Grav / Arsenal build

[gluetaster]

Just started my Grav / Arsenal DOM and was wondering if anyone had any good builds.  I do play in a Team setting usually, BUT I really do enjoy PVP.  Not sure its even possible to do as a DOM but figured Id ask.

 

Thanks for any help. 

[tidge]

Coincidentally, I've just started a Gravity/Arsenal Dominator too! I try to get permaDom without Hasten (or FF +Racharge %procs) so here is my first thoughts on a level 50 build. I'll be making different choices for slots (obviously) as I level. The only other things specific to global Recharge bonuses I feel like mentioning is that I prefer to have set bonuses which scale down below level 27, so I'm not completely sold on the Expedient Reinforcement set in Singularity... it's providing a small buffer in Global Recharge anyway...

 

 

I happen to quite like the Force of Will pool, but I can understand folks that don't use it. The powers I wanted to take from the primary and secondary (I have a specific concept for this character) meant that I could have the cone attack Wall of Force and Unleash Potential as soon as they are available, which is a nice bonus (for me, MMV).

 

There are definitely different choices that could be made, especially with respect to which sets can offer a +10% global recharge. I should disclose that I will likely move the Ascendancy of the Dominator to one of the AoE controls (Crush needs no Recharge slotting) .... this is just my first pass at set choices.

 

EDIT: PvP is probably a mixed bad for this sort of Dominator... my build wouldn't be particularly sturdy, and it (as planned above) it would pretty much be relying on controls, which I don't think are super reliable solo in PvP. For a PVP build, Sorcery is probably a better choice than Force of Will. I think I'd want Winter's Gift (for more Slow Resistance) somewhere. The only other thing I can think of for PvP would be to try to boost resistances and defenses, but that is an escalating fight. For PvP, Hasten is probably a must, as it allows for less of a slot commitment to certain powers.

Edited Monday at 03:08 PM by tidge

[TygerDarkstorm]

Oh funny, I made one of these too. @tidge have you started leveling yours yet? Mine's still at like level 2-5 since I haven't really had time to play, but I'm curious how this combo levels up, if it's effective, etc. I've always wondered with Grav on a dom if you want to take the blasty attacks (Lift? Propel, etc.).

[tidge]

6 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

Oh funny, I made one of these too. @tidge have you started leveling yours yet? Mine's still at like level 2-5 since I haven't really had time to play, but I'm curious how this combo levels up, if it's effective, etc. I've always wondered with Grav on a dom if you want to take the blasty attacks (Lift? Propel, etc.).

 

I've soloed it (blue side) through the Atlas (Hashby+) arcs and it is now solo in the Hollows (level 12). I haven't teamed yet, I was trying to get to mid-teens to have some slots before joining up with others. I've been using Domination almost entirely to refill the Blue Bar (as opposed to more easily locking down enemies).

 

It has been fine at +0x1, although I'd forgotten about the Accuracy penalty for the AoE controls. with slotting bonuses and Targeting Drone this should be less of an issue, but for these early levels something like Combat Jumping (early) with the Kismet +6% ToHit piece may be a good idea. It a couple of levels I will probably go to -1x3 for solo, but I really need some more Endurance management first.

 

I specifically chose to NOT take Lift or Propel for this character because of (a) I already have a Grav Controller that uses them and (b) I wanted to emphasize the gun for concept. Generally: I find Lift (or any other damaging attack) to be a better choice than Crush (or any other single-target Immobilize), given the choice at level 1. I went with the single-target Immob here because I express such a negative view of the single-target Immobs that I want to see if I can make them work, where they can work, and if I can make it sing. I don't see a lot of discussion about Propel for Dominators, and it looks like I won't be able to provide any insights.

 

This build does have/allow an unexpected (to me, because derp) amount of Knockback. I was expecting the Crushing Field to include -KB, but it does not. Knockback doesn't really bother me in game play (no matter the source), and if I was motivated to use the Force Feedback %+Recharge piece I would have a lot of options.

[TygerDarkstorm]

10 hours ago, tidge said:

 

I've soloed it (blue side) through the Atlas (Hashby+) arcs and it is now solo in the Hollows (level 12). I haven't teamed yet, I was trying to get to mid-teens to have some slots before joining up with others. I've been using Domination almost entirely to refill the Blue Bar (as opposed to more easily locking down enemies).

 

It has been fine at +0x1, although I'd forgotten about the Accuracy penalty for the AoE controls. with slotting bonuses and Targeting Drone this should be less of an issue, but for these early levels something like Combat Jumping (early) with the Kismet +6% ToHit piece may be a good idea. It a couple of levels I will probably go to -1x3 for solo, but I really need some more Endurance management first.

 

I specifically chose to NOT take Lift or Propel for this character because of (a) I already have a Grav Controller that uses them and (b) I wanted to emphasize the gun for concept. Generally: I find Lift (or any other damaging attack) to be a better choice than Crush (or any other single-target Immobilize), given the choice at level 1. I went with the single-target Immob here because I express such a negative view of the single-target Immobs that I want to see if I can make them work, where they can work, and if I can make it sing. I don't see a lot of discussion about Propel for Dominators, and it looks like I won't be able to provide any insights.

 

This build does have/allow an unexpected (to me, because derp) amount of Knockback. I was expecting the Crushing Field to include -KB, but it does not. Knockback doesn't really bother me in game play (no matter the source), and if I was motivated to use the Force Feedback %+Recharge piece I would have a lot of options.

Thanks for your insight, Tidge. I appreciate it. As amusing as Propel is, I'm thinking I may skip it on this character simply to not have to also try to maximize the Impact mechanic since Doms have their assault set. Not sure whether I'll do Lift or the single target immob. I enjoy reading what other players with more experience than me are doing, especially ones like you that provide a little extra explanation for what they're doing. 🙂

 

[tidge]

I may end up swapping into Lift for this character...

 

Part of the final reason may be that eventually the single-target immob is unlikely to be that noticeable once controls are being spammed, part of it may be that in order to move out the ATO (hopefully to the AoE Hold) and find a replacement source of Global Recharge after that swap I may need to leverage Lift. Immob sets don't have many great options (for recharge) so I'd sort of be constrained to swap the slotting on the single-target and AoE Immobilizes... except that the AoE Crushing Field also does not need slotted Recharge.

 

From my recollection, it takes some getting used to the delayed damage from Lift. %damage from procs will be applied right away, but that won't be how I slot this character.

 

Perma-Dom is a puzzle, but I can sort of see a few different paths.

[TygerDarkstorm]

If you do decide to run Lift at some point; will you be looking to maximize it with the Impact effect or not worry about it since this is a dom and not a troller?

[tidge]

11 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

If you do decide to run Lift at some point; will you be looking to maximize it with the Impact effect or not worry about it since this is a dom and not a troller?

 

My initial look at it will be to slot Lift for a global Recharge bonus, and after that everything else is secondary... but that doesn't mean those other effects will be ignored. My instinct is to 6-slot it with Sudden Acceleration, as I like its set bonuses (in aggregate) slightly more than Kinetic Crash. There is the 5-slot Entropic Chaos, but that is a set that maximizes at level 35 values, and the final recharge bonus is slightly less. Using 6-slots here means that I'd lose the 6th slot bonus from Ascendency of the Dominator, but I feel like I could lose one slot in the travel power (as I've often 2-slotted such a power with no major losses to the Quality of Life).

 

As for non-enhancement bonus effects of Lift v. Crush. The one thing Crush is giving me that I like is damage-over-time. At low levels, I like that I can toss it and (if it hits) I can sort of ignore trying to damage that one single enemy. This is going to be less important as I level up and get AoE, and the damage is small enough that I expect it won't make much of a difference for enemies like Fake Nemesis. Damage-over-time is something I find useful against enemies that summon things (e.g. Rikti Communication Officers, Raider Engineers), but again, this is a single-target attack that has to hit! A miss doesn't do anything for me in that circumstance. There is another subtle issue with the single-target immobilize: There are a LOT of enemies that resist Immobilize, or otherwise have protection against it. I get the sense that the Live devs handed out resistance/protection to Immob (and Slow) as a sort of "HAR HAR, gotcha"... because I find it personally weird that Immob is a common low-level power for players yet these sorts of enemies start appearing at low levels and never really go away. Obviously I am somewhat ignoring what Domination provides for controls... but again, I'm specifically thinking about dropping a single-target immobilize for a character that will still have an AoE immobilize and a pair of Holds. This is just my PoV, but the really annoying late-game enemies aren't really affected by Immob but are affected by Holds (Sorcerors, Illusionists, other teleporters/phasers).  There are some corner cases of AVs/GMs, but I've become so used to fighting those using characters without any sort of controls that I'm probably at the "I don't know what I'm missing" stage.

 

Lift OTOH is Knock-up, which pretty much affects most every commonly encountered enemy.... and damage does too! I'll be spamming the single-target hold anyway, so any extra damage from Gravity Distortion synergy is gravy. As noted above, I'm mostly relying on Crush for damage, so it won't be a huge departure for me to add the (sometimes funny) attack in its place.

 

EDIT: After looking at my first pass and crunching some numbers, my current thoughts about what I'd do with Lift in the build (instead of Crush) is to 3-slot Lift with Winter's Bite (getting Slow resistance, which I like for PermaDom) and moving the slots to Wormhole which should be able to take the ATO. I'll probably just keep the 5-slots of Gladiator's Net in the AoE Hold, but drop the %damage and boost all those pieces to 50+5. The AoE hold has a somewhat small radius, and the recharge won't be that great to really worry about the %Lethal damage. The enhancement values are slightly inferior to 6-slots of the Superior ATO, but shouldn't be that noticeable (because of the inherently long recharge time, and eventual global set bonuses).

Edited Tuesday at 03:29 PM by tidge

[TygerDarkstorm]

I was referring to Gravity Control's impact mechanic, lol, where you do Impact damage from Lift and Propel on targets who are held (I can't remember if immob counts for Impact). It's good to leverage on a controller because you can combine it with containment for extra damage, but idk if it's something that dom's worry about because they have their assault set for better damage.

 

But all of the slotting stuff is super interesting! I love seeing why people do the things they do/make the choices they make. I'm still not comfortable making a build, but I am doing my best to soak up all the information I read about this stuff. Hopefully the OP will also get some use out of all the information you're providing. 😉

 

[tidge]

31 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

I was referring to Gravity Control's impact mechanic, lol, where you do Impact damage from Lift and Propel on targets who are held (I can't remember if immob counts for Impact). It's good to leverage on a controller because you can combine it with containment for extra damage, but idk if it's something that dom's worry about because they have their assault set for better damage.

 

I realize I've been sidestepping the impact of Impact! In an IO-only world, or one in which a chosen Controller secondary offers little potential for damage (direct or via %procs) I'd never skip Lift or Propel... even for a team-oriented Controller. Gravity Control has the reputation of being the damage-oriented primary for a reason. As you note, most Dominator secondaries offer more attacks, plus the Dominator damage scales (ranged and melee) are pretty much twice that of Controllers.  My gut tells me that the damage scale and having just one more attack (single-target or AoE) probably eliminates any advantage a Controller would have from Impact! over the Dominator.

 

Personally, I run colder on Dominators than I do for Controllers. I don't have any negative feels about Dominators except that the Domination mechanic is so good that I feel obligated to chase perma-Dom. I usually find more personal liberty when building Controllers because I don't feel obligated to chase global Recharge bonuses.

 

This particular combo offered me the gun (important for concept!) and the chance to ignore three primary (and a couple of secondary) powers without feeling like the build was missing much.

 

I wouldn't fault anyone for taking Propel, it could even be a more useful/comfortable attack than Elbow Strike (in the power picks I showed above). Propel has the nifty chance to damage nearby foes, even though I always think of it as a single-target attack.

[TygerDarkstorm]

1 hour ago, tidge said:

 

I realize I've been sidestepping the impact of Impact! In an IO-only world, or one in which a chosen Controller secondary offers little potential for damage (direct or via %procs) I'd never skip Lift or Propel... even for a team-oriented Controller. Gravity Control has the reputation of being the damage-oriented primary for a reason. As you note, most Dominator secondaries offer more attacks, plus the Dominator damage scales (ranged and melee) are pretty much twice that of Controllers.  My gut tells me that the damage scale and having just one more attack (single-target or AoE) probably eliminates any advantage a Controller would have from Impact! over the Dominator.

 

Personally, I run colder on Dominators than I do for Controllers. I don't have any negative feels about Dominators except that the Domination mechanic is so good that I feel obligated to chase perma-Dom. I usually find more personal liberty when building Controllers because I don't feel obligated to chase global Recharge bonuses.

 

This particular combo offered me the gun (important for concept!) and the chance to ignore three primary (and a couple of secondary) powers without feeling like the build was missing much.

 

I wouldn't fault anyone for taking Propel, it could even be a more useful/comfortable attack than Elbow Strike (in the power picks I showed above). Propel has the nifty chance to damage nearby foes, even though I always think of it as a single-target attack.

You've given lots to think about when I eventually get back around to this alt. I have a grav controller, so I think I'll save Propel for them and end up skipping it on the dom. I will have to fiddle with Lift and Crush and see which I prefer on the dom and probably not try to worry about whether I'm utilizing the Impact mechanic if I do take Lift since I don't feel like the dom would benefit from it as much.

[tidge]

Here is an update after some more play time (with the powers taken as in my post above).

 

I played on a Posi 1 + 2, this was pretty typical: a few level 50s, some folks in the 20s+, and a few of us at lower levels. This went pretty smoothly, with elevated difficulty mostly (IMO) because of a Defender buffing the team. I was playing somewhat conservatively using my Domination and controls in the sorts of areas where things can go pear-shaped. I felt useful!

 

After that, I was in the mid 20s, so I set difficulty to -1x3 and started doing tips. These were fine. Nothing much to report. Then at level 24 I started the (blue) Midnighter's Club intro arc. This was much more difficult at -1x3... I will attribute this to close to one-half of the spawns were at even-level, the map/spawn construction puts several spawns close to one another (for large spawn sizes), and the controls/debuffs used by the Lost, Rikti, and Circle of Thorns. I ended up with three personal defeats... one was 100% on me for forgetting to use a power, and two I will blame on the RNG... because at this level I don't have much to fall back on if a control or attack misses at an important point. When Domination was up, opposing controls didn't really phase me... but the naked defenses are an issue.

[tidge]

Some more testing at -1x3 in the late 20s has convinced me to replace Crush with Lift.

1. Lift Crush was doing very little (control, damage)
2. Another single-target attack that does reliable damage (with or without Impact!) compliments the rest of the build better,

As part of the 'complimenting', my earlier point about the RNG (and the floor 1-in-20 chance to miss, no matter the final ToHit) means that the character plays better when I have more than two lower-level single-target (ranged) attacks for damage. This is just me, but against a Held enemy, I can toss Weaken Resolve and Lift in succession, if either one of those is the (effectively) force miss, It's not the end of the world... nor is it a meltdown if one of my single-target damage attacks miss (when I have multiples). If I miss on a rando ST Immob, that's effectively not even trying to use it... so no big loss to never have it!

 

At these levels, -1x3 was pretty slow for Stephanie Peebles and the Bloody Bay door missions. But they were doable. The Singularity is a big help when a little too much is coming after me.

 

Screenshot of the updated planned build follows. I realized that the Damage/Mezz piece in Singularity was effectively only improving the Mezz... so I'm going to drop that which frees up one slot for me. I also realized I wanted some Range on Buckshot, so moving the Positron's Blast set to that short cone seems to make more sense.

 

Edited Thursday at 01:40 PM by tidge
fixed point #1 !!

[tidge]

Casual observation, based on lower/mid 20's content and the second build progression posted above.

 

For solo -1x3, I'm finding a pretty reliable "opening move" to be:

1. Power Up
2. Wormhole (5-slotted with the ATO)
3. The cone AoE attacks and/or controls.

I use this as a Wormhole macro to group the enemies where the cones will hit them (modulo knockback):

 

/macro_image "IceBlast_Aim"    "WORM" "powexec_location forward:25 Wormhole"

 

Damage dealing is a little slow at these levels solo (with fewer slots available), so often both Power Up and Wormhole are available when I get to the next spawn. Even with minimal slotting in the Targeting Drone (and the -1 enemies) the ToHit chances are pretty healthy.

[TECHWON]

On 12/16/2024 at 9:24 AM, tidge said:

Coincidentally, I've just started a Gravity/Arsenal Dominator too! I try to get permaDom without Hasten (or FF +Racharge %procs) so here is my first thoughts on a level 50 build. I'll be making different choices for slots (obviously) as I level. The only other things specific to global Recharge bonuses I feel like mentioning is that I prefer to have set bonuses which scale down below level 27, so I'm not completely sold on the Expedient Reinforcement set in Singularity... it's providing a small buffer in Global Recharge anyway...

 

 

I happen to quite like the Force of Will pool, but I can understand folks that don't use it. The powers I wanted to take from the primary and secondary (I have a specific concept for this character) meant that I could have the cone attack Wall of Force and Unleash Potential as soon as they are available, which is a nice bonus (for me, MMV).

 

There are definitely different choices that could be made, especially with respect to which sets can offer a +10% global recharge. I should disclose that I will likely move the Ascendancy of the Dominator to one of the AoE controls (Crush needs no Recharge slotting) .... this is just my first pass at set choices.

 

EDIT: PvP is probably a mixed bad for this sort of Dominator... my build wouldn't be particularly sturdy, and it (as planned above) it would pretty much be relying on controls, which I don't think are super reliable solo in PvP. For a PVP build, Sorcery is probably a better choice than Force of Will. I think I'd want Winter's Gift (for more Slow Resistance) somewhere. The only other thing I can think of for PvP would be to try to boost resistances and defenses, but that is an escalating fight. For PvP, Hasten is probably a must, as it allows for less of a slot commitment to certain powers.

 this helps allot, when im gonna rebuild this character. thank you.

[tidge]

Thanks! I'm still not 100% sure on my final slotting, as I am testing the different interactions of powers as I play. I'm a long way from perma-dom, and at least you can see from my proposed sets how I intend to get to it.

 

If I could convince myself to NOT franken-slot Wall of Force, I'd end up with slightly more options of what sets to use where... I hate that this choice is restricting me, but I love the extra damage it brings at such a low level.

 

Right now, I'm looking at my (current) choice to have the ATO 6-slotted in Wormhole. I absolutely love the stun effect that it applied to the grouped targets, but I'm not liking that the post-teleport scatter that sometimes occurs. So I'm considering using 5-slots of Absolute Amazement with a 6th slot for Sudden Acceleration KB->KD. This would have a sort of cascading effect on which sets I use to get five 10% Global recharge (I'd probably not use Ragnarok in Ignite) but I have to pick a good home for the ATO. Choices!

[tidge]

I realized I goofed on some of the proposed enhancement slotting: Epic Indomitable Will does not take Resistance pieces. This is not the first time I forgot this!

 

As it takes Defense pieces, I'll have to make some adjustments.... and try to turn things to my advantage.

 

With room for another (6th) defense power, I can opt to turn the franken-slotting of Unleash Potential into a 6xPreventive Maintenance for 8.75% global recharge. At this point I think I can sacrifice a LotG 7.5% global recharge (using a Defense slot to hold the Shield Wall global Resistance piece) and still have the margins to drop Expedient Reinforcement for Singularity.  I kinda hate losing the Defense boosts from Unleash potential, so I am still thinking this trhough. I'm thinking about minimize some slotting on Singularity, leveraging HOs.

 

EDIT:

 

I had realized that I could skimp on Range for Wall of Force (to keep it closer to the range of Buckshot), and I could get better-ish enhancement values using an attuned 5-piece Decimation (even with a lower level cap) as the 3-piece Gladiator's Javelin in the Burst T1 attack... which allowed me to franken-slot the Singularity (and save another slot) more to my taste. The net Global recharge bonuses will scale lower; I lose a little on the Singularity's (slotted) recharge but I get it slotted with more control.

 

I also get to keep my franken-slotting and Defense emphasis for Unleash Potential!

 

Oh, BTW... the Singularity is showing a Boosted Soulbound Allegiance Accuracy/Recharge piece. That was just a placeholder. I'll be using a common Essence of Curare Accuracy/Recharge piece from the Hold category at level 50+5 instead. No need to burn INF on that.

 

Edited 16 hours ago by tidge