Abilities

Abilities are the means by which characters fight and defend themselves in battle. There are many abilities that do different things, providing the flexibility required to adjust to almost any playing style. Whenever Sonny levels up, he gains one ability point to spend in the ability tree, or in the case of Sonny (2017), the strains. Ability points can be reset through re-specing, which can only be done up to five times per real-time day in Sonny, or requires money to perform in Sonny 2 and Sonny (2017). In the latter case, as long as the player has enough money re-specing can be done as many times as the player wish.
==Sonny and Sonny 2==
===Ability Trees and Strains===
In Sonny, there is only one ability tree across all four character classes, and it is possible to Re-spec for free up to five times per real-time day.
The ability tree is available in the Classes page:
*Sonny Ability Tree
In Sonny 2, each of the three classes has its own separate ability tree. Re-specing costs in-game money, with the price increasing when Sonny levels up. However, it can be performed as many times as you want. The player also starts the game with 5 ability points while at Level 1, unlike in the first game.
The ability trees are available in the classes' respective page:
*Psychological Ability Tree
*Biological Ability Tree
*Hydrualic Ability Tree
Sonny also has access to two tutorial-exclusive abilities. These are similar to the first games' starting abilities:
*Quick Strike
*Supression
===Types of Abilities===
There are two different types of abilities: Active abilities and Passive abilities. Sonny can be obtain both types through the ability tree.
*Active abilities require activation within the battle, requiring a cost in focus, health, or neither. These typically modifies a character's Health by dealing damage or healing.
*Passive abilities are always "on" in combat. So, they don't need to be activated manually and will always be active. Also, they don't need to be equipped on the Combat Action Bar.
===A.I. Exclusive Abilities===
In all games, there are many abilities that can be used by the allies and enemies that Sonny himself is not able to use. See the page, A.I. Exclusive Abilities for the complete list for Sonny and Sonny 2.
No list exists for Sonny (2017) yet, as these abilities are currently being added to the wiki.
==Sonny (2017)==
===Ability Trees and Strains===
In Sonny (2017), there are a total of six strains. The player starts the game with the Physical Strain. After the player defeats the Zone 2 boss, Corruptor, they'll be able to unlock a second strain of their choice, out of the five remaining strains. After the player defeats the Zone 5 boss, Celestia, they'll be able to unlock the third and last strain. Re-specing costs cash, with the price increasing with Sonny's Level, and can be performed as many times as the player wants, same as in Sonny 2.
The strain trees are available in their respective page:
*Physical Strain
*Fire Strain
*Nature Strain
*Frost Strain
*Lightning Strain
*Shadow Strain
===Ability Type===
In Sonny (2017), there are three types of abilities:
*Active abilities, which are essentially the same in this game compared to the Sonny Flash games. Unlike them, Active abilities have no costs but can only be equipped to the Combat Action Bar once.
*Passive abilities, which must be equipped on the Combat Action Bar in order to grant it's effect (a.k.a. aura) to a unit. Once equipped, this type works the same as in the Flash games.
*Basic Attack abilities, which are very similar to Active abilities, the difference between them is that while Active abilities can be Silenced, Basic Attacks cannot. While all Basic Attacks has no cooldown, not all abilities with no cooldown are Basic Attacks, but are treated as Actives and can therefore be Silenced.
===Ability Target===
In order to use an ability, it requires a target unit. While an ability can have multiple valid targets, they can normally only be used on a single unit. The ability will only deal damage/recover HP and apply other effects to the target, with the exception of abilities that can hit all valid targets (often refered to as "AoE" abilities). An ability has one of five target types, it can:
*Target the caster.
*Target the caster's allies.
*Target the caster's team.
*Target the caster's enemies.
*Target anybody.
===Ability Reaction===
Some abilities have a Reaction that triggers under certain circumstances. An example would be Drill Strike which triggers a reaction when the player targets enemies with lower than 35% HP, increasing it's damage dealt. Certain ability mechanics, such as applying buffs, normally doesn't make use of a reaction, hence why some abilities can apply buffs and have a "Reaction" at the same time. That said, the reaction mechanic is able to apply buffs and do other "non-reaction" mechanics, sometimes with a condition. Under normal circumstances, abilities can only have one reaction. However, some evolutions also makes use of ability reactions to apply it's effect on evolved abilities. In other words, some evolutions are able to add an additional reaction to Sonny's currently equipped abilities. Furthermore, some weapon items also has a reaction coded, much like certain evolutions, and can also add a reaction to the equipped unit's basic attacks. To summarize, reactions can be seen as secondary ability effects.
====Phase====
The condition will be checked by the game during a "Phase". As such all ability reactions require a phase. There are six reaction phases, and an ability can only trigger it's reaction under one of these phases:
*Pre-Execute - Occurs before the ability strikes. Usually reserved for reaction effects that modify the ability attributes.
*On Hit - Occurs when the ability scores a hit.
*On Miss - Occurs when the ability doesn't score a hit (i.e. a "Miss"). Likely not used by the game at all.
*On Crit - Occurs when the ability scores a crit. The ability has to score a hit first before the game checks for critical hits.
*On Kill - Occurs when the ability kills an enemy. The ability has to score a hit first before the game checks for killing blows.
*Post-Execute - Occurs after the ability made it's last strike. Unlike the other phases, this one will occur exactly once per ability execution, regardless of how many times the ability strikes.
Pre-Execute and Post-Execute phase will always occur when executing an ability, while the rest may not due to specific circumstances. For example, if the player doesn't score a crit with the selected ability, the On Crit phase will not occur.
====Condition====
During the ability reaction's phase, the game will check the ability's condition. Like the phase, this attribute is also required for ability reaction. The condition can be one of the following seven:
*Proc Chance - When the reaction phase is reached, the game basically makes a "dice roll".
*HP - The game will check the reaction target's current HP.
*Focus - The game will check the reaction target's current Focus.
*Check Buff Element - The game checks the reaction target buffs' element.
*Check Buff Polarity - The game checks the reaction target buff's polarity.
*Previous Ability Element Cast - The game checks what element the previously casted ability had. Only used by Flame Jet and the Alternate evolution.
*Previous Turn No Damage Taken - This condition will be met if the caster has not taken damage the previous turn. Only used by Snipe.
There are also two additional condition coded that is unused: Previous Ability Element Taken & Previous Ability Scored Crit.
====Condition Value and Base Value====
Some conditions has a value associated with it, and compares it to the base value, usually fetched from the reaction target:
*Proc Chance uses the proc chance percentage as condition value, and fetches a random computer-generated value as the base value. The proc chance percentage can be set to 100%, meaning the ability reaction will always proc. This is used by some abilities which apply buffs at different phases than usual (normally they're On Hit).
*HP/Focus uses a percentage representing a HP/Focus threshold as condition value and fetches the reaction target's current HP/Focus percentage as the base value.
*Check Buff Element/Polarity uses an integer which represent buff count, and fetches the number of buffs on the reaction target that satisfy the condition as the base value. All ability reactions with these conditions currently only uses a condition value of 0.
The other conditions doesn't make use of a condition value.
====Comparing Mode====
An ability reaction will only have a Comparing Mode if it has a Condition Value. The Condition Value and Base Value is compared in one of four ways:
*Base Value More Than Condition Value. The conditions Check Buff Element and Check Buff Polarity always has this comparing mode.
*Base Value Lower Than Condition Value. The condition Proc Chance always has this comparing mode.
*Base Value Equal To Condition Value.
*Base Value Not Equal To Condition Value.
If the comparing mode retuns "true", then the condition will trigger. The comparing modes More Than and Lower Than is used a lot more often than the other two modes.
====Condition Element====
If applicable, the condition will check if the condition element matches the ability/buff element. If the elements doesn't match, the condition won't trigger. The Check Buff Element and Previous Ability Element Cast makes use of a condition element when checking the condition. It is also coded in some other conditions, but has generally no effect at all. In Sonny (2017), there are six elements, and as such the condition element can be:
*Physical.
*Fire.
*Frost.
*Nature.
*Lightning.
*Shadow.
====Condition Polarity====
Exclusive to the Check Buff Polarity condition, it will trigger if the reaction target has at least one buff that matches the condition polarity. The polarities are:
*Positive.
*Neutral.
*Negative.
If the comparison polarity is set to Neutral, then it will trigger on Positive and Negative buffs as well.
====Condition Target====
If applicable, the game will check the condition on a specific unit:
*Ability Caster.
*Ability Target.
Note that the target of a reaction effect is not necessarily the same as the condition target.
====Reaction Effect====
If an ability's condition triggers, it will trigger one of the following effects:
*Modify Damage/Healing Dealt
*Modify Focus
*Modify Ability Attribute
**Crit. Chance
**Crit. Damage
**Defense Scaling
**Hit Chance
**Speed Scaling
**Strike Count
*Modify HP
**with Caster's Power
**with Damage/Healing Dealt
*Modify Growth Stats
**on Ability Caster
**on Abilty Target
*Dispel
*Modify Cooldown
**of Current Ability
**of Previous Ability
*Apply Buff
**to Ability Caster
**to Ability Target
**to Ability Caster's Party
*Add Special Effect
**AoE
**Piercing
==Trivia==
*In Sonny and Sonny 2, only Melee and Bolt type abilities can miss. Shock-type abilities always hit their target.
**While Shock-type abilities are not guaranteed to hit in Sonny (2017), some of them has Hit. Bonuses, such as Arc Flash and Disrupt.
==See Also==
Category:Game Mechanics
Category:Sonny
Category:Sonny 2
Category:Sonny (2017)
Category:Abilities
Category:Abilities (Sonny)
Category:Abilities (Sonny 2)
Category:Abilities (Sonny 2017)