HotButteredSoul

Be a kinetics defender and take Siphon Speed at level 6!!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I have a 15 sonic/sonic corruptor and a 41 Earth/Sonic controller.

My experience with sonic isn't one I'd classify as "sucking". I think that word is too abstract for conveying too much information.

About 3 minutes ago I took my 15 sonic up against a 15 Rocketman. Here are the numbers:

Smashing damage from shriek (no enhancements): 9.24 points

Smashing damage from shriek after 1 sonic siphon: 11.32 points

Smashing damage from shriek after 2 sonic siphons: 11.32 points

In each case I made sure resistance debuffs from shriek had worn off.

Thus, against a 15 rocketman (a minion) the siphon enhanced damage by 22.5%. Now I know it's just a matter of opinion, but I think that's great! Especially for a tier 1 power. In addition, EVERYONE on your team will do that much more damage to whatever you hit with siphon.

In addition, sonic siphon DOES NOT stack. It is NOT like siphon power fron kinetics.

I would recommend against adding recharge enhancement to sonic siphon unless you want to siphon as many seperate enemies as possible. I use 2 accuracies and leave it at that.

Good luck with your sonic resonance toons!

Why take swift before speed boost? I'd definitely take speed boost first. Don't forget: you're the dealer.

* As a PuG leader, a handful of gratitude and a dash of joyful anticipation will garner a gallon of team attention and another of enthusiasm.

* 20 minutes of attention to your character's detail (backstory, attractive costume, good name) and a little friendly roleplay will return many long standing in-game comrades, an array of compliments, many SG invites, and lots of tells when you log in.

* Have fun.

* If someone is having fun at your expense, use the /ignore command and/or find a group you can have fun WITH.

* It's just a game.

* I know. But still, it's just a game.

I think in all my time on these forums, this is the best guide I've ever read.

Took this build to level 8. Some more numbers with shriek having zero damage enhancements (getting 2 damage bursts for shriek... I list them with a '+' between them):

Against a level 8 (even) Gravedigger Slicer:
Shriek: 5.68 + 6.8
Shriek & Assault: 6.74 + 8.09
Shriek & Siphon Power: 7.1 + 8.52
Shriek & Siphon Power & Assault & Previous Shriek: 9.8 + 11.76

Thus, shriek debuff is still 20%.
Siphon Power buff is still 25%.
Assault buff is 18.7%.
Shriek debuff + Siphon Power + Assault = 72.5% damage increase!!

I think we have a defender that empowers his attacks back to blaster-like levels here and he's only level 8! With siphon speed increasing recharge rates this build can dish it out quickly too.

This is a great idea! The synergy of the -res from sonic and the +damage from kinetics is excellent. You can make a defender/corruptor who really dishes it out. Since I'm impatient.. I'd rather make a defender to get FS by level 32.

I've heard all kinds of numbers tossed around about buffs and debuffs. I ran a little test for myself on Outbreak today with a defender. Here is what I found:

Shriek on one of the contaminated, unslotted: 3.9 damage
Subsequent shriek on contaminated: 4.68 damage
(4.68-3.9)/3.9 = 20% increase in damage!!

Siphon power + initial shriek: 4.87 damage
(4.87-3.9)/3.9 = 25% increase in damage!!

Sihphon power + subsequent shriek: 5.85 damage
(5.85-3.9)/3.9 = 50% increase in damage!!!

In other words... you can do +50% damage at first level. NICE! What if you add in other + damage powers? Take assault. Take amplify. Drop recharges in siphon power. Slot damage in all of your attacks. And of course, when you hit 32, take the mac-daddy fulcrum shift.

Everyone... everyone.. will love to team with you. And you will love to solo with yourself.

That said, here is a build I concocted based on the input of this guide and I6. Experts please advise.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: Hi-Fi
Level: 50
Archetype: Defender
Primary: Kinetics
Secondary: Sonic Blast
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Siphon Power==> Acc(1)Rechg(5)Rechg(7)Rechg(25)
01) --> Shriek==> Acc(1)Dmg(9)Dmg(9)Dmg(11)Rechg(45)
02) --> Scream==> Acc(2)Dmg(3)Dmg(3)Dmg(5)Rechg(37)
04) --> Transfusion==> Acc(4)Heal(7)Heal(11)Heal(13)Rechg(13)
06) --> Siphon Speed==> Acc(6)Rechg(36)Rechg(37)Rechg(37)
08) --> Assault==> EndRdx(8)EndRdx(46)
10) --> Hurdle==> Jump(10)
12) --> Speed Boost==> EndMod(12)EndMod(46)EndMod(46)
14) --> Tactics==> EndRdx(14)TH_Buf(15)TH_Buf(15)TH_Buf(17)
16) --> Shout==> DmgRes(16)Dmg(17)Dmg(19)Dmg(19)Rechg(25)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --> Amplify==> Rechg(22)Rechg(23)Rechg(23)
24) --> Inertial Reduction==> Jump(24)
26) --> Transference==> Acc(26)EndMod(27)EndMod(27)EndMod(29)Acc(34)Rechg(40)
28) --> Siren's Song==> Acc(28)Sleep(29)
30) --> Howl==> Acc(30)Dmg(31)Dmg(31)Dmg(31)Rechg(34)
32) --> Fulcrum Shift==> Acc(32)Rechg(33)Rechg(33)Rechg(33)Acc(34)Rechg(43)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35)Rechg(36)Rechg(36)
38) --> Dreadful Wail==> Acc(38)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)Rechg(40)Rechg(40)
41) --> Thunder Strike==> Acc(41)Dmg(42)Dmg(42)Dmg(42)Rechg(43)Rechg(43)
44) --> Charged Armor==> DmgRes(44)DmgRes(45)DmgRes(45)
47) --> Vengeance==> DefBuf(47)DefBuf(48)DefBuf(48)TH_Buf(48)
49) --> Screech==> Acc(49)DisDur(50)DisDur(50)Rechg(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Jump(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Vigilance==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
---------------------------------------------

I probably had one of my best PuGs yesterday, doing the 34+ respec. The fact that many of the people came from the Guardian channel probably had something to do with it.

<ul type="square">[*]The tank PUNCHVOKES. Every bad guy in the spawn who isn't trying to hit him gets hit by him. He doesn't sit in one place trying to arrest ONE perp.
[*]Everyone waits for buffs. When offered, people await their buffs. When not offered, people politely request them.
[*]The empath RARELY heals. Okay, if the empath has to heal lots it may still be a good PuG. But if the empath defender says, "this is the least healing I've ever had to do on a tf," you know the team is rockin' and the empath is able to concentrate more on allocating buffs.
[*]People have perspective. It's just a game. Good teams recognize we all have real lives and accomodate. When a personal issue came up during the tf I let everyone know I had to take off for 5-15 minutes and said I would log and return so as not to spawn the mission for 7 instead of 6. Everyone said to enter the mission and stay to get xp, and that they all understood!! Cool peeps.[/list]Nice thread!

[ QUOTE ]
Do not go 'brb bio' right after the next to last Synapse TF mission, ESPECIALLY when the rest of the team has been talking about the Babbage ambush that's gonna happen as soon as we exit the mission.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why I recommend all serious CoX players have catheters. All catheter teams are easily the fastest at S/TFs!!

I'm not a Kin/Dark or Kin/Rad, so please excuse this if it's an ignorant statement: I fail to see how either of FyreBlast's proposed builds fall under the topic of this thread. This is supposed to be a scrapper build. Where are the melee attacks?

If you're simply posting builds for standard kinetics/ defenders, that deserves (and rightly so.. I love kinetics) its own thread. So how about some builds based on melee? We'd love to see them!

Thanks! And thanks to Electron Girl for such an interesting idea!

[ QUOTE ]
This would be a lot more useful to me without so much "humour", but I thank you for the guide.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cry for the people living in the colorless world.

Glad my main power choice has the most eloquent and witty clan member. Great guide!

The Veluta missions may be bugged. I did them all, got no souveniers, then was told to never bother her again. At this point I asked her for more missions and she offered me the first one... find Rauscher, all over again! I petitioned a bug report.

Veluta Lunata now won't give you missions until level 10.

And as of yesterday Mongoose still does not give you a souvenier

Nice! Looking forward to more pearls of your wisdom!

Wow! Someone has the guts to post a PvP build. I'm really impressed, and thank you for the guide. A few thoughts on your PvP build:

1) is it wise to wait so long to get power boost? Why not work it in at 16?

2) is the concealment pool that important when you can run a mission in the PvP zones and get a stealth temp power? It lasts 30 minutes, and if you do the mission in off hours in a less trafficed PvP zone like Bloody it's easy to get. Of course you don't get phase shift on invis, but you can sure sneak attack.

3) I like the 2 acc's. Especially in PvP where it's tough to hit, the more acc the better!

Thanks again for the great guide. My Grav/Nrg dom is at 21 and looking forward to obtaining enough infamy to get SOs and do some real PvP!!

At five minutes before the half hour (XX:25 and XX:55) hit the Argo Highway section of Talos Island. There will be lots of masks to destroy as night arrives. I've been told NOT to arrest shamans, as their presence helps spawn more masks. I don't know if this is true or not.

Then, once the sun comes up and the BP are gone, run back to DA and do your circuit!

If you team up with a bunch of people it takes only 1.5 hours or so.

This is a fantastic guide. I almost want to make an earth/storm controller, but I need some amount of willpower or I'll neglect all of my alts!

Looking over your build, I'd change a few things for my personal taste. The main change: take Freezing rain ASAP. That means, at level 16 you can drop stone cages or stalagmites, and immediately follow up with freezing rain. It's arguably the best power in the storm set. With a team that would work out to something like:

Step 1) tanker gets aggro and corner pulls a nice ball of meanies
Step 2) earth/storm controller drops mass hold (you pick which)
Step 3) earth/storm controller debuffs with freezing rain
Step 4) damage dealers go to TOWN! Spam AOE damage as fast as possible.

It's a massacre!

Ahem... moving on...

Steamy Mist and hurricane might be worth taking earlier, but really our best defense as controllers is a good hold. My storm defender took hurricane and steamy mist ASAP and needed it. I might bump steamy mist up to the early levels to allow for one of its best uses: stealth. It'll save your life around enemies you wish not to aggro!

That said, might it be good to dip into the leadership pool for a couple of powers? Or leave that for the defenders?