oedipus_tex

Perma-dom is extra important to Ice and Electric, because for most builds it's their source of anti-mezz. Getting mezzed cancels Arctic Air and Conductive Aura. You can make builds to get the mezz protection from elsewhere, but usually it's a big opportunity cost.

The main silly thing about both Dom ATOs is what VV says, they can be slotted in control powers and not attacks. For most other ATs, the ATOs go in attack powers and are very competitive with other available options. With +10 Recharge and +5 Ranged defense, Ascendancy of the Dominator is pretty good. Dominating Grasp on the other hand, I agree is a very poor option. Here's its readout: Even if I wanted to slot that, it has to compete with the set bonuses available in Hold, Sleep, Confuse or Stun sets, which are better. Also, the ability to slot this is limited; it needs to go in a power that needs recharge, accuracy and mezz, but not damage, the same type of power as Ascendancy. I made a list of powers below that take the ATOs. I've marked where I'd likely put Ascendancy for each of them with a *. Ice (*Glacier, Flash Freeze, Arctic Air) Gravity (Wormhole, *Grav Distortion Field) Plant (Seeds of Confusion, Spore Burst, *Vines) Earth (*Stalagmites, Salt Crystals, Volcanic Gasses) Fire (*Flashfire, Cinders) Electric (Synaptic Overload, *Static Field, Paralyzing Blast) Dark (Fearsome Stare, *Heart of Darkness, Shadow Field, Possess) Mind (Total Domination, *Mass Hypnosis, Confuse, Mass Confusion) Ascendancy usually takes up the first power. There are better slotting options for most of the powers listed above, if players take them. Also, poor Ice. Glacier is the 240 second Hold and Flash Freeze is the AoE Sleep power no one takes. You can put Ascendancy in Glacier for the set bonuses, but Ascendancy's global damage proc will be triggering far less frequently than for Dominators who can put it in a power with a shorter recharge. Electric and Mind make out somewhat good here, assuming they're willing to spam their Sleep powers.

The thing to understand about Electric is it has 5 layers of AoE control, and you have to be pretty alert to master all of them. The Hold in the AoE Hold. Identical to most other control sets, but noteable here because it is the only instant hard control you'll get with this set. In this case, it has the ranged variety of hold like Gravity or Mind Control. The Confuse in Synaptic Overload. This is a very unusual power. It recharges very quickly but it is a "chain" power that takes a while to spread. If you miss the first target, the whole power fails. Luckily enemies won't notice you casting it. I tend to open with Synaptic, and if it misses, follow with the AoE hold. The Sleep in Static Field. Unlike most sleeps this is a sleep patch that will re-sleep anything standing in it. Also the sleep effect stacks, so it can sleep bosses. This power tends to work best when soloing because any "rain" style power ruins the effect Endurance drain. This is the secondary effect of most Electric powers, and the main effect of Conductive Aura, your PBAoE aura power. Endurance drain is its own topic with a lot written about it. To make this a viable debuff, you will need to play at close range frequently. Luckily, Time is one of the best sets for this. Electric Control has few tools for draining endurance quickly, if you want to be a master sapper, look to Power Sink in the Mu pool. Knockdown. Available in Jolting Chain, and occasionally from your Gremlns. In general, Knockdown combos well with your Sleep power. You can knock something down, they fall over and are re-slept before they can stand. I forget the command to do it, but its helpful to turn on the enemy health bar in-game so you can see how much endurance enemies have remaining.

These two characters will play very differently. Gravity is a "blast" control set that trades away some control for damage, in Propel and Lift. The key powers are Propel and Wormhole at level 26. Wormhole is a power unlike any other in the game, a bt hard to describe until you've used it. It's a teleport+ stun power that doesn't alert enemies (so you can wormhole half a group away from the rest). Electric Control is a very low damage Control set. Combined with /Time it's very durable and offers good control options. Main drawback, again, is the low damage. Luckily in 2020 its easier to build damage into Electric Control than it used to be. You'll want lots of procs and maybe some pool attacks.

The best 'proc' for him is Sudden Acceleration KB to KD. That will convert his knockback aura to knockdown and make him less likely to create chaos. Plus if you Wormhole stuff onto him, they will bounce there.

I agree with you and respect your POV. IMO there are creative ways to boost an AT if the developers feel uncomfortable messing with the core AT. One way to accomplish it would be to improve the Dominator ATO so that Fiery Orb added some survivability. The Defender, Tanker, Stalker, and a few other ATOs are fantastic and add a lot to the AT. They are strong enough to factor into evaluating the effectiveness of the archetype. More than anything I think just registering it in the developer's mind that survivability is something Dominators need is a worthy goal. Build options for this archetype are stretched very thin. It needs to hit a "magic number" of Recharge while trying to have enough Defense to survive at close range while also trying to make up for relatively low damage with procs. It's a lot to ask of a build. I don't feel like this archetype has the flexibility of most other archetypes. I still enjoy the class and will play it. I recently retooled a Elec/Psi Dom in a way that patched many of his issues and he's been performing well, and I have a Dark/Martial Dom I'm excited by.

I hear your points. IMO the difference versus a Blaster is all of the Blaster sets have full attack chains in their primaries. Any melee attacks they have are extras in their secondary. Dominators do not have a Blast set as a primary, although Gravity and Mind Control do have a couple of blast-like powers, and the single target Hold/Immoblize can be purposed for this. I'd also argue most of the Blaster melee attacks are truly skippable. I never take them unless forced to. With Dominators, I always take them, because otherwise damage output is too low, and for most sets there is nothing better to fill the gap. It's true Blasters aren't well armored. However Blasters are also capable of dropping dead and then popping back up having lost very little. This isn't the case for Dominators. The Domination bar needs to be protected. That's why I keep promoting moving mezz protection out of Domination and some minor break in favor of Dominators in terms of survivability. They have a high stakes power to maintain and the best way to do that is often not to take risks.

The place you'll really notice the gap is if you try to create two versions of the same character on a Controller vs a Dominator. Controllers have a better Defense modifier, so powers like Maneuvers, Combat Jumping, Weave etc make it easier to reach defense benchmarks. Since you also don't get any +Defense in your primary or secondary, just the APP Armor or (if you pick Psi) Link Minds, its a balancing act. Dominator is just in a weird place. They are a melee archetype that can't melee with the main targets where that damage is really needed. I don't know that we can or should completely fix that, but it feels to me like they need a better base foundation to build from.

I just took a look to spot check myself. Dominator APP armors are better than Blasters, Corruptor, and Masterminds, that is true. They are worse than Controller and Defender. (Not included in this assessment are Stalkers, Scrappers, Brutes, Sentinels or Tankers, who obviously have better armor, as they should.) I admit I was surprised Corruptors have worse APP armors. I had thought they had the same values as Controllers, but was wrong. I think I never noticed because they are buoyed by their support sets. Worth noting that of these ATs, only Doms and Blasters don't get a support set. Against an AV, where control powers don't work, they are positioned worst. I still think there is a very good case for Dominator APPs are to at least match Controllers. Screenshots of the various APP armors below. Controller (better than Dom) Dominator (baseline) Corruptor (worse than Dom)

I hear your argument that death is an important game mechanic, but I think we need to remember why death came up in the first place; The main way to "not die" is not to engage enemies with the short range attacks available to this archetype. At the end of the day, the efficacy of Dominators is easy to determine. Can an archetype with no armor survive at close range on controls alone? The answer is "Kind of." It works in sandbox content. In harder content it's a death sentence and that's where the archetype doesn't come together. The best way to "not die" versus an AV is not to engage them because your controls just don't work. So right away we've called into question an archetype where its damage comes from short range attacks but no armor. If I didn't have so much to lose by dying it may not matter as much. But a Dominator has the most to lose out of the whole team. Why should it work that way when the point of the Assault set is to get in an enemy's face? Or is the intent that only high ranged DPA sets contribute in the most important fights while melee sets hang back in order to "not die"? I realize there's a balancing act to be had here. I don't think anyone is expecting Sentinel level armor. However, the archetype currently has one of the weakest APP armors and has no native defense or resist powers in any of its primary or secondary sets. Even just having some kind of base to work with would be a start. As well as mezz protection decoupled from Domination so the stakes of taking risks aren't so high.

I flipped back a few pages and didn't see a conversion of Earth to a support set mentioned. Apologies if I just missed it. I think existing assets make this doable. Here's a a rough mockup. EARTH AFFINITY An Earth/stone based support set. This powerset converts many of the powers in Stone Armor into effects that can be cast on teammates. In addition, it picks up graphics from the Devouring Earth enemy group, EStone Melee, and Trick Arrow. From Stone Armor: - Rock Shield and Crystal Shield - from Stone Armor's "Rock Armor" and "Crystal Armor," +defense and resist shields - Earth's Clasp - like the Stone Armor power "Earth's Embrace," but PBAoE, +HP/healing - Mineral Aura - like the Stone Armor power "Minerals," but an AoE toggle, provides Psi resist and mezz protection - Earth Cloud - from "Mud Pots," with updated effects (see Choking Cloud or Time's Juncture) From Devouring Earth enemy group: - Crystal Totem - from the Devouring Earth crystal totem powers From Stone Melee: - Fault - Short range AoE stun taken from Stone Melee. See Thunderclap. Note this style of power has fallen somewhat out of favor, so may want to use the same graphics but a new effect, e.g. a debuff From Trick Arrow: - Oil Slick - "Oil Slick Arrow," without the arrow. From Demon Summoning: This set provides various "rise from the earth" effects that may be useful as visuals. That leaves one power left over. There are lots of options. Reusing Quicksand from Earth Control could result in a debuff patch.

The only part of this I'm not totally sold on is the immobilize. I could see it if it were like, a toggle or pulsing psuedo pet that created a bubble enemies can't move around in though. I also think this set would be a good candidate for a knockdown patch in the style of Earthquake or Ice Slick. Liquefy (Sonic Resonance) provides a good suitable graphic. To make it interesting, you could make it a knock up patch. Nothing like that currently exists in game. It would be like a knockdown patch but instead launch enemies higher.

I'd play that Force Control set. Looks cool. There's actually precedent in the existing control sets for minor buff powers. Illusion Control has Superior Invisibility and Group Invisibility, and Plant Control has Spirit Tree. So a force set could feasibly get some minor defense bonus, or absorb type of power.

I only listed the powers I did in the of interest of time, not because any is best. Sleet is very good but because you have to choose APPs as a set instead of piecemeal it's a bit more complicated than Ice APP always being best. Sleet has "nuisance damage" that ruins Sleep, which is what rules it out for me on Electric Control characters (plus Mu is just so good for Electric Doms). It also means you are getting Ice Storm as your AoE blast, which isn't bad, but does lack the up front punch of Fireball/etc and the ability to get a reliable proc. Sleet also forces you into a S/L Defense armor. That has its pluses and minuses. Generally, I prefer a Resist armor and I consider this part of the price of going with Ice. Probably someone has done some math to show whether Ice APP or Fire APP is strictly better AoE. In a team setting this is easy, Sleet wins. In general content it depends a lot on whether you have AoE coverage to take advantage of the Sleet resist debuff. Some Doms might. Some won't, or will only in a subset of content where they can saturate an area with their attacks. One of the biggest issues faced by Doms is difficulty with area coverage, and that's why a Fireball + Rain of Fire combo shines, it can reliably blanket an area. In any case I worry Sleet's resist numbers are due for an adjustment, because that's been happening across the ATs as the developers move psuedo pets to the updated system. That may be worrying about nothing, but I try not to get too comfortable with it as is.

I see. So if something were to stand in it for the full duration, I now see Caltrops would have a base DPA of 213. I just assumed the damage would be poor, around the range of Freezing Rain/Sleet, but that's actually pretty impressive. I assume you can layer multiple sets of Caltrops to increase the numbers. Hmm. I may need to think through whether keeping it would be a better idea than I first thought. Even if the fight lasts just 30 seconds that still would deal 142 damage before enhancers (ie a DPA of 107, which is significantly better than Rain of Fire or Fireball which each have DPAs in the low 50s). I had no idea the power did this much damage. Oops, grabbed the wrong numbers. Actual DPA for a full 45 second duration is 101, which is still good, but obviously less than 213. If the fight lasts 30 seconds the DPA is in the 60s, which is a bit better than Rain of Fire or Fireball, but not only by a bit. How do people usually slot Caltrops these days?

The build isn't a bad start, but something to think about is you are playing Dark Control, a set with -ToHit as its secondary effect. That being the case, you can plan to skimp a bit on the +Defense. How much is a bit of a question, but probably at least "some." This would allow you to refocus some survivability into damage. Right now your -ToHit is going mostly wasted, at least when solo. It is true that -ToHit isn't as reliable as +Defense, but you can probably assume that if you have the T9 pet, Fearsome Stare, and the AoE immobilize that most enemies are suffering from at least -8-10% ToHit most of the time, even if they are +3 to you. IMO you'd be better served swapping into some powers you skipped: Haunt provides extra damage and distracts enemies. I would not recommend skipping unless you absolutely can't squeeze it in. It really does make a difference in kill time versus bosses. Unlike most pets, this one is disciplined and will focus fire the enemy you launch them at, which makes their damage contribution relatively stronger than most typical pets. The T9 pet is very good. I would not skip him either. You didn't take any ranged damage powers, which means all of your damage is point blank. This isn't necessarily fatal to the build, but it's an extreme limitation. I'd aim to get my defenses in the 35-40 range instead of truly soft capping. Or at the very least only bother soft capping to S/L or Ranged, not both, and rely on -ToHit to cover the rest, unless you expect to frequently be in the face of AVs. I'm not sure which Destiny you were planning for. You'll want some endurance management somewhere tho, either from Destiny or a power like Power Sink, Conserve Power, or Hibernate.

I admit I've rarely used this power on any archetype despite it being a common one in many sets. I can see the value of it in other archetypes. How about in Martial Assault? I have a level 47 Dark/Martial Dom who has this, but I never really use it. I'm about to spec out of it... am I missing some unnoticed utility?

Yeah I agree the motions in Kinetic Melee could make convincing water attacks if matched with the water particle effects. Keep in mind there are also some water-like abilities in Poison that can provide suitable animations. "Aqua Burst" (modified Water Burst) could use any ground stomp or punch animation paired with Water Burst's particle effects, which are already the correct radius (15ft). It would be the first time water powers were available for pairing with any of the Control sets and I think would be a huge hit.

Water Assault for Dominators seems to be readily accessible. Only 3 new powers would need to be added, and they could just be punch animations coupled with splash effects: T1: Aqua Bolt T2: Hydro Blast T3: *Hydro Fist (combine any punch animation with a water blast effect) T4: *Tidal Burst (this is Water Burst with range removed, resulting in the standard Dom 15ft PBAOE power) T5: Tidal Forces T6: Steam Spray T7: Dehydrate T8: Water Jet T9: *Aquatic Blow (modify from Knockout Blow, basing this on Knockout Blow existing in Blaster Leviathan Mastery) Of course if the developers wanted to spend more time to make this set special they could create some new powers. A PBAOE toggle that repurposes Whirlpool's graphic might be interesting. I really want this to happen.

Earth/Ice/Ice Dom would strictly speaking be a better "controller" in the sense of mezzing enemies, assuming you build the character for permadomination. Stalagmites is a Mag 6 stun in Domination mode, which will stun bosses and pierce through Dispersion Bubbles. Your Hold and Immobilize are also Mag 6. Sadly your AOE hold is unaffected by Domination. Having played Earth Control on both Controller and Dominator personally I prefer Dominator, but your mileage may vary. What Earth lacks in Controllers is a way to get Boss enemies under control quickly. Mag 6 Stalagmites as this way of announcing WE'RE HERE in dramatic form. I have my reservations about some Dominator builds being too fragile, but Earth Control generally holds it's own. On a top end build you can Stalagmite every 30 seconds. The power goes off with a huge BOOM that catches a lot of attention. The Power Boost like power in Icy Assault extends the duration and you can keep packs permanently stunned. Earth Control on a Dominator just *feels* powerful. Keep in mind you could always split the difference and roll Earth/Storm Controller. Storm is similar to Cold but has much better damage, no shields, but otherwise similarish powers. Cold is still a good set mind you. It's just not generally a set I recommend to inexperienced players. It can work but its IO hungry and the specifics of some of the powers are pretty intricate.

These two character concepts will each play completely differently. Earth/Cold is a very low damage support character. The support is very good, but when I say low damage, I mean among the lowest damage in the game. Only combos like Earth/Empathy or /Force Field would have less damage than you. Earth/Ice Dom would be a decent control/damage option. It offers less support but okay-ish damage. The nice thing here is you can do Earth/Ice/Ice, and still get a very good version of Sleet, one of the best powers in Cold. So this is probably the way I would go. The only downside is you are forced into a S/L Defense armor instead of a Resist armor. If you do decide you want a Resist armor, you can go with Earth/Ice/Leviathan and get Water Spout. Water Spout is a power I didn't properly respect until recently. It's very powerful and cool looking and will complete the "chaos" feeling that Earth Control brings to the table very nicely, should you decide to go that route.

There's this concept character I really like that I've never been able to finalize the AT and sets for. His name is Late Fee, originally created because I wanted to play Dark Control without being darkity dark dark darkity dark. So the concept is he's an employee of the last remaining Blockbuster video who absorbed powers from horror and action tapes. I've rolled him as Dark/Savage Dom, Dark/Martial Dom, Dark/Time Dom, Dark/Electric Dom and it doesn't "fit." The issue is the pet dog. It just doesn't feel right. Of these, Dark/Martial I thought got closest to the concept, altho it honestly kinda sucked to play. What I really did like though is turning the Dark powers blood red. I really liked the contrast in the cleancut Blockbuster look with the howling gore of Dark Control. I should mention: I dislike Dark Blast as a set, so that's out. It's just not fun to me. So the question is: is there another archetype that can make this work? I've been looking at Dark/Ninjitsu as a possibility. But I'm open to other suggestions.

Controller is a difficult class to pigeonhole, probably moreso than any other class. The most accurate thing I can say it is a "true" support class. Some of them can do very good damage. Most do low damage. A few do abysmal damage. Even the lowest damage Controller is probably still welcome on a team these days tho because their secondaries are good, and, on a league, its the Buff/Debuff set that is most important. You won't be doing much actual "controling" on iTrials though. Dominator is (allegedly) a damage class. They aren't bad but some have the glaring hole of being melee-centric on a class with low HP, no support set, APP armor worse than a Controller, and little healing. In theory they use their controls instead of armors, but AVs can't be controlled, so you can easily find yourself locked out of the most critical fights. A few Dominator sets rise above the fray and are great; most are midling to low performers that are fine for sandbox content. Unlike Controllers tho, there's no Dominator combo that's so low damage it's likely to find itself shutoff from soloing, so that's something.

Any kind of damage character will help pair well with Time well. Since Electric Control saps enemy endurance, having the other player also have some sapping abilities will make the two of you very powerful. Electric Armor, Energy Armor, Electric Blasts are some of the best sets for this. Another alternative would be to have your partner role an Electric Control Dominator. Between your paired controls and saps you'd be a very scary pair.

Sonic benefits a lot from a pet that engages in melee. If you can justify Gravity in your concept instead of Dark or Illusion, IMO you'd have the most success with this set. Slot the pet with a kb to kd IO to keep enemies close by it.