Erratic1

Thematically I would expect target with rock hanging off them to be slowed but slow and knockdown combined is probably a bit too much. The animation for Tombstone is awesome. Is it me, or does the damage on Shatter seem a bit high?* * Does seismic pressure increase damage? Edit: Clearly I am too cautious with blasters in actual play. OMG, popping Build Up + Seismic Force then following with Upthrust...its Geyser with rocks!

I would not disagree with any of that.

Having never tired Assault Rifle on a blaster, I could not say. I am definitely saying Sonic is a shining star or a top performer, just I do not think it (a) is near so bad as people make it out to be and (b) it does actually up damage for the group the Sonic blaster is with--which is worth something (at least to some people). But I am unusual in that for my, "push button, deliver damage" needs I would tend towards one of the melee ATs and for ranged I need a bit more entertainment. That my explain why it looks like Sonic/TA will be only the second Blaster I have taken to 50 (if I can get in four more levels on the character)--he's more defender/controllerish than I would expect out of a blaster and there is wicked fun in slowing a bunch of mobs with Oil Slick and then setting the entire lot not only on fire but debuffing their resistance at the same time.

I think another thing to consider is the "standard test" only looks at using the powerset's powers (at least I think that is the case....been a while since I read that thread). If so it is -=NOT=- actual gameplay. As noted upthread, the resistance debuff from Sonic benefits the other damaging powers the Sonic blaster has--what is in their secondary and epic power sets.

I am pretty sure actual gameplay would be what is the most true. https://imgur.com/jvjBu5A I was not working with a timer so it seems to me starting damage on the Sonic section a second late is actually pretty amazing. Correspondingly Sonic finishes dealing with its pair of equal level yellow and white opponents a second later than fire. One might figure that for such a horribly low damage set it might have taken longer.

Proof of what?

Somehow missed the thread at the time, but still replying.... A chunk of being able to stomp on +4/8 is getting your level shift(s) as it drops the relative level of your opponents. Not exactly the answer you were looking for I know, but its part of the equation. As for an actual build, I will in no way suggest that what I am doing is the end all, be all of SS/Bio building but when I am in a, "I don't want to think about it...I just want to punch things until they drop mood" I do turn to my SS/Bio and he does satisfy. I do not have his current build saved in Mid's, but its not far off from the revised build I am posting: I would also add that there are some "best practices" that help with surviving nasty situation, like popping Parasitic Aura (even as oddly slotted as I have it) when you run into a suitably large crowd of nasties. Ablative DNA Siphon are your reactive, "Oh crap!" buttons but Parasitic Aura is meant to stop you from getting to, "Oh crap!"

I play more than one AT so I understand well what one AT find annoying that another does and adjust my play on a particular AT to not do the annoying thing. As example, when playing my controller I will watch after a melee enters a spawn until whatever portion of a spawn uses its ranged attack then maneuvers forward then use control so they are all within the AoE range of the melee. Typically means waiting about 3 seconds. Conversely, when dealing with a controller who locks things down immediately (like last night while I was playing my Stalker) I accept that my AoE attacks are going to be largely wasted and try to find opportunities to fit them in where I can, mostly be trying to arrive to the spawn first and get in one good burst of AoE damage.

I am thinking its about 20% of that and that you get a chunk more from selling enhancements you've found along the way. But its been a while since I did the natural run up through those levels.

Likewise. I run double xp until 20ish, preferably running DFB (once), Posi 1, and Posi 2. The influence you'd gain at those levels is minimal and I gift my characters 1 million inf from an established character at that point, which is more than sufficient to get them a base of SOs upon which to rely.

So you're saying that the DoTs which Fire gets are meaningless because they never have a chance to do anything? If that suits you fine. I would perhaps turn the difficulty up and, I don't know, get more experience, a faster ride, and more challenge.

The point was that if you do not like the damage you will know that well before level 32. What I wrote was in response to, "You have to wallow through horrible attacks just to get to 32?" As for DPA, let's compare...say to Energy Blast, which I have not heard anyone complaining about. Shriek: 44.24 vs Power Bolt: 52.66 Well, 52.66 is 19% higher DPA than 44.24. Oh wait...Shriek applies a 13% resistance debuff which lasts for 8.5s. If you were only using Shriek and no other attack you would after two uses, even respecting recharge and cast time, maintain a 26% debuff meaning you would effectively be at 55.74 DPA--a tad bit higher than 52.66. Of course your other Sonic attacks apply debuffs so more practically you could use those instead of standing around with your thumb....errr..... Scream: 44.69 vs Power Blast: 55.52 55.52 is 24% greater than 44.69 but again two applications of sonic attacks with debuffs before its use negates that difference. Howl: 20.21 vs Energy Torrent: 45.5 A 125% greater DPA for Energy Torrent is not really going to be made up for by resistance debuffs. Still, it does apply a 13 resistance% debuff which lasts for 9.83 seconds. Shout: 45.67 vs Power Burst: 59.1 The powers are gained at different tiers but that is the nature of comparing different sets...you do not necessarily get comparable powers at the same levels. Power Burst is 29.4% ahead of Shout in raw terms and that is again well within the realm of being negated by the application of two previous sonic attacks which deal resistance debuffs. So Sonic does not look to me to be in that horrible a position. You might argue that needing to prime the pump with two previous attacks to come up to where other sets are at still leaves Sonic horribly behind but that ignores that primary sets are not the only means by which a blaster can do damage. In particular secondary sets deal damage and sometimes with higher DPA than powers in the primary set. So whenever one of those powers is used after the use of sonic attacks they do not keep pace with where they would have been with another primary set other than Sonic, they exceed where they would have been. Shriek->Scream->Electron Shackles: (55.25+82.58*1.13+71.95*1.26)/(1.188+1.848+1.32) = 54.92 vs Power Bolt->Power Blast->Electron Shackles: (62.56+102.6+71.95)/(1.188+1.848+1.32) = 54.43 So Shriek+Scream+Electron Shackles deals the same damage as Power Bolt+Power Blast+Electron Shackles over the same animation time when you factor in the real damage that is going to be dealt and not just raw damage listed for the powers ignoring that resistance debuffs mean something.

Echoing Bill, I played with a Bio/Staff Tanker last week and watching her take down groups was incredible.

The line I quoted in my post spoke about doing considerably more than one.

Unslotters? Respec pulls every enhancement out of your sockets for free. I do that when swapping to a set IO build and save the basic IOs for my next few characters.

Record the animation the use an editor to pull out the frame you want. 🙂

Is there a reason you are not taking Build Up? While Weave does benefit every Defense entry, shifting the Shield Wall enhancement you have in Weave to Environmental Modification gives slightly better F/C/E/N values at the admitted expense of S/L/P but F/C/E/N resistances are considerably lower than your S/L resistances so they probably warrant the better coverage. But if Shadow Meld is your emergency salvation on Defense, its all kinda window dressing. I would be concerned about not being at 75% S/L Resistance as a Bio scrapper, though if Regen/Absorption are covering you sufficiently then it comes down to a matter of playstyle. Still, I have to believe Absorption and Regen would go further with more resistance. Edit: I fooled around and made some minor shifts to get an honest perma-Hasten, less downtime on Shadow Meld, and better S/L resistances. Also leaves you with a spare slot.

I run an SS/Bio brute and yeah, I took Cross Punch and fully slotted it because it provided a second AoE attack to a powerset lacking a damaging second AoE. As goes Super Speed, while it may not fit your natural theme, one perk Experimentation's Speed of Sound has over Super Speed is Jaunt for dealing with verticality issues. Will take a look at the build in Mid's after I convert the link to a data chunk. --- Edit: If you are not shooting for double Rage (which no longer avoids the crash in any event) you might be better served by moving a slot and the Recharge Reduction in it to Hasten. That way you are only about 8 seconds short of perma-Hasten instead of the 15s you'd be short with only 2 Recharge Reductions in Hasten. Also, Invisibility does not look like its legally placed.

How did I never notice that? In any event you should also still be getting rolling resistance debuffs on your targets as well. So definitely there is self benefit.

Okay, tested it: So as long as you're continuing to attack you're repeatedly applying overlapping damage buffs to yourself ON TOP OF lowering the target's resistance to damage.

Sonic attacks both boost self damage and lower target's resistance and do so for 5-9 seconds depending on the attack. I will have to go test that in game now with the combat monitor (the damage boost).

I didn't think you could put ATOs in secondary powers.

Not sure if you're from the US, and if so, if you're familiar with the fast food franchise Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppe. Their fish dishes are usually served with a bed of crumbly batter pieces which result from disassociated batter coming loose or falling into the fryer. Urban legend is that anything can be used as the nucleus of what will become a crispy crumble. While I will not go into some of the things that are claimed to have served as a nucleus, perhaps it is best to think of Diantane's posts as the equivalent--something which might be boiled away by subsequent posts but which leaves behind a crispy, crumbly discussion which people like.

The thing that becomes grating is the repeated foghorn sounds of the set...and yet my current blaster project is Sonic/TA.

Shriek, Scream, Howl, Shockwave, and Shout are all available by level 8 and form the backbone of dealing damage with the set. You should (a) know by level 8 if those are going to be sufficient for your primary damage dealing and (b) probably not rely on the longest recharge power of the set as your primary damage tool.