Phantom_Fury

Seconded. And don't forget Fluffy. Most times I just let him do all the healing and focus on melting everything in sight.

You may want to actually read my post before you comment. My reply about ice slick and liquefy were not about the synergy between those powers, but stating that sonic has debuffs such as -RES/-ToHit/etc and ice is more than just slows as was stated in a previous post. Nor did I ever say anything about the entire /sonic set compared to the /rad set. You made a comment stating that the -RES powers in sonic were not that good, when in fact, you can get twice the -RES than with /rad.

As far as sonic shields go, you can give someone (other than yourself) about 40% resistance to everything but psi - that's pretty significant - especially when combined with ice that can mitigate quite a bit of incoming damage. It's only 17% Resist for yourself, but when stacked with your own pool armor, that's up to around 60%.

As far as sonic having 3 good powers, you obviously haven't actually played the set. Of the 9 powers, Sonic Siphon, Sonic Barrier, Sonic Haven, Disruption Field, Sonic Dispersion and Liquefy are all excellent. That leaves one pretty useless power (Sonic Cage), one mostly unnecessary power (Clarity) and one situational power (Sonic Repulsion). I'm not saying Sonic is better than Rad or Kin, it's a very different playstyle that lends itself more to teaming, just like Empathy, but has enough tools to be great on its own.

Actually, Sonic has -ToHit debuff in Liquefy. While it has a long recharge, with hasten and some slotting, it's up quite a bit. In addition, Ice's main control is Ice Slick, which is easily "perma-able" for knockdown. It's really not that hard to play in a team or solo. The hardest part is to keep other controllers from dropping their immobilizes on top of the slick. I found this especially true with Fire Controllers, who are used to spamming cages.

Actually, Sonic's -RES powers (Sonic Siphon and Sonic Disruption) are the same values as Enervating Field from Radiation Emission. Siphon is single-target, and Disruption is AoE around a friendly target.

I think Sonic got a bad rap back when it was causing seizures and later headaches from the graphics. It's also not as flashy as /Rad or /Kin, so it tends to be in the minority.

OP:

I actually did level an Ice/Sonic to 50, and yes the End Usage is crazy. The damage isn't bad once you get Jack, though. He's definitely not as sturdy as Stoney, but with Sonic Barrier, Haven and Dispersion on him, he's pretty damn tough. Plus, now that he melees most of the time, Disruption definitely ups his damage. I haven't touched this character in over a year, probably more like 2, so things may have changed since then... I played mine mostly in teams, and it was a lot of fun.

Lobster's build is pretty good, there are a couple of changes that I'd recommend.

1. Get Hasten - it will help with recharge on everything - especially your long recharge powers like glacier and liquefy

2. Frostbite is an iffy power. While it's great at setting up containment (one of only 2 options for aoe containment), it totally negates the function of ice slick, which is your bread and butter control. Not to mention, spamming frostbite will drain your end like crazy.

3. Taking both Shiver and Arctic Air is a bit redundant, but will depend on your playstyle. I prefer Arctic Air, but I also prefer to be up close and personal. If you prefer to stay at range, grab Shiver. You probably won't need both. Of course, if you have nothing else that you want to take, it's not "bad" to have both. You can stick a few damage procs in Arctic Air for a little dps boost.

4. If you're running solo mostly, the medicine pool may not be a bad idea. That way you can patch Jack up if needed, and yourself too.

5. Liquefy is awesome. -ToHit, -Def, and Knockdown Get it, slot it, use it.

Definitely slot heavily for EndRdx, and if you're going with sets, look for +Recovery bonuses - they will help a lot. And I would strongly recommend the Cardiac Alpha.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.

-Phantom

I'm usually on in the evenings as well. Ping me if you see me on @Phantom Fury or @Phantom Fury 3, and I'll give you a hand as well. What level are you now?

Oh, and I'll do my best to be around to run the Trial with you guys.

It's a tough choice. Both are strong primaries, in different ways. Ill/ will definitely solo faster and play "safer" (thanks to PA), but if you're aiming at soloing mainly, I think there are better secondaries than Emp. Rad, Thermal and Storm come to mind.

If you're planning to team a lot, a Mind/Emp is fantastic. I love playing mine on large teams. You have an arsenal of controls at hand, and you have great buffs to pass out. Does it do as much damage as Ill/? No, but frankly, on a team, your damage output will pale next to a blaster or scrapper. The constant activity of the build is what actually attracts me to it - it makes playing a kin feel like slow motion sometimes.