Tugzug

So I actually just got a mind Dominator to 50 and I'm already rolling up another because I honestly love the set. I wouldn't want too many sweeping changes to it, but it definitely could use a little sprucing up... First things first, I'm not a huge fan of the 80% base accuracy of AoE mezzes. I get the original intent, but I feel like that's archaic design choice. Secondly, this might be a hot take but I would actually prefer Mesmerize to deal ZERO damage, and trigger no aggro. Controllers can't overpower bosses as readily as Dominators can, and the damage from Mesmerize breaks the sleep from Mass Hypnosis, preventing the ability to stack those. I'm 99% sure that this change will not happen though, but if it does then other powers in the set might need more damage to compensate. Finally, Telekinesis needs... honestly it needs a full discussion entirely devoted to itself. There's so many ways to make this power better and I have no idea which one is best, but it's definitely not the way it currently is. I'm kind of against Mind Control getting pets. Illusion is unique in its emphasis on pets, and I'd like Mind to stay unique as well--it just could use a bit of love to make it better at what it's good at. As it stands it's way more attractive to Dominators than Controllers. Maybe include more mezzes like Confuse to Containment?

I always find it amusing how the most popular sets are dominated not just by what people consider high-power, but also the flashy or "typical superhero" stuff like Martial Arts and Dual Pistols. I guess function and form are both attractive choices in a game like this, which is neat.

Seems like most people have already reached the same consensus, but also not a fan. I'm pretty much always against rewarding something that can only be obtained via grinding. Even my farmer is only Vet 60 and he has no need for slots anyways.

I agree that the 95% hit chance max is very frustrating for slower attacks and combos. To add another thing: base storages shuffling inventory if you click too fast. Why?

My namesake is a kobold wizard character I made in Dungeons & Dragons. Since he's illusion, I named my decoys Melf, Bigby, and Mordenkainen to match that theme.

I love the way it works currently. You don't really need it on autofire outside of combat, and in even in combat it works wonderfully when you open with it--just make sure you drop a KB to KD conversion IO into it. Electric as a secondary is pretty much the best blapper choice, and Force of Thunder is a big part of that reason. It even accepts a pretty colorful amount of procs, including Theft of Essence and Force Feedback.

Blaster melee attacks are too beefy to just NOT use! This is probably a lame answer, but I honestly keep a Break Free or two in my tray at all times. It's not foolproof, but I like to ensure that all characters have a way out--even melee ATs don't always have protection from Fear or Confuse.

I'm curious as to whether or not Decoys from Illusion Control will "eat up" chain targets or not. Could end up having conflict with that combo at least, but any other pets from sets should work fine.

To help alleviate the IO tax, one of your 3 AoE powers can be slotted with Overwhelming Force instead of Sudden Acceleration. It gets damage with its KD conversion and has pretty good set bonuses, so you'd only end up losing 1-2 slots total instead of 2-3.

If I'm not mistaken, Endurance Drain does not actually have AT scaling, and has equal numbers across all archetypes.

Ignoring the high endurance costs of running Hot Feet and Mud Pots, they are unfortunately not proc monsters. When procs first came out they were awesome on toggles, but it was changed to be quite the opposite sadly. That said, they could still be a good combo, I've not tried it myself.

I have an ice/earth Dom that's almost 50 and I can confirm it's very fun to play, if risky. The only real downside is that you really feel every time you miss. Bonus points if you choose Crystal FX for Earth and make it look like more ice.

Power Boost and other +Special effects do not increase or interact with knockback at all, though a few of those powers might have outdated descriptions that say they do.

With the right exploitation (and a chunk of change) you can get permadom by level 30, and holds are an easy 7.5 with the Basilisk set 4-slotted, so I prefer to not skip them. Dominators really start to explode when you have permadom (or close to it), so don't get too discouraged by low level performance.

Any plans on updating some of the outdated info on fast snipe? Since everyone has it now when in combat. Otherwise, I like the objective approach to ranged vs melee playstyle guidance.

Ah, forgot that pets don't benefit from Recharge. Thanks for the feedback!

As of writing this post it's still only on the test server, but have any avid MM aficionados theory crafted about the new Electric Affinity support set?

Yeah, I don't think there's a single bad set in this game that has "Dark" in it's name. Dark Blast maybe, but you can proc load it and it works just fine. Lots of folk seem to get a bad impression before they really get to know a set though...

I'm so happy that this comment was made. Especially since that iteration of Diablo came from what was basically the Scrapper of the first game.

You'll get diminishing returns for overslotting any power with the same type of enhancement. It sort of depends on the strength of the enhancements but generally speaking you don't want more than 2, maybe 3 of the same type in a single power. There's often other ways of improving your numbers that aren't immediately obvious. I highly recommend checking out the P2W Vendor and taking a look at everything they offer, including Temporary Powers. There's one called Recovery Serum that boosts endurance recovery by a solid amount--it's an absolute life saver for many of my characters at lower levels.

Attacks that deal piercing/penetration damage are Lethal, is what he means. Arrows "pierce" the skin, thus Lethal. Same for Icicles. Though, I could understand an argument to make them half-Lethal half-Cold.

Mind Control works better on Dominator than Controller, from my experience. There's also a solid workaround for the issue of pure psionic damage--procs! Unfortunately this can be a double edged sword, as Dominators tend to want all the recharge in set bonuses as they can, which procs get in the way of to an extent. But if you sprinkle some procs around you can alleviate your solo psionic damage... not by a lot, but it's something! Alternatively, you could pick a different Assault secondary and color it to look like psionics. That probably breaks the aesthetic you're going for, but it's an option.

If this were implemented, I might actually make an AR character. My main gripe with ranged weapons is the lack of interesting animations--which makes sense, but it ain't for me.

It's a very busy set compared to most other Support sets, so just keep that in mind when planning a build.

Names in bold are permanent characters, the rest are not safe from deletion if I grow tired of them (I tend to delete and recycle concepts a lot). Also, including picture links in the names, because I am a madman. Tugzug lvl 50 vet 39 Controller, illusion/time The lizard wizard! Originates from one of my favorite D&D characters, a kobold wizard. Braindroid lvl 50 vet 21 Scrapper, psionic/shield My actual first Homecoming character, I just wanted to test psionic melee and ended up loving this character too much. Nutankhamun lvl 50 Controller, earth/dark No comment on the name. Pharaohs are cool. Beauty in Acuity lvl 50 Dominator, mind/martial The character that made me realize how awesome Dominators could be. Broken Lamp lvl 44 Blaster, energy/tactical arrow A cosplay based on friend/fellow Excelsior's main, Lamp. I just wanted ludicrous amounts of recharge from Force Feedback and Tac Arrow, and it's kinda fun. Dance of Pales lvl 38 Tanker, dark/katana I like the "beautiful but dangerous" type, and it works well with vampire ladies. Inspired by Kiss-shot from the Monogatari anime, and a bit of Castlevania if the name weren't obvious. Shimo lvl 31 Scrapper, ice/ninjutsu People told me that both of these sets were good. They're right! Project PYR-0 lvl 44 Stalker, fire/bio Generic backstory--Crey project gone wrong (not that they care). Not a huge fan of stalkers, but I liked him enough to keep him around. Pulverice lvl 46 Dominator, ice/earth I love Elementals from D&D, and I like the idea of a bulky, punchy ice creature. Simple design, but appeals to me a lot. 1.21 Gigabot lvl 50 vet 63 Tanker, radiation/fire melee Yes, I caved and made a farmer, but I wanted to at least avoid the most obvious approach... also gave me an excuse to use that name. Infinivolt lvl 50 vet 4 Blaster, electric/electric Conceptually based off one of my favorite toons from the live days (though that one was Fire/NRG). I love electricity as an element, even if electric blast is a bit underwhelming currently (hah!). Crippling Doubt lvl 22 Sentinel, psychic/dark Psionic + dark = gotta use a negative emotion as the name. Also a reference to my doubt for Sentinels being fun, but I am open to being wrong, and I think this guy's the one to prove it. Glow Angrily lvl 23 Blaster, fire/energy The name and poweset combo are a result of coh.tips randomization, and I already liked that combo anyways. Ok, I get it, I use the Headless costume piece a lot! Doctor Concocter lvl 30 Controller, electric/poison This is honestly a miserable combo, but it fits the name too well. And not to brag but c'mon, I can't abandon this name! Prismatic Pincushion lvl 23 Scrapper, spines/ice If I'm gonna play Spines, by golly I'm gonna try to make it look pretty. Verdant Brazier lvl 25 Controller, fire/nature Kinda phoned it in one this one, just wanted to play this combo. Might edit or recycle if I think of something better. Sgt. Chiller Icebox lvl 23 Dominator, mind/ice Name is result of the aforementioned randomizer, and I just love mind control so I had to make a second one... You Must Die lvl 20 Dominator, dark/psionic Sometimes, you just need an honest villain. Also, references to CD-i Zelda are fun. Soothbringer lvl 15 Tanker, rad/dark melee Sort of an antipaladin/black night. Mostly made him to play with my family, wanted to be the tank, and haven't tried this combo yet. I have 7 other characters not listed, but they're mostly ideas at this point. Might post them to this thread later if that changes.