Mezmera

By the way you make it sound like I was running to the vendor after every mish. I used insps yes like normal I did use blues when I got them but other than that nothing to say I was "crushing" them. I don't take offense at all, I was taking the alpha on almost every mob and the ones where I let you do it you died or had to hiber so that should tell you something about building for defenses but I don't get why you insinuate you shouldn't in your earlier post in this thread is all.

Firstly I never solo with my time, second no I wasnt crushing through insps I do have defenses I was using, you'd die as soon as you tried to alpha if they didnt kill you in your hiber because *gasp* they were resistant to mezzes since it was incarnate content, thirdly it motivated me to deal with the shortcoming I knew I had in endurance issues seeing how when I did happen to get in trouble it was due to being out of endurance to affect the enemies so out with vengeance and in with end drain. So I guess thank you for perfecting my build... You're welcome to come along too, seeing how I well outperformed your dom the first time it should be simple as pie with my issue fixed.

First you make it seem like soloing is a badge of honor now you're assuming I only solo? I'm saying why wait for a tank or any melee for that matter to take aggro when this build can handle that itself without requiring having a tank in the team. If you'd like a comparison in strike force terms I lead the charge into the 8 heroes at the end of LRSF on this dom, I take the focus of all of that aggro and survive it well so then I have more dps to offer than a tank or brute, debuffing along with great control. Your suggestion is to offer more of the same of what you can already do well on a dom to squeeze out 10% more recharge. My assertion is that you can do that AS WELL AS tanking, blasting and anything else your team needs you to do. How is this not the definition of variety? I quite enjoy my character it's the apex of what I could create on this game. If I'd like to drive my Ferrari as fast as I can why should I be told I can't when I've been doing such? I don't NEED to pop a purple insp or two, which allows me to carry other things like reds, oranges and greens. It's always the Mind/Fire doms who say you MUST play a certain way. It's like you're telling me to be a spoon and I'm telling you there is no spoon. Again, I'm on Excelsior, come play some incarnate +4x8 content with me, I'll tank for you.

This

Gee what a small box you're painting yourself into. So we should just build for recharge and that is it? You act like these sets aren't building for accuracy and recharge as you're building for defense as well. The first goal is recharge for permadom, then my ambitions go further like for defense, and along the way this build picks up tons of +dmg, +accuracy, +hp, +resistance, +defense and a lot of other bonuses. Do you even know what Soul Drain does? Imagine having your very own fulcrum shift but it also greatly increases your tohit (there's your accuracy). What happens to your squishy little build when there's enemies impervious to your controls like in an ITF or incarnate content? How sad to have to chase for a corner. My very first villain the day villains came out on live was a Mind/Energy dominator, I've been doing bruteless RSF's since before IOs and level shifts. I'd be careful with your generalization. I've got 1 of almost every AT so that I can see how things are from playing from that perspective. But if you'd like to know the value of my time would equate more to playing "Dominators and nothing else". In all honesty if a brute could come and do what I do with my dom I would be very impressed. Tell you what I'll extend you the same invite another dom player who sounded a lot like you do to come duo with my dom, lets see who can handle that hard incarnate stuff better. I could tank the alpha aggro whereas someone with your limited build would need to hit that hibernate with a quickness. Come show me how its done, lets see if that blaster with a mez shield of yours can out dps, control, survive better than my dom.

No worries! Typically I play around with the various controls and attacks up to say level 30 and then respec when I can start building the likes of this one. Early on I take bone smasher and some other blast just to give myself something fun to play until this one blooms with all those nasty attacks late. You should be getting 50-60+ positional defenses AND 50+ damage typed defenses. SR scrappers only get positional defenses they can get to these numbers whereas some other defense type like Energy Aura you'll only get the damage typed defenses to these numbers. So you are getting the best of both on top of what you can do with your controls in domination. Like I said the only real shortcoming was always my endurance consumption but since I team all the time it's never really an issue but having since solo'd a bit to see how it does on the hardest of content I had to swap out Vengeance for Dark Consumption. The lack of having endurance to affect mobs after while was adding up so having Dark Consumption there to use when you see Domination being far from recharged really has helped.

Well I'll get you a build with better defenses than a SR scrapper. While in domination your controls especially AoE allow you to "tank" more aggro than a tank. It all depends how you play your blasters most of mine run in with their pbaoe nukes and snipe whatever is left. With the mechanics of how Total Focus is you are severely limiting your potential by not using that and then Whirling Hands right after. I drop an AoE control onto a mob, run in and use Soul Drain, then Total Focus some poor unfortunate next to me then use Whirling Hands, anything left you can finish with Snipe and Power Burst. I don't use mids but here's the build: Mind: Mesmerize - (1) 50+5 Apocalypse dmg IO Dominate - (6) Superior Ascendancy of the Dominator Confuse - (6) Coercive Persuasion Total Domination - (5) Unbreakable Constraint w/dmg proc (don't use the "hold" one), (1) minor dmg proc Mass Confusion - (6) Malaise Energy: Power Blast - (1) 50+5 dmg IO Power Up - (1) 50+5 Recharge IO Whirling Hands - (6) Obliteration Total Focus - (6) Mako's Bite Power Burst - (5) Apocalypse w/proc (don't use the "damage" one) Snipe - (5) Sting of Manticore (don't use Acc/Int/Range one) Soul: Shield - (5) Gladiator's Armor w/+def unique Soul Drain - (5) Armageddon w/proc (don't use "dmg/end" one) Fortunata - (3) Soul-bound Allegiance (mostly damage some recharge and acc) Dark Consumption - (1) 50+5 End Mod/Recharge/Accuracy IO Health - (2) Miracle & Numina +recovery Stamina - (1) Performance Shifter +end, (2) 50+5 End Mod IOs Speed: Hasten - (2) 50+5 Recharge IO Force of Will: Mighty Leap - (1) 50+5 Leaping IO Debuff - (1) Achilles Heel -resistance IO Unleash Potential - (4) Shield Wall w/+resist unique (aim for defense/recharge), (1) LotG +recharge IO Fighting: Punch - (1) 50+5 dmg IO Tough - (4) Unbreakable Guard w/+hp unique, (1) Steadfast +defense unique Weave - (2) LotG Defense and +recharge IOs Leadership: Maneuvers - (1) LotG +recharge IO Tactics - (6) Gaussian's Be sure to use Power Up right before you use Unleash Potential, it'll get you 10% more defense. I've play tested this as best I can, solo you'll run a bit hot on endurance so I dropped Vengeance for Dark Consumption for when your endurance powers are far from replenishing. I've also +5 most of the powers I get later in my build or purple sets and attune some that I may want to use at lower levels like 30. As for Incarnate powers I go with: Alpha - Agility (Recharge, End Mod, Defense) helps shore up any recharge or defense holes Lore - Carnies w/Seneschal Destiny - Barrier Core, use this while Unleash Potential is down, by the time its best effect wears off Unleash is recharged Judgement - Void -Damage Interface - Diamagnetic Core -tohit/regen Hybrid - Assault Double Hit

Well I've got a few Mind doms, the best character I've created just so happens to be Mind/Energy. I can give you my build but I play it balls to the wall so no flying and I go with Soul Mastery instead of Mu. If you think you'll be able to play it aggressively you will have great fun I promise!

Well in the early levels you're not meant to be the all being damage dealer. Up to 32 your time should be spent fleshing out your controls along with building yourself with the pools. For survive-ability I'd go with Force of Will or Sorcery for one of those shields. Your damage cycle really doesn't get strong until almost 40. Perma is more geared to helping with surviving since you can instantly control almost anything and have the best mez resistance in the game, your damage is your damage no matter if you have perma or not, you're just not getting knocked back or anything so your damage should stay consistent. Typically your damage starts to build slowly from 16-38. Not sure about some of those assaults (/fire is good) but I'd assume they're not bad once you get them up to 38. I've got a few energy assault doms and they crunch but their chain doesn't get built until 41 or so. Really you're control early and a late bloomer into dps/survivability. Team and keep your team upright with your controls, learn what can be done when in domination while you get familiar with the AT.

I think I can help but I don't use mids so here's a quick rendition I can give with some of the requirements you're looking for. I will always take one of the two new pools either Force of Will or Sorcery. I tend to like Force of Will more thanks to the debuff and what Gather Shadows will pull out of Unleash Potential but I sometimes will go with Sorcery as well so I'll give you an option on that. This'll be a price is no object build so remember to +5 everything that you won't see attuning. Ice: Block of Ice - (6) Superior Ascendancy of the Dominator Arctic Air - (6) Coercive Persuasion AoE hold - (5) Unbreakable Constraint w/proc, (1) minor dmg proc Jack - (3) Pet Purple IOs Ice Slick - (1) 50+5 recharge/slow IO Dark: Blast - (5) Decimation Punch - (5) Hecatomb w/proc Gather Shadows - (2) 50+5 Recharge IO Engulfing Darkness - (6) Obliteration Life Drain - (3) Touch of Nictus healing/accuracy, (3) Apocolypse dmg/accuracy Moonbeam - (5) Sting of Manticore w/proc, (1) Apoc mod dmg proc Soul: Shield - (4) Unbreakable Guard w/+hp unique Soul Drain - (5) Armageddon w/proc Fortunata - (3) Pet Purple IOs Dark Consumption - (1) 50+5 end/rech/accuracy IO Health - Numina and Miracle +recovery Stamina - (2) Performance Shift w/end proc, (1) 50+5 End Mod IO Speed: Hasten - (2) 50+5 Recharge IO Fighting: Punch - (1) Damage IO Tough - (2) Steadfast w/+def unique Weave - (2) LotG w/+recharge IO, (1) Shield Wall +resist Leadership: Maneuvers - (1) LotG +recharge IO Tactics - (6) Gaussians Sorcery: Mystic Flight - (1) 50+5 Fly IO Ally Buff - (1) Preventative Medicine +absorb proc Rune of Protection - (5) Gladiator Armor w/+def OR Force of Will: Mighty Leap - (1) 50+5 Leap IO Debuff - (1) Achilles Heel -resist Unleash Potential - (4) Shield Wall w/unique, (1) LotG +recharge I like Force of Will more as my unique pool because a powerboosted Unleash Potential gets you +30% defense to everything out of the gate and overlaps with your other resists well. If your endurance solo is okay and want to change out Dark Consumption for something like Vengeance for another LotG +recharge that's what I usually do if I can. Anyways hopes this helps!

Once you hit 50 and start earning empyrean merits every 3 vet levels and doing strike forces here and there you should have yourself built in no time. At 30 I stop and put sets into powers I know that I'm going to keep and I'll just attune them later on then with the other powers I'll just use them dirty SOs until I can't stand them anymore. All my toons I have built to the 9's but my doms get the best of the best.

Welcome to the club! I've had a lot of doms here's a few I'd suggest to try if you haven't. Controls: Mind - Always my fav so much control Ice - Fun but a bit underpowered, Arctic Air is nice Gravity - Fun but clunky w/wormhole Dark - Nice damage Assaults: Rad - Okay, the heal is nice but unreliable, melee-centric Dark - Decent damage but best survive-ability Electric - Meh, was great back before they nerfed havoc punch Energy - Stupid good now with the mechanics, everything from Power Up and after is unskippable Fire - OG go to for damage, still good but geared more toward ranged blaster type of players

I have a bit of experience with Mind, I'll give you what I aim to achieve with my control powers and a few of the pool powers we share. For Mind I go with: Mesmerize - (1) 50+5 Apoc Dmg IO Dominate - (6) Superior Ascendancy of Dominator Confuse - (6) Coercive Persuasion Total Domination - (5) Unbreakable Constraint w/proc, (1) hold minor dmg proc Mass Confusion - (6) Malaise I don't have much room in my attack chain so my first powers tend to get phased out but Mesmerize is nice for the psi damage when you need to cut through a hero's godmode. When I want to be strategic I let my ST confuse do the work before I go jumping in. I can handle any aggro fine so I appreciate the small uptick in damage from the procs in Mass Confuse and Total Domination, usually I alternate using the two hard controls per mob. The goal from these sets is that they give some nice +recharge and +ranged defense bonuses. As for Pools: Hasten - (2) 50+5 recharge IOs Tough - (4) Unbreakable guard w/hp unique, (1) Steadfast +def Weave - (2) LotG w/+recharge IO Maneuvers - (1) Lotg +recharge IO Tactics - (6) Gaussians My pools usually tend to look similar between all my toons. If I have another resist shield in epics then Tough will look like that if not I'd add the gladiator armor +defense IO as well and Weave I'll sometimes add another unique if I feel it necessary. Leadership pool I'll also try to add Vengeance so I can get another gambler +recharge but sometimes it gets phased out for a power that has a more immediate and consistent effect. I realize this may not be too much in line with a "budget" build but on a dom it's just heresy not to build it well. Hope this helps.

Plus timed right you'll stop the group that spawns dead in their tracks. Generally I try to get myself to perma down to lower content without limiting my high end build either. Having a dom perma starting in the 25-30 range is so much fun, expensive, but fun.

Yeah every power in Soul Mastery is attractive in some way. I take Soul Drain, the shield, the fortunata pet, and Dark Consumption (solely to shore up any end problems I might have in between domination cycles and unleash potential). Dark Obliteration looks nice too, just don't have an extra power to take. I do skip the t9 melee and a few of the earlier blasts. On the control side I tend not to want to take more than 6 powers, typically 5 will do the trick. This way I have plenty of room to dabble in the pools to build myself up where I want.

As far as /dark I can help a bit with that. You have to take the t1 blast which I have a 5 set of decimations in it even though it's not in my attack chain. Aside from that I'd take Gather Shadows and slot it with 1-2 50+5 IOs, the pbaoe at 20 with at least a 5 set of the purple set, Life Drain with 3 Touch of Nictus for heal/accuracy and 3 apocalypse for damage/accuracy, finally I'd take Moonbeam and 6 slot with Manticore's and an extra ranged purple dmg proc. If you don't need to take another control at level 2 the tier 2 punch isn't bad so you could take that one. For Epics on a dominator Soul Mastery imo is the best, Soul Drain is awesome along with a great shield and a few other useful powers in it. Soul is a bit more skewed to players that like to get into the thick of the fights. Although on a /dark dom I always take Primal Mastery, Energy Transfer on a dom is just stupid damage and since you can self heal easy enough you'll want to spam ETs as soon as its recharged. My attack chain doesn't stray too far from Moonbeam, ET, Life Drain and a control or pbaoe. Never had an Earth control but I'd imagine you'd want to take the pet along with the hold and a few aoe mezzes. Good luck!

First it's the best mez protection you will get on anything so you shouldn't have a problem reacting to enemies when they throw out those controls onto you. Second, in domination your controls will instantly control bosses on a single application meaning if you throw out an aoe control you'll instantly mez all targets in a mob unless you miss one of them (which isn't domination's fault, skipping tactics and the like would be the problem there). Domination alone is nice but like some of us have been saying to build up those defenses, especially ranged defense, and you'll see a big difference in your character. My dom has better defenses than a SR scrapper, almost as good damage as a blaster and better aggro control than a tank. Doms are far and away my favorite characters to play due to their potential.

Permadom in of itself is great but is only the beginning. Why limit yourself to JUST permadom? A permadom in a +4 ITF is gonna get hurt real bad as soon as those groups become unmezzable. Being able to stand toe to toe against the strongest AVs and saying do your worst just to watch them not lay a scratch on you is a noble goal to aim for.

My dom tanks better than a tank and I play it that way. My dom's aggro control affects double the amount of enemies a tank can affect. If something gets loose my defenses allow me to survive and affect the battle rather than running behind some corner. Our job is to play the game at our best so I push whatever character I'm on to the max and in essence a tank and dom are trying to achieve the same thing so it's a similar playstyle. Tanks need to be aggressive and run into the battle and let their meatyness carry the day for the team, while being aggressive and running into the thick of things on a dom to control large groups of what we can before they have the chance to attack the team is optimal. A tank can never do what I can do on a dom but I CAN do what a tank can do. So I guess you're right in a way, built right a dom is so much more.

I'm on excelsior @Mistress Mezmera

Well on my Mind/Nrg dom I run 50+ defense to range, melee, aoe AND all damage types on top of that I have 75% S/L resist, 45% negative and toxic resist and 25% resist to the rest. All of that adds up. If some AV does get a shot through it's rare so easy to recover from and typically resisted well enough on my dom that it will not phase me. Permadom is the goal plus a bit of a buffer I agree, after that though also aim for bonuses like defense, hp and damage/accuracy. On a Ms Lib I regularly tank the fight with the 4 AVs while a good tank next to me goes down. Seeing is believing though.

So you can stand tall vs AV's and unexpected aggro beyond what you can control at the moment. Say you miss a few bosses on some holds on the lead in or some random mobs come out of nowhere to ambush you when your AoE holds are recharging what are you gonna rely on then? Defense is NEVER pointless. Yes build yourself up to a reasonable amount of recharge but you can also build in defenses as you're doing so.

It's like having the choice between a Rib-eye steak or a Big Mac. Hope you're at least gonna get the fries.

/Energy is the best DPS you can get on a dom now and on top of that you get power boost.

With the revamp to most dominator assault sets I made a Grav/Nrg. It's kitted out the best I can get it, she's a mean machine. I take the Lift, Grav Distortion, Grav Distortion Field, Wormhole and the Singularity. Being a Mind dom player I usually forget to summon my pets and wormhole is fun but clunky whereas Mind control is just so seamless to use. You really can't go wrong with Energy Assault. I'd argue it's the best dom secondary right now. I loved the new /nrg so much that I made a Mind/Nrg dom with almost the same exact specs but for Mind control. The pools I go with are Hasten, Leadership, Fighting and Force of Will. Powerboosted Unleash Potential is stupid good.