Onlyasandwich

That would be a solid choice. Honestly it's a tossup. Barrier and rebirth would both add a lot here as well.

I actually put together a bit of a rough draft build. Note that there are two FFBack procs on, so turn these powers off if in Mids and wanting accurate recharge totals. I'm sure there is as always more optimization, but here are the features: Softcap S/L/E/N defense (assumes only 1 EA target hit). Enough F/C def to hit softcap with Shadow Meld when needed. Moderate baseline S/L resist, attempted to shore up Psi resist as the slots are available and it is otherwise not well covered. FFback incorporated into both ST and aoe chains. Very super mega proccy Seismic Smash. (Turn on build-up and swoon - what a power!) ATO proc in the relatively proctimized Heavy Mallet for good up time. Not sure if maybe it would be worth swapping it to Seismic and eating a proc there - Crit ATO placement is both crucial and a bit tricky for best performance. Max hit chance against +4's with everything but Fault, which is fine with +3's so good if considering incarnate shift. Considerations: Will be sucking wind hardcore before EA. With EA, you will be spamming it on cooldown. If you're not okay with this, you may want to re-optimize for more end reduction. Personally I'm cool with it on Ice armor. When in Bastion you are fully juiced of course. When proccing fault, KB procs will hit the whole aoe, while targeted aoe procs only hit the tiny cone. Current slotting makes it an okay damage power, an accelerator for more Tremors, and good soft control. You could eat some global recharge and go more proc crazy on Moonbeam. I went for a more moderate approach here, but this leaves ~100 damage on the table. Power strategy: In heavy aoe scenarios where you're having trouble with survival, fire off tremor right when mobs are leaning to stand up after your Fault - this will cause them to fall right back down as soon as they are on their feet. With FFback firing, you can continue this back to back. Your Fault target should be one of the tougher mobs, as it does more damage to the target and a small cone. Heavy Mallet > Stone Fist > Seismic > Stone Fist > Moon Beam is a good rotation, and Stone Fist is a pretty solid attack to fill gaps wherever needed if FFback isn't hitting in a given cycle. Note the order here is important for squeezing in all damage possible for Crit ATO procs. The buff lasts 3.25 seconds, allowing the first 3 attacks here to be covered if fired quickly, with a slight bit of leeway for lag. Maybe Heavy Mallet > Seismic > Moonbeam would be better in burst? This would have more gaps though, even with FFBack firing. A hyper-optimized chain might somehow pick up a heavily procced Dark Blast, or even Cross Punch, but at the cost of other slotting priorities. As you mentioned, rotating Shadow Meld and Bastion as needed should work pretty well. Shadow Meld also keeps you up for the alpha against Psi enemies. If attempting to face mass psi, you better get in there quick and establish KD control before meld wears off though. The build:

SM is indeed pretty heavy on end. /Ice is however well-equipped to handle it - Energy Absorption really is that good. Unlike some other +end powers, it comes back quickly, animates quickly, and you have other reasons to spam it anyhow (more defense). Shadow Meld is indeed a really strong idea for rotation as needed. Alternately, you could find a way to fit in Rune. This depends on how much you find yourself needing the extra layer of mitigation and what you're trading off to get it. You might be happy enough with just Bastion alongside defenses and soft controls.

For sure! I bind this to lshift+f myself for easy access. Whatever fits you fingers. I'm typically using the target and the back binds most frequently.

I'm pretty sure they have "no hammer" animation options for all the powers now, so you're good. 😄 However, you may find the hammers a bit more enjoyable with an icy theme. My god, Icy Bastion looks so good! What an amazing power. I may have to share a build for this myself pretty soon.

Another consideration is Combat Teleport, assuming it fits your concept of course. Getting into range quickly for HoD is a neat trick, and being able to back out with a quick keybind womp womp is perfect for throwing your cones (Fearsome, Living Shadows). This lets you dance around as needed very smoothly. I personally use this set of binds to be able to pop in any direction around the battlefield however I please. Incorporating them was a real game changer! bind Lshift+W powexec_location forward:max combat teleport bind Lshift+A powexec_location left:33 combat teleport bind Lshift+D powexec_location right:33 combat teleport bind Lshift+S powexec_location back:33 combat teleport This lets you hold shift plus a directional key and instantly pop in that direction. I also bind lshift+f to "powexeclocation Target Combat Teleport" so I can pop straight to the target of my choice. Also good for playing catchup with the team through cave walls. 😄 You can play with the range numbers here to match your preference for best cone alignment. I find 33 back is pretty universally good.

@oedipus_tex's breakdown of overall controller damage potential is on point. @Two Dollar Bill's power highlights are also very accurate. For those they didn't touch on: Don't sleep on the potential to use your T1 immob as a blast, especially in early levels. It does equivalent damage to the blast power in most epics. Not required, but useful if you have room and aren't investing heavily in an epic pool or the blast there seems out of theme. Living shadows is never going to be a nuke, but you can do a deceptively useful amount of damage over time with a bit of acc and the Energy Font proc. Possess is an amazing solo tool, and really opens up with the Contagious Confusion proc. Still useful on teams to bring problem mobs like ffgens and Tsoo sorcs to your side, but a little slow. Your opener could either be Fearsome Stare or Heart of Darkness. I would grab both and rotate as needed. Both will also take some good damage procs, allowing you to incorporate respectable damage into your normal aoe control cycle. Shadow Field is a perfectly decent power, but actually one of the few aoe holds I might consider skipping if tight on powers. This is not due to it being bad, but because your needs will be quite well served elsewhere. Still useful as a backup. Darkest Night is less useful in this combo than on a Defender, as you will have not only strong lockdown, but also strong tohit debuff in your other powers already. Not a bad one slot wonder with an Enzyme Exposure for truly chaotic situations. Shadow Fall is of course always great - consider hybrid slotting for both defense and resist. Black Hole is poopoo garbage. I even like other powers like Dimension Shift situationally, but this power is obnoxious. I'd rather have jump kick. Proccing strategy for your pets will be a big part of your damage. Cloud Senses damage proc will go off for literally all of Dark Servant's powers, making it ideal. Other procs here will only go off on one power, and aren't so useful (hold procs, heal procs). Both tohit and fear procs are pretty decent on Haunt, as they have one power for each and rotate each decently well.

Scrappers just really match the extra smashy feel of SM. Whomp whomp whomp goes the hammer! I love it. Seismic Smash is a complete beast, super proccy, super fast, and holds as well. My SM/Ice is actually a Tanker (Ice/SM in that case) and one of my favorite characters, but I've had my eye on a Scrapper iteration since they proliferated SM. SM also has very nice soft control with both aoe and ST knockdown, helping push beyond the weaker defenses of a Scrapper. Not to say that Scrappers are squishy, but their survival potential is otherwise lower than Brutes and Tankers. You can chain KD everything around you if you time Tremor and Fault correctly, and incorporate plenty of FFback into your chains.

Ice is a great secondary, and the Scrapper version with Icy Bastion is arguably superior to what Tanks/Brutes get. Permafrost is easy enough to skip, but I wouldn't skip anything else. Even Permafrost is useful as a set mule. As for synergies, nothing particularly stands out. I would just look for a set that matches a fun theme. Katana is great on both scraps and Brutes. Scrappers get juicy crits, but Brutes benefit from its high DPA attacks and fluid chains, building fury quickly. I don't think Ice Armor does much to make up for lackluster aoe, though a damage aura is always nice of course. Personally, I'm rather fond of the thematic combo of Stone/Ice, with the Stone in crystal form. If you haven't played SM, Scrapper is a great place to start. 🙂

I run TW/Electric myself, which is pretty nice. TW is a bit on the end intensive side, and Elec feeds that very well. Elec does involve a little clickiness with its heal, causing some redraw. Nothing too bad though, especially if you manage your momentum cycles well. Other than that I think /Elec is just generically a solid resist based set with no super synergy to speak of. Its extra end tools can fuel hungrier primaries like Stone and TW. The +def sets @StriderIV mentioned are worth considering so you can more easily build a defense layer - TW actually falls into this category as well, though Defensive Sweep is not quite as nice to put in your attack chain as some others.

At that point mailing them around adds a huge layer of inconvenience. I would cash in right there on each character into something easy to liquidate like converters and sell them in bulk. Then you can just mail the influence instead.

Damage aura is certainly a point in its favor. On tanks, a lot of the resistance is over capped and therefore wasted. Scrappers have lower resist caps, so also end up wasting value. Brutes however can make better use of these values, hitting resist caps for SLE with little waste.

Definitely on board with this! Also if I have the same procs in several powers, they have to be set in the same order. As a rule, lotg global always goes in my base slot, then any other defense uniques, then other types of iOS if relevant. Winter sets always go in first. FFback always takes the final slot. So many important rules! I'm pretty sure I get secret performance bonuses behind the scenes for my efforts. 😃

I just make my inf with a handful of crafts I have found reliable, repeating on my AH character here and there. I don't bother with sg sharing - much easier to just send liquid inf and buy what is needed on every new character. All of my many 50s keep their full builds even if not often played, though I revisit with new builds when inspired. The selection page is annoying at this point. Once one hits 50, they get organized by AT with the rest. Until then they just live on my last unfilled page. I wish there were away to make folders here.

Procs will automatically scale in damage with level, regardless of what the crafted level is. As such, there is no real reason to slot it as a level 50 enhancement. Either lowest level or attuned is great.

It is natively knockdown these days, requiring no IO for this. Pop in another damage proc!

As this guy finally approaches the 30's, I just wanted to thank you for the combo inspiration here, @oedipus_tex! He truly has a different texture than any control based character I have ever made. It's just so...peaceful. Even at this relatively low level he can solo fairly large groups with the sleep as his opener. Everything stays asleep most of the time, even as you hammer them with aoes. Eventually it doesn't matter if they're asleep, because they're all just sort of winded and staring at you blankly. I can save my aoe hold for overaggro, and this gives me plenty of time to setup a new sleep field for when they come back into play. This is all even without Synaptic. Add to that the sort of leisurely and smooth animations of Psi Assault and I feel like I'm just whipping smooth pudding out of baddies. Thanks to Drain Psyche, I can bounce back from any errant spikes, and never come close to running out of end. For the record, I am actually liking Psychic Scream pretty well. Using a key bind to combat tp back 33 ft, and having a handy bind to tp back to target makes a big difference. The longish animation time isn't perfect, but workable given that the cone is big at this range, and extends far. It sort of fits the pace and overall feel. I'm excited to put the rest of the pieces together! I don't even really have my true damage online yet - just some vanilla attuned sets with no real focus to tide me over until I hit the right level for all my procs and purples. He won't ever reach the heights of damage that my Plants/Fiery can achieve, but he's certainly no slouch, and will only get better.

I think it's generally worth taking if choosing a set that has one. None of them really compare to the raw power of Drain Psyche though. They are towards very different goals. The extra control duration is pretty handy in some scenarios, but they are also useful for the bit of extra juice in most +defense powers (not all - despite what mids says, those with +res elements aren't enhanced). There aren't any tricks quite as good as what a defender can do with shields, however. The +damage is sort of a happy bonus for using it when it otherwise makes sense. I don't know that I'd rotate it in for the damage only if other effects are not desired at that time. Secondaries with Power Up type do hold a special appeal for Electric Doms, as they will make sapping much more viable. Electric tends to be a bit slow out of the gate for this approach otherwise, or relies on Power Sink.

All this is really useful context. The confused avoidant behavior is especially terrible. I was hoping that contagious confusion proc would help mitigate the lack of domination, allowing it to stack on bosses, but if the proc hits first, that's a no-go! What a weird power. Do you know how many targets it can ultimately chain to?

Nice demo, @oedipus_tex, and thank you for the data as always, @Carnifax! It definitely looks like Jolting is best approached as a control power first, and a single target proc damage power second, with the added bonus of a little extra proc here and there on the chain part. The latter is of less use here on a dom given the longish animation and lack of proc diversity. I'm glad you're finding some of the slotting strategies here useful inspiration, Tex! I think doms are a great example of the real trade-off involved in heavily proccing powers, as there is a world of difference between the strong safety provided by your defense focus and the extra damage in my current build. There are definitely some ATs that sacrifice less when proccing (Tanks generally speaking, certain Defenders to a degree) because of the baseline strength of their survival tools. Doms on the other hand have to scrabble together every layer they can get their hands on to mitigate gaps in their control. In my case, I'm happy enough to play my doms "high stress style" and eat dirt when I stumble. The upside is that sweet feeling of total control and obliterating damage when everything is ringing right. Honestly the Plant/Fire you helped me optimize earlier works really well from this perspective, and I rarely eat dirt. I'm hoping Synaptic stacks up favorably to Seeds to enable a similar experience, but perhaps I am overestimating it. I modified the build in OP just a little, and did take your advice regarding removing the damage proc from Synaptic. I'm really pleased with how this is looking! Next step is to solidify the right character concept to embody it. Keeping the Gremlins for now to see how I like them - might swap for Power Sink later down the road depending.

One little trick if you haven't done so already. In Mids, go to Options > Configuration > Exemping and base values. Change base ToHit to 39 and now your hit chances on mouseover will be accurate for +4's. It would be 48 if you want against +3's instead.

Thank you for the detailed thoughts, @oedipus_tex! I was considering Power Sink, but am not sure how committed I am to the sapping strat, and how much I'll need to rely on it for survival. The recharge seems a bit on the slow side, but addressable. Maybe I drop Gremlins entirely and pick it up with a good set? Sapping on other ATs has proven somewhat of a janky thing to rely on as a primary survival strategy. My thoughts on this combo were to use it as a "we'll eventually get there while doing other things if the content is hard enough" sort of thing. A secondary soft control that helps stabilize tough situations if it takes longer to wear down a mob. I totally read you on the +defense bonuses I missed here. Honestly it's partly a personal challenge these days to try control builds that avoid defense. I'd love to really test the limits of how much I can rely on the confuse. Fair point on the damage proc, though I'm inclined to try it out. I like to sneak in damage on things I'm cycling constantly anyhow. It adds up nicely. Most everything is maxed out against +4's for acc, though Drain Psyche is slightly shy at ~93%. I'm okay with this considering Alpha shifts, outside buffs, and other things to get me there. Chain Fences is also short, at only ~85%. Again I think I'm okay with this considering I'll have the extra level shift in tougher content to bring it up to max. Maybe I should just play with Jolting Chain while leveling up to see for myself. I could always put it through @Carnifax's parser to see how it really stacks up.

Edit: Modified slotting a bit. Edit again: More fiddling with slots. After completing my recent Seismic/Earth Blaster and having a uh - blast, I'm ready to return to the land of doms. : ) I know that Electric/Psi is a favorite of @oedipus_tex, and I'd like to try my hand at this combo with my own approach. I recently built a Plant/Fiery that eschewed all defense, instead relying on the soft controls and of course very powerful Confuse. I see that Electric also has a solid confuse, and would like to see if a similar feat is possible with this combo. Goals: Damage damage damage! As with my plant/fiery, I'm slotting the uniques, but otherwise ignoring defense bonuses entirely, even the juicy low-hanging bonuses. This is a very proc-heavy build. Both good aoe and single target chain. I want to be able to blast almost non-stop in either scenario. Recharge immunity, or near. It's a personal thing, but I really like it, especially on doms. Perma-dom of course. I'm okay relying on hasten, and have achieved a good pad in this build. Elements I am uncertain on in the current iteration: It would be nice to have room for proper slotting on Psi Dart - it seems pretty okay for a T1. Is ignoring it a dumb move? It looks like I'll have a really solid chain between my melee powers and Psi lance. Jolting Chain doesn't seem all that hot to me given the other controls at play - am I wrong? I've picked up Psy Scream, which I know plenty of folks hate. It works pretty well procced out, and combat teleport will allow quick usage. Do you see a better way to round out aoes? Drain Psyche slotting. I ignored end slotting here. Is this silly? There are many ways to approach slotting this power. Chain Fences - here I've gone with the orb proc. However, maybe I won't be spamming chain as much as I might the immob in other builds, given the nature of Static Field. Does it get much play in your elec? If I'm not cycling it much, I could siphon the orb to a slot elsewhere. How effective is the buildup proc in Gremlins? People seem to be a bit down on the damage potential for these little fellows, and maybe it's lower value here than in most pets. Anticipated playstyle: Open with Synaptic, Combat Teleport in, Fold Space, Drain psyche, Static Field self-cast, Psy wave, Ball Lightning, TP back for scream, TP back to mob for continued sapping/pbaoes/ST burn down. If in longer/more difficult encounter, keep spamming chain fences and static field to sap. May take a few cycles, but shouldn't take too long to get to zero. As always, I'd love your input! I'm sure there is much optimization to be had, and perhaps some fundamental flaws in my logic. The build:

Agreed with @Hedgefund, it is a shame to put it in a power that wastes its high proc potential. A nuke is definitely not ideal. If I'm going ranged defense, I want to keep the set together of course. I like putting it in a tier three hard hitting blast or an efficient melee attack. Something that will make good use of the proc, but for which I ideally want to pump local recharge anyhow.

This creates a new counterintuitive nichification of procs. Now instead of just avoiding super fast recharge powers, you also avoid longer recharge, as the cycling potential is wasted, leaving only a small middle ground of moderate recharge powers that just barely hit that 75 cap as optimized for procs. Honestly I like the silly weirdness you can do with the current system, and see the tradeoffs as meaningful. I have of course invested time, effort, and inf into many builds that stretch this mechanic, so am biased towards preserving the fun that I have made for myself. The process of making new builds would be less interesting to me if the value of procs were significantly changed. I suppose it is a bit odd that holds specifically have become damage powers by rote! Honestly this to me is more about the speed of the game and lack of need for long lasting holds in most encounters. Procs contribute to that speed, but are only a piece of the puzzle. I'm all for embracing it and giving mez more of a function in the more challenging content that releases over time.