Signature Vampire Mind Dark Soul assistance request

[Snarky]

I have taken a couple months break and now want to wander back in.  My thoughts wander to creating the "perfect" vampire and, right now, I see that as a Mind/Dark Dominator.

 

I have played Dominators occasionally over the years but am no master at running them.  or building them.  

 

Any assistance would be appreciated.  I will be taking no melee attacks but will have the PBAoEs, especially since Dark and Soul get a nice toolkit out of that niche.

 

I am arguing with MiDs right now.   I am truly unfamiliar with Mind.  Any suggestions about powers there and how to slot them would be a great help. 

 

Thanks.

[Captain Fabulous]

Dominators don't shine until you have permadom, so make +recharge your #1 priority. Not sure I agree with not taking the melee attacks, they are by far your hardest hitting attacks. And since so many of the powers in Dark and Soul are PbAoE and you have to be in melee range anyway.

IMO Mass Hypnosis is a waste and easily skippable. Telekinesis is a bit of an oddball power that takes a lot of practice to use well and not piss off the team (think Hurricane). But once you get the hang of it it's amazing. 

As a Dom you can skip the single target Confuse and Mesmerize (tho the latter is fine to take for the flavor of being a mind-controlling vampire).

Terrify is a another iffy power for a Dom. You have other powers that deal damage and fear is of questionable value if you have a ton of AoE attacks.

Even if you wouldn't normally slot Life Drain for healing on other ATs, do it here, as it's the only damage recovery power in your kit.

Just my 2 INF.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Captain Fabulous

[Wimbochismo]

I theorycrafted a Cthulhu Mind/Dark/Leviathan build a while back but the character never really took off. I know our build styles are very different but I can give advice on what the combo provides.

 

For Mind/ :

• The main thing is adding recharge to Mass Confusion. The cooldown on it is a pain.
• Terrify is good soft cc, and you really don't get a ton of on-demand cc in Mind. It's one of the more proccable cones to boost aoe dmg. Wider arc than Night Fall.
• Sleeps are auto-hit and I've heard they de-toggle (or maybe now suppress) an AV's toggles. You're stuck picking 2/4 powers from the Tier 1 and 2 attacks, so 1 slotted Mesmerize might not be bad.
• Mass Hypnosis, Total Domination, Telekinesis, Levitate, Confuse could be useful but skippable. Can choose among them for set mules too.

For /Dark :

• Has -tohit which helps if you go lower defense.
• Midnight Grasp I hear bad things about. Some other powers are comparable dmg or just animate faster.
• Night Fall and Engulfing Darkness can be procced for more aoe dmg. I have a preference for Engulfing, Night Fall has a tighter cone.
• Life Drain slotted for accuracy/healing and maybe procs if you want.

I'll attach my Mind/Dark/Leviathan build. It's pretty much perma Dom. Ranged defense softcap. Low resists. The aoe dmg isn't great because the lack of procs. Haven't reached 50 on it so it isn't tested. But it should give you a visual of the kinds of powers to pick and directions you can take.

Mindark Complete.mbd

[Snarky]

here are my ideas so far.  

 

 

Snarky - Dominator (Mind Control - Dark Assault).mbd

[honoroit]

potentially consider symphony, its a mind mk2 in several ways and a vampire bat shrieks etc.

 

Telekinesis pulses mag 6 under dom, its a base for mag stacking that is particularly effective on harder targets, it only picks up 5 mobs, but is good.

 

mass hypnosis is extremely quick. it is inferior to elec controls patch, or symphonys cone (because that does a -dmg component, and reverberant can double up your cone)

 

i used to enjoy mind a lot, still do, but symphony has eclipsed it for me.

 

if you want heart of darkness, combat teleport can get you in and out of groups for pbaoe quickly.

 

/bind ` powexec_location target combat teleport

 

/bind shift+` powexec_location 180:50 combat teleport (warp back 50ft)

 

midnight grasp and smite are quick 2 hit combo at melee. 

 

heart of darkness doesnt do enough damage.

 

nightfall is thin cone, but long.  it works particularly well with eanging on terrorize, or nearly all of symphony primary.

 

^ build for eldrich figs (symphony / dark assault dom) 1st deaft quality, ive refined a few things as i level. 

 

for a vampire, vs mind, id strongly consider symphony.

Edited August 13, 2023 by honoroit

[Captain Fabulous]

49 minutes ago, Snarky said:

here are my ideas so far.  

 

 

Snarky - Dominator (Mind Control - Dark Assault).mbd 42.97 kB · 1 download

Only 2 things that stand out to me, I would put the Panacea set in Life Drain for more healing and more +recharge (move the slot from Health into Life Drain and add an accy IO), and Winter's Gift in Fly for the slow resistance. Domination gives you a decent amount of mez protection including knock. Slows can cause issues with keeping Domination perma.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Here's a possible build. It will be quite mechanically effective and perhaps it fits with your preferences. 

Good luck with your character, however you decide to move forward.

 

Edit: Sorry, forgot to toggle off the gather shadows and force of will. Having those toggled off gives you a better picture of default defenses. Pair this build with barrier destiny and melee core hybrid, plus cast gather shadows before using force of will when barrier is in its "lower defenses" cycle if you'd like your vampire dom to come closer to having the toughness of vampires you tend to see in movies and TV shows. 

 

 

Dominator (Mind Control - Dark Assault - Soul Mastery).mbd

Edited August 13, 2023 by EnjoyTheJourney

[Onlyasandwich]

@Snarky The build you posted is very strong indeed in recharge!

 

From a higher perspective, I would say you have probably sacrificed too much in going a bit overboard on recharge beyond what is needed for perma dom. By dialing this back a bit, you could proc out more powers for massively more damage (Terrify, Engulfing, and Dark Oblit are big ones), pursue beefier resists, or get close to a meaningful softcap.

 

Personally I like to avoid softcap on my doms, as part of the fun for me is surviving on the strength of my controls. It looks like you have a similar approach, and it's quite viable! You will have to be pretty aggressive with your controls. Fortunately Mind has some extra tools for this, with a full 4 aoe controls, and a mini aoe in TK. Mass Hyp is better than many give it credit for I think, being on a low cooldown, non-notify, with quick application.

 

Are all of the power picks here locked in for theme, or are you flexible? Levitate is pretty redundant on a Dom. Mesmerize has some decent utility for AVs, and is a good power for exemping.

 

Otherwise, I think your power choice here is pretty solid if you are truly wanting to stay ranged. Part of the glory of a dom to me is not really caring about range, as the enemies are locked down anyway. If this is a stylistic choice, I definitely understand. If not, Smite is one of the best DPA powers out there, and Midnight Grasp is no slouch properly slotted either. You'll be pretty solid either way.

 

One point I would consider is something @honoroit mentioned. I have found Combat Teleport to be a wonderful addition to my doms who are mixing cones with pbaoes. Using a simple tp to target, then tp back a distance bind makes this smooth as can be. The easiest drop for this would be Dark Consumption, which isn't up nearly enough to be a meaningful part of your end strategy. It's not useless of course, but it would be my target.

 

 

 

 

[Snarky]

13 minutes ago, Onlyasandwich said:

@Snarky The build you posted is very strong indeed in recharge!

 

From a higher perspective, I would say you have probably sacrificed too much in going a bit overboard on recharge beyond what is needed for perma dom. By dialing this back a bit, you could proc out more powers for massively more damage (Terrify, Engulfing, and Dark Oblit are big ones), pursue beefier resists, or get close to a meaningful softcap.

 

Personally I like to avoid softcap on my doms, as part of the fun for me is surviving on the strength of my controls. It looks like you have a similar approach, and it's quite viable! You will have to be pretty aggressive with your controls. Fortunately Mind has some extra tools for this, with a full 4 aoe controls, and a mini aoe in TK. Mass Hyp is better than many give it credit for I think, being on a low cooldown, non-notify, with quick application.

 

Are all of the power picks here locked in for theme, or are you flexible? Levitate is pretty redundant on a Dom. Mesmerize has some decent utility for AVs, and is a good power for exemping.

 

Otherwise, I think your power choice here is pretty solid if you are truly wanting to stay ranged. Part of the glory of a dom to me is not really caring about range, as the enemies are locked down anyway. If this is a stylistic choice, I definitely understand. If not, Smite is one of the best DPA powers out there, and Midnight Grasp is no slouch properly slotted either. You'll be pretty solid either way.

 

One point I would consider is something @honoroit mentioned. I have found Combat Teleport to be a wonderful addition to my doms who are mixing cones with pbaoes. Using a simple tp to target, then tp back a distance bind makes this smooth as can be. The easiest drop for this would be Dark Consumption, which isn't up nearly enough to be a meaningful part of your end strategy. It's not useless of course, but it would be my target.

 

 

 

 

The big powers and AoEs I am in love with.  Dropping levitate is okay. I have not run it yet so I dont know what my ST burn chain is.  (I never calculate these, I learn them by play).  I will be surviving based on two-three things.  Situational awareness, I do not draw agro first.  Unless no other choice and dropping a big AoE control.  I let the Tank/team make friends and back their play.  I put a knockdown in the dark cone that is up every 8? Seconds.  It is narrow but i know dark cones well.  A lot of soft controls.  I am not a premier damage dealer, not on this.  I screw with everyone for my enjoyment and ST things the team is struggling with.  When the combat comes to me i mez use PBAoE powers and then get 40-50 out of the way and cone/control   My plan anyway 

[honoroit]

ya, ahould have said. no levitate. 

 

mesmerize is higher mag sleep (4 -> 8), and longer range.

 

levitate is on a delay, its annoying.

mass hypnosis doesnt notify.

[Wimbochismo]

4 hours ago, Snarky said:

here are my ideas so far.  

 

 

Snarky - Dominator (Mind Control - Dark Assault).mbd 42.97 kB · 7 downloads

 

It's looking pretty good for what you intend it for!

 

I forgot to mention, it sucks Gather Shadow's can't take the Gaussian proc. Not sure if it's worth it, but could move a slot from Gather to Soul Drain which takes it.

[Onlyasandwich]

Just for fun, I knocked together how I would approach the combo while keeping the same thematic powers.

 

expensive snark.mbd

 

Perma-dom is still online, and the lower recharge here doesn't meaningfully affect your rotations. However, your build does achieve perma-dom even without hasten, while mine relies on hasten. 

 

What you gain:

• Immensely more damage in most powers, including one of your staple controls (Terrify). Since much of this relies on procs, you also have more room to benefit from +damage before hitting the cap when on teams or laying down a juicy Soul Drain.
• 80% slow resistance. This will keep errant slows from disrupting your dom cycle, and is just nice to have overall.
• A very meaningful bump in all resists.
• Although recovery is lower, end consumption is less as well. With the domination injections, you'll be solid on end for either build except when running TK.
• A few sort of handy powers. Evasive is nice QoL for travel and sometimes nice in combat. Grant invis is admittedly purely a mule, though you could pop it on mates when you feel like it.

 

What you lose:

• Influence! It's a pretty expensive build with Winter sets and HOs. The HOs could be swapped for set IOs in most instances with minimal impact.
• The ease of perma-dom without hasten. Personally I set dom to auto and pop Hasten manually. There's still a little fudge room for this so you don't have to be right on it.
• Perception resist and confusion protection from Tactics.
• No more Dark Consumption. It's a nice topper here and there, but very marginal given the long recharge, even with such high global recharge.
• Hold duration on Dominate. However, you'll want to weave it in more often than a low damage dominate, as it is a really efficient killer now. The +Dam ATO proc is slotted here, and you will routinely be stacking it 2-3 times in ST scenarios. 

 

Note that for valid damage comparison, make sure to toggle any buffs on/off equally (gather shadows, soul drain, the power with ATO +dam proc). Your build does have Decimation build-up proc toggled on, which affects totals. However, it's at the minimum proc chance, so not likely to influence actual play very often.

 

If you're really focused on perma-dom without relying on Hasten, that's fair enough as well! I think your build serves that goal well, and it is thoughtfully crafted. Perhaps you might find some of the slotting decisions here helpful.

 

In that case, I would mostly focus on swapping out Levitate, perhaps for Combat Teleport or something else fun. If you do pick up CT, I rather like putting the Gaussian proc in it. It goes off more than you might expect, and the buff will almost always be happening right when you are unleashing damage, requiring no action beyond what you were doing anyhow.

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by Onlyasandwich

[Snarky]

Schedule has been very busy but this is the toon i am still working on. Really liking it

 

Now at low 30s. I farmed up to 18 or so and did DFB for badges. Then a posi 1 + 2, a Synapse and a Tarikoss.  
 

Even with mostly SOs and no perma Dom this thing is very satisfying.  Great assistance to teams being overwhelmed by Longbow or whatnot.  Then a steady chain of ranged ST.  I like the narrow cone on Dark, this allows me to miss those I have slept!   The PBAoE is a 15 radius and actually respectable.  
 

Most importantly this really looks like a vampire standing around screwing with people!

[KMadeleine]

On 8/14/2023 at 2:06 AM, Onlyasandwich said:

In that case, I would mostly focus on swapping out Levitate, perhaps for Combat Teleport or something else fun. If you do pick up CT, I rather like putting the Gaussian proc in it. It goes off more than you might expect, and the buff will almost always be happening right when you are unleashing damage, requiring no action beyond what you were doing anyhow.

Oh I like this idea!  Thanks!