Sonic/Bubble Buffs vs Thermal/Cold buffs

Hey guys,

I have a question. I have multiple lvl 50's of each of these power types. And I am looking to make more server room. My question here is, whats the difference between Cold vs Bubbles? Both give +defense buffs to folks but Cold dom can also grant +HP, -regen, -recovery, -damage debuffs, and return end as well as stealth +resistance to elementals.

Is there a need to keep the bubble toon? Or is there something I am missing/forgetting that would make bubbles more attractive than cold domination?

The same question has to be asked about Sonic vs Thermal. With my thermal toon I can buff with +resistance buffs just like the sonic toon, But it can also rez, heal, and grant -regen, -recovery, and -res -def debuffs. Where as sonic can only debuff resistance and defense.

Is there a need to keep the Sonic toon? Or is there something I am missing/forgetting that would make sonic more attractive to keep than a thermal would?

When I look in mids the single target buffs from thermal mirror the buffs from sonic. The same for Cold shields vs Bubbles.

The only key difference I see is that Bubbles and Sonic grant the caster mez protection with a bit of +def for bubbles and a bit of +res from Sonic.

I know its late and I am tired. But I like all of my Bubbles, Sonic, Thermal, and Cold dom toons (hero and villains). But the time has come to delete some of them to make new toons and I want to make sure I am in the right state of mind when comparing these toons. Its always a hard choice to delete some toons.

Whats your opinion?

I know this isn't much help but I would keep the ones I enjoy playing the most.

To be of slightly more help:

Bubbles v Cold:
Bubble give -end protection, which isn't used often but is vital when it is needed and they give higher +Def, so a Bubbler can soft cap the defence for the whole team if they stand close enough, but that is all they can do really. The cold is much more versatile, and in today's world of +Def IO's most toons don't need the level of +Def that bubbles bring, the cold shields are enough.

So I would keep the Cold.

Sonic v Thermal:
I don't know the specifics of each set too well since I have never played either, but when I get a thermal on the team I notice the heals more than the debuffs, and when I team with a Sonic I really notice the debuffs. So either they are just easier to spot, or they are more powerful.

The healing from thermal is nice, and I think the final decision between these comes down to how important do you find healing on the teams you play, and how much do you enjoy it? I have rarely been in a team where we needed a healer, especially if we had some kind of shielder like a Sonic.

Personally I would keep the Sonic, even if it is from a selfish point of view because my scrapper loves those rings of saturn

Quote:

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If you need more room I personally would keep the Cold and Therm. But it's up to you really, whichever you find more fun.

Or you could do what I do.... and just buy more slots

As far as buffs are concerned, FF grants mez protection (Dispersion bubble), while Cold does not. Cold is still a much more versatile powerset.

In tough decisions like this, keep the one with the most knockback.

I have a lvl 50 FF/Archer and a lvl 22... (he's my current project) AR/Cold. IMO, now a days with IO defence and veat leadership powers (on villians anyways) defence is so saturated out there that the bubbler is honestly overkill. With no debuffs, and tricky to use knockback to work with besides defence. Cold has slows, debuffs, knockdown.. and +def. Brings more to the team, IMO.

I have an ILL/Sonic and a Fire/Thermal (both 50. Intresting how it worked out that my hero shielders are FF/Sonic and my Villian shields are cold/fire.. not planed.. just how it worked out. anyways...)

This one is tricker. +res is NOT easy to find. And sonic has more. plus NICE -res debuffage. Fire, has less +res, a -res that can miss and isn't perma... and heals/rezes. It's kind of a jack of all trades set. PERSONALLY... I think sonic is a much better shielder (being a specialest.) but thermal is more versital... So i'd go for Thermal... i tend to favor versitiality personally.

But really, the BEST advice is to keep the ones you like playing the most. Your prolly better with your fav, and that's what really matters. The player behind the powers, not the powers themselves.

FF has more specialized strengths than Cold. Similar to the above, Sonic is also more specialized in its strengths than Thermal is. Averaging out, Cold and Thermal will probably work out better for you. But for those times when Sonic and FF are ideal, nothing compares.

As to which you would dump... I'd recommend picking a Blaster or Scrapper (or other similar toon--it's easy to level damage-oriented toons).

In a bubbler vs. cold choice, I'd easily go cold. It's more than a one trick pony, which to be quite honest is the nature of force field. Mind you FF is the best at it's one trick by a good margin, but I don't think it's enough.

Sonic vs. thermal is a closer race. Sonic isn't just a one trick pony. It's got both the resistance buffs as well as very strong debuff ability, mobile status protection for the team, and a very effective to hit debuff in liquefy.

Thermal has shields which are pretty nice (great for resistance capping a lot of builds), good heals, mobile status protection, a damage boost power (I consider forge only so-so really though), a rez, and some pretty solid, but not perma debuffs.

In the choice between sonic and thermal, it depends on what you want the character for. If you want to kill things fast, especially AVs, sonic kicks butt and takes names (especially if it's a sonic/sonic defender). Their ability to rebuff the heck out of enemy resistance on a single target is unmatched.

However for a more general application of keeping the team standing, and a more limited debuff ability, thermal is more your ticket.

I might sound like a broken record at this point, but I'd go with Cold over FF.

I played a FF Defender to level 33 and just got plain bored with it. Yes, I was able to keep my teams reasonably safe, but there really wasn't much else for me to do other than re-bubble everyone every four minutes. It did give me plenty of time to blast away, though.

However, I've got my Cold/Dark Defender to level 48 now and I love it. Shields+Sleet+Snowstorm+All the various debuffs keeps my teams just as safe as the bubbles, I've found and there's just so much more to do and to contribute.

I also have found Cold to be alot safer for soloing. Other than all the slows and debuffs it offers, I've been able to concentrate almost solely on Ranged Defense as far as my IO slotting goes and Hover+Sleet+Tenebrous Tentacles+Snowstorm keeps nearly everything at range. Also, Dark's -ToHit makes me even harder to hit.

Just throwing that out there.