Hjarki

I thought Force Feedback chance for +recharge in a pseudopet (like Tornado, Lightning Storm, etc.) doesn't buff you, the caster. And it wouldn't benefit Tornado itself. Am I wrong about that? Yes and no. Force Feedback doesn't buff you from the Tornado's damage. However, it does buff you from the Tornado's activation. Due to the relatively long recharge on Tornado, this means it tends to proc almost every activation.

This is a build I've been playing for a while with a great deal of success, so I thought I'd post it for discussion. Build Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Defender Primary Power Set: Storm Summoning Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Leviathan Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: O2 Boost -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(3), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(3), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(5), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(5), NmnCnv-Heal(7) Level 1: Shriek -- Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thn-Acc/Dmg(9), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(11), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11) Level 2: Scream -- Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), Thn-Acc/Dmg(13), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(15), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17) Level 4: Howl -- SprVglAss-Rchg/+Absorb(A), SprVglAss-Dmg/Rchg(21), Ann-Dmg/Rchg(21), Ann-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), Range-I(25) Level 6: Steamy Mist -- Rct-ResDam%(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(25), LucoftheG-Rchg+(27), Rct-Def/EndRdx(27), Rct-Def(29), Ags-Psi/Status(45) Level 8: Freezing Rain -- Slow-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(31) Level 10: Shockwave -- SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg(A), SprVglAss-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Empty(33), Empty(33), Range-I(33) Level 12: Hurricane -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(A), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(34), DarWtcDsp-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(34), DarWtcDsp-Rchg/EndRdx(34) Level 14: Hover -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(40) Level 16: Shout -- SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBst-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprDfnBst-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprDfnBst-Rchg/Heal%(37) Level 18: Super Speed -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 20: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 22: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(37) Level 24: Tactics -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 26: Tornado -- ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(39), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(39), FrcFdb-Rechg%(40), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(40) Level 28: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 30: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 32: Lightning Storm -- Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thn-Acc/Dmg(42), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(43), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43) Level 35: Screech -- Stp-Acc/Rchg(A), Stp-EndRdx/Stun(48), Stp-Acc/EndRdx(48), Stp-Stun/Rng(50), Stp-Acc/Stun/Rchg(50), Stp-KB%(50) Level 38: Dreadful Wail -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(46), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(46), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Obl-%Dam(48) Level 41: Shark Skin -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(43), ImpSki-Status(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(45) Level 44: Hibernate -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 47: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 49: Amplify -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- IntRdx-I(A) Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(17) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), PrfShf-End%(19), PrfShf-EndMod(19) ------------ Powers Not Taken Gale. Redundant with Shockwave. Snow Storm. Knocking fliers from the air is a weakness of the build, but Snowstorm is just too weak to justify taking in my mind. Thunder Clap. Horrible power - MAG 2 PBAoE Stun just isn't very useful. Siren’s Song. The only power not taken from Sonic Blast is simply a casualty of slotting. Siren’s Song really demands 4+ slots (and potentially 6). An argument could be made for taking this instead of Screech and using 5-slot Call of the Sandman coupled with IO Range. However, this would reduce the build’s Ranged Defense by 3.16%. Dealer’s choice - the lost Ranged Defense can easily be made up by an Alpha slot. Pools Flight. Hover is a LotG mule and a useful defensive tool. Leaping. Combat Jumping is another bit of a defense. Leadership. LotG mules and nice benefits with Defender advantage in this pool. Speed. Super Speed is the primary fast movement and additional stealth while Hasten is nearly mandatory on all builds. Replacing Leaping with Fighting and scavenging a few powers elsewhere (Amplify and Assault most likely) would boost defense/resists at the expense of endurance. Patron Pool Leviathan Mastery is chosen for one reason: Hibernate. Because of the way Storm Summoning works, you can start a battle and then just Hibernate through a pile of Freezing Rain/Tornado/Lightning Storm damage. It also provides a self-healing power that works better than Aid Self at keeping you alive. Notes on Slotting Vigilant Assault. Vigilant Assault gives a recharge bonus at 3 slots, so I split it between the two AE powers. Moreover, it’s far better than any actual AE sets. Note that the two unoccupied slots in Shockwave belong to Sudden Acceleration to transform its knockback into knockdown. Frankenslotting the two Cones also allows slotting for Range. Steamy Mist/Shark Skin. Defense/resist sets have a number of useful one-offs and I try to pack in as many as possible. Thunderstrike. The heavy use of this set is for Ranged Defense (3.75% 6-slotted). Otherwise, it's a fairly generic set. Freezing Rain. Slow/Defense Debuff sets just aren't very good, so this ends up with standard IO slotting. With HOs, a slot can be freed up for elsewhere. Health/Stamina. Standard slotting here - most characters should have this. General Techniques For single target, Shriek, Shout, Shriek, Scream is about as simple as it gets. For multi-target, Howl/Shockwave is equally simple. However, it’s somewhat rare I get to run a multi-target rotation because that only comes after Freezing Rain, Tornado, Lightning Storm. For movement, I normally run places via Super Speed (which doubles as my stacking Stealth) and Combat Jumping. If I run across a barrier too high to jump, I Hover over it. It’s not the fastest form of travel, but much of the time I get teleported around anyway. For fighting, I’m always in the air (for the defense bonus and safety of distance). Overall, the build is what I’d term a ‘low recharge’ build. It has no powers that require being made perma and the activation times of the offensive sequence is sufficiently long that it becomes viable at relatively low levels of recharge. However, more recharge will ramp up the effectiveness of abilities like Lightning Storm and Dreadful Wail. One of the benefits of a low recharge build is that it’s also a cheap build - there are no purples involved (although both ATO sets are used), so you can kit it out without spending too much influence. However, it’s a ‘high defense’ build - meaning that significant effort needs to be made to reach the soft cap. While this is much cheaper than trying to push the envelope on recharge, it’s also much narrower. The build focuses exclusively on Ranged Defense since there’s no intention to operate within melee range and powerful tools to ensure that it’s not forced to do so. Incarnate Most of the slots aren’t really all that important either way. It doesn’t really matter what pet you choose, Ion is both thematic and effective, the Destiny is personal preference and philosophically Support Destiny makes sense. The only real choice is the Alpha. In terms of Alpha, Musculature is always an option for every build since being on a team/league tends to solve all other issues. Cardiac will address some potential issues with solo endurance costs while also increasing the range of the Cones. Spiritual and Vigor both buff a wide variety of generally useful attributes. Conclusion This is what I view as a highly effective Defender build. It can both group and solo very effectively. While other players might not fully appreciate what you’re bringing to the team, you’ll find that you’re rarely in a bad team - because you cover so much of what makes a team work. I’m also attempting to give a glimpse into how IO slotting influences the decisions made about a build - an issue often overlooked when players are just looking at comparisons of power sets.

This is really what Corruptors should have been - Melee primary, support secondary. So you could play your Titan Weapons/Kinetics Corruptor. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

I find Time's Juncture to be mostly worthless. The hit debuff is both resistible and meaningless on a character that tends to soft-cap defenses. The slow is replicated by the far more generally useful Distortion Field.

AV resistance to -regen scales with level. So it's a lot more effective at level 30.

I'd make an argument for Kinetics/Dual Pistols. Both Time and Radiation are 'generalist' sets that are primarily used to buff the user rather than the group. This tends to make them poor choices for a Defender, who doesn't really have anything to buff. If you're going to play these sets, you're almost always better off as a Corruptor/Controller. Fire also isn't a particularly good 'Defender' set. While it's the highest damage Blast set, doing high damage in the hands of a Defender is generally less useful than using your Blast set as a form of debuffing/control. The slight hit in personal damage you take is generally made up by taking a more useful set for supporting the team. Dark Blast is just a weak set overall. It's not particularly high damage and the secondary effect isn't all that useful. It's heavy emphasis on Cones (which, other than in unusual circumstances, are terrible) also limits its value. Which leaves aforementioned Kin/DP. Kinetics is a very active set, so you need a Blast set that can accommodate this. Dual Pistols can do so, since most of its best attacks are relatively long recharge. Dual Pistols also has a host of selectable control/debuff options (some of which aren't all that inspiring).

With 75% -regen against an AV, you'll reduce their regeneration by 11.25%. They regenerate 5% of their health every 15 sec. So, in a 3 minute fight, they'd regenerate 60% of their health. If you apply your two debuffs, that drops to 53.25% of their health - the equivalent of a 4.4% increase in damage. However, applying those debuffs will cost you 25% of your dps (from the lost attack opportunities). So I'd argue that the -regen from Time Manipulation will normally be a poor choice - you need a large number of allies who have damage equivalent to yours to justify it. However, about the only time you'll experience that is in a league - which almost certainly has support archetypes who do a significantly better job debuffing than you do. Beam Rifle's debuffs are part of the overall structure of the attack chain. Without doing a comprehensive breakdown, this would likely put Beam Rifle on par with Fire for solo single target dps on an AV/GM. Unfortunately, the nature of the beast is that curtailing a Blaster's personal damage in favor of team support rarely pays off. The archetypes that provide team support are significantly better at it than a Blaster and when you subtract a portion of their damage, it's a much less significant hit to the team's overall dps than it is when you subtract it from a dps archetype.

I'm partial to Dark Affinity. It takes a lot of purple to make it work well, but once you're at that point you're incredibly tanky while also having two area Disorient effects (MAG 2 and MAG 3) and a nice location AE -resist/slow debuff to teleport foes into.

This is the slotting for my Storm/Sonic Defender (Lightning Storm is actually all Sudden Acceleration right now, but Pine's doesn't support that set): Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Defender Primary Power Set: Storm Summoning Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Leviathan Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: O2 Boost -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Heal(3), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(3), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(5), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(5), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(7) Level 1: Shriek -- SprDfnBst-Rchg/Heal%(A), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg(9), SprDfnBst-Dmg/Rchg(9), SprDfnBst-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11) Level 2: Scream -- Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Thn-Acc/Dmg(19), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(21), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21) Level 4: Howl -- SprVglAss-Rchg/+Absorb(A), SprVglAss-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprVglAss-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Range-I(17) Level 6: Steamy Mist -- Rct-ResDam%(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(23), LucoftheG-Rchg+(23), Rct-Def/EndRdx(25), Rct-Def(25), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 8: Freezing Rain -- TchofLadG-%Dam(A), TchofLadG-Rchg/EndRdx(27), AchHee-ResDeb%(29), PcnoftheT-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(29), PcnoftheT-Rng/Slow(31) Level 10: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(50) Level 12: Hurricane -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(A), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(45), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(45), DarWtcDsp-Rchg/EndRdx(46) Level 14: Super Speed -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 18: Hover -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(50) Level 20: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 22: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), DefBuff-I(31), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(43) Level 24: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 26: Tornado -- ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(31), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(33), FrcFdb-Rechg%(33), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(34) Level 28: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(48), BlsoftheZ-Travel(48) Level 30: Snow Storm -- Slow-I(A) Level 32: Lightning Storm -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A), Dvs-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Dvs-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Dvs-Dmg/Rchg(37), Dvs-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Dvs-Acc/Dmg(39) Level 35: Screech -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(36), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37) Level 38: Dreadful Wail -- FuroftheG-ResDeb%(A), FuroftheG-Dam/Rech(39), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(40), Obl-Acc/Rchg(40), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40) Level 41: Shark Skin -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), ImpSki-Status(42), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(42), Ags-Psi/Status(42), UnbGrd-Max HP%(43), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(43) Level 44: Hibernate -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45) Level 47: Tactics -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 49: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 1: Vigilance Level 2: Rest -- IntRdx(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Prv-Absorb%(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(46), Mrc-Rcvry+(48) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(27), EndMod-I(46) ------------ With Water, your life will be a bit more difficult since you need to take a lot more powers from the Blast Set than I did (I took 5/9, Water on a Storm Summoner really demands 8/9). On the other hand, you'll have a lot more powers appropriate to slot Thunderstrike and you'll be less dependent on the ATOs than I am. On the other hand, you really want to FF proc your knockback powers if possible.

Except it doesn't. The problem with Trick Arrow has never been thematic - it's been numeric. Trick Arrow debuffs are simply smaller than what other sets deliver. So why play Trick Arrow when you could play Nature, Poison, Cold, Radiation or Dark - all of which bring the same (or better) debuffing while also bringing a significantly broader toolkit? The last three powers of Cold are arguably better than the entirety of the Trick Arrow toolkit - you get a lot more (effective) -regen, -resist and -damage out of them. Again, numeric problems. A -6.25% to-hit debuff is really weak for a Defender. Contrast with abilities like Fearsome Stare or Spore Cloud which have triple that value. Glue Arrow is almost straight-up worse than Time Distortion. On a 6 minute recharge that can't come close to being made perma. The fact that what you consider the crowning glory of the set is basically a rehash of a Radiation Emission ability that many players don't even take should speak volumes here. The reason for the "you must have healing in your group" message is that if you don't bring the healing, someone else has to - and that generally means you can't fit into the 'support guy' slot. Certainly, on many teams you'll have a plethora of choices healing-wise. But when you're on a team where the only Defender is you, you need to point out that they need to bring another support AT. Trick Arrow gives up an enormous amount to be a pure debuff set, but the tradeoff simply isn't worth it because most of its debuffs are weaker variants of what other power sets get. I can understand people wanting to play an underutilized power set and enjoying it, but let's be realistic about what it actually brings to the table. I'd agree Dark works better as a secondary. On a Corruptor, you don't really lose much in terms of critical features (Tar Patch is essentially the same, the control elements are largely unchanged). Dark Affinity on a Controller is an amazing set - losing Fearsome Stare isn't great, but the +resist/+defense buffs are fantastic. However, even on a Defender, it remains a very strong set. While it has no buffs to let your team run wild, those buffs are rarely as useful as you're making them out to be - people almost never 'gather for...' long duration buffs and short duration buffs don't last long enough. Most buffs provided by support sets also don't remain useful at higher levels and people start capping/soft-capping their abilities via IO sets and incarnate. Where I think Dark truly shines is that, unlike many sets, it enables the Defender to operate independently. On the 'team gone wild' map you're describing, basically what you've ended up with is a buffbot who needs to be revisited every two minutes because they can't operate very effectively alone. Again, heavy defensive buffs are mostly meaningless at the end of the day. They're great in the early levels when players are still developing, but in later levels pretty much the only buff people really need is Fulcrum Shift. Kinetics also has significant -damage debuffing between Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift. And, frankly, -damage debuffing tends to end up being the only one that's important because all the others are resisted so heavily. Empathy is not a damage multiplier, which is the crux of the problem. I think you're looking at a lot of these sets from a relatively low-end perspective. At higher levels, most of your allies will already have the features you think are important. What they need from you is a way to magnify the damage they do, not stay alive - that's the justification for bringing you on the team. I think you can see this in game. People start out with those Tier Three sets and they think "this is the greatest ever" - and, as they level up, it starts becoming less great. They increasingly find the bulk of their power set is superfluous because it gives other players benefits they simply don't need. That's why the early levels tend to be packed with Force Field or Empathy, but the later levels are all those 'tier one' sets I was talking about.

Sonic has - by far - the worst (inherent) single target dps of any Blast set. The stacking -resist debuffs merely bring that up to 'adequate'. Fire Blast will still do more damage solo. Sonic Defenders also tend to 'de-optimize' their single target damage rotation by taking Screech rather than Shout since it boosts the resist debuffing. Fireball and Rain of Fire easily beat anything Sonic has in terms of damage per activation. But they have relatively long recharges. On the other hand, Sonic can relentlessly roll AEs. In essence, you need to compare Fireball/RoF damage per recharge vs. Howl/Shockwave damage per activation - and Fire loses that comparison (badly). However, that's under ideal circumstances. In practice, Cones are much harder to use than target AE and target location effects (and the latter have higher target caps). If you take that into account, your Sonic Defender is probably running about even with a Fire Defender for raw AE damage. In theory, Fire could take Fire Breath, but almost no one ever does.

I pulled the numbers from Pine's: 1.188, 1.848, 2.904, 1.716, 2.508 (the single targets in order, Howl at the end).

One way to look at this is 'debuff time per activation': Shriek: 4.2088 Scream: 3.7879 Shout: 3.4435 Screech: 8.6830 Howl: 3.1898 So if you could have a rotation that was nothing but Screech, you could stack 8.683 * -20% = -173.66 resist. However, a Shriek/Scream/Shriek/Screech rotation would require +374% recharge (a trifle unrealistic). So your best bet is probably Shriek/Scream/Shriek/Shout/Screech which only requires +197% recharge. That second rotation would stack -97.32 resist. In practice, you could probably skip Shout on the "I need time to do something else" basis. You're probably going to be firing off heals (or whatever), so you can simply occupy your time that way. Even if this were not the case, you could simply use Howl. It's not much of a downgrade in terms of debuffing/damage from Shout and you're taking it anyway. On a side note, when people are building, I think they need to remember that Cones virtually demand range. This makes Defender's Bastion ATO a strong choice (+10% global range in its superior version) and explicitly slotting for range for Howl is worthwhile.

In terms of "how will I do at the end of the road?", I'd break it down as follows: Tier One (sets that have a complete toolkit and often can be broadly applied to any other primary/secondary set): Dark Miasma/Affinity, Kinetics, Nature Affinity, Radiation Emission, Time Manipulation Tier Two (sets that have strong components but lack some critical features): Cold Domination, Storm Summoning, Thermal Radiation Tier Three (set that have crippling flaws, dysfunctional mechanics or aren’t as good at their specialty as better overall sets): Empathy, Force Field, Sonic Resonance, Traps, Trick Arrow Note that you can break these into ‘Defender’ and ‘Corruptor’ favored sets based on whether their primary features are more helpful in a primary or secondary set. The more a set relies on non-scaling factors like +recharge, -regen or location AoE, the more it makes sense to take it as a secondary. A set that significantly augments damage (via -resist or +damage) with scaling powers will generally make more sense as a Defender, except if you’re in danger of hitting the +damage cap. Sets that take up large amounts of activation time tend to favor neither but instead work well with Controllers. You can also consider the larger game. For example, I’d argue that Kinetics isn’t a particularly good set for either Corruptors or Defenders because takes too much time away from their Blast sets and requires significant risk to apply its buffs. On the other hand, it works wonderfully for certain Controller builds - which means that if you have a Kinetics on your team, you probably want it to be a Controller. For Blast sets, I break them down into ‘Defender’ and ‘Corruptor’ sets: Defenders: Beam Rifle, Sonic Blast. Corruptors: Fire Blast, Ice Blast, Water Blast. This is really a matter of applying two rules: Defenders look for ancillary features in their blast sets since damage isn't a high priority for them. Corruptors highly prioritize Rain effects due to the way Scourge works. That's why the Ice and Water ultimates are so much better than Inferno. Everything else I would consider ‘flavor’ in the sense that while they may be enjoyable sets, you’re unlikely to pick them for an optimized character.

I think Flame Mastery might work better for you. It gets you Rise of the Phoenix. So you can Fulcrum Shift, Inferno and then - when you inevitably die - Rise of the Phoenix to finish the job.

I don't have a complete build. However, I do have some notes: First, Ice Blast is probably the single most 'Corruptor' set in the game. On the other hand, it's merely average - and extremely late-blooming - as a Defender set. Second, the rotation is difficult to set up. You want to maximize the amount you're using Bitter Ice Blast and Freeze Ray - and you're shackled by the fact that Ice Bolt doesn't have Flares' 2 sec recharge. Even if that were not the case, every power I've mentioned is either 1s or 1.07s activation - meaning you need enormous amounts of recharge reduction. Even slipping in the relatively weak Ice Blast to do Ice Bolt, Bitter Ice Blast, Ice Blast, Freeze Ray still requires a whopping 227% recharge on your BIB. A more realistic rotation might be Ice Bolt, Freeze Ray, Bitter Ice Blast, Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Char, which is only +93% recharge on Ice Bolt but +179% recharge on Char. It also would require fully slotting 5 different single target attacks. Alternatively, you could just take Ice Bolt, Bitter Ice Blast and Freeze Ray - and consume the dead time with the secondary (in an AV fight, you need to Time Crawl/Stop the AV). Third, I'm not sure that Time is the best choice here. While it has a large recharge bonus, it's tough to make perma without access to a decent KB in your rotation. Water Blast is very similar to Ice Blast, although it doesn't have its single target damage.

Any build with Sonic Blast should be a Defender - the debuffs are much larger. However, I wouldn't pair Sonic with Kinetic. Kinetic is just too 'busy' a set and you're not going to have enough time to both focus on a Blast rotation and use Kinetics properly. With a standard Corruptor/Defender build, this just means you're not using your low quality nukes as much - you're losing something, but it's the worst part of your rotation. With Sonic, there are no 'low quality nukes' because all of them are stacking short-term resistance debuffs. So if you're going to build a Sonic Blast Defender, you should pair it with a set that doesn't require much activity during a fight. Leave Kinetics for people like Controllers who have nothing better to do with their time.

I have a discussion of the build. Storm Summoning Gale. KB->KD makes this more practical, but truthfully I think it's a power you should skip if you could. The activation time is too high and the low accuracy Cone nature makes it difficult to use well without spending a lot of spots you'd prefer not to spend. O2 Boost. Dealer's choice here. The power is useless for you and it's only marginally useful in groups. However, many groups will be annoyed at a Corruptor who can't heal or buff at all. Snowstorm. The only reason use for this power is to knock enemies from the air. Whether or not that's a worthwhile use is up to you. Steamy Mist. Take and slot up to reduce endurance and (maybe) increase resist damage. Freezing Rain. This pairs with Whirlpool in primary and should have the same recharge slotting. Otherwise, a couple of slow will push it near the slow cap. Hurricane. End reduction primarily. -hit if you've got the slots. KB->KD doesn't seem necessary here due to the way it gets used. Thunder Clap. Skip. It's slow and only Mag 2. Tornado. Slot like any other recharge-intensive pet. Here, KB->KD and Force Feedback recharge reduction both seem like solid choices. Lightning Storm. It's a big AE damage ability; slot it as such. Water Blast This is where it gets a bit odd due to the nature of Tidal Power and what it does to your rotation. In terms of a pure damage rotation, you can do AB, Dehydrate, AB, WJ, WJ, AB, Dehydrate, WJ. This requires 62% AB, 102% Dehydrate, 136% WJ recharge. Note that you get +50% more healing from Dehydrate if you consume Tidal Power with it, so you won't be healing as optimally as you could (Dehydrate is about 50% more healing when it consumes Tidal Power). More realistically, you can also throw HB into the mix and not waste the second tidal power stack. However, taking all those offensive powers means you can't take both supplemental AE (Whirlpool and Geyser are must have). You can theoretically intermix Gale as your 'delaying tactic' and keep enemies on the ground. The Cone technically does more damage, but Water Burst seems more thematically appropriate and is a lot easier to use/slot. Ordinarily, I'd skip the Aim-style Tidal Forces. However, it makes a bit difference with Geyser and gives you another way to (intermittently) expand out your rotation to maximize damage with the double-tap Water Jet (Tidal Forces + Whirlpool/Dehydrate consumes a few seconds). That means 8/9 powers in primary. 7 of them will ultimately be 6-slotted (Tidal Forces only needs triple recharge): Aqua Bolt. Lean heavy on the recharge here - you need this to be up every other time you activate a power. Hydro Blast. This can be a more conventional damage slotting since you don't need it to recharge nearly as fast. Water Burst. I think heavy recharge works here as well since you'll be using it not only as damage but as knockdown. Whirlpool. You need heavy recharge here to match Freezing Rain. Tidal Forces. Just recharge. Dehydrate. Slot this as an enemy target heal rather than a damage effect. Water Jet. Slot for damage. Geyser. Slot to reduce the recharge as far as practical, then damage. Power Pools I don't see anything particularly necessary here beyond the usuals. Since its an entirely ranged build, Flight seems tempting. However, I don't believe that Hasten is really all that necessary on this build since it lacks many long recharge powers and the basic rotation can only be sped up so far. I like Fire for the Epic.