Onlyasandwich

Tap + in the selection interface, while hovering the enhancement you want to boost. Each plus is a level of boost.

Final final build (for now) 😉 I settled on keeping Bonfire. I've run enough messy fun TFs so far with this guy that I see its utility even with dom up, and the damage is a nice bonus then as well. I also found that I was going over rule of 5 on F/C resist and my Slow res bonuses. Moved things around and gained some recovery, more damage in Fire Ball, and worked an annihilation proc into Fissure. Here it is: Dominator (Fire Control - Earth Assault) fire version.mbd If anyone has further improvements to suggest, I'd love to hear as always! I feel like it's basically in its final form now.

I think the above build is more or less where I've settled. One question remains - Rise of the Phoenix or Bonfire? Pros for Rise: PM proc mule, erases mistakes, is fun. Pros for Bonfire: Useful in super overaggro situations to throw out for extra mitigation and damage over time. Useful when exemping below perma-dom. Visually fun.

That's more or less what I suspected - thank you for sharing your experience, @Caimie! I wonder what an optimal swap might be. Considerations include: Power Up. No useful secondary effects to boost, but the damage is at least something. On occasion, the extra duration beyond what dom already provides may be useful. Stealth for an extra lotg mule. I probably won't bother running it for the defense. Smoke. -perception can be handy at times. The -tohit isn't much to consider. Misdirection. A decent little aoe resist debuff! Pretty long cooldown though, especially considering I won't have slots to devote. The placate effect might come in handy as an extra pause here and there. Surge of Power. Not super thematic for this guy, but another emergency button might be nice. Could mule Steadfast +def here for kicks. I could always keep it of course. I'll test it for a while and see how much it comes in handy. Actually, I think an epic swap may indeed be the way to go! 2 end/sec + perf shifter, panacea procs, and dom injections should be reasonably sustainable without the extra crutch of power sink. I jimmied up a Fire APP version for comparison here: Dominator (Fire Control - Earth Assault) fire version.mbd The main downside here is that the resist profile isn't as desirable. However, I get more damage, a handy self-rez, a mule for the PM proc, and a debuff I'll actually use in Melt armor. The whole thing is more on theme as well.

Ran some DFB, posi 1, and a sutter last night and have this guy up to 24 so far. He's a blast! I settled on a fun character concept and costume to match, which is 70% of the battle for fun anyhow. 😄 Feeling pretty good about the endurance situation. Even without my end support slotted up yet, I get along decently well with dom refills. Depending on how it all goes, I might even consider an epic swap, but for now the idea of Power Sink as a backup for such an end hungry character is still appealing. I'm glad you all are enjoying the combo as well! I was a little surprised to see basically zero topics about Fire/Earth in the dom forums. It seems like such a natural thematic fit. @MoonSheep, what is your concern with exemping and procs? They function just fine even if exemped below their set level. I absolutely understand the other fun goals one could achieve by backing off on procs (achieving meaningful defense, perma-dom without hasten are big ones). However, with this type of character where I'm relying on other measures to protect myself, this is my basic strategy for slotting procs: First, absolutely maximize effective damage per application through the most optimal combination of ED and procs (some powers have better return on ED up to cap, others are much higher with procs from slot one). Evaluate if I have enough accuracy. If not, adjust accordingly. Slot my other powers in the build. Have I achieved my goals? If so, then excellent! If not, then I'll revisit the hyper-focus on damage in procced powers, and replace with sets until I have achieved what I want. I start my revisit with the powers where procs have the most marginal return. In this way I maximize the potential damage of everything possible while still getting where I want to be on everything else. After playing with this guy, I've determined I'm keeping the Teleport pool. The new "gloop" animation for combat teleport is amazing! I colored it orange and it looks like I'm melting into lava and reforming. Still though - what do you think about Bonfire on a dom these days? It's such a long animation time, and only so-so as spawn control with the reduced chances when KD converted. Do you find it a useful supplement? If you have it, do you even bother using it?

Thank you for taking the time to review, Moonsheep! It sounds like we have pretty different build goals for doms, which is just fine of course. I find the trade-off in hastenless perma-dom to be too great for my own goals. Specifically here, such a focus would keep me from proccing powers as I like, as well as remove a decent chunk of my slow resist. I'm happy enough to use my rotating auto-fire bind to keep dom rolling. Power up is a 34% damage buff for 10 seconds. This isn't nothing, but not worth a power pick all by itself for me here. I don't have any secondary effects worth boosting to take advantage of its other effects. The aoe immob is a pretty big part of an efficient solo strategy! Judicious usage (ie waiting for things to clump, or just not using it at all there) on teams keeps it from being a bother. It is also the best place for my Fiery orb, as well as a mule for an important set that I'm relying on. Seismic Smash is a very proc friendly power. As currently slotted, it has a 90% fire rate for 3.5 ppm procs, which is why I have it more proc focused in my slotting. I have the purple hold proc in Char instead, as the damage difference for both powers is roughly the same (about 30 more damage on average per application compared to a non purple proc), and char is rotated more often, so more net benefit. Phase shift is a capstone for my investment in Concealment, and a really great power! -perception powers like Smoke can be pretty useful in certain types of rooms, but I'd be more interested if it had a better secondary effect. -3.75% tohit just isn't doing it for me, especially since I am not running defense to stack it with. With phase shift, if things get nasty I can just pop into another dimension and wait for a big control to finish recharging, then pop back out and go to town. One change I'm currently mulling over is: Drop the entire teleport pool, pick up Weaken Resolve, Mighty Leap, Unleash. Drop Bonfire, pick up Power Up. I can steal the slot in fold space and the OF KD proc in Mud pots for Unleash. Now I can pop Power Up > Unleash and achieve 30% defense, as well as get an extra end boost. This is further helped along by all the FFBack running. The big losses would be Combat Teleport (not a huge deal for a build that doesn't need to line up cones), Fold Space (very mighty, but not essential), Bonfire (is it madness to drop bonfire? Maybe it's not as important on a dom?), and Phase Shift (goodbye emergency button, but hello another more proactive emergency button). I'd also lose one lotg in the trade. Not sure! I actually love Unleash on doms, especially due to Power Up. I feel like I'd be trading a lot of utility to get there though.

Hi there Dominators! It's your best friend sandwich, back for another round of whips and chains with our favorite AT. This time, I'm keen to try on Earth Assault. I have my fair share of fire controllers, but see some special appeal in this mix: Really fun theme! Tons of FFback opportunity in Earth to fuel controls. Super procable. Two slow/damage auras! I know a lot of folks poo poo Mud Pots as a waste of end, but I am an aura appreciator, and think we can make it work. My goals with this build: Max hit chance against +3's. Max out my Slow res. Permadom of course, but I'm okay relying on some amount of FFback firing to get there. Pile on any easy to grab resists where I can get them. Proc out choice attacks and controls. I could go more ham with this, but am relying on a few purple sets to achieve other goals. What I don't care about: Defense! Obviously soft cap builds are great, and even chasing some lower amount is useful. This guy is a rock - he isn't dodging anything. The goal is to rely on domination powered controls, a whole mess of knockdown, and a few backup plans. I'm not saying this is necessarily the optimal plan in all cases, but it works great on teams. It also gives me an edge of challenge that I enjoy, and feel defines the Dominator experience for me. Hearing how much you don't like Fiery Orb. I like it! It looks pretty, is thematic here, and has a sneakily decent contribution in many battles. On second thought, tell me how much you hate it! It fuels me. I realize it's not everyone's thing. 😉 Concerns and potential areas of improvement: End sustain. I actually think I have it decently in hand between dom refills and Power Sink. Hoping I don't have to lean too far on Power Sink though, as it's awkward/slow. I am missing Hurl Boulder! It's a really great power on doms. I had it originally, but needed the slots, and also wanted to proc out Char as a real attack. Char basically holds its place now. Extra bonus that char achieves similar DPA while stacking holds with Seismic, and triggering constant ATO +damage procs. If you see a clear swap for Hurl, I'd value the perspective. Bonfire. How useful do you find it now that KD conversion guts the KD rate? I still have it on my fire/storm, but honestly there's so much going on there that it hardly matters how much bonfire is making things flop, so it's hard to tell. I could rely on Cages spam to keep it KD and keep the rate up, but that is very rough on end, and takes focus away from other powers I'd prefer to be rotating. I could remove the KD conversion and use it as a positioning tool or safe zone! Much more situational at that point though. Fun tricks: The aforementioned ATO proc in Char. Not really a trick - just kinda how doms work. I don't often get to utilize it so directly though! I'm frequently relying on the set bonus from my ST hold instead. Double KD procs in Mud Pots, KD proc in Ball Lightning. If you haven't tried double KD procs in a damage aura, give it a shot! I have tested it extensively, and even when they trigger back to back, they don't seem to stack mag, or at least the chance of them stacking mag is diminishingly low to the point it doesn't matter. Every other thing I throw does KD, even when I'm not doing anything at all! I cooould swap the Overwhelming proc to Imps instead - what do you think? General plan of engagement: Get dom rolling, engage with Flashfire, port in, hit cages, Fold Space when it's up, Bonfire, start spamming my aoes. If things get tight, I have several backup plans in Cinders or Phase shift. Remember Phase shift? It's that power we used to put in builds long long ago when you could perma it and do dumb stuff. It's actually still really nice! Do I like bulleted lists too much? You decide. While you're at it, I'd love to hear your feedback, or areas you see for further optimization! As always, I have disabled non permanent buffs, and disabled procs in FFback powers. Turn them on once at a time for local damage totals. Build: Dominator (Fire Control - Earth Assault).mbd Picture: Text:

Fully agreed here! Doubly so on a primary with one of the best to-hit debuffs in the game in Rad Infection. With the updated faster animation time, it's easy to put down on every spawn. By going for a heavy defense approach, you are losing out on a lot of the power budget already afforded you by your powerful debuffs. If you rely more on your debuffs, you have much greater freedom in your build to proc out attacks or pursue other slotting strategies. Granted, I know that RI has a limited radius and floating on ranged defense is an easier approach that is less reliant on mob positioning. Still, Rad is one of the best soloing Defender primaries even without a single IO in the build. Lingering Rad is typically enough to keep things clumped and at range until they are dead.

My default is Musculature Radial, and it would be a decent option for both. Probably the best option for Shield/DM. Cardiac core is a solid consideration for Dark/elec as well if you build around it to optimize Res values and not overcap. I personally prefer to set my Alpha as a "bonus" rather than a lynchpin of my build. Typically this means I don't like to rely on it for accuracy, resist, or defense goals. I also want to at least be most of the way to my endurance goals without the Alpha, even if I will appreciate the extra it provides. This is just my personal approach given the amount of exemping I do.

Subjective there for sure! I find Super Strength super fun, but can appreciate why you wouldn't be inspired by a "vanilla" combo like this. The aoe in EM is pretty solid these days, especially with Power Crash in Energy focus mode. On my own EM, I personally just have Whirling +epic aoe. It's not going to win any aoe competitions, but it gets along fine, and with outstanding ST damage of course.

All of the above options are very good! Remember also that you can place Ice Slick out of line of site. You can set up a really safe engage when you have a line of site blocker this way. Don't "sleep" on Flash Freeze either! Ho ho ho. Really though it's a great setup when solo. Not amazing on teams, but solo it lets you sneak in there and give Arctic Air a chance to get rolling. I haven't found it needed myself, and just plop Ice Slick or Cold Snap, but it works well if you need an extra layer of safety on the engage.

In case anyone is curious, the build below is where I landed. Controller (Ice Control - Empathy) WW version.mbd I couldn't resist, and doubled down on theme with this guy. He's an ice dancer, so Whirlwind is a must, even though quite honestly it doesn't bring much to someone with such a wide array of control tricks. If I actually use it at some point, it would be pretty redundant with Ice Slick if I use a KD converter, so keeping it as KB. I suppose it may be a useful emergency button, though I have a lot of those! It's mostly for showing off. Since I'm already there, Burnout too! There are actually quite a few good uses for Burnout on this combo (back to back Glacier, Regen Aura, double up on Adrenalin boost, really anything else) so it's not a bad tool to have in my pocket. Call him the master of backup plans! I'm happy enough to leave it at base slot, as it really is a super emergency button, and shouldn't be needed often. I ended up being really low on slow res anyhow, so decided to abandon the winter sets altogether in pursuit of other bonuses, as well as decreasing cost quite a bit. Ice Slick is shown as empty because I have the full Cupid's Crush set in it. This is very much a team build, but already at 41 competently solos most content at +1X8 with a little careful control management. Combat Teleport is the best quality of life ever on an Empath. Buddy going down or just out of range for a buff? Bamph over and release heals/buffs. Also very handy for repositioning when shooting off my cones. A very fun little fact I discovered and confirmed with further testing! The Controller Psi damage ATO proc fires in both aspects of Cold Snap (the slow and the fear). This means it's doing double duty! Cold Snap is really snappy indeed with this setup.

This is typically how I go, unless I just don't care about ranged defense for whatever reason. If you are going ham on a well built blaster, you can still suck wind even with the sustain running! Doubling down here gives you a lot more freedom to run expensive toggles, open up slotting on attacks, and free up other end support slots. You can even pull a Nemu and run whirlwind all day - do what feels good. 😉

I'd be going Dark/Electric myself just for the goofiness of it all. Just so many fun little powers to play with. Electric Melee is definitely not a typical go-to for me on tankers, as it is frustratingly weak on ST damage. However, nothing gives quite such an oddball assortment of neat powers to play with! You have a funky chain knockdown, a porting nuke, and a KD/Stun that would make most controllers jealous. Dark of course gives you the stun stacking baseline in OG. As always, theme and fun win the day! Go with what tickles your fancy. Shield/DM would probably be the most meta/powerful if fully optimized for softcap with a careful balance of procs mixed in.

A fun challenge build, and a well put together backstory! Is there a specific reason you didn't roll this as a Defender? Is it purely a challenge run? A Defender with traps would have superior values and access to all the powers you are actually using.