Overviews of Dominator Secondary Oddball Powers

[oedipus_tex]

For a while now I've wanted to write up descriptions/reviews of the oddball powers available in Dominator Assault secondaries. The general design of Dominator Assault sets tends to be 7 attack powers, with 2 slots reserved for an unusual power. However, this pattern isn't followed perfectly.

 

I've played most Dominator sets to 50 over the years. Exceptions are Electric, Radiation, and Dark Assault. It's many years in some cases tho, so my observations may not be perfect.

 

Feel free to provide your comments in the replies. I hope someone finds this overview helpful.

 

 

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LIFE DRAIN - Dark 

Ranged blast (60ft range) 

Self heal

 

Dark Assault gets this power instead of a T3 blast. Life Drain is in most ways similar to a tier 2 ranged blast, except it also happens to contain a self Heal. This power is fairly spammable, although damage is not amazing and the cast time (2.1 seconds) can wear on you. Still, it's a very attractive power due to the sustainability. Note the 60ft range is 20ft closer than most standard blast powers (80ft) including other Ranged blasts in Dark Assault.

 

 

 

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POWER UP/GATHER SHADOWS - Earth, Ice, Energy, Dark

- +34 damage to self for 10 seconds

Force multiplier: 74.5% for 10 seconds

 

Power Up was originally Power Boost, identical to the power available to Blasters. It was later changed to Power Up, which resulted in it getting bonus damage and the force multiplier slightly lowered. Force multiplication will work on any power that is not flagged not to receive external buffs. A brief discussion of each factor of the force multiplication is provided below.

 

Healing 

This will effect any power that can be slotted for Healing. On a Dominator this isn't usually a whole lot of powers to pick from, but it will boost the Healing in Dark Assault's Life Drain. 

 

Defense

This will generally boost any power that provides Defense except for powers that also provide Resistance. (That's in order to prevent powers like Build Up from boosting Resistance powers). Sadly, this does not includes Link Minds in the Dom Psi tert pool. In a toggle like Combat Jumping or Manuevers, the boost will last for the 10 seconds Power Boost is active, not the full duration of the toggle.

 

Absorption

In theory this will boost the Absorption of any powers you use. However, there are not a lot of powers available to Dominators that have this effect.

 

Endurance Modification

This applies to powers that provide or drain endurance, and is different from Endurance Discount (i.e. it generally will not make powers cheaper, the way Conserve Power does). This effect makes the endurance drain in Electric Control reach incredible potential. 

 

ToHit

This applies to any enhanceable power that provides -ToHit. There is self-synergy between this effect in Gather Shadows and most of the powers in Dark Assault. This effect will also increase the -ToHit of many of the powers in the Dark Control primary powerset.

 

Run Speed / Fly Speed

This is what it says on the tin. The effect lasts while the multiplier is active.

 

Mezz Duration (Confuse / Terrorize / Hold / Immob / Stun / Sleep)

This will increase the duration of most mezz powers by roughly 75%. Note what is increased is duration, not magnitude (like Domination provides).

 

 

What isn't boosted by these powers:

 

Recharge

Although run speed is affected, -recharge (mainly in Ice powers) or +recharge (Hasten) is not affected.

 

Resistance (or powers that include +Resistance)

No power that provides +resistance in the game is allowed to receive boosts from a force multiplier power. This includes powers like Link Minds, Frozen Armor, etc. 

 

Knockback

Despite what the description of the power says, knockback is NOT multiplied by these powers (it used to be, and the text was never updated).

 

 

 

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MUD POTS- Earth

PBAoE aura, 15ft radius

Damage, slow, immobilize (mag 2)

 

This power is unique to Dominators. This power is borrowed from Tanker/Brute armor sets.

 

It is a 15ft radius damage and slow aura that is nearly identical to Fire Control's Hot Feet, except it has a slightly smaller radius (15ft versus 20ft) and does somewhat less damage. Interestingly, it contains a Mag 2 Immobilize with a 100% chance when the power hits, so any minions within 15ft of you won't be going anywhere. It cannot, however, be slotted for Immobilize. Note this power does have a ToHit check, unlike Chilling Embrace below.

 

 

 

 

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CHILLING EMBRACE- Icy

PBAoE aura, 15ft radius

Damage, slow, -damage (-10%)

 

Chilling Embrace was originally borrowed directly from the Blaster secondaries. It was widely regarded as a worthless power for Dominators, so the developers have given it some love in recent issues. Its main function now is a -damage aura. It also deals, and can be slotted for, some direct damage. Interestingly, the damage and secondary effects of this power bypass Defense checks entirely and are true auto-hit. This power is specifically flagged to not injure enemies who are Sleep-ing, making it the only damage aura in the game that will not wake enemies you've put to Sleep; however, it also will not injure them until you wake them up.

 

 

 

 

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VOLTAIC SENTINEL - Electric Assault

Summons a Voltaic Sentinel (unkillable pet that hurls lighting bolts)

 

This power is derived from the Blaster Electric Blast set. As pets go, its mostly unremarkable. Damage is not very high. The pet cannot be targeted by enemies, cannot tank, and cannot receive buffs. If you hit Build Up prior to summoning the pet, I believe the pet's damage will be boosted for 10 seconds (not the duration of the summon).

 

EDIT: Build Up or other +Damage powers have no effect on the Sentinel.

 

 

 

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BUILD UP - Electric, Thorns

+17% ToHit for 10 seconds

+68% Damage for 10 seconds

 

This power is identical to the similar power available to most Blasters in their secondary pools. On a Dominator, it has a slightly different context. Because Build Up contains a +Aim component, it can help make control powers easier to land, in particular the 240 second AoE holds in most Dominator primaries which otherwise have very poor Accuracy.  However, because Dominators do not have nukes, most Dominators probably receive less total damage lift from Build Up relative to a Blaster.

 

 

 

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FUSION- Radioactive

+17% ToHit for 10 seconds

+42.5% Damage for 10 seconds

100% chance to spread Contamination

 

This is Build Up by another name, with slightly lower damage values. It differs only in that it provides a 100% chance to infect enemies with Radiation's special Contamination effect.

 

 

 

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SPOT PREY- Savage

+17% ToHit for 10 seconds

+42.5% Damage for 10 seconds

+80% perception for 30 seconds

 

Another Build Up clone, but this one comes with +Perception. This provides Savage Assault with the ability to ward of the Blindness effect used by some enemy groups, most notoriously Arachnos. Given this power's 90 second Recharge and the +Perception's 30 second duration, it is possible to make this effect perma.

 

 

 

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EMBRACE OF FIRE- Fiery

+68% damage (fire) for 30 seconds

+68% damage (all other) for 10 seconds

 

Embrace of Fire is the reason no other Assault set can touch Fiery Assault for damage. It provides +68% damage to all Fire attacks for 30 seconds. It also boosts all other sources of damage for 10 seconds, similar to Build Up. However, it does have double Build Up's recharge time (180 seconds versus 90 seconds). Embrace of Fire heavily pushes Fire Assault Dominators towards the Fire Mastery pool, where Rain of Fire and Fireball benefit from the huge bonus damage. Of the primary powersets, only Fire Control itself deals fire damage. 

 

Fire Imps or other pets do not benefit from Embrace of Fire.

 

 

 

 

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DRAIN PSYCHE - Psi

PBAoE, 10ft radius

 

+100% Regen rate per enemy hit (to self) for 30 seconds

+100% Recovery rate per enemy hit (to self) for 30 seconds

-500% Regen to each enemy hit for 30 seconds

-500% Recovery to each enemy hit for 30 seconds

 

This power is identical to the power available  in Blaster Psi Manipulation. It is widely considered one of the best powers available in a Dominator secondary. Most players slot it for Healing in order to increase their Regen rate to the highest possible (even without slotting its often easy to hit the hard cap on Recovery). The -Regen in this power is highly valued for taking out AVs and Giant Monsters. The fact that is PBAoE can cause some minor conficts with some builds, particularly builds that make heavy use of cone powers (although it is still manageable). The power does require, however, that the player get up very close in monster's faces on a regular basis.
 

 

 

 

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ENVENOMED BLADES - Martial

+12% ToHit (40 seconds)

Adds Toxic damage to all attacks 

 

 

Envenomed Blades is an interesting and often overlooked power. It is unique to Martial Dominators, not appearing in any other AT's primary or secondary set nor any tertiary pool.

 

For one thing, it adds +12% ToHit to that lasts 40 seconds, far longer than similar powers like Build Up. This will assist not just with damage, but with landing any of the various control powers, including the notoriously inaccurate 240 second recharge AoE holds available in most Dominator primaries.

 

Beyond that, the bonus damage provided by this power is provided as a temporary power that lasts 40 seconds. The damage works as a proc similar to those available in Incarnate powers that add proc damage.

 

 

 

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TRICK SHOT - Martial

Ranged Blast

Summon entity: trick shot

 

Trick Shot is a unique power for Martial Assault. In most ways it is identical to the Electric Control power Jolting Chain, except it maxes out of targets quickly. A nice thing about this power, compared to the AoEs available to many other Dominator sets, is that the power can work effectively at PBAoE range or from afar.

 

Trick Shot is one of the small list of powers that has an AoE effect but takes single target invention sets. Also, because of its unique chain component, procs placed in Trick Shot have a higher chance to fire than normal procs. These two facts combine to make this a top performing power in the right hands.

 

 

 

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CALTROPS / THORNTROPS - Martial, Thorny

AoE damage patch and slow

Mag 50 fear

 

 

This is the standard Caltrops power from the Traps set available to Defenders/Controllers/Corruptors/Masterminds. Nothing much can be added here, except that since most Dominator primaries feature Immobilizes, the utility of an AoE slow patch is somewhat diminished. It is, however, autohit. Enemies who are not immobilized will try to run out of the patch due to the Mag 50 fear effect. Mind Control Dominators are likely to find these powers very attractive, although the minor damage the powers deal interrupt Sleep.

 

Be aware these powers have very short range (25ft). On the plus side, they have 45 second duration and recharge in 45 seconds, making them perma from get-go.

 

 

 

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BLOOD CRAZE- Savage

Self Heal (35%)

 

Blood Craze is a self heal, no more, no less. It is functionally identical to the Healing Flames power in the Fire Armor set, although it heals more than that power and has a much longer recharge (40s for a 25% heal versus 180 seconds for a 35% heal). Healing amounts are fairly impressive (base 35% heal; with two heal IOs you heal 64.18% of your heal bar.) Unlike heals available in other Dominator secondaries, it is 100% reliable, requiring no enemy to target (Dark) or enemies nearby (Psi). The long recharge keeps Savage from being as sustainable as those sets.

 

Despite the name, this is the only power in Savage Assault that has no interaction at all with the Blood Frenzy mechanic. It neither builds stacks nor Consumes them and thus is a quiet island of reliability in an otherwise very busy set.

 

 

 

 

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FERAL CHARGE- Savage

Ranged AoE blast + Teleport

 

Feral Charge is unique to Savage Dominators. It is derived from the Savage Melee power Savage Leap, which has very similar mechanics. This power requires an enemy to target within 70ft. When you cast it, your character instantly teleports in front of the target and launches a PBAoE with a 15ft radius. Because of the fast recharge (10seconds, which is brought down to 5 with simpe slotting and around 2 or 3 on an optimized build) make Savage Assault the most mobile secondary available to Dominators. Note that because you need an enemy to target, it is not quite as mobile as a teleport. 

 

The teleport portion of the attack happens instantly, prior to the attack animation. The attack itself is fast (1.32 seconds) but does give enemies an opportunity to strike before your next move. This mainly comes into play when Savage is combined with Dark Control; Terrorized enemies may wake up and swing at you if you Fearsome Stare > Feral Charge > Heart of Darkness.

 

Note that you can use this power while flying/hovering. You will teleport just in front of the targeted enemy, still flying or hovering. This can be exploited to make a hover-dom who quickly covers distance, particularly for primary sets like Fire, Ice, Electric, or Dark that benefit from closing distance quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

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CALL HAWK- Savage

Ranged single target blast, -Fly

 

Although Call Hawk is functionally identical to a ranged blast, its worth bringing up because some players assume it is an actual summon. It isn't; it's a ranged blast where the projectile happens to look like a bird. It does have some unusual characteristics for a blast power, however. It recharges in 6 seconds (T2 recharge time) but deals 120 damage. (T3 damage).  

 

 

 

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CONSUME- Fiery

PBAoE +Endurance (self)

 

This power is taken directly from the Blaster secondary power Consume. It adds to your Endurance bar based on the number of enemies nearby. It also provides 50% resistance to endurance drain effects for 120 seconds (nice!) making this a very attractive power for any build, but especially for any player planning to get up close and personal with Carnival or Malta enemies, who are notorious for their endurance drains. The reasonable recharge on this power (180 seconds) combined with the full bar of endurance perma-dom provides means any Fiery Assault Dominator is likely to be able to safely never run out of endurance, which may enable some otherwise gonzo builds with lots of toggles to function flawlessly.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by oedipus_tex

[Frosticus]

there is also:

radiation siphon - melee attack that heals. The heal is increased when the target is contaminated. It will strip the contaminated effect when used. 

[Coyote]

1 hour ago, Frosticus said:

there is also:

radiation siphon - melee attack that heals. The heal is increased when the target is contaminated. It will strip the contaminated effect when used. 

 

Actually, Radiation Siphon ONLY heals when it hits a Contaminated target (stripping the effect). It does heal twice as much as Life Drain, in return for being only conditionally usable.

[Mezmera]

36 minutes ago, Coyote said:

 

Actually, Radiation Siphon ONLY heals when it hits a Contaminated target (stripping the effect). It does heal twice as much as Life Drain, in return for being only conditionally usable.

I have both a /Rad and /Dark dom.  I find this stipulation about healing only off of contaminated targets so much less reliable than Life Drain.  Radiation's healing is only good in that when you're going through your chain of attacks it's "oh hey I healed" but when you NEED to heal you pretty much need to pause your chain to make sure to contaminate a target then heal off of them.  

 

Life Drain > Radiation Siphon

Edited November 17, 2019 by Mezmera

[Frosticus]

37 minutes ago, Coyote said:

 

Actually, Radiation Siphon ONLY heals when it hits a Contaminated target (stripping the effect). It does heal twice as much as Life Drain, in return for being only conditionally usable.

Correct. I was thinking of the water blast heal dehydrate.

[mbre2006]

Great write up I am on board with this. 

[oedipus_tex]

I went back and added some videos for some of the powers. I'll do more as there is time. A few of the powers are pretty hard to demonstrate because they tweak other mechanics other than the power itself, but hopefully I can demo the basic effect of Power Up and some of others using the in-game stat tracking systems.

[Frosticus]

took me awhile to realize it as I run tactics, but

 

savage - spot prey: I don't think it is granting +perception

[Gorgar]

This is great.  Makes it easy to find powers that would make me want one set over another.  Thanks for writing this up.

[Luigrein]

The numbers may have been tweaked for the dominator version, but mud pots is also available in stone melee for ATs that get it. I know back on live it was the damage aura for my tank.

[Display Name]

On 11/16/2019 at 4:46 PM, oedipus_tex said:

DRAIN PSYCHE - Psi

PBAoE, 10ft radius

 

The fact that is PBAoE can cause some minor conficts with some builds, particularly builds that make heavy use of cone powers (although it is still manageable). The power does require, however, that the player get up very close in monster's faces on a regular basis.

Can you explain what you mean by this, please?  Thank you!

[Coyote]

1 hour ago, Display Name said:

Can you explain what you mean by this, please?  Thank you!

 

Drain Psyche is a PBAoE (Point Blank Area of Effect) power. It needs the character to be in the middle of a lot of mobs to get a good benefit.

Primaries that use cone controls, like to back away from the mobs so that the cone's width is larger at the distance of the mobs, and you hit more mobs with the cones.

 

So you have a nice power that works better when you're in the middle of mobs, and you have cone powers that work better if you back up. It's possible to use both with fast movement (and use of Combat Jumping), but it's easier to play a character with Drain Psyche if that character's controls are also PBAoE or AoE (since you can always target an AoE at short range and have it function a lot like a PBAoE power). Basically, the less movement that you are forced to do in order to make your powers work better, the less time you spend repositioning and the more time controlling and attacking.

[Display Name]

Oh!  You mean having the powers on the same toon!  Lol!  I'm sorry!  I thought you mean two players trying to use their respective power at the same time!?

[Tater Todd]

I think Caltrops should be up there with one of the most underrated powers in the game honestly.  Nothing like locking a mob down and stacking Caltrops.  Watch the mobs melt.  Especially if your Caltrops is loaded with damage procs.

[oedipus_tex]

Hi all, I've updated these descriptions again. Please continue to chime in with corrections or comments.