Nother Dom! Well After Some Advice

[WuTang]

I built an Illusion/Fire/Psi Dom a while back, good fun but not quite the experience I was hoping for. I want a set that really locks down the enemies, like they can't shoot or move, but I don't know which status effect does that, not sleep, that is too easily interruptible.

[Frosticus]

Can't shoot or move:

Earth

 

If you are ok with them moving slowly and occasionally shooting (just not at you):

Arsenal

 

If you are ok with them shooting lots, but rarely at you:

Plant

 

Those are my 3 favorite dom primaries

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Hold is the only status effect that makes mobs unable to move or act. But, AOE holds for doms always have a default 240 second recharge time. In practice, holding groups of mobs can never be the "every spawn" control for a dom unless they move at a glacial pace through missions. 

The closest you can come to frequently freezing mobs in place and making them take no action, in practice, is with AOE fear powers. Even though mobs can move and attack while afraid, often they will do neither. Some are functionally immune to fear, though, so you can't rely only on fear to control mobs in all situations. 

Edited Tuesday at 11:02 PM by EnjoyTheJourney

[WuTang]

On 3/4/2025 at 5:01 PM, EnjoyTheJourney said:

Hold is the only status effect that makes mobs unable to move or act. But, AOE holds for doms always have a default 240 second recharge time. In practice, holding groups of mobs can never be the "every spawn" control for a dom unless they move at a glacial pace through missions. 

The closest you can come to frequently freezing mobs in place and making them take no action, in practice, is with AOE fear powers. Even though mobs can move and attack while afraid, often they will do neither. Some are functionally immune to fear, though, so you can't rely only on fear to control mobs in all situations. 

OooooH! So I'm a big stupid head!

 

In my Illusion build I might've sort've skipped Flash..... Welp maybe Ill/Fire wasn't the experience I was hoping for cause I failed it.... 

[MoonSheep]

54 minutes ago, WuTang said:

OooooH! So I'm a big stupid head!

 

In my Illusion build I might've sort've skipped Flash..... Welp maybe Ill/Fire wasn't the experience I was hoping for cause I failed it.... 

 

modern illusion is actually quite good at crowd control in my view:

 

- The ST confuse can be procced with Contagious Confusion

- Gleam has a nice wide 90 degree stun cone and would be recharged every 30s with a permadom build

- Flash is a reasonable PbAoE hold

- Spectral terror can be summoned to semi-mez mobs, e.g. those which aren't being attacked

 

i'd give it a second look. also consider that although some of these powers have a slightly slow recharge, they don't always need to be used. the best way to play a dominator is to look at the situation at hand - do i actually need to mez this mob, or simply mez the key trouble makers? e.g. bosses or nasty debuffers

 

if the steam is steam rolling things, lean into being a damage dealer instead. if the team is constantly being wiped, focus on being a master of lockdown

[WuTang]

45 minutes ago, MoonSheep said:

 

modern illusion is actually quite good at crowd control in my view:

 

- The ST confuse can be procced with Contagious Confusion

- Gleam has a nice wide 90 degree stun cone and would be recharged every 30s with a permadom build

- Flash is a reasonable PbAoE hold

- Spectral terror can be summoned to semi-mez mobs, e.g. those which aren't being attacked

 

i'd give it a second look. also consider that although some of these powers have a slightly slow recharge, they don't always need to be used. the best way to play a dominator is to look at the situation at hand - do i actually need to mez this mob, or simply mez the key trouble makers? e.g. bosses or nasty debuffers

 

if the steam is steam rolling things, lean into being a damage dealer instead. if the team is constantly being wiped, focus on being a master of lockdown

 

I like the set, but didn't realize til just now I'd skipped the strong hold, but I was focused on keeping her at range. I also don't actually like all the knockback the pets do either. I can scatter a murder ball sometimes. I was actually just working on a Dark/Fire/Psi build.

[SeraphimKensai]

@WuTang allow me to introduce you to an Elec/Psi/Dark Domi. The pairing allows you to clump them all together, sap them, use drain psyche to debuff their recovery as well making them get end back extremely difficult, while giving you tons of end/regen. Dark Mastery gives you tar patch to slow them all down so if they overcome your hold/imob they are at a crawl, while significantly debuffing their resistance to help your psi attacks hit that much harder. And to top it off you get access to darkest night as well to significantly debuff their tohit and damage, so if they do get a shot off there's a good chance it's missing you and if it does hit you it tickles rather than pulverizes you.

 

Also Soul Consumption really synergizes with drain psyche giving you more max HP/max end, while reducing mobs max HP/end making them easier to sap and kill. There's also a res shield to more exotic damage types.

[Maelwys]

On 3/4/2025 at 11:01 PM, EnjoyTheJourney said:

The closest you can come to frequently freezing mobs in place and making them take no action, in practice, is with AOE fear powers. 

See also: 

(i) Combining Stuns with AoE Immobilises/Slows
(ii) Knockdown Patches

Also AoE Confuses can often be better than AoE Holds (although again; ideally I'd combine them with a Slow/Immob to prevent scatter)

I tend to avoid Fear effects since it breaks on dealing damage... but it can have a place when soloing to lock down foes that you're not ready to attack yet.

[Onlyasandwich]

50 minutes ago, Maelwys said:

Also AoE Confuses can often be better

This for sure! When they go to melee each other, they clump tighter. An aoe hold just freezes them where they are, which may not always be ideal.

 

Alternatively, just combine Fold Space with any dom and immob/stun to your heart's content. 😉

[Championess]

3 hours ago, Maelwys said:

Also AoE Confuses can often be better than AoE Holds (although again; ideally I'd combine them with a Slow/Immob to prevent scatter)

 

Thats kinda how I see it too.  There's two real good hard aoe controls that prevent fire on you and the team for a good while.  An actual hold which does its job.  Then the aoe confuses manage to not only keep the heat off your team but it also amplifies damage output to mobs at the cost of maybe hearing some whinging about my xps.  Which clear speed outweighs the small penalty to xp gain as long as you help them beat themselves up.

 

The aoe stun is great in Illusion also.  Powers like aoe fears and stuns can be quite good.  They just get a little bit overlooked because they might not accomplish a true lockdown or are highly resisted against thus are considered softer controls.

Edited Thursday at 07:04 PM by Championess