oedipus_tex

Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge in Tornado and Bonfire. -KB proc in both Tornado and Lightning Storm. Fire/Storm is indeed very strong, and has only gotten better in the late issues of the game.

If Chilling Embrace doesnt have a ToHit check, it joins the small number of damaging powers that require no Accuracy slotting. This frees up a couple of slots and makes it a much more attractive power. I might actually consider rolling an /Ice Assault now to check it out.

Ice Control is a very low damage set that is fun but not particularly strong. It's core control powers are Arctic Air and Ice Slick, which are nice, but in the current iteration of the game suffer some set backs. Arctic Air tends to get detoggled easily by enemies with mezz. So, a significant part of your strategy will be to try obtain mezz protection. Luckily for Controllers this can be done in the tertiary sets. Ice/Traps is a potentially useful combo because it provides protection to most mezzes, and some control openers that Ice lacks. Ice/Storm is fun but very endurance heavy. -Recharge isn't entirely useless as a secondary effect, but it's not something to rely on. FWIW I consider Ice a generally better primary for Dominators than Controllers. The same issues with lacking control exist there, but at least the low damage isn't a hinderance.

Energy Blast feels the biggest to me, even if it isn't, on account of the guaranteed knockback in the nuke (which can be converted to knockdown) and the implementation of the sound effect, which becomes incredibly loud when the power hits multiple nearby targets.

This is a really build specific thing. Generally, you want both. Something to consider is that Recharge is not as widely available from other sources as Defense. For example, there is no +Recharge inspiration. However, Recharge potentially penalizes proc rate. For that reason, it sometimes makes the most sense to grab Recharge from temporary sources (which don't penalize it) instead of permanent ones.

I haven't played with the new Chilling Embrace, but based on how it looks in the description, I would probably slot it identically to Hot Feet or a similar damage aura. Sidenote question: is the damage from Chilling Embrace auto-hit? Powers like Hot Feet have a to-hit check, but the original Chilling Embrace worked like Arctic Air, with no combat roll. I wonder if that is still true.

Ice/Sonic is an endurance hungry build that lacks any kind of reason or synergy so I am not surprised to see it is rarely played. I once specifically listed it as one of the worst possible combos in the game during a 'least synergy' contest. With 3 endurance heavy toggles (Arctic Air, Sonic Dispersion, and Sonic Disruption), incredibly low damage, a requirement to obtain the pet before you can run Disruption solo, poor slotting options for IOs, and no hard controls to speak of, Ice/Sonic is easily one of the worst builds available. The only kind of synergistic thing about this build is Sonic Dispersion provides mezz protection to keep Arctic Air running, but this build struggles with endurance so much its hardly worth it. FWIW I've long advocated that the endurance cost of Arctic Air and Disruption Field is too high and should be half their current values, among other changes to make these powers better (e.g. Dispersion should deal direct damage, -defense, or another effect so that it can be slotted for something).

Mind Control used to squeak by because it was a set that could solo certain very difficult task forces due to the ability to stack Sleep and Confuse. I don't remember the actual technique anymore. I think it had something to do with confusing AVs even through purple triangles and having them kill each other. I feel that in the current game, at a minimum, the recharge of Mass Confusion should be reduced to somewhere closer to Seeds of Confusion and Synaptic Overload.

Fair point about pets. Keep in mind for most other sets, Dominators somewhat lose out on pets because they dont really have the mechanisms to support them. Illusion has invincible pets (barring the Phantasm) so doesn't make this tradeoff. I feel like Illusion/Fire Assault/Cold would be incredibly powerful but have nothing specific to back this up.

Would it really underperform though? Illusion/Storm is already a damage-centric Illusion Controller. I feel like Illusion/Assault would be pretty close in power to that. Not a great AV killer in most cases but still pretty formidable. Of course, maybe the devs are thinking of how Illusion Control wouldn't really play that well at melee.

Illusion Control is one of the few sets that has not been proliferated by the Homecoming devs from one archetype to a similar archetype. I think the reasoning is that there are few powers that would directly benefit from Domination mode. Only Blind, Confuse, and Flash directly benefit. On the other hand, Domination comes with its own benefits: mezz breakout and protection, and a refill of the blue bar. I would personally be fine if Illusion Control was proliferated as-is. But if developers don't like it due to not enough powers being able to Dominate, swapping Spectral Terror out for Terrorize (a perhaps a version of it that has a radial shape instead of a cone) might be enough to make it viable. The other potential path would be to create a way for psuedo-pets to inherit Domination, which is a much more difficult thing to achieve, but would improve certain other Control sets when proliferated. Thoughts?

There are tons of options, with no real wrong choice here. For Dominators, choosing a secondary with Power Boost (now called something else, not sure of the new name) can make your -ToHit in the Dark powers even more extreme, /Fire or /Psi on Dominators is just generally a good choice for any primary, including Dark.

Impact is a feature of Gravity Control added late in the game's life cycle. It was added because Gravity was intended to trade control ability for blast-like powers, but its damage was too poor to justify the tradeoff. I don't have the game in front of me right now, but I believe Impact is triggered by enemies being affected by the single target hold.

Blaster isn't a particularly well rounded class IMO. It is very good at killing stuff quickly. If I had to pick something, I might say Sonic/Tactical Arrow for the resistance debuffing and Controller-like abilities. Sonic is a lower damage set with a lot of cones. Tactical Arrow is a strangely better version of Trick Arrow.

Slot it for Healing, Recharge, and Accuracy. Ignore Endurance/Recovery. Altho when it comes time to IO it, it may be helpful to dip into an Endurance set to grab an Accuracy/Recharge IO. You may want to forgo set bonuses altogether for this power in favor of frankenslotting, since the specific combo of Accuracy/Healing/Recharge is hard to max out with a set. Drain Psyche also lowers Arch Villain regen by a huge amount if I recall correctly.

I wouldn't call -Defense irrelevant, context matters I think. For a huge chunk of content where you are leveling up, -defense is one of the best debuffs available because most team mates can be trusted to be terrible at slotting. It makes everything hit more often. Later on, it is somewhat less relevant but only somewhat. I feel like if we had a tool to reveal other people's (generally not great) builds, -Defense would get much more respect.

BTW I've significantly changed the build since I last posted. I'm unsure about whether some of this slotting is ideal, particularly in the AoE immobilize (maybe I could add endurance drain there?) and Psychic Shockwave. Such is the fun of fine tuning builds. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Social Medium: Level 50 Magic Dominator Primary Power Set: Electric Control Secondary Power Set: Psionic Assault Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Tesla Cage -- BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(3), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(3), BslGaz-Acc/Hold(5) Level 1: Psionic Dart -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(7) Level 2: Chain Fences -- OvrFrc-Dam/KB(A), OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg(7), OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg/End(9) Level 4: Mind Probe -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Hct-Acc/Rchg(11), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(13) Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13) Level 8: Conductive Aura -- EffAdp-EndMod/Acc(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(15) Level 10: Maneuvers -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def(15), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(17), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(17), RedFrt-EndRdx(19), LucoftheG-Rchg+(19) Level 12: Static Field -- SprDmnGrs-Rchg/Fiery Orb(A) Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(50) Level 16: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 18: Paralyzing Blast -- SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(A), SprAscoft-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(21), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(21), SprAscoft-EndRdx/Rchg(23), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(23), SprAscoft-Rchg/+Dmg%(25) Level 20: Drain Psyche -- TchoftheN-Acc/Heal(A), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(25), TchoftheN-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(27), PrfShf-Acc/Rchg(27) Level 22: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A) Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), RedFrt-Def(29), RedFrt-EndRdx(29), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(31), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(31) Level 26: Synaptic Overload -- CrcPrs-Conf(A), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(33), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(33), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(33), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(34), CrcPrs-Conf%(34) Level 28: Subdue -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(36), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37) Level 30: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(46) Level 32: Gremlins -- ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(37), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(37), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39) Level 35: Psionic Lance -- StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(39), StnoftheM-Dam%(39), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), StnoftheM-Acc/ActRdx/Rng(40), Dcm-Build%(40) Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Obl-%Dam(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Arm-Dmg(42), Arm-Dam%(42), ScrDrv-Dam%(43), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(43) Level 41: Power Sink -- PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(A), EffAdp-EndMod/Rchg(43) Level 44: Ball Lightning -- Rgn-Knock%(A), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(45), Ann-ResDeb%(46), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(46) Level 47: Summon Guardian -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(48), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(48), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(50), ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(50) Level 49: Charged Armor -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Domination Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Empty(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A) Level 50: Agility Core Paragon ------------ ------------ Set Bonus Totals: 24% DamageBuff(Smashing) 24% DamageBuff(Lethal) 24% DamageBuff(Fire) 24% DamageBuff(Cold) 24% DamageBuff(Energy) 24% DamageBuff(Negative) 24% DamageBuff(Toxic) 24% DamageBuff(Psionic) 6% Defense(Melee) 6% Defense(Smashing) 6% Defense(Lethal) 6% Defense(Fire) 6% Defense(Cold) 23.19% Defense(Energy) 23.19% Defense(Negative) 6% Defense(Psionic) 29.13% Defense(Ranged) 6% Defense(AoE) 4% Enhancement(Stunned) 100% Enhancement(RechargeTime) 4% Enhancement(Held) 4.4% Enhancement(Terrorized) 8% Enhancement(Immobilized) 8% Enhancement(Sleep) 52% Enhancement(Accuracy) 8% Enhancement(Confused) 6% SpeedFlying 19.08 HP (1.88%) HitPoints 6% JumpHeight 6% SpeedJumping Knockback (Mag -4) Knockup (Mag -4) MezResist(Confused) 38.75% MezResist(Held) 38.75% MezResist(Immobilized) 38.75% MezResist(Sleep) 38.75% MezResist(Stunned) 38.75% MezResist(Terrorized) 38.75% 22% (0.37 End/sec) Recovery 44% (1.86 HP/sec) Regeneration 15.25% Resistance(Smashing) 15.25% Resistance(Lethal) 25% Resistance(Fire) 25% Resistance(Cold) 13% Resistance(Energy) 13% Resistance(Negative) 10% Resistance(Toxic) 10% Resistance(Psionic) 6% SpeedRunning | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1480;678;1356;HEX;| |78DA6594CB4F135114C6EFB4532BA5A520943702E5DD4AA1828F8D2104D00D4D48D| |8AA75521A98A4B44DA7241A57AE15636274E5FB0F70EDF36F50231A1389892B570A| |82EF85E371BE8F42329336BF9EEF3CEE39F7DE4EEAFC74F0E1A94B134A0B4FE50CC| |B4A4F1796CDBC512E947C2963D1CC287942F3858C69E4BA52D9057365D92F4AB412| 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The real fun is Power Sink + Conductive Aura. It's disgusting overkill, really, and maybe I could benefit from changing the character to focus more on damage instead of endurance drain. As far as super heroic characters go, though it makes for a wildly good sapper.

I rolled Water/Fire and was impressed by the sheer damage potential and survivability. /Fire does cause Water/ to move into melee-ish range, but in practice its not so bad. What I like about /Fire is the heal over time in the sustain power which stacks beautifully with the HP restoration of Dehydrate. Neither power on its own is a life saver, but together they account for some impressive healing potential. /Fire also has an impressive number of PBAoE damage abilities that allow a complete rotation of AoE attacks with minimal slotting.

If you're soloing a lot it can help to have an AoE mezz that doesn't alert enemies. Gravity, Mind, and Electric all have a variation of this in one or more AoEs, while Darkness has it in a single target power. None of the Dominator sets ever adds much outright defense, although Darkness adds -ToHit which is similar in effect. And of course mezzing things so they can't respond provides its own version of defense.

What is nice about Mesmerize is it is Mag 3.5, and since Boss level Sleep protection is 3.0, it will sleep most bosses in one shot. This is particularly useful against bosses that run toggles, like the Circle of Thorns bosses who have the Dispersion Field power. EDIT: Sorry I just repeated what someone else said upthread. Should have read the rest of the thread first. 🙂

Fire Control seems like a very good pairing for Earth. Mud Pots is a Fire damage aura that recently had its range increased to 15 feet. This screams to be paired with Hot Feet. Fire/Earth/Fire in particular seems promising.

I feel like all of the blast sets are in pretty good shape at the moment, which is interesting, because I never felt that way while the game was live. It speaks to the level of dedication of the server devs/ In terms of pure DPS a few of them pull ahead or fall behind. None is in such terrible shape that its unworkable. There are some powers here and there that could use some tightening up, mainly related to their cast times. Also, arguably Radiation could be a bit better, but it's still very playable. I'd expect some of the recent Dominator changes to eventually roll over to Blaster secondaries, which should be interesting.

I'd assume Dark Blast as well. Haven't done any testing.

Illusion/Pain is in an interesting spot for a couple of reasons. Illusion's big power is Phantom Army, which can't be buffed or healed. On the one hand, that's a lack of synergy. On the other hand, the entire point of healing is to keep stuff from dying and Phantom Army can't, so you're not any worse for wear than if you had a killable pet. The PA is extremely strong too, and definitely didn't trade away damage for survivability. Overall this is a good combo for a team player. You're a character that can tank and can heal. That's a useful toolkit. You can also probably solo reasonably well, altho perhaps not as fast as some other secondaries.