Coyote

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. 😄

Ele/Ele for max draining? Low damage, though, especially compared to the options of Storm and Poison. /Traps would be better damage and pretty strong. Electric stops mobs from attacking pretty with a combination of confusion and End drain, so a strong defensive pairing like /Time or /Dark don't seem warranted. You want mobs able to hit each other better, so Freezing Rain, Sleet, and Poison's debuffs are all good options. Trick Arrow would work great statistically, but it's a shame to waste its all-ranged potential by mixing it with Electric's short-range focus. Though you could run Electric all ranged, I suppose, and then Ele/TA may be solid.

Switch the sets in Warmth and Cauterize, then move the Numina's proc to Warmth. You can figure you'll use Warmth at least every 2 minutes, so you'll always have the proc active, and this way you get the 3.75% Ranged Defense bonus from that set. This frees you to slot Terrify with 5 Positron's and a damage proc, getting way more damage out of it and still end up a bit ahead on Ranged Defense. This assumes you're going to use Barrier to soft-cap... if you're going with Clarion, then keeping Terrify with the set that gives Ranged Defense and making the above change will put you at the soft-cap for Ranged Defense. Alternately you could put Frozen Blast in Terrify and get a large boost to AoE defense.

Keep Call Hawk, because it does damage more efficiently regarding Endurance than Call Swarm. You lose End efficiency by consuming the stacks, BUT your base damage efficiency is better, so overall you don't lose much if anything by using that instead. The bigger cost is losing the stacks and their yummy +Recharge bonus. Also, Call Swarm recharges fast and has a relatively low End cost.. I think I ended up 3-slotting it. Heck, if you're willing to spend the money, three HOs will max out Acc and Damage, or with set bonuses for Accuracy, probably one HO and two basic damage IOs will have the power slotted well enough and hopefull still leave slots for Ladyhawke. I found Plant/Savage to have plenty of AoE, so I looked more for utility in the APP, and the choices were: Psy for Link Minds to help soft-cap multiple positions Mu for a pet that heals Ice for Sleet I went with Psy, but those all seemed like good choices.

That's some fast thinking. I usually just manage "Aww, crapdammi---- " followed by ".... is the P2W self-rez recharged yet?"