Snokle

I have played most FromSoft titles from Demons' Souls up to Elden Ring, and trying to access their older backlog. I can say when I played DeSouls the very first time on PS3 cause it was clunky, slow and I had no clue what I was doing it was hard...BUT I learned quickly through the game and through dying (a lot) how to get around and how combat and other mechanics worked as I got better and more comfortable in the game. While for the most part there mainstream games have specific mechanics and lots of options to let people explore and try and beat the game they do not hold you hand in any which way. It is designed in a way for you to learn yourself. It is tough because it is trying to emulate a sense of dread and hopelessness which is something that you are suppose to overcome with time. Tying into this the mechanics for the most part are usually tight as the focus is on combat, mistakes will get you punished, many mistakes lead to death. Death is common in the games but not as harsh as older games, as it is intended to be apart of the experience. I think people in hyping the game through word of mouth, which now become a meme make something "FromSoft" hard, even if it is really not hard or difficult. It is too much in gaming verbiage in a lazy slang now to either say something is too hard, or not hard enough, or even just to "get good". Hopefully we can move past this stuff someday.

Yes, using layered defence is always good. Defence is vital to a point per context, it all counts on what you are giving up and how much support you have for all the defence you have. Even if I got 45% with some resistance armour from an epic on a support character, if I have low DPS cause of this and it takes me longer to take out enemies than there is a tradeoff, and raises risk for me to fail as extended time can lead to mistake and chance for hits. While defence is nice, it is not vital, or not as vital as it was on Live.

So I went through and did another pass or two and ended up with this build. I did respec into this, and did a couple test runs through some random KM TFs, a couple paper mishes, and then the heist mish. I have not done the incarnate arcs yet, but it feels a lot better on paper now. While it is light on AOE from myself, I think with the clones and Phantasm it brings enough to cover normal mobs. I thought I would miss not having the target AOE, but I do not, sleet is more than and Army is crucial for damage. Also with flash while it has a long recharge time, I do find it is nice in certain clutches. Priority is always Gleam -> Terror, and Darkness two start wreaking havoc. But sometimes if additional mobs come in during a cool-down the extra AoE control is good to have as a backup. Finally gloom does do wonders for adding to the single target DPA, while I stuck with Smite proc'd out, I found Midnight Grasp is best going 5 slot Hetacomb + ATO for abusing the +power proc. As you are gaining the stacks quite a bit. If I felt frisky I could shave one slot off Smite and put it into Blind and Proc that power out, as I have enough recharge for perma-Dom, but I am comfortable with it as it stands. Vigor made a big difference on the End bar, as I am not worried about popping blues anymore really. So I will probably most times skip Ageless, and run Barrier for tough stuff but have that as backup if need be. Overall very happy how it has turned out with the turning and adjustment, thanks for all the input! Dominator (Illusion Control - Dark Assault - Ice Mastery)v2.mbd

Death

I thought the the true answer was i x -i

I am just asking questions about numbers!

But is it the answer to everything?

The note of this, is you should not just build up to 45% defence on all ATs, that is what a lot of people have been saying. All my ATs, that do not have DDR in them do not run 45% Def, as it is roughly not gonna help you in the long run. While yes you will get 5% chance it hit at even level enemies, but you are usually sacrificing others things that that your AT could excel at. As it was mentioned here Dominators, we sit around 20% Def, then use Inspirations if needed or Incarnates, or other powers if there is issues not just using inspirations all the time. Old school Dom builds probably run 45% S/L/E but you are loosing a lot now, to just take advantage to the powers and mechanics in the game.

Inspirations are in the game by default use them or not, that is choice of the player. For new people yes use inspirations, and just for normal gaming use inspirations. If you want to do a challenge (which you are doing for yourself) then go ahead. It does not trivialize the game, the game is 20+ years old and most of us are here just to have fun. There is enough out there for hard content if you want a challenge in AE if you look for it. I would steer players to play how they want and use all mechanics that are available to them to enjoy the game the way they see fit, if it is solo, team, inspirations, or not.

Okay thanks for the notes. I will look at some notes, probably go through with Vigor for the Alpha, and do a bit more power slotting around, scrap out Ice Storm. If worse comes to worse, I will probably scrap Weave to put back in Terror as that was a final add. I will work on what I have planned out for another iteration.

This run I swapped Spectral Terror with Phantasm. I am not sure on it yet, but it is more of a test. I found I was using terror less and less as I went on. Compared to early levels.

Been running this Dom for a bit now after hitting 50 and starting to do some fine tuning on what I feel the build is feeling like. I have gone through a few passes trying out some different epics and the powers and kinda ended up with this currently. While I usually do not got for Def Epic armor, I think Sleet is too good with PA and Gleam to pass up, I think keeping as much as the mobs bunched up together will keep up the damage as much as possible instead of walking around. Also with Dark Assault having some -to hit it will be a little bonus to help with the extra defense. Since no Res epic, I added Fighting pool to add in the Glad Armor bonuses to get some free KB pro when I am not in Dom, and the extra 6% to Def. Still end feels tight on this, which is something I did notice on some other passes. Just want to make sure there is nothing too obvious I missed. Dominator (Illusion Control - Dark Assault - Ice Mastery).mbd

Sorry, did you get confused?

Probably, I just have set prices that I know what stuff usually goes for and I set them there, and let it sit for a week or two till I get them. To note, when I did my first character buying IOs and doing catalyst way was when Homecoming came out originally back in 2019 so it has been some time. I play on a low enough basis now, that I can wait long enough that I can wait than do the two account system.

No I do not upgrade all my IOs though catalyst. I did that with my first character when I started with HC, as I had no experience with that as I did not play much of CoH Freedom at the time and that was new to me. Now a days, I just but attunded versions in AH when I am looking at using those in specific powers. I was just more or less in an awkward way answering the persons question about being a fully attunded character. Nothing more, nothing less. And used Positron's Blast as an example.

All Invention Enhancements that are not purple, or PVP, like the Archtype, Winters, Uncommon, and Rare have been upgraded with an enhancement catalyst. Which makes them usable through their respected range. So an example Positron's Blast if you have them at a 50 IO slotted, you loose all their bonuses at 47. If you gave them a catalyst you get the bonuses from 17-50. Archtypes, and Winters become Superior Versions with more % additional and bigger bonuses numbers.

I would agree with @arcane, as most time, you are only getting the res epic armour as that is a Dom really needs, as the control powers and assault damage is the focus. Most of the defence powers being slotted for LoTG are usually mules, maybe some slotting at best. Most people I have seen post in the Dom boards who give out great advice and who have solid builds usually have DEF % around 15-20 % at best. People are using click powers or Incarnates when they have oh-ho moments, for the momentary burst. But the idea of a 45% def, with tonnes of procs, and recharge (if this is what your implying) is something to show.

Purple is my favorite color and Dominator is my favorite AT? So making them purple is showing them my love?

A player that can play the game and know there character if you are going to 4 star. Most raids can use anything. /cold support is common if you need a power type.

It is always true for most AT, but super true for Doms, while perma-dom is a goal for most people and easily achievable (one I usually recommend). I never recommend defence on doms, aside from Epic Res shield as defence is kinda blech, you should be locking everything down and beating stuff to a pulp. This is coming from the advocate of Ice control for Dom, and classic C tier.

It is a noob and a boob trap.

So from what @EnjoyTheJourney posted in the Ice/earth stuff. That is very much the bread and butter of Ice Control. Ice Control has a lot of soft control effects and one AOE hard control, a lot of it needs to be run in melee to really take full effect, so having a set to help compliment or take advantage of the debuffs you bring, -slow, -rech, knockdown, confuse are crucial. I like Psi it was my go to; earth, and savage have been noted on the forms as other great accelerants. I have not tested it but Energy could be viable. Powers: Block of Ice: Standard single target hold, 4-6 sloting for recharge bonus or procing. Frostbite - AOE immobilize, 2 slots of Winter AOE, getting that -slow res which is crucial for Dom's. Artic Air - the staple power for Ice Control. This is the six alot power. Either out the DOM ATO in this, or purple confuse IO. It all counts on your alpha you are using. The +Dam procs nicely in this, and the contagion proc is great too with the pulses. Cold Snap - Skip, we are pretty much having most people at max slow, and it does not add much for us. Not worth the power alot. Ice Slick - Staple power #2 and it only needs one slot. While it does damage, it is minimal and the focus of the power is not that. With one recharge, it will be up enough for each encounter. Flash Freeze - Situational at best. It is a proc friendly power and if you want to use it for that will need ACC. If not procing base slot as it is auto it. Power slotting is tight so this is usually cut to make room for everything else. Glacier - You hard PBAOE hold, 4-5 slot for recharge bonus. Jack Frost - While some people do not like Jack, and he is not usually the best he can be helpful for you at times, and you will be happy to have him with the extra slow and his little bit of hold bonus. Toss in 4 slots for recharge bonus, extra slot for damage proc if possible. Alpha Alot - This is up to you and your preference, but I recommend looking at the Vigor Alpha for Ice Control. While health is not going to help you out a lot, the ACC is nice for more procing, endurance reduction is nice with Artic Air, and the enhanced confusion. I hope this helps.

For Ice/Earth I would suggest only running one of the auras as both have a huge endurance cost. My preference would be towards Artic Air, as it gets massive bonuses with Domination, and you can but the ATO into it if you want to drop the endurance down, and the Purp IO for extra procs. Mud Pots is good, but AA will give enough slot and confusion they will not be gone long enough. And with all the knock back you will have with your attacks they will constantly be confused. I would recommend just getting a recovery like frome Force set, when domination is not going to keep up the blue bar.

Just for clarification, do you mean you are looking for specific about Ice/Fire or Grav/Fire or details about Ice/ and details about Grav/? I know I have talked a bit in the past with Ice, as Ice is my love for Domination. I can run a bit of a run down later, if you are interested, but I have some posts for some Ice/ threads here talking about it. Also I find @EnjoyTheJourney has been recently running grav dom recently and he would be a great person to ask for advice about. For what I have played with /Fire being more ranged focused. I would slide more Grav/Fire, as Ice/ is more melee focused. Again it is stacking the effects you want. Fire would compliment Grav I feel more with the holds, slows, crushing effects and hard controls than ice's soft controls.