Reasons Your Dominator Isn't As Strong as it Could Be

[oedipus_tex]

There are a lot of questions on these boards about various power sets. I wanted to just create a catch all response I can link to later.

 

These statements reflect my opinion alone. I encourage discussion in the Comments section.

 

 

1. You didn't take Hasten as soon as feasible.

You are a Dominator, a class that relies on a power called Domination that doubles the Magnitude of most of your key powers, restores your endurance to full, provides bonus +ToHit, and mezz protection. Domination cannot be slotted for Recharge. However, it benefits from global Recharge of the type provided by Hasten, and Hasten provides a ridiculous amount of it. By taking Hasten, you are essentially turning Domination into a power you can add Recharge to. As a side benefit, all of your key powers recharge faster as well.

 

By "feasible" what I mean is the first opening you have where you don't need to pick up a key power. With some Dominators this is as early as level 4 or 6. With others it's a bit later.

 

 

2. You are holding back on activating Domination because you are waiting for a "key moment."

Now, keep in mind you should use some strategy for when you pop Domination. You generally want to do it just before a big fight, at a moment you need to restore your endurance, or when you need to break out of a mezz. However, you should also be in the habit of using it often. With Hasten slotted with level 30 SOs, you can easily keep Domination up roughly 50% of the time.

 

 

3. You aren't using inspirations.

This isn't a Dominator specific thing, but it's important enough to bring up. Too many players go entire missions without eating a single inspiration. There's no need for this. You should have a few you save for emergencies. The rest you should down with some regularity.

 

 

4. You don't know when to 'tank up' with inspirations.

So, here I am contradicting myself a little. It turns out that certain inspirations are incredibly useful and should be saved for key moments. The main ones for this are greens (heal) and purples (defense).

 

A key Defense value worth knowing is that if you hit 45% defense to a particular attack type, you are very well guarded against it, in most cases reducing the chance to be hit down to about 5%. Doing the math, assuming you have no other sources of Defense, that's eating 4 small Purples. Knowing when to down 4 purples is a huge power move that will make your character much, much stronger.

 

Not sure how to track how many insps you should be eating? See next...

 

 

4. You aren't tracking important Combat Attributes.

It is possible to track any stat in the game from the Combat Attributes window. Just open that window, go to the stat, right click, and select Monitor. Place the tracked stats window somewhere you can glance at it easily.

 

The main stats I tend to track are:

  - Melee defense

  - Ranged defense

  - Recovery

  - Recharge time

  - Stealth radius

 

Defense is incredibly important to monitor in part because there are so many defense debuff powers in the game. You might think you're soft capped to every position but actually be sitting there at -75 defense. Tracking stats is also how you tell how many purples or other insps you need to swallow to remain standing in tight situations.

 

 

5. You're too timid with your control powers, always waiting for the "perfect" time to use them.

This is related to the comments above about Domination. In general, you want to be aggressive about using your powers. Some strategy is still required, but not using the powers actually leads to MORE emergencies happening. Remember, when you totally dominate the mobs, you don't get into as many emergencies in the first place.

 

 

6. You're overusing the immobilize power or using it too early.

A common issue with new Dominators is a temptation to spam AoE immobilizes. There are some legit reasons to immobilize enemies, just try to do it at a time that is beneficial.

 

 

7. You believed the hype that Dominators are a mixed ranged/melee class.

Here's one I am going to catch some flack for. While it is true that some Dominators play in a "blapper" kind of way, and melee attacks are available in each assault set, the class is overall still balanced around being a long to medium range blaster type. Yes, this is still true for Fire, Ice and Electric, with their PBAoE toggle based controls--for these sets, you're usually looking at keeping a short distance away. There are exceptions to every rule, of course. But in general, avoiding true melee is likely to make you live longer, especially as you approach the later game. You generally don't have the slots to devote to melee attacks and ranged blasts without short changing another asset, and your Control set demands a lot of slotting.

 

 

 

8. You felt like you're going to be the star of Incarnate Trials.

Incarnate Trials overall are not a great place to evaluate Dominator strengths. You certainly aren't BAD at them... but your damage is mediocre compared to a true Blaster, you don't have the defenses of an armored type, and fights tend to go two ways: battles where the enemy mob drops instantly in a barrage of AoE attacks, and prolonged battles against AVs where DPS, buffs, and armors are what matter most. You have none of those things. But you are still a great AT! Get your rewards and remember you can shine elsewhere.

 

 

9. You assumed a PBAoE set like Electric, Fire, or Ice wouldn't benefit from Ranged defense IOs.

In my experience, PBAOE sets benefit the MOST from Ranged defense, because they have control over the mobs they can keep at close-ish range. It's the stuff further away that causes the problems, and the reason I always go for Ranged defense on these builds.

 

 

10. You believed this guide too literally.

You should apply your own experience to the game. Some characters are exceptions, and some players have different priorities. Have fun.:)

[Riverdusk]

 

 

3. You aren't using inspirations.

This isn't a Dominator specific thing, but it's important enough to bring up. Too many players go entire missions without eating a single inspiration. There's no need for this. You should have a few you save for emergencies. The rest you should down with some regularity.

 

 

 

 

Can second this one for everyone.  Trick I learned to get around the tendency to "hoard" inspirations is to make a rule to always keep at least a couple of inspiration slots open at all times.  Those I click on as soon as I get them, no matter what they are, even if I don't think I need them at that moment.  Awakens are kind of a pain as those I have to delete instead of just use.

 

But basic rule, your inspiration slots should never be all full for more than a second.

 

As for tracking stats, another one I always track is "last hit chance".  Lets me know if I've just been unlucky, or has my accuracy been debuffed?

[Sovera]

Good points overall, though a bit vague in actual advice.

[oedipus_tex]

Good points overall, though a bit vague in actual advice.

 

 

Is there something specific you'd like me to expand on? I can't speak for all of the Dominator sets, but I've played around 12 Doms to 50 over the past decade (admittedly with a 7 year gap.)

[justicebeliever]

Great advice - I needed reminders on 2,3,4.

 

+1 inf

[Wintervoid]

The only point I disagree with is the strictly ranged approach.  I believe it really depends on sets.  I don't have as much experience at the top end, mainly 50 Mind/Psi from before shutdown, but with Drain Psyche, Shockwave and Mind Probe, I was always in the thick of things.  Being a Dominator actually seemed to make it safer then for most melee because most of the time, the mobs I were in the middle of were locked down, so I could take advantage of the higher damage Mind Probe and PBAoEs.

 

Currently I am playing a baby (25) Electric/Earth that is ALWAYS in the middle of things surrounded by 5-10 sleeping mobs.  (Note, this is mostly solo since it is a bit tough to find Redside teams...and I hate gong Blue.)  The combo only has 2 ranged attacks (And I skipped Hurl Boulder) and 3 very good melee attacks, 2 Auras and 2 good PBAoEs.  Add in the pulsing Sleep, and there is no reason not to be in the middle of everything.  I actually ditched AoE Immob because I wanted the mobs to come to me in the brief seconds out of sleep. 

 

I do completely agree with Range defense for Melee toons though.  Generally, if I am controlling stuff right around myself, the danger is the snipers or other mobs outside my control area. 

 

I also agree with being poor vs AV's.  Again, this is from 7+ years ago, but I remember basically being poorer DPS vs most AVs.  That was ...disappointing after basically being a god on 4/8 groups. 

 

I disagree with using Domination whenever you can.  Before they took the damage component out, I did use Domination as much as possible to increase kill time, but now I keep it for Bosses and as a break free (Until it is perma at least).  I don't need it for the normal groups, I need it for bosses and/or when things go sideways. 

 

Overall though, great points and a good discussion.

[oedipus_tex]

The only point I disagree with is the strictly ranged approach.  I believe it really depends on sets.  I don't have as much experience at the top end, mainly 50 Mind/Psi from before shutdown, but with Drain Psyche, Shockwave and Mind Probe, I was always in the thick of things.  Being a Dominator actually seemed to make it safer then for most melee because most of the time, the mobs I were in the middle of were locked down, so I could take advantage of the higher damage Mind Probe and PBAoEs.

 

Currently I am playing a baby (25) Electric/Earth that is ALWAYS in the middle of things surrounded by 5-10 sleeping mobs.  (Note, this is mostly solo since it is a bit tough to find Redside teams...and I hate gong Blue.)  The combo only has 2 ranged attacks (And I skipped Hurl Boulder) and 3 very good melee attacks, 2 Auras and 2 good PBAoEs.  Add in the pulsing Sleep, and there is no reason not to be in the middle of everything.  I actually ditched AoE Immob because I wanted the mobs to come to me in the brief seconds out of sleep. 

 

I do completely agree with Range defense for Melee toons though.  Generally, if I am controlling stuff right around myself, the danger is the snipers or other mobs outside my control area. 

 

I also agree with being poor vs AV's.  Again, this is from 7+ years ago, but I remember basically being poorer DPS vs most AVs.  That was ...disappointing after basically being a god on 4/8 groups. 

 

I disagree with using Domination whenever you can.  Before they took the damage component out, I did use Domination as much as possible to increase kill time, but now I keep it for Bosses and as a break free (Until it is perma at least).  I don't need it for the normal groups, I need it for bosses and/or when things go sideways. 

 

Overall though, great points and a good discussion.

 

 

These are excellent points and probably require some clarification on my part. By "melee" what I mainly mean is the various single target blap powers that encourage you to get right in an enemies face. In theory, these powers are fine. But, for the most part, Dominators don't have the slots to devote to them. Most of the sets are actually balanced around the ranged attacks being the bread and butter. If the blap powers delivered significantly more damage than they do, they would be more critical to own and slot. 

 

FWIW I wouldn't be opposed to a significant increase in the melee modifier for Dominators.

 

Earth Assault is an unusual set in that it is much more up close and personal without an option to go ranged. It's an exception to the general rule that the ranged blasts tend to make the character stronger.

 

The various PBAoEs are melee-ish, and do encourage you to move in mobs. I don't consider most of those powers true melee powers though. They tend to work at a pole-range-ish distance, not quite on top of the mob but not quite truly ranged. In some ways they are similar to Blaster nukes, although usually shorter in range than that. As an Electric/Psi Dominator I do spend quite a bit of time near mobs though, just not a lot of time punching them in the face.

[Rikis]

A Dominator has a higher melee damage scale than a Stalker. Do you seriously expect their melee damage scale to be higher than Scrappers too? No, most of the Dominator's damage is in melee (for most sets). A Dominator should be in melee most of the time, after they've locked down the mob. Moving out of melee in order to get the best possible use of their cones. I weep whenever I see a Dominator stay at ranged. Such a waste. If a build doesn't have enough slots for their melee attacks, they've wasted too many on their ranged attacks.

[Machariel]

A Dominator has a higher melee damage scale than a Stalker. Do you seriously expect their melee damage scale to be higher than Scrappers too? No, most of the Dominator's damage is in melee (for most sets). A Dominator should be in melee most of the time, after they've locked down the mob. Moving out of melee in order to get the best possible use of their cones. I weep whenever I see a Dominator stay at ranged. Such a waste. If a build doesn't have enough slots for their melee attacks, they've wasted too many on their ranged attacks.

I pretty much agree with the content, although it's phrased a little more harshly than I would.  The MO for my Dominators is to apply hard control and then do as much damage as possible before I have to deal with CC.  Many of the T8 and T9 powers are Melee or PBAOE, and the T2-T4 melee powers have pretty good DPA, so every Dominator has access to melee attacks that are hard-hitting or at least efficient, and it's important to leverage those.  I actually respecced out of Fire Blast and back into Incinerate for this reason - I found myself wanting the faster attack, even though it was melee only, since melee isn't a huge drawback.

 

I should say that I think everything else is excellent advice for someone new to Dominators. :)

[Rikis]

I was more annoyed than I should have been. If someone personally wants to stay at ranged? So be it. There are even two sets which are great for ranged only, Fiery Assault and Energy Assault. But to mention it as the best thing for a Dominator to do? No.

 

For comparison, with melee damage scales:

-Scrapper is at 1.125

-Dominator is at 1.05

-Stalker is at 1.0

 

For ranged damage scales:

-Blaster is at 1.125

-Dominator is at 0.95

-Sentinels is at 0.90*

 

*I could be off, they're not in the wiki so I just did some quick math.

 

[oedipus_tex]

I was more annoyed than I should have been. If someone personally wants to stay at ranged? So be it. There are even two sets which are great for ranged only, Fiery Assault and Energy Assault. But to mention it as the best thing for a Dominator to do? No.

 

For comparison, with melee damage scales:

-Scrapper is at 1.125

-Dominator is at 1.05

-Stalker is at 1.0

 

For ranged damage scales:

-Blaster is at 1.125

-Dominator is at 0.95

-Sentinels is at 0.90*

 

*I could be off, they're not in the wiki so I just did some quick math.

 

 

This may be an area where I just need to be more open minded.

 

I don't take the Dominator single target blaps pretty much ever. A few of them do pretty decent damage. But a Dominator is not a Stalker and does not have any kind of armor, nor is it in a position to easily cap itself for melee action in the one situation you actually need hardcore single target DPS: killing AVs, which happens to be the situation where your Domination effect mostly fails. Everything else is dispatchable with AoEs. For as tight as slots are on Dominators I've just never felt an investment in blaps was an effective choice, since it meant underslotting something else. It may be I am too hardline in this decision though.

 

If Dominators could go toe to toe with an AV the way Stalkers, Scrappers, etc could I would probably change my opinion.

[Erratic1]

 

I don't take the Dominator single target blaps pretty much ever. A few of them do pretty decent damage. But a Dominator is not a Stalker and does not have any kind of armor, nor is it in a position to easily cap itself for melee action in the one situation you actually need hardcore single target DPS: killing AVs, which happens to be the situation where your Domination effect mostly fails. Everything else is dispatchable with AoEs.

 

While like you I lean towards staying at range, every single Epic powerset for Dominators comes with an armor power. No, we're not going to cap, but if we could then we would be complaining about why we had controls since we wouldn't need them. If you went with Ice Mastery, took Frozen Armor, Weave, and Combat Jumping, you might be able to cap Defense with IOs.

 

[Adeon Hawkwood]

While like you I lean towards staying at range, every single Epic powerset for Dominators comes with an armor power. No, we're not going to cap, but if we could then we would be complaining about why we had controls since we wouldn't need them. If you went with Ice Mastery, took Frozen Armor, Weave, and Combat Jumping, you might be able to cap Defense with IOs.

Capping S/L Defense is actually quite difficult unless you have a melee-heavy secondary (or possibly Dark Control). S/L Defense is one of the rarer set bonuses in the IO system with Kinetic Combat being the best non-ATO set with a S/L defense bonus (Siphon is also decent hence why Dark Control might work). That being said, it's pretty easy to get to 32% S/L Defense (with the powers you listed plus Maneuvers and the two 3% Defense IOs) on a Dominator which means you're only a small inspiration from the cap.

[KelvinKole]

You can get pretty close to capping all positional defenses with power boost + link Minds and IO bonuses. I had a build that did this on my elec/energy but I didn't actually need that much defense when nothing has endurance to attack.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

You can get pretty close to capping all positional defenses with power boost + link Minds and IO bonuses. I had a build that did this on my elec/energy but I didn't actually need that much defense when nothing has endurance to attack.

Does Power Boost actually work with Link Minds? I've heard conflicting reports. I know that Pine's said it does but I've also heard people say that it doesn't work when testing in game.

[Sovera]

I posted a plant/psi dom build with 33% to all defenses, so one small purple, vendor bought, is enough to be defense softcapped.

[QuiJon]

7. You believed the hype that Dominators are a mixed ranged/melee class.

Here's one I am going to catch some flack for. While it is true that some Dominators play in a "blapper" kind of way, and melee attacks are available in each assault set, the class is overall still balanced around being a long to medium range blaster type. Yes, this is still true for Fire, Ice and Electric, with their PBAoE toggle based controls--for these sets, you're usually looking at keeping a short distance away. There are exceptions to every rule, of course. But in general, avoiding true melee is likely to make you live longer, especially as you approach the later game. You generally don't have the slots to devote to melee attacks and ranged blasts without short changing another asset, and your Control set demands a lot of slotting.

 

They are. Sure they don't live in melee range but they don't really live at range either. They are a "Mixed" AT. And I know this varies by set, it varies by play style and other things. But the nice thing about a ranged attack is it doesn't require a minimum range to be used. Unlike a melee attack has to be within in a certain range. So like on my Earth/Fire I find I come into melee range a lot to make use of combustion, consume (if I need to), and I just use my ranged attacks from there. I am perma dom so you hit a mob with stalagmites and stone cages they are essentially held for long enough for rain of fire, combustion and a few single target attacks to take out. Same thing really with my mind/psi. My ice/ice is always in melee range to use arctic air and ice sword/circle.

 

I am not disagreeing that they can be used by going into range to use controls that need it and then running back away out of the mob to kill them off, I am just saying IMO you don't have to. And as such the AT is mixed. And most Doms I know would say the spend time about equally split I think between melee and range.

[oedipus_tex]

7. You believed the hype that Dominators are a mixed ranged/melee class.

Here's one I am going to catch some flack for. While it is true that some Dominators play in a "blapper" kind of way, and melee attacks are available in each assault set, the class is overall still balanced around being a long to medium range blaster type. Yes, this is still true for Fire, Ice and Electric, with their PBAoE toggle based controls--for these sets, you're usually looking at keeping a short distance away. There are exceptions to every rule, of course. But in general, avoiding true melee is likely to make you live longer, especially as you approach the later game. You generally don't have the slots to devote to melee attacks and ranged blasts without short changing another asset, and your Control set demands a lot of slotting.

 

They are. Sure they don't live in melee range but they don't really live at range either. They are a "Mixed" AT. And I know this varies by set, it varies by play style and other things. But the nice thing about a ranged attack is it doesn't require a minimum range to be used. Unlike a melee attack has to be within in a certain range. So like on my Earth/Fire I find I come into melee range a lot to make use of combustion, consume (if I need to), and I just use my ranged attacks from there. I am perma dom so you hit a mob with stalagmites and stone cages they are essentially held for long enough for rain of fire, combustion and a few single target attacks to take out. Same thing really with my mind/psi. My ice/ice is always in melee range to use arctic air and ice sword/circle.

 

I am not disagreeing that they can be used by going into range to use controls that need it and then running back away out of the mob to kill them off, I am just saying IMO you don't have to. And as such the AT is mixed. And most Doms I know would say the spend time about equally split I think between melee and range.

 

 

Again I think we have some disagreement about what "melee" means in my original post. I typed the original post in haste prior to darting out the door to a children's birthday party, so some of the confusion belongs to me, based on how I used the term/

 

The powers I specifically do not believe tend to make Dominators stronger in most cases are the single target melee blaps. These are powers such as:

• Incinerate
  
• Ice Sword
  
• Telekinetic Thrust
  
• Bone Smasher
  

 

I'm far less familiar with the newer sets like Savage, Martial, and Radioactive, so they may have been designed with different parameters. The original single target blaps were simply carryovers from the Blaster secondary sets. They do marginally higher damage than single target blasts at the expense of range. Some of them animate quite quickly, which can be a plus.

 

The issue is that for any single target attack to be worth its salt you typically are looking at 5 to 6 power slots. Dominators typically do not have these kinds of slots to spare, because the control set is usually slot hungry. THAT is the point I was really trying to make about "melee powers." If all we had to do was select the power and not any slots, the melee powers would be much more valuable. As is, they eat up 5-6 slots, and you just don't have that many to go around.

 

Someone pointed out a few posts ago that Dominators have a slightly higher melee modifier than Stalkers. But unlike a Stalker, they cannot crit, so I am not sure how much that really matters. Where the blaps sometimes shine is accidentally, due to the developers not taking power animation time into account when they balanced power damage (instead, damage is based purely on recharge rate). In a few cases you have some fairly decent blaps. But again, the slot cost.

 

The sets that don't have decent ranged attack chains (Earth, arguably Electric) are exceptions.

 

As for powers like Drain Psyche, etc, I wasn't thinking of those when I said Dominators are not a "melee" class. My main is actually an Elec/Psi/Mu Dom who uses Power Sink and Drain Psyche with Conductive Aura. However, even if he does not have a lot of room for the melee attacks.

 

As for powers like Total Focus and its absurd 3.4 second animation time, although it hits hard on paper, actually finding slots to do that kind of work on enemies is just not something I've ever been interested in investing in. I suppose it may be more valuable to people who solo a lot or for set muling. I don't spend a whole lot of time single target blasting bosses except for Elite Bosses or AVs and the power isn't well suited to that.

[KelvinKole]

You can get pretty close to capping all positional defenses with power boost + link Minds and IO bonuses. I had a build that did this on my elec/energy but I didn't actually need that much defense when nothing has endurance to attack.

Does Power Boost actually work with Link Minds? I've heard conflicting reports. I know that Pine's said it does but I've also heard people say that it doesn't work when testing in game.

 

You got me wondering so I did a quick test and it DOES NOT. I'm gobsmacked  I guess I should have been following rule number 4 in the OP. I

[oedipus_tex]

 

I don't take the Dominator single target blaps pretty much ever. A few of them do pretty decent damage. But a Dominator is not a Stalker and does not have any kind of armor, nor is it in a position to easily cap itself for melee action in the one situation you actually need hardcore single target DPS: killing AVs, which happens to be the situation where your Domination effect mostly fails. Everything else is dispatchable with AoEs.

 

While like you I lean towards staying at range, every single Epic powerset for Dominators comes with an armor power. No, we're not going to cap, but if we could then we would be complaining about why we had controls since we wouldn't need them. If you went with Ice Mastery, took Frozen Armor, Weave, and Combat Jumping, you might be able to cap Defense with IOs.

 

 

For the record, every non-armored AT receives an armor power in its Tertiary pools. The shields Dominators get in their epics is shared with Controllers, and in many cases the same shield received by Defenders, Corruptors, Masterminds, and Blasters, where those tertiary sets share a theme.

 

You are correct that the slash/lethal shields available in some tertiary powers can allow easy-ish soft-capping to slash/lethal, which could help your survival with some AVs, depending on their powers. Combat Jumping + Frozen Armor + Weave each with 2 ISO Defense IOs provides base 28.6 Slash/Lethal defense, which is a study foundation. You'll have very low Slash/Lethal resistance tho for hits that get through, and still be very vulnerable to other kinds of attacks.

[marex]

 

For the record, every non-armored AT receives an armor power in its Tertiary pools. The shields Dominators get in their epics is shared with Controllers, and in many cases the same shield received by Defenders, Corruptors, Masterminds, and Blasters, where those tertiary sets share a theme.

 

You are correct that the slash/lethal shields available in some tertiary powers can allow easy-ish soft-capping to slash/lethal, which could help your survival with some AVs, depending on their powers. Combat Jumping + Frozen Armor + Weave each with 2 ISO Defense IOs provides base 28.6 Slash/Lethal defense, which is a study foundation. You'll have very low Slash/Lethal resistance tho for hits that get through, and still be very vulnerable to other kinds of attacks.

 

Since the added with I24 resist to the IO sets, you can get some extra resist just with building your normal melee/def sets that

are not to shabby. With both the +def epic shields it should not be really a problem to reach +45% def to s/l on top of permanent domination.

 

As an example, this is how my fire/dark looks (one outside buff from Tielekku)

 

https://imgur.com/a/Xvo7JFi

 

if you throw the T4 barrier on it you could even add an extra +5% def/res . with the -to hit from dark and from the interface I would rank my dominator as stronger then my scrapper and stalker. It seems a bit, hm silly from my pov that somebody would not pickup the melee powers. As an example I did run a mission with my bio scrapper that has thrown only psi mobs at my face, not something I like with it if you play at /x4 - /x8 . for my dominator even it has the same bad psi resist the this is not really a issue with perma domination and our good control side.

 

 

 

I would add anohter point to the OP list. If you are not playing a Villian as Dominator you miss something really cool, points to the Villain Alignment Power.....

[Adeon Hawkwood]

You can get pretty close to capping all positional defenses with power boost + link Minds and IO bonuses. I had a build that did this on my elec/energy but I didn't actually need that much defense when nothing has endurance to attack.

Does Power Boost actually work with Link Minds? I've heard conflicting reports. I know that Pine's said it does but I've also heard people say that it doesn't work when testing in game.

You got me wondering so I did a quick test and it DOES NOT. I'm gobsmacked  I guess I should have been following rule number 4 in the OP. I

Thanks for confirming. In case you're curious that's quite common for powers that buff resistance since if they benefit from external buffs then your damage bonus would increase the resistance buff as well. Technically since Mind Link doesn't take Resistance Enhancements it should be possible to have it benefit from Power Boost but apparently when it was implemented the wrong method of handling resistance buffing powers was used so it doesn't.

[The_Cheeseman]

I’m going to have to disagree with number 8, there. I do trials all the time on my mind/fire dom and I assure you, I am a star. I lead the pack, moving on to new spawns to destroy while my allies clean up whatever managed to survive my alpha strikes. I confuse adds during boss fights and even pull AVs in BAF. It got to the point where the melees were waiting to engage spawns until I got there.

 

It’s all about the attitude you bring to the table!

[Zerethon]

I'll chime in here as a stalker main with Dom & Blapper alts

 

Never, ever, underestimate the power of punching things in the face.

 

Remember that some of your melee sets actually have mez effects too, and since everything gets a boost from dom, so do they. Paired with a decent melee scale and IO's Melee doms are TERRIFYINGLY strong. My Earth/Earth especially likes being just stuck in the middle of things

 

Debuffed/Mezzed mobs + Heavy melee attacks makes for a delicious combination.

 

[Coyote]

The powers I specifically do not believe tend to make Dominators stronger in most cases are the single target melee blaps. These are powers such as:

• Incinerate
  
• Ice Sword
  
• Telekinetic Thrust
  
• Bone Smasher
  

 

To note, this is probably less of a question of melee vs ranged Dominator, than a question about sets with good vs bad attacks, and with good vs bad ranged alternatives.

 

Fire Assault has Blaze and Blazing Bolt, with excellent DPAs, and Fire Blast with a good DPA that is comparable to Incinerate. Yes, Incinerate is a good attack, but with 3 comparable ranged attacks in the set, it makes sense to stay at range.

Ice Assault has Ice Blast which is close to as good as the Ice Sword attacks, and Bitter Ice Blast, which is better. With only 2 ranged attacks that are better, it could benefit from melee, but not enough to make it worth the time to move in unless you're already in PBAoE range for powers from your primary.

Psionic Assault should have Mind Probe mentioned, not TK Thrust. TkT is a pretty weak DPA attack, while Mind Probe is the best single-target attack for Psy other than Psy Lance. So if it wants to do solid single-target damage, Psi Assault wants to be in melee range since both Subdue and Mind Blast are pretty slow animations for their damage.

Energy Assault doesn't really have a good DPA attack other than the snipe, they're all clustered together, so it makes sense to take and slot up a ranged blast to fill in a ranged attack cycle rather than taking Bonesmasher and wasting the time to move in.

 

In general, I see that there are some sets where an all-ranged style fits, because they have a good set of ranged attacks and/or a weak set of melee attacks. But other sets have good melee attacks and will do more damage leveraging them. You do have to balance around the fact that mixing cones and melee attacks will cause you to delay as you move closer and further, but in many cases you can just go PBAoE if you're using melee attacks. I think there are builds that will benefit from playing at range, but I don't think that it's a general Dominator rule that playing at range is always better.