Force Fields vs. Sonic


Canine

 

Posted

I made a Force Field defender some time ago and she is always appriciated in teams. However I have now become curious about the defender type I know the least about: Sonic. I made a Sonic/Psycic and am trying her out now. Today I read some numbers on Hero builder that made me a bit confused. If I read it right it seems that the shields given from Sonic are better than the ones given by a Force Field. If that is the case, then how come there are so few Sonics out there?! Does anyone know the differences in buffs and debuffs between these two defender types? I am not sure I read all the buffing numbers right, since I am pretty new at this statistic reading stuff. =)


 

Posted

Pretty sure sonic is better than FF (sure I read it somewhere) but I think the reason you see so few is because of the issue that some players still have with the visuals and sound from the set...


 

Posted

As that thread explains, the main difference is that FF shields affect DEF while Sonic ones affect RES. So with Sonic, your team-mates will get hit for less damage but just as often as with no shields (and vice-versa for FF). Sonic Dispersion is a great (PbAoE) shield which provides +RES to all damage but psi and mezzes (except sleep). Clarity is like Clear Mind (except it's animation is faster) and Liquefy is an AoE low-mag hold + knockdown + acc/def debuff. Disruption Field is great if you team with a tank/scrapper. I played sonic as a secondary on one of my controllers and was a bit underwhelmed, but since the numbers are higher for defenders (for example, the 2 team-based shields give you up tp 30% +RES and almost 25% for Sonic Dispersion), it might make for a better primary. But be prepared to have to explain what you're doing, since not many people seem to have teamed with a sonic .


CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>

 

Posted

I'd say sonic is better for teams, while FF is better for solo.


 

Posted

Thanks for all your replies. Checked out that US thread too and it took forever to read! Lots of info and lots of personal opinions. Thanks! (Gonna give my sonic a chance to live a few levels longer)


 

Posted

I got a sonic/sonic defender to 50 and its good fun. Good mix between buffing and debuffing. The +res numbers are noticable too and i get a few nice comments.
Clarity is great in PvP.


 

Posted

Both are really good sets. Sonic offers some additional damage with the res debuffs which can be nice on teams that don't have any problems with the missions anyway. Force field makes it a bit easier to survive for yourself .

Though from what I have noticed personally most people won't have any clue at all what you are doing in the first place if you are a sonic because the graphics are rather invisible (especially at lower levels, but with it being such a rare set probably later too). Both sets definatly don't have to hide from other defender sets.

To answer the question:

What is better in the end?

Well it depends on what people you play with usually, resistance based sets (especially tankers with their 90% resistance cap) get more out of sonic, defense based sets might like force fields.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]

Well it depends on what people you play with usually, resistance based sets (especially tankers with their 90% resistance cap) get more out of sonic, defense based sets might like force fields.

[/ QUOTE ]Vice versa in most cases, actually. Defence and resistance together are superior to either defence or resistance. Combine both of them with some healing or regen adn you'll have really high survivability.


 

Posted

Can't agree there, having both resistance and defense is usually only better if you reach the cap on one thing (defense/resistance) already.

Adding 30% of resistance on 60% res tanker for example is much better than adding 30% resistance to a pure defense based build.

The same is true for adding defensive shields.


 

Posted

Sonic is better for buffing. FF is better for annoying people, although in PvE you tend to annoy your teammates more than your enemies.


 

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I got my lvl 30 sonic/sonic upto lvl 30 in a regular 8-man defender team. Unfortunatly the teamup went belly-up and I've been in a few PuGs with him. So far, team survivability gets pretty damn good but just about no one noticed that was due to the sonic bubbles. The damage my defender could produce was pretty impressive tho, especially shout after a few weaker attacks, stacking the -res.

I'll also say that both defense and resistance are better then only one of them. In the 8-man def team, the defense was awesome but once an attack did get threw hardly anyone's green bar moved. Untill we got cocky and our empathy friend had his hands full again .


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I'd say sonic is better for teams, while FF is better for solo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ummm. No?

FF has one Major trick up its sleeve that, especially in the late game, makes it almost invaluable on teams.

Insulation Shield gives end drain resistance.

If you have ANYTHING to do with Malta or Carnies or blue Praetorian robots, then those three little words in the power description "Res (End Drain)" mean more to you than any three empaths could (IMO)

One Forcefielder and a source of healing will mitigate more damage, as far as I'm concerned, than a Sonic replacing the FF would.

Plus, Sonic dispersion's not as good as Dispersion bubble, on the grounds that if you get hit less, then that's effectively additional mez protection to add to that provided by the bubble, while getting hurt less is only really useful to someone with significant mez protection to avoid the nasty side effects.

This, however is all from my experience of playing a /FF controller to 50 and having tanked alongside a /Sonic controller to 50.

Don't get me wrong, Sonic has some nice tricks up its sleeve, a FF has a few 'Meh' Powers, but blanket statements like that above just don't sit right with me.


Warning:

The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.

 

Posted

I think it's great if you play either, not enough of either about. I'm not going to say which is better, people are entitled to their opinions.
The fact that force field has a few "meh" powers is great, gives you some you can drop to take elsewhere, but still do great job with your main shields. Only taking defection shield, insulation shield and dispersion bubble adds alot to a team.
Personal force field is fun in pvp, frustrates villains, &amp; can save debt in pve.
Force bubble is situtional &amp; can draw aggro, but can also be fun pushing enemy about. Again can be fun in pvp, frustrating some villains in getting to you.
I was in a team as an inv. tank doing Synapse task force with a controller who had force field secondary. Never had to worry about death once when I had bubbles on (and yes had taunt running all the time I was in combat). Actually most people agreed the task force was boring as there was little to no danager as the tanks had aggro and the tanks faced no real threat with bubbles on.

In my play experience I find few force field defenders or controllers. There seem many more toons with shields as options in use on CoV, eg force field MM or corrupters with shield options. However, it seems to me alot of players don't use shields, either because they get fed up applying them or don't value them enough.

In conclusion I wouldn't worry about the figures, both add alot to a team, and I would welcome both to a team I was in, if the appropriate powers are taken and used.

Paragon Girl


 

Posted

Comparing only the shields, Sonic is a great buff to people who already have resistance - all tanks except Ice will love you, as will Dark and Inv scrappers. FF is better for people who don't have resistance, especially if they have some defense. Ice tanks, SR scrappers will love you. So far things are pretty equal. But for people with neither defense nor resists (which is the majority), FF has better damage mitigation than sonic. Add the fact that almost everyone has small amounts of defense (from things like Combat Jumping) and FF begins to shine.

With a tank, they are pretty much equivalent. Sonic will let the tank take a lot more aggro, which means everyone else's defenses are pretty moot. Then again, most tanks don't really need this buff. In cases where squishies have to take aggro themselves, FF is someewhat stronger.

Also remember that defense lets you avoid side effects like mez, debuf (incluidng slow) and knockback.

As to the rest of the set, I'd say Sonic is better.


 

Posted

Personally I'd rather take rings than bubbles for my ice tank, since I already have high DEF, the only thing that can kill me is burst damage, which sonic helps more with.