I Feel the Earth Move - A Guide to the Earth/Sonic
By
Antaean,
Posted on: 2006-11-13 13:36 in Player Guides
This isn't new news to many. I suppose that makes it "olds". Nevertheless, the information in this guide needs an update since the 12/07/2006 patch has modified the controller experience.
The following quotes are lifted from the patch notes .
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Controller Containment bonus is now identical when used on critters or players. When a damaging power is used on a character under the effects of a detrimental status effect, the damage caused will be twice the base damage. (Exception: Spectral wounds damage bonus remains lower, due to the nature of the power.)
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In other words, [EDIT: the rest of this paragraph was a misinterpretation by me. Brev fixes it below, so I have snipped it].
There has been lots of gnashing of teeth over the following:
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Controller Ancilliary Powers:
The damage of these powers was made artificially high originally, to make them desirable. In general, the damage was set to be roughly equivalanet to that of a Blaster. When Containment was added later, this was not taken into account. As such, these powers all do roughly twice the desired damage under Containment conditions. This series of changes is aimed at bringing these powers closer to balance.
<ul type="square">[*] Earth Mastery Hurl Boulder: Base damage reduced from scale 3 to scale 1.64[*] Fire Mastery: Fire Blast: Base damage reduced from scale 2 to scale 1.1[*] Fire Mastery: Fire Ball: Base damage reduced from scale 1.6 to scale 1.05[*] Ice Mastery: Ice Blast: Smashing damage reduced from scale 0.8 to scale 0.2, Cold damage reduced from scale 1.2 to 0.8[*] Ice Mastery: Ice Storm: Removed unresistible PvP damage and added Containment.[*] Primal Forces: Power Blast: Smashing damage reduced from scale 0.8 to scale 0.2, Energy damage reduced from scale 1.2 to 0.8[*] Psionic Mastery: Psionic Blast: Base damage reduced from 2 to 1.[*] Psionic Mastery: Psionic Tornado: Base damage reduced from 0.35 to 0.175.[/list]
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Yep, most of the controller epic powers have been halved in damage scale. However, we Earth/Sonics, already stalwarts of woeful damage, smile compassionately at our soggy brethren's cheeks. For they have been nudged, some might tell you pushed, to follow our chosen seismic path of control over damage.
Please be sure to hug sobbers and gnashers wherever you find them. Console them with the knowledge and example of the Earth/Sonic and our team oriented ways.
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Controller Containment bonus is now identical when used on critters or players. When a damaging power is used on a character under the effects of a detrimental status effect, the damage caused will be twice the base damage. (Exception: Spectral wounds damage bonus remains lower, due to the nature of the power.)
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In other words, your containment bonus is no longer twice the gross damage of your power, it's twice the base damage. There has been lots of gnashing of teeth in the controller forums over this change.
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Actually, that isn't what that patch note means. Containment still works against critters as it always did (the APP changes aside). This patch note simply means that against players you will get double damage rather than triple damage as you used to.
It is saying that the base damage is doubled up - any enhancements or buffs are still applied to both the base damage and the contained damage.
As usual, thanks for the clarification, _Brev_!!
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as it generally irritates teammates who have a difficult time understanding that the floating word unaffected means stop attacking this target, Einstein.
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that's such a funny line.
watching someone go thru their entire attack chain, stop for a sec look puzzled, and then they try it again is worth a power pick alone.
almost as funny has putting the AoE knockback toggle on tankers.
The Kronos has a hold n00b!
One note you should add to VG is that the max number of targets it will hold at a time is 5 unless the mobs are right on top of one another. If a held target is destroyed it will choose a new target and begin pulsing. When I got it I expected it to capture all in the AOE, but that is not the case.
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One note you should add to VG is that the max number of targets it will hold at a time is 5 unless the mobs are right on top of one another. If a held target is destroyed it will choose a new target and begin pulsing. When I got it I expected it to capture all in the AOE, but that is not the case.
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Really good point. Volcanic Gasses isn't your typical AoE control.
I believe there are cases where you can hold more than 5 enemies. Please correct me if I'm wrong. In my experience I see enemies get held and sometimes released while new ones get held. Sometimes more are held, sometimes less.
My understanding (which again, might be flawed) is:
<ul type="square">[*]Each pulse of a hold is for 7.45 seconds. Pop some hold enhancements in there and you can get a 14+ second hold per pulse.[*]During the course of the 1 minute duration of VG, there are actually six cycles (pulses) of gysers that are dispatched. Each one lasts 15 seconds (hmmm.. about the same length as its hold fully slotted) except for the last one, which lasts 10.[*]The first gyser is dispatched when you cast the power. The next five are each started, one at a time, at 10 second intervals.[/list]What does this mean? This means that there are 25 seconds of overlap during VG where you have two gysers going (the ranges are 10-15, 20-25, 30-35, 40-45, and 50-55). And it's each gyser that has a limit of 5 enemies held. Does the subsequent gyser automatically target the enemies that are already held? This I do not know. If it doesn't, there's an opportunity for fluctuation of 5-10 enemies held at max as VG runs its course if, and only if, you slot hold durations or fight criminals quite a bit lower in level than you. Otherwise, you're definitely capped at 5.
I'm a fellow Earth/Sonic controller, and I have to say I like the guide... but after reading the responses I did see something that wasn't included. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have accidentally hit the wrong button and caged an AV. Considering it was Ice Minstral and I interrupted a Snow Storm that was hitting everyone (the reason I made the mistake in the first place 
) I was forgiven... but needless to say I was suprised that it worked! Might not work for all of them... but if it works for one, it certainly has a chance to work for others. Could really be useful at times if you needed to quickly clear out the enemies around an AV... just need to really make sure it hits. Oh... and one last thing... critters that are very resistant to Immobilization, they can still run around... which of course can create problems... like walking right through your death soup like it wasn't even there 
sonic repultion makes the terra volta trial that much easier!!!!! get it to respec out of it.....also, it makes pvp kinda fun if used right. if you have to protect a targetable something..use it, other than that..blah
Thanks for the additional info, medic_brietz and Fractured_Golem!! I had never tried sonic cage on an AV (as I previously mentioned), just EBs. Good to know!
And, indeed, sonic repulsion is great for protecting targets, whether they be reactors, artifact cases, or squishies. Thanks for noting that!
Terrible guide. Just terrible.....I mean.....oh hell, I can't keep this up. 
Excellent guide. 
Antaean
Proud to fight alongside:
The LEGENDARIES & SAFE HARBOR
Dear HotButteredSoul
My hat off to you, good sir. Makes me debate whether my 'troller will end up being Earth/Storm or Earth/Sonic
Skary in Skyway
What shall claim a Sky Kings' Ransom?
PPD & Resistance Epic Archetypes
Dear Antaean,
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Dear Skary in Skyway,
Oooooh. How I love both storm and sonic. That is a right difficult decision to make. I have a 35 storm defender, so I know how much fun they are. Nevertheless, I must back my chosen horse and say Earth/Sonic!! Whichever you do, enjoy.
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One note you should add to VG is that the max number of targets it will hold at a time is 5 unless the mobs are right on top of one another. If a held target is destroyed it will choose a new target and begin pulsing. When I got it I expected it to capture all in the AOE, but that is not the case.
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Good ole' Enan did a little writeup on this here:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...=0&gonew=1
Since Enan posted this in the controller forums it might go bye-bye, so I'm quoting it here for posterity and reference.
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So, I'm reading about VG, and wondering, what does it really, *really* do? And according to nofuture.com:
Essentially, it summons a number of pseudopets. The important ones are Volcanic Geysers.
6 x volcanic geyser pets, summoned at consecutive times (T=0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50). The first five last 15 seconds, the final one lasts 10 seconds.
Every six seconds[1], each such pet casts Thermal Vent, a 30' range, 10' radius, 5 max target AoE hold mag 3 base duration 7.45 seconds, or in other words, 3 times (T=0,6,12), except the last one which only fires twice (T=0,6).
With no hold slotting, that's just slightly more than 2 small-AoE holds operating at any given second through the 60 second pseudospan of volcanic gasses, on average. 24.5% of the time, it's 3 of those holds out at a given time. With 3 holds slotted, it's an average of 3.74 such small-area holds in operation at a given time, with 4 such holds out 54.33% the time, five such holds out 23.0% of the time.
Now, it's interesting to compare this with the typical AOE. First of all, the Thermal Vent power itself looks to have an accuracy of 1.4. That compares rather favorably with a standard AoE hold's .8 accuracy. Second, the duration of the effect overall is 60 seconds. Fights rarely last a full 60 seconds, but in some sense at least, compared with the amount of time an AoE hold is influencing a fight-- 14.9 seconds, 60 seconds is long, long, long. Third... does it really give full coverage of that 60 second period of *time*? Well, yes. It always has at least one such hold out, and averages 2 at a time, even without slotting. Fourth, the area coverage? A standard RAoE hold is 20' radius, a PBAoE hold is 30'. This more resembles a RAoE. Two 10' disks are exactly half the area of a 20' disk. On the other hand, this area is split into two neat circles and may end up being applied within the 30' range of the pet, an ability that depends on the intelligence of the pseudopet to some extent, but as a practical matter might lead to better coverage than the 20' radius standard RAoE power. Fifth, magnitude-- if Volcanic Gasses lacks in reliable full area coverage... and I'm not sure I'd say that, one serious advantage it has as far as I can see is that in principle, vs a single target it might well stack all its holds up in one place, and have bosses held 90.2% the time after the sixth second. (Again, this even without hold slotting.)
Just to take it to an extreme, an Earth/Kin running Hasten and Siphon Speed 3-slotted, and Volcanic Gasses slotted: 3 recharge, 3 hold. VG will provide, when cast, 60.3 seconds of 4+ total magnitude. Or looked at another way, average 374 feet squared of coverage split into 3 or 4 patches, of 3 mag apiece, at very good accuracy, over 60 seconds. With Hasten and Siphon Speed every ~23 seconds, the 240 second base recharge of volcanic gasses with 3 recharge redux, cuts down to ~ 87 seconds. The only dismaying thing would be, despite being able to have VG out ~70% of the time, you're not often likely to have wave upon wave coming to you and your VG patch, in most scenarios.
[1] This, I really don't know for sure; I assume that if there's a target, the pet automatically casts the power with no delay. Every such pet has a leeway of about 3 seconds in its casting scheme, however, even if they don't. So... ? ::shrug::
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Some I9 updates:
* Fixed an issue with Stone Cages which caused its cast time to be too long.
* Fixed an issue with several 'cage' powers which gave them longer than intended durations in PvP. Detention Field, Sonic Cage and Black Hole are affected by this change.
* Any toggle that affects only yourself and/or allies should not root you while activating, such as: Leadership, Shadow Fall, Dispersion Bubble, etc. Additionally, Shadowfall and Group Fly powers should no longer root.
* Sonic Resonance power, Disruption Field no longer generates agro when using the power.
First, thanks you for an excellent guide. 
It is even better because you are constantly answering questions and updating it.
I had dabbled with a Earth/Sonic Troller (I am a tank at heart) and was unsure of the powers. Last December I found you guide and in a little over 3 months Earth Tech (Infinity) hit 50.... Great team toon, love the pet, one of my all time favorites now has a little clockwork following him around (36 month)
I hope we can get a discussion going on how to improve our Rare Friends using IO and IO Sets.
It is easy to see how a single slot Acc is better with a 50 IO vs a 50 SO.
Figuring out SO, HO, IO and Set IOs for the diverse powers we have makes my head spin. 
I hope we can discuss how to our Earthshakers better with invention
Reddy Kilowatt
Reddy Kilowatt
Children of Data
2nd SG on Infinity
Earth Tech
Desert Princess
Bloody Decker
(and that is only some of the ones on Infinity)
Operator,
First of all, congratulations on reaching 50. I hope you enjoyed your journey as much as I did.
As far as an enhancement discussion, that is a great idea. I agree that with the introduction of IOs, we've reached a point where there are vast permutations of options for slotting your Earth-Shaker. My head joins yours in revolving like a globe.
Nevertheless, the ideas behind how to slot still apply. I look forward to some suggestions as to what IOs and HOs would benefit the Earth/Sonic.
Upon finding this wonderful thread I must say great kudos to you for writing this informative and witty guide. My wife and I duo a lot and create teams with synergy. I have attempted a Stone/Stone tanks numerous times and have deleted each time with frustration with staring at the floor instead of laughing at the ruffians.
The resistance bubbles will come in real handy while the Disruption Field will make Mud Pots go from a ho hum power to watch them fall and fade.
LVL 42 now, and still chugging along. I love it. Thanks for the Guide Hotbutteredsoul!!!
Nitro! Welcome to Epics and I'm glad you're loving the ride. Give us some feedback on which set you liked best with Earth/Sonic once you feel up to it. Thanks!
Hey everybody... in lieu of a complete rundown of IOs for the time being, please check out Scrapulous' excellent guide: Planning Builds for IO Set Bonuses.
This should get you moving in the right direction on your trusty Earth/Sonic. Cheers.
I've only given your guide a very brief skim, but my initial impression is very positive- I like the snippets I've read so far, and I will read it more thoroughly and come up with some better comments later.
One thing I wanted to mention, however, is that Earth Control is a power set I have studiously ignored because it had a tendency to make my sad grandma video card (a Radeon 9200...please, don't stare at me...) wheeze and cough up blood. For me, it wasn't Earth Control, it was Earth Control at 5-9 FPS. Now that I have a new video card (a "oh-why-are-you-asking-me-something-I-don't-know-or-care-about-I just know-I-researched-it-and-it's-better" card), Earth Control is going to be my first test subject.
Tee-hee!
Life - a sexually transmitted terminal condition.
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Stone Prison[/color]
Available at Level: 1
Accuracy: 1.2
Range: 80
Endurance: 7.8
Recharge: 4
Damage Scale: 5 * 0.2 ticks = 1.0 Smashing Damage over 9.2 seconds (2.77778 BI)
Duration: 28 seconds (18 PvP)
Immobilizes a single target within an earthy formation and deals some Smashing damage over time. Some more resilient foes may require multiple attacks to Immobilize. Stone Prison can also reduce a target's Defense.
The single target immobilize for Earth is considered optional to some. Why take it when you can take the AoE immob at level 2 and halt an entire group in its tracks? The logic makes sense. Think about it: what if you want to keep a pack of Vahz immobilized in Freezing Rain, or stuck next to a Mort suffering from Radiation Infection, or cooking in Burn? An AoE immobilize will suit you better than a single target version of that power. Right?
I hate to break it to you, but you dont have any of those powers! If you know youll be partnering with a Fiery Aura tank or Storm Summoning or Radiation Emission character, maybe then prioritize Stone Cages. However, you are a Sonic. You wont get Liquefy until level 38 or an AoE damage attack until 41. Sure Stone Cages pairs nicely with Stalagmites, but it can definitely wait until level 22 or so and you wont miss it.
You will miss Stone Prison. Having the ability to immobilize one villain without aggravating an entire spawn is a very useful talent. In addition, having a power that recharges every 4 seconds, uses little endurance, and can stack quickly to give you containment and immobilize magnitude makes for a very useful tool indeed, especially in those moments when youre forced to solo. This might happen to you: your entire team might leave your Positron TF 5 defeat all missions from the end and, at level 14, youll be forced to solo the rest. No Im not bitter
that much. If Fossilize is your hammer, Stone Prison is how you hold the nail. Take it early and love it.
Not only will it immobilize, it too has a -20% defense penalty to your victim. It nullifies knockback, but it will neuter knockdown too. Do not use it on top of things like Earthquake or Ice Slick unless your target is also held or soon-to-be held. Wait, theres more! It drops fliers, which makes it a very useful in combination with Fossilize.
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Let the anal-retentive questioning begin!
Isn't it common for immobilizes to only negate KB/KD for the first ten seconds after it was applied? Do the immobilizes in Earth Control differ from others in that respect (I'm assuming not). Just a minor side-note.
Life - a sexually transmitted terminal condition.
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Dear HotButteredSoul,
I dont trust you. So I went ahead and used Sonic Siphon on an enemy and recorded all the numbers. Guess what? I only got a 20.25% boost in damage. You said it would be 22.5% Youre a liar! How dare you!
Bummed in Brickstown
Dear Bummed,
Theres one thing I didnt mention in my guide. It can get rather complicated for some, so I didnt go into it. Frankly, it is covered in great detail in iakonas Power Data Standardization v2.0 (Issue 7). If you check that article you will discover a table called COMBAT MODIFIERS. Combat modifiers are adjustments to your powers based on the number of levels your enemy differs from you. Ever notice that you do more damage and longer holds against enemies that are lower level than you? Enemies that are higher level than you take less damage and are held for shorter times. This applies to damage resistance as well. An enemy one level above you applies a 0.9 combat modifier to your powers. That means, a 22.5% resistance debuff against an even level enemy becomes a 22.5% * 0.9 = 20.25% resistance debuff. From that alone I know you were fighting an enemy +1 to you. Just so you know, +2 has a 0.8 modifier, +3 a 0.65, and +4 is 0.48. Yep, against a +4 your Sonic Siphon will do a 10.8% damage resistance debuff instead of 22.5%. Check out the table in iokonas post for more information.
Good luck.
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I write this in hopes that someone can:
1) confirm or deny this information, and
2) fill in the details (if true)
I am, however, fairly certain this is accurate:
In addition to the level modifiers, I believe Resistances resist Resistance Debuffs (I can't think of any easier way of saying that). What I don't recall is the exact formula (ie: how Resistance and Resistance Debuffs interact, nor how the gross damage applied is modified). I will look for the details on this, but if anyone else has the info readily available, fire away!
Life - a sexually transmitted terminal condition.
You are a rare individual with brazenly good taste.
Enjoy the ride!