MoonSheep

sonic/sonic to me seems like the ultimate relaxation alt, i’ve been tempted to make one for quite a while. have had a thing for sonic ever since it first came out in 2006 ..i’ll get round to it eventually

still loving my mind/fire 2 years on since i remade it from live - pure ranged control and incredible damage

not sure why you’re building so much defense on a support defender? they are typically a support archetype and less involved in taking alpha, hand to hand combat etc. in my opinion a defender should focus on being able to support the team as much as possible forge is one of your main buffs but it has zero recharge on it to ensure it can be applied to as many team members as possible. heat exhaustion has the same issue - needs 2acc/2rech. i really wouldn’t worry about the current fad the game is experiencing where everyone builds every character to S/L cap, it’s a rather uninformed strategy and doesn’t benefit most characters. focus on being the best thermal defender you can, the other team members will take the aggro. in CoH teams shine the most when people play to the strengths of their AT there’s some good advice in the recent kin/rad thread for proccing the hell out of radiation blast for maximum damage/debuff etc

back in the day you could waste 40M inf buying up all the availible market offering for 1 type of uncommon salvage and cause some chaos for an hour or two selling it back for 5 times the price to the impatient.. ah, goodtimes

absolutely. i quite enjoyed the pricing on live, it felt really exciting to have a purple or a good rare drop, thesedays it’s not really significant

where does this obsession with confused foes causing you to lose out on a tiny amount of xp come from? my mind/fire is vet level 230 or so through casual gameplay, the xp received is plenty to the people who are also fixated on seeds of confusion: make a plant dom? mind is a great set and loved by many. in the 2 years i’ve had my dom mine it’s been through every ouro badge arc, tf, trial, MO run, speed run, solo AV fight etc i’ve rarely wanted the set to be any different

Now that would be fun!

i only play two alts since returning in 2019 - a dom and a kin/sonic def, i think this is one of those “XYZ is bad because i don’t get it” posts screech debuffs for around 15 seconds, stack it with shout and you have a nice -40% debuff without too much time, can fire off the nova also for some added debuff, isn’t hard and combos nicely with FS with AVs, use fold space to bring more enemies nearby for a meaty FS, or aggro a few things whilst bouncing towards it. my ITF speedrun whilst on the def is 11.59 - whilst this isn’t the worlds most stellar time it’s not awful either kin/sonic is one of the best defender combos out there

poison/fire is well documented, great solo machine and genuinely good damage if you can manage the endurance cost

The word 'build' implies i put some sort of planning into my slotting or power choices 😁 For team play, if a kin def has SB and fulcrum shift it's good enough for most things in my opinion. Take the powers you find fun and go wild with sets which you enjoy - too much min/maxing can wipe out the fun factor It's done an 11.29 ITF, 12.59 LRSF, master of various TFs etc, teamwork makes the dreamwork

i picked up soul mastery for power boost on my kin def, it helps beef up transfusion if things are getting spicy, makes transference a real end sapper and it’ll boost the -defense component of your rad attacks i really wouldn’t spend too much time overthinking your build, you could slot 2 acc / 2 rech into all your powers and you’d be 99% as useful to a team than if you had a 600m build - kin defender is pretty is one of the most forgiving sets out there the game has tank/brute/scrapper archetypes if survival is a priority

my main since returning has been a remake of my live-era mind/fire/ice permadom, i only play one other alt (a kin def) so it gets played quite a bit for a team orientated character, in my opinion, any player is making a mistake by not choosing sleet from ice mastery. it’s defender strength on par with a storm/cold def and opens up the character to an entirely new dynamic of being able to mez, damage *and* now put out strong debuffs. whenever you’re on a team where someone else also has an AoE -res debuff it shines even more veng is good for similar reasons, now provides the swiss army knife dom with a strong team buff, mez, damage and debuff - all on one incredible “do everything” character with mez protection

I take assault and maneuvers, combined with siphon power it helps on earlier teams and TFs to start stacking up the damage. also helps to reduce the strength of AVs along with fulcrum shift veng is a must have for defenders, a great team buff interial reduction fantastic as it doesn’t succumb to the travel delay when attacking, lets you bounce around freely i don’t build for any global bonuses, e.g rech, def etc. insps keep me alive and everything recharges quickly anyway

I believe SoC aggros enemies whereas mass confusion doesn’t, putting MC at a significant advantage

i don’t think it needs a buff, put the confuse proc in the ST confuse and that helps spread it around there’s enough other mez powers in the set to choose from if mass confusion is recharging

i team with a traps/sonic def that is huge at debuffing - makes speed runs incredibe, e.g. LRSF/MLTF/ITF etc. great character when played right on high end teams edit: just realised my friend is a trick arrow/sonic, please continue the hate for traps

@DreadShinobi Is correct on how great Sleet is from the ice mastery. Not taking it should be a bannable offence 😛 I build my mind/fire dom for recharge to achieve perma and that’s about it. I don’t bother with any defensive powers as I prefer to lock things down or pop a few insps. You’re correct that some doms are more ST focused - I often have targeting macros for bosses and ensure I kill them in a mob first, letting the masses of AoE characters quickly finish up the luts/minions

Leo - I understand your logic here, though changes are generally made to introduce balance to the game and promote underperforming or underpowered sets to increase the variety of ATs/powersets played As empathy is by far the most played set, it’s unlikely to be a candidate for positive adjustment Moreover, many people are simply bad at playing an empath. Speed run a tricky TF alongside a skilled PvP empath and you’ll have a great and rewarding time

For some extra added AoE damage definitely, could be a nice combo with bonfire/hotfeet/fire cages

Is it?

Hey Blackfeather, thanks for considering me. I've had a review of the set and put some comments below which are hopefully helpful T3: Ray of Light - Having the primary hold as a T3 rather than a T2 may annoy some users who wish not to choose one of the T1/T2 powers, I know some other individuals who play Mind Control aren't a fan of such a layout. I like the potential chain effect T4 Refractive Halo - It would be a great dynamic for foes to be attracted towards each other within the halo, "fascination of light" or similar. Or, a reverse Hurricane where foes are attracted towards you, becoming increasingly To Hit debuffed as they get closer with an added chance for confuse for the really close foes T8 Luminous Distortion - Love this power, this should be the T9 with a few buffs. I'd want to see this one with a very large radius (60-80ft) to really give the set a memorable 'wow' power. I'd suggest amending it slightly so that there's a very large 'attract' radius, then towards the centre, perhaps 8-10ft is where there's a powerful confuse - given they are closer to the light and uncertain of whats going on. The grouping of foe is a theme I'd like to see elsewhere in the set, it would compliment modern playstyles well and make it an in-demand set to play T9 Shining Motes - This feels slightly underwhelming for a T9 power. The equivilent Photon Seekers power from a PB's Luminous Blast has a recharge of 180s vs 240 for Motes. I'd recommend making this a T8 power and have them in an intouchable state for the first 5-10 seconds of their life, like a quasi phantom army. Overall, I like some of the new dynamics within this set and there's several that I had never considered before. It feels more suited to Controllers as I'm not sure it would fit as well as a Dominator set, a lot of the heavy hitter powers wouldn't get much benefit from Domination. To put a potential spanner in the works, I wonder if it's on the verge of being more suitable as a buff/debuff set for defenders/corrupters and really play on the theme of -ToHit and foe taunt/attraction to deliver something that would really stand out

Hey, I would take Sleet and Hibernate as the panic button, would definitely fit veng into it if you're big into teaming - it makes a death in the team very exciting! Everyone gets a mini god mode for 90 seconds or so If you're into defense then frozen armor is a great pick, it depends how much you plan on being at range vs melee. My mind/fire hasn't got a single melee power so I didn't build for defense and live life by the seat of my pants instead 😄 Ice storm might help get your AoE damage up a bit, combined with bonfire and hot feet it could be a nice combo

Which is a shame, as many of the arcs, maps and enemy types redside are fantastic and really enjoyable Redside is let down by every single zone being so miserable and looking pretty much the same. The lower level zones are far too big and hard to navigate compared to heroside (though the 'insta-win' of travel powers being availible from the start helps negate this)

Preeeaaachhh! 100%! Sleep is a very useful power - I often use it on lower level teams if the group wouldn't be ready to handle a second mob entering the fray, or during speed runs when I'm focusing on a target and don't want to get squished. I haven't built my dom for any defense/survival as I'm not interested in the entry level shield:attack playstyle. Being able to creativity influence the dynamics of a battle (especially with things like mind or dark control) is far more enjoyable. Like you say, when everyone is invinceable it gets a bit boring. I like to plan a few sacrifices during a TF for veng 😈

Not picking up Sleet is a critical and unforgiveable mistake when building a dominator - it's a defender strength AoE debuff with a great recharge when slotted. Easily -30% res and -45% defense. When another team member has a similar debuffing power it makes team play great and really increases the "box of tricks" feel a dominator can bring to a team. No longer just control and damage but now a strong debuffer too! If you pick veng, you've got a nice team buff also - I find it hard to play anything else other than my mind/fire dom as it has a bit of everything I personally only build for recharge and don't bother with silly defensive builds, a permadom has all the survival abilities it needs. If you need a boost during hectic times, just pop a purple or mez something