Sonic / Devices

Hi guys, I am completely new to this game (just started like 2 or 3 days ago)

And let me say first off, where was I all these years when this awesome game was out? Second off onto some Blaster questions for all you experienced players.

I recently started making every type of blaster primary and decided on sticking with Sonic and Devices as my secondary.

I noticed on this forum there are not many posts about sonic blasters, am I missing something about this powerset? does it stink endgame?

Every blaster I see in game so far has been fire or ice blaster and I have actually gotten a few messages saying oh wow you chose Sonic as your primary powerset.

So in essence even tho I am thoroughly enjoying this combo I created, I was wondering if it would be a viable asset to a team later on in the game. I would hate to be a burden on my team and not chosen the second time around because of the playstyle of sonic / device.

So Please help me!!! Tell me the 4-11 on the sonic blaster and if device secondary is good for crowd control / survival.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to helping out the community and meeting you folks ingame (Virtue server - Meowzer)

Sonic's -Res secondary effect is very useful all through the leveling range, most noticeably in the early levels where it adds a quite nice boost to your individual damage. It is also nice later as it eases some of the resistances that hard targets like AVs and EBs tend to have.

The reason that it is somewhat underplayed, IMO, is twofold. One, when it was first introduced it had visual/audio FXs that quite literally made people nauseous. Those got fixed, and it now is more palatable, but may still have some thinking of it as that "nausea-blast" set. Two, it's various sound FXs are not to everyone's taste, and some avoid it for that reason alone.

Personally? I just haven't found too many concepts I like that would make use of the set.

By all means, play Sonic, some folks will really love you on the team, I know I would.

Oh, and regarding Devices? All I know is that some consider it underperforming. However, take that with a grain of salt, because ALL combinations of powersets can be used to great effect. Its just that some are "easymode" and some require a bit more player savvy to be at their best... as you might guess, it is those "underperforming" sets that tend to be in that second category.

Edit: Oh, and welcome to the game... and the forums!!

Sonics is fine for a primary, makes you more valuable against hard targets while you're stacking away your res debuffs. The only real "downside"s is the AoE is lacking compared to other sets. You get three cones, which really aren't that strong to begin with. Two of the three are soft controls that are great for solo, but not so great, if even annoying, when used on teams. Then your single target attack that does the most dmg has an activation time that is roughly twice as long as comparable attacks in other sets, and does less damage when you discount the res debuffing.

As for devices ... it's a fun solo set. I love nothing more than sneaking into a group and toe-bombing a tripmine. On teams, it's hard to really contribute with devices. It can be done, of course, but it's not as easy as other secondaries.

Either way, have fun. Will a lot of folks that stick to the flavor of the month/year poke at you for your powersets? Probably. Are they right? Meh. It's a game, have fun.

Just a note have played sonic and have played devices never tried a sonic/dev but thinking about your situation is inspiring me to find a slot and roll a character.

Sonic is excellent and it has almost a Jekyll and Hyde thing going for solo and team. Sirens is almost zero use on teams, for the simple reason you can't get people not to wake up the slept mobs. Its the same problem that controllers have getting people not to kill the confused enemies, and defenders have for getting people not to kill the anchor. That is the bad news and its incredibly outweighed by the good news. Sonic amplifies everyones damage. The bigger the team the faster they go down and the more it helps.

When you are solo you will find sirens to be your best friend ever. You have a long duration sleep that will let you knock out entire spawns at your leisure and discretion. It just doesn't get much better for a blaster than that.


Devices is much the same way. Solo with sonic you can have a lot of fun with it. Put em to sleep wake em up with a bomb or a mine, you can even debuff em before it hits. Teaming though expect it will be caltrops and web grenade maybe gun drone and trip mine ( the faster the team the less likely), targeting drone should be useful to you even if it is another .31 end toggle.

My second 50 and my 'main' as such is a Sonic/Energy Blaster although I've played Devices a bit on other toons as well.

What you have rolled yourself is a very strong soloing Blaster with some excellent crowd controls. You'll be great solo by sleeping a mob then mining them or even setting up a field of Trip Mines and Shockwaving a mob back onto them. In a team, you've hardly ever use Siren's Song or any of your Devices aside from Caltrops but you'll definitely still be useful. Caltrops is always good on a large spawn and being able to stun annoying mobs from range is a godsend sometimes. Even at 50, teams get used to me stunning Malta Sappers as the Tank's running in. You're no Controller but the soft controls and -res effect are defiinitely appreciated, especially against hard targets such as AVs as others have said.

In terms of damage, you will end up being overshadowed on teams by more AoE focussed Blasters as they can wipe out vast numbers of foes as long as they're controlled or taunted in some way. You won't be the most damaging but you'll still do great against single targets.

As a tip for playing in teams, I find targetting through a melee toon is really handy. The Scrapper or Tank can go to town on a target while you blast them and apply the -res effect so that both of you benefit from it.

It's a nice set and I hope you have fun with them both.

thanks for the replies guys, so far so good with my blaster. although I am still noob level I managed to CC the frostfire mission and only use 1 health inspiration. definitely wasn't expecting that kind of boss so early on in the game.

I understand I wont be the top dps of any group due to the aoe's being more centricly focused on solo / control play, but I'm glad you guys say i will find a place late game against bosses and using my traps to help aoe parties as well as -res them.

Another question if I may ask you all.....

What are the 2 best transportation powers I should pick? So far I have chosen Super speed and love the Hasten skill. But what should my 2nd set be? (if i even should pick it up)

Thanks again everyone for such fast replies

Travel is very much up to the individual player. A lot of people consider Super Jump to be the best because of the defense pre-req, Combat Jumping, and also it gets you to Acrobatics, which is useful if you don't have the cash for a -KB IO. I really like all of the travel powers, but to me, Super Speed is the bottom of the pile, really, as it has no vertical mobility. Teleport is by far the fastest travel power in the game, but it takes a bit of practice to get used to and is sort of an endurance hog before you throw an End Redux in it. Also, TONS of people dip into Speed if only to grab Hasten, so you made a good pick with that one.

However, there's really no need to pick up a second travel power. At least, most folks don't. However another pool you may want is Fitness (for Stamina).

Oh, one more thing, bookmark this site, love this site: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Main_Page

It puts practically every bit of information about this game at your fingertips.

Sonic/Devices is a great combo that is very much underrated.

One of the biggest complaints about Devices is that it lacks Build Up, which helps a great deal with burst damage. Sonic's -res secondary effect helps offset that a little bit.

I've found that Sonic/Devices, if played right, is by quite a large margin the safest soloing blaster. Cloaking Device allows you to sneak into range of Siren's Song and knock out a mob before they even know you're there. I took both Screech and Taser on my S/D and alternate them to wake up minions and LTs. If you do this correctly you will be able to complete entire missons without ever even being targeted by anything, let alone damaged. That's because what you are waing up will wake up stunned and unable to attack you. I alternate between the two of them because both have fairly long recharge times.

Since you took Super Speed as a travel power it will stack with Cloaking Device for full invisibility (there are things that will still see you, but you won't encounter them until after level 30) You shouldn't need a second travel power unless you plan on PvPing (I don't recommend doing so until you are more experienced with the game ingeneral) There are temporary travel powers that will help with Super Speed's lack of vertical movement. Super Speed is probably your best choice for a single travel power for Sonic/Devices.

The Fitness pool should definitely be the next pool you pick up. Stamina helps a lot with keeping your endurance bar filled.

Powers to skip from both sets:

Sonic:
Shockwave - Very low damage cone that scatters enemies everywhere, it doesn't mesh very well with what the rest of the set is good at.

And that's about it, the rest of the set is useful.

Devices:
Smoke Grenade - Since you took Super Speed this is a redundant power for you.
Time Bomb - lots of damage, but insanely long set up time. And it takes 15 seconds AFTER you set it up to go off. You'll kill a mob faster just attacking it.

I'm at work and my break is over. I'll throw together a build with Mid's for you when I get home. And give you a link to it if no one beats me to it.

Welcome to the game, and it's nice to see that someone chose the sets of one of my favorite characters.

thanks clawsandeffect i would definitely appreciate a build info / guide if ya could spare the time.

As others have said the Devices set is a little underpowered especially in a team situation. However it is an enjoyable set and you can have a lot of fun with it (if you enjoy it you may also like playing a Traps Defender).

My quick rundown of the powers:

Web Grenade: Very useful at low levels, although utility drops off at higher levels, don't bother slotting it to much although some slotting for immobilization duration and end reduction helps against bosses.

Caltrops: Very, very useful solo. It only really needs recharge enhancement although a single slow enhancement can be useful if you're fighting enemies of a higher level than you. Less useful in a team since the fear effect can cause enemies to split up.

Taser: Useful at low levels for stunning a LT and can stack with Screech to stun bosses. The lack of range is rather annoying though. The usefulness fo this depends a lot on your play-style, if you run at basic difficulty it's extremely useful, however if you like to up the difficulty to have spawns set for 3+ size teams the usefulness of a single target stun goes down a lot.

Targeting Drone: The set's signature power. Really helps with hitting things at low level. As with most toggles slotting for endurance reduction is much less effective than it sounds.

Smoke Grenade: As ClawsandEffect noted you don't need the -perception much if you already have full stealth. However the -To Hit is actually quite useful damage mitigation. Additionally the -perception can be used to get guarded glowies.

Cloaking Device: Combined with Super Speed or a Stealth IO this gives full PvE stealth. Other than that there isn't much to say about it. If you can spare the endurance to run it during combat the defense is useful, but it's not worth enhancing at all.

Trip Mine: Another solo only power (most teams move way to quickly for this to be useful). That being said it's a very useful power. Stacking a few and then luring an opponent onto them is always fun. Additionally due to the way Defiance works dropping one of these at your feet right before combat will give you a nice damage bonus to your first couple of attacks and provide a bit of close in defense. Primarily this needs slotting for damage and accuracy, you generally won't use it rapidly enough to benefit from recharge and endurance reduction.

Time Bomb: While this can be fun, Trip Mine does almost as much damage and is much more tactically flexible.

Gun Drone: This one was a big disappointment for me. The damage it does it not that great and having to keep re-summoning it (with an 6-second cast time) makes it more trouble than it's worth. That being said it is kinda cool so my blaster has it (I just rarely remember to actually use it). Slot for damage, accuracy and recharge.

I'm going to touch on these three powers a little bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood Cloaking Device: Combined with Super Speed or a Stealth IO this gives full PvE stealth. Other than that there isn't much to say about it. If you can spare the endurance to run it during combat the defense is useful, but it's not worth enhancing at all.

There are a number of useful IOs that can go in this power. Probably getting ahead of myself mentioning it since the OP is so new, but I couldn't let it go unsaid. Kismet +Acc is great in here, combined with Targeting Drone it will get you at or close to 95% to-hit. (Which is important if you want to hit things higher level than you consistently) Karma KB Protection is another useful one, which actually stands a good chance of dropping just playing between 10 and 30. Personally I 6 slotted it with Red Fortune, but my Sonic/Devices is a hover-blaster that is sitting close to the soft cap for ranged.

Quote:

Trip Mine: Another solo only power (most teams move way to quickly for this to be useful). That being said it's a very useful power. Stacking a few and then luring an opponent onto them is always fun. Additionally due to the way Defiance works dropping one of these at your feet right before combat will give you a nice damage bonus to your first couple of attacks and provide a bit of close in defense. Primarily this needs slotting for damage and accuracy, you generally won't use it rapidly enough to benefit from recharge and endurance reduction.

I like to use this as a mini nuke on teams after the tank (if there is one) has gathered the mob. If the tank wants to herd I'll drop one where he is bringing them to.

Quote:

Gun Drone: This one was a big disappointment for me. The damage it does it not that great and having to keep re-summoning it (with an 6-second cast time) makes it more trouble than it's worth. That being said it is kinda cool so my blaster has it (I just rarely remember to actually use it). Slot for damage, accuracy and recharge.

I LOVE this power, though it doesn't get used very often. I use it when I'm fighting a single hard target to add a little more DPS that doesn't cost me endurance. Also, it gives a HUGE defiance boost, so if you drop one at the beginning of a fight your first few attacks will hit like a truck. I really really wish that A) the cast time were lower, and B) that you could summon it mid-air.

I didn't get a chance to throw together a Mid's build for you, as we got buried in snow where I live and I spent all day shoveling.

Quick slotting advice until I get around to doing that:

You will only need one accuracy in your attacks in most situations with Targeting Drone running.

Slot 3 damage in the following powers: Shriek, Scream, Shout, and Howl. Siren's Song and Screech should not be slotted for damage, since the damage they do is pathetic (and not the point of the powers anyway)

I usually round out my slotting with 1 end reduction and 1 recharge.

Amplify should get 3 recharge. It is the only damage boosting power you get (but not as much as Build Up) and you wantit back as fast as possible.

I actually disagree with the poster that said end reduction isn't worth it in toggles. I find that is very much not the case. At least one end reduction should go in both Targeting Drone and Cloaking Device (I put 2 in, but I usually have the extra slots to play with) If you run a lot of toggles like I do having them cost less individually is nice.

I usually don't slot Web Grenade beyond one accuracy, but if you do so one accuracy and 1-2 immobilize durations will do. I don't recommend putting more than 3 slots in it (total)

Caltrops should get 1-2 recharges, and maybe a slow or two. I've seen a few builds with multiple damage procs in it, but for a new player I'm trying to avoid going too deep into IOs.

Gun Drone should get 2 accuracies and 3 damage if you take it. It already recharges within it's own duration, so it doesn't need recharge. I say 2 accuracies because it is unaffected by Targeting Drone's boost (as are Trip Mine and Time Bomb)

Trip Mine can be slotted several ways depending on how you want to use it. If you want to lay minefields, slot 1 acc, 3 dam, 2 recharge. If you only plan on using it occasionally, 2 acc and 3 damage. I say less accuracy in planting minefields because of accuracy by volume, get enough blowing up at once and you'll probably hit most of what you want to hit.

I'll get into pool powers later, as I'm out of time on my break again

I agree with most of what has been said here except for a few things, and I think that just really comes down to playstyle. My main in a lvl50 archery/devices for an fyi.

On Time Bomb versus Trip Mine...I have used both extensively, and I can say with my build, I prefer Time Bomb. I used to start out with TM, and setting up mine fields and such, but solo wise nowadays, I'll stealth (Cloaking Device/Super Speed) into a large group of mobs, drop a time bomb, fly up, drop a Melt Armor, a few AOEs, then off goes the time bomb. I find it to be a very effective combo. I also find it helps out on slower "killing" teams. On faster moving groups, the time it takes for that set up isn't really worth it though.

Damage wise, TB does more damage than a single TM, but a TM field (if enough are hit and go off) can do some impressive damage.

Just from mids based on my build (Not a lot of dmg slots on these...had to sacrifice somewhere for defense) -
Time Bomb - Lethal (420.2) Fire (280.2) = 700.4 (278.1)
Trip Mine - Lethal (350.2) Fire (140.1) = 490.3 (194.6)

TB has a bit larger radius than TM, and just being impatient, I like my one big boom versus setting up a mine field for several smaller booms.

Again, just matter preference and playstyle, but I wouldn't ignore time bomb completely.

This is what I'd go for with a sonic/devices if I only used level 30 basic Invetions. Which by the way is a good idea, because they're better than equal level Single Origins, they never expire and they save you money in the long run if you have slight patience (like, 5-15mins of waiting for a piece of salvage).

If you use Mid's, the levels where slots were placed are all over the place and you really shouldn't pay attention to that, but rather slot whatever feels most important at that point.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Secondary Power Set: Devices
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Medicine
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shriek -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(42), Dmg-I(42), Acc-I(43), EndRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 1: Web Grenade -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(48), Immob-I(48)
Level 2: Scream -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(3), EndRdx-I(34), Acc-I(37), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 4: Howl -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(5), Dmg-I(5), Range-I(7), Range-I(7), Acc-I(34)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A), Jump-I(48)
Level 8: Shout -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(9), Dmg-I(9), Acc-I(15), EndRdx-I(17), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 10: Targeting Drone -- ToHit-I(A), ToHit-I(11), ToHit-I(11), EndRdx-I(15), EndRdx-I(46)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(50), Heal-I(50)
Level 18: Sirens Song -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(19), EndRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(23), Sleep-I(23), Sleep-I(34)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Cloaking Device -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(46)
Level 24: Amplify -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 26: Screech -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(27), Dsrnt-I(27), Dsrnt-I(33), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 28: Trip Mine -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(29), Dmg-I(29), Acc-I(31), EndRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- Jump-I(A)
Level 32: Aid Other -- Heal-I(A)
Level 35: Aid Self -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(36), IntRdx-I(36), IntRdx-I(36), EndRdx-I(37), Heal-I(37)
Level 38: Gun Drone -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(39), EndRdx-I(39), Acc-I(39), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 41: Snow Storm -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Frozen Armor -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(45), DefBuff-I(45), EndRdx-I(45), EndRdx-I(46)
Level 47: Hibernate -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(50)
Level 49: Caltrops -- RechRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance

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