oedipus_tex

Are you asking for powerset recommendations? The power Drain Psyche in the Psionic Assault/Manipulation set gives off pretty strong vampire vibes. Psi players need to feed on enemies to survive. The power Soul Drain in the Defender/Corruptor APPs is a tight match to the concept as well, but provides +Damage instead of Regen. I suppose Willpower has similar abilities on a smaller scale. An Electric/Psi Dominator is the vampiric build IMO, although a lot of people probably don't associate Electricity with the type of vampire you're talking about. Mind Control could be a reasonable facsimile. There was a person on Ourodev (not Homecoming) who I believe was making a Vampire archetype. I'm not sure what the status of that is or any details about it all, just remember chatting briefly about the work being done.

Hey all, I have at the moment over 180 characters. Most are "trial runs" where I tried a combo up to a certain level, decided it wasn't my fave, and rerolled the same costume/bio into a new design. This has led to a huge roster with enhancements, influence, recipes, and merits spread out over an increasingly difficult to manage stable of characters. For the longest time I passed enhancements between them using email. I was always pretty sloppy about it though. Go ahead and laugh, only recently did I realize how much easier it is to create a supergroup for all the alts to join and single source their enhancements into a storage bin rather than emailing stuff. This has allowed me to see much better which enhancements I have and efficiently manage my resources. I have a feeling there's a lot of good advice out there on managing a big roster that for would be helpful. What are your tricks?

How you play is going to depend a lot on what you are fighting. Psi Assault's big power is Drain Psyche. It's a point blank power that boosts your endurance and hp. It can technically be perma'd, but realistically it's not possible. You'll want to use it any time it is up and there are at least two or three enemies nearby--the more the better. You'll want to position yourself where you can keep the buff up as often as possible. If you're solo and are down to just one or two enemies, its often beneficial to start moving toward the next group. You are an energy vampire in constant need of feeding, so keep pushing forward. Against AVs you'll want to use your Drain Psyche to reduce their Regen. The rest of the build will really come down to the situation and how comfortable you feel. Personally I'd probably usually open with Fearsome Stare, run into range, Heart of Darkness (to stun everyone), Drain Psyche, Sleet, Psychic Scream, then alternate between the melee attacks and AoE attacks. Target a boss with the melee attacks to work its HP down, kill the minions and lts with the aoes. Use Hold or Confuse on the boss first if it's a dangerous one (most are). If you prefer to open with Shadow Field when it is up (probably every other spawn or so), that work's well too.

I often listed Dark/Psi as an S-Tier Dominator combo. It's been a while since I specifically looked at a build for it, but once I started playing with it again the big advantages it has immediately stood out. There are just so many ways you can take this build, and all of them are fantastic. IMO one of the best things about Dark Control is it's one of the Dominator sets I don't feel pressured to try to hit huge defenses with, because of the -ToHit debuff in the attacks. Psi meanwhile frees you from endurance and self healing woes. That combo together leads to you to be able to actually proc out powers like other archetypes can, because you're not chasing safety or survivability like a typical Dominator. Here's a sample Dark/Psi Dominator proc build. I struggled with the Accuracy a little, I may have a bug somewhere in my set up that's reporting much higher ToHIt than I think I have. But my version of the tool is showing everything with about 95% chance to hit enemies with base 38% chance for a +4, so IDK. 🙂 You could probably play a lot with the specific procs I picked for each power. This build assumes you'll be using Dark Grasp as your way to proc the Dominator +Damage ATO. I'd put that in Psychic Shockwave, but for whatever strange reason the proc can't go there (I think this is a bug since that proc does go in other Dominator attacks in their secondary sets that have enhanceable mezz). My assumption is that this build will be run with Destiny: Barrier. With T4 Barrier at its lowest ebb, you get +5 Defense to all. That means as long as you are dilligent with it, your Smash/Lethal defense is actually close to 41, not 36 like shown. If you want to close the gap, that's an option. But tapping enemies with Fearsome Stare, Shadow Field, Heart of Darkness, or your pet's cone attack will also drop enemies beneath the threshold. I choose Hoarfrost deliberately over Hibernate. Hoarfrost increases your max HP. Drain Psyche increases your Regen. The amount of HP you Regen per second is based on Max HP. So when both are active at the same time, you get more Regen back than you would with lower max HP. I skipped the immobilize powers. If you plan to solo AVs I wouldn't do that. It's probably not a big deal otherwise. The AoE immobilize is technically fine, just wasn't a priority for me here. If you want to take it, you could drop Haunt for it. NOTE: Just realized the recharge on this guy is 83%, which is almost permadom (you'd probably get a few cycles in before missing a pass). You could edit the build to pick up that little extra bit of Recharge, or you could just a base buff. A lot of people don't like fiddling with base buffs, but they can help you maintain a much proccier build if you're willing to just visit the base once an hour or so to renew it. Zone-8888 and many other public warp bases have a table you can use quickly. This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Dominator Primary Power Set: Darkness Control Secondary Power Set: Psionic Assault Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Concealment Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Dark Grasp -- GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(A), UnbCns-Dam%(31), GldNet-Dam%(34), NrnSht-Dam%(43), SprAscoft-Rchg/+Dmg%(43), CldSns-%Dam(43) Level 1: Psionic Dart -- Empty(A) Level 2: Mind Probe -- Hct-Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dam%(5), TchofDth-Dam%(7), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(7), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(9), GldStr-%Dam(9) Level 4: Telekinetic Thrust -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(25), Hct-Acc/Rchg(27), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(34), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(46) Level 6: Possess -- CrcPrs-Conf%(A), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(11), CrcPrs-Conf(11), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(13), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(13), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(15) Level 8: Fearsome Stare -- CldSns-%Dam(A), CldSns-ToHitDeb(40), CldSns-Acc/ToHitDeb(42), CldSns-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(42) Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15) Level 12: Heart of Darkness -- Obl-%Dam(A), Erd-%Dam(17), CldSns-%Dam(17), ScrDrv-Dam%(19), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(19), AbsAmz-Stun/Rchg(21) Level 14: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 16: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(21) Level 18: Haunt -- ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(A), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(23), ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(23), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(25) Level 20: Drain Psyche -- DS:DSyncHealRech(A), DS:DSyncHealRech(27), DS:DSyncHealRech(29) Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 24: Tactics -- DS:DSyncEndToHitDef(A) Level 26: Shadow Field -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(29), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(31), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(31) Level 28: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(37) Level 30: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 32: Umbra Beast -- CaltoArm-Acc/Dmg(A), CaltoArm-Dmg/EndRdx(33), CaltoArm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), CaltoArm-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33), SlbAll-Build%(34) Level 35: Psionic Lance -- StnoftheM-Dam%(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(36), StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg(36), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(37), GldJvl-Dam%(37) Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Arm-Dam%(A), Obl-%Dam(39), Erd-%Dam(39), ScrDrv-Dam%(39), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(40), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(40) Level 41: Sleet -- RechRdx-I(A), AchHee-ResDeb%(45) Level 44: Frozen Armor -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(45), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(45), UnbGrd-Max HP%(46) Level 47: Ice Storm -- Artl-End/Rech/Rng(A), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(42), Artl-Acc/Dam(48), Artl-Dam/End(48), Artl-Dam/Rech(48), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(50) Level 49: Hoarfrost -- DS:DSyncHealRech(A), DS:DSyncHealRech(50), DS:DSyncHealRech(50) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Domination Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(3), Mrc-Rcvry+(3), Prv-Absorb%(5) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Stamina -- PwrTrns-+Heal(A) Level 49: Quick Form ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1404;676;1352;HEX;| |78DA65945B6F125110C7CF5E289796020584026D015BEE60F1DD44036D822D09898| |94F2AAE744B37A50B61D1D8F825F45DBF872F3EF809345A8D4F6AA331BEF492684C| |4CB4383D3347AA6CD8FDED9973E63F3367F650BF5F9DDADC5CBDCC244FA5A35956B| |3DADD314C6DD0EDDBEA5ADB68290C2E3BDCC9BF13CD4AD71CF4BB9D5255EB6F9B3A| |F89021315A72C5B2B4BB9D41A961195DD36889317335BAE078ADA7EB1B1EFEBAAE6| |B1B7ADFDA327A3E3EAE99F70CCBB863748CC1AE9B5B568DF6D6C030DB91959ED12A| |D55A7AB3AE5903BDBF3B4A350CF9C5E1FE158287749A311BDAD80EBC9555365F933| |9132B0A674E03FB1CF0198DBFCA7C6CE7A5A233FCE0620E45C8819E94421D759B71| |4E348169E043958F1D8F8819D4750214918C9247E7700E19C95252FBB8B898C1713| |18D3C814A6C22B24D43A3EB36F10672EA26F11672BA891C86B065A7CE8A9DCA4B7F| |42663F13BF2093B0D249694ACE3CD6364D64B0B393228D4986B97A0FD1D34BCA330| |F70F1CC539C0FAC611A3E507693327307B11B6E307A44380F1903BF195792209C8F| |2615DF779439F78D78445B784C554334BFC4FB3394FD79D82D556111628C2841B8A| |0686A9037D50FA690482B14C77532449E159167F7B0B0D81BE4FC5BE23BA4020A51| |5143F42256BD18C2CF4A85C939213F47052A20BF404675E13DCAC43F103F12F7918| |90AB513849362F3937BB8C9E75F135F115F20175F120B988E07B0249C972EA1628A| |3A98A20EA6A873E9C7F8E9A69F20C33EC632A2C00C7D0B85E7E0E457591426F362A| |BF254602140F4228B3F31520C1697C42128396CDC98B5232F284495684396279011| |705E266779993A5AFE8F3175ECD826CF9886EBE3F30D7574AC99C44D07AED13F07A| |D3A3A6352D875AC4B4E605DF255891F7EF500C787E3FEC7FF987EE0CEAEE5A02491| |DA1FE6B8D530| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Sounds you might be better at slotting than I am. 🙂 I admit I have given up on a couple of sets largely because of endurance woes: Fire/Ice Dominator Fire/Sonic Resonance Controller (worst ever) Fire/Poison Controller Ice/Earth Dominator The common denominator is the big endurance cost of Arctic Air and Hot Feet. Do you have specific approaches for getting recovery under control? Especially with Fire/Sonic I could never get to a place that felt reasonable.

I agree, I'll take the HC version of the Assault sets any day over what was on live. 🙂 Despite my reservations, Power Up is still a must-take power. I do wish the original Power Boost was still around though. Those lost 5 seconds of Defense, extra Confusion in Arctic Air, extra slow, etc added up to a lot of coverage. I used to be able to build toons who were "Power Boost-capped" in the sense that I would build their Defense to where it was adequate, then Power Boosted to the cap around 50% of the time. Losing those lost 5 seconds hurt. The damage may make it worth it though. With the current version, I especially like it where I can double-dip, e.g. hit Power Up on an Electric Control build and use it for +damage in attacks while the drain aura is ticking simultaneously.

Mind Control on Controllers is a set I consider difficult to play. It's got two main things that make it a challenging set: For teams, AoE hard control only comes from a pair of powers that each have 240 recharge. Solo, Mind lacks easy ways to set up AoE Containment. Mind Control is a late bloom set. On teams, highly kitted out Mind Controllers usually rotate between Mass Confusion and Total Domination with each spawn. The recharge on each of these will need to be around 70 seconds or faster to do this comfortably (the hard cap on their recharge is 60 seconds.) They also unlock late. Solo, one way I've partially solved for the lack of easy Containment is using Power Boost with Total Domination. You can use sleep powers too, but it's a lot harder. The main advantages of Mind Control IMO are that some of the powers can be cast without alerting enemies, which can allow extra time to set up a debuff when solo without alerting enemies. The single target Hold power also casts very quickly and benefits a lot from proccing out for damage. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Given all of this, my top recommendations for pairings are: Time Manipulation. This set provides lots of Recharge that can help get Mind's control powers up more often. The AoE slow will help a lot with keeping stuff from running away. The +ToHit in Farsight assists with making procced out powers hit. Having extra Defense on a Mind Controller is often useful because the set eats a lot of return fire on fast moving teams. Trick Arrow. The additional control and direct damage in this set helps fill in Mind's holes in these areas. It is also possible to Sleep or Confuse a mob discretely and set up some of the arrows in safety. Dark Affinity. This is an all around good set that pairs as nicely with Mind Control as anything else. Radiation. An older set that has fallen from S to A tier IMO, but still pretty good overall. Poison. I'm not the hugest fan of Poison to be honest, but it's not a terrible pairing if you wish to play it. Nature. This is more a "neutral" pairing than a truly strong one IMO, but there is no negative cross-contamination between the sets. Electric Affinity. Same as above. Kinetics. Putting this at the bottom because I think Mind/Kin is fine, but just fine, not OMGAmazing like Kinetics is with many other sets. Perfectly playable though if you like both sets. Sets I'd avoid (not unplayable, just not what I'd initially lean toward): Cold. I used to main a Mind/Cold many years ago. The conflict between trying to get Containment with Sleep and the DoT in Sleet drove me away from the combo. Not terrible, but a real hassle in solo play, and just not worth it to me anymore since /Cold pairs to much more naturally with other sets. If I didn't list the set, it probably falls somewhere into a neutral territory. Empathy/FF/Pain etc all fall into that "if you want to" category. I don't think these sets tend to be any better or worse on a Mind Controller than on a Defender, with all the asterisks placed there about not being able to use your buffs on yourself or a pet.

Power Up is a new power created for Homecoming. The original power is Power Boost, the same one in Blaster Energy Manipulation. On Homecoming, Power Up has 5 second shorter +Special and an added +Damage component. The power Gather Shadows in Dark Assault is the same as it was on live IIRC. To be honest, I miss Power Boost. The +damage is nice, but losing those extra 5 seconds of +Special means Power Up no longer has the armor potential it previously did. Originally you could get it to almost 50% up time, now it's around 30%. (I appreciate the other changes Homecoming made to these sets however). With the original Power Boost, I did feel like clicking it as an opener was worth it, because it would increase mezz on the alpha breaker, and then on the first couple of holds or additional powers you threw. It also would increase the endurance drain of Electric Control and -ToHit of Dark Control. With the newer version, I'm not as certain about using it on actual controls. +30% damage is in that zone where I'm not sure clicking it for the damage is all that useful either. I am not a math expert on this. It's not a bad power to hit prior to a big hitter like a Snipe. One power I do think it's worth hitting Power Up prior to is Mass Confusion. The recharge on MC is very long, and I want anything I hit with it stay Confused for a very long time. The same logic can be applied to many of the AoE Holds--but a lot of the time, I find hitting PB and then a big hold awkward. Players with less shaky fingers may have a better experience.

Glad you are having fun! Since Elec/Psi is my "main" I've been pondering for a while adding a second, more offensively oriented build. I'm mostly happy with the build I have for +4x8--I need the extra Defense to survive it. But there's a lot of team content where all of that extra may be overkill and procs would be a better approach. Some of your slotting is great and I may copy it. One power I've gone back and forth on is Sleet. It's a good power in general, but conflicts with the Sleep patch. If not for the nuisance damage that power does it would be way up on my list of powers to acquire. On teams of course the sleep patch barely matters, so Sleet may be the direction I do. I've also tried the Primal pool briefly on this toon and was really disappointed. I think once you try Power Sink in the Mu pool you'll be sold. It's a high water mark. Also, don't completely discount the Mu pool power Surge of Power. The best up time you can get on it is only 50%, and it crashes. But you have Power Sink, so all a crash means is eating a blue and Power Sinking to go back to full. Having to retoggle can suck, but at least Conductive Aura won't detoggle, since it costs 0 endurance (it actually gives Endurance back).

Thanks for the reference. I'm always impressed by the skill of this team. I knew there was some chatter about knock changes, but didn't know you all were so far along. Of the new features, high magnitude knockdown is one of the most exciting to me.

That whole "params" section is new to me and I assume part of the changes. The ability to adjust knock vector is not present in the live code IIRC. It also looks like that params code can specify a starting point and ending point for the vector. Wonder if that can finally allow "yank" style powers.

Keeping in mind I'm not a PVPer... IMO Debuff would rule PVP and melee classes wouldn't be able to even get a hit in, short of using their limited ranged mezzes to try to short circuit the opposition. I imagine one of the most feared powers would be Trick Arrow's Ice Arrow, which is combination Hold + proc damage + -Special on a very fast recharge. Poison would be a rightly fear set, as would Cold Domination. Basically anything you associate with AV busting in the current game would be terrifying to fight as a player. Roll up an AE mission with these sets and try it out if you're curious. 🙂 Power Boosted Electric Blast toons might be something to fear, too.

This thread made me realize something really funny. Somehow in all these years I've never done the Magisterium trial. I just watched a video and now I'm not even sure I knew it existed. I suppose it isn't the kind of event people use public channels to recruit for. I think I've only done Minds of Mayhem once since being back, since it's rarely advertised either. The Underground I usually avoid because I find it very stressful. Isn't MoM the one where each time you die you put the team at risk of losing the trial? I'm glad that content exists, but intimidated by it.

I played a Poison recently, was reminded of all the reasons I dislike it, and rerolled it as Trick Arrow. Poison has a few things going for it, but I dislike 6 out of 9 powers, and the three that are great have small radii that I don't find fun to work with.

If I recall correctly the power spreads like a binary tree. Basically, the first cast summons 2 pets who summons 2 pets who summons 2 pets. Like this: Each pet that gets summoned casts a 15ft sphere power. If there's an enemy in range that qualifies, two new pets are summoned, and they in turn seek out nearby victims. The delay on each jump is 2 seconds for the first pet summoned, then 4 seconds for the second. Which is why it take so long to get confuse a full mob with this power.

Unfortunately Synaptic is not in the same class as Seeds. It has some nice aspects and some detracting aspects. In Synaptic's favor, it's non-notify, so you can cast it without alerting mobs. That said, it's not my usual opener. It can be if you like, though. Four big things work against Synaptic: 1) It's slow. Waiting for it to confuse a whole group takes about 10 seconds. Needless say teams arent going to wait for it to propogate 2) It doesn't Dominate anything beyond the first target. This is egregious and I consider it a bug. The technical reason is that it uses pseudo pets to propagate its Confuse. But other powers use pseudo pets and they do Dominate (e.g. Dark Control's Shadow Field). 3) It won't chain to enemies who are already Confused. This means you can't create a safety layer of control by stacking up multiple casts. Worse, Contagious Confusion can actually interfere with it chaining if fighting small enough groups. 4) The big one. If it misses the first target, you get a critical failure and the power fails entirely. This is an aspect of Electric Control that drives some people away from the set entirely. Still, it's an AoE Confusion power that is non-notify, Scale 15 (Seeds is Scale 20 but 15 is still good) on 60 Recharge. It's okay. Definitely not Seeds, though.

I have an arc I created as a side project called Herodrome: The Super Super Superhero Show that's built with chaos in mind. I really intended it for teams, but sometimes I run it when I want a manageable but keeps-me-on-my toes mission to run. The trash mobs are mostly Energy/Martial Artists and reasonably handled. The ambushes are Staff/Gravity Control toons who summon Singularities. A design decision of this arc is that a lot of enemies summon pets, but the summoners themselves tend to be minion level, making it conceivable to handle them in a variety of ways. Mission objectives are straightforward: smash the trash mobs, meet the "celebrity contestants" (they will show up as bosses in episode 4) blow up the cars, and deal with the ambushes that result, and get to the end and defeat the special "gold" enemies with Titan Weapon attacks. Anyway, I filmed an attempt at x8+4 this morning with Elec/Psi/Psi and I think it shows some what you can expect out of this combo in a variety of scenarios like direct approach, heavy ambushes, and odd map geometry. I have fat fingers and am a nervous player and I definitely wiffed on a few moves. My opener on the first mob is terrible and I should have paid heavily for it. Drain Pysche is absolutely carrying me through this as you will see. You might be also see that one of the biggest threats to me is that a mob ends up too far spread out and the pot shot damage they hurl becomes dangerous. And watch for the eerie pockets of silence that can happen playing Electric Control. There are a few quiet moments in this video that show what I mean. My death at the end of this one is where you can see exactly how fast you can drop on a Dominator even with decent Defense. I got flumoxed by the map layout, and foolishly charged in. Instead I should probably have summoned a sleep patch under me and tried to yoink them onto it, or else pulled. Electric Control has a real weakness for dealing with alphas when mobs are spread out, and they definitely punished me for being foolish and charging in without setting up the assault. There's absolute nothing about this mission that is representative of the "core" game. I built it as something to take teams on occasionally when they want to run something that deviates from the core but is still reasonably straightforward. Some highlights come at around 7:20 when the first wave of ambushes arrived (caught me unprepared TBH but it worked out okay) and the hallway approach at 12:45 which I was very nervous about but pulled off. Then my death in the final moments due to phoning in my opening salvo. This is Arc ID 30937 if you ever want to try it.

Great work Carnifax. I suspect the reason subchains don't proc like expected is because even though they are "single target" in theory, they are actually mini AoEs with a 15ft radius and target cap of 1. Thats how they "find" their target. I'm no expert at calculating area factor and proc chances, but since the first target is being hit by a true single target blast but the chains are technically AoEs that could account for the difference.

Yeah that's an excellent trick. I do use it, but I've also had a bug in Mids recently where it gets stuck and I have to delete all my settings to reload it. So I have to reset that setting every time. Sometimes I'm just too lazy. 🙂 I hear you. Finding a balance between Defense and proc damage while retaining enough Recharge for permadom is something I find very hard on Dominator builds. This partly extends from lived experience with rolling with Defense and without Defense. If I could afford it, I'd have two builds with each of them, one the "careful" armored build and the other the all-out offensive build. I once ran a Electric/Psi on a farm-ish map for many days with 40 versus 45 Ranged defense. The difference was telling. I ended up rolling a lowish damage but heavily armored version using the Psi APP because even if I could squeeze out a lot more damage, DPS while running back from the hospital is zero. To say nothing of how much of a set back it is to get knocked out of Domination mode and have to rebuild meter with no mezz protection (unless you built to cover that hole). Your build overall is hot and if I do a secondary build will probably copy a lot of it. I've wanted a "aggressive sapper" version of the Elec/Psi/Psi version I've been running for a while. There also might be some hybrid version of this where I could drop some of the Slash/Lethal/Melee defense to pick up some additional damage in a semi-tradeoff. You're doing a lot more damage than my current set up, which I knew was a step down in damage when I rolled it with safety in mind, but seeing you doing twice as much damage with Psychic Shockwave is a clarifying moment. 🙂 Also, stuff like the ITF doesn't really need redundant mezz protection. That's mainly from bad experiences with Arachnos, Longbow, Carnival etc. Here's the current target "safety build" I run most of the time. I say "target" because none of my builds ever actually seems to be complete, I move to the next toon too quickly to finish slotting most of the time. Ranged Defense is 40 because of Destiny Barrier covering the remaining 5. I know in theory I should be able to just eat a Purple, but lived experience at x8+4 has made me very cautious. This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Dominator Primary Power Set: Electric Control Secondary Power Set: Psionic Assault Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Teleportation Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Concealment Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Tesla Cage -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(3), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(3), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(5) Level 1: Psionic Dart -- SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(5), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(9) Level 2: Mind Probe -- SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(11), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Hct-Dam%(15) Level 4: Telekinetic Thrust -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(15), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(17), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(19), GldStr-%Dam(19) Level 6: Chain Fences -- PwrTrns-+Heal(A), PwrTrns-Dam/Acc/Rech/End(21), PwrTrns-EndMod(21), PwrTrns-Dam/Rech(23), PwrTrns-Dam/EndMod(23), PwrTrns-Dam/Acc/End(25) Level 8: Conductive Aura -- SynSck-EndMod(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(25), SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(27) Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27) Level 12: Static Field -- SprAscoft-Rchg/+Dmg%(A), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(29), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(29), SprAscoft-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(31), SprAscoft-EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(31) Level 14: Teleport Target -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 16: Combat Teleport -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel(48) Level 18: Paralyzing Blast -- BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Hold(33), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(33), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(33) Level 20: Drain Psyche -- DS:DSyncHealRech(A), DS:DSyncHealAcc(34), DS:DSyncHealRech(34) Level 22: Boxing -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(34), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(36), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36) Level 24: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(36) Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- CrcPrs-Conf%(A), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(37), CrcPrs-Conf(37), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(37), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(39), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(39) Level 28: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(39) Level 30: Fold Space -- DS:DSyncThreatAccRech(A) Level 32: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 35: Psionic Lance -- StnoftheM-Dam%(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(40), StnoftheM-Acc/ActRdx/Rng(40), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Apc-Dam%(42) Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Obl-%Dam(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Obl-Dmg(43), Obl-Acc/Rchg(43), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(43), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45) Level 41: Link Minds -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(45), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45) Level 44: Psionic Tornado -- PstBls-Dam%(A), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), PstBls-Acc/Dmg(46), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(46), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(48), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(48) Level 47: Indomitable Will -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 49: Mind Over Body -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(50), UnbGrd-ResDam(50), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(50) Level 1: Domination Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PwrTrns-+Heal(9) Level 49: Quick Form ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1416;664;1328;HEX;| |78DA6593594F135114C7EFEDCC58F6524A592C4869590AAD65F9041A96C485A48A8| |F2A8EB5D4496AA7E98C463E865BFC0C6E4F6AC4ED3BB8A026C6175F4D1094458C4B| |3D9DF3BF806192C9EFDEFFB967B9E7CCCC5C9D6C989F9F3E246460A2603ACEDCA47| |DC92A9AAE5D3666CCBC95D5043D7E7A63DB86B909BBE896ED427AAA90CBBA652BAB| |84DE9D23871DC7BC5C70D319C7B28B74027B5197B1C971B694CB5D68F196A772855| |CC92EBBA64B071B3D69DACA5F74AD623EE8ED8E14AF588E75DE2A58EE42CF54C9CA| |6EC79C311D37575EE08AF3D5B41D546794DEEFCD423D154D2CF984E8D685EF1DF89| |EA97F60FAB59DC3BA78A00B3146C6FBCC7DF7C0BBCC9A3B203949C94E86BCC562DD| |4DF006B3E13A788DD994F479AC25674D396B996A73C97882D97C129C65B67CD63CA| |79604738DEE662867639323B76E80ABCCB66FE01AB3639DB941CE7E38FBFC5F605C| |66EE5F61C668DCB56888AC4D0A36829B14A11E46A3FE25D7D4F5025C641E780A3E0| |39F33FB2972239C456384C5011203A849063E718B463E327F50BAA09A6410938B62| |A2514C348A493650C09014D2BB5D286908A16BA23705622F295D58450CA3F9BD687| |E1CCD8FA3F91A1D6E57B5B5575794263ECE856F516D9DAA159D2617DC770E3C0D9E| |610E9C05E7983A458EA8C891B064632B536BA344308AEEF16AE1D438F2E851620F3| |C9AA89498FA1A624B3CA3C1B7E01BF03573E81538C63504C8B95F5DA05FF0AD862A| |6C1CFE05FE06FF30537F99311A4B427D4A0994930A82215C880E255586E422A73FF| |8047C083E628E3C067D86C73839A7D585D3C8D047E228446DF427D73CB605AE831B| |4C9AE0F6AF5DE9DAB5A9EE2B15717CAF9421492A497AD2729D509A3AF575AFB4F29| |F74945683BA58DD254A719B3B57839FF6D8305D4555F70F5BEBE0FF| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Thanks for the info on the resistance floor. For some reason I thought there was no effective floor for enemies, but in 8-man you wouldn't normally hit a -300 wall. Is there a detailed write up of each of the trials, the badges they contain, and the powers the big bads possess? I actually have access to the game's core DEF files but haven't been able to pick out which portions the trials use or what powers the AVs actually possess versus what the code suggests they "should" have. I do incidentally have a pretty good read on Battle Maiden during the Apex TF. That's not really a trial, but it's interesting to see how her sword-from-heaven attack actually works. I assume that's also how other death patches work. I personally haven't had a huge issue with death patches in a while, some players find them more challenging to avoid than others. It was definitely interesting to see how death patches handle damage to pets. The couple of powersets I think I've been able to pick out of the code have interesting properties that probably people who run a lot more trials know about but are new to me. For example, there's a power what looks like Anti-Matter might have that is auto hit* -Defense and Damage aura. It has a 10ft radius, is scale 2.0 -Defense*, is Resistable, and hits 16 targets. I think it can be debuffed with -Special. But I don't know if the in-game Anti-Matter you fight in that trial actually has this power. Compared to powers for the rest of the game, the ones the end game bosses use have a lot of ifs and conditions attached to them that I don't completely follow. Some of their powers I haven't managed to track down at all. I've done the Keyes trial lots but am never the person who actually has to deal with the AV. It's also possible this is some kind of patch power he has and not a literal aura on the AV. The actual abilities these AV are opaque to me. * EDITS: Had a second look. That aura is not autohit. And the only Defense type it Debuffs is Melee Defense, which is highly specific and not like a lot of other powers I can think of. If he even actually has this power.

That's so interesting. Never heard that before, though it makes total sense. Gives a real Ghostbusters vibe, 😄

There's one other thing I want to say about soloing on Electric Control, I don't know if anyone else has this perception as well. Part of the reason I like it is because after a battle has gone on for a while, there is this incredibly eerie silence that sometimes happens towards the end of battles as enemies succumb to endurance drain/sleep. It's a big contrast with other Dominators, who tend to show their power with loud crashes and bodies flopping around and people staggering around stunned. With Electric, you sometimes reach this point in the fight where the game gets extremely quiet and the enemies can do nothing but wait for their doom. It's this sublime stillness that I've never experienced with another set. One of those amazing touches in the differences between Dominator playstyles and I really enjoy it (other times, I prefer "the world is ending" feel of Earth Control.)

Good timing. 🙂I'm in the middle of updating my Elec/Psi build again. It's a fun, strange combo that plays unlike few other things in the game. It would be nice to have room for proper slotting on Psi Dart - it seems pretty okay for a T1. Is ignoring it a dumb move? It looks like I'll have a really solid chain between my melee powers and Psi lance. Personally I never touch Psi Dart unless for some reason I'm fighting at range. The occasional AV fight, etc. I do slot it for set bonuses and it sits on my bar, but you'll rarely see me touch it. Jolting Chain doesn't seem all that hot to me given the other controls at play - am I wrong? I want to play with it again and see what I think of it on a different build. I've had this power at various times, dropped it at other times. Mids suggests with procs it deals an average 181 damage per cast. That's more than Psionic Tornado slotted for damage with 2 procs. But in practice it didn't feel that way to me in the actual game. It's possible the pseudo pets don't trigger procs the way Mids predicts. If the animation was fast I'd be much quicker to grab it, currently I don't have it in the build. I do think it's an okay power on Controllers though. I've picked up Psy Scream, which I know plenty of folks hate. It works pretty well procced out, and combat teleport will allow quick usage. Do you see a better way to round out aoes? If you can make it work, it's not a terrible power. Dominator cones in general are always a complex subject. Psy Scream is slow animating, but they're all like that. It's funny, a big reason people don't like cones isn't just that they're cones, it's that they're all soooo slooooow. Drain Psyche slotting. I ignored end slotting here. Is this silly? There are many ways to approach slotting this power. Yes, ignore Endurance slotting. That's typical. You'll easily cap endurance, you want to maximize three things: Recharge Healing Accuracy You need the Accuracy because in addition to the buff you get from it, this power also debuffs AV Regen. The debuff is huge: -500%. And it's an AoE, if you can get the AVs close enough together! I didn't math out your hit chances with it. Slotting may be okay if you're okay with your chances after factoring in Tactics. Chain Fences - here I've gone with the orb proc. However, maybe I won't be spamming chain as much as I might the immob in other builds, given the nature of Static Field. Does it get much play in your elec? If I'm not cycling it much, I could siphon the orb to a slot elsewhere. Chain Fences is one of the best immobilizes IMO and the one most justified to spam. It does -10% Endurance drain per cast at base. I slot it for Accuracy, Damage, and Endurance mod using the new End Mod sets. I spam it constantly when solo. If stuff ends up positioned badly because of it I'll hoover them in with Fold Space, which I see you took. How effective is the buildup proc in Gremlins? People seem to be a bit down on the damage potential for these little fellows, and maybe it's lower value here than in most pets. You're going to hear a lot of different takes on Gremlins. At the level of difficulty I typically play at Gremlins last like 5 seconds. They seem especially good at aggroing nearby packs before they go though. My current build does not include Gremlins. They are an okay power to pick up when you are leveling up and not yet kitted out; they do help a lot against small easy-ish packs and can help you save on endurance. They're trash at x8+4 against anything though, IMO easily the least consequential Control set pet as difficulty rises. Other stuff If you're going to go Mu, I recommend taking Power Sink. It's sick on an Electric Control build. Disgustingly fun. Run up to any Elite Boss, Drain Psyche > Power Sink > spam immobilize. EBs aren't quite as disabled by this technique now as they used to be, but its still funny. Power Sink is autohit so you don't need anything in it but some recharge and maybe endurance mod. I would look for some ways to increase Defense where you can. Electric Control is notorious for attracting a lot of aggro. Personally I do this by slotting x6 of the Dom ATO with the damage proc into Static Field for the Ranged defense. I spam Static Field constantly. It's my opener, my closer, my mid battle move. Damage proc stays at 2 stacks. Not as good as sets that 3 stack it more often but I'm willing to trade it in this case. Less effective on teams and AV fights to do it this way, though. I would not put a damage proc in Synaptic Overload. Not worth it IMO. The power doesn't alert enemies and it recharges very fast, around 20 seconds. There's not a ton of content that calls for it, but Electric Control is an amazing discrete Confuser on the handful of missions that can be gamed that way. Putting the 6th piece of Coercive there will give you another +5 Ranged defense. Your Mind Probe slotting is hot. I may need to copy it. Except for moments when you can Power Sink, expect a lot of frustration with the "sapper" role until the incarnate levels. You just won't have the slots until very late in the game. Things take a dramatic turn once you can access the Alpha Musculature that adds additional Endurance Mod beyond the curve. That End Mod alpha will increase the End Mod of Electric Fences and Conductive Aura to -20% per cast/tick, increase the Endurance you get back from Drain Psyche, and make Power Sink that much sicker. It's one of those unlocks that feels like it takes forever but you really feel when you get there, so don't get too worried if it doesn't feel like it will happen.

-58% ish Resistance is as good as or better than about half of Defenders (unless the Defender also happens to be a /Sonic). You still lose the other benefits of Defenders though, like team buffs. It's not clear to me though how much of the -58% actually applies. With 24 people hitting a target, increasing the amount of damage they all do by 58% seems enormous. But in practice, there must be some other factors in play. I just really don't understand how these fights break down. Are leagues often fighting end bosses who are at -400% or more Resistance? That number seems very achievable with just a couple of debuffers in play. But I don't understand how the big bosses own Resistances resist Resistance in these instances, or whether any of these AVs are more vulnerable to some kinds of resistance debuff than others because of the armors they have.

Bopper you're one of your best numbers guys. Do you have a sense of whether the Blaster version of Sonic Blast ends up finding a space for itself in iTrials? I know debuff is good, but I don't have a sense of how good, or how -Resist actually factors into the battle.