Looking for Insight on dominating

[Nafsmar]

Ok so most that know me know how much I enjoy the Ice powersets. *Spoiler* I love the Ice powersets particularily on a blaster 🙂. I have played my Ice/TA blaster a lot(some t4s) and want to change it up a bit. I want to try out a Dominator as I just can't get into Ice on a controller. Since Dominators  have both the controller primary and Blaster Primary I figure this is a great choice. However I know nothing about Dominators except that Domination rules. Also I see that the Icy assault has melee that I will enjoy I am sure as My blaster has none. I play my blaster exclusively at range and thus have soft cap range def. Since I will be in melee as well as staying at range I figure s/l def is better for this. How much haste is needed for Perma Domination? I plan on skipping Flash Freeze as I see it as a waste. As well as Chilling Embrace as I have Arctic air for in melee fun and Shiver to stay at range. Is the ATO sets better in certain powers like on a stalker or can they go in anywhere? Any other advice/tips for me? TY

[oedipus_tex]

I recommend passing on Ice/Ice in favor of Ice/Psi. Psi will provide you with a tool to make surviving in melee easier. The -Recharge in Psi also stacks with your -Recharge in Ice Control.

 

Ice/Psi/Ice would be my recommendation for the full 3 selections. The Ice APP will give you a Slash/Lethal armor and a second knockdown patch, Sleet. Sleet stacked on Ice Slick increases the rate of knockdowns. Very useful for a set relying on its knockdown chance.

 

IMO Ice Control is a hard road to take for a first Dominator. The set does not directly benefit from Domination mode in the ways you'd expect. Domination provides mezz protection and +3 Magnitude to some of the Dominator's controls. On Ice Control, the only AoE that benefits is Glacier, a hold power with poor accuracy that is only up every 240 seconds. Instead Ice Control mainly benefits from Arctic Air. It's a PBAoE toggle power with a chance to Fear or Confuse enemies. On a Controller its vulnerable to detoggle if you get mezzed, but Domination mode provides mezz protection. That's the main Dominator ice synergy.

 

Ice Control lacks ranged hard mezzes that most other doms have. It makes up for it in "soft control." Emphasis on soft. Ice Control glaring hole is the ability to deal with alpha strikes. 

 

If you want an easier time of it, you could try Earth Control/Icy Assault, and color the Earth powers blue. You can even select a 'crystaline' look for the powers.

Edited January 5, 2020 by oedipus_tex

[Coyote]

If you're making an Ice Dominator, make sure to build strongly for +Ranged Defense. Since you're slowing incoming damage with your knockdown and confuse abilities, rather than shutting it down with hard mezzes, you want to minimize the effects of the shots that mobs do get to take. Recharge is always important, of course, but Defense (Ranged as a priority, but S/L or Melee wouldn't hurt either) is important. My planned build for Ice/Martial has softcapped melee and ranged, and I expect it to be very effective in surviving alpha strikes for that reason. Because it doesn't matter how much +Recharge you have, if you don't have good fight-opening controls (and you don't) and therefore can't survive the first few seconds until your controls get established.

[Snarky]

I started an Ice/Ice Dom last night and this might be my “unicorn” squishy i have been searching for for years. I will be trying to Permadom it and softcap ranged defense.  What makes it different is i have evolved in my thinking. Ranged is 8 feet. Not 30 or 60. My head explodes. The fat AoE toggle and big powers aimed at screwing with enemies all around you is excellent. You can be a kung fu master dodger if everyone is moving at 1 foot a minute. Someone gets superclose. ST hold

 

so i will be puttering around with this over the next week or two and seeing if i like it in TFs. I have not 50d a Dom since back on live. Most of my squishies on Homecoming have been Blasters or Sentinels. 
 

again it is my thinking that has changed. The Ice Dom is a powerful addition to a team that does not wipe a spawn with their Alpha. Anything not completely locked down is falling over and/or doing nothing fast. That is a ton of power in one little squishy

[Nafsmar]

Thank you for the responses. I had figured I would be able to wade into a bunch of held mobs and slice them down but alas It seems as if I am playing a blaster again(minus the Nuke) due to the powersets I have chosen. I wonder if I should just forget about the melee attacks and focus on the ranged ones instead. Since I have already started a character and got to 18 I will keep going and see how it plays out.

[chadius]

If you plan to stick to purely ranged I would suggest /Psi or /Fire as your secondary. /Fire has a lot of ranged attacks and has great damage (still the highest damaging secondary?) /Psi, as stated before, has lots of slows and its level 20 power helps survivabilty dramatically. I had a level 50 Ice/Psi back on live and it was a blast.