Cold/Sonic or Sonic/sonic

[Milozzy]

I have seen tons of talk about Time, Kin and Rad but I like the idea of a little bit of everything, shields, buffs and debuffs.

 

What I'm not sure about is which one of the two, cold or Sonic, makes a bigger impact at 50? They seem to be similar but buff or debuff different stats. I hear cold is strong due to its debuffs since many soft cap their own defense. I hear Sonic is strong because it is harder to cap resists and their debuffs mean more damage but do their debuffs mean a lot more damage if their secondary is also sonic compared to other primaries teamed with sonic?

 

Is one of them desired more than the other? Is one more rare than the other? Most guides I've read are outdated and I would love some up to date insight.

[Without_Pause]

Sonic is going to be way more rare than anything outside of FF or TA. Resist based sets will likely not have much use for Sonic, but defense based ones will, and there's little way to determine who you will be teaming with unless you know in advance. Cold will be similar but with defense. If you are looking for variety, Cold wins out versus Sonic as Sonic is vastly +res/-res based. Cold is a toolbox of debuffs.

[Milozzy]

Sonic appears to have some debuffs as well. Are they not as good as cold? Does cold have a greater impact at 50 than sonic? Are there any abilities in either that aren't worth taking?

[Rylas]

I would suggest Cold/Sonic. For endgame content, you'll have a something to offer for those looking to hit the Incarnate soft-cap. As Sonic/Sonic you would be a bit more of a one-trick pony with lots of -Res, but as Cold/Sonic you can still offer quite a bit of -Res along with a grab bag of buffs and debuffs.

[KelvinKole]

Definitely Cold. I spent years on a Sonic/cold corrupter and it is a fantastic combination.

 

Cold can debuff resistance just as well as Sonic with sleet and heat loss, plus it offers a plethora of slows, -defense, and the very important -regen. In the buff department, the defense shields are strong, the +hp buff is excellent, and there's the +recover buff from Heat Loss. It's just a very well rounded set that does everything well, but doesn't heal.

[Without_Pause]

Sonic appears to have some debuffs as well. Are they not as good as cold? Does cold have a greater impact at 50 than sonic? Are there any abilities in either that aren't worth taking?

 

Sonic is +res/-res based. Cold covers a much larger range of debuffs, ie -recharge and -regen. While it could be argued Sonic is safer, Cold will make things like AVs dead faster so in terms of late game usefulness, it will be difficult to argue against Cold.

[Corruption]

Cold is probably the best powerset in the entire game. I love my Fire/Cold Corr, it's great with 2 -res procs in sleet.

 

With that said, I'll always welcome a Sonic on the team. They're great too.

[RussHood]

For how great Cold is, it doesnt seem to be a widley used powerset (from my experience, maybe due to being late bloomer.) However, once you get your last 3 powers, it begins to shine. Then you stack global recharge and it starts to become godly. 

I love my cold/sonic, turns AVs into marshmallows.