Coyote

😮

Controller. The /Cold debuffs are very nice, and a Controller can Immobilize mobs so that they don't run out of Sleet. Add in Earthquake and the Cold shields, and team defense is covered well at low levels. At high levels it's more about debuffing, and /Cold is good at that... enough to make up for some loss of damage from an Assault set. Getting Domination to Hold the Bosses... is nice, but not greatly relevant. An Earth Control Dominator doesn't get Domination on Volcanic Gasses anyhow. Also, Earth/Cold at high levels can put out surprising damage, though not in a great burst. The build I'm running can help with AoE damage surprisingly well, with Stalagmites - Stone Cages - Frost Breath - Ice Storm adding up to 1k AoE damage with excellent area coverage.

I believe that Umbra Beast is a melee-oriented pet. It has a couple of ranged attacks, but most are melee. And the Haunts are definitely all melee, if you're willing to keep activating the -Res aura upon them whenever you resummon them.

Of those choices, Traps is far and away the best, with Dark also decent. The main thing is to keep mobs away from you since Mercs use cones for AoEs... so you want a set with a good Slow. Caltrops is the best because in addition to slowing the mobs, it makes them retreat, keeping them out of melee and at good cone range. It's very good outside of that also, but so is Dark (which also has a Slow)... but the main thing is that it combines melee protection with bunching mobs up at the far edge of Caltrops.

Heh, I'm guessing posts like this are why he originally chose to keep the primary set private.

I like adding Resists to Bots... I know that Defense is considered better, but in general I think it works better in most cases, but folds harder when facing mobs with -Def (or +ToHit buffs) than backing them up with Resists/Heals. My Bots/EA feels quite sturdy despite being far from softcap.

One interesting way to jump-kite an AV in an area with no roofs but buildings like where he spawns is to engage him at a corner. Hop to one side, shoot, hop back across to the other side, shoot (while jumping, I mean), repeat. Once you get the timing of when he starts to move around (it will vary because he'll shoot sometimes), it's very hard for him to get to you, and by remaining in one area you know where the walls are. Wall-smacks are your own fault then 😛 I've kited lots of AVs with jumping characters, and I've found two things: 1: jumping into something IS a problem that can get you killed, but... 2: by moving repeately through a known area, you can generally get a feel for the terrain and avoid hitting things even while focusing on the AV.

Alright, when you do, this is what I'm running...

With respect, you are more likely to get help from experienced builders, who almost universally use Mids, if you are willing to accept builds exported from Mids. Asking someone to type it all out to help you rather than downloading the builder is probably going to make it too much of a chore for someone who might otherwise be willing to help out.

I also like it in AoE powers like Fissure, that you really want to spam on their own. While you can get multiple out with AoE Immobs, most of the Immobs aren't worth spamming except for the Orb. Exceptions: Electric AoE Immob, for End Drain. Dark, for -ToHit. Plant since it actually does damage. In theory, Ice could be cool (heh) for the -Recharge, but Ice rarely has the Endurance to spare for that. So that's really 3 sets where it makes sense to use it in the AoE Immob.

Traps for the hard stuff. FFG has a good radius and proper placement keeps it out of trouble. The real problem with it isn't eating AoEs, it's that it drops either due to time or resummons, so there are a couple of seconds of vulnerability when defenses will drop hard.

Right, my bad... they have a few attacks with knockback, not -Def.

They do. They do some -Def attacks so they could use Achilles or Lady Grey. But they do need more Accuracy since they're facing higher cons, and because they're less dependable a lot of builds may put extra Res or Def IOs in them, so not everyone looks to squeeze out more damage. But if you do try to max out Tier 1 damage, then Lady Grey is a good choice, with Achilles as a backup (though putting it in too many powers makes it less efficient as you'll waste debuff time by overriding it).

Thugs give the others +Defense, so it may not be a bad place for two LotGs (Global Recharge/Defense and Defense). Bruiser likes the Smashing damage proc and Enforcers like the -Def damage proc and Achilles Heel. They're hard to slot, with so many things you want to squeeze in there.

It does. I run Fire/Psi because Fire helps with Psi's low damage, and Psi helps with Fire's mediocre control. But if you paired Psi with a primary that didn't help much with damage, well... it would be one of the safer combos, but pretty low damage. Also Well, if "supposed to do" is the original design, at the difficulty levels that we could use then, and much rarer to see full IO builds.... Dominators didn't face so many mobs at one time if soloing. So you were supposed to mez, and go in and smash mezzed faces, not actually melee against active opponents. And teams should have some protection for you. It's now with the game overall being easier that the mob difficulty is generally tuned up much higher, and you're expected to be able to face a lot more splash damage because all of the IOs boosted passive survivability a lot (but Doms really don't have enough to depend on that), but IOs didn't really boost control all that much. With SOs or basic IOs, compared against other ATs, I think Doms are fine. Yes, even without perma-dom. Because in those builds, you have the difficulty rating lower, which means that your controls last longer and your single-target controls have more of an effect, so you can actually control the battlefield and go in and smash mezzed face. It's when you're soloing at difficulties that demand IO sets, or on teams that are at that difficulty level and rushing from fight to fight so you don't have time to lay down controls, where the lack of base defenses to stack with the IOs starts to hurt you. But there is a lot of gaming outside of that style. Also, you can build perma-Doms with capped Ranged/AoE defenses... I haven't tried, but I'd expect that you could do it with Ranged/Melee, also. That seems... reasonably tough to me, especially when backed up by Mind Over Body + Tough + Barrier (because you don't need Clarion) for resists. It's been good enough to handle AVs, GMs, and the DA Incarnate arc at +3/x8. So they are a little challenged at the top end, but I don't feel that they're overwhelmingly challenged. Not like MMs, who I feel in general just shouldn't bother playing at +4, or else not bothering with the Tier 1s.

So... it's Mud Pie, then? Got it. I suppose it's hot Mud Pie once you get Mudpots 😉

Doms were the redside Control AT, and compared to Controllers whose buffs/debuffs made them better on teams but with low damage were poor soloers, Dominators did enough damage to solo effectively. But they didn't bring buffs/debuffs to a team. So they clearly were designed with a stronger focus on soloing and weaker focus on teaming THAN CONTROLLERS. Doesn't make them soloing specialists like Scrappers, but it does fit into the idea that redside ATs generally soloed better than the comparable blueside AT.

No one is offering pie? Just cake, donuts, and cannoli? And the cake better be chocolate 😛 Savage is by far the most fun Assault set I've played. Psy is by far the strongest defensively. It goes very well with Fire Control, which can use a bit of help defensively. It also is very strong offensively specifically against AVs. So they're both very good, just depending on what's of greater interest.

No, but I do use Fava beans.

Here is the build I'm planning. For your version, some notes: You don't have to stick to a single set in a power, or 6-slot some sets if the 6th slot bonus isn't great. Doctored Wounds' main bonus is at 5 slots (Recharge), so instead of 6-slotting 1 power with it and 4-slotting another, 5-slot both with it. Conduit of Pain definitely doesn't need 6-slotting, 1 slot is fine in it. Use the saved slots to 6-slot Painbringer and Dual Wield and get two Ranged Defense bonuses. Assault and Tactics don't need Recharge. Assault uses End Reduction, and Tactics usually a End Red/To Hit Buff

Plant is the way to go for someone coming from melee, because you throw Seeds and then you go to town with attacks. I like Savage with Plant since it allows you to change distances pretty well, and also Thorns because a set that does -Def works great paired with a set that depends on Confuse effects. Also, Thorns is really AoE-heavy, and mixed with Plant it should be able to eat through large spawns at very good speed. Single-target may be a bit low, but clearing spawns should be top notch.

1: this probably should have been posted in the Dominator forum. 2: Martial Assault is fine, it has a couple of advantages over most other Assault sets: 2.1) Multiple AoEs usable in PBAoE range. With a melee PBAoE, a melee cone, and a chain AoE, you don't have to dance in and out to mix a cone with a PBAoE attack. Lack of movement needed to attack = more attacks fired = more damage. Even if the damage per attack doesn't seem great, firing off attacks faster increases the DPS. That's even without considering Caltrops. 2.2) Fast animations, especially on AoEs... other sets are stuck with AoEs with 3+ seconds casting time. Compare the casting time for the Martial Assault set AoEs and you'll see how good it is there. Overall, it's really good in AoE, with a good lineup of attacks and fast animations. As you say, it's low in single-target DPS, but... it's balanced. Good AoE, good knockdown chances, lower single-target damage, seems fair. And you do get a pair of good single-target attacks at the end, so even that gets fixed later.

It mixes in the middle, first 😉

It should cast whenever LS fires. It has a small AoE so it's not as likely to activate as a single-target attack would, but it's not bad. Probably about 2PPM from the proc, so you'll get 2 hold effects in the 1-minute duration... so 16 out of 60 seconds on even-cons. Stack multiple clouds and you can get more Hold effect.

It's what Scrappers care about. 😄