Grizlee Posted Thursday at 08:50 PM Posted Thursday at 08:50 PM (edited) As the title says, I want to try. Doms always seem interesting to me, but when I try to concoct a build it just seems crap. I've settled on Mind/Fire, I have an idea of a Vigilante sorta guy/gal (not sure at this point as to gender) It seems to me this would be ranged mostly just peepin' the powers for each AT. Perma Dom - this baffles me. I love controllers and seem to have no problem building and running them, am I too blue to run a Dom? I just don't know. Any advice/experience with Mind/Fire? I've love to tap the well of knowledge, if possible. Thank you, as always, for input and advice. Edited Thursday at 08:52 PM by Grizlee 1
Hew Posted Thursday at 08:56 PM Posted Thursday at 08:56 PM (edited) You need a LOT of global recharge to permadom. Generally enough to perma hasten. Extreme builds can make it without hasten, but those are pretty ultra extreme. Rather than worry about permadom, just figure out how they work in general. They aren't easy mode, but if you go 0/2,0/3 solo, or 2/1 solo, you can learn to effectively manage the mobs, controlling the situation enough to walk in and smash their face with fun like seismic smash or the goodness of psy assault which is CRAZY good on doms. Go drain psyche! Melee is the place you operate, whether by locking down from a distance and moving in, or just living in the mix to start with using a lot of soft control. Soft control is exceptionally useful because with the single target melee damage you can pump out (looking at you earth assault), you don't need to keep the guys occupied long to be safe. Edited Thursday at 08:58 PM by Hew 1
twozerofoxtrot Posted Friday at 02:43 AM Posted Friday at 02:43 AM (edited) 5 hours ago, Hew said: You need a LOT of global recharge to permadom. Generally enough to perma hasten. Permadom requires +120 Global Recharge (over baseline 100). Perma Hasten requires slightly over +170. If you can get to Perma Hasten, by default you are at Permadom. So yeah... don't worry about Permadom. Edited Friday at 02:43 AM by twozerofoxtrot 2
Lusiphur Malache Posted Friday at 03:11 AM Posted Friday at 03:11 AM As much as I hate to use them Tough and Weave are friends you want to stay comfortable with. I've seen some strange things happen around doms, I pulled a boss once with a blaster. Boss was charging me when a late arriving dom showed up. Ran right past me to smack the shit out of the dom. Everyone stopped to let out a collective DAMN 1 1
MoonSheep Posted Friday at 09:59 AM Posted Friday at 09:59 AM 12 hours ago, Grizlee said: I've settled on Mind/Fire, I have an idea of a Vigilante sorta guy/gal (not sure at this point as to gender) I love controllers and seem to have no problem building and running them, am I too blue to run a Dom? I just don't know. Any advice/experience with Mind/Fire? I've love to tap the well of knowledge, if possible. hey - i used to main a mind/fire on live and have had it as my main on HC for the last 4.5 years too. it's 1 of the 2 alts i play. it's completed all ouro arcs, TFs, trials, lots of fun on speed runs, 4 star content and all sorts some thoughts if helpful: - you're correct that it's almost entirely ranged which is helpful. incincerate is worth picking up for the lower levels and has reasonable damage - i don't build for defense as it's not needed and reduces its potential. i find i'm not getting much aggro if staying at range and if i am, i can lock things down. i primarily team. i'm also a big fan of insps and regularly stock up - you may find at the start it can feel a bit inert, but it'll build over time. once you're level 30 and have blazing bolt and blaze it really takes off - you'll enjoy confusing enemies which give out debuffs, in order to instead debuff the mobs, and discovering enemies which usually buff their team mates and now buff you. my record is getting 13 stacks of accelerate metabolism from rikti guardians - compared to a controller, playing a dom is like being on a controller and a blaster at the same time. in some teams or battles you'll be primarily a damage dealer if peoples health is staying high and things are manageable - no point firing off controls if it's not needed. in other situations, things will be quite hairy and you'll be looking to lock down the most disruptive enemies before wiping them out. fire has incredible ST damage, i focus mostly on bosses as the rest of the team will quickly remove the minions and luts - any mastery is fine, i wouldn't lose sleep over it. pick whichever you find the most fun - mezmerize slotted for damage is a useful ST psi attack, it's good for things like the minotaurs on ITFs which pop invul - an AoE sleep is more useful than you think. sometimes you want a mob to not get aggroed whilst the team focus on the current battle, or if you've pulled something accidentally you can reduce the aggro - blazing bolt and blaze are two incredible attacks - high damage, short animation times. i'd probably include a second damage proc in blazing bolt if i was going to refresh my build - for incarnate alpha i went with intuition radial paragon. it's a great blend of +dmg, hold duration and range. the latter is especially useful given almost all our powers are ranged - as personal preference, i find having combat jumping is a must. i like being able to move around quickly during battle and it's a handy LoTG +rech mule - the new telekinesis is good for bunching mobs but is a learning curve. i've found using it for around 1 second at a time works best, it groups them up but doesn't push them around everywhere - consider taking vengeance. you can put a LoTG +rech in veng and manuvers. it's fun sometimes to take part in a chaotic battle until someone dies, pop veng, pop an AoE control and then it's smooth sailing - fiery orb is terrible but looks pretty - that's its only use overall it's an incredible combo. one of the top 2 most powerful doms other than plant/energy. i have not been able to play another damage dealer as everything else feels like a downgrade compared to the dom. when i play a blaster i really see the value of being able to lock down enemies, when i play a scrapper it feels like life in slow motion i'll see if i have a mids build, but have put a screenie below for now. it achieves perma dom without always needing to click hasten, which is nice if you want to idle for a bit with domination on autofire 1 1 If you're not dying you're not living
Uun Posted Friday at 04:53 PM Posted Friday at 04:53 PM Mind Control is much better on dominators than controllers. Other than the stronger controls you get with Domination up, you don't have to worry about setting up and maintaining Containment in order to do damage. 3 Uuniverse
tidge Posted Friday at 05:05 PM Posted Friday at 05:05 PM Domination offers three benefits: The Controls are more powerful <- see comments above about which sets this makes a big difference for It offers resistance to controls It refills the Blue Bar Perma-dom is getting domination again, before it expires. If Domination expires, you must refill the domination bar to use it again. You probably know all this but I thought I'd mention it. To get the global recharge necessary for perma-dom, I believe the minimal value is 123%, rounded up, but because it is easy to get 'stuck' in an animation, every little bit above this is useful. Hasten IIRC offers 95% global recharge. Hasten doesn't need to be 'perma' for Dominators. I prefer to achieve perma-dom without Hasten, and also without FF +Recharge pieces, but mileage varies. The disadvantage of my approach is that the slots and set bonuses required to get global recharge for perma-dom aren't feasible until level 50... so taking Hasten while leveling is a reasonable compromise for me. One sly effect of getting high global recharge will be that it becomes easier to spam attacks/controls, which will burn the blue bar faster. Dominators tend to live on the edge of a knife. 3
Grizlee Posted Friday at 07:11 PM Author Posted Friday at 07:11 PM (edited) Thank you kindly for all the great responses. It gave me a lot to consider. I've jumped in and came up with, if nothing else, a starting point. @MoonSheep your obvious expertise with this build in particular is invaluable, but I gotta admit, the def/res numbers scare the crap outta me! I'm an older player (I saw Journey BEFORE Steve Perry joined . . . yeah) with not so great fast twitch any more. I get hit, I miss key powers, and generally make a mess of it from time to time 😄 Taking a few bonks to the noggin' is in my stars so I plan ahead with a bit of a defensive blanket, if that makes any sense at all. Here is my first stab at it: https://api.midsreborn.com/build/download/FFS726AdZX1f8p64 Edited Friday at 07:11 PM by Grizlee 2
Championess Posted Friday at 07:48 PM Posted Friday at 07:48 PM (edited) A few things. Not sure how keen you are on epic pools but dommies tend to have the strongest ones to choose from. Being that your Embrace of Fire beefs up fire attacks it'd make Fireball from the fire pool real strong and you can put some good dmg procs in it. Then you can take the armor and Melt Armor is a nice debuff. Then with Terrify I'd either put a damage set of 5 in it either the purple set or Posi's or if you dont need recharge, procs fire well in it too. You should be looking for damage from that one. I'd likely look to swap around the sets in the confuses, you can get some nice extra layering with the contagious proc. Plus you dont want that damage boosting proc in such a long recharging power. I'd also likely take Levitate and set it with 5 Decimations then you can take TK which works well in combo with it now. As for the pools I'd go speed, concealment, leadership and probably leaping. Edited Friday at 07:49 PM by Championess 2
Grizlee Posted Sunday at 07:35 PM Author Posted Sunday at 07:35 PM (edited) @MoonSheep You mentioned Plant/Energy .. I'm a sucker for energy. I took a stab at building that combo as well, mind perusing it? https://api.midsreborn.com/build/download/FG8bDRCsUiMZOnuQ |MBD;24072;1493;1992;BASE64;| |GwdeIKyKx/lXLKSkJLigx4yXS5GuPVMXUx6NA2F612u3kH2WdvDKkCxdfa3DAtJVp1P| |56mWBtgxQ+kreX2qfVc8e6dyUKZqdnsHS+zaJDBpA3vtombMR8p2Mpe1BFxZjd/dm04| |ujtItrijYp+3l1ByrFQVetCFO6Q0iMD0IiHbNqZ5LuEuEeieLxLipDVT3s/VxBqHmOa| |bf1TK/I6BR9P/nZnARLe/5ZYfcwCpS/QfC6fesyAb+HiG7wShoIeBSaz5jivHzuvMKg| |hVRHI+8FGLdr9W03+2JOSXk8ptaUDJ2xcmijoH52+oLVOscgnMJl7+2AUInH+KQgQcY| |QPJ6IIte9oZJ8Ft/G27Fl0xlzA26kJoJ/Ir7UwpJ77qWWq+dOrTa5AUj1yg10Glruzv| |7yJkYHTW2bmlgr21+q/PR1453R+rK8zxGWF8CamH5sfRj428dL79u6QuwYCAr1iXl0S| |dm46iE29s7v8DYULr3ttN6sAb9Pi2PaiYDV2/BKfTP7uFivnedwMBUmjgn0z1xSw8rA| |GFi63bLfV3uE+FEhj0JnR9NLSt3YCDKkg+ByA4XpCz+vPbT5YOg10A2joE4Hq/zJX4i| |hc6Kv2si8gV9kkxMXILniQhSYjo0juY5bWNjEgZ/watmmfzQMHyUQYGggnnrOmQ5Cb1| |0zf+RsTM2XC5BoKSBNwWD1nttZvXnTcLwq7qf16h3GquW/M22QEmXMMTxU7pXygS2hm| |KPh1y7Rx9N5KbDZykiQi7Y4t62/q/iMoHsalk4kM6vYqUnXKkpOfcTRuazgKwzF1RJ7| |eoCxInM0fF/5RvF7iUN3hLmYiDm06EoJcCFOYIUSUbmsnQZ6Vk027JmGLnJsJ5OgeD5| |FRzS9wRuRS/xDRxYrsB9taQE2RAQEG0cEgoIgV/uwYEg6vuFyDrd7+KihtDFD8gQQTj| |TlFNgEitWroHrmHSlI+GtM0q5BHuYTgGBjyaIpvComdPJi0hJnoYBQzqj4R5vQIYI5S| |EtI6+AinPgKamJvyuZs+DUbYRHH2G3IOdsZAzamDNv5P0//ZynXPhAc59ZKuHtqxd4w| |0g1WAeRQd84vqS5/WKeKSeUM5n/SHiv/6g3pAP0Z1mc8UDyZ9X8rv0+7R9tGakfJrvh| |lLSwhjURFdp8ag581GIabQvmGyymcM1f3JraqZeg87NpssA5rn4khDhEqrxua6aHlA8| |CGiLrAxhF1g4uwkbUITh1LiRKn3JhuwURIZb5E4oQAMGlOFWVITlEcn3whOxBaoTv1I| |bCSduoDFyE+gWYFjvvNcBuzvlhq8jXkcsOFf5A+fHwdpyOscJQ3XRUZDs3a/UKKqHwO| |8YTwVMzdoU2nXsCm5eA4c1pa6kOOuhYtsdLmgfxcHMtcYICLsDEksAkoMX3VgROuDpd| |G1CEr+ApqNXUEYWMoNhkLKkgWqE02vcn4nLlnXmFmG16hRrsodNINubF5RWyxolLAFi| |lhS5UwYyMLS97Wiv+fzOGrx2LGBcWVdUG6qZIKNrZCZ8+c46yX5ZCuW+JRJltcrSj0O| |UtqoJlg2D9VwROHZMHuGA+kGr0b/zY/+mw9d9YdT792KR6AYsDmdWKLdeYWjruZ2n1q| |YwXOHTUZpMmrv0KJHR0YG6qdyfqKKdq578QA6A9mP9iB+XAAc+6d+kVrAeEvfc/ollQ| |kf6MY1o3IQOa8kHnheHds30OpYvIu0fwyiH35VjVC3gdVf9tPeEPM4iYq9Qwxy9tT7+| |Bb6zEQWp/MKH9zoamOcIAqZmlabb9YMw3E7/Cv8vyn7nd9lGnGnSDGZ2D+VY8VfcCZH| |qND4NIrlxdq1JalIW2Aw15kznvuvlYGYveUTLdbBhLWGiQU7+u7xaRBqM6+BO0uCcRQ| |v2LT1y3cX71X5pZ4xHX97JOqDpPLbP1zUKAFYG2vC0dlBnvlAm7ZV5j5aJFMeCQki3X| |K8JMIe7ysSZgUtj9PzS8qpA6FFZd0lcFbQo6C5GaqkGZw6G4=| Edited Sunday at 07:37 PM by Grizlee
tidge Posted Sunday at 07:50 PM Posted Sunday at 07:50 PM Without being too critical: pull the 6th slot from Sniper Blast, get the full x6 set of Coercive Persuasion.... the extra defense from the 6th piece is quite nice. Seeds of Confusion doesn't really need the enhancement, but this is not a set to stop at 5 IMO 1
MoonSheep Posted Sunday at 08:03 PM Posted Sunday at 08:03 PM 26 minutes ago, Grizlee said: @MoonSheep You mentioned Plant/Energy .. I'm a sucker for energy. I took a stab at building that combo as well, mind perusing it? https://api.midsreborn.com/build/download/FG8bDRCsUiMZOnuQ |MBD;24072;1493;1992;BASE64;| |GwdeIKyKx/lXLKSkJLigx4yXS5GuPVMXUx6NA2F612u3kH2WdvDKkCxdfa3DAtJVp1P| |56mWBtgxQ+kreX2qfVc8e6dyUKZqdnsHS+zaJDBpA3vtombMR8p2Mpe1BFxZjd/dm04| |ujtItrijYp+3l1ByrFQVetCFO6Q0iMD0IiHbNqZ5LuEuEeieLxLipDVT3s/VxBqHmOa| |bf1TK/I6BR9P/nZnARLe/5ZYfcwCpS/QfC6fesyAb+HiG7wShoIeBSaz5jivHzuvMKg| |hVRHI+8FGLdr9W03+2JOSXk8ptaUDJ2xcmijoH52+oLVOscgnMJl7+2AUInH+KQgQcY| |QPJ6IIte9oZJ8Ft/G27Fl0xlzA26kJoJ/Ir7UwpJ77qWWq+dOrTa5AUj1yg10Glruzv| |7yJkYHTW2bmlgr21+q/PR1453R+rK8zxGWF8CamH5sfRj428dL79u6QuwYCAr1iXl0S| |dm46iE29s7v8DYULr3ttN6sAb9Pi2PaiYDV2/BKfTP7uFivnedwMBUmjgn0z1xSw8rA| |GFi63bLfV3uE+FEhj0JnR9NLSt3YCDKkg+ByA4XpCz+vPbT5YOg10A2joE4Hq/zJX4i| |hc6Kv2si8gV9kkxMXILniQhSYjo0juY5bWNjEgZ/watmmfzQMHyUQYGggnnrOmQ5Cb1| |0zf+RsTM2XC5BoKSBNwWD1nttZvXnTcLwq7qf16h3GquW/M22QEmXMMTxU7pXygS2hm| |KPh1y7Rx9N5KbDZykiQi7Y4t62/q/iMoHsalk4kM6vYqUnXKkpOfcTRuazgKwzF1RJ7| |eoCxInM0fF/5RvF7iUN3hLmYiDm06EoJcCFOYIUSUbmsnQZ6Vk027JmGLnJsJ5OgeD5| |FRzS9wRuRS/xDRxYrsB9taQE2RAQEG0cEgoIgV/uwYEg6vuFyDrd7+KihtDFD8gQQTj| |TlFNgEitWroHrmHSlI+GtM0q5BHuYTgGBjyaIpvComdPJi0hJnoYBQzqj4R5vQIYI5S| |EtI6+AinPgKamJvyuZs+DUbYRHH2G3IOdsZAzamDNv5P0//ZynXPhAc59ZKuHtqxd4w| |0g1WAeRQd84vqS5/WKeKSeUM5n/SHiv/6g3pAP0Z1mc8UDyZ9X8rv0+7R9tGakfJrvh| |lLSwhjURFdp8ag581GIabQvmGyymcM1f3JraqZeg87NpssA5rn4khDhEqrxua6aHlA8| |CGiLrAxhF1g4uwkbUITh1LiRKn3JhuwURIZb5E4oQAMGlOFWVITlEcn3whOxBaoTv1I| |bCSduoDFyE+gWYFjvvNcBuzvlhq8jXkcsOFf5A+fHwdpyOscJQ3XRUZDs3a/UKKqHwO| |8YTwVMzdoU2nXsCm5eA4c1pa6kOOuhYtsdLmgfxcHMtcYICLsDEksAkoMX3VgROuDpd| |G1CEr+ApqNXUEYWMoNhkLKkgWqE02vcn4nLlnXmFmG16hRrsodNINubF5RWyxolLAFi| |lhS5UwYyMLS97Wiv+fzOGrx2LGBcWVdUG6qZIKNrZCZ8+c46yX5ZCuW+JRJltcrSj0O| |UtqoJlg2D9VwROHZMHuGA+kGr0b/zY/+mw9d9YdT792KR6AYsDmdWKLdeYWjruZ2n1q| |YwXOHTUZpMmrv0KJHR0YG6qdyfqKKdq578QA6A9mP9iB+XAAc+6d+kVrAeEvfc/ollQ| |kf6MY1o3IQOa8kHnheHds30OpYvIu0fwyiH35VjVC3gdVf9tPeEPM4iYq9Qwxy9tT7+| |Bb6zEQWp/MKH9zoamOcIAqZmlabb9YMw3E7/Cv8vyn7nd9lGnGnSDGZ2D+VY8VfcCZH| |qND4NIrlxdq1JalIW2Aw15kznvuvlYGYveUTLdbBhLWGiQU7+u7xaRBqM6+BO0uCcRQ| |v2LT1y3cX71X5pZ4xHX97JOqDpPLbP1zUKAFYG2vC0dlBnvlAm7ZV5j5aJFMeCQki3X| |K8JMIe7ysSZgUtj9PzS8qpA6FFZd0lcFbQo6C5GaqkGZw6G4=| i’ll ask @Mezmera for this thoughts - our resident energy fanboy 2 If you're not dying you're not living
Mezmera Posted Monday at 09:02 AM Posted Monday at 09:02 AM (edited) Okay for Energy you're going to want to take Bone Smasher, Total Focus, Snipe, Power Burst and Power Up. Everything else is meh in comparison. If you want aoe don't take Whirling Hands, the epic pools have some nasty aoe powers in them. Total Focus puts you into a 100% guaranteed Energy Release which you always will want to follow up with Burst. TF, Burst and Snipe are an amazing 3-piece combo, you won't want to use anything else. Plus they are also highly proccable. I have 3 Heca's w/proc, 2 more melee procs and the Dommie +Dmg ATO in Total Focus. Snipe is half setted with Manticore then 3 more procs, you can also put the decimation proc in here it'll fire decently. Then I have Burst with 3 *Apocs* w/proc 2 more procs and then you can do a dmg/acc HO or just an acc IO or FF proc. As for Bone Smasher you'll rarely use it but it's still decent melee damage you can either proc out or if you need a purple set you can slot the stun set here. You can manipulate the enhanced recharge some on Total Focus and maybe the Snipe but you'll want to leave Burst with no added recharge, as a dom you're aiming to build for high recharge to achieve permadom which that global recharge will feed into your best attacks so not much need to go ruining ideal proc rates on your powers. For all of my aoe needs on my Energy dommies I typically go with Soul Mastery for Soul Drain, Dark Obliteration, Dark Consumption and Dark Embrace. You're getting a nasty highly proccable power in Dark Obliteration. Soul Drain is your very own Fulcrum Shift but it also nets you lots of +tohitt and does good damage to the enemies, too bad they lowered the radius but still decent. Dark Consumption is a nice utility power I like to have to fix any endurance issues when I'm far off from Domination and drained most of my endurance, 2-3 targets will fill you right back up so this'll let you go ham as you please, plus it does some damage and is highly proccable so yet another place to draw more aoe dmg from, rather small radius though so keep that in mind. Then the armor is very nice to have. Edited yesterday at 05:35 AM by Mezmera 2 1
Grizlee Posted yesterday at 05:42 AM Author Posted yesterday at 05:42 AM (edited) 20 hours ago, Mezmera said: Okay for Energy you're going to want to take Bone Smasher, Total Focus, Snipe, Power Burst and Power Up. Everything else is meh in comparison. If you want aoe don't take Whirling Hands, the epic pools have some nasty aoe powers in them. Total Focus puts you into a 100% guaranteed Energy Release which you always will want to follow up with Burst. TF, Burst and Snipe are an amazing 3-piece combo, you won't want to use anything else. Plus they are also highly proccable. I have 3 Heca's w/proc, 2 more melee procs and the Dommie +Dmg ATO in Total Focus. Snipe is half setted with Manticore then 3 more procs, you can also put the decimation proc in here it'll fire decently. Then I have Burst with 3 *Apocs* w/proc 2 more procs and then you can do a dmg/acc HO or just an acc IO or FF proc. As for Bone Smasher you'll rarely use it but it's still decent melee damage you can either proc out or if you need a purple set you can slot the stun set here. You can manipulate the enhanced recharge some on Total Focus and maybe the Snipe but you'll want to leave Burst with no added recharge, as a dom you're aiming to build for high recharge to achieve permadom which that global recharge will feed into your best attacks so not much need to go ruining ideal proc rates on your powers. For all of my aoe needs on my Energy dommies I typically go with Soul Mastery for Soul Drain, Dark Obliteration, Dark Consumption and Dark Embrace. You're getting a nasty highly proccable power in Dark Obliteration. Soul Drain is your very own Fulcrum Shift but it also nets you lots of +tohitt and does good damage to the enemies, too bad they lowered the radius but still decent. Dark Consumption is a nice utility power I like to have to fix any endurance issues when I'm far off from Domination and drained most of my endurance, 2-3 targets will fill you right back up so this'll let you go ham as you please, plus it does some damage and is highly proccable so yet another place to draw more aoe dmg from, rather small radius though so keep that in mind. Then the armor is very nice to have. A lot of great info here, it's much appreciated! I have a question though, about Whirling Hands. Why do you not use it right behind Total Focus? It's two instant AOE's (part of it's special function) since you are in melee range it seems this would be a totally broken combo since Whirling Hands gets access to amazing procs. So (melee ST) TF --> (melee AOE) WH --> (melee AOE) WH (instantly). Edited yesterday at 05:45 AM by Grizlee 1
jprewitt73 Posted 23 hours ago Posted 23 hours ago On 1/16/2025 at 10:11 PM, Lusiphur Malache said: As much as I hate to use them Tough and Weave are friends you want to stay comfortable with. I've seen some strange things happen around doms, I pulled a boss once with a blaster. Boss was charging me when a late arriving dom showed up. Ran right past me to smack the shit out of the dom. Everyone stopped to let out a collective DAMN I'll offer a voice of dissent here (along with a laugh. Mobs HATE Doms). I used to have the same thought process about Tough and Weave. "I want to be tough and fight the big boys!" Great mindset to have, but you don't have to have high resistance and defense to do so. ESPECIALLY on a Mind Dom. Multiple group controls make it very easy to lock down and wander in while melting everything in your path. I have a Mind/Fire that I main. I haven't played anything else for 3 months. I log in to the same character, run missions, groups, exemp down, TFs, SFs, whatever. I did end up with a decent amount of defense, but it wasn't something I had initially planned for. It kind of just happened. Here is my build for reference if anyone wants to take a look at it. |MBD;23563;1397;1864;BASE64;| |GwpcEdWbGoCWB9zcOImSM5w9OIgOtFT9r+NWj0Kja0ehHvkBtTVdRvROZzTPQEEdTIz| |1fprevPX63/scU4uePRajiClZuvpahwWkK7gDz5cVYqqWVb3yda7a3FsTtDSOeUeRAk| |kn8ALx/9svPVGJjYuQES5C43y3X9gY+2EmDA6hCG+XVUCRam0VoG81kPNb7XZGzX2lP| |1ujWtWsMK6yICJsBvi42bBOvPQ6HsWiUKno85ustRpXRr7tYvewFpnf0Gg6jTDwi4gY| |IyxxLNDDyAnDsvgKRRmOUUOq2+wT5O6J5uMxqvOZ5/K4j/+dIiZJlsA70kCbn7C6j5Q| |MG8WiErgNqP6IPaIMctdvVDbPmQ9SKvZtylVqc7B1JPkfxLcTQdyPE62zDU4cW2xSPp| |Falro5sCxvKX+il/XalljSt9VB5pdK70DPn/MYSb7cnAdCGhML7gfylCHOKVDK427kR| |MgDLc4vX6ri+g+X6FfCdrzw7i3L7hCdt8h838cZSjsRsPqtXvk3Me5Pq2uXc+5zNCo4| |lWAq86y6L02aAosTbiNfRoa6kqcMN1IDvJg2Hi16enWxLa6HvDfSL0Bp80nfO8QnrEW| |dTl7qF36zVdbCuPSwzrv/u0VzXtmitt1ORDmQTy0VfBQGjeBQsTLtLsl+lz0Hy6PQh4| |6jvCvxQRBKafhlhKrLMOjpxuywAet3W3/v/wTlscpOhWEBsnr4aiAoItHdDqawWnw9G| |LDUxLRLc9cmnzsXdXDUpevbrgl2eI0FFcF/+cFzV+xLiL3HcQsJYDxWXUitcfDx8ePK| |B9zNFIL3/4oc0eUTdBB5cYobAQtObGYJirDgYbZAMQnodgKiz4BuTQLE+2Nc5y1uEJx| |/neMpFW5JVM6q7I64R2YY4vFxKmCMx89Z6GPPeSzGEYxUscWxSWeqgMvtcbnxd86Ay6| |/TrU+9dqS0xHwSGOGp+CxQjJ9TWk9JHI/e1VZr5Pnr8iiY+Gt4jCUZLNBtbE8XqB6+T| |c6CRSmwWwHBnrhYljVZl1aJapTegPJ5uOce3PGKvKWL4Y3o7PNlkWkONat7SLzUAQfB| |Gf9MMyHchIHsT60OoOok2DGio5Bk6IAp7HhQTDJc8JJapbzNmTTvZZ6Sd+5SpJi6Ox5| |1GRcHSZ9yaYHFZlbAFN7DqzFN9fHwhwg57ooDGARz5VCZK7Gke9ZgvzMJexskOLuCXQ| |JjvF+eUklBKbGk2TEMq0C4PkeURc32pVsXWOus6ICNaZVWEsDILQI69aC7bWpSh7sKp| |YWuOJo3K8tm0lINEFCuhOz/ic0sgRHeP7MFivHdMc6C7wKVH230cbo+u0tIMaF2l/vJ| |sLNDk9X2kqAWnF3CroAxNgiUwv8plqz2owtbwJoi5VNaLlVTompK+CubU2IcY+QN+UX| |NS0sGtPoCBguYD8AKuV67OjokkyKks5ppgCqq0e72W2tSmTkVMMbj4yxE1UmD3BCsSc| |/jmCap28pO+ANGiOlxD5xmBCNoq/6SXW5uDTh6QvKfY6veXTcpdm9g/Lvyk/h77Qnn4| |viSKkN2sQVYl75bly6P6axNiu3myx/GQP9X1PdrhGVRsFjAGK+Ws3ABzOQUOZx3G8O/| |9Af7AFu/ddinVf/L4Xt8cMKzrqLtsL+vIPjL6AKPg7PITmLuzQM6awEbQ3lIWvTngEO| |/DKKkHt4+yX5lC/0KYL4C/9YM/lJZ87cXR1OiiGnU1Cu+oircxy9yDwy2gvynf/5T95| |ccZQbRpagFxOwxWVPPK4bChV/3WnsnVULNvDmLDht38AxYgW+e/pbgrhAVQeleW3fxF| |GNH7WD30xev12oKtALEhkfHsA/iPHS/whCPLOHKCGdRmyxI7KKfsQY=| 2 1
tidge Posted 22 hours ago Posted 22 hours ago I'm in agreement that the Fighting pool being chosen for Tough/Weave is something of old-school thinking, at least for me. In the Homecoming era, now that enhancement sets (of all types) are easy to get (via Inf, via Merits) I look for opportunities to mule(*1) the +3% Defense pieces, the +5% Resistance piece, the Scaling Damage Resistance piece, etc... and having to take a pre-req power (Boxing, Kick) that I'm unlikely to use seems like such a waste of a power pick to me. I certainly have characters that have taken this path, but it is almost never my first choice. Tough in particular is something I find to be weak sauce when used as a toggle. The changes to damage typing have made the old-school approach to "maximize Smashing/Lethal" much less important than they once were. I'm not swayed by the casual "but most enemies do Smashing/Lethal" arguments... that sort of thinking can serve someone who only plays specific content I suppose, but nobody gets XP/Inf/Drops from just reducing incoming damage. (*1) Some Epic/Patron pools (for Doms) require a pre-requisite before being able to choose a "mule" Defense/Resistance powers, some do not. The two non-Patron pools that I particularly like for Dominators are: Fire Mastery: <- I am not crazy about either of the level 35 picks, but either can be used to hold an enhancement set (for recharge bonuses) and neither is embarassing... my complaint is simply that level 35 is a long time to wait for such a power! The final three picks are excellent, and IMO Rise of the Phoenix will be more useful than Tough/Weave (for a Dom). Psionic Mastery: Because the first three powers are good mules in addition to being good powers. Link Minds at 35 is sooo much better than Tough/Weave! I like the powers in Ice Mastery, but I've never taken it on a Dominator. The other sets have things to offer, but I have that bias against waiting until level 35+ to get (more) offense, so sets heavy with attacks are less appealing to me. 4
Championess Posted 19 hours ago Posted 19 hours ago (edited) 12 hours ago, Grizlee said: A lot of great info here, it's much appreciated! I have a question though, about Whirling Hands. Why do you not use it right behind Total Focus? It's two instant AOE's (part of it's special function) since you are in melee range it seems this would be a totally broken combo since Whirling Hands gets access to amazing procs. So (melee ST) TF --> (melee AOE) WH --> (melee AOE) WH (instantly). You're better served using the release to maintain great ST damage by using a Power Burst follow up to finish things off. When they first revamped NRG and Whirling did double damage with the release sure that was worth using but there was a 10s lockout on the mechanic. When they removed the lockout Whirling woulda been too good so they nerfed what Whirling did. The lockout removal gave Power Burst alltime top tier ST damage using the release. So I'd save my release for Burst and look at other powers for aoe. I adapted and looked in comparison at Whirling to aoe you could pull from epic pools. If you look at Dark Obliteration for instance it has a much higher target count, spread, range and faster animation for near the same damage per target plus you can load 4 damage procs into it with a high fire rate. You can do far more with an epic aoe blast than you can pull from Whirling. Then dipping further into Soul you can take Soul Drain which deals near the same damage and concept as Whirling but then it also gives you a hefty buff for 30s on your follow up damage. Comparing and contrasting ended up having me lean harder into epic powers to fill in for aoe damage. Edited 19 hours ago by Championess 2
Championess Posted 19 hours ago Posted 19 hours ago On the topic of Tough/Weave yeah I kind of agree its a bit old school. Sure if you're needing a resistance armor to slot resistance uniques and dont plan to use a resist based epic armor I could see taking Tough/Weave for some mules. My set in stone pool powers on most doms are Speed, Leadership and Concealment. Last one varies but typically Leaping or maybe Force of Will if I have a powerboosting ability I can use for Unleash Potential. 2
Grizlee Posted 18 hours ago Author Posted 18 hours ago (edited) I get the idea that not needing defense is as big an issue with a Dom in particular, when played right, or even well. My personal experience, and physical abilities make that much more difficult, so I build for getting hit and being able to endure my short-comings. Also as a builder I abhor inefficiencies in a game. Getting 1.5% more damage vrs losing 5-6% defense is something I don't do. CoH in general has more offensive powers than you can fit in a efficient rotation. Everything that is outside the rotation is utility or niche. I would rather be more balanced in my build approach instead of damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead! Outside the ATF's for badges, I am solo, perhaps 90% of the time. That, in itself, is a decidedly big drop in my potential as I need to be an army of one ( and for me that is really a reach even at the best of times these days! 😄 ) I love the sharing and guiding of these forums, that's very much appreciated and is giving me ( and others, I'm certain! ) a better understanding of the mechanics and the "why". I share to mainly show my process and growth, and let's face it, who doesn't like a little "atta boy!" from the teacher? 🙂 In the end it may not be "What you would do" but make no mistake it is influenced by what you would do. Edited 18 hours ago by Grizlee Typo madness! 2
Grizlee Posted 18 hours ago Author Posted 18 hours ago 4 hours ago, jprewitt73 said: I'll offer a voice of dissent here (along with a laugh. Mobs HATE Doms). I used to have the same thought process about Tough and Weave. "I want to be tough and fight the big boys!" Great mindset to have, but you don't have to have high resistance and defense to do so. ESPECIALLY on a Mind Dom. Multiple group controls make it very easy to lock down and wander in while melting everything in your path. I have a Mind/Fire that I main. I haven't played anything else for 3 months. I log in to the same character, run missions, groups, exemp down, TFs, SFs, whatever. I did end up with a decent amount of defense, but it wasn't something I had initially planned for. It kind of just happened. Here is my build for reference if anyone wants to take a look at it. |MBD;23563;1397;1864;BASE64;| |GwpcEdWbGoCWB9zcOImSM5w9OIgOtFT9r+NWj0Kja0ehHvkBtTVdRvROZzTPQEEdTIz| |1fprevPX63/scU4uePRajiClZuvpahwWkK7gDz5cVYqqWVb3yda7a3FsTtDSOeUeRAk| |kn8ALx/9svPVGJjYuQES5C43y3X9gY+2EmDA6hCG+XVUCRam0VoG81kPNb7XZGzX2lP| |1ujWtWsMK6yICJsBvi42bBOvPQ6HsWiUKno85ustRpXRr7tYvewFpnf0Gg6jTDwi4gY| |IyxxLNDDyAnDsvgKRRmOUUOq2+wT5O6J5uMxqvOZ5/K4j/+dIiZJlsA70kCbn7C6j5Q| |MG8WiErgNqP6IPaIMctdvVDbPmQ9SKvZtylVqc7B1JPkfxLcTQdyPE62zDU4cW2xSPp| |Falro5sCxvKX+il/XalljSt9VB5pdK70DPn/MYSb7cnAdCGhML7gfylCHOKVDK427kR| |MgDLc4vX6ri+g+X6FfCdrzw7i3L7hCdt8h838cZSjsRsPqtXvk3Me5Pq2uXc+5zNCo4| |lWAq86y6L02aAosTbiNfRoa6kqcMN1IDvJg2Hi16enWxLa6HvDfSL0Bp80nfO8QnrEW| |dTl7qF36zVdbCuPSwzrv/u0VzXtmitt1ORDmQTy0VfBQGjeBQsTLtLsl+lz0Hy6PQh4| |6jvCvxQRBKafhlhKrLMOjpxuywAet3W3/v/wTlscpOhWEBsnr4aiAoItHdDqawWnw9G| |LDUxLRLc9cmnzsXdXDUpevbrgl2eI0FFcF/+cFzV+xLiL3HcQsJYDxWXUitcfDx8ePK| |B9zNFIL3/4oc0eUTdBB5cYobAQtObGYJirDgYbZAMQnodgKiz4BuTQLE+2Nc5y1uEJx| |/neMpFW5JVM6q7I64R2YY4vFxKmCMx89Z6GPPeSzGEYxUscWxSWeqgMvtcbnxd86Ay6| |/TrU+9dqS0xHwSGOGp+CxQjJ9TWk9JHI/e1VZr5Pnr8iiY+Gt4jCUZLNBtbE8XqB6+T| |c6CRSmwWwHBnrhYljVZl1aJapTegPJ5uOce3PGKvKWL4Y3o7PNlkWkONat7SLzUAQfB| |Gf9MMyHchIHsT60OoOok2DGio5Bk6IAp7HhQTDJc8JJapbzNmTTvZZ6Sd+5SpJi6Ox5| |1GRcHSZ9yaYHFZlbAFN7DqzFN9fHwhwg57ooDGARz5VCZK7Gke9ZgvzMJexskOLuCXQ| |JjvF+eUklBKbGk2TEMq0C4PkeURc32pVsXWOus6ICNaZVWEsDILQI69aC7bWpSh7sKp| |YWuOJo3K8tm0lINEFCuhOz/ic0sgRHeP7MFivHdMc6C7wKVH230cbo+u0tIMaF2l/vJ| |sLNDk9X2kqAWnF3CroAxNgiUwv8plqz2owtbwJoi5VNaLlVTompK+CubU2IcY+QN+UX| |NS0sGtPoCBguYD8AKuV67OjokkyKks5ppgCqq0e72W2tSmTkVMMbj4yxE1UmD3BCsSc| |/jmCap28pO+ANGiOlxD5xmBCNoq/6SXW5uDTh6QvKfY6veXTcpdm9g/Lvyk/h77Qnn4| |viSKkN2sQVYl75bly6P6axNiu3myx/GQP9X1PdrhGVRsFjAGK+Ws3ABzOQUOZx3G8O/| |9Af7AFu/ddinVf/L4Xt8cMKzrqLtsL+vIPjL6AKPg7PITmLuzQM6awEbQ3lIWvTngEO| |/DKKkHt4+yX5lC/0KYL4C/9YM/lJZ87cXR1OiiGnU1Cu+oircxy9yDwy2gvynf/5T95| |ccZQbRpagFxOwxWVPPK4bChV/3WnsnVULNvDmLDht38AxYgW+e/pbgrhAVQeleW3fxF| |GNH7WD30xev12oKtALEhkfHsA/iPHS/whCPLOHKCGdRmyxI7KKfsQY=| It looks like you planned for 45 Ranged defense and recharge at the exclusion of all else. Is this not the case?
Championess Posted 18 hours ago Posted 18 hours ago If you're needing defense but not always my doms typically take Unleash Potential since they can power boost it for 31 defense to all for a minute. Very handy in spurts and if you're building a high global recharge animal like a dom it recharges quite frequent for good use. 3
Onlyasandwich Posted 18 hours ago Posted 18 hours ago (edited) 48 minutes ago, Championess said: Unleash Potential For sure, don't sleep on Unleash! Often times all I need on a dom is something to keep me rolling when things get messy. I can lean on control most of the time, but if I smell a mess, I can pop unleash to smooth things out. Rune also works for this to some degree. The difference in damage when damning the torpedoes and going for proc-focused offense is pretty big, especially for single target powers and proc worthy controls. That being said, I definitely have doms that are a challenge to solo because of my general avoidance of a softcap focus! Part of what I like is that it forces me to consider my engagements more carefully, and gives me a taste of danger, while being a more effective cannon on teams. However, this isn't for everyone! Going ranged softcap is absolutely easier to solo in the majority of content. Edited 17 hours ago by Onlyasandwich 3
jprewitt73 Posted 17 hours ago Posted 17 hours ago 55 minutes ago, Grizlee said: It looks like you planned for 45 Ranged defense and recharge at the exclusion of all else. Is this not the case? I initially only planned for recharge. I decided, once I had a decent (cheap) build that it was good enough for me. After looking at my stats I realized I had over 30% ranged defense almost completely on accident. So, I tweaked the build and added additional ranged defense to get me closer to soft cap. I'm using stealth, so most of the defense suppresses during fights, so I'm not actually at the cap. I find it doesn't matter much though since I'll just pop a purple if I pull too much aggro and all my controls have been used (I can count the number of times this has happened in months on one hand though). 1
Caimie Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago (edited) 5 hours ago, tidge said: I'm in agreement that the Fighting pool being chosen for Tough/Weave is something of old-school thinking, at least for me. In the Homecoming era, now that enhancement sets (of all types) are easy to get (via Inf, via Merits) I look for opportunities to mule(*1) the +3% Defense pieces, the +5% Resistance piece, the Scaling Damage Resistance piece, etc... and having to take a pre-req power (Boxing, Kick) that I'm unlikely to use seems like such a waste of a power pick to me. I certainly have characters that have taken this path, but it is almost never my first choice. Tough in particular is something I find to be weak sauce when used as a toggle. The changes to damage typing have made the old-school approach to "maximize Smashing/Lethal" much less important than they once were. I'm not swayed by the casual "but most enemies do Smashing/Lethal" arguments... that sort of thinking can serve someone who only plays specific content I suppose, but nobody gets XP/Inf/Drops from just reducing incoming damage. (*1) Some Epic/Patron pools (for Doms) require a pre-requisite before being able to choose a "mule" Defense/Resistance powers, some do not. The two non-Patron pools that I particularly like for Dominators are: Fire Mastery: <- I am not crazy about either of the level 35 picks, but either can be used to hold an enhancement set (for recharge bonuses) and neither is embarassing... my complaint is simply that level 35 is a long time to wait for such a power! The final three picks are excellent, and IMO Rise of the Phoenix will be more useful than Tough/Weave (for a Dom). Psionic Mastery: Because the first three powers are good mules in addition to being good powers. Link Minds at 35 is sooo much better than Tough/Weave! I like the powers in Ice Mastery, but I've never taken it on a Dominator. The other sets have things to offer, but I have that bias against waiting until level 35+ to get (more) offense, so sets heavy with attacks are less appealing to me. Old habits are hard to break for some, when it comes to Dominator builds. I'll admit that back on Live my Dominators had the Fighting Pool because the mind-set then was it gave us more survival. Since returning, I've even had people private message me, after looking at one of my Dominator's I.D/info, and ask why I'd gimp myself by not taking Fighting pool...if they only knew the truth. Since I've returned, only a couple of my Dominators have the Fighting pool, but I never toggle on the powers, they're just mules for IO set bonus or Unique IO's. In reality, Tough and Weave provide no more survivability than a thought out build taking advantage of IO set bonuses and using your Mez/Control powers to lock down enemies. My builds tend to focus on getting the +recharge needed for Perma-Dom (as close as possible before Hasten) and set bonuses that give +Hit Points. My mainstay Pool powers are Speed, Leadership and Leaping for Combat Jumping with the 4th depending on what I may need as a possible LotG Global recharge mule. I hated Super Speed on Live, but now using it with Athletic Run & Combat Jumping combo the mobility is actually good and you can just grab the Jump pack from the Start vendor to get to the much higher places. There's also the benefit of being able to slot a Unique stealth IO into CJ to give you fairly decent stealth with SSpeed. I never use Sprint, even if it is a 'free' slot for the Unique Stealth. As far as non-Patron pools, Psionic Mastery and Ice Mastery are my go to pools. Psionic has multiple powers that can mule the LotG Global recharge and that's why I mainly take it. The Ice pool has a toggle heal (Hibernate) that you can slap the Power Transfer or Preventive Medicine Unique into, the shield can mule IO's for Endurance discount (LotG Global recharge and other Unique IOs, also) and Ice storm and Sleet are pretty decent on Doms. Hoarfrost is skippable, but if anything it can mule the Preventative Unique if that one isn't used in Hibernate. Edited 16 hours ago by Caimie 2
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