First time Dom, Trying a GRAV/ELEC/MU Build. Help and Insight for a Noob?

[Meta-Television]

New Dom player, really want to try a grav/elec/mu build, but i have no idea what i'm doing and what to focus on or slot.

I've been a smash stuff ape for most of my CoX career, but that sweet Dominate power is calling to me.

I CANNOT find a decent Grav/Elec build to even use as a guide anywhere, and Dominators seem a lot more finicky on slotting and enhancements than any melee character I've ever made before.

 

Advice? Resources? Basics?

 

[Nightmare Shaman]

Okay, self-described noob.  I had a grav/thorn dom during live.  I made it mostly for zone pvp, but I still went through the leveling process to get there.  Here's some basic facts for any dom:

 

1) The ultimate goal of any dominator is perma-dom.  This will require you to both take hasten and slot just about all of your IO bonuses towards recharge.  I know everyone wants a build nowadays, but it's really not that complicated.  I believe you need 123% total recharge to get it.  I just toyed around in the AE looking for cheap sets and was able to do it fairly simply.

2) Dominators are not like controllers who tend to sit back and drop debuffs and holds.  You basically want to drop either a mass hold/confuse/stun then immediately get into melee range lighting up the enemies with your pbaoe's and hard hitting melee attacks.  (This is especially true of /elec.)  Seriously, don't play a dominator like a controller.  You are there to MURDER enemies.  Your damage scaling is in the top three of all archetypes.  Pop aim and kill, kill, kill.

Specific to Grav:

1) Gravity has a fairly weak amount of group options.  You have Gravity Distortion on a 4 minute recharge and Wormhole.  Wormhole is virtually useless except for as a novelty.  At least that was my experience.  You have no soft controls like many of the other sets do to fill the gap between grav distortion.  (If you say you want to use Dimension shift, me and everyone else on Earth will metaphorically punch you in the face.  Seriously, don't ever use this on a team.)

2) If all you want to do is solo, it's fine as a set.  Especially if you don't up the difficulty of your missions.

3) Singularity has been buffed.  I encountered one in a mission and the damn thing pulls you towards it hard.  I was a tank with full mez protection and it still pulled me.  I imagine this will make it a much more powerful pet.

I say make the character, run a few teams in DFB and see how it feels to you.  Remember, you deal really strong damage.  Dom's are a very active set.  Good luck!

[Arcadio]

I very much disagree with the statement about Wormhole. For my grav it's the defining feature. Put a kb->kd in it, and it's you're every-spawn-control AND it groups them up. It's an amazing power.

[SuperPlyx]

And I very much agree with Nightmare Shaman , Wormhole is a situational power at best. If you team a lot it just will not be used much. The cast time is just to long.

Now I still have it in my build, but I rarely use it.

 

What I do use a lot if Crushing Fields and Gravity Distortion Field , these are your  AoE Immob and Hold and in my humble opinion should be well slotted since they are used so much.

 

Cast Crushing Fields and then putting Singularity right in the middle of the pack is a helluva lot of fun. It pulls them into a nice tight group to murder.

 

Edit to add, I slotted Superior Dominating Grasp: Recharge/Chance for Fiery Orb in Crushing Fields and I have had up to 4 Orbs out at once. It really shines in a AoE power. I imagine it would do well in Gravity Distortion Field as well.

 

Edited April 25, 2021 by SuperPlyx

[Arklide]

This is based on my basic set up for all my doms. Should be able to handle a lot of content and aggressive use of wormhole will benefit your limited aoe

 

This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.4.7
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Dominator
Primary Power Set: Gravity Control
Secondary Power Set: Electricity Assault
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Lift

• (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
• (3) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
• (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (7) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 1: Charged Bolts

• (A) Empty
  

Level 2: Gravity Distortion

• (A) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Control Duration
• (7) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Control Duration/Recharge
• (9) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Endurance/Recharge
• (9) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance
• (11) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/Recharge
• (11) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Recharge/Chance for +Damage
  

Level 4: Charged Brawl

• (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
• (15) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
• (15) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
• (17) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (17) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (19) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
  

Level 6: Propel

• (A) Apocalypse - Damage
• (19) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative)
• (21) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (21) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge
• (23) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance
• (23) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge
  

Level 8: Crushing Field

• (A) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize
• (25) Gravitational Anchor - Chance for Hold
• (25) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
• (27) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Recharge
• (27) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize/Endurance
  

Level 10: Havoc Punch

• (A) Hecatomb - Damage
• (29) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative)
• (29) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (31) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge
• (31) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance
  

Level 12: Super Speed

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
• (31) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
  

Level 14: Teleport Target

• (A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%)
  

Level 16: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (33) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 18: Gravity Distortion Field

• (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
• (33) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
• (33) Basilisk's Gaze - Recharge/Hold
• (34) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
  

Level 20: Zapp

• (A) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Damage
• (34) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance
• (34) Sting of the Manticore - Chance of Damage(Toxic)
• (36) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Interrupt/Recharge
• (36) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 22: Kick

• (A) Empty
  

Level 24: Tough

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/Endurance
• (36) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
• (37) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
• (37) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist
  

Level 26: Wormhole

• (A) Absolute Amazement - Stun
• (37) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge
• (39) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
• (39) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Recharge
• (39) Absolute Amazement - Endurance/Stun
• (40) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown
  

Level 28: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (40) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)
• (40) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance
• (42) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (42) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage
• (42) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
  

Level 30: Combat Teleport

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
  

Level 32: Singularity

• (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge
• (43) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
• (43) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
• (43) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (45) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
• (45) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets
  

Level 35: Thunder Strike

• (A) Multi-Strike - Accuracy/Damage
• (45) Multi-Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (46) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance
• (46) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage
• (46) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback to Knockdown
• (48) Explosive Strike - Chance for Smashing Damage
  

Level 38: Charged Armor

• (A) Titanium Coating - Resistance
• (48) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance
• (48) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 41: Ball Lightning

• (A) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown
• (50) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage
• (50) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (50) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 44: Fold Space

• (A) Accuracy IO
  

Level 47: Build Up

• (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up
  

Level 49: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  

Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Domination 

Level 1: Sprint

[oedipus_tex]

I'm already in trouble on this forum for how I worded a recent response to someone seeking a build so I will work harder to be clear this time. 🙂 The preface is that in this game you can make anything basically work. The add-on to that is there are some combos that are still not likely to be great performers and where, as someone who personally doesn't have a lot cash, I'd be reluctant to invest. That's the case here.

 

 

The nutshell version: Both Gravity Control and Electric Assault are low performers on Dominators. They can sometimes be salvaged by being paired with a particularly strong or synergistic primary or secondary. Together they offer a mish mash of effects that don't particularly compliment each other.

 

If you are determined to stick with it, you'll want to do an analysis of the DPA in the Gravity attacks vs the Electric attacks and figure out which attacks aren't worth it. The problem here is there are a lot of attacks with relatively quick recharges and low damage that are redundant and these powers are eating up good power slots you'd get with a different set. The only real positive thing I can say here is at least the high damage in Lift offsets the missing T3 blast in Electric.

 

Electric Assault's secondary effect, endurance drain, is unlikely to come into play as a factor at any time in your career. Even paired with the Mu APP it doesn't provide enough drain for it to matter.

 

Again I have not done the math down to the T on this specific combo, but you'll probably want to skip Propel. I suppose the AoE knockdown effect it has is still somewhat at lower levels, especially given how weak Gravity's actual control options are, but it has lower DPA than Lift and many other powers. I keep hoping the developers will bump Propel's Recharge time on Dominators into the 20 second range and make it a real heavy hitter but until/unless that happens it's usually not a power I find attractive on Dominators. (Controllers are another story, since Controllers don't normally get blast attacks).

Edited April 26, 2021 by oedipus_tex

[kiramon]

21 hours ago, Arcadio said:

I very much disagree with the statement about Wormhole. For my grav it's the defining feature. Put a kb->kd in it, and it's you're every-spawn-control AND it groups them up. It's an amazing power.

Don’t worry friend, I agree with you. 
 

Although it not affecting bosses is annoying at times 

[Meta-Television]

13 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

I'm already in trouble on this forum for how I worded a recent response to someone seeking a build so I will work harder to be clear this time. 🙂 The preface is that in this game you can make anything basically work. The add-on to that is there are some combos that are still not likely to be great performers and where, as someone who personally doesn't have a lot cash, I'd be reluctant to invest. That's the case here.

 

I'm from the big city, I like a blunt response, thanks.

 

Thank you to everyone for your help, after playing Grav/Elec for a bit, I just didn't meld with the playstyle, I really appreciate all your feedback and as always the CoX MMO community proves itself to consistently be one of the best communities in gaming.

 

Have fun out there.

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Atlas TV

[Mezmera]

I have a Grav dominator and I also have experience with Elec assault with the Mu patron.  For Grav take the hold, aoe hold, wormhole, pet and likely another aoe control like the immob, maybe I'm missing something but can't recall what else may be important in the control.  For elec take the BU, snipe, thunderstrike, the t1 blast and another of the better blasts, maybe the little elec ball pet its optional if you have room.  Last for Mu I take the shield, the godmode and for sure the pet and slot it up it's a pocket healer.  

 

Generally on doms I don't like to take more than 6 powers from the primary and secondary's so I leave room to build myself through the pools.  Hasten for sure, tough/weave and leadership, leaving the last pool for whatever you like.  

 

Have fun!