The Sound Bubble - Go Forth and Offend! (FF/Sonic)

[Force Redux]

For those who just love Force Field like me (and a certain Knight who haunts our forums), as well as those who are interested in looking at an older (but very viable) Defender primary, I present the Sound Bubble build.

 

Why? Because you always wanted to play a ranged character who can hold their own in a fight, as well as still bring some goodness and force multiplication to a team. Because you like hearing from team mates "Bubbles? I love bubbles!" Because you just don't want to sit back and heal, you want time to shove your blast rays down some Freak's throats, too!

 

The Sound Bubble is based on my long-time love of Force Fields, a much overlooked (but very useful, if a bit one-dimensional) set with the single target power of Sonic Blast. Combined, you have the capacity to aid your team and make them tanker-tough, while still contributing damage, and also helping speed up everyone else's time to kill via your -Resistance debuffs attached to your Sonic blasts. 

 

The build is not only good on groups, by the time you get to Siren's Song, you are a strong soloer. The build is best at single-target solo, so its not fast (but its not controller-slow either), and it is very safe.

 

I'd like to thanks several folks for helping me groom the build to be its best. This includes, but is not limited to: Philotic Knight, Guffnat, Hyperstrike, Bionic Flea, Hedgefund, Ankhammon, Obitus, Rumors, Bopper, Without_Pause, Hjarki, and Chance Jackson. Thank you.

 

Goal: to have a fun Sentinel-style character that has traditional Defender team value, while still having the ability to be a good soloer (not farmer, this is not and will never be a farming character, but it can manage its missions easily on +2/x1 on basic IOs once you have Tactics to land those hits. I was able to solo the Mender Ramiel incarnate arc with both Honoree and whateverhisnamewas plus the mobs of summoned rikti on +1, which can be difficult for some builds.  Once you have your Web Envelope/two Cones/Dreadful Wail and some decent recharge, you can easily bump this to +2/x2-3.  

 

Why Force Field?

I love it, but besides that bias, it is STILL very useful, even in a world of Cold Domination. Now, I've learned to (grudginly) love Cold, but I still love FF. And FF, while less versatile, still brings several thigns to the table:

1. Status Protection. Vs. Stuns, Holds and Immobs. Your squishy friends will love you. You will love you. You don't have to take Clarion if you get to Incarnate, either. You can be free to choose anything else. This has large value to me, because I hate, hate, HATE being removed from the action more than I hate taking damage. 
2. Large Self-Defense Buffs. You get a beefy 15.75% DEFENSE vs. ALL. That's huge. Add to that Hover + Defender Maneuvers and you are sitting at a base 24% DEFENSE or so on Single Origin or Invention Origin enhancements, no fancy stuff. 
3. END DRAIN Resistance. Your shields offer allies a nice 40% resist to Toxic Damage. Even better, you have a base 37.5% resistance to END Drain. This IS enhanceable. Mine is currently  86.5% resistance on my Insulation Shield. This is fantastic. Carnies and Freaks getting you down? Losing that blue bar to Malta Sappers? NOT ANY MORE! Penelope Yin TF fans, rejoice!
4. Personal Force Field. Do not underestimate the ability to toggle this on in the thick of combat to shed unwanted aggro, toggles, cascading defense debuffs, etc. You get +40% resistance to all damage, and +75 DEFENSE vs ALL. If you have good situational awareness, and are not one-shotted, there's little reason to die. Need a time-out mid-battle to heal? Go for it. Need to ghost a mission without stealth? You can (if you don't get hurt, you can also avoid aggro - when you avoid aggro, mobs don't follow you around). Need to AFK in a weird spot? You won't be face-planted when you return. Want to go badging in dangerous (or pvp areas)? Sure. When fully bubbled up, I'm at 170 Ranged Defense, 150 Smashing/Lethal Defense, with Resistances on top. Go where thou wilt, young offender.

 

Why Sonic?

1. That Debuff.  Every attack has -20% Resistance Debuff. And it stacks. You can easily get 3 stacks going at a time, and with low recharge times and good attack chains, that can get even higher.  This makes single-target take downs very easy once you start building up the debuffs, and makes solo defender damage very very good. On teams, you also provide faster kill times for your buddies, acting as a force multiplier. I have had many comments about how easy it was to take out Susan Rexford in Summer Block Buster,  who has notorious regen rates. (You poison trap guys also probably get similar comments). 
2. Siren Song. This makes soloing easier. Got a couple Malta Sappers in the spawn? Sleep the crowd,. My Siren Song lasts for 77 seconds. That's crazy. Just take them out, and when the problem children are removed, immobilize the rest and cone them to death with Howl and Shockwave.
3. Your Cones. They are cones. I guess you either love it or note. I'm okay with them. They are even better with a bit of range increase if you can get it. Howl does decent damage. More importantly, you can start stacking -Res. Shockwave with the Sudden Acceleration Knockback to Knockdown proc works as great mitigation to prevent return fire. Keep them flopping, debuffed, and you can take out good size groups. 
4. Dreadful Wail. For when the cones just don't cut it, bring out Dreadful Wail. It comes with more -Resistance (for 20 seconds!), a Mag 3 stun (for 15 seconds) and some decent damage, as well as an animation that DOESN'T"T make you look like you are having bowel issues (i'm looking at you Blackstar). You can either lead with this, or clean up with it. Your choice. 
5. The SOUNDS. You either love it or not. It sounds like a science fiction choo choo train while on drugs. I like it, myself. I know some hate it. 

 

The Build.

I'll put it in a separate post below. Some notes:

1. Empty slots (there are two) are for Sudden Acceleration Knockdown procs.
2. Repulsion Field is always on. It has a 9' radius and keeps anything near you knocked down frequently. I don't fear melee mobs, but I will use it to prevent them from attacking squishy allies. It can also keep mobs from running away, too. Many a time they have turned to flee my wrath, and get knocked down in time for me to finish them off. 
3. Field Medic makes life easier with Medicine Pool Heals. If you do go Medicine, take Field Medic fairly early on when you can, as it is  a great Quality of Life improvement.
4. My final (rounded) Defense values with Scorpion Shield are:  

• 48% Ranged
• 25% Melee
• 29% AOE
• 50% Smashing/Lethal
• 27% Fire/Cold
• 59% Energy
• 42% Negative
• 25% Psionic

What does this mean? It means I never get hit except for rare occasions. I could push some of the exotic values up, but that would cost me on other bonuses. Most things attack me from range. If they attack at melee, almost all of that has a S/L component covered by my S/L defense. Anything AoE that isn't S/L is often energy. Pure Fire/Cold attacks are RARE, and I don't live in Fire Farms, so I can't honestly tell you that other than burn patches, I really have trouble with elemental damage, no matter where I've roamed, having down many of the Task Forces/Strike Forces/Dark Astoria, Rikti Mother Ship Raids, etc. No build is perfect, of course, there is always a hole 'somewhere' but this is the safest build I've played yet, to date. Those numbers above are very solid in play.

1. My final Resistance values with Scorpion Shield and both IO +Resistance Procs are:

• ~ 12-14% for most things, with 30% for Toxic. This will scale up another 1-10% based on health. Also, as health gets lower, the +Absorb proc will kick in, helping to bolster health until you can recover.  With Aid Self and (later) Rebirth, recovering from breakthrough damage is very easy. And you can always bubble up for a few seconds to let regen kick in or halt incoming damage as needed, though I find I do that almost never these days.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Force Redux

[Force Redux]

Here's the build, itself:

 

Feel free to ask questions, make comments, or otherwise provide thoughts. This build works for me, as any good build should, and it may need tweaks to fit your playstyle. I like a steady-state playstyle, rather safe, but with good, consistent results, with less spikey results. I often forget to click things, too, so I keep clickies to a minimum. 

 

[Force Redux]

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Force-Majeure: Level 50 Science Defender
Primary Power Set: Force Field
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1:    Personal Force Field        LucoftheG-Rchg+(A)
Level 1:    Shriek                Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(9), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 2:    Scream                Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(13), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 4:    Deflection Shield        LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+(5), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48)
Level 6:    Insulation Shield        LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+(7), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48)
Level 8:    Hover                BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(37)
Level 10:    Aid Other            Mrc-Heal/EndRdx(A), Mrc-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mrc-Heal/Rchg(36)
Level 12:    Dispersion Bubble        RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(19), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(21), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21), RedFrt-Def(23), RedFrt-EndRdx(23)
Level 14:    Fly                WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 16:    Howl                SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBst-Dmg/Rchg(25), SprDfnBst-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), SprDfnBst-Rchg/Heal%(29)
Level 18:    Aid Self            Mrc-Heal/EndRdx(A), Mrc-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Mrc-Heal/Rchg(37)
Level 20:    Shout                Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(31), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 22:    Shockwave            SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprVglAss-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprVglAss-Dmg/Rchg(34), FrcFdb-Rechg%(34), Empty(34)
Level 24:    Maneuvers            LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(36)
Level 26:    Tactics                AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 28:    Field Medic            EndRdx-I(A)
Level 30:    Siren's Song            CaloftheS-Acc/Rchg(A), CaloftheS-EndRdx/Sleep(37), CaloftheS-Acc/EndRdx(39), CaloftheS-Sleep/Rng(39), CaloftheS-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(39), CaloftheS-Heal%(40)
Level 32:    Hasten                RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 35:    Amplify                GssSynFr--Build%(A)
Level 38:    Scorpion Shield            GifoftheA-Def(A), GifoftheA-Def/EndRdx(40), GifoftheA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42), GifoftheA-EndRdx/Rchg(42), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(50), Rct-ResDam%(50)
Level 41:    Web Envelope            TraoftheH-Acc/Rchg(A), TraoftheH-EndRdx/Immob(42), TraoftheH-Acc/EndRdx(43), TraoftheH-Immob/Acc(43), TraoftheH-Acc/Immob/Rchg(43), TraoftheH-Dam%(45)
Level 44:    Dreadful Wail            Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(45), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Arm-Acc/Rchg(46), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Arm-Dam%(46)
Level 47:    Afterburner            LucoftheG-Rchg+(A)
Level 49:    Repulsion Field            EndRdx-I(A), Empty(50)
Level 1:    Brawl                Empty(A)
Level 1:    Prestige Power Dash        Empty(A)
Level 1:    Prestige Power Slide        Empty(A)
Level 1:    Prestige Power Quick        Empty(A)
Level 1:    Prestige Power Rush        Empty(A)
Level 1:    Prestige Power Surge        Empty(A)
Level 1:    Sprint                Empty(A)
Level 1:    Vigilance    
Level 2:    Rest                Empty(A)
Level 4:    Ninja Run    
Level 2:    Swift                Empty(A)
Level 2:    Health                Mrc-Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(3), Prv-Absorb%(48)
Level 2:    Hurdle                Empty(A)
Level 2:    Stamina                EndMod-I(A), PrfShf-EndMod(3), PrfShf-End%(5)
Level 50:    Degenerative Core Flawless Interface    
Level 50:    Agility Radial Paragon    
Level 50:    Ion Total Radial Judgement    
Level 50:    Rebirth Partial Radial Invocation    
------------

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[ParaBruce]

Excellent! Looking forward to taking it out for a spin this afternoon.

 

[Force Redux]

I want to mention, while all of my IOs are Attunable (all of them, except for basic IOs so I can exemp down easily), I afforded this without any farming alts, or hand-outs. I didn't really play the market, either. I would run Summer Blockbusters for the set enhancments, sell my SOs, craft and sell some recipes that were valuable, traded Merits for the ATO sets, etc. This is a very affordable build. If I can do it, anyone can. Really. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by Redux

[Force Redux]

6 minutes ago, ParaBruce said:

Excellent! Looking forward to taking it out for a spin this afternoon.

 

Excellent ParaBruce! Got on one live, or gonna whip one up on Justin?

[ParaBruce]

It's really amazing how much influence you can rake in just doing content and very basic selling and such, yeah. 

 

[ParaBruce]

Just now, Redux said:

Excellent ParaBruce! Got on one live, or gonna whip one up on Justin?

Everlasting, I expect, once I work out a concept/name I like.

[Force Redux]

2 minutes ago, ParaBruce said:

It's really amazing how much influence you can rake in just doing content and very basic selling and such, yeah. 

 

True that. I made 18 million on two TFs at level 50 this week. Yike! I wasn't even trying!

[Force Redux]

2 minutes ago, ParaBruce said:

Everlasting, I expect, once I work out a concept/name I like.

I went through about 4 different names and concepts before I settled in on one. lol. Thankfully we can change names at will, right? I used to delete whole characters for the want of a new name in the old days. I'm on Everlasting as well, hit me up if you want to team, so long as I have some time. 🙂

[ParaBruce]

I will keep that in mind!

 

[oedipus_tex]

Nice build.

 

I wonder if for some users, going with a Resistance shield instead of a Defense one would be more attractive in the long run. On a Defender you can achieve absurd Slash/Lethal resist. In particular, Soul Mastery looks tempting for Power Boost, in order to get absurdly powerful shields. A quick glance at Mids puts Power Boosted Insulation Shield at +37.21 Defense assuming two Defense IOs in the power. This far exceeds anything Cold Domination could ever bring to the game (you can't Power Boost Cold Dom shields). It used to be considered overkill, but with iTrials being a thing that's one Force Fielder I'd want on my league!

 

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by oedipus_tex

[Force Redux]

hi Oedipus! Good to see you here again, after so many years - I recognize your contributions at the old forums!

 

I thought heavily about a either Power or Soul Mastery for the Power Build Up and a Resistance Shield. I figured I could make up 6% defense with the two IO procs, but in the end of the day I held back for a few reasons:

1. Not enough Melee/AoE defense meant I'd have to be more careful to stay at range. With Scorpion Shield, the huge S/L/E defense covers most of that hole. And in many maps either vertical height, or other constraints means keeping at range isn't always possible. 

2. Neither of those APPs have an AoE immobilize. If they did, i might see a way to help keep things at range, but without it, it 1) makes it hard to keep big groups in my cones and 2) to keep things at range. 

3. Power-boosted Shields, while nice, are still a bit of a luxury. I can already get everyone to +48% Defense vs. All with regular Shields, Dispersion and Maneuvers, and not sacrifice my own survivability or slotting sets I like. However, if you could recommend a way to around the loss of Scorpion Shield, I'm all ears, lol! (or all bubbles)

 

🙂  

[Huntsing3r]

Let's say, we don't like sonic........is there another secondary that could make this combo work enough to be viable late game?

 

[oedipus_tex]

1 hour ago, Huntsing3r said:

Let's say, we don't like sonic........is there another secondary that could make this combo work enough to be viable late game?

 

 

 

I'm not an expert in number crunching, but I'd guess Ice (maybe better on a Corruptor), Water, Beam Rifle, or Dual Pistols all would be good options because they can slot many potential procs. 

Edited August 16, 2019 by oedipus_tex

[Force Redux]

On 8/15/2019 at 4:00 PM, Huntsing3r said:

Let's say, we don't like sonic........is there another secondary that could make this combo work enough to be viable late game?

 

If not /Sonic?

 

I'd suggest Water/FF Corruptor, let scourge take advantage of Whirlpool. Water also has the better AoE (but not as good ST) and some debuffs also.

 

It's you want to stay a defender, however, FF/Water is still solid. I have one at 40 myself.