Sonic / Mind - Has anyone tried this one?

Has anyone roleld up a Sonic / Mind blaster? I've been checking out the ofrums and guides to figure out the build, but there isn't much in the way of these two powersets together.

Any suggestions on powers to skip or definate powers to take?

My sonic/mind is still pretty young, but in the build I looked at in Mid's I think I only skipped two powers. Both sets are chock full of goodness.

Yeah the power choices are pretty tight. I'm still on the fence with Siren's Song. On one hand I tend to solo a lot so it might come in handy. On the other hand There are a lot of multi-target attacks between the two power sets so the odds of waking up the sleepers is higher. I usually skip sleep powers on my toons, but I've seen a lot of guides suggest taking them.

If you ever plan on soloing, take siren's song. It's that good. You can put the whole spawn to sleep, zip in for a quick, utterly safe drain psyche, and then rip them up one by one. It lasts seemingly forever, and as for breaking it, you don't *have* to use the AoE attacks if you've got things slept. On my sonic/mental, I find that the AoEs come in handy more on teams - solo, the only one I really use very much is shockwave.

Regarding shockwave, it's an underappreciated power, especially for soloing. Ranged knockback is a great survival tool, especially for a combo which has no way to stack mezzes on a boss. Another great use for it is to open from stealth/super speed: knock everything into a corner, put them to sleep before they get up, and then become a regen blaster with IH by running in for a target capped drain psyche. After that, you could get away with using the cones - not like they could kill you anyway.

Regarding skippable powers, the ones I wouldn't take are world of confusion and scare. World of confusion, as cool as it sounds and looks, is really nigh useless - the confuse effect lasts 1.5 seconds base, ticks every 4 seconds, is only mag 2, and has a --25% accuracy penalty (plus the damage is utterly negligible) - in other words, you will only confuse a few minions, for an extremely short time, and only at point-blank range. Especially for a set as cone focused as this one, I'd just leave it behind. Scare, meanwhile, is just mediocre. It's got a very long cast time (in a combo which already has more than its share of slow activating powers) and a pretty short duration. If it was more reliable, I'd take it anyway because I like mezzes, but it's just not worth it when you have screech.

Aside from that, if you're looking for more powers to skip, you may be able to skip either or both of mind probe and TK thrust. This particular blaster combo favors range more than most, and you may just find it not worth it to run into melee. TK thrust is useful as a 'get out of my face' power, but it's not mandatory (as long as you have shockwave, anyway - if you don't have shockwave, I *would* say this one is mandatory). The rest of the /mental set is pretty good - especially the AoEs for a primary normally somewhat lacking in that department. On the other hand, I would definitely take the whole sonic primary. The three blasts are obvious, screech has a nice long-lasting -res effect in addition to its stun, all three cones are quite useful, aim is aim, and a nuke is a nuke. It's all useful.

I personally favor super speed for this combo, because the stealth lets you get close to spawns to open with shockwave or siren's. If you can get a stealth IO, of course, you don't need that, but I'm cheap. Depending on how comfortable you are using drain psyche, you may be able to skip stamina on this build. Even one target hit with an unslotted drain psyche gives plenty of recovery - it's just that drain psyche isn't up all the time. I personally went without stamina and am doing fine, although I might take it in the 40s if I've run out of other useful powers to grab.

Thanks Muon. It sounds like your build is similar to what I had planned, except I hadn't given any thought to Stealth and Super Speed. In all my years playing I've yet to take Super Speed. Maybe I should give a try this time.

Once I get my proposed build down on Mid's I'll post it if I can figure out how to do so.

Your choice of powers to skip is exactly what I was thinking as well. I've never used SS on a character either, though that was mainly because of a lousy computer. Now that I've upgraded a bit I might give it a try on this toon. I echo TheSuperFrog's thanks for your suggestions.

There was a guide to one floating around... mine's stalled out at 37 (blasters just aren't that fun to me) but it's a great combo.

Backup Singer, [if EVERYTHING goes right] can Drain Psyche, nuke, and start getting endurance back immediately. It's a hideously complex and near-pointless trick, but I had a lot of fun with it.

That was Viva Las Vegas:Monochrome [everyone ended up with grey and black costumes.] And because VLV teams kill so very fast, I usually ended up doing Drain Psyche on one spawn, and BU/Aim/Nuke on the next one. Cause seriously, by the time I ran in, hit drain, bu and aim, the fight was mostly over.

EDIT for defensive notes: You have two really good AOE slows in /Mental. I know, I always dismiss cone/PBAOE combos, but in this case the benefits are HUGE. World of Confusion is hated second-hand: I never tried it, but Amazing Amazon [my wife] hates it to death. The singletarget stun in Sonic is nice. And the sleep is hyoooge. The few times I've soloed her*, I tend to go Howl, Psi Scream, Siren's.

* "Backup Singer". That's not a person who soloes. It's written right into the name.

My level 39 Sonic.Ment is LOADs of fun. The only difference I have with what has been said here is that World of Confusion, while it IS pretty pointless upfront, I expect to get exponentially better once I slot it with the cheap purprle confusion set. World of Confusion with contagious confusion should be awesome, and the purple set gives nice set bonuses as well. In my opinion, thats worth the one power slot right there.

I will say that I'm a little disappointed with mind probe, but that could be because I havent finished slotting it.

Overall, its an awesome combo with very nice debuffs (either -res or -recharge in every attack) great cone attacks (-res cone from Howl and then the Psychic Scream for max damage then followed by the cone sleep to calm anyone left standing down) and a nice self buff for a blaster with Drain Psyche.

[ QUOTE ]
My level 39 Sonic.Ment is LOADs of fun. The only difference I have with what has been said here is that World of Confusion, while it IS pretty pointless upfront, I expect to get exponentially better once I slot it with the cheap purprle confusion set. World of Confusion with contagious confusion should be awesome, and the purple set gives nice set bonuses as well. In my opinion, thats worth the one power slot right there.

I will say that I'm a little disappointed with mind probe, but that could be because I havent finished slotting it.

Overall, its an awesome combo with very nice debuffs (either -res or -recharge in every attack) great cone attacks (-res cone from Howl and then the Psychic Scream for max damage then followed by the cone sleep to calm anyone left standing down) and a nice self buff for a blaster with Drain Psyche.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep with contagious confusion it can confuse lts and the contagious confusion proc lasts 10 secs! And the set is probably has some of the best set bonuses for blasters +5% ranged def, +10% recharge, 4% recovery and 4% damage!

I made a sonic/mind/elec a while back. Lots of cones, solid back-to-back. Great fun on teams.

I was just getting ready to post my new build for review. I have everything I need to make this but am still torn as to whether I should try for some defense. Here's what I have planned. Don't bother to say anything about when I took powers or the slotting, I was just looking for set bonuses

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

L Loeb: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Force Mastery

Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1: Scream Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(7), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 1: Subdual Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(33), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33)
Level 2: Shriek Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(7), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 4: Howl Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(5), Posi-Dmg/Rng(11), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31)
Level 6: Hover LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 8: Shout Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(9), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34)
Level 10: Hurdle Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Amplify AdjTgt-ToHit(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(13), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(13), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(34), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(39)
Level 14: Fly Flight-I(A), Flight-I(15)
Level 16: Psychic Scream Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(17), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(37), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 18: Health Heal-I(A), Heal-I(19)
Level 20: Concentration AdjTgt-ToHit(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(21), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(21), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(34), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(39)
Level 22: Drain Psyche Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(23), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(23), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(37), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(50), Efficacy-EndMod(50)
Level 24: Stamina EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(25), P'Shift-End%(25)
Level 26: Hasten RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 28: Screech Amaze-Stun(A), Amaze-Stun/Rchg(29), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg(46), Amaze-Acc/Rchg(48), Amaze-EndRdx/Stun(50)
Level 30: Sirens Song FtnHyp-Sleep(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(40), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(40), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(43), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(43)
Level 32: Super Speed Run-I(A)
Level 35: Dreadful Wail Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Scare Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(39), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(46), Abys-Fear/Rng(46), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(48)
Level 41: Psychic Shockwave Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(42), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Mind Probe Hectmb-Dmg(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(45), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(45), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 47: Personal Force Field LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Temp Invulnerability ResDam-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
------------
Set Bonus Totals:
18.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
18.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
18.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
18.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
18.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
18.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
18.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
18.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
4.5% Max End
105% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
105% Enhancement(Accuracy)
2.75% Enhancement(Terrorized)
117.5 HP (9.75%) HitPoints
MezResist(Held) 6.6%
MezResist(Immobilize) 5.5%
MezResist(Stun) 4.4%
20% (0.33 End/sec) Recovery
34% (1.71 HP/sec) Regeneration
11.7% Resistance(Fire)
11.7% Resistance(Cold)
2.52% Resistance(Energy)
2.52% Resistance(Negative)






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Assault would give you 10.5% more damage and NOT cost you 100 million inf.

Force of Nature would let you survive otherwise unsurvivable things.

I'd much rather have either of those than Scare, and even Subdual is something I could probably live without.
I'm not coming down from the mountain saying "THOU SHALT" or anything, but that's how I'd do it.

[ QUOTE ]
Assault would give you 10.5% more damage and NOT cost you 100 million inf.

Force of Nature would let you survive otherwise unsurvivable things.

I'd much rather have either of those than Scare, and even Subdual is something I could probably live without.
I'm not coming down from the mountain saying "THOU SHALT" or anything, but that's how I'd do it.

[/ QUOTE ]


I like the idea of having assault for the damage but what would I drop in order to take it?

Also, I have FoN on my current build, and I agree, it's saved me more than a few times. Kinda fun out living the rest of the team(even some crappy tanks)on the second mission of ITF. Only bad thing about this power is it's long recharge

You're right about scare, I really only took it for the recharge. I'm still playing with mids to see if I find a mix of recharge and maybe defense, as even with my current build(non perma) I can pretty much spam Howl and Pyschic Scream constantly. Kinda of a waste of all those other powers.

As for Subdue, well, you have to take it or I wouldn't.

Here's one with FoN, I may put another set of Decimation in scream to get me near perma again.

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

L Loeb: Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Force Mastery

Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1: Scream Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(7), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 1: Subdual Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(33), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33)
Level 2: Shriek Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(7), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 4: Howl Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(5), Posi-Dmg/Rng(11), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31)
Level 6: Hover LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 8: Shout Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(9), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34)
Level 10: Hurdle Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Amplify AdjTgt-ToHit(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(13), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(13), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(34), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(39)
Level 14: Fly Flight-I(A), Flight-I(15)
Level 16: Psychic Scream Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(17), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(37), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(40)
Level 18: Health Heal-I(A), Heal-I(19)
Level 20: Concentration AdjTgt-ToHit(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(21), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(21), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(34), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(39)
Level 22: Drain Psyche Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(23), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(23), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(37), Efficacy-EndMod(42), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(50)
Level 24: Stamina EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(25), P'Shift-End%(25)
Level 26: Hasten RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 28: Screech Amaze-Stun(A), Amaze-Stun/Rchg(29), Amaze-EndRdx/Stun(43), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg(46), Amaze-Acc/Rchg(48)
Level 30: Sirens Song FtnHyp-Sleep(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(40), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(40), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(43), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(43)
Level 32: Super Speed Run-I(A)
Level 35: Dreadful Wail Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Mind Probe Hectmb-Dmg(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(39), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(46), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 41: Personal Force Field LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(42)
Level 44: Psychic Shockwave Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(45), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(45), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Temp Invulnerability ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(48)
Level 49: Force of Nature ResDam-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
------------
Set Bonus Totals:
18.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
18.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
18.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
18.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
18.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
18.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
18.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
18.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
4.5% Max End
98.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
105% Enhancement(Accuracy)
94.9 HP (7.87%) HitPoints
MezResist(Held) 6.6%
MezResist(Immobilize) 5.5%
MezResist(Stun) 4.4%
20% (0.33 End/sec) Recovery
44% (2.21 HP/sec) Regeneration
11.7% Resistance(Fire)
11.7% Resistance(Cold)
2.52% Resistance(Energy)
2.52% Resistance(Negative)

My brain went "Mind probe" and my fingers went "Subdual". Mind Probe is a fine power, but I think I'd probably go with Assault instead.

... is there a specific reason why you need that exact level of recharge?