Plant/FireAs Suggestions

[Wild Claw]

Hi all,

 

I recently rerolled a character into a Plant/FireAs Dominator (base concept: A living, burning tree.) and I'm slow-leveling him as I get used to the way Dominators work, having never played one before.

 

So, to the experts: Are there any pitfalls I need to be aware of during leveling? Things that will become critical that aren't immediately obvious, or things that new Dominators need to know?

 

Also, going through Mids, it's really easy to emphasize the Fire side of the character build, with the Fire Epic and the like, but I'm not finding obvious ways to emphasize the Plant/Nature side of things. I'm not worried about min/maxing, as building the 'best' character isn't really a thing in CoX. Any suggestions?

[oedipus_tex]

Here's a generic Plant Control build for you to look at. It's for a Controller but Doms shoulld be similar.

 

Basically, think procs.

 

You'll want to try to get around 90 global recharge so you can go perma Dom.

 

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

GENERIC CONTROLLER ELECTRIC CONTROL: Level 49 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Plant Control
Secondary Power Set: Force Field

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Strangler -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(3), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(3), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(5), UnbCns-Dam%(21), NrnSht-Dam%(21)
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Roots -- PstBls-Dam%(A), TraoftheH-Dam%(5), SprOvrPrs-Rchg/Energy Font(17), Rgn-Dmg(19), Dtn-Acc/Dmg(19)
Level 4: [Empty] 
Level 6: [Empty] -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Seeds of Confusion -- CrcPrs-Conf(A), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(11), CrcPrs-Conf%(13), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(13), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(15), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(15)
Level 10: [Empty] 
Level 12: Spirit Tree -- Heal-I(A)
Level 14: [Empty] 
Level 16: [Empty] 
Level 18: Vines -- SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(A), SprWiloft-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(23), SprWiloft-EndRdx/Rchg(23), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(25), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(25), SprWiloft-Rchg/Dmg%(31)
Level 20: [Empty] 
Level 22: [Empty] 
Level 24: [Empty] 
Level 26: Carrion Creepers -- PstBls-Dam%(A), TraoftheH-Dam%(27), ImpSwf-Dam%(27), ExpStr-Dam%(29), RechRdx-I(29), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(31)
Level 28: [Empty] 
Level 30: [Empty] 
Level 32: Fly Trap -- ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(33), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(33), SlbAll-Build%(34), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(34)
Level 35: [Empty] 
Level 38: [Empty] 
Level 41: [Empty] 
Level 44: [Empty] 
Level 47: [Empty] 
Level 49: [Empty] 
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment 
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- Empty(A)
------------
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 11% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 11% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 11% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 11% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 11% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 11% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 11% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 11% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 7.5% Defense(Energy)
• 7.5% Defense(Negative)
• 11.25% Defense(Ranged)
• 4% Enhancement(Stunned)
• 15% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 4% Enhancement(Held)
• 4.4% Enhancement(Terrorized)
• 8% Enhancement(Confused)
• 33.75% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 8% Enhancement(Immobilized)
• 8% Enhancement(Sleep)
• MezResist(Confused) 2.5%
• MezResist(Held) 2.5%
• MezResist(Immobilized) 2.5%
• MezResist(Sleep) 2.5%
• MezResist(Stunned) 2.5%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 2.5%
• 6% (0.1 End/sec) Recovery
• 1.5% Resistance(Energy)
• 1.5% Resistance(Negative)
  

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build |
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[Machariel]

I think damage procs are not really necessary in strangler and roots for dominators. When leveling you definitely want recharge slotted in it which is kind of a nombo with procs and once you're at high level and tricked out you won't be using your ST hold nearly as often (it's still a core power but mostly to keep bosses locked down after you've mopped up all of their buddies).   In any case Flares does more DPA than strangler even with 2 damage procs in it.  Ditto Roots, as an AoE immobilize its generally not something you'll be spamming on cooldown.  For my money I just 4 slot basilisk's gaze in strangler and vines and call it a day.   

 

Carrion Creepers should definitely be stuffed with damage procs as much as possible although again when leveling up the old fashioned way you probably want to slot it for recharge first, and then procs.  As you get more set bonuses and global rech you can swap some (in fact nearly all) of the recharge enhancements with more damage procs.

 

I don't see any additional way to emphasize the 'nature' element.  You could go /ice I guess (plants need rain?) and /ice is extremely strong (hello sleet).  maybe leviathan mastery would be up your alley as well?

 

General things to keep in mind:

1) Plant Control has 5 powers that can be argued to be "skippable": Entangle (ST immob), spore burst (AoE sleep), Spirit Tree (+regen beacon), Vines (AoE hold), and fly trap (pet), in roughly that order from most skippable to least skippable. 

2) Seeds of Confusion is a strong contender for "best power in the game."  Carrion Creepers is up there too.

3) Note that your 3-4 best attacks (Blazing Bolt, Blaze, and Fire Ball / Rain of Fire if you go fire mastery) all become available between levels 35 and 38.  Fire Breath is a pretty bad attack but it's one of your only AoEs for quite a while. 

4) Dominators are late bloomers in every sense of the word. 

5) Anything with plant control and permadom will wind up being a very strong character, so it's hard to go too too wrong 🙂

[Coyote]

7 hours ago, Machariel said:

I think damage procs are not really necessary in strangler and roots for dominators.

 

I think it depends on the secondary. Proc-slotted Strangler does a LOT of damage, and some sets don't have that much ranged damage. For Fire Assault, I definitely agree... it has some of the best ranged attacks. But for Energy Assault, for example, I'd rather use FF: Recharge procs in a couple of Energy blasts to get the Recharge, and slot up Strangler as damage since the blasts are not very good. On my Plant/Savage I definitely slotted it for damage, since otherwise it's Insect Swarm and then nothing for ranged single-target until Call Hawk at 35. It also matters how much time you plan to spend in melee. Some Doms may not have a good set of ranged attacks... and not care because they're planning to be in PBAoE range all the time, like Plant/Martial or Plant/Earth.

[Machariel]

For reference I looked into the numbers - Strangler with 6 damage procs (including 2 purple procs) is 187 dpa which is indeed quite good, although, pretty much any power hits like a truck if you stuff it full of damage procs.  Note that it only does that at level 50+ since it requires the purple procs to do so.  With the 4 procs you can slot into it on the way up to 50 (since the OP is slow-leveling the character) (gladiator's javelin, neuronic shutdown, ghost widow's embrace, gladiator's net) it does 110 dpa which also isn't bad.   From what I remember leveling dominators you really want to slot for accuracy/recharge/duration, and not slotting for hold duration will make it harder to hold bosses that have some mez protection since it will be more difficult to stack holds. 

 

As some numbers to compare, flares is about 90 DPA and fire blast is about 175 dpa (with both powers enhanced for 100% damage).  So overall... it depends 😂 i can see good arguments either way and as you say it depends on what sets you have and your playstyle.

[Coyote]

No, no, I did NOT mean to make any kind of suggestion that a xxx/FIRE should be slotting up Strangler for damage. The Fire attacks are just so good that it's not worth it. It's the sets with ranged attacks that activate more slowly like Energy, or that don't even have many for a while, like Savage, where it's a real consideration. My Plant/Savage definitely got a lot of use from it, but my Mind/Fire wouldn't slot up Dominate for damage, even with Confuse to use against bosses. You're right, not slotting for Hold duration (and a bit of Accuracy and Recharge) is going to be a major trade-off, and should be done only if you're gaining a lot in DPS.

Edited January 29, 2020 by Coyote