New powerset suggestion: Sonic Assault (Dominator secondary)

[Shocktacular]

So after seeing Greycat's ideas for a Bone Control set, I thought I'd try my hand at building a set that I've wanted for a while now: Sonic Assault for Dominators.  (I also want Sonic Melee, and I figure this is a good stepping stone.)  For the Melee powers, I envision them as using normal Melee animations with the Sonic Assault ripples emanating from the point of impact.  Green text is my commentaries/asides. Blue text is copied from ParagonWiki.

I know a lot of the newer sets have a "gimmick" (like Savage powersets, Rad Melee, etc.) and I kinda like playing around with those, so I figured I'd give this set one, too:
Resonance:  Attacking with Sonic Assault powers builds stacks of Resonance which increase the -Res that Sonic Assault powers do and slightly increase the damage of all powers.  You may have up to 5 stacks of Resonance.  [Since there's a set named "Sonic Resonance", I'm considering changing the name of this to "Harmonics" or perhaps something else.]

T1:  Scream; copy of the Sonic Attack version [Ranged, Moderate DoT (smash/energy), Foe -Res] Builds 1 stack of Resonance.

 

T2:  Percussive Blow;  single target melee, moderate damage, foe disorient and -res.  Builds 1 stack of Resonance.

 

T3:  Howl; copy of the Sonic Attack version [Ranged(Cone), Medium DMG (smash/energy), Foe -Res(All)].  Builds 1 stack of Resonance.

T4:  Reverberating Strike;  melee TAoE, high damage, foe disorient and -res.  Consumes up to 2 stacks of Resonance for increased damage disorient duration.
 

T5:  Harmonize; self +special and adds -res to all powers that target enemies. Builds 1 stack of Resonance [I considered having it build more stacks, but I thought that might be a bit too much.]

 

T6:  Shout; copy of the Sonic Attack version [Ranged, Heavy DMG (smash/energy), Foe -Res(All)].  Builds 1 stack of Resonance.

T7:  Thunderous Stomp; PBAoE, high damage, foe knockdown and -res.  Consumes up to 3 stacks of Resonance for increased damage.

T8:  Acoustic Field; ranged Location AoE, minor damage, foe disorient and strong -res.  Neither builds nor consumes Resonance.

T9:  Sonic Boom; close-ranged TAoE, extreme damage to target with moderate damage to nearby targets, foe disorient and -res.  Consumes up to 4 stacks of Resonance for increased damage and disorient duration.

Please let me know what you think.  This is a first attempt, but I tried to roughly follow other Dominator secondaries in terms of types of powers and damage levels. 

[I'm still not clear on the damage descriptions' magnitude relative to each other (for example, is Heavy damage more or less than High damage?).  Is there a guide or outline somewhere?  I've been poking around ParagonWiki, but I haven't found anything yet.]

Edited July 23, 2020 by Shocktacular

[kiramon]

I'm not quite sure if its' meant to be a ranged, melee, or something focused set... I'd probably harmonize (hehe) that a bit more. 

 

That being said, what if your "stacks" were like,

"This attack builds a stack of Dissonance. When you reach 3 stacks of Dissonance, your next attack releases a cacophony of sonic energy around your target, stunning (mag 2) and reducing the resistance to all damage of nearby enemies." Remove the stack consuming on all abilities except at cast 4. USe the graphic of music notes from Sirens ^_^

 

Then you can start removing some of the -res in the attacks in favor of some other effects. 

Scream (should actually be Shriek at moderate damage), Howl, Shout can keep theirs.  Remove it from the melee attacks. Turn Harmonize into  +deal extra damage as energy, +3 stacks (Copying Water blast for stacks, Martial for +damage). Would to see Sonic boom as a -Resist variant of Psychic Shockwave, personally.

 

Something like this would give you 

• Synergy with Stun
• A hybrid between Melee/Ranged
• Harmonize would benefit from its own abilities' -Resist

Anyways, the issue I have with Sonic is that it inherently suffers from reduced damage due to its effect (a tax, if you will); as such, it does innately lower damage... which works well on sets that are not about doing damage. Since a Dominator is very much a 'be one of the ones doing damage' AT, it'll probably work out as well as Sonic on blaster (hint: it doesnt 😞 )

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by kiramon

[MoisesG]

i am all for new powersets, gives me more toys to play with.

 

2 hours ago, kiramon said:

Anyways, the issue I have with Sonic is that it inherently suffers from reduced damage due to its effect (a tax, if you will); as such, it does innately lower damage... which works well on sets that are not about doing damage. Since a Dominator is very much a 'be one of the ones doing damage' AT, it'll probably work out as well as Sonic on blaster (hint: it doesnt 😞 )

Unfortunately, i have to agree with this statement. 😞

[Saiyajinzoningen]

9 hours ago, Shocktacular said:

So after seeing Greycat's ideas for a Bone Control set, I thought I'd try my hand at building a set that I've wanted for a while now: Sonic Assault for Dominators.  (I also want Sonic Melee, and I figure this is a good stepping stone.)  For the Melee powers, I envision them as using normal Melee animations with the Sonic Assault ripples emanating from the point of impact.  Green text is my commentaries/asides. Blue text is copied from ParagonWiki.

I know a lot of the newer sets have a "gimmick" (like Savage powersets, Rad Melee, etc.) and I kinda like playing around with those, so I figured I'd give this set one, too:
Resonance:  Attacking with Sonic Assault powers builds stacks of Resonance which increase the -Res that Sonic Assault powers do and slightly increase the damage of all powers.  You may have up to 5 stacks of Resonance.  [Since there's a set named "Sonic Resonance", I'm considering changing the name of this to "Harmonics" or perhaps something else.]

T1:  Scream; copy of the Sonic Attack version [Ranged, Moderate DoT (smash/energy), Foe -Res] Builds 1 stack of Resonance.

 

T2:  Percussive Blow;  single target melee, moderate damage, foe disorient and -res.  Builds 1 stack of Resonance.

 

T3:  Howl; copy of the Sonic Attack version [Ranged(Cone), Medium DMG (smash/energy), Foe -Res(All)].  Builds 1 stack of Resonance.

T4:  Reverberating Strike;  melee TAoE, high damage, foe disorient and -res.  Consumes up to 2 stacks of Resonance for increased damage disorient duration.
 

T5:  Harmonize; self +special and adds -res to all powers that target enemies. Builds 1 stack of Resonance [I considered having it build more stacks, but I thought that might be a bit too much.]

 

T6:  Shout; copy of the Sonic Attack version [Ranged, Heavy DMG (smash/energy), Foe -Res(All)].  Builds 1 stack of Resonance.

T7:  Thunderous Stomp; PBAoE, high damage, foe knockdown and -res.  Consumes up to 3 stacks of Resonance for increased damage.

T8:  Acoustic Field; ranged Location AoE, minor damage, foe disorient and strong -res.  Neither builds nor consumes Resonance.

T9:  Sonic Boom; close-ranged TAoE, extreme damage to target with moderate damage to nearby targets, foe disorient and -res.  Consumes up to 4 stacks of Resonance for increased damage and disorient duration.

Please let me know what you think.  This is a first attempt, but I tried to roughly follow other Dominator secondaries in terms of types of powers and damage levels. 

[I'm still not clear on the damage descriptions' magnitude relative to each other (for example, is Heavy damage more or less than High damage?).  Is there a guide or outline somewhere?  I've been poking around ParagonWiki, but I haven't found anything yet.]

No sonic blade?

 

Vibrating your blade at supersonic speeds allows you to cut through high resistances like butter: 

Special high single target damage, recharge medium

ignores resistances low chance to crit. 

Also makes lightsaber sounds as it cuts through the air.

very high mana cost

[Zepp]

3 hours ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

No sonic blade?

 

Vibrating your blade at supersonic speeds allows you to cut through high resistances like butter: 

Special high single target damage, recharge medium

ignores resistances low chance to crit. 

Also makes lightsaber sounds as it cuts through the air.

very high mana cost

A version of Kinetic Melee would probably work better.

I love this idea, but the damage of this set (and sonic blast) need to be adjusted upward.

[BrandX]

1 hour ago, Zepp said:

A version of Kinetic Melee would probably work better.

I love this idea, but the damage of this set (and sonic blast) need to be adjusted upward.

 

Using Kinetic Melee attacks was my first thought when reading the subject line. 🙂

[arcane]

Wouldn’t it have Shriek in T1, Scream around T4, and Shout at T9 to follow the pattern of other assault sets based in part on blast sets with three tiers of blasts?

[kiramon]

6 minutes ago, arcaneholocaust said:

Wouldn’t it have Shriek in T1, Scream around T4, and Shout at T9 to follow the pattern of other assault sets based in part on blast sets with three tiers of blasts?

Yes, though I'd rather they replaced Shout with Sentinel's Screech.

[MTeague]

19 hours ago, BrandX said:

 

Using Kinetic Melee attacks was my first thought when reading the subject line. 🙂

Kinetic Melee + Sonic Assault =  Niel Peart Drum Solo on the targets forehead?  Instant defeat.