Is sonic a moot set?

[ninpon78]

I was curious about trying sonic/Bio, but as I can only find one thing about it is it that bad of a combo. I am seeing that if i wanna play Sent I am almost pushed into /BIO if I wanna do semi comparable damage. At least that's what I am told. So Would going Sonic/ help that with Off abilities and -res so i could do a bit better?

[Tacheyon]

Sonic on Sent is actually pretty good in my opinion.  With all the cones available you can fill your Opportunity bar really fast and they changed Screech so it isn't useless.  It's actually pretty good.  While I am not saying it's top damage I think the powerset works better on Sent then Blasters.

 

I have a Sonic/Inv and she is pretty nice.

 

You don't really play Sentinals to do a lot of damage.

[Underfyre]

Sonic in general as a blast set does underwhelming damage because it raises your teams damage to compensate. So theoretically, you would be running 3-4 attacks that are debuffing the target by 9.6% each. However, as everyone knows, the best blast set on a Sentinel is actually the Psi pool. So now you're using like 2-3 sonic powers instead of 3-4. So instead you're just half assed debuffing and half assed damaging. But that's only if you care about that kind of stuff. The game doesn't care, you'll do just fine either way.

 

If you want to play a Sonic Sentinel, do it. It doesn't matter that much.

[CaptTastic]

I have a Sonic/Regen Sentinel that has solo’d AVs (not all of them, but some) so certainly wouldn’t say Sonic Blast was a moot set. It’s not the best, obviously, but it can work. 

[oldskool]

1 hour ago, CaptTastic said:

I have a Sonic/Regen Sentinel that has solo’d AVs (not all of them, but some) so certainly wouldn’t say Sonic Blast was a moot set. It’s not the best, obviously, but it can work. 

^ I think stuff like this is really helpful.  Soloing enemies like AVs is a pretty common bar for a lot of players.  Sentinels can do this.  Maybe it isn't as fast as other ATs but they are certainly capable of it.  

I solo plenty of things that seem challenging.  I do not bend over backwards to build characters to handle all enemy groups like Malta or Carnies.  I do just fine on my Sentinels.  Most of my Sents aren't even min-maxed on damage.  They are just balanced around doing damage that I feel is adequate while having high survivability without hover (though I do gravitate towards specific secondaries).  The game isn't that hard even on +4/x8 for most of the content.  More enemies on a map just makes progress slower for me due to target limits.  That isn't a challenge so much as it is tediousness. 

Edited April 9, 2021 by oldskool

[Hedgefund]

It's certainly not a mute set!

 

[Eug3n3]

My main badge hunter is a Sonic/Invulnerability Sentinel, and I've not found any content that I cannot contribute meaningfully towards including "Master of" trials. As Sonic you are actually better in a team because your resist debuffs make everyone else hit harder. You can pretty much keep 9.6% -res active at all times, on top of the standard 5% -res for Sentinel attacks, and that's without offensive opportunity adding another 20%. Its like you have Achilles' Heel and Annihilation procs rolled right into your kit.

 

Here's my take on the abilities in the primary:

 

1) Shriek - Needed for offensive opportunity. Slotted with just Superior Sentinel's Ward and with Hasten it does 89.31 s&e DPA on about a 1s cooldown (!), plus multiple res debuffs.

2) Scream - I prefer offensive opportunity to defensive, and the 5 pulse DoT is a bit slow for my Hasten build. Its good while levelling.

3) Howl - Cheats on cone rules (10 targets max) and the best non-T9 power to spread the -res across packs of mobs. Slightly less damage than Shriek vs one target but more vs 2 or more. A good mule for Superior Opportunity Strikes.

4) Shout - Long activation time makes this very poor DPA. Its OK until you get Screech but then respec out of it. Cool kettle / train whistle noise though!

5) Amplify - It takes Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control, so why not? The cooldown lines up pretty well with Dreadful Wail so pop them together in sequence.

6) Shockwave - My opinion of the entire Sonic set massively changed when I put Overwhelming Force knockback to knockdown here. Mag ~5 knockdown that I've got on about a 2s recharge time, so I can keep entire packs floored (which stops Fake Nemesis from being able to use their invulnerability before I defeat them). Active damage mitigation and team utility. Doesn't deal -res but that's why we pair it with Howl.

7) Sirens Song - I don't take this, but I did look at it for a proc monster power if I wanted one: 20s base recharge, and it takes damage procs from Annihilation, Bombardment, Javelin Volley, and Positron's Blast. I'd also Hami-O the range so that it matches up with the other two cones.

8 ) Screech - Even though I've slotted it defensively with Superior Frozen Blast for hitting softcaps, this still does 242.55 damage (161.70 DPA) on a 3.2s cooldown, plus a magnitude 3 stun, and 12 seconds of the -res debuff. The stun lasts over 9.5 seconds so these can be stacked quickly to overcome bosses.

9) Dreadful Wail - Sentinels are pretty somewhat defined, for better or worse, by our ability to spam our T9 nukes. This PBAoE slotted with Superior Avalanche does 338.40 damage (mostly energy) and I've got it down to a 25 second recharge. That is on top of a mag 3 stun and 20 seconds of the -res debuff, and typically with increased to-hit, damage, range, and Gaussian's proc from Amplify (that is on the same recharge).

 

All damage numbers are before buffs (excluding Hasten). I put a lot of my build budget into hitting defence caps and permahaste, so I am not running attack procs except my Interface incarnates. I do have the Psionic Mastery epic pool but I mostly just use it for Link Minds and against enemies that pop Moment of Glory, Mind Probe usually deals less damage than Screech. Against packs I mostly use Dreadful Wail, Shockwave (KB>KD), and Howl, and against single targets its Dreadful Wail, Screech, and Shriek.

 

In summary, Sonic isn't a "moot" set; it brings unique utility on leagues, and when solo the game is easy enough that you can win with any powerset.

 

[Sovera]

 

[Tacheyon]

On 5/8/2021 at 2:59 PM, Sovera said:

 

 

I was thinking about starting a Sonic/Bio for the last couple days.  But then I realized I haven't tried Radiation Armour.  So developed a concept and rolled one up.  I can't really say anything yet as he is only lv 9.  I am thinking of trying to maximize AOE potential.  So max out the cones and PBAOE powers (taking Psychic Shockwave as well).  Maybe i am nuts.  But I did have fun with my Sonic/Inv so this should be a bit more interesting.

[Aeroprism]

On 5/8/2021 at 4:59 PM, Sovera said:

 

 

Now that's a page turner.  Is the last build you posted there still viable considering the latest updates?  I think I want to try this combo, been wanting to try sonic blast, which I have never tried on any character!

 

Edit: Well, not an expert but it feels a little old.  I wonder what could be done to bring it to 2021.  Hm hm hmmm....

Edited June 8, 2021 by Aeroprism

[Sovera]

3 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

 

Now that's a page turner.  Is the last build you posted there still viable considering the latest updates?  I think I want to try this combo, been wanting to try sonic blast, which I have never tried on any character!

 

Edit: Well, not an expert but it feels a little old.  I wonder what could be done to bring it to 2021.  Hm hm hmmm....

 

Absolutely nothing has changed for sentinels since that oldie (muh first guide evah).

[Aeroprism]

If it's Sovera, it's reliable.  (tm)

 

(Sovera did not pay me to say this, Really.)

[FUBARczar]

On 5/8/2021 at 10:59 PM, Sovera said:

 

No Sonic is very relevant.    But I would never play it like this, IMMHO.  (Most of the time) If a Sentinel is not in Melee range taking full advantage of the Epic pools high DPA Melee attacks and being in AoE range for the PBAoE Nukes then that Sentinel is being way under utilized.  Standing back using very narrow 30 deg cones with very low damage is underwhelming.  Sonic Blast is awesome for two things, Screech and Dreadful Wail, the rest can take a back seat. IMMHO.  So to each their own.

 

This is my Sonic/Bio which is my most fun Sentinel of about 10.

 

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