a sonic/electricity mutant blaster)
Novapulse (he's in his 30s, our #2 in command, he's an energy/energy tech blaster)
Daybringer (Lightheart's alt, he's 23 and a fire/kinetics mutant controller)
BladeMatrix (she's a cyborg katana/SR tech scrapper)
Aixel Sydevahi (formerly a dark melee/regen scrapper, he's now a peacebringer and our SG's token crab)

Those are the major players. The storyline is that Lightheart thought his little brother Daybringer had been killed when they were teenagers, but it turns out he lost his memory and ended up running with the Outcasts for a long time. It wasn't until he was arrested and thrown in the Zig that his memory returned. After working very hard to prove himself, he was released and he joined the SG. Daybringer's been flirting hard and heavy with Sonic Bolt, who's begun to fall for him. Ion, who's been in love with Sonic for some time, is jealous and suspicious of Daybringer. Novapulse is also very suspicious of Daybringer.

Which is probably a good thing, because it's going to turn out that Daybringer isn't Daybringer at all. He's Daybringer's alt from the Praetorian version of Earth. Turns out the Daybringer from our world WAS killed, and that Lightheart's Praetorian alt (Shadowsoul) thought that'd be the perfect way to get rid of his "weaker" self. Shadowsoul got his brother Herald of Night ("Daybringer"'s real name) to worm his way into the guard posing as Lightheart's long lost brother. Meanwhile, every member of the Silver Guard has Praetorian alternates who, for one sick reason or another, want to kill them. Ion Burst's alt is a spoiled brat called Contagion Beta. Sonic Bolt's alt is a seductress called Kinetic Shade. BladeMatrix's alt isn't Praetorian, she's the human that BladeMatrix's design was based on, but she's as nasty as they come.

Anyway, what's ultimately going to happen is that "Daybringer" is going to use his position within the Silver Guard to disable us one by one. He's going to implant a virus in BladeMatrix's programming rendering her immobile. He's going to use a specially developed serum to suppress Ion's mutant genes, preventing him from being able to access his powers. And he's going to use an evil amulet disguised as a token of love to slowly drain Sonic Bolt's vitality and cause her to waste away. Once everyone is weakened, the Praetorians will attack, and the Guard will be getting beaten up quite badly. But when "Daybringer" sees Sonic Bolt's evil alt Kinetic Shade nearly kill her, he'll realize that he truly does love her and he will lend his own power to the Silver Guard, dying in the process. The Guard will be able to overcome their Praetorian alts, but Lightheart will be forced to lose his brother a second time.

Anyway, that's the basis for the storyline we have so far. The problem I'm finding is that I don't know how to write Sonic or Nova or Blade's dialogue and be sure that I'm writing it in a way they actually would react. I want to be true to the characters, but I also need "poetic license" to work the scene the way it needs to be worked for the storyline. Has anyone else had this problem in the past? How do you work around it? I'm REALLY proud of our storyline and I want to see it in print (and Lightheart is a fantastic artist, so it's going to LOOK good). I just want to make sure it's a good READ as well. Thanks for the help!

Name: The Silver Guard

Website URL: http://silverguard.guildportal.com/

Leaders: Lightheart, Novapulse, Ion Burst

Method of Contact: Through the Guildportal site or by messages in-game

Description: The Silver Guard is an RP-based supergroup exclusively for heroes of security level 10 or higher with a heroic costume and a bio (sorry but dark heroes, such as Spawn, wouldn't mesh well with our group). We are a close-knit family who are justifiably proud of the group we've built. We have approximately 30+ members of all archetypes and levels (including kheldians), though the bulk of our membership are in the 30s. Regarding membership, players who join the Silver Guard are required to log in once every 10 days, or make a short post on the forums explaining that they will be absent for a time. This helps us to keep our roster from filling up with people who join and are never seen again. All members have the option of adding one alt character to the Silver Guard (alt characters don't have a timeframe requirement, so you can log in as often or as rarely with your alt as you like). We believe in fair play, having fun, being social, trust and friendship. Our core values of 'Protection, Respect, Truth and Trust' are very important to us, and we try to maintain those values at all times.

There are two dedicated arms of the Silver Guard: The Silver Guardians (who are PvE oriented and have opted not to participate in PvP), and the Silver Knights (the PvP arm of the supergroup). Membership in either group is completely optional, and beyond PvP events, our supergroup runs all kinds of special events together, regardless of affiliation with the Knights or Guardians. We have costume contests, run task forces, aid each other in missions, and generally have a great time. We're quickly becoming one of the most recognized and respected young supergroups on Virtue, and our ranks increase every day.

If this sounds like the kind of supergroup you've been looking for, please feel free to check out our website. The application process is relatively simple, and you'll have an opportunity to meet with one or more Silver Guard members in-game to make sure our group is right for you. We look forward to hearing from you!