Help focusing an Ice/Sonic/Ice build

[netphenix]

Hey folks, 

 

I could use some help here. I'm levelling an I/S/I Dom right now, and I'm getting at the point where IO sets need to be planned. I messed around on Mids, but there's SO MANY GOOD POWER PICKS in this combo I'm facing choice paralysis. So I'm coming to you for a bit of assistance.

 

First, I went for the usual Permadom, but aside from truly great S/L defense scores, I ended up with middling numbers on protections. I know Scorpion would help a bit, but I'd like to keep the Ice APP if at all possible.

 

Second, I REALLY LIKE Cold Snap. With the new fear effect, it's pretty much my opener on most fights, letting me put down Ice Slick then wadding in for some blapping, plus a great spot for one of the ATO sets. So despite knowing many consider it a bad pick, I'd really like to keep it, unless extremely good rationale can be given.

 

Finally, I tend to play characters for their themes, so I'm not really fond of taking three primaries, three secondaries, and a gazillion pool powers as mules. Min-maxing isn't my goal here, just recommendations on what is worth keeping and how many slots are optimal on such and such powers.

Here's my current build :

 

This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Solstice Spirit: Level 50 Natural Dominator
Primary Power Set: Ice Control
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Assault
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Block of Ice

• (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold
• (3) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
• (3) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
• (5) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge
  

Level 1: Shriek

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (5) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (7) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (7) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (9) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  

Level 2: Strident Echo

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (9) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (11) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (11) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (13) Kinetic Combat - Knockdown Bonus
  

Level 4: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 6: Frostbite

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
• (13) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (15) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (15) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
• (17) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  

Level 8: Arctic Air

• (A) Coercive Persuasion  - Contagious Confusion
• (17) Coercive Persuasion  - Confused
• (19) Coercive Persuasion  - Confused/Recharge/Accuracy
• (19) Coercive Persuasion  - Confused/Recharge
• (21) Coercive Persuasion  - Recharge/Accuracy
  

Level 10: Shockwave

• (A) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge
• (21) Force Feedback - Damage/Knockback
• (23) Force Feedback - Accuracy/Knockback
• (23) Force Feedback - Recharge/Knockback
• (25) Force Feedback - Recharge/Endurance
  

Level 12: Cold Snap

• (A) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Control Duration
• (25) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Control Duration/Recharge
• (27) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Endurance/Recharge
• (27) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance
• (29) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/Recharge
• (29) Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Recharge/Chance for +Damage
  

Level 14: Ice Slick

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 16: Bass Boost

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 18: Flash Freeze

• (A) Superior Dominating Grasp - Accuracy/Control Duration
• (31) Superior Dominating Grasp - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/RechargeTime
• (31) Superior Dominating Grasp - RechargeTime/Fiery Orb
  

Level 20: Deafening Wave

• (A) Obliteration - Damage
• (31) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage
• (33) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
• (33) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
• (33) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (34) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 22: Glacier

• (A) Superior Dominating Grasp - Control Duration/RechargeTime
• (34) Superior Dominating Grasp - Endurance/RechargeTime
• (34) Superior Dominating Grasp - Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance
  

Level 24: Disruption Aura

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 26: Jack Frost

• (A) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Damage
• (36) Sovereign Right - Damage/Endurance
• (36) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Endurance
• (36) Sovereign Right - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (37) Sovereign Right - Accuracy
• (37) Sovereign Right - Resistance Bonus
  

Level 28: Shout

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (37) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (39) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (39) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (39) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (48) Decimation - Chance of Build Up
  

Level 30: Earsplitter

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (40) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (40) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (40) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (42) Kinetic Combat - Knockdown Bonus
  

Level 32: Combat Jumping

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

Level 35: Kick

• (A) Accuracy IO
  

Level 38: Sleet

• (A) Bombardment - Chance for Fire Damage
• (42) Bombardment - Damage
• (42) Bombardment - Accuracy/Recharge/Endurance
• (43) Bombardment - Damage/Recharge
• (46) Bombardment - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  

Level 41: Frozen Armor

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

Level 44: Ice Storm

• (A) Bombardment - Chance for Fire Damage
• (45) Bombardment - Damage
• (45) Bombardment - Accuracy/Recharge/Endurance
• (45) Bombardment - Damage/Recharge
• (46) Bombardment - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  

Level 47: Tough

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
• (48) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection
• (48) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
  

Level 49: Weave

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

Level 1: Domination 

Level 1: Brawl Edited February 19 by netphenix

[Wimbochismo]

You've got a clear focus of what you want with this build which is most of the battle. The execution is slightly off in some areas. I know you're not trying to min/max, but lets realign a few things to make it stronger. Incoming bullet points!

 

I see you've picked some purple sets but chosen some oranges instead of the purple equivalents. Are you looking for a cheaper build with less purples or ok with going heavy purps? Purple sets that increase recharge drastically will let you use other sets to increase your margins elsewhere. In general, you could use even more recharge to help smooth out your perma Dom.

 

Suggestion time:

• At 83% global recharge outside of Hasten you're right on the edge of falling off perma Dom. Go under 80% and you're off, although the FF proc in Shockwave is helping. Going above 95% global recharge reduces your risk of falling out of perma Dom.
• In regards to perma Dom and Hasten. Hasten needs to be slotted with 2 50+5 recharges. Press + on numpad to do this. It's pretty much mandatory.
• As your only resistance toggle, Tough could use more slots. S/l damage is common and you always have a 5% chance to be hit, you don't want it to hurt.
• Your endurance management is slightly low even without Arctic Air/Disruption Aura. Health can take 2 more slots and Stamina 1 more for end procs to help manage.
• Glacier and Flash Freeze can potentially be dropped completely. You could even do Stealth for LotG mules 😃 At the very least, these are where I would draw slots from. It wouldn't be horrible to slot them with 1 50+5 accuracy and be semi-functional. Glacier is on a long cooldown and is mostly used as an "oh crap" button. Sleeps are fairly weak cc and pretty sure the sleep portion is auto-hit.
• Also drop a slot from Shout. That 6th piece Decimation proc never goes off.
• Drop a slot from Weave and add Kismet +acc to Combat Jumping.
• As you've noticed, Cold Snap and Ice Slick as opener, Arctic Air to keep cc going is the way to go. AA reeeeaally needs end red. You could potentially do a set shuffle between 3 powers here. Superior Ascendency to Arctic Air. Do 5 set Ice Mistral to Cold Snap. Then 5 set Apocalypse to Shout. This gives AA end red and you don't really lose anything.

That should get you oriented a bit better and tighten things up. If you find yourself with more recharge that you feel is overkill, you might be able to shuffle things a bit more.

[serxiom]

@netphenix Hey!

 

I checked your build and also read what you looking for with your Dominator.  I understand you are aiming for L/S/L defense mostly and its OK but also softcaping your Ranged defense is  important. So i handled to softcap both in the next build. Also got Permadom 170% with hasten so you will be never at risk. However and this is important, i would advice against this build im posting here. 

My reason is simple: Any attack against you that goes through your Defense (ranged or S/L) will impact greatly in your health because you are not building for somekind of resistance to mitigate incoming damage. This is why always i take a resist shield besides fighting pool. But being Ice Mastery your choice then we can not achieve that.

If you want to try this build and see if it works for you... field test is the final answer. 

P.S: In case you are in a budget replace Ragnaroks for Positron Blast.

 

Dominator (Ice Control - Sonic Assault).mbd

[Wimbochismo]

15 minutes ago, serxiom said:

@netphenix Hey!

 

I checked your build and also read what you looking for with your Dominator.  I understand you are aiming for L/S/L defense mostly and its OK but also softcaping your Ranged defense is  important. So i handled to softcap both in the next build. Also got Permadom 170% with hasten so you will be never at risk. However and this is important, i would advice against this build im posting here. 

My reason is simple: Any attack against you that goes through your Defense (ranged or S/L) will impact greatly in your health because you are not building for somekind of resistance to mitigate incoming damage. This is why always i take a resist shield besides fighting pool. But being Ice Mastery your choice then we can not achieve that.

If you want to try this build and see if it works for you... field test is the final answer. 

P.S: In case you are in a budget replace Ragnaroks for Positron Blast.

 

Dominator (Ice Control - Sonic Assault).mbd 42 kB · 0 downloads

 

Sorry to the OP for playing back and forth with your build lol. I completely agree with your assessment and your viability of the build. I wanted to leave the OP with something a bit more viable so I took your edit and made some additions.

 

Basically I nixed Glacier and redeployed slots. Ranged defense only went down to 38. This will at least bring s/l resist up to 30. I switched the lowest dpa single target attack for Deafening Wave bc 5 seemed too many. They now have Hibernate (can switch for Hoarfrost) as an "oh crap" button and even heal, with the Prev Med absorb proc for emergencies.

 

This would probably still be squishy but brings it into viable territory.

Dominator (Ice Control - Sonic Assault).mbd

[serxiom]

54 minutes ago, Wimbochismo said:

I wanted to leave the OP with something a bit more viable so I took your edit and made some additions.

 

@Wimbochismo your take is better from Resist stand point agree. If you add Nerve or Agility incarnate you will nearly hit softcap on ranged  defense. So yes i would put my money on what you posted. Thanks for the improvement.

[netphenix]

Thanks for the replies guys ! I'll look them up in detail once off work and give you my opinion, but I wanted to express my appreciation for the time you took in doing this right away. 🙂

[netphenix]

Alright, took updating my mids through two failed attempts to be able to open those, but I managed. I gotta say they both look pretty darn solid and stick to the requests I made, so kuddos to you both and many thanks for your help. I tried to be more focused in my goals than the generic "plz review" and I appreciate the detailed feedback you both gave. I'll be keeping those tips in mind going forward on building doms.

@serxiom, I like how yours has slightly higher def scores, but I admit I prefer @Wimbochismo's take, especially since it lets me keep deafening wave (I forgot to say I intend to blap quite a bit with this toon - in my mind, both Ice and Sonic favor wadding in with their auras and melee hard hitters. That's why Cold Snap will be mainly an opener, after that I'll be in the thick of things.) Nonetheless, you both did a bang-up job and I'm really grateful. 🫡

I think the one change I may try is ditch Hibernate (which I never really liked as a power on squishies) and take Disruption Aura instead. 15% -res is nothing to sneeze at, and Hibernate, as far as I've experienced, is either a boosted Rest out of fight, or a death trap IN a fight on any non-melee AT. If I'm doing so bad I need to use it, there's a good chance I'll get flattened the moment I come out of it by what's still around and giving me such a rough time, most likely without Domination up to help. I'm sure it will be clutch sometimes, but there are many time it'll just delay a hospital trip. But I'll try both and see if I'm right or just misjudging its potential. Either way, I now got my work cut out for me. 😋

[serxiom]

8 hours ago, netphenix said:

Alright, took updating my mids through two failed attempts to be able to open those

 

I recommending uninstall Mids completely and download a fresh intall file from their website. It happened to me yesterday and just deleted Mids from my PC and re installig from zero.

 

Whenever you got your Dominator full IOéd and runnine let us know how it worked. Im interested to see S/L/S softcap how develops in high levels.

[Wimbochismo]

14 hours ago, netphenix said:

I think the one change I may try is ditch Hibernate (which I never really liked as a power on squishies) and take Disruption Aura instead. 15% -res is nothing to sneeze at, and Hibernate, as far as I've experienced, is either a boosted Rest out of fight, or a death trap IN a fight on any non-melee AT. If I'm doing so bad I need to use it, there's a good chance I'll get flattened the moment I come out of it by what's still around and giving me such a rough time, most likely without Domination up to help. I'm sure it will be clutch sometimes, but there are many time it'll just delay a hospital trip. But I'll try both and see if I'm right or just misjudging its potential. Either way, I now got my work cut out for me. 😋

 

Yup, totally agree. That additional -res is nice and Hibernate ends up working out as you described. Final build testing will let you feel out where you need to make changes.

 

During testing, I would eliminate Hibernate from the equation then and consider Hoarfrost. Only because the low s/l res means you might take a big hit. The Prev Med absorb proc has a higher chance to go off as you get low hp, it has saved me many times for clutch moments. Hoarfrost is also a long cooldown heal + max hp.

 

Have fun with it! 😄