I also see alot of recommendations for Power Boost, now the duration in mids says 15 seconds...so if i hit Power Boost then Farsight would the added defense boost only apply for 15 seconds or while the power is active?
Quote:
It will apply for the duration of Farsight. Basically when you activate a click power like Farsight it calculates the total enhancement value to use including buffs like Power Boost and then applies that to the power for the duration. Toggle powers get recalculated every tick however.
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Originally Posted by StupidlySmart
I also see alot of recommendations for Power Boost, now the duration in mids says 15 seconds...so if i hit Power Boost then Farsight would the added defense boost only apply for 15 seconds or while the power is active?
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Shockwave is great even without the OF proc.
It has 100% chance to do Knockback, unlike Energy Torrent (60%) or Explosive Blast (50%) and other mob-scatterers.
It does decent damage unlike Gale, and recharges much faster than most AoEs.
If you ever want to learn how to use knockback without too much consequence, this is the power to do it with. The worse thing that happens is you knock enemies out of range of the next Shockwave or Howl.
What is up with all the pooh-poohing of Siren's Song?
You may use it less on a team, but it can still be a useful power on teams because there are invariably spare mobs that nobody is fighting/controlling who are off on the sides, accidental pulls from directions the group is not facing, and sometimes no desire even by the tank to face the alpha strike from certain groups. In each of those situations Siren's Song has a role to play. Add too that it comes with a default duration which is quite lengthy.
Of course the ultimate guide to which Sonic powers you should take depends on your concept of how your character works and the powerset you pair with it. In my case, playing a Kinetic/Sonic Defender, sleeping a spawn is a prelude to making use of Fulcrum Shift, Siphon Speed, Transference, and whatever else then becomes safe to apply. Look at your other powerset and consider what powers you can leverage synergy from.
Under construction
Try this.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Mutation Defender
Primary Power Set: Time Manipulation
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Temporal Mending
- (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
- (3) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
- (3) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (5) Doctored Wounds - Heal
- (5) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
- (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
- (19) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
- (19) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
- (21) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (21) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (A) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff
- (7) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance
- (7) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance
- (9) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Recharge
- (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
- (27) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
- (29) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
- (29) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (37) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)
- (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
- (37) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
- (39) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
- (39) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (39) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
- (9) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
- (11) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (11) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (13) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold
- (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
- (13) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
- (15) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
- (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
- (15) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
- (17) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (17) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
- (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
- (40) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
- (42) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
- (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
- (46) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
- (46) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
- (48) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (48) Decimation - Chance of Build Up
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (43) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge
- (43) Gift of the Ancients - Defense
- (46) Gift of the Ancients - Defense/Recharge
- (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff
- (27) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge
- (37) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
- (40) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance
- (40) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance
- (48) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (23) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (23) Gift of the Ancients - Defense
- (25) Gift of the Ancients - Defense/Endurance
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (25) Recharge Reduction IO
- (42) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff
- (A) Accuracy IO
- (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
- (31) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection
- (31) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
- (31) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge
- (33) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
- (33) Reactive Armor - Resistance
- (A) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
- (33) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
- (34) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
- (34) Doctored Wounds - Heal
- (34) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
- (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
- (36) Gift of the Ancients - Defense
- (36) Gift of the Ancients - Defense/Endurance
- (A) Obliteration - Damage
- (42) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
- (43) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (50) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (50) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
- (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge
- (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
- (45) Reactive Armor - Resistance
- (A) Pacing of the Turtle - Chance of -Recharge
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Accuracy IO
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
- (A) Unbounded Leap - +Stealth
Level 2: Rest
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
Level 2: Swift
- (A) Flight Speed IO
- (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
- (50) Miracle - +Recovery
- (A) Jumping IO
- (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
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Code:
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Am I too late to throw in a vote for Rad/Rad? Hard for you to get hit, hard to miss once you hit, you get almost as much love as a kin on teams, and you even get a bit of control for good measure too. Mine was my first alt to break 20 and first to hit 50 and it'll only get better once the crashless nukes and perma-snipe kick in.
Blood Widow Ricki * Tide Shifter * T-34 * Opposite Reaction * Shaolin Midnight * ChernobylCheerleader
I've got a sort of on topic question; does Heat Loss break sleep? I'm assuming yes, but I was curious to check my assumption.
Heat Loss doesn't deal damage, right? If not then it shouldn't wake foes.
I am likely to go ahead and go the Cold/Sonic route.....as i stated earlier i try not to repeat so i can max as many sets as i can through different AT's...maybe in the future tho i will change my mind, if i find i truly love the set i just like to have different options for different content my SG runs.... so i do have a fire/rad troller, and beast/time mm, so rad and time are out and i have a fire/kin corr, so kins out, but i wish i would have realized that non dmg dealing powers dont awake baddies from sleep thats awesome....must figure this out....glad i spurred such a discussion loving all the recommendations so far...
You've probably already made your choice but I'm going to throw in my two cents and hope you don't charge a late fee.
Cold Primary is OK but it has three issues. No Heal for anyone (although you can slot the defender ATO for a bit), it's a bit late blooming (your best debuffs come at high levels), the shields only work on OTHER people, and some people may complain that the ice shields looks annoying or interferes with their graphics.
Time is really good, but it's effects aren't really very visible. This is totally subjective, I know I'm affecting the battle, but time doesn't make me FEEL like I'm doing as much as a dark or storm toon. Time can also make it really hard to skip a power because everything is pretty good, which can make some builds tight. Although the heals are great!
Dark Primary is what I'd recommend to you. Every power feels like you're doing something dark, not just "debuffing". Enemies slow down, get stuck in tar, tremble in fear, or are frozen solid! The heal is annoying because it has to hit but it is an AWESOME aoe heal that heals you also! The fluffy pet when you finally pop it out is more useful than most of the tier 3 mastermind pets! Last but not least, there is no other non-incarnate power in the game that matches the feeling of turning a failing rikti raid or even a failing incarnate trial around by popping howling twilight and rezzing 7 (or more on a league?) team mates all at once. You should make a dark. (Also I didn't see Dark as a previously chosen set, but I might have missed it)
Secondary power I have to second the other people and say go sonic. the -res debuff is good from level 1 and only gets better. The noises can be annoying, but there are ways to fix that. (What the heck is up with the train whistle? "My super power is I swallowed a train whistle!")
Right! I'm not sure why I wrote all this because it's a wall of text that nobody will read, but I feel better somehow.
haha i must say i truly enjoy the "i swallowed a train whistle" aspect of it....yeah I hear you on dark...it is a great set....my best and favorite support toon i own right now is my ill/dark troller....truly unstoppable.....soo.....thats that....this whole thread i must say is really helping me to understand defenders alot more....and i am glad for that....and honestly, it seems alot are vacant from the game now, i get some every now and again but not as common as say corrs or trollers.....
Edit: No late fee charges here....and the good thing is work has been keeping me so busy last couple weeks that i now have a lot of time to analyze this and think about it, unfortunately really no time to play, hoping that changes by this weekend and hoping to roll me a Fender on saturday....WEEEE!!
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Not just any train whistle, a radioactive soaked whistle that was made of unobtainum forged by Zues and tempered in fire of Hades and then cooled in the well of the furies.
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Originally Posted by insomniac
(What the heck is up with the train whistle? "My super power is I swallowed a train whistle!".
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Dreaded Wail hits things freakin' hard.. i like to hit things freakin' hard... so.. id go Wail... SAVE THE WAILS!!!! - Solar_Lunata
Quote:
Since you won't get 95% defence from enhancements but rather something like 57% (barring any Alpha slot) due to defence being on enhancement schedule B, the PBU'd Farsight yields about 32% defence instead of 36.66%. Still, it is really easy to soft-cap with minimal investment in IO's. |
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Shriek, Scream and Howl are indeed your key attacks in Sonic although some of the other attacks are borderline. Shockwave offers an additional AOE attack if you slot it with the KB3KD IO, it's not great damage-wise but it does have a large area and if you use it after Howl it'll benefit from the resistance debuff (as well as giving enemies another stack of it). Shout is nice as a strong attack but the cast time is stupidly long which is why a lot of people skip it.
Siren's Song is a great power for soloing but isn't much use on a team, so whether you take it will depend on your preferences. Amplify and Dreadful Wail aren't that great now but I would definitely pick them up in I24. In the case of Amplify the change to PPM mechanics for procs means that if you slot it with a Gaussian: Chance for Build Up IO it'll have a 90% change of giving you a 130% damage boost instead of 50%. Combine that with the crashless Dreadful Wail and you've got a strong combo. I don't really care for Fighting on a Defender, I'd much rather take Leadership to help the tema but YMMV. The nice thing about Time though is that if you pick up a Power Boost effect (either Power Build Up, Power Boost or Radial Clarion) and use that right before casting Farsight you can pretty easily soft cap without Fighting. For example PBU has a 98.34% power boost effect so for Farsight you'd get: 12.5% * (1 + 0.95 + 0.9834) = 36.66% Defense. Add in Maneuvers (5% Slotted), Combat Jumping (2.5% unlsotted) and one of the 3% IOs and you can hit the softcap easily. Alternatively it's pretty easy to build a Time for the softcap without Power Boost and then use the Power Boost to get you closer to the Incarnate Softcap. |
If you're a player that's used to tearing up spawns at x8 solo, Sonic blast can be a pain. The lack of AoE is extremely noticable (to me) when running on higher settings. While Time manipulation will allow you to pull off stupid stuff due to being an incredibly strong powerset, it will feel like Sonic blast is keeping you from making use of all that survivability. The so-called "spawn shutdown" from Siren's Song is false advertising; with 10 target cap you will still miss a lot of enemies with it and the rest will be notified of your awareness. The 10 target cap on your only reliable AoE - Howl - makes even a 14 enemy spawn slow to wear down solo. While a more useful nuke is on the horizon, I do feel it's necessary to point out that the lack of AoE in a game that rewards mowing down masses of NPC's can make the combination feel lackluster.
I've had a Dark/Sonic who's languished for several years. She's got a good concept, and I like Defenders. But I had some issues with the combination of the two powersets.
Mainly, both the Dark debuffs and the Sonic attacks are sort of slow-animating, or at least feel like it. To a lesser extent, the single-target orientation of Sonic Blast can make it seem to take even longer. Furthermore, both sets take some set-up to come into their full glory -- the first cycle of Sonic Blasts debuffs resistance for the later blasts, and the Dark powers need to stack up to really come into their own. I can put up with a slowish set if it's good -- and both these sets are good -- but when both sets are slow-starting, it can try one's patience.
Also, and this is just personal, the fact that Dark's to-hit debuffing, while monstrously strong, is (at least until you get Fluffy) divided into two separate powers (Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare), bugged me. As a devoted Storm player, I was used to flooring everything's to-hit with one power (Hurricane) I didn't even have to spend animation time to use (just move near the foes). Having to cast an anchor toggle, wait for it to animate, and cast the cone fear, seemed cumbersome.
But I also had a bad build (pre-Inherent Stamina, for one thing). And the animation times are mostly an issue on large steamrolling teams.
The Summer Event has changed my perception. Because it an only be run about once per day on a given toon, but isn't long, it rewards cycling through your stable of alts, and I brought my Dark/Sonic out to play once more. On the smaller teams, against harder foes, both powersets really shine. Also, I respecced her into a modern, substantially better build (still haven't actually invested in invention sets yet, just plain IOs and SOs). Lastly, she hit 32 and got Dark Servant (Fluffy).
The cumulative effect of these changes has sparked my interest once again, and I can see myself playing her much more frequently now. The responses of teammates have been positive too -- ranging from players who know the sets ("Dark is awesome!") to players who aren't sure why this team worked better ("I thought that guy would be harder, I usually have a lot of trouble with him.")
So put me down as a Dark/Sonic fan too.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
Quote:
Also, if you wait a second or two before firing off Siren's Song, you will get more damage mitigation. Most every player I've seen in this game fires their aoe powers asap leaving them with single target till aoe is up again. If you fire off your Siren's Song during that time, you will get some mitigation out of it in groups. It might be only for a second or two, but that is still an appreciable amount of mitigation. Situational to be sure (rain of powers kills the idea), but it's still useful as a mit. tool. |
Originally Posted by Erratic
What is up with all the pooh-poohing of Siren's Song?
You may use it less on a team, but it can still be a useful power on teams because there are invariably spare mobs that nobody is fighting/controlling who are off on the sides, accidental pulls from directions the group is not facing, and sometimes no desire even by the tank to face the alpha strike from certain groups. In each of those situations Siren's Song has a role to play. Add too that it comes with a default duration which is quite lengthy. |
If not, you still get damage out of it.
Quote:
Yeah that was a complete mistake on my part, thanks for the correction.
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Originally Posted by Evilmeister
Since you won't get 95% defence from enhancements but rather something like 57% (barring any Alpha slot) due to defence being on enhancement schedule B, the PBU'd Farsight yields about 32% defence instead of 36.66%. Still, it is really easy to soft-cap with minimal investment in IO's.
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With sonics lack of aoe, it gets me to thinking... i am sure i am just over analyzing this situation constantly, but we will see what it gets me as the weekend is upon us....i messed with cold/sonic on mids, and am thinking colds not my cup o tea.....leaning towards traps/sonic or storm/sonic again, as it adds to more aoe fun....any thoughts on these combos.. does everyone stay away from Trip Mine and Time Bomb on traps?
Infinity loop!
Trip mine is great, time bomb is an awesome opportunity to pick something else from your primary. Or secondary. ...or pool power.
Quote:
I am so dumb.... I clicked the link like three times ~.~
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Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
Infinity loop!
Trip mine is great, time bomb is an awesome opportunity to pick something else from your primary. Or secondary. ...or pool power. |
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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Yes definitely an infinite loop, this is what i get for posting hastily after work... well its Official, my first defender to have n love n hold is made..a THANK YOU to everyone who helped me get a nice combo going, so far level 4....on my traps/sonic..... maybe when nature affinity comes out another will be born we shall see.... now to find a good build, i got one i am tinkering with, time to scour the boards....!! thanks defender community you guys are great! Even if i do LOOP Infinitely!
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Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
Infinity loop!
Trip mine is great, time bomb is an awesome opportunity to pick something else from your primary. Or secondary. ...or pool power. |
Just stumbled on this thread as I've been tinkering with the idea of a Dark / Sonic as well. Just seems to make sense that the -res of Sonic would mesh nicely with the -res of Tar Patch and all the other monstrous debuffing goodness that Dark offers.
Like the OP I've got a bit of a blind spot with Defenders. I have a single Storm / Elec at lvl 39 (who's been there for years but I just can't bring myself to delete her because I love the concept so much), but other than that I've never found a combo that works (for me).
Reading this through I think my Dark / Sonic idea will definitely see the light tho 
@SteelRat; @SteelRat2
"Angelina my love, I'm a genius!"
"Of course you are darling, that's why I married you. Physically, you're rather unattractive"
http://faces.cohtitan.com/profile/SteelRat
Dark and Sonic are both very good sets. Putting them together couldn't be anything but awesome.
Rolled it and teamed a bit for half an hour last night. Got to just shy of level 5. One thing did cross my mind though, other than the obvious "the focus is on support rather than blasts" aspects of defender game play, is there anything that would make this particular combo more effective on a defender than the reverse combo for a corruptor? I tend to play in small teams (2-4) and solo.
I would imagine this question will raise a collective raising of eyebrows from the defender community, but perhaps part of the reason why I've never really managed to get in to one is that I probably just don't "get" them properly.
@SteelRat; @SteelRat2
"Angelina my love, I'm a genius!"
"Of course you are darling, that's why I married you. Physically, you're rather unattractive"
http://faces.cohtitan.com/profile/SteelRat
If you're using Sonic Blast, not going Defender is going to hurt you. Defs enjoy better -res numbers and without those the set is lowish damage. Play the Def to 15ish and run a Posi 2 (if you had said this a week earlier, I would've said a Summer BB). That first encounter with an AV will make you a believer in how great those sets are together on a Def.
Also, one of the reasons I really like Cold Dom with Sonic Blast is because you can throw out your shields, lay out your debuffs then go to town blasting hard targets. Your focus on a /Sonic Defender is not so much supporting as it is attacking because your stacking -res will support the team best in a lot of situations.
Shout is good to have early on, but if you are building for extreme recharge I would live without it. I pretty much just chain Shriek and Scream on single targets with my Rad/Son.