Magnitude Function

[Placta]

16 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

Dominators are good but not necessarily the best in show in terms of mezz stacking. It's true they get extra Magnitude from most controls in Domination mode, but the archetype is limited on the number of mezzing powers they get access to. This might seem counterintuitive, but it stems from the Assault and APPs being very light on mezz. 

 

For example, you can build an Ice Blast Defender or Corruptor who holds a boss without spending anything on IOs. Freeze Ray -> any hold from the secondary or APP will do it. In comparison, in all of their secondary and APP choices Dominators have a grand total of one Hold power, Seismic Smash. Seismic Smash is even a lower Magnitude on Dominators than it is on Controllers (its Mag 3 for Doms outside Domination, Mag 4 in, but always Mag 4 for Controllers) so the only thing Domination does is catch you up to other archetypes, not pull ahead.

 

That said, Dominators can still be quite good at mezzing. Several of them get Power Boost style powers that can help a lot with durations.

 

But all of the above is why people say Domination is so important. Most Dominators are actually pretty bad at control when they are outside Domination mode, and given they have little in the way of healing, defense, or debuff, you can see why people go all-in on permadom.

 

The single-target hold in control sets is tuned to be stackable out of the box and can triple-stack with a single Hold and Recharge SO. It might take a few seconds longer to get there, but it also only takes a single power pick. With a full build (SO) build for each, if I needed someone to lock down a single target (e.g., for a LGTF), I would take a dominator (or controller) over that defender/corruptor. (And I say this as someone whose main is a blaster with three holds.) With a permadom build, the dominator's going to leave everyone else in the dust except maybe, maybe a controller with a second hold. (Just tested: My mind/psi can hold an AV through purple triangles.)

[oedipus_tex]

9 hours ago, Placta said:

 

The single-target hold in control sets is tuned to be stackable out of the box and can triple-stack with a single Hold and Recharge SO. It might take a few seconds longer to get there, but it also only takes a single power pick. With a full build (SO) build for each, if I needed someone to lock down a single target (e.g., for a LGTF), I would take a dominator (or controller) over that defender/corruptor. (And I say this as someone whose main is a blaster with three holds.) With a permadom build, the dominator's going to leave everyone else in the dust except maybe, maybe a controller with a second hold. (Just tested: My mind/psi can hold an AV through purple triangles.)

 

 

In permadom, sure.

 

My point is that a Dominator sans IOs has lower mezz duration than a Controller and actually usually has worse ability to handle a boss level enemy than a Blaster Controller Defender or Corruptor picked for that purpose. Dominators do not have the option to stack Freeze Ray and Char or whatever other combination. Domination is a blessing but also a bit of a curse. Because Dominators have Domination, their secondary sets and APPs lack many powers that would actually benefit from it.  It's true you can re-cast the same Hold power a few seconds later, but most Dominators do not have debuff, armor or healing. You need that boss held now.

Edited June 12, 2021 by oedipus_tex

[MTeague]

7 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

 

 

In permadom, sure.

 

My point is that a Dominator sans IOs has lower mezz duration than a Controller and actually usually has worse ability to handle a boss level enemy than a Blaster Controller Defender or Corruptor picked for that purpose. Dominators do not have the option to stack Freeze Ray and Char or whatever other combination. Domination is a blessing but also a bit of a curse. Because Dominators have Domination, their secondary sets and APPs lack many powers that would actually benefit from it.  It's true you can re-cast the same Hold power a few seconds later, but most Dominators do not have debuff, armor or healing. You need that boss held now.

 

My Plant/Psi dom lived by Teleknetic Thrust for the low levels.  Single Target Hold, then TK Thrust to make them fly the not-so-friendly-skies. Second Hold held the boss helpless before he could do much.  (Minions and Lieuts got Seeds...).  

 

I know lots of people reallly Hate KB. But there's times a ragdoll power can buy you those precious seconds and save your hash. 

[Gulbasaur]

22 minutes ago, MTeague said:

I know lots of people reallly Hate KB. But there's times a ragdoll power can buy you those precious seconds and save your hash. 

I'm slow-levelling a grav/time controller solo and the knockback/knockup is absolutely worth it - it allows you to get an extra attack in while the enemy is still ragdolling in mid-air.

 

8 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

It's true you can re-cast the same Hold power a few seconds later, but most Dominators do not have debuff, armor or healing. You need that boss held now.

I'd put my controller's ability to not die down to his debuffs as much as the mezzes. -recharge is surprisingly overpowered at low-mid levels.