Interested in finally trying a Dom - Slightly intimidated, if I'm honest!

[Grizlee]

Whoooo boy, this was an interesting rebuild! 

 

Let's see how it goes 😄

 

 

 

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[Championess]

Yeah that's how I'd slot Total Focus and Power Burst.  Perfectly reasonable to slot the Manticore set into Snipe, though you could probably trim a slot since you'll want that recharge bonus at 5.  I'd swap around Arma to Soul Drain, you'll use Soul much more often and for good reason.  Dark Consumption is an endurance fix and oh look some extra aoe dmg if I need it.  Dark Obliteration is the one I'd change most.  It fits 4 dmg procs which I slot them all plus a Bombardment Dmg and Posi Acc/Dmg 50+5.  Oblit is a bread and butter attack.

 

One other thing I do is with Unleash.  I slot 4 of Shield Walls all the ones with recharge and the unique and also a lotg.  I like to have this recharge as fast as I can get it.

Edited 14 hours ago by Championess

[Championess]

I'd trim some slots off of CJ, Manuevers and Tactics.  I'd put just the lotgs in the two and a 53 HO in Tactics.  I also on my sixth slot of Soul Drain add the Gaussian proc.

[Grizlee]

41 minutes ago, Championess said:

Yeah that's how I'd slot Total Focus and Power Burst.  Perfectly reasonable to slot the Manticore set into Snipe, though you could probably trim a slot since you'll want that recharge bonus at 5.  I'd swap around Arma to Soul Drain, you'll use Soul much more often and for good reason.  Dark Consumption is an endurance fix and oh look some extra aoe dmg if I need it.  Dark Obliteration is the one I'd change most.  It fits 4 dmg procs which I slot them all plus a Bombardment Dmg and Posi Acc/Dmg 50+5.  Oblit is a bread and butter attack.

 

One other thing I do is with Unleash.  I slot 4 of Shield Walls all the ones with recharge and the unique and also a lotg.  I like to have this recharge as fast as I can get it.

 

I've tried to find the 4 damage procs and I can only find 3, total; Posi (energy) - Bombardment (fire) - Cloud Sense (negative). The rest are either Debuff or a buff of some sort. Where can I find the others please?

[Championess]

1 minute ago, Grizlee said:

 

I've tried to find the 4 damage procs and I can only find 3, total; Posi (energy) - Bombardment (fire) - Cloud Sense (negative). The rest are either Debuff or a buff of some sort. Where can I find the others please?

 

Javelin the pvp one

[Grizlee]

1 minute ago, Championess said:

 

Javelin the pvp one

 

SON-OF-A !!!! It's the very first in the series ... I always look at the end! !  Thanks for that 😄  ( makes an eye dr. appointment . . . )

[UltraAlt]

On 1/16/2025 at 3:50 PM, Grizlee said:

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 can never tell if someone is going to create a character to play the game or if the intent is to simply power level to 50 and then "install" a build.

 

These are two very different routes and modes of play.

 

Myself, I not planning on power-leveling and then picking powers.

I'm creating a character to play that character through the game (leveling content) and pick powers as I go. I also pick the powers based on character conception as much as possible and on where they seem to be lacking as they level. I'm going to throw in power pools that work toward the character conception as I feel that I'm able to do so.

 

On my dominators, I'm not worried about perma-dom.

I generally save it for boss fights once I'm low on end.

 

Honestly, on some of my doms I do a costume change when I set off domination - keep the macro in the tray directly next to the domination button.

... but I'm playing for character conception and the comic book action ... and not for the end-game.

[Grizlee]

 I'm always a character forward player in CoH. That doesn't mean I want to ignore the build, however 🙂  I spend as much time as I need to create a costume ( I usually have an idea going in, what the "story" with them is going to be, and that drives the powers choices as well as the costume choices ) I don't power level. In point of fact, I put exp on hold to make sure I get all the badges and story arcs done in a zone that I want. As an example I will always go Savior of Atlas, the horrible Shinning Star line (( OHHhhh how I dislike that group of people, except Dillo, he's the goods )) I do the Kings Row Superdine as well during this time pausing my level at 10 so I can get  Eagle Eye. I grab the Hollows missions during this time to and get it advanced to Flux so I can solo Frostfire. 

[Championess]

Yeah dommies need to be played to fully embrace their playstyle and identify the powers you like most.  They are late bloomers getting all their best attacks later so it can be a little bit of a slog early on.  I'm used to all the ATs so I dont mind getting to 30 right fast then I'll kit it and play them from there.  30+ you can get a feel for it as you level.

[Grizlee]

Ok, once more into the breach! I played 12 levels with Bone Smasher ... and didn't like it much. I prefer the stand off of Power Bolt, especially at lower levels. Oddly I LOVE Bone Smasher on my melee toons. It is what it is, the powers need to serve the build as well as my play style.

 

 

 

https://api.midsreborn.com/build/download/FGpOsrdqSTH2DoQZ

 

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Edited 13 hours ago by Grizlee

[Championess]

The armor I'd slot different.  You wont need the 3pts of kb resist from gladiators seeing how permadoms have some of the best mez protection money can buy.  I like to slot that armor with 4 Unbreakable Guards to get the melee defense and hp unique, then I slot the Steadfast and Gladiators uniques.  

 

For Dark Obliteration your last slot is a pure damage IO.  Why not just use the pure dmg IO from Bombardment and pick up the range bonus.

[Grizlee]

6 minutes ago, Championess said:

The armor I'd slot different.  You wont need the 3pts of kb resist from gladiators seeing how permadoms have some of the best mez protection money can buy.  I like to slot that armor with 4 Unbreakable Guards to get the melee defense and hp unique, then I slot the Steadfast and Gladiators uniques.  

 

For Dark Obliteration your last slot is a pure damage IO.  Why not just use the pure dmg IO from Bombardment and pick up the range bonus.

 

A tad more damage vrs a tad more range. As one of the heavy hitters is melee I opted for a tad more damage being the more consistently used upgrade.

 

[Caimie]

36 minutes ago, Grizlee said:

 

A tad more damage vrs a tad more range. As one of the heavy hitters is melee I opted for a tad more damage being the more consistently used upgrade.

 

Ok, I've noticed a few things, so I took your build and tweaked it.  There are some useful Unique IOs missing.

 

First off, it's not going to please everyone and I'll give a brief explanation to some tweaks.  Also, everyone builds differently, be it concept, role-play and so on. 

 

Assault is a wasted power pick, it's damage boost is pretty pathetic for the end cost.

 

Carrion Creepers is a defining power of Plant/ and can be loaded with Procs.

 

Spore burst isn't all that useful with how Plant/ is set up..there are better Power picks.

 

Quite honestly, I find  Force of Will Pool underwhelming and not worth the choice on Dominators.  It's proposed benefits aren't that useful and situational at best, but I'll leave that up to you.  I swapped it out for Concealment, which can be useful, even with your Stealth IO in Sprint, and it can also mule LotG +recharges.

 

One thing everyone is going to nit-pick is how Combat Jumping is slotted.  It's no different than slotting those IOs in Manuvers, a Defense armor and so on.  Oh, and the Knockback IO in it helps all around, especially when you exemp down for WST's and such. 

 

Is it needed? not really, but I just removed the one you had in the Armor and placed it there. (I have it in all my Doms and it's there just in case)

 

The build attached is your build with my tweaks.  It's comparable in stats, has higher Hit Points, fairly exemplar friendly.

Slammin' Sammy [Dominator] (Plant Control - Energy Assault).mbd

[Grizlee]

It's an interesting version @Caimie. I appreciate you sharing it. I have always slotted Combat Jumping a bit differently on my personal builds. I change it up but usually it's viewed as "other" read: wrong 😄  I get a lot of "Juice isn't worth the squeeze" oriented comments and such. All I know is it's a very efficient endo power for excellent defensive and utility options. It's always on when I have it and I prefer it ( and super jump ) to hover/fly. 

[Mezmera]

4 hours ago, Grizlee said:

 

A tad more damage vrs a tad more range. As one of the heavy hitters is melee I opted for a tad more damage being the more consistently used upgrade.

 

 

Bombardment has a pure 50 DMG IO the same value as a generic 50 IO.  Since you have the proc already slotted why not substitute the generic IO for the set one it'll still be the same value and you net the range bonus.  All gain, no loss.  

Edited 8 hours ago by Mezmera

[MoonSheep]

6 hours ago, Grizlee said:

Ok, once more into the breach! I played 12 levels with Bone Smasher ... and didn't like it much. I prefer the stand off of Power Bolt, especially at lower levels. Oddly I LOVE Bone Smasher on my melee toons. It is what it is, the powers need to serve the build as well as my play style.

 

hmm, not having seeds of confusion would be quite a significant omission from a plant dom, its the primary reason to choose the set. having the AoE hold is also very useful to manage aggro 

 

out of interest, have you considered rolling a sentinel? a key attribute of a dominator are the mez powers, which seem to be getting in the way of what you’re looking for from what i can see - a sentinel would give you much greater defense and lots of blast powers

[Parabola]

Any plant control character not taking seeds or carrion creepers may as well play another set. Those powers are plant control. Also I've no idea where this 'don't take whirling hands' thing came from. Dom's are painful enough to level without waiting until epics for direct aoe (seeds and creepers will provide quite a bit of indirect aoe but you still want a button to push that spreads damage around). WH with it's double tap mechanic makes energy actually decent at aoe. It's almost like getting two aoes in one power, with the benefits that they share slots (very efficient) and are both pbaoes (unlike most sets that awkwardly have to juggle a cone and a pbaoes).

[jprewitt73]

15 hours ago, Caimie said:

 

 

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.

 

 

Second vote from me for the Ice Mastery on Doms. Sleet and Ice Storm are awesome. Some soft control (knockdown) and good DoT. Never leave home without it for my Mind/Fire. I color the ice powers to look like fire so it fits with my theme and have the shield on min graphics so it doesn't look like I'm a flying glacier. 

 

Also, I would be remiss to not explain that Tough and Weave aren't bad choices. I don't personally see them as a necessity, but for a new Dom player it may be beneficial. Even with all the controls in the world, until you really get used to knowing how to use them all and when to use them all you will pull a lot of aggro. 

 

[tidge]

13 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

I can never tell if someone is going to create a character to play the game or if the intent is to simply power level to 50 and then "install" a build.

 

These are two very different routes and modes of play.

 

I also can't tell what the thinking will be. I also "play up" my characters, although if the sets and ATs are ones that I've played before I might go a faster-than-usual DFB+TF XP route.

 

As I wrote elsewhere, I try to achieve perma-dom via +Recharge from set bonuses and use neither Hasten nor %+recharge... so as a practical matter I don't have it until end-build, and lose it below level 23, but this isn't a deal-breaker for me.

 

A side effect for my preferred approach (to Doms) is that (without Hasten) my builds have very little room for %damage slotting. For Plant, I would absolutely install %damage in Carrion Creepers, my slotting would be:

       

 (A) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge: Level 50+5

 (*) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5

 (*) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire)

 (*) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage (Energy)

 (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance of Damage (Ice)

 (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

 

I want to note the following: Despite my deep appreciation for 6xCoercive Persuasion (for the extra positional Range defense) for Seeds of Confusion I sometimes make an exception to only 5-slot it, using the %Energy from Cacophany in the 6th slot. The reason being that dropping any amount of damage on an enemy will result in your character getting on the "drop" table when that critter is defeated, even if by its confused/former allies.