Coyote

Nerf pie. And Regen.

I think what he's saying is that suggestions like "melee hybrid", which is definitely a good suggestion for Incarnates.... doesn't fit his problem that a "leveling Dominator" has little access to defenses. Personally, I think he's right... with Doms having slot crunches since everything needs to be slotted for Accuracy, Recharge, End Mod, PLUS effect (mez or damage), it's hard to work on getting set bonuses for a while. And it's hard to slot up extra defensive powers until the 30s or 40s. And epic shields don't open up until 35 (often later since many Doms get good attacks at 35/38), and Incarnate abilities of course only at 50. So, a high-level Dom DOES have good defensive options. A leveling build at 22 or 32... probably doesn't. I think that's why he's saying that you're not answering in the context of how he stated his problem.

It does seem like a problem to me. But it doesn't seem like a MAJOR problem... almost all powers and procs in the game are fine, with a few exceptions like 16-second recharge Holds and 30-90 second recharge PBAoEs. And, on the other side, auras/patch powers are probably a bit weak with their 10 second activation period. So I think that it needs some tweaks more than major rebuilds. And it's less likely to open up new abuses when you're tweaking an existing system where you know what the current abuses are, than doing a complete redesign. But, in any case, I do like the idea of getting ahead of the discussion so that we can properly influence and brainwash the devs into implementing our desired changes 😉

This is what I think also... small AoEs but give them a contagion effect for 10 seconds where the effect can spread (only from the original targets, not keep spreading), that would fix the usual complaints about AoE, while also putting out a pretty unique mechanism. Neurobreath at least need some buffing, especially since the cone doesn't fit as well with Venomous Gas being PBAoE. Paralytic is fine now with damage procs, but that's because all 16-second recharge powers are good with Hold damage procs. If that gets changed, then I imagine that it will be in need of improvement.

But, no, you STILL can't keep it. Even if it follows you home. 😛

Make poison effects contagious.

Same. I love the nametag.

😧😧😧

To offer a completely different suggestion on fixing the proc situation, I had thoughts about how to fix some imbalances. And they are very simple: 1: Add +X to the PPM for every damage proc. For example, add +1 so that all 3.5 PPM damage procs go to 4.5, etc. 2: Lower the damage proportionately to the increase in PPM, so that the default target damage per minute remains the same. First Result: powers that were already constrained by PPM to have a proc chance lower than 90% do lower damage per proc, but have a higher activation chance, thus remaining at the same expected damage. However, these powers were generally not considered to be a problem... I don't think there is anyone complaining that you get more damage in an 8 second attack by putting in a proc than by putting in a pure damage IO, since most players will go for a set over a pure IO. Second Result: powers that had a 90% chance or higher will end up with lower damage. These are exactly the powers that we want to rein in. Yes, you can now slot +Recharge in the power and get it to cycle faster so that you can keep the same DPS, but it still lowers DPA, and it still lowers DPE, and it costs more IO slots to enhance the Recharge. So we end up with long-recharge powers being weaker (in terms of damage) when built with a lot of procs. You might end up with an interesting situation where Char now gets slotted to get down to 12 second Recharge, and thus is better as a Hold than leaving it with a 16 second recharge... but it still does less damage, and it is now more of a balanced damage/hold power with more strength in the mez portion (due to faster recharge) and less in the damage portion, which is probably closer to the power's intended use. And it's simple to implement and to calculate.

Without set bonuses you won't be nearly as strong at locking down mobs, and that's a major part of your defensive abilities. But if you want to try it AND go into melee, I like Earth Assault. It has a lot of knockup, knockdown, and a great Hold in the melee attacks. It can take FF: Recharge IOs if you're willing to go with at least single proc IOs to help your recharge. And it does a lot of damage... usually with Endurance problems, but if you're not gaining much Recharge from set bonuses, then your End burn may not be that bad. I'll also suggest that Dark is a good set both early and late without set bonuses since it doesn't depend on high mez mags as much as others, but another great option is Electric. It also can defend itself very well with End drain and fast-recharging powers that don't need great global recharge to be effective, and it pairs well with Earth since its +Recovery options can help support Earth's high End drain.

I kept Hurricane, for 1 slot it can be a tide-turner power, but I only use it when overwhelmed by ambushes, or when exemplaring. At 50 + Incarnate, it just doesn't have much use when the character has decent Defense, and most mobs are mezzed, or fighting the decoys. Once in a while a fight is tough and spread out and I'll turn it on for safety from melee attackers... but given Hover and that most flying mobs are ranged, it doesn't see much use in outdoor maps. However.... it's a great power for 1-2 slots, and it's huge at lower levels, so it's great for exemplaring. So I'm keeping it. When you get T4 Ageless and can run it regularly, you could keep it up to help with Recharge via the FF proc... but personally I don't like the overwhelming graphics.

Enhancement for EndMod is definitely worth it, though it's more on the drain side than on the recovery side. As you say, it's not a major amount, but... I think with 8 targets it equals Stamina. And Health at the same time. Stamina may or may not be worth slotting, but... if it is, then probably this is worth also. Also, I think Perf Shifter should work in it as well as in Stamina as long as you have it toggled on with even a single mob around, so that may be a good choice to slot in there.

I have done both, but only the Plant so far to 50. Both play very well, and both have excellent strengths that pair up with Savage. Plant is a "fire and forget" primary, where you use pet summons that don't need much reapplying, and Seeds usually once at the start of the fight. After that, you're free to Facerip(tm), which frees Savage up nicely to attack, attack, teleport attack, attack, more attack, etc. It's a very strong scrappery style for going all-out aggressive. Dark is a much stronger defensive set although Seeds is clearly OP, because it doesn't rely on a single mez. You do get a Confuse, but also -ToHit, Fear, and a Stun. The usual problem with Dark is that you open up with Fearsome Stare and Living Shadows for nice -ToHit and some mezzing and damage, but then you want to rush in to throw the Stun. Not only does that automatically waste some time, but sometimes it's hard to squeeze into the middle of a spawn. Well, if you take Savage, you open up the usual way, and then: 1) put two -Res IOs (Achilles, Annihilation) in Unkindness, and throw that next. Now you have chances to give everyone a Resistance debuff while also adding some -Defense and solid damage if you slot it with procs and damage and give up on Recharge or set bonuses. 2) Follow this with Feral Charge into the center of the spawn for more AoE damage possibly boosted by -Res. 3) Now throw the Stun from the center of the spawn, and your "travel time" was a good AoE damage attack, and if you targeted a mob at the center of the spawn, then you don't have to worry about how to get past the bunch at the front. Slot it mostly for damage with like 4 PBAoE damage procs for over 250 damage, and with the 3 major AoEs (and minor damage from a proc in Fearsome Stare and Living Shadows damage), the spawn should be down to the Bosses and heavily damaged LTs, all Stunned. Bonus if you have a Force Feedback in Feral Charge so that you can do this again faster. Plant is generally safer, because OMG Seeds. But when it fails, it has little backup. Dark is a little more risky most of the time since you will get more (debuffed) return fire through the FS/LS/Unkindness/Feral sequence until you throw the Stun, so you have to build up more Defense in the build. But on the other hand, when it hits problem mobs (Plants hate the Rularuu), it doesn't really have major problems.

If you're willing to give up some Recharge bonus, there is a slotting option for Tornado that still gets good Dam/Rech/End from 4 slots using Soulbound and Overwhelming force, and... that frees up a slot to put in Achilles Heel in there for more -Res. Then, free up a slot from another power, and put the 6th slot in Howl and put Annihilation in there for more -Res. Because, after all, if you can get -150%, why not get -180% 😁

I planned a Dark/Sonic. Great offensive help, but also all of the -Res boosts the -Damage to ridonkulous levels. I think well over -150% Damage. And well over -100% To Hit. And just for the real use to most teams, about -90 or so -Res single target, or -50 AoE. And with solid -Regen and great controls for a Defender.

A lot of times a Dominator will go into melee only with mobs around them controlled or debuffed. With Ice, you have a strong defensive PBAoE aura, plus you'll often fight on an Ice Slick. So mobs in melee may normally do more damage, but they actually won't be attacking you very often. Meanwhile, the mobs spread out who are ranged only and won't close to fight you are going to be unbuffed, uncontrolled, and shooting versus your Ranged Defense. In many cases, it's safer to build for Ranged Defense and control the guys near you, even if you plan to be in melee all the time. I'm not sure that Ice is as strong defensively nearby, but my Electric Dom drains everyone around it... so I don't need much melee defense. But I do get shot by guys who were aggroed by the Gremlins, or by amushes, or ranged mobs, and I need higher Ranged defense than Melee. I imagine his situation is the same: taking more damage from ranged attacks because melee-ranged enemies are debuffed or controlled.

It would also affect self-affecting Defense powers. So while it may not seem like much to give a SR Scrapper even MOAR Defense.... it should benefit Thugs and Robots. And it will be a available as a secondary for those sets 😄. Also, the Defibrillate power should be changed to work on Ninjas, because then it would make that the very best power ever to use with them 🤣

Earth Assault works very well in melee, but it's a less mobile set than Savage. Savage is fun because you move around ripping faces off. Earth is fun because you stand in one place and SMASH people into the ground while shaking the entire cavern somehow. Earth is more smashy, Savage is more mobile. Both do excellent PBAoE damage. Earth does better single-target damage in melee because Seismic Smash Uber Alles, and Savage does better single-target damage at range because Call Hawk is like a snipe except better.

Also, use a defensive secondary... Time, FF, Dark, Sonic, etc.

PB will boost -ToHit. And the Hold and the Heal from Dark Blast. It's one of the two secondaries that pair really well with Dark Blast (Mental being the other, to run three cones for AoE).

Your first choice for opener is always Phantom Army if it's recharged, since you can use it to help group up mobs that aren't all-ranged. Then, you can go with either Darkest Night or Spectral Terror, both put out -ToHit so will mitigate return fire. ST is probably better since it will also Fear to prevent return fire. Also, use these when PA is not ready to cast. After you have the defensive powers out, put down Tar Patch for damage and start attacking with Blind/SW. If your defenses feel too strong (not taking damage), then you can skip either Darkest Night or Spectral Terror and get to doing damage sooner.

I really like the set now. It has some unique or rare aspects: early pet, ally chaining mechanism, +Special, spammable absorb, unique mez protection. It also does some other things pretty solidly. It feels different and also like it should be effective. If it goes live like this I'll have no problems playing it. Barring minor fixes like power descriptions, off-center target on the sentinel, etc.

Oh, I see. With a Mind Dominator, I would stack the Confuses until it breaks magnitude (also causes the AV to clear out its area of other mobs), and then start alternating Holds with Confuses until the Hold is also stacked. It's safer than the Hold/Sleep cycle since a missed Sleep can have the AV attack you, while missing a Confuse once you started the Holds isn't a problem since you can easily over-stack the Confuses. Then you can switch to the Hold-attack cycle, and the AV never has a chance to attack you.

Well, it doesn't to -ToHit, so it's only -Def. You already get -Def from Earthquake. If you take Stone Cages, then every time you hit with that it's more -Def. I think Stalagmites also does -Def. The single-target Hold and Immob (if you take it) allow you to stack more -Def on a single target. And... you STILL have to slot for some Accuracy in your powers (partially because any set you take for the bonuses will include some Accuracy slotting), because sometimes you will want to attack someone who isn't in a patch location but you don't want to put down a patch just for a target or two. And the Hold does -Def and already has an increased base Accuracy. So, without Quicksand, you should have no problems hitting. Quicksand is a good solution to a problem that you won't have, which is having good chances to hit. You COULD take it, since it doesn't need many slots, and use it until the 30s when you start getting more slots and can afford to swap it out for a better power that needs more slots. So as a one-slot power used until the 30s, it's not a bad power to take. I certainly wouldn't plan on keeping it long-term, but if you pick it up early in order to save slots for attacks and controls, that could work.

I'm not sure I understand... what mez are you building up? If it's Holds, then they damage the AV so the Sleep is broken. If it's Confuse, then Dark has a Confuse also, and I think with a slightly faster animation, so it can stack Confuse better. And if you're stacking Confuse, which does no damage, you're better off with the pets adding no-animation-time damage. The Sleep IS useful, but not for stacking mez... it's for sleeping OTHER AVs in case you're fighting multiple AVs. Sleep them all, then wake one up and pull it, then sleep that one and stack Confuses on it. But for single AV situations, it's just as good to go straight to the non-aggroing Confuses. I like Traps, but it's a bit finicky so I don't usuall play it. However, it's hard to beat great personal defenses with mez protection, AND stackable -Res, AND the best -Regen in the game, for fighting AVs. Dark Miasma is definitely great, though, and it can stack enough -Damage to neuter AV damage. For Defenders, it would be my 2nd pick since they do have to worry about personal defense against AVs while Illusion Controllers can take Cold instead since they're protected by PA.