Elite spec: Sonomancer

[tyrellian.3706]

Overview

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The sonomancer is a long-range, mobile engineer spec, who uses sonic attacks and abilities. The spec is oriented towards condi pressure rather than power, and can be traited for support, higher mobility or stronger condi pressure.

Its mechanic is resonance - a resource which builds slowly from certain attacks and is consumed to either enable or improve various skills. Some abilities are also affected by the current resonance level (similar to holosmith Exceed skills) - especially the mandatory minor traits which affect toolbelt recharge and movement speed (and provide the main 'tradeoffs' for the spec).

General Q&A

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Q: What's the purpose of this spec?A: It fills some of the holes in Engineer's current playstyles. In particular, engineers don't currently have good options for reliable long range damage, have weak mobility, and lack good condi options.

Q: What's Sonomancer's strengths and weaknesses?A: It's very mobile, has strong CC and good condi application. It's lacking in power damage, needs time to build up, and is vulnerable to being pressured.

Q: What's the spec's "tradeoffs"?A: The second and third minor traits mean you're slower and have longer cooldowns than normal when you have low resonance. Note you start combat with no resonance, and discharge skills consume it. You're also in trouble if you can't keep up the attack and your resonance times out.

Q: Is there any AI involved, does it get completely shut down by projectile hate, does it replace F5?A: No, no and no. We've got quite enough of all of those already.

Q: Do any of the skills root you while using them?A: No.

Changes to Core

Several core skills are modified to interact with Sonomancer's traits/mechanics. Note that none of these changes actually affect functionality unless you're running the sonomancer elite.

The following core skills are resonant: Blunderbuss, Overcharged shot, Magnetic Inversion, Detonate Mines, Timed charge, Detonate any turret (inc supply crate), Big ol' Bomb, Infusion Bomb, Flame Blast, Personal Battering Ram, Detonate Mine, Detonate Mine Field, Detection Pulse, Thump, Rumble, Supply Crate, Orbital Strike.

The following core skills are modified to become Discharge skills:

• Big ol' Bomb: Consume up to 5 resonance stacks. Increases effect radius by 25 units and launch distance by 50 units per resonance stack consumed.
• Concussion Bomb: If you have more than 15 [PvP: 8] stacks of resonance then consume 6 resonance stacks and apply stun (1.5s) to targets hit.
• Air blast: If you have more than 15 [PvP: 8] stacks of resonance then consume 4 resonance stacks and apply launch instead of knockback.
• Personal Battering Ram: Consumes up to 3 resonance stacks. Ammo recharge time reduced by 4s per stack consumed.
• Detonate Mine: If you have more than 5 resonance stacks then consume 5 resonance stacks and remove 3 boons instead of 1.
• Orbital Strike: Consumes up to 4 resonance stacks. Increases damage by 10% per stack consumed.

[tyrellian.3706]

Traits

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Minor

Sonocaster [1s ICD]Gain resonance stacks when successfully striking foes with resonant attacks. Lose all resonance if none is gained for a period. Gain access to shout and discharge skills.

This trait is unique per game mode.

• Maximum resonance stacks: 20 [PvP: 10]
• Gain 1 resonance from resonant attacks
• Resonance timeout: 5 seconds

Harmonic AttunementExceed. Toolbelt skills recharge slower. Resonance increases toolbelt recharge speed.

• Combat only
• No resonance: Toolbelt skills recharge at 50% base rate
• Full resonance: Toolbelt skills recharge at 150% base rate

Dynamic FrictionExceed. You move slower. Resonance increases movement speed.

• Combat only
• No resonance: Move at 80% normal speed
• Full resonance: Move at 120% normal speed

Major

Resounding DetonationAll explosions are resonant. Blast finishers that you create grant you resonance.

• Explosions: Resonant
• Gain 3 resonance per blast finisher

Drum Kit [20s ICD]Equipping an Engineering Kit dazes nearby foes and inflicts conditions on them.

This trait is unique per game mode.

• Daze: 0.5 seconds
• Confusion: 3x 5s [PvP/WvW: 3s]
• Cripple: 5s [PvP/WvW: 3s]
• Number of targets: 5
• Resonant
• Radius: 240

Noise Cancelling [12s ICD]Resonance takes longer to timeout, and consuming it removes conditions from allies.

• Resonance timeout: 8 seconds
• Conditions removed: 1 per 3 resonance consumed
• Number of allied targets: 5
• Radius: 300

Master

Frequency HoppingShadowstep to a target area before shouting. Leap finishers that you create grant you resonance.

• Range: 500
• Combo finisher: Leap
• Gain 2 resonance per leap finisher

Notes:

• Shouts become ground-targetted

Running Interference [20s ICD]Shouts taunt foes and apply swiftness to allies.

• Taunt: 1s
• Swiftness: 10s
• Number of allied targets: 5
• Number of enemy targets: 5
• Radius: 600

Stable Feedback [8s ICD]Shouts grant stability to allies.

• Stability: 3x 4s
• Number of allied targets: 5
• Radius: 600

Grandmaster

Breakbeat [25s ICD [PvP/WvW: 40s ICD]]Discharge skills break stun. Disables do increased breakbar damage and remove barrier.

This trait is unique per game mode.

• Breaks stun
• Breakbar damage: +50%
• Barrier removed: 50%
• Cooldown applies to stunbreak only
• Stunbreak occurs regardless of skill's cast time

Noisy NeighborExceed. When resonance is at or above the threshold, inflict conditions on nearby foes whenever you gain resonance.

This trait is unique per game mode.

• Threshold: 10 resonance [PvP: 5 resonance]
• Torment per resonance gained: 1x 3s [PvP/WvW: 2s]
• Confusion per resonance gained: 1x 3s [PvP/WvW: 2s]
• Number of targets: 5
• Radius: 240

Wall of Sound [10s ICD]Discharge. Consume resonance to gain aegis when at maximum resonance. Apply barrier to allies when gaining resonance.

This trait is unique per game mode.

• Consume 3 resonance
• Self: Aegis: 5s
• Barrier per resonance gained: 240 + 0.05x healing power [PvP/WvW: 150 + 0.03x healing power]
• Number of allied targets: 5
• Radius: 300
• Cooldown applies to aegis gain only.

Q&A

Q: Resonance, Resonant, Discharge, Exceed? I'm confused.A: OK:

• Resonance is a resource - like a warrior's adrenaline, a thief's initiative or a revenant's energy. You can build it up and spend it.
• Resonant is a property of some skills. It doesn't do anything on its own, but it does affect interactions with skills/traits. It's similar to 'Projectile' and 'Explosion'.
• A Discharge is a skill that consumes resonance to produce an effect.
• An Exceed is a skill whose effects improve the more Resonance you have. It doesn't cost you any. Holosmiths have the same thing, only with heat.

Q: Do I need resonance to cast discharge skills? What happens if I don't have enough?A: It depends on the skill. Some skills have a minimum resonance requirement and can't be cast unless you have at least that much. Others don't have a minimum, and will generally produce a weak baseline effect if you cast them without resonance. If you don't have the minimum resonance for a skill then you simply can't cast it. It doesn't go on CD.

Q: Do I get resonance from a resonant attack if the target blocks/evades/invuls/blinds it?A: No.

Q: How long do resonance stacks last?A: Individual stacks don't have a lifetime; they last as long as you can keep them. Note that you lose all your stacks if you don't gain any resonance for the timeout period though.

Q: Why's the PvP resonance cap 10 instead of 20?A: So that sonomancers move between empty/full faster in PvP; the higher risk/reward suits the faster-paced playstyle there. The lower cap also implicitly applies some of the balance needed for skill splits.

Q: Do traits/skills listed as affecting allies affect the sonomancer too?A: Yes. The sonomancer counts as one of the allied targets (and is prioritized).

Q: What's the cooldown on Sonocaster for?A: Gaining resonance from hitting with resonant attacks. You can only get a max of 1 resonance per second that way. Skills that explicitly grant resonance are an exception to this rate cap.

Q: Does dynamic friction stack with other speed effects?A: Yes - and this is unlike other speed boosts. It would be difficult to integrate its low-resonance speed penalty and unfairly weak at high resonance otherwise. You're still subject to the standard 400 unit/s max movement speed cap.

Q: Resounding Detonation and Frequency Hopping - what are the requirements on finishers generating resonance?A: The finisher must occur in a combo field (ie. actually trigger a combo). The type of field doesn't matter.

[tyrellian.3706]

Weapon - Staff

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1: Sawtooth [0.5s cast time]Chain. Exceed. Rake foes with acoustic energy. The more resonance you have, the more bleeding you cause.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Damage: 0.3 power coefficient [PvP/WvW: 0.2]
• Minimum bleeding: 1x 2s
• Maximum bleeding: 1x 8s
• Resonant
• Number of targets: 3
• Radius: 180
• Range: 1500

Notes:

• Skill is ground targetted and does not travel through intervening space. Effect manifests at destination 0.25s after casting.

1 (chain): Transform [0.5s cast time]Chain. Exceed. Convert conditions on foes to more damaging ones. The more resonance you have, the more types are converted.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Damage: 0.3 power coefficient [PvP/WvW: 0.2]
• Convert bleeding to poisoned.
• Resonance above 6 [PvP: 3]: Convert poisoned to torment
• Resonance above 14 [PvP: 7]: Convert torment to burning
• Stacks converted per condition: 1
• Resonant
• Number of targets: 3
• Radius: 180
• Range: 1500

Notes:

• Skill is ground targetted and does not travel through intervening space. Effect manifests at destination 0.25s after casting.
• Converted conditions keep their existing remaining duration.
• Converted conditions use the sonomancer's condition damage stat.
• Prioritizes the longest duration stack of each affected condition.

2: Pulse Train [0.75s cast time (charge), 8s CD]Exceed. Hold to charge. Release to fire sonic pulse projectiles. Hold longer for more pulses. Resonance increases projectile velocity.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Damage per projectile: 0.8 power coefficient [PvP/WvW: 0.5]
• Torment per projectile: 2x 4s
• Minimum projectiles: 1
• Maximum projectiles: 4
• Maximum projectile velocity increase: +150%
• Pierces
• Combo finisher: Projectile (50% chance)
• Resonant
• Number of targets: 5
• Range: 1200

Notes:

• Skill is direction targetted (like Coalescence of Ruin) and counts as a projectile.
• Flat trajectory.
• Base projectile velocity about the same as Throw Wrench.
• Pulse radius: 60 units.

3: Dynamic Range Compression [0.75s cast time, 12s CD [PvP/WvW: 18s]]Exceed. Compress space between yourself and the destination, causing teleportation. Range increases with resonance.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Range at no resonance: 200
• Range at full resonance: 1200
• Combo finisher: Leap

Notes:

• Skill is ground targetted.
• Actually a shadowstep, not a teleport - requires pathing.

4: Phase Modulation [0.25s cast time, 20s CD]Discharge. Consume resonance, evade attacks, then deploy a blinding field. Evade and field duration increase with resonance consumed.

• Maximum resonance consumed: 3
• Minimum evade duration: 0.25s
• Maximum evade duration: 1s
• Minimum field duration: 1s
• Maximum field duration: 4s
• Blindness: 3s
• Interval: 2s
• Number of targets: 5
• Radius: 240

Notes:

• Evade does not affect movement.
• Blind field does not start until evade ends.
• Blind field placed at player's position at end of evade.

5: Desynchronize [0.75s cast time, 30s CD]Discharge. Consume resonance to create a field which decelerates foes and gives their speed to you. Radius increases with resonance consumed.

• Maximum resonance consumed: 8
• Slow: 1.5s
• Cripple: 1.5s
• Alacrity: 0.75s per foe struck
• Swiftness: 1s per foe struck
• Number of pulses: 4
• Duration: 3s
• Interval: 1s
• Number of targets: 5
• Minimum radius: 200
• Maximum radius: 600
• Range: 1200
• Combo field: Dark

Notes:

• Skill is ground targetted.
• Alacrity/swiftness gain applies per target successfully hit per pulse.
• Boons given to self only.

5 (sequence): Multiplex [0.75s cast time]Pull enemies within the field to its center. This removes the field.

• Number of targets: 5
• Pull

Q&A

Q: Wouldn't a warhorn have been more appropriate?A: Perhaps, but that forces pistol/wh which would (a) not provide the reliable range damage engineers are missing, and (b) really suck.

Q: Can I viably run a sonomancer without the staff?A: Yes, especially if you run the Resounding Detonation trait.

Q: How does Transform work?A: It converts stacks of weaker conditions on the target into stronger ones, effectively doing damage by upgrading conditions into more damaging ones. The skill can convert multiple conditions, but only one stack is converted per condition at a time - if you Transform an enemy with 4 stacks of bleeding, they'll end up with 3 stacks of bleeding and 1 of poison.

Q: If I've got 20 resonance stacks and hit a bleeding enemy with Transform, does that immediately convert to burning?A: No. It converts to poison. Stacks are converted based on what they were before Transform's effects are applied. You'd need to hit them twice more with Transform before you'd get burning out.

Q: Why doesn't Transform convert to/from confusion?A: Two reasons. Firstly - confusion's too dependent on skill activation for its damage. If you convert any condition to confusion then you're effectively dealing negative damage to enemies who aren't activating skills, which isn't good. Technically, torment has the same issue - but in practice it's a lot easier to force enemies to move than to activate skills (especially in PvE). Secondly - to avoid generating too many cover conditions. It's painful enough that the autoattack chain generates 4 different conditions given enough time when at high resonance.

Q: What's a charge skill?A: Unrelated to a discharge skill. A charge skill is one where you hold the skill button down and then release it after a period of time. Generally, the longer you hold the better the effect. Catapaults and Trebuchets in WvW use these.

Q: What happens if I interrupt the charge for Pulse Train?A: It doesn't fire anything and goes on full cooldown.

Q: What's the timing for Pulse Train?A: There's a 0.1s aftercast between ending the channel and starting firing pulses; each pulse is then 0.1s apart. A full charge is therefore about 1.15s. Quickness/Slow affect both the charge time and the pulse spacing.

Q: How does the blind pulsing work with Phase Modulation?A: You get one immediate pulse when the field forms (at the end of the evade), then one every 2 seconds after. If you didn't have enough resonance for the full 4s field duration (or even to get to 2s), that means you'll miss out on blind pulses.

Q: Can I attack people during the evade phase on Phase Modulation?A: No. This is an evade, not a Mirage Cloak. You'll be locked into an evade animation for the appropriate duration. You're free to do whatever you want during the blind phase, however.

[tyrellian.3706]

Utilities

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Heal

"Encore!" [instant cast, 20s CD]Shout. Apply a beneficial effect to allies, then heal yourself. When the effect expires, allies receive half the healing again that they received while it was active.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Gain 5 resonance
• Encore (4s): Repeat half of healing received when effect expires
• Healing: 2000 + 0.3x healing power
• Number of allied targets: 10 [PvP/WvW: 5]
• Radius: 600
• Resonant

Interlude (toolbelt) [3s cast time (charge), 20s CD]Discharge. Hold to charge. Consume resonance, gain resistance and block attacks while charging. Release to end the effect.

• Minimum resonance to activate: 2
• Consume 2 resonance per second
• Block attacks
• Resistance: 1s
• Boon application interval: 1s

Notes:

• Applies resistance immediately, then once per second while charging.
• This skill is unaffected by quickness/slow.

Utilities

"The Crowd Goes Wild!" [0.75s cast time, 30s CD]Shout. Teleport nearby foes to you and confuse them. Gain resonance for each teleported foe.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Gain 1 resonance per teleported target
• Confusion: 5x 5s [PvP/WvW: 5x 3s]
• Number of targets: 5
• Radius: 600
• Resonant

Notes:

• Stability prevents teleportation (and consumes 1 stability stack).
• Does not require line of sight to teleport.
• Does require valid pathing from enemy to self to teleport.

Crowd Surf (toolbelt) [0.5s cast time, 3s CD]Discharge. Consume resonance to leap towards a target. Ammo recharge time reduced if target is near others.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Minimum resonance to activate: 3
• Consume 3 resonance
• Maximum count: 3 [PvP: 2]
• Count recharge: 20 seconds [PvP/WvW: 30 seconds]
• Target threshold: 3 [WvW: 5]
• Threshold radius: 240
• Recharge reduced: 50%
• Range: 500
• Combo finisher: Leap

Notes:

• Targets a specific player/NPC.
• Can target allies or enemies.
• Target does not have to be in range - leap will still occur in their direction (but restricted to 500 units distance).

"Feel the Noise!" [0.5s cast time, 20s CD]Shout. Damage and torment nearby foes. Transfer conditions to each foe struck.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Damage: 1.0 power coefficient [PvP/WvW: 0.5]
• Torment: 5x 8s [PvP/WvW: 5x 4s]
• Conditions transferred: 2
• Number of targets: 5
• Radius: 600
• Resonant
• Explosion
• Combo finisher: Blast

Softly Now (toolbelt) [0.75s cast time, 25s CD]Discharge. Consume resonance to steal boons and inflict conditions on foes.

• Minimum resonance to activate: 2
• Maximum resonance consumed: 6
• Damage: 0.01 power coefficient
• Boons stolen: 1 per 2 resonance consumed
• Slow: 1s per resonance consumed
• Cripple: 1s per resonance consumed
• Weakness: 1s per resonance consumed
• Number of targets: 5
• Range: 900
• Radius: 240

Notes:

• Skill is ground targetted
• Boons are stolen from each affected enemy

"Turn it Up!" [instant cast, 25s cast time]Shout. Gain resonance and strengthen your allies.

• Gain 8 resonance
• Fury: 10s
• Might: 8x 10s
• Radius: 600
• Number of allied targets: 5
• Resonant

Turn it Down (toolbelt) [0.25s cast time, 30s CD]Discharge. Consume resonance to gain stealth.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Minimum resonance to activate: 3 [PvP: 2]
• Maximum resonance consumed: 9 [PvP: 5]
• Stealth: 0.67s per resonance consumed [PvP: 1s per resonance consumed]

"Up to Eleven!" [instant cast, 35s CD]Shout. Break stun, give yourself quickness and become unblockable. Grant allies quickness and unblockable attacks.

• Self: Breaks stun
• Self: Quickness: 2s
• Self: Unblockable: 1x 4s
• Allies: Quickness: 4s
• Allies: Unblockable 2x 4s
• Radius: 600
• Number of allied targets: 5
• Resonant

Notes:

• Sonomancer counts as one of the 5 allies - so you personally get a total of 3 unblockable attacks and 6s quickness.

Four on the Floor (toolbelt) [1s cast time, 30s CD]Discharge. Consume resonance to knock down foes in the target area.

• Minimum resonance to activate: 8
• Consumes 8 resonance
• Damage: 0.01 power coefficient
• Knockdown: 3 seconds
• Number of targets: 4
• Range: 900
• Radius: 240
• Unblockable

Notes:

• Skill is ground targetted.

Elite

"Amp It Up!" [3s cast time (charge), variable cooldown]Shout. Hold to charge a shout which accelerates allies, grants resonance and debilitates foes. Release to shout. Longer charge time produces better effects, but a longer cooldown.

This skill is unique per game mode.

• Gain 5x charge time resonance [PvP: 3x charge time]
• 1s+ charge: Alacrity: 3x charge time [PvP/WvW: 2x charge time]
• 1s+ charge: Burning: 5 stacks, duration 3x charge time [PvP/WvW: 2x charge time]
• 2s+ charge: Superspeed: 3x charge time [PvP/WvW: 2x charge time]
• 2s+ charge: Slow: 3x charge time [PvP/WvW: 2x charge time]
• 3s charge: Quickness: 9 seconds
• 3s charge: Float: 2 seconds
• 3s charge: Unblockable
• Minimum cooldown: 30 seconds
• Maximum cooldown: 90 seconds
• Number of allied targets: 5
• Number of enemy targets: 5
• Self: Revealed: 3s
• Radius: 600
• Resonant
• Combo finisher: Blast

Notes:

• Revealed is applied to the Sonomancer immediately when charging starts (and stealth is also removed); none of the other effects apply until the charge is released
• This skill is unaffected by slow/quickness.

Overdrive (toolbelt) [0.5s cast time, 90s CD]Discharge. Consume all resonance. Reduce the cooldown of all resonant skills based on the amount of resonance consumed.

• Minimum resonance to activate: 1
• Consume all resonance
• Cooldown reduction per resonance consumed: 1s

Q&A

Q: Does "Encore!" affect its own heal?A: Yes.

Q: What happens if multiple sonomancers stack "Encore!"?A: The duration of the effect is overwritten (extended) by each cast. You don't get compounding heal multipliers.Example:

• Sono 1 casts "Encore!" at T = 0s
• Sono 2 cases "Encore!" at T = 2s
• Total Encore duration is 6s (4s from last cast).
• Final heal occurs once and is 50% of heals in that 6s period.

Q: Does "Encore!"s 2000 heal affect allies?A: No, just the sonomancer.

Q: Shouldn't there be some tiny damage on "The Crowd Goes Wild!" to prevent stealth condi damage?A: No. You know exactly where the sonomancer is if you get hit by that.

Q: Why require pathing on "The Crowd Goes Wild!"?A: To prevent people porting enemies into towers in WvW.

Q: For Crowd Surf's ammo recharge reduction, does that count the target and do the others around it need to be the same allegiance?A: The skill target is counted. Nearbys don't need to be the same allegiance. So you'd get the reduction if you surfed to one ally surrounded by 2 enemies in PvE, for example.

Q: What happens if I interrupt the charge on "Amp It Up!"?A: None of AIU's on-completion effects (including the resonance gain) occur and it goes on normal (ie. non-interrupt) cooldown based on how long they were charging it for.

Q: What happens if I charge "Amp It Up!" for less than a second?A: You get revealed, get the resonance gain and cause a blast finisher. That's it. The skill then goes on 30s CD.

Q: Do sonomancer shouts work with Runes of the Trooper/Reaper?A: Yes.

[tyrellian.3706]

Misc

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Lore

"No one really knows how sonomancy was first discovered.

Azzy Darkstrike boasts that he learned the secret on an infiltration mission by wooing the dredge ladies. I'm not so sure about that. What I do know is that the scouts say he stumbled off to the dredge base after getting wasted on Nicabar's special reserve, and a few hours later he rolled back missing half his gear and clutching a tuning fork.

Snizzi says she discovered it by taking readings on a 'Multi-phase Counter-Acoustimeter'. Whatever that is. Her College threw her out after she wrecked the guest accommodation with it, so I guess there may be some truth to her tale.

As for Turmvald - well, he claims he sat in a cave behind a waterfall for five years with a dolyak skin on his head, and the spirits enlightened him during that time. I agree spirits were definitely involved, though not the way he says they were.

And then there's Beltus Steelhelm. That fool deafened himself in his left ears and singed off half his pelt performing 'The Most Charrdacious Tribute to the Tribune'. We don't let him near the fuel depot OR the chickens anymore.

Anyway, they formed a band and took down the Inquest task force in Doomherald Bastion, and that's how they became famous. Not long after that they started a tour around the Shiverpeaks, but after three days they had a falling out and a big shouting match. Now none of them will talk to the others.

Oh right - yeah, that dredge Drankov shows up every once in a while. Says he's the 'Fifth Sonomancer' and was part of the band before they became famous. Nobody believes him." -- Quaestor Tarclaw, Blood Legion.

Aesthetics and Acoustics

Base and Traits:

• Sonos have a 'circular oscilloscope' ground-aura around them when in combat giving a rough indication of their current resonance level. Low resonance is a placid, barely shifting circle. High resonance is a thrashing, chaotic circle. The sonomancer's UI has 'VU meter' on it above the toolbelt area, giving a more accurate indication of the current level.
• When resonance-charged, Big ol' Bomb, Concussion Bomb and Orbital Strike have different visual tells (shaking barrel, flickering lightning, wider targetting laser) to warn of their stronger effect.
• Noisy Neighbor causes visible spreading rings around the sonomancer when above its activation threshold.

Staff:

• Sawtooth and Transform both produce a brief collapsing distortion animation in their area of effect. Transform's has threads of color for each type it's able to transform (bleeding = red, poison = green, torment = purple).
• Pulse Train has an audible whine when charging up. The fired projectiles are light-refracting spheres.
• Dynamic Range Compression shows a visible 'tether' and light-twisting effect between source and destination during the cast time.
• The sonomancer blurs during Phase Modulation's evade.
• Desynchronize's field is a slowly rippling distortion.

Shouts:Most shouts don't have a significant visual effect - the sono just shouts the appropriate words. There are a couple of exceptions though:

• "Feel the Noise!" has a 'fire ring' blast out from the sono when shouted.
• "Amp It Up!" has the sono punctuate each word in time with the 1s thresholds, and visibly punch whatever weapon they're holding higher with each word. Asura should actually bounce off the ground for "Up!".

Discharges:

• Interlude: The sono holds their hand out in a 'stop' gesture while charging the skill.
• Crowd Surf: The sono strikes a pose while 'diving' towards their target. Humans/sylvari: 'swan dive'; charr/norn: 'belly flop'; asura: 'superman'.
• Softly Now: Sound volume drops substantially in the target area during cast.
• Four on the Floor: Distortion disc appears above the target area, then slams down.
• Overdrive: Lightning (harmlessly) strikes the sono.

Superior Rune of the Sonomancer

1: +25 Condition Damage2: +35 Toughness3: +50 Condition Damage4: +65 Toughness5: +100 Condition Damage6: Convert Cripple to Chill on nearby enemies when executing a shout skill (Range: 600, 5 targets, 10s ICD).

[Kodama.6453]

This...is not what I expected the sonomancer to be. It was a fun read, but I would prefer that we get a chemical focused elite spec next.

[Trianox.3486]

This is so cool!

Not sure condo would be my go-to... Altho hear-bleedinf makes sense.But non damaging condi, some daze CC, and power could work really well too thematically.

[UNOwen.7132]

@Kodama.6453 said:This...is not what I expected the sonomancer to be. It was a fun read, but I would prefer that we get a chemical focused elite spec next.

Eh we already have alchemy as a traitline, and elixirs. I think sonic tech would be really neat, and the dredge are honestly underappreciated and could use the day in the spotlight.

[Stand The Wall.6987]

this reminds me of noise marines from Warhammer 40k.