Deacon_NA

I've recently begun "opportunistic frankenslotting". It takes a little more preparation but is cheaper, in the end, and delivers much more effective performance.

So, what I'd strive to do with /elec armor, if I were to make a new one now, would be to 5 slot Energize and Power Sink, with the 5th slot being a cheap heal/recharge and end mod/recharge, respectively. A triple with End Redux is good too.

For Resistance toggles I'd go 2 Resistance and 1 Res/End Red. For Tough I might throw in another slot for another Res/End Red or just End Red.

Lightning Field, as mentioned above, is full of interesting Frankenslotting combos. With 6 slots you can get the equivalent of 2 Acc, 2 End Red, 2 End Mod, 2 Dmg. The Stun proc could be interesting here too, it can be found for super cheap.

A couple of problems with farming at -1, any powers with .67 kb no longer do knockdown, but back. That's Foot Stomp and Lightning Rod, for example. Also you get lvl 49 recipes and there's a severe discount for those. Sure you may be farming for purples, but there are still goodies to be had from mob drops. Also, and this is based on "feel" not actual data, but -1s don't feel faster than even cons.

As for best Rikti farmer, let me just say my elec/elec brute used an AE mission of Headmen Gunmen that somehow packed scores of them around an object. With an SO only build, I'd put him on top of that table and walk away to go about my daily chores, letting the damage aura do its thing. Now that's worthless, but I've upgraded to a fully IOd build and shored up his melee defense so boss swords aren't nearly so bad and I use him to farm Borea at +2/8. If I had Fire, or perhaps Dark, as a primary I'd probably up it to +3/8 but the higher rank's energy resists make fighting them time-consuming at a +3 level.

I can practically name everyone (not AV class) immune to a moderately slotted FB:

Longbow Ballistas
Miscellaneous other Longbow bosses, especially the Tanks.

That's about it. I use it liberally with my MM (whose FB is no better than a Defenders) and I'm always taken aback whenever I'm unable to kb a foe.

Here's my Sonic Resonance CV:

Sonic/Sonic Def lvl 50
AR/Sonic Corr lvl 43
Sonic/Sonic Corr lvl 33 (mostly PLd)
Fire/Sonic Cont lvl 50

With that out of the way, on to responses:

Yes, there is a dearth of the set, which is too bad. I think it's a great complement to most other buff/debuff sets. However, like TA, it may not be the best at being the sole support for a team.

Endurance usage is an issue the Sonic player has to address. You have to use End Reductions where you may ordinarily want to slot for damage or recharge.

It is possible to run all 3 toggles on a Fire/Sonic controller. I do with mine. No, it ain't easy, but it's possible.

To the notion that, what Sonic does well, others do almost as well, I simultaneously agree (for -Res) and strongly disagree (for +Res). A Sonic Def boosts team Res by 54 percent. Your best alternative for +Res, Thermal, can only go up to 23 percent. Nothing in this game boosts team Resistance like a Sonic Def, nothing's even close. Sadly, for debuffing Resistance, Sonic does not stand out. TA, Cold and Traps are all capable of coming close to, or surpassing, Sonic's -Res debuffs.

Clarity and Dispersion are not reduntant. Dispersion does allow you to not worry about using a single ally buff much, but I've found Clarity to be very useful when
* Fighting enemies with lots of sleep effects (Rikti)
* Stacking anti-mez effects on a tank taunting Ghost Widow
* Buffing squishy types who are stealthing to end objectives, most specifically in the LGTF where you can't stealth by drones without taking a pot-shot that may mez you.

I'll echo prior sentiments that any are fine, but I'll point out a couple of specific advantages some have.

On Katie, one of FFs bubbles has end drain resistance, very noteworthy for that tf. Also, with Cold you can cast Sleet on the spawn point before they appear, a useful trick. It will be up for every ambush, unlike Liquefy from Sonic.

As for the other TFs, whatevah. Personally, with the stable of defenders you mentioned, I'd ask the question "does the team have +Def buffs?" If not, I'd bring the Cold, if yes, I'd bring the Sonic.

I'm not a maybe, by the way. I've also remembered a few Corrs I've got that I could use some xp for. What I bring will be a game time decision, but I'm in.

I'd like to do this, hopefully I remember. I think I need it for a Bots/Poison MM and a Dark/Cold Corr.

I'm not laying any claim to being a farming "expert". To me it's a filler activity. Still, I've built red and blue side farmers. Right now, I'm most pleased with the results of running Borea missions with an Elec/Elec brute. He wasn't originally created for farming and if I were to redo him, I'd use the Fire primary (due to resistances in higher rank Rikti mobs). There are some Rikti mob characteristics that may make them sub-optimal for farming (tendancy to stay at range, ability to stack Def buffs even from the same source) but some simple tactics can get around that. Now that RWZ is available from lvl 1 up, I can PL either heros or vills, should I choose to do so.

Yes, I'm nominating Elec Armor for farming.

Like anything seemingly mystical, there's a science behind it. You had Traps and the means to keep foes in them (Fire Cages, Tenebrous Tentacles, Cold slows). FFG + Cold Shields + Fort = silly defense for all, especially for a resistance based scrapper. I'd be very happy to be on a Synpase with that team composition.

3 End Reduction SOs into Sonic Disruption. You can live with 2 IOs once you get to 50 and get good set bonuses for recovery and +end.

I'll "ditto" the suggestion to frankenslot the shields with Res/End IOs.

You may also want to buff half your team every 2 minutes, instead of the whole team ever 4. That takes a little more discipline but won't bottom out your end after a buff cycle.

I have a Fire/Sonic 50 and, though brutal at times, becomes well worthwhile.

I'm really pleased with my Traps/Elec's performance on teams. No, the combo has no notable synergy and Elec Blast is Elec Blast, so soloing is laborious. He shines on teams though, with a very impressive combo of team buffs and aoe debuffs, just by pushing 3 or 4 buttons.

Still anxiously awaiting making a /Traps troller...

Cims... dang indeed. I just upgraded my Inv tank to be 50+ s/l Def and 88% s/l Res. So I decided to crank it up against Cims, thinking them to be ideal fodder, so I went +4/8, did ok for about 5 seconds, then it began... 55%...43%...35...20...0...-10......-100. Strong resistances delayed the inevitable a while but my defeat was indeed... inevitable. I was quite frankly surprised. Yes I've done a few hundred ITFs (across all the ATs), but on teams Cims go down fast enough to not really accumulate that much -Def.

I finally got around to respeccing my elec/elec Brute into Energize. I also used this respec to move from basic IOs to IO sets, emphasizing a mix of Def and Rch. So, good news/bad news. Good news is this is a whole new brute, far stronger. Bad news is, I can't speak to what's due to energize and what's due to new bonuses. Still, it's apparent that Energize is a big plus.

The revised build isn't necessarily lacking for attacks. The 3 ST blasts + Infrigidate should keep him busy. And getting def over 45% is hardly useless. All he needs is one Cimeroran hacking away at him and it will all come tumbling down.

I do have to say, I could never make a Cold/Ice build that didn't include Blizzard, with its blaster level damage. It's on the same base timer as Heat Loss, a nice coincidence. I still play my guy a lot today just to be able to go Sleet > Ice Storm > Blizzard > Heat Loss.

Edited to add - you could give yourself an enh slot by using a jump or run stealth io in sprint instead of Freebird in hover.

How about the Lockdown proc in Poison Trap?

I have an Earth/Storm that needs wolves/vamps.

Lost Warlock is the name, he's lvl 50.

Here's my guy. I'm very pleased. I eschewed relying on pets because i tend to run on speed teams, where pets don't really help much, except for AV fights

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Operative Keshik: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Crab Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Crab Spider Training
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Leviathan Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Channelgun

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (7) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (34) Decimation - Chance of Build Up
• (46) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 1: Crab Spider Armor Upgrade

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
• (3) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection

Level 2: Longfang

• (A) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (5) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge
• (7) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge
• (31) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance
• (46) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative)

Level 4: Combat Training: Defensive

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (5) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (37) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 6: Hurdle

• (A) Jumping IO

Level 8: Heavy Burst

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
• (9) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (9) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (31) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (37) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range

Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
• (11) Red Fortune - Endurance
• (11) Red Fortune - Defense
• (36) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (50) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge

Level 12: Venom Grenade

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
• (13) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (13) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (31) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
• (40) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

Level 14: Health

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal
• (15) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
• (15) Miracle - +Recovery
• (17) Miracle - Heal
• (50) Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration

Level 16: Suppression

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
• (17) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
• (43) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

Level 18: Boxing

• (A) HamiO:Endoplasm Exposure

Level 20: Stamina

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
• (21) Performance Shifter - EndMod
• (21) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End

Level 22: Tactical Training: Leadership

• (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance
• (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
• (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance
• (27) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff
• (34) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge
• (34) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up

Level 24: Fortification

• (A) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
• (25) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (25) Aegis - Resistance
• (27) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance
• (43) Aegis - Endurance/Recharge

Level 26: Mental Training

• (A) Run Speed IO

Level 28: Serum

• (A) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
• (29) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (29) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
• (33) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
• (33) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance

Level 30: Tactical Training: Assault

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 32: Tough

• (A) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
• (33) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge
• (36) Aegis - Resistance
• (37) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (50) Aegis - Endurance/Recharge

Level 35: Combat Jumping

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
• (36) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
• (48) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)

Level 38: Call Reinforcements

• (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
• (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
• (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
• (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets

Level 41: School of Sharks

• (A) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize
• (42) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize/Recharge
• (42) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
• (42) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Recharge
• (43) Gravitational Anchor - Chance for Hold

Level 44: Bile Spray

• (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
• (45) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (45) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
• (45) Detonation - Damage/Range
• (46) Detonation - Damage/Endurance/Range

Level 47: Super Jump

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
• (48) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
• (48) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)

Level 49: Assault

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO

------------
Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Conditioning
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I do strongly advise considering Mako's epic. Venom provides -40 Res debuff to Toxic so Bile Spray hits very hard.

Though it has its faults (previously mentioned long timer) it is great to have situationally (again, as menioned above). I would never advise skipping it, especially since Sonic/ has several skippable powers.

If you want to know if it sucks, fight some Longbow, lvl 40+. Also, if you want to see Granite Armour go down fast with no psi involved, 2 Disruption Fields over a Liquefy means dead Stoner. Note: I'm not saying that always happens, but I've seen it enough.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no "probably" to it. Dark, dark, dark, a million times Dark. For MMing, Fearsome Stare and Tar Patch are far superior to anything in /PD. Actually Darkest Night is better than anything in /PD too, especially in the context of solo MM play.

I'm not a /PD hater, for the record, nor a /DM lover. That's just my assessment after having taken one of each of these MMs to 50.

I prefer to keep a "reserve" of sipon buffs, and stack -dmg debuffs than have my chance to-hit improve from .95 to .95, but whatevah.

Having recently leveled up my first Robot MMs (2 different ones, Traps and Poison), I have to say they were a JOY to deal with compared to Ninjas and, to a lesser degree, Necro. Ninjas have +RunSpeed so it can be astounding to see how much of a map they can aggro when they meet a burn patch or caltrops.

I just respecced my Kin/Sonic to his IO build. We took some different approaches but I like what you did.

I do think you should change your FS slotting from 2 ACC, 1 Rch to 1 ACC, 2 Rch. With Accuracy bonuses and Tactics, you should be at your to-hit max unless a +3 or +4 hits you with a debuff. I like having FS up as often as possible even if I'm not actually firing it off as soon as it recharges.

If I were in your shoes, I'd go Assault.

With Cold/ and /Sonic, you're not merely talking about an 18.75% damage buff. Both of these sets ooze -Res and with how Damage is multiplied by Resistance, the net damage buff becomes much tastier.

(1 + DMG buffs - DMG debuffs) * (1 - Res (target buffs)) * (1 + Res(debuffs on target))

For simplicity, let's assume no additional Resistance on target, or DMG debuffs, giving us
(1 + DMG buffs) * (1 + Res debuffs)

Adding Assault gives (1 + DMG + .1875) * (1 + ResD), or, all told to what your prior net Damage was: .1875 * (1+ ResD). Let's just say you've laid down Sleet and a Howl, that's 50% Res debuff, so net damage increases .1875 * 1.5 = .28125. Things get silly when you start including Heat Loss and /Sonics ST attacks.

On the other hand, I'm not going to say Snow Storm is useless against an AV, I certainly use it when fighting one, but they strongly resist the -Rch and -Run.