Why not sonic primary? The -resist stacks, and the shields/toggles are relatively non-clicky.
Useful, wanted, not too clicky... rad.
Pretty much anything works with Sonic - its the highest damage secondary and has good control and safety too.
Sonic, Force Fields and Cold all scale up well to big teams with their "dish out the buffs every four minutes and then blast" style.
For task forces, Cold probably comes out top due to its powerful non-perma debuffs that can cripple an AV.
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Kinetics is actually the weakest set transitioning from Corruptors to Defenders. This is because most of the power in the set have the same values as they do for corruptors and those that do differ don't differ enough to make the lower damage cap and overall damage loss worth it.|
Originally Posted by justisaur
I've got a Sonic/Kin Corruptor. While I think she's a great addition to a team, I realized a Kin/Sonic Defender would be even better.
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As for primarys to go with sonic blast...
TA is probably your best choice for an offensive edge (more so than kin) because of the -Res debuff cap being high and the blasts light oil slick for massive aoe damage amplified by howl's -res debuff.
Rad would probably be the best middle as usual, though Cold is nice though if you want to mix it up with buffs. Storm a bit more on the offensive side comparatively.
Dark would be the best choice for a defensive extreme with forcefield being second, since it's slightly more offensive with repulsion bomb's damage making up for Sonic blast's low AoE damage and less self protection.
Kinetics goes fantastically with Sonic Assault. The multiplicative effect of DMG* RES is far more powerful than additively stacking -Res.
I have a 50 Sonic/Kin Corr and a 50 Kin/Sonic Defender. I wouldn't have duplicated if I were not a big fan of the combo. As with any Defender - Corruptor comparison, the Defender adds more team support, despite the advantage with individual damage the corruptor has. Yes, damage cap is damage cap, however, team members with higher damage caps will benefit more from the Defender, especially Brutes.
As far as I'm concerned, after HAVING PLAYED both sets, they're roughly equivalent for team contribution.
This is a bit off track from the OP's question, who doesn't want to do a Kin, but mostly I replied because of the notion above that TA gives an offensive edge over Kin is stunning. I would love to see any sort of analysis to support that.
Global = Hedgefund (or some derivation thereof)
I have a dark/sonic and a storm/sonic. Both have their strengths. The Storm feels much more damaging, and I have more fun playing her, but the dark has enough control and debuff to inconvenience things long enough for me to destroy them.
I really don't think there is necessarily a bad pairing with /sonic for a defender because /sonic is good enough on its own, so I'd suggest that you pick whatever primary floats your boat. Or you can make a bunch of lowbies with different primaries and decide which one suits you.
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Oil Slick does 494.3 fire damage in a massive AoE over 15 seconds BEFORE you add in the -20% res from disruption arrow, the -20% res from acid arrow, -20% from achille's heel procs in Slick and Acid arrow, and the -20% res and 57.1 dmg from howl. That is a significant amount of AoE damage for a blast set that excels at single target but lacks solid AoE. Also -Res debuffs effect the entire team, aren't variable and positional based, and doesn't have a cap that can be easily reached.
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Originally Posted by Deacon_NA
This is a bit off track from the OP's question, who doesn't want to do a Kin, but mostly I replied because of the notion above that TA gives an offensive edge over Kin is stunning. I would love to see any sort of analysis to support that.
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And then the Kin comes in and uses Fulcrum on a SBed team.
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Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
Oil Slick does 494.3 fire damage in a massive AoE over 15 seconds BEFORE you add in the -20% res from disruption arrow, the -20% res from acid arrow, -20% from achille's heel procs in Slick and Acid arrow, and the -20% res and 57.1 dmg from howl. That is a significant amount of AoE damage for a blast set that excels at single target but lacks solid AoE. Also -Res debuffs effect the entire team, aren't variable and positional based, and doesn't have a cap that can be easily reached.
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Which assumes that the entire team is in melee and that Fulcrum shift hits all 10 targets, oh and teammates aren't bringing any +Dmg that might have them hit the cap faster.
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Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
And then the Kin comes in and uses Fulcrum on a SBed team.
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Well since I don't think anyone else will I will throw in a toss for Empathy. Why? Well theres a few reasons actually:
1-19
Low levels: In the lower levels, wether people like to think it or not, heals can be greatly useful. They work even better when paired with another low level defender who has shields. This way when damage gets through you can repair it. However this is a bit clicky to begin with. Once you pick up fort and some of your attacks your on your way.
20-32
Mid Levels: By this time you should atleast a set of attacks and some of your buffs. Id say by level 26, 3 to 4 attacks, fort and your RA's. By this level you really start to shine on teams of 3 - 4 because if you have Fort slotted with 3 recharge SO's you should have your recharge close to 30ish so you can keep that size team with fort which is really nice. In addition if you have any squished you can give them mez protection. You should have your howl on mobs to lower there -res and your two ST attacks for bosses and LTs. At this point you could choose leadership pool to follow next or if you want your group sleep or another ST attack.
33-50
High Levels: As you hit the epic pool levels you can choose that which fits your concept/playstyle best. As for higher level play you really have alot of time to attack to be honest. Depending on you use your Fort you wont really have to pass out teh H413z (heals) and if unless you have quite a few squishes on the team you shouldn't have to pass out CM too much. You will learn what mobs mez and what dont eventually so even with squished on the team you may or may not have to pass out CM. Thats about the most rigorous buff of the set as it only lasts 90s.
Some might think the combo to be a bit clicky, I personally find it a good mix of the two. When fighting AV's you can sit back and blast and toss out the occasional heal and buff,
when in mobs your RA's can work magic and everyone loves AB :P
That would be my most basic anaylisis of how Emp/Sonic goes from 1 - 50. Its was my first 50 and most played character to date so I thought I would share what I have learned about it.
Now, before I have to hide myself behind a Fire tank for all the flaming I'm about to incur I want to toss in my two cents for another set or two.
I would support Rad/Sonic as a viable pair because of your sheer debuffing ability. While I don't have one I have two defends one at 50, one at 46 with /sonic and a Controller with /Rad at 50. With this combination you will make AV's melt. The only thing that gets annoying with the set is if your team is steamrolling enemies it gets teadious to retoggle your debuffs over and over. Especially because it seems scrappers like to go for the glowing baddies... even when you set it on the enemy they never attack. In AV fights I can see it rocking like no other, in mob to mob... well I just don't really like the idea. Although I'd be lying to say I don't roll one now.
Another I think could be fun would be Sonic/Sonic. You get the toggle that makes scrappers weep with joy 
Two awesome shields, clarify for mez protection, a bubble that gives yourself mez protection and Liquefy is fun Plus if your going for concept its easier to pair the two together.
Ok, thats my votes so far and why. Now... I only have one thing to say.
/b, LFT, needs Fire tank for Forum Mishes!
Dreaded Wail hits things freakin' hard.. i like to hit things freakin' hard... so.. id go Wail... SAVE THE WAILS!!!! - Solar_Lunata
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Fulcrum has 1/3 of the recharge time compared to Oil Slick and that's without Siphon Speed being factored in and let's not forget Oil Slick doesn't exactly light every time either. Storm and TA are nice offensive based debuff and control sets, but they aren't Kin.
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Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
Which assumes that the entire team is in melee and that Fulcrum shift hits all 10 targets, oh and teammates aren't bringing any +Dmg that might have them hit the cap faster.
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and +Dmg stacking doesn't trump -Res debuff stacking for enhancing overall damage. +Dmg only effects base damage, but -Res effects enhanced damage. Also the -res cap is rarely ever reached but damage caps are slammed frequently because damage enhancements contribute towards the cap and +Dmg buffs are numerous amongst both sets and inherents.|
Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
Fulcrum has 1/3 of the recharge time compared to Oil Slick and that's without Siphon Speed being factored in and let's not forget Oil Slick doesn't exactly light every time either. Storm and TA are nice offensive based debuff and control sets, but they aren't Kin.
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Also with 3 recharge SOs, slick is up every other spawn and it rarely does not light.
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To expand on this, both +Damage and -Res will permit you to achieve 4x damage in their distinct ways, but the 4x for +Damage is base damage, whereas -Res is total damage.|
Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
and +Dmg stacking doesn't trump -Res debuff stacking for enhancing overall damage. +Dmg only effects base damage, but -Res effects enhanced damage. Also the -res cap is rarely ever reached but damage caps are slammed frequently because damage enhancements contribute towards the cap and +Dmg buffs are numerous amongst both sets and inherents.
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Defenders have a damage cap of 400%. 100% base damage, the unenhanced, unbuffed damage that any power can deal, and the sum of all +Damage applied to the power individually or globally up to 300%. Slotting with three damage SOs adds ~95%, so by default, just by slotting your attacks properly you're halfway to the damage cap.
-Res also has a cap, 300%, but -Res is applied to the enemy, not the player, and therefore is not additive. -Res is multiplicative, meaning it multiplies the total damage dealt.
With no enhancements slotted, a defender with 95% -Res will deal precisely the same damage as a defender with 95% +Damage. After accounting for slotting (presuming three Damage SOs), -Res increases damage output by nearly twice as much, point for point, as +Damage.
Example: I take Dark Blast and slot it with three Damage SOs. My base damage is 36.1, my damage after slotting is 36.1 * 1.95 = 70.395.
If I apply 40% -Res (one application of Acid, one application of Disruption), the damage I deal increases to 70.395 * 1.4 = 98.553.
In order to achieve the same final damage output using +Damage, I would need 78% +Damage. 36.1 * (1.00 [color:yellow]base[/color] + 0.95 [color:yellow]enhancements[/color] + 0.785 [color:yellow]additional +Damage[/color]) = 98.553.
Fulcrum Shift is actually only as good as ~100% -Res (again, unless the defender has no Damage enhancements slotted) when looking at the base effect.
Now, these two independent mechanics function in conjunction with each other, so any */Sonic defender with +Damage is going to see improved results. But does that mean Kin/Sonic is the "winner" in terms of damage output?
No, because all defenders can cap their own damage. All defenders have access to Assault, Soul Drain, Rage inspirations, IO set bonuses or other existing sources of +Damage. A Kin/Sonic will saturate his/her total damage output with FS and the stacked -Res from /Sonic blasts and then be limited by the total amount of -Res he/she is acquiring from those /Sonic blasts.
Presuming both the Kin/Sonic and TA/Sonic can stack 80% -Res from /Sonic, and the TA/Sonic is using Acid Arrow, Disruption Arrow (double-stacked) and the Achilles' Heel proc, the TA/Sonic needs only an additional 40% +Damage to match the total damage output of the Kin/Sonic. That's roughly the equivalent of Assault and one Rage inspiration (43.75%), and it still leaves the TA/Sonic 161.25% below the damage cap.
If both the Kin/Sonic and TA/Sonic are damage capped and achieving the same 80% -Res from stacked Sonic blasts, the Kin/Sonic would deal 218.88 with Shriek, whereas the TA/Sonic would deal 316.16, indicating an almost 30% increase over the Kin/Sonic's damage output.
A Kin/Sonic can "do it faster" and relies less heavily on +Recharge to reach saturation. TA/Sonic has "ramp up" time, the time it takes to apply one application of Acid, one application of Disruption and the recharge time before a second application of Disruption can be used. The TA/Sonic can work around this and alleviate the majority of the "ramp up" time by simply adding another ~40% +Damage to compensate for not waiting for Disruption to recharge for its second application, reducing the effective difference to less than one second (animation time for Acid + Disruption, 3s. animation time for FS, 2.17s), but without that additional +Damage, the TA/Sonic will fall slightly behind the Kin/Sonic. This is relevant in real game play, because in the time it would take for the TA/Sonic to stack that second Disruption, let's say ~15s, the Kin/Sonic may very well be moving on to the next spawn if the TA/Sonic has not acquired that additional ~40% +Damage to replace the second use of Disruption.
In any "hard target" fight, even accounting for the reapplication of Acid and Disruption frequently, the TA/Sonic will pull ahead in total damage output and time to defeat.
And the TA/Sonic has more AoE damage potential than Kin/Sonic, as Turbo_Ski noted, due to OSA.
They're both fantastic builds for damage output, but the numbers show TA/Sonic as being one of the most devastating damage dealing builds available to defenders, if the player is "doing it right".
Bottom line, the instant enhancements are factored in, -Res becomes superior to +Damage. Optimally, both used together is the best route, but in solo situations, TA/Sonic will always be capable of outperforming all other builds in terms of damage output because TA has the highest potential -Res stacking capability. In team situations, Rad/Sonic is the only build which can achieve higher total -Res, and then only if a teammate is used for Fallout.
A TA/Sonic will also have much more opportunity to actually *use* all of this above-average damage as they have FAR more mitigation compared to Kinetics.
Defiant EU
Quaver: Kinetics/Sonic Defender
Semiquaver: Sonic/Kinetics Corruptor
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actually, TA honestly doesn't have much. The debuffs as a whole aren't that much stronger than Kin's debuffs but it's the in-set heal that helps kin out more defensively than TA. Frankly I see this more of an issue with Flash+PGA+Glue still not being very fluid or potent. Adjusting flash's -tohit a bit higher (not too much) and making PGA's sleep more reliable would make TA's mitigation less spotty without being higher than rad's.
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Originally Posted by Quaver
A TA/Sonic will also have much more opportunity to actually *use* all of this above-average damage as they have FAR more mitigation compared to Kinetics.
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Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
actually, TA honestly doesn't have much. The debuffs as a whole aren't that much stronger than Kin's debuffs but it's the in-set heal that helps kin out more defensively than TA. Frankly I see this more of an issue with Flash+PGA+Glue still not being very fluid or potent. Adjusting flash's -tohit a bit higher (not too much) and making PGA's sleep more reliable would make TA's mitigation less spotty without being higher than rad's.
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IMO, Kinetics has "enough" mitigation with the -damage and -recharge, but it takes time to establish. Compared to TA that can, if needed, simply use EMP Arrow, layer debuffs, then blast - a lot of things will be dead before they become unmezzed. Alternate with OSA for less guaranteed control and it's much less of a gamble than Kinetics (not considering secondary/epic/pool mitigation). Also with Transfusion requiring melee range, you have to hope you can survive the alpha before you get close enough to bounce back from it.
Of course my extreme lack of hand-eye-coordination might be influencing me here.. ;-D
Defiant EUQuaver: Kinetics/Sonic DefenderSemiquaver: Sonic/Kinetics Corruptor
I've got a Sonic/Kin Corruptor. While I think she's a great addition to a team, I realized a Kin/Sonic Defender would be even better. Then I got to thinking, /Sonic is great, and in many cases (fighting an AV after his cronies are dead) of more use than FS+SP, but teams are expecting you to do FS+SP+SB+Transference+Transfusion+etc, and that's a lot of clicking especially if you are trying to get some sonic attacks in for the -res.
So I'm looking for something less clicky that I can pair with /Sonic so I can focus on clicking those -res powers. Being most useful/wanted on TFs is probably most important after low clickyness.