Sonic/Storm thoughts?

[Sweetriver1983]

Hi all, trying to resurrect a themed character from Live, as a Sonic/Storm that I created but never really leveled. Concept is kind of a magic/banshee, but starting to second guess /Storm.

 

Anyone try this combo or have any advice for a build? It seems like I would have to slot a few of those KB>KD IOs, and not really sure what else /Storm is contributing aside from the powers looking cool. Should i abandon for /Sonic or is/Dark an option? 

[Seigmoraig]

/Dark is definitely a great choice full of debuff goodness. Debuff, especially -regen and -tohit is extremely powerful when fighting AV type enemies. My first 50 on live was a /Dark MM and I loved every minute of it

 

Personally, I don't really like /Storm, the single target heal combined with the need for KB>KD in half of your powers turns me off.

[Darkir]

So in terms of power and self sufficiency I would not go Sonic/Storm. Thematically what about a Sonic/Dark? I believe you could make a build that was r/m softcapped and you'd have tar pit which is always great.

 

Edit: lol, Seimoraig beat me to it by seconds.

 

Edit 2: Oh! One more thing, do you have your heart set on corruptor? I think a defender might work better with a Dark/Sonic powerset due to the higher debuff values in sonic.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Darkir

[Sweetriver1983]

Thank you guys for the quick responses. Honestly, not necessarily bound to Corrupter (never made one so thought i would), but theme is more important to me. I honestly kind of forget that you can customize colors on powers, so i can make /Dark look white so that works and would be pretty cool.

 

Any other big benefits going defender? Is it just better power synergy? I think I may need to look into that further. 

[Seigmoraig]

Defender gets the bigger debebuff values but corrupter will deal significantly more damage with their higher base damage values (.750 vs .650) and scourge crits
Personal preference for me is towards Corrupter because I find it more fun to play since you get your damage set as primary

[Darkir]

3 hours ago, Seigmoraig said:

Defender gets the bigger debebuff values but corrupter will deal significantly more damage with their higher base damage values (.750 vs .650) and scourge crits
Personal preference for me is towards Corrupter because I find it more fun to play since you get your damage set as primary

So this is true for most corruptor sets, but with sonic it is far more debatable. Let's assume you can hold 4 debuffs on a target (shriek, scream, shout, howl), on a corruptor thats -60% res and on a defender its -80% res. let's say on a corruptor shout will do around 75 dmg and on a defender this will do 65 dmg. Now we add the debuffs, on a corruptor shout will do 120 dmg at -60% res (75x1.6) and a defender will do 117 (65x1.8). Not very different. Now if you add in the fact that you are on a team, the defender will win for sure in overall team DPS, but the defender will win solo too due to vigilance giving a 30% more dmg buff at all times versus the corruptors scourge which we can generally say is around 18-27% dmg depending on what you are fighting. The only time a corruptor will win with sonic blast agasint a defender is against an AV or GM because they are the only things with large enough health pools to make scourge beat vigilance solo. Added to this is the fact that the defender will also get better modifiers on powers, making softcapping ranged and melee defense easily obtainable and you will also get more dmg buffs out of amplify and soul drain. The build that I've made with a Sonic/Dark/Dark defender has soul drain almost up permanently, so this does matter. The only other thing to consider is the damage buff cap (400% for defenders and 500% for corruptors). At the damage cap a corruptor will of course do more dmg, but its harder to get there on a corruptor and on a team where this is easily achieved with a kin friend the extra -20% res debuff will be more valuable by far. For these reasons, I consider Sonic Blast to be a defender set. Here is a defender Dark/Sonic/Dark build I worked out quickly that has melee/ranged def softcapped, hardcapped s/l res, perma hasten, and close to perma soul drain. I did not take scream as well because I wouldn't plan to solo with a sonic blast defender and therefore keeping an AV at -60% res is enough for me considering I'd need to heal and do other things.

 

Build:

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.3
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(3), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(3), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(5), Prv-Heal(5), Prv-Absorb%(7)
Level 1: Shriek -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(13), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15)
Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Darkest Night -- HO:Enzym(A)
Level 6: Howl -- Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(A), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Rgn-Dmg(43), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Rgn-Knock%(45), Ann-ResDeb%(48)
Level 8: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 10: Maneuvers -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(11), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(11), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(13), RedFrt-Def(37), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(42)
Level 12: Shadow Fall -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(36), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), RedFrt-Def(37), RedFrt-EndRdx(40), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(45)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(21), RedFrt-Def(25), RedFrt-EndRdx(27), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(27), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(42)
Level 16: Shout -- SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBst-Dmg/Rchg(17), SprDfnBst-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), SprDfnBst-Rchg/Heal%(21)
Level 18: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Amplify -- GssSynFr--Build%(A)
Level 22: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(23), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(23), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), GldArm-3defTpProc(31)
Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33), LucoftheG-Def(34), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(34), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(34), Ksm-ToHit+(42)
Level 26: Shockwave -- SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg(A), SprVglAss-Dmg/Rchg(29), SprVglAss-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 28: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 30: Tactics -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(33)
Level 32: Siren's Song -- SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprVglAss-Rchg/+Absorb(36)
Level 35: Dark Consumption -- PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(A)
Level 38: Dreadful Wail -- Arm-Dmg/Rchg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Arm-Acc/Rchg(39), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Arm-Dam%(40)
Level 41: Dark Embrace -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(43), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46), UnbGrd-Max HP%(46), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(50)
Level 44: Soul Drain -- SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(A), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(46), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(50)
Level 47: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(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 -- Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 1: Vigilance 
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(9), Mrc-Rcvry+(40)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), PrfShf-EndMod(31), PrfShf-End%(37)
Level 50: Agility Core Paragon 
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion 
Level 0: Task Force Commander 
Level 0: Portal Jockey 
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve 
------------

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Edited September 18, 2019 by Darkir

[natewest1987]

I've tried sonic/storm as a farm build on test.    It was interesting enough to entertain me for a couple nights.    It seemed that if you could layer the -res effects just right, and then hit the ION incarnate, that the damage was absolutely bonkers.    Bonkers enough that the mobs would just disappear at times lol.   I remember one instance of looking at a +4 bosses hp at around 50-60%, having just put on my res debuffs, and using my incarnate literally zapped him into non-existence.    Not sure if that's a bug or how it worked, but there is a lot of fun to be had there for someone with better finesse for optimization than myself.    Another aspect that I liked about Sonic was that all the damage components seemed to do equal damage.   Typically you'll see smashing get resisted, but it was doing just as much damage as the energy component.    It was pretty easy to reliably get the t9 pbaoe to do 700-800 dmg in +4's.   The cone's also are not too hard to deal with. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by natewest1987