New Dom solo help

[Khan668]

Really want a Dom, but every one I try I just get wrecked lol. Are there any noob friendly sets out there? I'm 100% sure it's me doing something wrong. Have a Dark/Fire, Fire/MA and Earth/Rad. I'm guessing Doms must have Tough and Weave? Didn't take them and I go boom in no time flat. Just can't seem to work it out, all my other toons are Melee. Spine/Fire Brute, Rad/Fire Brute, TW/Bio Scrapper, Savage/Bio Stalker plus a few others. Think I'm too used to running right into the thick of it. I can never seem to keep the mobs controlled so they come right for me. Help! Lol

[subbacultchas]

How are you leading your fights off? Just jumping in and banging on them, then applying mezzes as you can? If you don't have an AOE mez that you can lead off with consistently, then yes you need to stack defenses in whatever manner you can. You may want to anyway depending on your build. When I'm playing dom, the first thing I'm doing is using a mez that controls most of the group, then trying to lock down the stragglers, then worry about damage dealing. Maybe other doms play in a different manner, but that's my priority: lock down minions/lts, lock down remaining bosses, beat the snot out of all of the above.

It differs from control type to control type as to what you want to lead off with. But using Plant as an example, you lead off with Seeds (mass confuse cone) followed by Roots (group immob), then single target holds for whatever is not locked down and is boss level or similarly dangerous. Then you start using your assault set (plus roots), once you've got them effectively controlled for a bit. Tough/Weave/CJ/Stealth/Manuevers all are still great for the defense bonuses, but not as necessary once you get your opening chain set up. However you will want to go permadom, and that's most easily achieved using LotG +recharges which can only be slotted in defense powers, thus making them important in two essences (your defense and recharge). And you want permadom because it raises the magnitude and duration of all mezzes, meaning your AOE mezzes will affect bosses as well with one application, so your openers become much more effective.

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by subbacultchas

[Greentea]

This may sounds silly, but do you have your abilities slotted with accuracy and recharge?

 

I do know Earth and Fire loves to aggro, especially Hot Feet--delay Hot Feet 'til you have high defenses or NPCs are held, etc. Play it safe until your Domination is up, for example, don't open with Stone Cages or Fire Cages first until someone charges in. Salt Crystal/Earthquake/Smoke/Bonfire (with KB to KD slotted) are all good opener--pray your team know what to do with Salt Crystals 😕.

 

Dark is really easy to play. Open with Possess, then use Fearsome Stare to reduce their -tohit. Use Possess/ST Hold on runners, then DPS the feared ones first. Activate Heart of Darkness after the fear and confuse wore off--keep DPSing them down. Dark/Fire is really fun!

Edited July 26, 2019 by Meowstic

[Ozryk]

1 hour ago, Khan668 said:

Really want a Dom, but every one I try I just get wrecked lol. Are there any noob friendly sets out there? I'm 100% sure it's me doing something wrong. Have a Dark/Fire, Fire/MA and Earth/Rad. I'm guessing Doms must have Tough and Weave? Didn't take them and I go boom in no time flat. Just can't seem to work it out, all my other toons are Melee. Spine/Fire Brute, Rad/Fire Brute, TW/Bio Scrapper, Savage/Bio Stalker plus a few others. Think I'm too used to running right into the thick of it. I can never seem to keep the mobs controlled so they come right for me. Help! Lol

Dominators are a ranged class. Yes, I know they have melee attacks, but that's for when the enemy has been completely neutralized with your control effects. Tough/Weave are completely unnecessary to a well-built/played Dominator, because if you do your job right, enemies should be mezzed so much of the time they can't do appreciable damage. My guess is that you're falling for the trap of spamming your AoE immobilize. This just gets the attention of every mob while milding inconveniening them. Focus fire and reduce the number of enemies hitting you. Fewer enemies means you take less damage, and your controls have more impact.

[subbacultchas]

30 minutes ago, Ozryk said:

Dominators are a ranged class. Yes, I know they have melee attacks, but that's for when the enemy has been completely neutralized with your control effects. Tough/Weave are completely unnecessary to a well-built/played Dominator, because if you do your job right, enemies should be mezzed so much of the time they can't do appreciable damage. My guess is that you're falling for the trap of spamming your AoE immobilize. This just gets the attention of every mob while milding inconveniening them. Focus fire and reduce the number of enemies hitting you. Fewer enemies means you take less damage, and your controls have more impact.

Dominators can be either ranged or melee, I don't think it's quite as clear cut as that. It depends on particular secondary, your playstyle, and which powers in the secondary you take. But there's nothing that keeps dominator as a ranged class, and they certainly can be built at melee range and thrive there (which weave/tough) help.

Edited July 26, 2019 by subbacultchas

[Ozryk]

39 minutes ago, subbacultchas said:

Dominators can be either ranged or melee, I don't think it's quite as clear cut as that. It depends on particular secondary, your playstyle, and which powers in the secondary you take. But there's nothing that keeps dominator as a ranged class, and they certainly can be built at melee range and thrive there (which weave/tough) help.

Doms don't have mezz protection, or any primary or secondary powers which afford resistances or defense. Blaster secondaries have melee abilities too, but I don't think anyone would suggest that they're a melee class. A defender can take the fighting pool and go 100% melee as well, that doesn't mean they'd be effective, or that it's a good idea. More to the point, the OP is complaining that they're dying too much, and that they're used to going in close and mixing it up, which says to me that they're playing the AT too aggressively.

Sure, once you've got perma-dom, and good uptime on your AoE mezz powers, you can fly into melee next to the pinatas you've created and start punching them, but that doesn't make a Dom a Brute.

[subbacultchas]

Just now, Ozryk said:

Doms don't have mezz protection, or any primary or secondary powers which afford resistances or defense. Blaster secondaries have melee abilities too, but I don't think anyone would suggest that they're a melee class. A defender can take the fighting pool and go 100% melee as well, that doesn't mean they'd be effective, or that it's a good idea. More to the point, the OP is complaining that they're dying too much, and that they're used to going in close and mixing it up, which says to me that they're playing the AT too aggressively.

Sure, once you've got perma-dom, and good uptime on your AoE mezz powers, you can fly into melee next to the pinatas you've created and start punching them, but that doesn't make a Dom a Brute.

Actually, blappers were a thing and a damned fine thing back in the day 🙂 I am not suggesting either *are* melee classes, I'm suggesting either can be built to comfortably exist in melee. And that's true no matter how you cut it, I've had and currently have characters fitting that build. Heck, I've got two melee range controllers even.  I have a Plant/MA that has existed in melee range comfortably since seeds, and continues to do it to this day with capped positional defenses. It's very effective, and a superb farming toon if you wanted to take it in that direction. The mez protection is not a completely valid concern given Clarion, and the fact that mezzes need to hit in order to work and defense building will negate a lot of that. 

I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't build them as ranged, just that with proper power picks, slotting, and primary/secondaries you can comfortably and effectively play them at melee range and/or focus on melee damage attacks. Nobody is trying to make them a brute, just not have them pigeonholed into the back row. I think given the number of melee and PBAOE attacks that dominators get in secondaries, it's fairly evident that they don't have stay back row.

[Coyote]

To add, /Fire and /Rad both work well at range for Doms. /Martial is a good melee set since it has good AoEs in melee, BUT Fire primary is not a strong controlling set that can stop incoming damage well. So, just the idea of running into melee with these characters is generally iffy, except for Fire/Martial... and Fire/Martial would be a high-AoE damage set, but not a strong defensive set.

Dark Dominators should open with Possess on a LT (or twice on a Boss if there is one), and then use Fearsome Stare (slotted for -ToHit, NOT Fear) to make it harder for mobs to hit you. Then advance and Immobilize the mobs with Living Shadows, which will give them more of a -ToHit penalty. Now Possess is recharged, hit someone else with it, and also throw the Hold at another target. At this point, 3 mobs are mezzed and not attacking you in any case, and the others have huge ToHit debuffs. Go in the middle and hit Heart of Darkness, which Stuns everyone but Bosses (and Bosses should be Confused or Held). This gives you a good amount of time now to kill them, but don't forget to keep throwing Possess and the Hold whenever they come up.

Earth Control opens up with Earthquake since it makes mobs fall down and gives them a to-hit penalty. Follow with Stalagmites to Stun the group and start with the Hold on the Boss if there is any. Advance to melee and proceed with damage.

Fire... good luck until 26 when you get Bonfire. You can start fights with Flashfire, but you can't depend on its duration that much or on anything else from Fire, so you will have to keep the difficulty down a bit until you get Bonfire. Again, stack Holds on the Boss, and try to kill mobs fast before Flashfire ends.

One more thing that is very important for Dominators: your defense is in mezzing mobs. You can advance to mobs that are controlled, and start hitting them in melee, safely. If they're NOT controlled, then DON'T advance to melee range. Hold one at the edge of the spawn, advance to that one, and pound it with melee... don't go in the middle of active mobs. If you want to go in the middle to use AoEs, then first hit them with an AoE mez. Otherwise, THEY pound YOU, and unlike melee ATs, you don't have the defenses to take hits. Again, your defense is in preventing the hits from coming in the first place.

[Ozryk]

1 hour ago, subbacultchas said:

Actually, blappers were a thing and a damned fine thing back in the day 🙂 I am not suggesting either *are* melee classes, I'm suggesting either can be built to comfortably exist in melee. And that's true no matter how you cut it, I've had and currently have characters fitting that build. Heck, I've got two melee range controllers even.  I have a Plant/MA that has existed in melee range comfortably since seeds, and continues to do it to this day with capped positional defenses. It's very effective, and a superb farming toon if you wanted to take it in that direction. The mez protection is not a completely valid concern given Clarion, and the fact that mezzes need to hit in order to work and defense building will negate a lot of that. 

I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't build them as ranged, just that with proper power picks, slotting, and primary/secondaries you can comfortably and effectively play them at melee range and/or focus on melee damage attacks. Nobody is trying to make them a brute, just not have them pigeonholed into the back row. I think given the number of melee and PBAOE attacks that dominators get in secondaries, it's fairly evident that they don't have stay back row.

Yeah, Blappers are right up there with petless masterminds in terms of utility and efficacy. Yes, if you're in search of handicaps, you can play a class outside its core competence, but you're not doing any favors to the guy asking for help using the AT well.

 

Sure, you can play however you want, but if you're being repeatedly sent to the hospital, it's time to consider how your class was designed to be played.

[subbacultchas]

11 minutes ago, Ozryk said:

Yeah, Blappers are right up there with petless masterminds in terms of utility and efficacy. Yes, if you're in search of handicaps, you can play a class outside its core competence, but you're not doing any favors to the guy asking for help using the AT well.

 

Sure, you can play however you want, but if you're being repeatedly sent to the hospital, it's time to consider how your class was designed to be played.

That's a whole lot of assumptions without any sort of experience man. No need for any of that.

I don't really die that much with melee range controllers or dominators. If you're having issues with that, I'm happy to offer suggestions.

[subbacultchas]

@Subbacultcha on Excelsior. You're more than welcome to roll with the troller/dom melee characters if you want to see what it's like. Have a good weekend.

[jubakumbi]

18 hours ago, Ozryk said:

Yeah, Blappers are right up there with petless masterminds in terms of utility and efficacy. Yes, if you're in search of handicaps, you can play a class outside its core competence, but you're not doing any favors to the guy asking for help using the AT well.

 

Sure, you can play however you want, but if you're being repeatedly sent to the hospital, it's time to consider how your class was designed to be played.

I play Doms and Blasters in melee, daily, even tanking for the group.

Saying either is wrong in CoH is one of the most silly and uniformed viewpoints I have read, TBH.

 

I get compliments.

 

So, trying to tell people Doms and Blasters have to play at range in the current CoH state is simply misinformation.

 

[Khan668]

1 hour ago, jubakumbi said:

I play Doms and Blasters in melee, daily, even tanking for the group.

Saying either is wrong in CoH is one of the most silly and uniformed viewpoints I have read, TBH.

 

I get compliments.

 

So, trying to tell people Doms and Blasters have to play at range in the current CoH state is simply misinformation.

 

I seem to always end up in melee range, probably due to mainly playing Brutes, Stalkers. Any Power set recommendations that would best fit that playstyle? I know it may not be optimal but that doesn't matter to me all that much.

[Coyote]

Primary: Electric Control is your best bet for a primary that does well in melee. You can put down Static Field and fight in it, and use it plus Conductive Aura to sap opponents. Jolting Chain and Electric Fences (? The AoE Immob ) together add to the draining, and before long the entire spawn is drained and will rarely attack.
Fire Control is another option, since it has Hot Feet for damage, but it's not a strong defensive secondary and I wouldn't recommend it unless you are good at controlling.
Ice Control also has PBAoE options, if you prefer it. Arctic Air will reduce incoming attacks both due to -Recharge and to Confuse.

Secondary: Earth Assault and Martial Assault both do well in melee, with AoE knockdowns and with no cone AoEs (other than melee AoEs) so you dont have to back out of melee to set up cone areas. Both will knock down and Stun/Hold mobs that you hit, reducing incoming damage.

Martial does more AoE damage, Earth has more single-target and more control. Personally, I would suggest Electric/Martial, but Electric/Earth will also work well.

[jubakumbi]

1 hour ago, Khan668 said:

I seem to always end up in melee range, probably due to mainly playing Brutes, Stalkers. Any Power set recommendations that would best fit that playstyle? I know it may not be optimal but that doesn't matter to me all that much.

My current love is Elec/Elec for a Dom.

Mobs with no End cannot fight back.

[Riverdusk]

On 7/26/2019 at 10:55 AM, Khan668 said:

Really want a Dom, but every one I try I just get wrecked lol. Are there any noob friendly sets out there? I'm 100% sure it's me doing something wrong. Have a Dark/Fire, Fire/MA and Earth/Rad. I'm guessing Doms must have Tough and Weave? Didn't take them and I go boom in no time flat. Just can't seem to work it out, all my other toons are Melee. Spine/Fire Brute, Rad/Fire Brute, TW/Bio Scrapper, Savage/Bio Stalker plus a few others. Think I'm too used to running right into the thick of it. I can never seem to keep the mobs controlled so they come right for me. Help! Lol

 

Probably the most "noob" friendly set is plant control.  Seeds of confusion that you get at the low level of 8 is a game changer.  I'd suggest giving that one a try.  Secondary almost doesn't matter.

[Ozryk]

On 7/27/2019 at 10:10 AM, jubakumbi said:

I play Doms and Blasters in melee, daily, even tanking for the group.

 Saying either is wrong in CoH is one of the most silly and uniformed viewpoints I have read, TBH.

  

I get compliments.

 

So, trying to tell people Doms and Blasters have to play at range in the current CoH state is simply misinformation.

 

Hey, if what you're doing is working, by all means, play how you want to. This guy came asking for advice, and I gave the best advice I have, which is stay at range if you're having trouble being alive.

[Ozryk]

On 7/26/2019 at 3:29 PM, subbacultchas said:

That's a whole lot of assumptions without any sort of experience man. No need for any of that.

I don't really die that much with melee range controllers or dominators. If you're having issues with that, I'm happy to offer suggestions.

I'm not the one having issues, the OP is, which is why I gave the advice I gave. As for experience, I think getting 2 dominators Incarnate, once in Live and once here on Homecoming is quite sufficient.

[Ozryk]

On 7/26/2019 at 2:08 PM, subbacultchas said:

Actually, blappers were a thing and a damned fine thing back in the day 🙂 I am not suggesting either *are* melee classes, I'm suggesting either can be built to comfortably exist in melee. And that's true no matter how you cut it, I've had and currently have characters fitting that build. Heck, I've got two melee range controllers even.  I have a Plant/MA that has existed in melee range comfortably since seeds, and continues to do it to this day with capped positional defenses. It's very effective, and a superb farming toon if you wanted to take it in that direction. The mez protection is not a completely valid concern given Clarion, and the fact that mezzes need to hit in order to work and defense building will negate a lot of that. 

I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't build them as ranged, just that with proper power picks, slotting, and primary/secondaries you can comfortably and effectively play them at melee range and/or focus on melee damage attacks. Nobody is trying to make them a brute, just not have them pigeonholed into the back row. I think given the number of melee and PBAOE attacks that dominators get in secondaries, it's fairly evident that they don't have stay back row.

And I'm not saying anything with contradicts that. What I'm saying is that if you're having trouble staying out of debt, like the OP complained of, staying out of melee range is going to help. I use melee attacks on my Dom, after the spawn has been immobilized for orderly destruction. But that's not the situtation the OP finds themselves in. With sufficient investment in pool powers and IO sets, you can make any AT viable, but that isn't going to make them optimal.

[Ozryk]

On 7/26/2019 at 1:19 PM, subbacultchas said:

Dominators can be either ranged or melee, I don't think it's quite as clear cut as that. It depends on particular secondary, your playstyle, and which powers in the secondary you take. But there's nothing that keeps dominator as a ranged class, and they certainly can be built at melee range and thrive there (which weave/tough) help.

Again, my advice is in the context of "I can't stay alive", which is the OP's topic.

[subbacultchas]

33 minutes ago, Ozryk said:

I'm not the one having issues, the OP is, which is why I gave the advice I gave. As for experience, I think getting 2 dominators Incarnate, once in Live and once here on Homecoming is quite sufficient.

I think you've misread both parts of that sentence. It was aimed at your lack of experience with me, my playstyle, and my builds; not lack of knowledge of dominators (how could I know that?). And I know you didn't have issues staying alive, it was turning a phrase I found snarky into a joke. Felt like a better way to end a Friday 🙂 

Look, I think you know you did a fair bit more than that. You insisted that your playstyle was the "design" of the class, and you tried to make your suggestions seem stronger by criticizing other suggestions far too heavily and unfairly. If you want a mea culpa moment and walk it back some, that's fine with me. But I'm not going for mea culpa and ignoring what you said both yeah? Might be one of those instances where we just need to both disengage, wash our hands, and hope future conversations fare better.

Edited July 30, 2019 by subbacultchas

[Ozryk]

3 hours ago, subbacultchas said:

I think you've misread both parts of that sentence. It was aimed at your lack of experience with me, my playstyle, and my builds; not lack of knowledge of dominators (how could I know that?). And I know you didn't have issues staying alive, it was turning a phrase I found snarky into a joke. Felt like a better way to end a Friday 🙂 

Look, I think you know you did a fair bit more than that. You insisted that your playstyle was the "design" of the class, and you tried to make your suggestions seem stronger by criticizing other suggestions far too heavily and unfairly. If you want a mea culpa moment and walk it back some, that's fine with me. But I'm not going for mea culpa and ignoring what you said both yeah? Might be one of those instances where we just need to both disengage, wash our hands, and hope future conversations fare better.

I'm referring to the original poster, which is the person at whom my response was directed. Did you come here asking for help with Doms? Then you can safely assume I'm not telling you how you should play your toon. I don't care about you, or your opinions, and I don't see any reason why you should get so butthurt about mine.

[Tater Todd]

On 7/26/2019 at 1:55 PM, Khan668 said:

Really want a Dom, but every one I try I just get wrecked lol. Are there any noob friendly sets out there? I'm 100% sure it's me doing something wrong. Have a Dark/Fire, Fire/MA and Earth/Rad. I'm guessing Doms must have Tough and Weave? Didn't take them and I go boom in no time flat. Just can't seem to work it out, all my other toons are Melee. Spine/Fire Brute, Rad/Fire Brute, TW/Bio Scrapper, Savage/Bio Stalker plus a few others. Think I'm too used to running right into the thick of it. I can never seem to keep the mobs controlled so they come right for me. Help! Lol

Khan, here's a list of some of the biggest issue that I see with new Dominator players as well as new Controller players...

 

1. Folks tend to start off with their group Immob...NEVER EVER start off with your Immob unless there are unique circumstances going on.  Controllers can get away with it SOMETIMES if they have support heavy secondaries but even then that's not always the case if you are fighting nasty enough mobs.  I won't get into the What If's and other grey areas...just for now focus your Single Target Mezz powers and secondary until you get your first group Mezz or Hold.
    
2. Once you get your PbAOE or AOE Mezz power use it after the Tank or someone else gets aggro.  If the power has good Acc and Recharge and Domination is up you may lead off a fight with this power at your own risk.  Once you get higher level you will have more tools at your disposal to better lockdown or destroy mobs.  Dominator builds tend to bloom later on compared to Melee classes so take things slow.
    
3. Use Domination in conjunction with your Mezz powers and heavy hitters for that extra boost.  Once you get close to Permadom levels click it whenever it is up.
    
4. Fight smart and use you Dom combo to overwhelm and annihilate foes.  If you're playing an Electric Control/Stony Assault Dominator don't play from range...unless that your thing.  Just play to the nature of your build.  Some don't and still make it work.  It comes with experience and trial and error I guess.
    
5. If you simply must use your Mezz on a tough group try to use it behind a wall or jump behind a wall for cover so you can get your bearings and to catch your breath before the angry mobs comes over. 
    
6. Once you get the feel for the AT and the Primaries and Secondaries you will be duking it out just like melee toons!  Hope this helps! 😄

 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Tater Todd

[subbacultchas]

15 hours ago, Ozryk said:

I'm referring to the original poster, which is the person at whom my response was directed. Did you come here asking for help with Doms? Then you can safely assume I'm not telling you how you should play your toon. I don't care about you, or your opinions, and I don't see any reason why you should get so butthurt about mine.

Part of it's you, part of it's me. I'm struggling dealing with a family member that passed over the weekend. I should not have responded and I know this. So apologies for my part in it.

[Mercurias]

15 hours ago, Tater Todd said:

Khan, here's a list of some of the biggest issue that I see with new Dominator players as well as new Controller players...

 

1. Folks tend to start off with their group Immob...NEVER EVER start off with your Immob unless there are unique circumstances going on.  Controllers can get away with it SOMETIMES if they have support heavy secondaries but even then that's not always the case if you are fighting nasty enough mobs.  I won't get into the What If's and other grey areas...just for now focus your Single Target Mezz powers and secondary until you get your first group Mezz or Hold.
    
2. Once you get your PbAOE or AOE Mezz power use it after the Tank or someone else gets aggro.  If the power has good Acc and Recharge and Domination is up you may lead off a fight with this power at your own risk.  Once you get higher level you will have more tools at your disposal to better lockdown or destroy mobs.  Dominator builds tend to bloom later on compared to Melee classes so take things slow.
    
3. Use Domination in conjunction with your Mezz powers and heavy hitters for that extra boost.  Once you get close to Permadom levels click it whenever it is up.
    
4. Fight smart and use you Dom combo to overwhelm and annihilate foes.  If you're playing an Electric Control/Stony Assault Dominator don't play from range...unless that your thing.  Just play to the nature of your build.  Some don't and still make it work.  It comes with experience and trial and error I guess.
    
5. If you simply must use your Mezz on a tough group try to use it behind a wall or jump behind a wall for cover so you can get your bearings and to catch your breath before the angry mobs comes over. 
    
6. Once you get the feel for the AT and the Primaries and Secondaries you will be duking it out just like melee toons!  Hope this helps! 😄

 

These are all great tips!