Mastermind xx/Sonic - pocket comparison to xx/FF

[egoprovince]

I'm not seeing a lot posts on /Sonic masterminds.  I'm guessing that's because they're very similar to /FF.  Could anyone correct me on this?

 

I know FF is +def and Sonic is +res for buffs and bubbles.  But hey, i'm toying with a build idea for Demons/Sonic and wondering how bad a choice that would be.

[Shoulung]

Demon/sonic will make it easier to cap your resistance, but I’d go thugs just because you have a minion that will reliably go into melee combat (T3 tank) to keep mobs in your-res toggle. If that’s not one of the main powers you’re picking the set up for, then you might consider thermal instead, as it’s a more complete all around set with a heal and quick recharging debuffs. All sorts of ways to skin the cat though.

Edited November 12, 2019 by Shoulung
Victim of autocorrect

[Tigress]

I would agree with Thugs being ideal, or (if you are so inclined) Beastmastery, while often laughed about as the black sheep of mastermind sets, might honestly not be a bad choice either. Both of these sets have the advantage of having some defense in addition to their inborn damage resistance and you would get some pretty survivable pets. Your lack of healing however will become apparent sooner than later, thats why a lot of potential Sonic Masterminds opt for Thermal instead. Their resistance buffs are lower, but they bring an array of healing powers to a team that is only dwarfed by Empathy, Pain, or (arguably) Nature.

Edited November 12, 2019 by Tigress

[Apparition]

My first character on Homecoming is a Thugs/Sonic MM.  He's long been level 50+3 and all tricked out.  It's a fun combination.  Like @Tigress pointed out, the lack of a heal is the one (very) noticeable hole.  However, if you plan on only playing level 45+ content, you can plug that hole with the Rebirth Radial Destiny.  

[Demon Shell]

7 hours ago, egoprovince said:

I'm not seeing a lot posts on /Sonic masterminds.  I'm guessing that's because they're very similar to /FF.  Could anyone correct me on this?

 

I know FF is +def and Sonic is +res for buffs and bubbles.  But hey, i'm toying with a build idea for Demons/Sonic and wondering how bad a choice that would be.

I can see why you might think that.

 

Defense, as a survival stat, can in many cases be taken in isolation. As long as you only get hit occasionally, you don't need healing/regen.

 

Resistance doesn't operate the same way. As a fight wares on, you will be mezed, debuffed, and your health will slowly go down. These things mean that, at a minimum, you will be fighting at reduced effectiveness due to the debuffs. You might even need to Rest between fights.

 

This makes resistance a more dangerous, albeit more consistent, survival stat than defense. But, that consistency also means resistance responds to heals (and often debuffs) better than defense does.

 

A Mastermind, with their pets in Defensive/Follow, will damage split with their pets. On those occasions where defense fails and you get hit, you'll take less damage due to the split. This makes defense more reliable on Masterminds than for most other ATs.

 

Resistance on Masterminds functions in much the same way (damage split, but the amount being split is less), but it only functions that way for you. While all of this is going on, your pets can still be AoEd. When you and your pets have a high defense, damage is rare for your entire team. When dealing with resistance, if your pets are too close, they'll constantly take damage, be debuffed, and mezed from AoEs.

 

For defense, that means that if your pets are too close to you, then sometimes they'll be hit twice (once from the damage split, and once from the attack hitting them as well). And that might, on occasion, kill some of them outright. With resistance, if your pets are too close to you, they will most likely be hit twice. And if so, without any healing, they will die very fast.

 

That doesn't mean /Sonic is bad on MMs, but they do have to be more careful with positioning.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Demon Shell
Clarification

[Nyghtmaire]

The benefit to necro/sonic is that, after the level 32 upgrade, your pets have a self-heal, extending their time before catastrophic failure. It’s not perfect, and positioning is still critical as @Demon Shell says above. With the +res procs added in (+35 max), the individual shields, and the resistance bubble, your pets are quite hardy (when -hit and +def procs are added in). Getting the mastermind’s defense at least within one defensive skittle (32.5), a necro/sonic is quite tanky with the help of bodyguard mode. You’re own healing can be addressed with either Life Drain or the medicine pool. 

 

In addition, the grave knights are excellent anchors for both Disruption Field and Sonic Repulsion (with the KD proc). With the Overwhelming Force proc in the zombies, it’s like 4 marauding bowling balls in a mass of pins. Make a circle around your victims. Stand at the edge of Supremacy range, the Lich 90 degrees around the circumference to catch the spawn in its cones, and send the rest into the scrum. Most of the time, it works!

[Hedgefund]

I have a Beasts/Sonic and the Lionesses make a good "fire and forget" target for Disruption.  I did go pretty deep into Medicine (aids self/other and field medic).

 

As to the OP's question if it's a bad choice, I'd say no, Demons/Sonic should work quite well.  They heal each other enough so that you don't have to be super quick to react to damage taken.  Take a whip attack or 2 and you can REALLY lay down the -res.