Don't understand a Dominator

[Frosticus]

I misread the title. Thought it said "don't underestimate"

Was excited to see another player showing doms excelling. Disappointed.

[Dauntless]

On 5/14/2024 at 7:12 PM, biostem said:

All controllers!?  That actually sounds like a great time, (again, though, depends upon *which* controllers and *which* players)...

 

In all fairness, he did say it was Frostfire.  Even in competent hands different ATs and power sets mature at different rates.  

Personally I'd hesitate at drawing any conclusions about this game from anything in the Hollows or very low level play, especially in the older content.  It is so distinctly different from the state of the rest of the game and it is so short-lived and transient.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

Not gonna lie it took me 2 years to understand how Dominators function

I know I'm slow but there are a lot of attacks and many abilities are highly situational

learning what to throw and when can be quite difficult at first

but once you get your sea legs they are pretty awesome (sea legs are not a power)

my advice is, keep trying them out 

try different power sets

try different ranges

try different builds

eventually with perseverance (also not a power) you will find your groove

 

here are 3 tips 

#1. Drain psyche from psionic assault is extremely helpful for keeping your endurance up.

#2. You don't need Hasten to achieve permadom no matter what anyone says

#3. positioning. knowing the most efficient place to be just takes practice. (Some sets are more pew pew pew, and some are more pow pow pow)

[Riverdusk]

3 hours ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

#2. You don't need Hasten to achieve permadom no matter what anyone says

 

 

Definitely.  I built one back on live that was permadom without hasten.  Even easier now that IO's are a lot cheaper.  Also back then I didn't include the now available +35% recharge you can get through temp powers (+15% from the START vendor (although that one gets expensive) and +20% for 90 minutes at a time you can get from the SG base buff (dirt cheap)).   

 

I usually shoot now for enough global recharge that even if I forget to hit hasten or have to go afk I'm within the SG base buff range of perma (so around 110% to be safe).  At worst I only have to build dom up once every 90 minutes or so that way.

 

Hasten can still be nice to have though for sure and 110% is also what you need for perma hasten, so it works out nicely.

[Captain Paragon]

Just been reading through this thread as I have always loved the idea of a Dom. But always struggled to find one I enjoy playing. Got plenty of trollers. 

 

What would be someone's recommendation for first dom be? Really like the idea of new Arsenal dom but have zero experience are they any good?

 

I think them switching between ranged then melee is what I struggle with. As with my trollers I'm usually at the back.

 

 

Edited May 20 by Captain Paragon
Clarification

[Dauntless]

Well that is the thing, they don't really play the same, at least for me.  And I have your opposite problem, I simply cannot get into playing a controller.  (And I've tried, honest.)

 

Mind/energy is about as distinct of a playstyle as I think you can get from a controller - you won't need to slot anything in the primary for damage if you don't wish, plenty of blasts, power boost that affects EVERYTHING in your primary, mildly lacking in AOE damage (which suits sleep & fear just fine).  Earth/electricity was another fun combination - electricity gives a good old fashioned build-up which is awesome for the AOE stun and hold, both ranged and melee options are good enough to give a decent attack chain for both distances, and earth has plenty of useful tricks for most circumstances.

Arsenal assault annoys me because you don't get a ranged attack chain until late, what you get early with burst and buckshot is serviceable but 1) subtle 2) sucks endurance and 3) just makes me feel meh.  You can get by with just burst and buckshot as the majority of a ranged attack chain, they both recharge quickly, but buckshot takes more than a few slots to make that viable and entertaining, and it still seems to suck endurance like there is no tomorrow.

 

A good dominator build in my hands will be there primarily to DPS, and use of controls is on an as-needed basis to keep everything smooth.  On the teams I enjoy the most that need is quite heavy, keeping a good sense of tactical awareness and keeping trouble contained.  That "keeping trouble contained" varies depending upon the primary:  keeping perception debuffed or a nearby spawn slept to keep them from engaging, casting an AOE hold on the spawn just engaged while popping a fear on an adjacent one (that we just couldn't separate), laying down some persistent targeted AOE to hold up an ambush, locking down a particularly annoying mob like a Paragon Protector, etc.  Once that is done beat head and go to town.  Once things are safe enough enter melee and unleash the really big attacks - or just stay back and blast.  On your average PUG you usually have enough latent or overpowered might that it doesn't matter too much what you do, so just protect yourself and shoot.

 

Ignoring build specifics & targets for a moment, that means I'm usually picking my primary as control powers and my secondary as damage powers.  In the low levels you lean on your hold, immob, or something as an extra mid-level damage attack, but as you level up those just become controls.  It does mean you don't lean on some of those powers in the primary the same way you do as a controller.  (This is what annoys me with respect to arsenal assault, it violates this pattern to some degree.)

 

 

[MoonSheep]

23 minutes ago, Dauntless said:

 

Ignoring build specifics & targets for a moment, that means I'm usually picking my primary as control powers and my secondary as damage powers.  In the low levels you lean on your hold, immob, or something as an extra mid-level damage attack, but as you level up those just become controls.  It does mean you don't lean on some of those powers in the primary the same way you do as a controller.  (This is what annoys me with respect to arsenal assault, it violates this pattern to some degree.)

 

100%. I also find that whether Controls or Assault are the primary focus depends on the team and challenge. There’s some instances where I’m focusing almost entirely on controls to keep things going, others where I’m just DPS’ing to the max

 

i don’t find the lack of AoE a problem as I play on teams and that tends to be handled by other players. there’s a number of dom assault secondaries which have blaster rivalling single target DPS - fire and energy for example. earth and ice also quite damaging

[EnjoyTheJourney]

A simple, effective, and hopefully fun dominator could be a hover-blasting plant / fire / fire dom. Several things stand out fairly soon after getting one to higher levels, and especially after attaining permadom ...

1. Seeds reliably confuses bosses with the first application when domination is active. Very nice difference from a controller. 
2. Single target damage is pretty good.
3. Seeds and fire breath work well together. First seeds, then fire breath, and then fireball when at higher levels. Usually no need to reposition after casting seeds to get the most out of this alpha strike against a spawn, quite simple to execute. Plus, the last tick of damage from fire breath often happens close to when fireball lands, which often means that a fair number of mobs fall over as that is happening.
4. Defensively fairly solid as a hover-blaster with good ranged defense. 

 

A few more notes for the attached build ...
This build drinks endurance so fast that cardiac really helped out.
For endurance-heavy builds often vigor is better for dominators because added accuracy adds more flexibility for adding procs. But, cardiac was taken in part for the added range, which makes both seeds and fire breath noticeably more effective. 

Hopefully you have a blast with your next dominator, whatever direction you take. 

 

Druid of the Forest - Dominator (Plant Control - Fiery Assault -Fire Mastery).mbd

 

Edited May 20 by EnjoyTheJourney

[Riverdusk]

19 hours ago, Captain Paragon said:

Just been reading through this thread as I have always loved the idea of a Dom. But always struggled to find one I enjoy playing. Got plenty of trollers. 

 

What would be someone's recommendation for first dom be? Really like the idea of new Arsenal dom but have zero experience are they any good?

 

I think them switching between ranged then melee is what I struggle with. As with my trollers I'm usually at the back.

 

 

 

Plant is typically my recommendation as well for someone new to doms.   It will definitely serve you well.  A dominated seeds is a thing of beauty and even nemesis can't resist it.

 

I also recently started my first illusion dom ever and have to say it has been a breeze as well.  I find it a definite improvement on a dom as the almost worthless controller's group invisibility power is replaced with a good aoe stun.  It gives a definite more 'controllery' feel to the set that actual illusion controllers don't have.  The loss of taunt on phantom army I hardly even notice, they still attract plenty of attention even without it and still make a great opener.  Spectral terror gives you some defense that many doms lack and on a dom you get it at level 6!  I find it hilarious being able to use it even during a DFB.

 

As to the range and melee mix, there are some sets that do better than others if you prefer to stay mostly at range.  Fire and dark are two that come to mind (part of why the plant/fire recommendation above is a definite good one).  On that illusion I went with dark assault and I'll jump in to use the PBAOE attack, which doesn't even require a target, and then often times will jump right back out.   It is pretty quick and easy to do.  The only single target melee attack I bothered with was midnight grasp, and so far have only used it sparingly.  

[Heatstroke]

Its simple for me.. 

Lock Em Down.. 

Knock Em Down.. 

 

 

[Snarky]

On 5/14/2024 at 4:02 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

 

I'd very highly recommend viewing and taking in this table of Archetype damage modifiers.  Take a look at the Dominator numbers, then take a look at Blaster numbers, Sentinel numbers, Scrapper numbers, Stalker numbers.  Then take a look at Defender and Controller numbers.

 

Do you notice anything?

I will not do a comparison side by side, but on the Doms I build the ST damage is very close to a Blaster, maybe on parity with a Sentinel.  Most Doms have less AoE than even a Sentinel (for DPS, not control)  DOMs usually get no build up powers.  They do respectable ST damage, in my opinion.  They have great control.  Is that a DPS?  Is a Brute a DPS?  What is a DPS?  I think we can safely rule out Controllers (*now on hide from Controllers) but even Tanks these days (certain builds) will make an argument for being DPS.

 

So, OP, what is DPS?  To you?

[TheMoncrief]

The topic was not misleading. Topic: Don't Understand a Dominator. Contents: expression of opinions indicating a lack of understanding of a Dominator.

 

10/10, very clearly labeled, exactly as advertised.

[biostem]

On 5/20/2024 at 2:30 AM, Dauntless said:

Arsenal assault annoys me because you don't get a ranged attack chain until late

You should be mixing your primary and secondary together to create said attack chain, though...

[Triumphant]

13 hours ago, biostem said:

You should be mixing your primary and secondary together to create said attack chain, though...

 

Dominators: Designed to be played as blappers from the very beginning?  I think that's probably true, actually.  But I can also see players cherry picking attack powers to be all ranged (or melee, if that's your thing.  Seems like a weird choice for an AT with no armor secondary, though) and filling out the rest with controls and power pool stuff and playing them that way.

 

I have trouble wrapping my head around the class too, honestly.  I'm trying to overcome it, but find myself returning to more focused AT's that my funny old brain is more comfortable with.  For some of us, this controller/blapper hybrid class may just have too many moving parts to ever really get a handle on.

 

That is no criticism of the class itself, which I think most players acknowledge is actually a very good AT.  More that some of us (myself included) lack sufficiently pliable brains to leverage the class for all it's worth (well, so far at least.  I'm still determined to keep trying until I figure it out... eventually. 😝🤷‍♂️).

[Uun]

The assault sets vary as their melee focus. For example, Earth has only 2 ranged powers while Dark and Psi have 5.

[Riverdusk]

On 6/12/2024 at 5:49 AM, Triumphant said:

 

Dominators: Designed to be played as blappers from the very beginning?  I think that's probably true, actually.  But I can also see players cherry picking attack powers to be all ranged (or melee, if that's your thing.  Seems like a weird choice for an AT with no armor secondary, though) and filling out the rest with controls and power pool stuff and playing them that way.

 

I have trouble wrapping my head around the class too, honestly.  I'm trying to overcome it, but find myself returning to more focused AT's that my funny old brain is more comfortable with.  For some of us, this controller/blapper hybrid class may just have too many moving parts to ever really get a handle on.

 

That is no criticism of the class itself, which I think most players acknowledge is actually a very good AT.  More that some of us (myself included) lack sufficiently pliable brains to leverage the class for all it's worth (well, so far at least.  I'm still determined to keep trying until I figure it out... eventually. 😝🤷‍♂️).

 

Perfectly reasonable.  It took me a very long time to find a dom I really liked and with a playstyle I liked.  I pretty much have homecoming to thank for finally finding one that really clicked , as it is an illusion dom and they didn't even exist until fairly recently.  Illusion/dark to be exact.  

 

And yes, I play mine mostly at ranged and ended up dropping the one melee attack in a respec as I found it wasn't worth the time and sometimes danger trying to use it.  I did keep the PBAoE though.

[Erratic1]

Greatly enjoying the Assault/Martial I made last week. So much so the first 38 levels have flown by and I have no plans for an end build.