What if we buffed Dominators' Range Damage?

[blue4333]

For damage scales, Dominators are at Melee = 1.05 & Range = 0.950.

 

Would increasing the range scale to 1 be overpowered? Considering that Blasters are sitting at Melee = 1 & Range = 1.25.

[twozerofoxtrot]

Not sure what would necessitate this?

 

I mean who doesn't love a good ole fashioned straight damage buff. Sign me up, I love Doms.

 

But where is the issue? Doms already do pretty well in the "damage dealing CC" role they fill, and if you know how to build them they can abuse the wide array of %damage procs in the CC sets.

 

Usually these kind of straight buffs are for underperformers.. and I don't know that there's a wide consensus out there that Doms are lacking.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Probably a 0.05 buff to dominator damage won't move the needle in a visible way. 

AOE damage is the one kind of damage at which dominators do noticeably lag several other ATs. A change that would help dominators do noticeably more AOE damage would be to lift the target caps for targeted AOEs in the secondary assault sets to 16 targets, which is the usual number for blasters, defenders, and corruptors.

[Heatstroke]

Im not sure this would really benefit Dominators in any meaningful way. I play most of my Dominators as Ranged Controllers. almost never taking a melee power.. and since locked down foes cant hurt me... Im never really in any danger.. Sure it might take an extra blast or two to take a foe down.... but thats never an issue IMO

[LightMaster]

TBH increasing the Dominator’s damage scales runs the risk of making the AT overpowered and away from it’s main role, since such main role first and foremost is “damage dealing CC” as twozerofoxtrot pointed, and not one of the damage dealing ATs, with Scrapper, Stalker, Corruptor and Blaster from tied 3rd for Scrapper and Stalker, to 1st for Blaster. If we increased the Dominator’s damage scales, they’ll end up forgoing CC most of the time because they will deal too much damage.

 

While a smidge increase on Ranged Damage is fine, that scalar is ultimately good enough as is due to still doing enough damage to finish off targets and fight at a safe distance. It helps that Dominator have access to a Snipe in most Assault sets, too.

 

Unlike Heatstroke, I’m taking advantage of the Assault the way it is meant to be; a nice mixture of Blast and Melee sets of the same theme, making Dominator one of the only true mixed ATs alongside the Blaster and the Epic ATs. I’ve been told in the Discord server of Homecoming that Assaults and most Manipulations (the Blaster’s secondaries) tend to have the same best melee powers as their Melee set counterparts, too.

 

If anything, it gives a Dominator a sense of duality one must take advantage off on both solo or on a team. On one side, a Dominator can off Crowd Control often if the foes aren’t resistant to mezzes, then finish them off with their Assault powers. On the other side, on a team with already lot of CC or if the foes are resistant to mezzes like AVs, then pelt them with your Assault powers while shooting your CC powers time to time if you are on Domination.
 

Perma-Dom (increased magnitude, resistance to mez for the Dominator, and insta-full End on activation) helps a lot in this regard as the Domination meter fills faster by using Assault Powers than with Control Powers iirc.

 

If anything, the Controller is the underperforming one in the past, not the Dominator. Both can fill up some good Damage-Procs on their CCs, but the Dominator already have good damage on their own as well, giving the latter AT a bigger edge in a damage-oriented meta today, whereas the Controller have to rely on Containment, their pet damage and buff/debuff sets to significantly contribute beyond Crowd Control, and Overpower is inconsistant vs Domination.

 

At least Defender have a much stronger buff and debuff than all other ATs, especially if such Defender can inflict -Def or -Res on foes. The Controller doesn’t have a luxury, only equal to Corruptor’s buffs and debuffs but with far less damage potential. It doesn’t make the Controller bad, I’ll say it is still good all things considered, just doesn’t hold the candle compared to other ATs.

 

tl;dr Dominator is already in a good spot today, doesn’t severely need any buff, and already does better than Controller, an AT that is good but overshadowed.

Edited September 19 by LightMaster

[Heatstroke]

3 hours ago, LightMaster said:

 

 

Unlike Heatstroke, I’m taking advantage of the Assault the way it is meant to be; a nice mixture of Blast and Melee sets of the same theme, making Dominator one of the only true mixed ATs alongside the Blaster and the Epic ATs. I’ve been told in the Discord server of Homecoming that Assaults and most Manipulations (the Blaster’s secondaries) tend to have the same best melee powers as their Melee set counterparts, too.

 

 

 

 

Ranged tend to be my default playstyle. I did once make a Ice/Thorn Dominator who played much more like a scrapper and I found that build very fun. 

 

When i play that mixed AT playstyle lately I tend to lean toward Sentinels. 

[Championess]

I'd up the damage scales to 1.15 melee and 1.0 ranged and an increase of damage cap an extra 100.  They're an unarmored class with control and blaster-lite assaults.  I don't see why they can't get bonus preference to melee since its more dangerous.

 

Blasters got a plethora of improvements long ago and I don't see a small buff to damage being all too much to ask for when you see the damage Blasters and armored classes can pump out melee AND ranged.

[aethereal]

On 9/2/2025 at 2:04 AM, blue4333 said:

Considering that Blasters are sitting at Melee = 1 & Range = 1.25.

 

Blaster's ranged scalar is 1.125, not 1.25.

[QuiJon]

On 9/4/2025 at 12:46 PM, Heatstroke said:

Im not sure this would really benefit Dominators in any meaningful way. I play most of my Dominators as Ranged Controllers. almost never taking a melee power.. and since locked down foes cant hurt me... Im never really in any danger.. Sure it might take an extra blast or two to take a foe down.... but thats never an issue IMO

Your missing out there, To me the most fun doms i have live in melee range. Plan/Earth is tons of fun, even after the recent changes. I have a Fire/Dark that plays extremely well also in melee range setting off the dark PBAOE and chewing down enemies with Hot Feet and fire cages. All the while Dark is knocking the hell out their to-hit numbers. 

[DrunkFlux]

28 minutes ago, QuiJon said:

Your missing out there, To me the most fun doms i have live in melee range. Plan/Earth is tons of fun, even after the recent changes. I have a Fire/Dark that plays extremely well also in melee range setting off the dark PBAOE and chewing down enemies with Hot Feet and fire cages. All the while Dark is knocking the hell out their to-hit numbers. 

It doesn't feel like your really 'dominating' your enemy when your doing so from a distance, and dark/dark absolutely ruins the existence of everything when your up close with them.  Seeing this post makes me want to take my dark/dark for a spin again, in fact.

[Heatstroke]

On 10/27/2025 at 7:06 PM, QuiJon said:

Your missing out there, To me the most fun doms i have live in melee range. Plan/Earth is tons of fun, even after the recent changes. I have a Fire/Dark that plays extremely well also in melee range setting off the dark PBAOE and chewing down enemies with Hot Feet and fire cages. All the while Dark is knocking the hell out their to-hit numbers. 

 

The beauty of CoH is that you can define what is fun for you and enjoy that playstyle, while another person can adopt a completely different style and it be just as much fun. 

Edited October 31 by Heatstroke

[QuiJon]

On 10/28/2025 at 6:52 PM, Heatstroke said:

 

The beauty of CoH is that you can define what is fun for you and enjoy that playstyle, while another person can adopt a completely different style and it be just as much fun. 

Well the thing is though the real beauty allows each archetype to have a signature feel. 

And what he is asking for encroaches into blaster/Sentinel relm. Blasters have superior ranged damage with bare minimum defenses. Sentinels have lesser damage at medium range with strong defenses.

Dominators unique style is that our primary allows for 100 percent damage mitigation. Our current damage levels are set well to that balance.

[Championess]

1 hour ago, QuiJon said:

Blasters have superior ranged damage with bare minimum defenses. Sentinels have lesser damage at medium range with strong defenses.

Dominators unique style is that our primary allows for 100 percent damage mitigation. Our current damage levels are set well to that balance.

 

With all the QoL adjustments Blasters got since live I find it hard to say they have bare minimum defenses.  Plus their nukes are the best CC you can get.  They have become Demigods since live.  A good blaster by your side will have any Sentinel or Dommie lookin obsolete.

 

Sentinels are a thing that should not be, they step on too many AT's toes.  You can't justify them doing more damage than blasters or other true squishy ATs.  Then theres the ones that mix it up in melee which can be more dangerous so it'd be hard to see them ideally being allowed to out damage those ones. 

 

If you're on a dom as you say it can be high mitigation through you're aoe controls but should those miss or you not be aware or proactive you can get walloped with much less ability to recover than most any other AT including blasters.  

 

I don't disagree with the OP that scaling up allowable damage will have them feel a bit more team friendly in all content especially with how prevalent damage spamming has become.  Though I'd do the inverse damage scales for dommies to blasters so that their melee matches blasters ranged value and ranged matches their melee and up their damage cap some.  This would entice people to play them a bit more and they still wouldn't be outdoing the blasters, corrs, stalkers and scrappers of the world.