New To Dom

[WuTang]

Hi all!

 

My son, technically sonS, have joined the COH community. One chose the path of a Sentinel and the other a Dominator! They are both very pleased with their choices, me...well I don't know how to help either of them, since I typically play melee and any range I get into is usually the Blaster type...ya know...the kill'em all and let God sort it out type.

 

Any who I'm here to ask for a little help in Mids for my Dom-son. He chose Mind Control/Psionic Assault/Psionic Mastery. I put together a build for him, but I'd like some of y'all with a bit more experience in the Dominator world to help make it better, please.

 

He wants to hover-Dom, so I focused on Range Def first, got it to 50% with incarnates, then let the other chips fall where they may. I don't know if Doms can solo high end, but I don't think that is his intent. He likes grouping and likes controlling the battlefield, that's where the power choices came in and where most of my uncertainties lie.

 

I don't know how the mechanics work for the controlling powers, most particularly which are breakable with violence, and which are not; only one was clear about this. He's very excited to get Psionic Tornado, which I hope lives up to his expectations, it does look great on paper. Are Mass Confusion and Total Domination broken with damage? I would think they would be, seems OP if not, but also very cool if not. Personally, I can't wait to play with him all incarnate out, I love the chaos potential he could bring. I've taken him into a few AE farms now so that he can get an idea of how end game will play out with large pulls, and so that he could level stupid fast. But mostly so that he could see that if a power is breakable then it might not be worth taking unless he's rolling solo.

 

He is sort of married to Mystic Flight, he likes the teleport and the "magic" appeal of it, as his hero has a magic origin, but he is logical and if anyone can give me a good argument for ditching that pool and going with Fly to free up another power pool to make the build better then he'd likely change his mind.

 

I took Tactics partly for the protection, but mostly because out of what I could choose from it looked best. I wanted to get into the Fighting pool but couldn't get deep enough to get Weave, so that's why I went with Leadership.

 

Something looks off when I toggle Ageless on. The End recovery goes off the chart, literally. I'm going to suggest he tier 4 both Ageless Core and Barrier Core depending on group.

 

On the Dominator enhancements, are they best choice? I took them mostly because of their set bonuses but would other sets be better in those powers and if so where would y'all recommend I place them...or use them at all?

 

I am open to any and all suggestions and any help will be greatly appreciated! Below is his build-to-be, he's only level 36 right now.

 

Thanks!!

 

Edit: So you know that guy who never reads instructions and sort of bulls through, gets it wrong, has to fix twice as much as was ever broken, but in the end usually does a decent job even if he gets all wrong on the off? *looking at him* I've read a few posts now and it appears I might not've had the right idea in mind for a Dom... Full rework??

WT-Dominator (Mind Control - Psionic Assault)-1.mbd

Edited April 1, 2024 by WuTang

[Dauntless]

Sleep and fear can be broken by damage, everything else (immob, stun, confuse, hold) should be fine.

 

Sleep is 100% removed by damage, you'll see this with mass hypnosis.  The perk is without damage it does not cause aggro.  A lot of newer AOE sleep effects reapply smaller duration sleep effects, which makes it play more like fear (in practice).  Against higher level mobs, if you haven't slotted for sleep duration, you'll see them waking up for smaller fits of action even from those re-applying AOEs.

 

Fear can be broken, ish.  Damage will allow the scared mob to take an action but they get the fear affect reapplied to them after a second or two.  If they are facing you they will likely fire off an attack, if they have to turn odds are they'll be scared again before they finish turning.  It isn't 100% but it certainly cuts down on incoming damage.  

 

Enhancement choices depend on your build goals.  I usually take both procs but I rarely take both sets.

[RelativeQuanta]

Hi @WuTang, welcome to dominators!

In addition to what @Dauntless said, you can find details on all the different control effects here.

 

I put together build you might find helpful.

1. It has enough recharge to make Domination permanent
2. Domination gives status protection, so I swapped indominable will for link minds
3. I admit that I swapped Mystic Flight for Fly so you can take Stealth to carry another LotG 
4. I also took Psychic Shockwave instead of Psionic Tornado since it does much more damage (though, you can interchange them if you really want Tornado just use Ragnarok)
5. I took Drain Psyche as it is a huge recovery buff
6. I put the Ascendancy of the Dominator chance for +Damage in subdue so it will get used frequently in your damage rotation (though you can put it in Dominate too for more range defense)

Basically, think of a dominator more like a damage AT than a support AT.  

 

Dominator (Mind Control - Psionic Assault).mbd

[Uun]

• You need more global recharge if you want permadom. All the Thunderstrike sets are boosting your ranged defense but they're not helping your recharge.
• You want the Ascendency of the Dominator %dmg proc (or the entire set) in a power you use in your attack chain. It's wasted in Total Domination.
• If you're just going to 1-slot Levitate, drop it and take Mesmerize as your T1.
• Skip Psionic Dart and take Mind Probe instead. You've got more than enough ranged attacks.
• The Kinetic Combat %KD is pointless in Telekinetic Thrust. If you want KD instead of KB, you need Sudden Acceleration KB>KD. Also, devote more slots to this power or drop it.
• Other than the secondary effects, Mental Blast and Subdue are identical. I would drop one of them.
• Mid's hasn't been updated for the p7 changes to Telekinesis. It's now an immobilize and requires accuracy (and accepts Immobilize sets). Levitate now does AoE damage if you use it on mobs immobilized by Telekinesis. 
• Don't skip Drain Psyche. It's both a regen/recovery buff to you and a debuff to your foes.
• You don't need Indomitable Will. Domination provides mezz protection.
• Don't get excited about Psi Tornado. It's pretty crappy. Also, Mid's hasn't been updated with the p7 changes to this power. It now has a 40s recharge.
• Tactics needs end reduction.

Here's the build I'm currently running for my Mind/Psi/Ice. I have a Trap of the Hunter acc/end in Telekinesis.

 

 

Uunknown - Dominator (Mind Control).mbd