Coyote

Well, Mud Pots has a larger radius so a lower chance to proc Fury, and it costs a lot more Endurance to run. For just the Fury, WoC is probably a better vehicle. Now, if you have mobs spread out a lot when you're fighting them, then maybe the larger radius of Mud Pots may be more effective, but generally I think the smaller radius is better since you'll move to get the more important targets into the AoE, and then you have a better chance to affect them.

His Tenebrous Tentacles does some damage, but I think even slotted it's like 10 DPS and it's a DoT, so.... a 400 health minion would take 40+ seconds to kill. Not that a single Cloud Senses proc does too much, but at least it affects multiple powers so they add up to a much bigger increase from a single IO than you would get from a damage IO.

Actually, that's the BEST way to fight 😄 Especially if you're a Titan Weapons and can hit multiple Blasters at once 😄

Lrn2post, n00b! 😛

Shouldn't that be Taco Tanker Tuesday, where all Tankers running Taco Shell team up on the Fiesta server? I'm thinking of making a Taco/Dual Forks Tanker for that 😄

I would frankenslot Short Circuit. It's up every fight and drains a lot so I would try to max damage while getting End Mod as high as possible. Although instead of maxing damage, I went for a proc-damage build:

If worthless negotiations keep NCS from issuing C&D orders, then wouldn't it be in HC's best interests to drag them on and off for another two or three centuries?

Huh. It's a pretty strong heal, about 50% with a single Heal IO. However, the heal is HoT, so it comes up over several ticks. It's not an instant heal, so if you're looking at the bar right after you use it, it will look quite weak (about 14% on the first tick). And then the rest of it isn't too fast, it takes 9-10 seconds for all of the healing to tick off.

On the pet, for sure. I'm not sure if it triggers on a pet summons also, but the pets definitely have a chance to benefit from it.

A /Poison may put the purple Hold proc into Paralytic Poison to turn that into a real attack. So that leaves you with 3 damage procs from the PBAoE sets plus the purple one, and the -Res proc. So with one slot left over and no more damage procs, I'd put Lockdown so that the initial Hold has a good chance to Hold Bosses.

Water/Plant. Very strong so far, going through Night Ward at a higher difficulty than any other character (I think +1/x5 or x6) and managing. Archery/TA. Looks quite solid, with less defense but really good damage. Ice/Temporal. Stronger on the defensive side with a lot of -Recharge and Holds.

It does not. The Energy Font ATO checks to see if the user of the power is a Controller, and if not, then it won't activate. So if you put it into a power like Singularity, it will activate with a 90% chance when you summong Singy, but not at any time that Singy may use any of its powers. Same for Tornado, Dark Servant, Spectral Terror, etc.. it will proc upon summons but not afterwards.

You got us. It's a Sekrit Forum Conspiracy, where a bunch of us get together and troll a random poster's thread by arguing in it until we drown out whatever the OP wanted to talk about. Then, we follow him from forum to forum and keep doing it 😉 Fortunately for you, it's almost the end of the month, so we're going to pick a new target in a few days. Just hang in there until July 😛

Remember something when arguing on a forum... it's possible for two sides to both be right. Without agreeing on preconditions, I believe that it's possible for his claim to be 100% correct, if he's using different base assumptions than you are. Specifically, with high recharge and a proc-slotted primary Hold, which is a very reasonable (though not the only way) to build a Dominator, it is possible to have a rotation where the Hold fills in for gaps so that the T1 isn't needed. And a proc-slotted Hold will have higher DPA than a T1 blast, so this kind of rotation would have higher DPS than a rotation with a T1 in it... for all secondaries. It's just a matter of starting from a different premise. You're looking at the secondary only and building rotations out of them, and he's looking at a full build. Both are reasonable approaches, as looking at a full build sometimes minimizes differences between powersets (like a Blaster filling in with Char from the APPs minimizes DPS differences)... so if you want to compare only secondaries, then you don't care about full builds. But it's also reasonable to look at a full build with the idea that it is possible to make a full build for a character that skips the T1 regardless of the secondary and improves the DPS, so why care about T1 differences? So he makes a claim, and it's right with his presuppositions, and you make a claim that's right with your presuppositions, so sometimes before an argument starts, it's good to step back and clarify "this is what I'm starting with, and this is why". That way you see when differences arise because of real disagreements, or just because of arguing about different situations.

If you're willing to be as busy as a one-legged demon in a butt-kicking contest, Demons/EA are a great combination. Less busy and also great is Thermal. Time is also strong defensively, though not pairing quite as obviously with a Resist-based set like Demons, and leaves you more time for whipping.

Well, there are also slotting limitations. Like, after you put 4-6 Cloud Senses into Fearsome Stare, you're not going to bother to overslot it for -ToHit debuff. But if an EA teammate buffs you with Amp Up so that Fearsome Stare's debuff (and Fear duration, though that's less important) is stronger, that's definitely good. So you take powers that are good, worth slotting and using, and making them better. Frankly, the real problem with it, is that it would be a great power EARLY when your teammates won't have the slots to have all of their buffs/debuffs slotted, and improving -Def is useful, etc. By the time you do get it if it's a secondary, well, a lot of the buffs and debuffs are already slotted to be strong enough. Boosting them isn't really useless, but it's not nearly as useful as it would be to boost them at level 22 or so. 😞

Just to note, I run perma-Dom builds (not at perma-Hasten levels unless Force Feedbacks fire) with capped Range/AoE defenses. It may be possible to run them with capped Melee/Range (but I generally figure that if I'm in melee, the victim whose face is being ripped off isn't able to argue about it), I think it may actually be easier to cap Melee than AoE. And my Hold is usually slotted with the Dominator ATO so I'm getting the +Damage out of it, though not much damage directly from it. So while the builds ARE a bit tighter, they're not impossible to manage.

Waaaaait, that's a wrong approach to calculation. You're calculating a +X buff BECAUSE it's up 100% of the time, but you're not using temporary buffs even if they're higher. Like, if there is a powerset with +2X buff that's available 50% of the time, then the overall average buff would be the same. Several other powersets have +Damage buffs that are up part of the time. It's not fair to them to include Martial Combat's +Damage buff because it can be up 100% of the time, but not include Fire's larger buff because it's only up part of the time. If you will include the +Damage from a click buff, then all powersets with a +Damage click should get the benefit of their build-up power, even if you average out the buff uptime. Also, +Damage buffs show better on unslotted powers, so doing a "base damage" calculation with +Damage powers will favor the powersets with more +Damage, but at higher level with slotted powers a +20% buff will only give about +10% damage. So, in the end, it takes a more complicated analysis to calculate the DPA of a power if you will include a +Damage buff from the powerset. It's probably better to just note that some sets have better +Damage than others, and not actually throw them into the numbers of a single unslotted power.

Agree with almost everything. 1) single-target Holds generally get proc-slotted, or the Dominator +ATO, or both 2) T1 is useful for leveling and exemplaring, for a FEW builds. Generally Savage and Earth since they don't have that many ranged attacks otherwise. 3) The attack chains were base damage, so you would at least double them for slotting and set bonuses, but once you add up a +Damage Alpha slot and procs used in some attacks, you can probably get 150% increase or move over the base numbers that Hjarki put, plus pet damage (and aura damage for some sets). So where he has a set at 80 DPS, it can probably reach 200 DPS on direct attacks, then another 40+ from the pets, and it's not a proc-optimized build, so those numbers aren't as bad as they appear. To throw my two cents in on the T1: Dominators can use set bonuses, and there are good ones in the ranged attacks. If you need Recharge you can go with Decimation, and if you need Ranged Defense you have Thunderstrike. While leveling these attacks are useful, and still useful for some sets when exemplaring. I always slot them early, but often keep them later on since I exemplar enough. If I were playing almost exclusively at high level, granted, I may respec the slot out. Some of them are especially good (extra damage from Savage, high KU chance from Earth, -ToHit from Dark) and may be worth using more. But they generally don't fit into a maximal DPS chain unless you're soloing AVs and building for ranged defense, so that you can't use melee attacks.

I don't understand this. Yes, I can see a /Dark MM having issues with Endurance, they have multiple toggles and no +Recovery or +Endurance. But a slotted Energizing Circuit, if spammed, brings back over 2.5 EPS. Thats more than doubling the base endurance recovered for a character. If a Demon/EA MM can't manage Endurance burn with a power that returns better than 2 EPS, even with increased End costs for powers, how are other characters managing on a mere 3.5 EPS of recovery? My Bots/EA recovers about 5.6 EPS if I'm spamming Energizing Circuit... since it's not a top priority to use over other powers, I still manage well over 4 EPS, and I can push it up to 5.6 or so if Endurance is really a problem. Most characters don't get that kind of recovery.

Also, missing Domination by 2 seconds is a huge deal since it drops. Missing Hasten by 2 seconds just means 2 seconds of the buff lost. Not a big deal. I use binds that load different files, which alternate setting Domination/Hasten as the auto power, so as long as I'm moving or acting, I don't have a problem. But without those binds, I'd definitely put Domination on auto.

When acting the same way, correct. When designing them, it was considered that MMs could save on End by not having to spend End on an attack to finish off the last stragglers, as the pets would generally do it. So you pay more per attack, but you attack less. They also generally don't have full attack chains... Dark is the only one with a full single-target attack chain unless you fill it in with a pool attack. So again, you attack less. It's certainly true that a MM attacking at a rate comparable to other ATs will bottom out its Endurance faster.

This statement troubles me terribly with its terrible troubles. Or maybe tribbles.

Just to add a few notes about AoE: 1: Savage is high AoE and performs reasonably well, because its cone is mid-range and you can keep backing up while you're using it, then Feral Charge from max range into Rending Flurry. So you alternate 3 powers... while you have to move to get them all working, Unkindness doesn't root you and Savage Leap eliminates the closing leap that you normally have to do when going from a cone into a PBAoE. So you one have movement in one direction between RF to Unkindness, which isn't bad for 3 powers. 3 powers/1 movement action, rather than the usual 2 powers/2 moves that you would get from a set with 1 PBAoE and 1 cone. 2: Thorns is also surprisingly good at AoE when paired with a primary that will use an AoE Immob (or maybe Bonfire). You have two melee AoEs (one cone and one PBAoE) and one cone, but the DPS lost in moving is made up for by Thorntrops doing its DoT, and Thorns has a short wide cone (90 angle, I think, and only a 30 range, so it's a VERY short move in and out). It can move in and out from PBAoE to cone faster than other sets. While I hate its aesthetics, its stats are good and it pairs superbly with Plant.

I agree with @Hjarki completely. EA is a very busy set which leaves little time for blasting/controlling, and it's very strong defensively which is more important when your "team" is a bunch of low-HP henchmen who lack either real Resists or real Defenses (or if they're Ninjas, both 😛 ). So its strength on Defense matters more on a MM, and it's rather busy for pairing with a blasting or a controlling set.