page 3 [FOCUSED FEEDBACK] New Melee Set - Sonic Melee

[ScarySai]

Abandon the toggle idea unless it becomes an anchor with aoe benefits. Attune in its current form would work a lot better if it was modeled after disintegrate.

[FupDup]

Another random Attune suggestion: Make it function like a normal damage aura, and enemies hit by it receive the "Attuned" tag or whatever it's gonna be called behind the scenes. Then, various Sonic Melee powers that hit these tagged enemies get the bonus effect. 

Edited yesterday at 01:30 AM by FupDup

[ScarySai]

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

Another random Attune suggestion: Make it function like a normal damage aura, and enemies hit by it receive the "Attuned" tag or whatever it's gonna be called behind the scenes. Then, various Sonic Melee powers that hit these tagged enemies get the bonus effect. 

 

Stated earlier, but this would eliminate the problems with applying attune in the simplest way possible. Still a bit clunky, but it would at least function.

 

 

[Thraxen]

8 hours ago, JayboH said:

The melee attacks are like the melee attacks in Sonic Assault, which produce the migraine effects.  That set also has 1 power for -resist and has been around for over 3 years.

I have one. Don’t care for it. Mostly play it with sonic primary 

 

also, can’t be a primary either. 
 

no not quite apples and oranges. 

[UltraAlt]

On 11/16/2025 at 4:52 AM, UltraAlt said:

Well, I maked a stalker last night

 

So my duo teammate on test continued to run their tank at level 20.

I auto-leveled one of my stalkers up to 20. 

Seemed to play fine to me.

 

Doesn't seem to be worth it to slot a hold enhancement in Strident Echo - Melee, DMG(Energy/Smash), Foe -Res(Debuffs), Chance for Hold

20% (?) is pretty low. Might as well not to have it take Hold enhances at that point unless the point is to slot a hold proc or more of the same Hold set to get the set bonuses.

 

Honestly, putting a https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Winter's_Bite:_Recharge/Chance_for_-Speed_%26_-Recharge in Attune seems to go off more often.

[Jacke]

7 hours ago, ScarySai said:

Procs, insps and bio make it look better than it is. Without procs it's worse than KM.

 

7 hours ago, Seed22 said:

This has been my experience as well. 

 

Welp, that doesn't look good.  I find Kinetic Melee passable on a Scrapper as I've learned to properly use Power Siphon (which I think is KM's biggest issue, but not the only one):

• Have all T1, T2, and T3 attacks.
• Fire off Power Siphon
• Using those T1, T2, T3, quickly pump up the Damage Bonus (I track that in Combat Attributes).
• Keep hitting the mobs with a lot of Damage Enhancement.

But the mechanism of Attune is even more different from what Players are used to.  That will have to be explained to them.

 

I don't like heavily using Procs in builds.  So I won't be using Sonic Melee in its current form.

 

 

[Shin Magmus]

11 hours ago, ScarySai said:

 

Was supposed to be unlisted, Try this.

 

Good catch.

 

 

     Sai, I know the point you're trying to make, but the casuals here will just see all the other optimization you did and summarize that the set "looks fine to me" or point out how you're still killing enemies so it "feels fine to me", while the HC Devs will see this as even more evidence that Bio needs to be nerfed.  To make the point in a way that mattered, you'd have to make a side-by-side video just like this but with Sonic Melee swapped out for Axe or another good set.

[Sovera]

Go easy on the forum pvp, Shin.

 

But yes, numbers might be more helpful.

 

Personally my Brutes have been getting bad pylon times (I did not test the latest iteration). We're talking between 2.55 to 3:14 while procced to the gills to push the envelope. To put it in perspective other tests ran at the time with the same setup were getting 2:10.

 

2:10, for my Brutes, is darn good. 3 minutes is mediocre. Again, not tested on the newest iteration.

[BrandX]

2 hours ago, Sovera said:

Go easy on the forum pvp, Shin.

 

But yes, numbers might be more helpful.

 

Personally my Brutes have been getting bad pylon times (I did not test the latest iteration). We're talking between 2.55 to 3:14 while procced to the gills to push the envelope. To put it in perspective other tests ran at the time with the same setup were getting 2:10.

 

2:10, for my Brutes, is darn good. 3 minutes is mediocre. Again, not tested on the newest iteration.

 

I was getting around 1:30-1:33 (edit: did 10 runs writing them down and average time was 1:28) average time on a Sonic/SR/Mu Scrapper, using the same methods Ston used, with the best time being 1:24.

 

Still don't think anyone really builds that way, but this was just me testing ST DPS because that seems to be a lot of what people seem to base "is it good"

 

I will say, in my game play testing, I felt using Attune for anything but hard targets to be meh and clunky with it's cast time.

Edited 15 hours ago by BrandX

[robobl4de]

@Captain Powerhouse Strident Echo T2 is working as intended now on Stalkers. Question: the extra dot provided by Strident Echo does not roll for Crit chance like Attune dot does. Is that intended?

Edited 17 hours ago by robobl4de

[Sovera]

29 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

I was getting around 1:30-1:33 average time on a Sonic/SR/Mu Scrapper, using the same methods Ston used, with the best time being 1:24.

 

Still don't think anyone really builds that way, but this was just me testing ST DPS because that seems to be a lot of what people seem to base "is it good"

 

I will say, in my game play testing, I felt using Attune for anything but hard targets to be meh and clunky with it's cast time.

 

Scrappers and Stalkers do seem to be getting good numbers. I haven't seen (or missed) Brute testing. But yes, I predicted Attune being used like that in the very first iteration in CB.

 

For Attune to be more casually used it would/will require to do good upfront damage (even if the nature of the quick recharge means no good proccing) since then it is not like dropping a Radiation toggle but dropping an attack that chunks half (?) a minion's HP, which then *never* feels useless to put on any target.

 

As it is, on a Brute, the last iteration I tested had it do something like 30-40 upfront damage.

[BrandX]

33 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

Scrappers and Stalkers do seem to be getting good numbers. I haven't seen (or missed) Brute testing. But yes, I predicted Attune being used like that in the very first iteration in CB.

 

For Attune to be more casually used it would/will require to do good upfront damage (even if the nature of the quick recharge means no good proccing) since then it is not like dropping a Radiation toggle but dropping an attack that chunks half (?) a minion's HP, which then *never* feels useless to put on any target.

 

As it is, on a Brute, the last iteration I tested had it do something like 30-40 upfront damage.

 

I was looking at it's power description, what if it just need a good chunk of damage to Minions and Underlings only, on application.

 

So, like the damage it does now, but Minions and Underlings take a big chunk of damage on application.  May make it of more use to use on those minions/underlings

[PyroBeetle]

As I thought the Sonic Melee set offered something fairly unique to Stalkers, that being a fully viable AoE mode, I have been playing around with it a bit. The build I have been using is Sonic/Stone, and I really enjoy the way that the broad and deep melee cone allows me to face and shoot. The build I have been using allows me to basically Build Up, fire the cone, fire the pbaoe, fire the cone, by which time the AT proc has reset the Build Up, wash rinse, and repeat using the time to reset the attuned anchor on another boss or lt if the first one died.

 

The set does not do good damage unless you play with the attune mechanic, but I am used to something similar on the Sentinels that I play. I have attune bound to the z key and I recycle it whenever the target it is on dies. It is a different playstyle, and one that takes a bit of getting used to, but the speed of the set allows me to run a chain of the T9, T2 and Assassins Whisper on an attuned target, if it lasts that long, I will intersperse applying Attune in the chain as required.

 

From a fun flow and feeling standpoint the set feels fine on a Stalker. The T9 hits like a Mack Truck going 90 miles an hour downhill, the animations are not onerous, things die before I notice the hold mechanic, but the KD mechanic is noticeable in the AoE cone. The only thing that bothers me is the constant whispering in the background, but only because it is indistinguishable from my wife speaking to her sister on the phone in the back room.

 

One thing to add, and this is a a true negative to the set, is that I too wish that I didnt have to be leg humping a bad guy to apply Attune. With the way the set works, especially on a Stalker where I have been cycling attacks before an enemy alerts to Attune being placed on them, allowing Attune to be placed from range would better allow me to play from the edge in, like a Claws Scrapper as opposed to starting my AoE barrage in the middle of spawn wanting to chomp on my flimsy behind. It matters to a Stalker, especially as most of the edge spawns are minions and Attune is largely wasted on a Minion.

Edited 11 hours ago by PyroBeetle
Added Comment for Ranged Attune

[ScarySai]

9 hours ago, Shin Magmus said:

     Sai, I know the point you're trying to make, but the casuals here will just see all the other optimization you did and summarize that the set "looks fine to me" or point out how you're still killing enemies so it "feels fine to me", while the HC Devs will see this as even more evidence that Bio needs to be nerfed.  To make the point in a way that mattered, you'd have to make a side-by-side video just like this but with Sonic Melee swapped out for Axe or another good set.

 

Then they'll just say axe is OP. But i had a similar worry as I was loading it up.

 

As a point of reference, it is much slower than my katana/elec brute, which is slower than my claw/psi.

 

I cant delete this stupid thing on mobile, help

Edited 9 hours ago by ScarySai

[Bionic_Flea]

4 hours ago, PyroBeetle said:

The only thing that bothers me is the constant whispering in the background, but only because it is indistinguishable from my wife speaking to her sister on the phone in the back room.

 

HA!

 

But yeah, the whispering gets on my nerves.  

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

1 hour ago, ScarySai said:

As a point of reference, it is much slower than my katana/elec brute, which is slower than my claw/psi.  Do you have times to clear that same map with those sets?

 

1 hour ago, ScarySai said:

I cant delete this stupid thing on mobile, help 😛 What do you need help deleting?

 

[ScarySai]

1: I can post the clears here between tonight and the weekend if that's a greenlight.

 

2: The emoji, mobile wasn't letting me fix it, ignore.

 

[JayboH]

17 hours ago, Thraxen said:

I have one. Don’t care for it. Mostly play it with sonic primary 

 

also, can’t be a primary either. 
 

no not quite apples and oranges. 

I assume you meant Symphony.

 

The new set will be a primary for most.

 

I realize people want more and more and more and more -resist since it's the best debuff for clearing speed.  I'm just saying Sonic migraines aren't new at all.

[PoptartsNinja]

On 11/19/2025 at 6:18 PM, Captain Powerhouse said:

 

If something like that was possible, it would already be in. There are some things I plan to play with in the coming months, some might need new code to work reliably, though. I also attempted using invisible pets but it's impossible to reliably control what they will target without running scripts, and I rather not be attaching scripts to a power that players will be activating rather regularly. 

That's a shame.

Is there a way to have choosing the power also grant a powexec_toggle_on macro?

 

I genuinely believe "I keep accidentally shutting the #$&%ing toggle off, this set sucks!" is going to be a pretty big source of negative feelings when this set goes live; so anything you can do to plan for and mitigate that now will help.

[SomeGuy]

I just have Attuned set to Alt+1. I just know from other toggles like attune, or lengthy clicks, I'll just forget to turn it on. I personally like the idea of just making it a PBAOE aura, but that creates other issues and would definitely change up sets. ST Melee to MeleeAOE are game changers.

 

I dunno, make Attune an unhencable click (the affect doesn't cause aggro...this could be bad, really bad, for stealthers) that applies an aura around the user with a range of the average ST attack distance? If an enemy is in that Aura they get attuned for X seconds. And that attuned applies only from the user who put it there, avoiding multiple sonic melee players abusing the mechanic on the same team.

 

Attune reminds me of the toggle put on something when using a x/rad controller. It would run out of range and I wouldn't see the toggle is off, the anchor would run off and aggro EVERYTHING, or the anchor would be hella arrested and I didn't want to use 5s of animation for a 4s encounter.

 

*For reference I'm not currently having issues using it. I know I'm not because I use it in the same way my mind/muscle uses incarnates. I can 100% see why others do though. It is an odd mechanic to use.

Edited 38 minutes ago by SomeGuy

[Thraxen]

5 hours ago, JayboH said:

I assume you meant Symphony.

 

The new set will be a primary for most.

 

I realize people want more and more and more and more -resist since it's the best debuff for clearing speed.  I'm just saying Sonic migraines aren't new at all.

No I meant I have a sonic/sonic blaster. I use the secondary some but mostly just the one melee attack that is good.