Sonic/Elec?

First off, this is a concept build - I'm not specifically going for either a PvE build or a PvP build, so I'd rather avoid discussion of which power pools will boost my survivability/damage etc.

All I'd really like to know is which powers I should avoid like the plague .

I've already taken Lightning Field, I know it's not a favourite, but I like it. It's useful when soloing (and it looks damn good too). If it will hinder my performance in later levels, I'll spec it out - otherwise, I think it's staying.

So experts! What powers are must haves, and which are disease ridden?

sonic has some nasty animations, but i havent played it for more than 20 levels. elec, all the powers have uses, even LF and EF, read the descrips and post any queries, the only reason i dont have all the elec powers is because some of them are better than pothers for me, there are none i would say are un-needed.

Plight

*paging Cybercel to this thread to dispense Son/Elec knowledgey-goodness*

Lightning field has it's uses, but I would drop it if you want to get the cone sleep, as those don't really have synergy

I have a Sonic/Elec at 38 - it's a very fun build. I have to agree with Plight that you can't really go wrong with anything from Elec. Power Sink is one of my favourite powers in the game now. Lightning Clap is probably the most missable (in that I'd probably take it if I could fit it, but it's the lowest priority)... but I've not heard anything that makes me think it's completely useless.

As far as Sonic goes... I think it really depends what you're going for. Sonic has some nice single-target damage, some control powers, and the one damage cone. If you just want to go for damage, the three single-target blasts (even the small one - it fires of very quickly) and the nuke are nice. Shout has a long animation, but it does do quite a bit of damage. I don't like Howl very much... the noise is annoying (like a wolf noise - doesn't fit with the other sounds), and the damage honestly doesn't seem great. I had it on my Sonic/Dev, not taking it on either of my current Sonic Blasters. Some people seem to like it, though.

If you want to look at the control side of things, Screech is great - I love disorients though, so I'm biased. Really handy for taking out a Lt. that's causing you trouble, or knocking a squishy out of the sky in PvP. You could possibly stack on bosses when using Lighting Clap? As it is, I help Syn's MA/Regen disorient bosses with it. It also has the best sound effect in the entire game, which causes me to giggle madly every time I use it. Siren's Song is very nice, as long as you have a team who understand sleeps, and won't wake everything right back up. It's great solo or in small teams to send things to sleep, and then finish them off with your melee attacks quickly, one by one. Shockwave is less useful (cone knockback), but if you're a fan of knockback, it's fine. Nothing horrendously wrong with it.

Amplify is just Aim, and is as good as ever.

I have to agree with most of what cyber says on both the elec side and what i know of sonic and general CoX rules.

the point made about LF and SS is so true, with the rediculous single target damage u should be able to knock out it may be best to focus on cone sleep and ST point black range+melee, AFAIK KB alon won't wake a sleeping foe, so you shoul be ok to SS then either shockwave or LC. due to the lack of focus on AoE and PBAoE dmg in the set combo i would go LC over LF, SG wont help much until you go epic hold but may be a nice melee damage enhancer, although i always use holds for hold and nothing else, i would say with the utility in the primary and the sleeps/stuns of elec secondary then drop LF 1st, then SG, and drop LC last, the only way i wuold slot LC is 2acc (even in PvE) and 3 recred, the stun is barely worth it and ur other control powers outdo it easily. PS wont wake a slepth foe btw, pre elec epic ice was a common US elec epic for the SS/stealth sappers who would use the PBAoE sleep of ice before the elec drains (PS then SC in that order for sleep reasons).

Plight

I picked Shockwave on my Sonic Corruptor, and while it's great for knockback, I'm not sure I'll be taking it on my Blaster - I've found very few situations it's useful in.

Shout I agree, the animation is a little long, but the damage is nice and I'm used to pre-i7 Claws .

Power Sink I've heard is a fabulous power, that's on my "pick up as soon as it becomes available even if it means missing a travel power" list.

Screech has a disorient bonus? Definately picking that up then, anything that'll stop the big bads attacking me can't be wrong.

The Nuke I'm taking even if it proves to be utterly useless. I've never had a nuke.

Sleeps I'm not a big fan of; they can be useful, but it's usually me who ends up waking the foes back up again. I'll practice using the sleeps on my Dominator, and possibly test Siren's Song on the Training Room before picking it up. I'd rather miss out a decent power, because I'm not skilled at using it, than pick it up and risk my team mates' lives.

Amplify I'm taking, of course .

On the elec side, Lightning Field is proving more and more useful as time goes on. If I do pick up Siren's Song, I might think about either dropping it or relegating it to the "only use when nearly dead" pile of powers.

Havoc Punch I've seen, is basically a sparkly version of Bone Smasher. So that's staying. Shocking really.


For a concept build I did absolutely no research into before picking, I reckon I've chosen well . Thank you for all your help! That goes for everyone in this thread, not just the person I've replied to.

Just my 2 influence. Dont miss Sirens Song. You have the only blaster set with AoE mez... even if it is sleep. It makes solo-ing easier than with any other blaster IMO.

AoE Sleep.

Kill Minion 1, whilst Minion 2+3 sleep

Kill Minion 2, whilst Minion 3 sleeps

Kill Minion 3

Wash and Repeat.


Basically means you have to kill one enemy at a time. Scary huh?

Definately don't miss the Nuke if you're a fan of them. It looks to have the quickest activation/animation time of all the nukes, disorientates lieus and minoions, and gives a hefty damage resist debuff to anything still live.

Dreadful Wail has 3 parts to the damage, each one does -Res so the damage is huge against any mobs with high res as each damage portion increases with each hit - and each part has a disorient - so it will disorient bosses too. It has a very quick animation - though not a great animation.

I tried all the sonic and all the electric powers on the way - and as has been said, all the electric ones are useful - at one point i had them all.
As for sonics, i didn't like sirens song one bit. Good for soloing or duoing, but a bit pointless in large teams. Screech is the pick of the sonics (apart from the nuke) - a must have imo. I didn't get on with the cone powers either. It's quite a blappery set really. All the single target powers are good. And combined with the electric melee attacks you can get some really good damage going.

My advice though would be to try them all if you can - then respec to those you like.

Can I ask what the recharge time on screech is like? I'm only half a level away from it on my FF/sonic and he can be a bit squishy at times.

Can you siren's song and then break sleep with it on every mob and drop them one at a time and is it fast enough to stack on bosses?

I think the base recharge on Screech is about 20 secondsish. Stack it, love it.

As for Sirens Song, I generally didn't like this power, but I suppose slotted correctly would give you an edge to pop them one by one.

Huraah. Screech for the win!! My FF/sonic is squishy no more!

I can solo with ease without taking a single hit now. PFF to eat the alpha, siren's song and then screech>attack chain each mob in turn. Bosses into a dispersion bubble first to be dealt with later. I frigging love sonic blast. Siren's Song has an ... insane... duration with 3 sleep SO's.

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Bosses into a dispersion bubble first to be dealt with later.

[/ QUOTE ]Detention field

Hehe aye, that'll be the one!

Screach is a must have, once you get over the base inaccuracy of sonics its a greatpower.

Dire wail: It has grown on me, mainly as I can click conserve energy,amplify,build up, and then jump into a huge mob and watch them all die..Or stagger around like drunks with most their health gone

Then pop a few blues and finish off any stragglers..but then Im a sonic/energy.

Howl sucks, I got rid of it early on as it was useless and I prefered shockwave.

Shockwave: Great when solo, though it can annoy the tank in your team if used without care :P
Its one of my emergency buttons, if enemy are getting to close and out number me "woooosh" knock them all back.

Sirens song: Nice in solo, but is one of those powers that needs the right situation to occur when playing with a team (ambushes usualy).

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once you get over the base inaccuracy of sonics its a greatpower.


[/ QUOTE ]That means it's a great power always then, because sonic doesn't HAVE an ACC penaly.

Really?
Then most sonics I know must be just unlucky then as the general concensus seems to be that sonics cant hit for "expletive"..

[ QUOTE ]
Really?
Then most sonics I know must be just unlucky then as the general concensus seems to be that sonics cant hit for "expletive"..

[/ QUOTE ]General consensus is often wrong

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Really?
Then most sonics I know must be just unlucky then as the general concensus seems to be that sonics cant hit for "expletive"..

[/ QUOTE ]General consensus is often wrong

[/ QUOTE ]

Heratic!!
You speak vile lies,for all know the masses are allways right!
I shall no resort to the most potent defence against heratics..Lalalalalalalalalalala I cant hear you lalalalalalalalala :P

Hasn't all other sets got a 5% increase in accuracy though? But Sonic hasn't. I'm sure I heard somewhere that Sonic has less accuracy then other sets.

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Hasn't all other sets got a 5% increase in accuracy though?

[/ QUOTE ]Some sets have, but not nearly all of them.

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Hasn't all other sets got a 5% increase in accuracy though? But Sonic hasn't. I'm sure I heard somewhere that Sonic has less accuracy then other sets.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sonic is the inaccurate set because 2 powers in Sonic are inaccurate. Siren's Song and Shockwave. This is because they are AoE control powers. The others are all default except for Dreadful Wail which is very accurate.

For blasters the other sets are all default. The snipes tend to be more accurate, as do the nukes. Some AoEs are more accurate too, such as Short Circuit, Fire Breath and Frost Breath.

The only exceptions are Assualt Rifle who get an accuracy bonus to everthing and Archery who get a large accuracy bonus to everything.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Really?
Then most sonics I know must be just unlucky then as the general concensus seems to be that sonics cant hit for "expletive"..

[/ QUOTE ]General consensus is often wrong

[/ QUOTE ]As are you, and many other people

Plight

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Really?
Then most sonics I know must be just unlucky then as the general concensus seems to be that sonics cant hit for "expletive"..

[/ QUOTE ]General consensus is often wrong

[/ QUOTE ]As are you, and many other people


[/ QUOTE ]I'm never wrong, but reality sometimes is