Teeth

Achilles' Heel doesn't stack with itself, even from other casters. It's nice to have one or two, but no more. Where Rad really delivers on procs is Lady Grey and Shield Breaker. Since 4 Devastation is acceptable for enhancing a blast and getting some decent set bonuses, this lets you have two damage procs in each single target blast and each AoE that you don't put the -Res proc in. Pure energy damage, with some -Def, with tons of damage procs, with Cosmic Burst--that's Rad. (You can even put a Force Feedback proc in Electron Haze!)

This. I would modify the original combo to be Fire/Shields with Kin/Sonic. Even a single Howl per spawn should help with your overall kill rate. (This assumes, of course, that Fire is indeed better AoE than Elec. I'm not personally certain on that point.)

That's like comparing Apples to... well, to nothing. Most Villain content has the problem of not existing in the first place. The Manticore TF can be run comfortably in under an hour, and the Katie TF is half that and gets you a hero-only costume item; I am unimpressed by the emphasis on these being longer than their Villain counterparts (those being "nothing"). Similarly, while Positron's TF is a bit grindy, CoV's approach to the "30 merits per hour and a badge at level 10" category is not very impressive, either.


Also,
"Would be?" It's nice now. Double-damage Roots against targets who are attacking each other while at -30% defense and resistance doesn't make for slow kills.

My roommate and I are laughing hard at this.

I love that proc. I hate the set it's in, but I try to slot the proc by itself whenever I can. It's great watching people topple when hit by Psychic Scream or Dart Burst.

Praetorian GW is still alive. (She's the "Resistance" woman you see in some sigs.)

I just had a thought: Maybe it's a conspiracy theory, and the Freedom Phalanx HQ is actually a front for an Arachnos base?

Ooh, I do that too. I haven't played my Katana Scrapper since i9, so I forgot.

The best is when you can approach two that are lined up and land behind the second one, so you get both in your cone. And if you Build Up first, and if you crit...

In this game, I can't honestly think of anything I've done that compares to "superspeed towards a spawn while firing BU and queuing GD, leap over two +1 Lt's, spin in the air, bring sword crashing down, cut them both in half with a double critical." Even if a target lives (maybe there was a boss or perhaps you got one or no crits), the knockdown makes it feel epic. You can tell they felt it.

As one guide phrased it, it's nearly a religious experience. (The guide was about Broadsword, but it looks cooler with Katana, even if it's slightly lower damage.)

Indeed. I discovered this by running straight up the side of a war wall to escape some enemies once.

I wonder if it might be possible to (1) give SS a slight jump and movement friction buff and (2) very slightly slant most of the surfaces in the game, and thus achieve a sort of wall-running. Of course, slightly slanting most surfaces in every zone could possibly take a very long time.

Bellen: You could say you're paying $10 for the Jian, instead. ~_^

Wait wait wait, what? Can someone explain this to me?

Yeah, you got me to wonder about that. I'll most likely invest in an alternate build to test that at some point.


Hm, interesting. My experience bears out the theory. *shrug*


As far as I know, the -Res from a single power from a single caster does not stack with itself, so an extra power directly yields extra debuff. This makes it theoretically a good idea to take Shout, but Shout takes so long to animate that it screws around with the rest of your attack chain. Shriek + Scream + Shriek + Shout + [repeat] is a powerful single-target chain when you lack permaHasten, but if you're debuffing a single target for a team (e.g. the Romulus Phalanx Computer) or you do have Hasten up, Sh+Sc+Sh+Screech is almost as good, and in all cases Sh+Howl+Sh+Sc is better if even two targets are available.

I'm sure you could work out an attack chain that sustains the full -100% Res that a Defender can pump out with Sonic (Howl and the 4 single target attacks), but I find it simpler to dump Shout. (In my first build here, I forgot that I planned to Respec out of it.)

I forgot to compensate for Mids' giving me the unsuppressed value on Stealth when I was tweaking your build, which is why I didn't notice the loss of Ranged Defense. Oops. (You'd still be at the cap against anything being hit by your RI, at least.)

EMP without CC can hold almost any mob. At any rate, CC is an acquired taste; it can be skipped. It's nice in your build because it stacks with Dominate, but if I go Dark it's less appealing. (I am considering Oppressive Gloom, though.) Also, Dreadful Wail is a stun, which satisfies some of the need for control, and the -Res in it helps to mitigate the brief loss of coverage in EF.

Stealth+Unique is actually better than full Invisibility.

I'm still on the fence about whether I care. It'd be nice to have some defense, but I'm not sure it's worth the cost.

"Slow" is less important than "invisible." That said, you are not aware of the numbers on Hurdle (as shown later in your post); 2-slotted Hurdle + Ninja Run puts me close to the jump speed cap. (Even 1-slotted Hurdle makes me faster than the Fly cap.)

My experience does not suggest that Vigilance should ever even be acknowledged to exist, but quibbling aside, I will drop DC if I decide not to go with two crash powers. In the tentative build I posted, DC would be firing immediately after Dreadful Wail, such that the "crash" from DW would really only amount to 3 seconds less coverage of EF and no other major problems.

Again, you should look at the actual numbers here. If I do go for more defense, I will put BotZ in AM (you are correct about it not needing so much +End), but the recharge in AM and Hasten is needed to compensate for my build having less global recharge than yours. The downtime in Hasten resulting from 3 slots rather than 4 is acceptable on paper, but slows and lag extend this significantly. For powers with such extreme numbers (450-second recharge), there is a significant difference between "diminishing returns" and a "cap."


If you think I have way too much endurance and you are prejudiced against diminished returns, what possible reason could there be for a third slot in EF? An extra 0.05 endurance per second isn't going to toggle-drop me.

Somewhere between 1/4 billion and 1/2 billion, depending on how much I like the character.

I find the loss of attacks distasteful; fully realizing the potential of your -Res on a /Sonic can be very rewarding.

I do like some concepts of your build, though. I tweaked it, in fact; my changes cost you 2.5% AoE defense and the proc in EMP, but give you 2% damage, recovery that offsets the slot moved out of EF, and the ability to apply 20% -Res above what you already could. It also uses one fewer LotG+R.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Siouxsie Harkness: Level 50 Mutation Defender
Primary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Radiation Infection -- Achilles-ResDeb%(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(3), DarkWD-ToHitDeb(3), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(5), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(5), HO:Enzym(7)
Level 1: Shriek -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(36), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 2: Radiant Aura -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(7), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Numna-Heal(11)
Level 4: Howl -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dam%(23), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(31), Posi-Dmg/Rng(31), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 6: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(37)
Level 8: Mutation -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 12: Lingering Radiation -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23), Acc-I(40)
Level 14: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(15), Zephyr-Travel(15), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(17), Zephyr-ResKB(17)
Level 16: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(19), Zephyr-ResKB(19)
Level 18: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(21), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(21)
Level 20: Scream -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 22: Grant Invisibility -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 24: Choking Cloud -- BasGaze-Slow%(A), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(25), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(25), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(27), EndRdx-I(29), Lock-%Hold(37)
Level 26: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(27), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(29)
Level 28: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: EM Pulse -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(33), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(33), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(33), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(34)
Level 35: Accelerate Metabolism -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(43), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(46), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(48), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(48), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(50)
Level 38: Screech -- Stpfy-KB%(A), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(39), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(39), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(39), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(40), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Dominate -- Lock-%Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(42), Lock-Rchg/Hold(42), Lock-Acc/Hold(42), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43)
Level 44: World of Confusion -- CoPers-Conf%(A), CoPers-Conf(45), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(45), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(45), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(46), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Mind Over Body -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(48), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Amplify -- AdjTgt-Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance

I considered that, but this build can use it every fight, and I will. In a tight build, I tend to get rid of things that are "situational"--obviously a relative term--which is why I'm considering dropping EMP. It's awesome, but if I'm not using it all the time, I might not want it at all.

Of course, similar could be said of Mutate. Most deaths I see are in situations where EMP wouldn't help, though, so Mutate fills holes that EMP doesn't. Also, situations calling for EMP could often use Dreadful Wail instead, especially since it's on the same recharge timer as Dark Consumption.

That is unexpected and disappointing. :-/

Then I couldn't see my normal buffs! That would be a serious case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. (Unless there's a slash command to do that, so that I don't have to stop fighting to do it; but even then, I don't think it would work.)