Piercing and Defense

The box in Sonny 2 that shows the Piercing and Defense.

Piercing and Defense are minor attributes in Sonny. Although they cannot be directly increased by leveling up, certain passive abilities, items, and buffs affect them. The different colors stand for different elements: red is Physical, pink is Magic or Cosmic, blue is Ice, orange is Fire, yellow is Lightning, brown is Earth, purple is Shadow, and green is Poison.

Piercing

There are eight different types of Piercing, one for each element. Piercing increases the chance that an attack of its associated element will have a critical hit, and adds to the damage of any such attack. Note that piercing bonuses applied through skills affect critical chance, but do not add to the skill's base damage.

Defense

There are eight different types of Defense, one for each element. Defense decreases the chance that an attack of its associated element will hit the user critically, and decreases the damage of any such attack.

Elements

There are eight elements in Sonny, and every attack has an element. The element serves little purpose other than the calculations involving Piercing and Defense. Buffs also have an element, which may affect whether certain abilities can dispel them.

Physical

This is a very common element, and is the element of standard physical attacks. In every ability tree except the Psychological one, Physical skills are the most common.

Magic/Cosmic

The Magic element was commonly used in Sonny, although Sonny only had a few moves that used it. As of Sonny 2, the element was renamed Cosmic, and it only appears used by enemies, as Sonny doesn't have any ability using it.

Ice

The Ice element is a rather passive element, typically associated with spells that debuff the target, rather than dealing large amounts of damage. It is heavily associated with the Hydraulic class. In Sonny 1, Shatter Bolt was the only move available to Sonny with this element.

Fire

Despite being the antithesis of Ice, the Fire element is similar, although it is somewhat more active. Sonny had a few Fire skills in Sonny, but in Sonny 2, Sonny cannot deal fire damage, only other characters like Roald or ZPCI Elites can.

Lightning

A moderately common element. Somewhat associated with Focus regeneration, used frequently by the Psychological class and includes Veradux's signature spell, Electro Bolt Med/Dux Electro.

Earth

Earth is a rather rare element, as neither Sonny nor any of his allies has ever been able to use an Earth skill. In fact, only two skills scaling with Earth piercing currently exist: Sonny's Earth Smash and Sonny 2's Spire. No equipment has ever offered Earth Piercing, although the survivor's armor in Sonny 1 gives Earth Defense. The only 6 moves that use the earth element in Sonny 2 are the Mayor's enrage, Police Colonel's reload/guns blazing, Spire, Nostalgia's Earth Titan, and the Twin Guardian's Guardian Shield.

Shadow

Shadow is the most common element in the Psychological tree, and tends to be associated with power at a price. The only offensive ability in the skill tree in Sonny that uses this element is Void.

Poison

The Biological tree is the only one to contain any Poison spells. The skills tend to focus on damage over time rather than direct damage. In Sonny, equipping Galiant the Paladin's armor on Veradux would massively boost his Poison Piercing, allowing him to deal extreme damage with his Zombie Poison skill.

Healing

It is also possible to deal critical healing. Healing skills have elements just like Damage skills do, although this is not apparent in-game. Healing critical hits are not affected by the target's Defense.

Ally Skills

The following table shows which skills belonging to each ally benefit from each type of piercing.

Character PhysicalMagic/
CosmicIceFireLightningEarthShadowPoison Sonny (Sonny) Blood Strike - Break - Coup De Grace - Cripple - Master Strike - Quick Strike - Smash - Sunder - WoundHeroic Motivation - Magic Bolt - ReformShatter BoltFlame Blast - Flame StrikeElectro Bolt - Void - Sonny (Sonny 2Biological) Agile Exposure - Break - Destroy - Immobilize - Leading Strike - Sample Blood - Slash - Vicious Strike - Wound - - - - - WithdrawalAnesthetic - Corrosion - Envenom - Infect - Reform Sonny (Sonny 2Psychological) - - - - Electrical Storm - Electron Charge - High Voltage - Shock Therapy - Betrayal - Confinement - Corruption - Dark Echoes - Dark Infusion - Epiphany - Haunt - Implosion - Insecurity - Nerve Shock - Nightmare - Placebo - Sacrifice - Terrify - Traumatize - Ultimatum - Sonny (Sonny 2Hydraulic) Bloodshed - Decimate - Demolish - Impair - Safe Guard - Slam - Wreck - Flash Freeze - Frost - Glacier - Hypothermia - Mind Freeze - Restore - Shatter - Vapour Cannon - Vascular Arrest - - - - - Veradux (Sonny) Emergency Heal - StrikeMedic Heal - - Electro Bolt Med - - Zombie Poison Veradux (Sonny 2) Dux Heal - Dux Leading Strike - - - Dux Electro - - - AmberBreak - Master Strike - Quick Strike - Sunder - - - - - - - GligusCripple - Quick Strike - Smash - WoundReform - - - - - - TecoBlood Strike - Quick StrikeHeroic Motivation - Flame StrikeElectro Bolt - - - CatelinQuick StrikeHeroic Motivation - Magic BoltShatter BoltFlame Blast - - Void - RoaldDux Leading Strike - Garrote - Greater Purpose - Thurman Impair - - Shoot - - - - FelicityGarrote - Gouge - Leading Strike - Planned Assault - Slash - Throw Knife - - - - - - -

Trivia

• Some Unobtainable Items give Earth defense.