New to Control ATs - Advice needed

[Argent Aegis]

33 minutes ago, Coyote said:

No one is offering pie? Just cake, donuts, and cannoli?

 

Earth Assault is pie.  Very good but sits heavy after eating a three or four pieces slowing you down as you try get the energy to take another delicious bite.

[Coyote]

20 minutes ago, Argent Aegis said:

Earth Assault is pie.  Very good but sits heavy after eating a three or four pieces slowing you down as you try get the energy to take another delicious bite.

 

So... it's Mud Pie, then? Got it. I suppose it's hot Mud Pie once you get Mudpots 😉

[kiramon]

2 hours ago, Coyote said:

 

Savage is by far the most fun Assault set I've played.

 

Stopped reading there.  all you need to know

[Argent Aegis]

28 minutes ago, kiramon said:

Stopped reading there.  all you need to know

Nods head with mouth stuffed with Savage cake and giving a thumbs up with one hand while hiding the half full delicious Psi donut plate behind back with the other.

Edited August 12, 2020 by Argent Aegis
Fix

[Marshal_General]

I want /sigh assault so I can do drama damage to people.

[oedipus_tex]

I'm not sure I'd classify Psi as a defensive option, because Drain Psyche is very up close and personal. I'd classify it as a very aggressive option because it lets you (mostly) take your eyes off your health bar and concentrate on controls and attacks. You don't have to worry that your huge 30ft AoE immobilize is drawing aggro, or that you missed an enemy at the edge of the group with your controls. It feels very... Dominator-y. Like a superhero or villain unleashing absolute hell on the battlefield and shrugging off enemy counterfire.

 

In my mind that's what separates Drain Psyche from other heals. After you've committed the animation time at the start of the power, the power will continually top off your health bar. Note it IS still possible to die if you take a big burst of damage from a boss, so you can't totally ignore the battle field. But against pot shots that sneak past your Defense you avoid "chip damage" and that translates to the ability to confront enemies very directly, since all of your animation time can be devoted to that. That's why it feels so different from say, Dark Assault's heal, which you have to invest animation time in with every cast.

[Argent Aegis]

2 hours ago, Marshal_General said:

I want /sigh assault so I can do drama damage to people.

FORUM CRIT - your Sigh Assault hits Donuts and Cake for 100 points of drama damage!!

                          Donuts and Cake are defeated!!

 

Sadly looks down at splattered cake and donuts.

I concede....

 

Runs back to the nether regions of the beta server carrying a soft capped cannoli. 

[kiramon]

3 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

I'm not sure I'd classify Psi as a defensive option, because Drain Psyche is very up close and personal. I'd classify it as a very aggressive option because it lets you (mostly) take your eyes off your health bar and concentrate on controls and attacks. You don't have to worry that your huge 30ft AoE immobilize is drawing aggro, or that you missed an enemy at the edge of the group with your controls. It feels very... Dominator-y. Like a superhero or villain unleashing absolute hell on the battlefield and shrugging off enemy counterfire.

 

In my mind that's what separates Drain Psyche from other heals. After you've committed the animation time at the start of the power, the power will continually top off your health bar. Note it IS still possible to die if you take a big burst of damage from a boss, so you can't totally ignore the battle field. But against pot shots that sneak past your Defense you avoid "chip damage" and that translates to the ability to confront enemies very directly, since all of your animation time can be devoted to that. That's why it feels so different from say, Dark Assault's heal, which you have to invest animation time in with every cast.

 

Psi damage sucks. >:O There. I said it.

 

[Argent Aegis]

1 hour ago, kiramon said:

 

Psi damage sucks. >:O There. I said it.

 

This is like watching parents fight.

 

Next thing I know, I'll be in Mercy bumming smokes from the VEATs.

[kiramon]

3 minutes ago, Argent Aegis said:

This is like watching parents fight.

 

Next thing I know, I'll be in Mercy bumming smokes from the VEATs.

Now there's a Psi-character that can do some damage.

[Argent Aegis]

[oedipus_tex]

Psi damage does suck a bit, yes. Savage does better there both in raw numbers and in access. Savage Leap is a great power largely on behalf of the teleport in its attack.

 

Sadly this is a bit of a theme for Domination sets. I was deflated the day I looked at the Dominator APPs and realized the bulk of my AoE damage for most Dominator builds comes from ranged APP powers that are identical on Scrappers. Then I looked at armors and realized even Trick Arrow and Empathy Controllers have an easier time building for Defense and Resistance than my supposed-to-be-in-melee Dominators. 

 

The low Defense and Resist, while it may not seem relevant at first, is a big set back because it means making deep cuts on damage procs. On top of that you're trying to hit "magic numbers" on your Recharge to stay a perma dom. It just feels to me like this archetype is pulled in too many directions and even after building out, most combos don't result in anything spectacular. 

 

IMO Psi and Savage are on the better end of an archetype that to me needs a close look by the developers. Some of the other sets out there, like Electric Assault... I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with that, being Mr No Armor at Melee with Long Animations. At least with the other two sets I can feel kinda what this archetype is meant to be though.

[Coyote]

1 hour ago, kiramon said:

Psi damage sucks. >:O There. I said it.

 

It does. I run Fire/Psi because Fire helps with Psi's low damage, and Psi helps with Fire's mediocre control. But if you paired Psi with a primary that didn't help much with damage, well... it would be one of the safer combos, but pretty low damage.

 

Also

7 minutes ago, oedipus_tex said:

I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with that, being Mr No Armor at Melee with Long Animations.

 

Well, if "supposed to do" is the original design, at the difficulty levels that we could use then, and much rarer to see full IO builds.... Dominators didn't face so many mobs at one time if soloing. So you were supposed to mez, and go in and smash mezzed faces, not actually melee against active opponents. And teams should have some protection for you. It's now with the game overall being easier that the mob difficulty is generally tuned up much higher, and you're expected to be able to face a lot more splash damage because all of the IOs boosted passive survivability a lot (but Doms really don't have enough to depend on that), but IOs didn't really boost control all that much.

 

With SOs or basic IOs, compared against other ATs, I think Doms are fine. Yes, even without perma-dom. Because in those builds, you have the difficulty rating lower, which means that your controls last longer and your single-target controls have more of an effect, so you can actually control the battlefield and go in and smash mezzed face. It's when you're soloing at difficulties that demand IO sets, or on teams that are at that difficulty level and rushing from fight to fight so you don't have time to lay down controls, where the lack of base defenses to stack with the IOs starts to hurt you. But there is a lot of gaming outside of that style.

 

Also, you can build perma-Doms with capped Ranged/AoE defenses... I haven't tried, but I'd expect that you could do it with Ranged/Melee, also. That seems... reasonably tough to me, especially when backed up by Mind Over Body + Tough + Barrier (because you don't need Clarion) for resists. It's been good enough to handle AVs, GMs, and the DA Incarnate arc at +3/x8. So they are a little challenged at the top end, but I don't feel that they're overwhelmingly challenged. Not like MMs, who I feel in general just shouldn't bother playing at +4, or else not bothering with the Tier 1s.