I've never put the 2 together, but I'm going to cast a vote for Electric/.
My experience with elec is limited to a Dom I've leveled up this weekend. Even in this limited play, it's clear that this is a very endurance friendy set. Sonic Resonance is most decidedly endurance unfriendly set. Maybe the two balance out.
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My vote is the same as Deacon's - I haven't tried it yet (though I plan to), but it seems that elec would go very well with sonic. Sonic brings mez protection to keep elec's aura going and resistance shields for squishy pets, and elec has plenty of endurance help to keep sonic going and melee pets to anchor disruption on. You won't be any great shakes for damage before epics, but it definitely seems to me like a synergistic combo.
@MuonNeutrino
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I have a 50 fire/sonic it works well cause the -res toggle fits nice with the imps.
Probably Electric or Earth. But in either case I tend to feel Thermal works better.
Sonic is not unplayable. But having played it twice into the 40s I really don't like it. Thermal accomplishes most of the same things it does without tanking your endurance. You can also get mezz protection from the Psi app if that is critical to you (altho not till the 40s). Force Field, while offering fewer debuffs, offers MUCH better IO potential, including the ability to soft cap to multiple damage types and easy +Recharge.
Whatever you do, avoid pairing Sonic with Ice Control unless you just want bragging rights for the most endurance unfriendly combo possible. I have a Fire/Sonic who showed promise for a while but I absolutely hate playing now, again due to endurance, but at least he can kill things (kind of). Getting him to the alphas would partially fix him, but his problems are really that Sonic is excessively punishing, borrowing endurance rates from Radiation Emission without a concurrent endurance bonus.
BTW, in my experience, Sonic is a near total fail at keeping pets alive. That extra resistance seems to me to mean the pet can take one or two extra hits before biting it [EDIT: Exception being the Earth pet due to its innate high resistance]. It's basically as if you were a Thermal who never bothered to heal them. My Fire/Sonic ended up with Aid Other and Aid Self just because he and the pets take so much damage it's unreal. You may find you like it, but I didn't.
I really like my Earth/Sonic Controller, Lord Richter, especially how the sets go together for an earthquake theme (sonic waves, seismic waves... same idea.) Stacking the primary's -def with the secondary's -res is quite nice.
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Earth/Sonic seems to be the best pairing. In particular, Rocky has high Resistance that is further boosted by Sonic's Resistance buffs. Plus, Rocky goes into melee, so he's a perfect target for Disruption Field, the toggle -Resistance you put on an ally. Plus, Earth's Quicksand will let you set up a good debuff patch of Slow, -Defense (25% in Quicksand alone) and your -Resistance. For the most part, Earth is not a high endurance primary since you lay out your AoE Controls and then mainly Fossilize tougher foes.
The other set that might work is Gravity, since Singy also has high resistance. However, he is not ideal for running into melee since he has a Repel aura. I doubt it would be as good a pairing as Earth.
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All the reasons Local Man gave are why I made mine Earth/Sonic. IIRC Rocky with a set of shields cast on him will have capped or near capped damage resistance to most types. One thing especially nice about the combo is Rocky gets very high innate psionic damage resistance, which is the only type Sonic doesn't grant, so with a set of shields he has no weak spots. He should also make a good anchor for Disruption Field. Mine is only low level so far but on paper it looks like a very solid pairing.
Before rolling my Earth/Sonic I took an Ice/Sonic into the 30s. Aside from the ridiculous endurance burn from the combo, I didn't feel that Jack was sturdy enough, even with a set of sonic shields on him.
Some interesting comments thanks guys
I've got an Earth/Thermal at 50 and he's arguably one of my toughest toons - and I've done some pretty crazy stuff with him and come out smiling the other side. I'm not sure that I want to level an Earth/Sonic just to see if it works 
Thelonious Monk
Just because Earth is the best primary for Sonic does not mean that Sonic is a particularly great secondary for Earth. Overall, Earth/Therm will probably be a better character.
I have my Earth/Rad and just last night got my Earth/Storm to 50. I don't have a strong desire to roll up an Earth/Sonic either. Sonic just seems to be a less desirable secondary compared to several others.
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If it was me I wouldn't do Earth/Sonic after taking Earth/Thermal to 50. Too similar. Not so much in playstyle on teams, but it seems like solo the experience would be almost identical.
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I agree. I think my experience of it so far has been... dull and uninspiring. It works, after a fashion but offers nothing tangible that other sets don't have, plus lacks any (for want of a better expression) excitement. Most other Controller secondaries offer something cool and different - Storm is uber crazy, Trick Arrow is a jack of all trades, Thermal gives good buffs, debuffs and some useful heals, radiation is the "ultimate takedown" set and cold gives some great slows and debuffs. Sonic, by comparison, gives unmitigated blandness
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Originally Posted by Local_Man
Sonic just seems to be a less desirable secondary compared to several others.
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Thelonious Monk
/sonic does -ress mostly on lethal damage. So anything that does the kind of damage the /sonic does -ress too is a good primary.
I made a Dual Pistol/sonic myself. Havent played him in a few though.
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Pretty sure Sonics -resist is the same across the board. |
Originally Posted by Liz Bathory
/sonic does -ress mostly on lethal damage. So anything that does the kind of damage the /sonic does -ress too is a good primary.
I made a Dual Pistol/sonic myself. Havent played him in a few though. |
Plus this is the Controller forums so DP is probably out.
I'd agree with you Scarlet, Sonic is bland, bland, bland. Ultimate Power is an Earthquake clone, the aura -resist is 3/4s the power that of Freezing Rain or Sleet (and they're flat out placables so you don't need an ally/pet to use them).
Even Trick Arrow has neat tricks, like being able to flambe everything in a huge area and having a very powerful AOE Hold as the level 38 power.
Very few powers in Sonic jump out as "Look forward to" powers really.
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I'm going to be contrarian and not join the "poop on Sonic Resonance" party.|
Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
I agree. I think my experience of it so far has been... dull and uninspiring. It works, after a fashion but offers nothing tangible that other sets don't have, plus lacks any (for want of a better expression) excitement. Most other Controller secondaries offer something cool and different - Storm is uber crazy, Trick Arrow is a jack of all trades, Thermal gives good buffs, debuffs and some useful heals, radiation is the "ultimate takedown" set and cold gives some great slows and debuffs. Sonic, by comparison, gives unmitigated blandness
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Anyone can build a troller with soft-capped def to s/l using Stone, Ice or Mace. Some do it easier than others (+Def aura in Cold, Storm, and of course, FF) but it's possible for anyone. What Sonic gives is solid mez protection and a chance to build up some solid resists (especially with Tough). You could even go down a different path to build up Ranged Def, take a resist shield in the epic and hard cap s/l and have strong resists for whatever else your epic covers. No other controller secondary can do this.
With that, you can focus on your primary powers, without worrying about being mezzed (sleeps excepted of course) or hardly being hit and, when hit, it's like a pin-*****. It also makes you a solid contributor on speed end-game tfs. This is where "My mezzes are my defense" don't work, especially on speed LGTF.
I'll stop with "what Sonic can do for me" and not get into its team buff/debuff contributions, which I think are under-rated too, and again, are quite good for speed tfs (buff and run).
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Originally Posted by Deacon_NA
I'm going to be contrarian and not join the "poop on Sonic Resonance" party.
Anyone can build a troller with soft-capped def to s/l using Stone, Ice or Mace. Some do it easier than others (+Def aura in Cold, Storm, and of course, FF) but it's possible for anyone. What Sonic gives is solid mez protection and a chance to build up some solid resists (especially with Tough). You could even go down a different path to build up Ranged Def, take a resist shield in the epic and hard cap s/l and have strong resists for whatever else your epic covers. No other controller secondary can do this. With that, you can focus on your primary powers, without worrying about being mezzed (sleeps excepted of course) or hardly being hit and, when hit, it's like a pin-*****. It also makes you a solid contributor on speed end-game tfs. This is where "My mezzes are my defense" don't work, especially on speed LGTF. I'll stop with "what Sonic can do for me" and not get into its team buff/debuff contributions, which I think are under-rated too, and again, are quite good for speed tfs (buff and run). |
Hey be a contrarian.
I'm perfectly ok with that. I wanted to know why people like (or dislike) it and what it works well with but my own experience - and clearly judging by this thread, that's not a unique position - is that it's lacking. You may have a point about the resists, but it surely didn't feel like it to me. I actually found the whole experience pretty tedious but I am learning, having played other Illusionist that Ill/ doesn't universally work with everything - but most control sets are like that.
I'd like to give it another go, maybe, if I could be convinced it has some viability, but one thing you've not said here is what you'd pair it with and why, and I'd be interested in seeing that response from you
Thelonious Monk
I'm with the majority here, Sonic is really, really boring. I'm just about finished with my Earth/Sonic and I can safely say that I rolled my eyes the entire way to 50. Tanks endurance, more pseuo-pets for me to summon, and I am underwhelmed with the -res. Aside from the concept, I really should have rolled /Therm.
going back to my other thread here http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=251043
regarding my Illusion/Sonic I was wondering what primaries go well with it. I've got a couple of Mind/ trollers and they are not strong but can lock down most stuff, even AVs - but with no pet, soloing would be a nightmare.
A pet seems like a good idea, for example hanging sonic rings on Rocky might work or even one of the Buzz twins or Frostie...
Thelonious Monk