guide Lobster's Guide to picking a Dominator Secondary

[Chelsea Rorec]

There is no mention on what is the most fun to play.

[Phalanx480bc]

6 hours ago, Chelsea Rorec said:

There is no mention on what is the most fun to play.

That is likely because fun is probably the most subjective thing in the game.  In any game, really.  Now if you're curious to hear Lobster's opinion on which they find the most fun, good luck with that, because Lobster obviously has many doms and their favorite likely changes based on how the wind is blowing.  😉  I think that's the theme for most of us dom specialists.

[Chelsea Rorec]

17 hours ago, Phalanx480bc said:

That is likely because fun is probably the most subjective thing in the game.  In any game, really.  Now if you're curious to hear Lobster's opinion on which they find the most fun, good luck with that, because Lobster obviously has many doms and their favorite likely changes based on how the wind is blowing.  😉  I think that's the theme for most of us dom specialists.

I agree 100% with you but it's still intresting to hear other peoples opinion on fun sets to play v optimal sets to play.

[lobster]

So I took a couple years off from playing (not intentionally, life is a river!) and now I'm back, for the next couple bends at least.  I've been playing a bunch of alts, but recently started 3 or 4 new doms and have been cycling through them leveling into the 30s (and one into incarnation), so I of course have more/updated thoughts! 

Without digging into all the patch notes, here's what I think I noticed:

• snipes have all been given the 'no interrupt when in combat' treatment, resulting in much stronger attack chains across the board
• two new sets (Arsenal and Sonic)
• It looks like there was standardization pass at some point - the sets seem a bit more closer to a shared baseline of damage/energy/recharge, making it easier for me to pick out what's actually different.
• We can choose between 1st and 2nd secondary powers - pretty sure this is new to when I last played?  Really helps with building.  I generally always want to skip one of these powers, and often it was the first one, so it wound up no slotted.  Now that can go to a useful no slot power!

Note : People seem to slot way more procs now than I remember, was something changed about proc performance, or is that just a build preference?  I'm not building this way at the moment, once I figure that out it may change my thoughts again.

 

Here's my updated summary comparison:

 

• Arsenal Assault
  • Unique: A fast recharging (and lower damage) cone - good for procs?, Targeting Drone, and the second best ranged attack (even better if you can lock target down in the ignite patch, which we can!). 
  • Verdict: Overall I've found this a great set for a pure range dominator (even though I'm not a fan of the shotgun sets visuals in general), and I've taken my plant/arsenal deep into incarnate content. 
  • Note: The melee attacks look very boring to me so it was easy to skip them.  Trip mine looks to be balanced exactly with the pbaoes, and it has a really fast animation time, so you can function in melee just fine if that's your thing.
• Dark Assault
  • Unique :  two tier 2 ranged blasts, one with a heal?  The final power is balanced well below other top tier melee attacks.  It does have to hit debuffs, but other than that, not much going for it.
  • Verdict : super middle of the line set, the numbers say nothing special to me, I'd only play it for theme.
  • Note : I think this needs something to make it special.  If Midnight Grasp is the signature power it needs something to make it so.  It's currently set as like a faster, weaker version of the stone/sonic/rad/etc. big damage+CC abilities, I guess the idea is you can just use it more?  At high recharge levels typical with perma-dom, I don't see that extra second or so mattering that much, I'd rather do more damage in a single hit, or have some kind of special effect.
    • My suggestion is to make it something like Thunder Strike, where it has pbaoe spillover effect, and add immobilize instead of hold to the pbaoe hit.  I think that would be enough for me.
• Earth Assault
  • Unique : Slow/damage aura, very good melee attack chain, functionally 2 pbaoes
  • Verdict : A set that was fun and impactful when it launched and still feels the same, feels great to play numerically and viscerally.  Pick for theme or pick for power.
  • Note: None
• Electricity Assault
  • Unique : the final melee power is also the pbaoe power, unkillable damage pet (basically a long dot)
  • Verdict: Not amazing, but not terrible, a fun set to play with two unique powers, with the rest being very middle of the road damage/effect wise.
  • Note : 2 "average" melees and 2 "average" ranged attacks plus a snipe gives you flexibility to build either way, but going to shine best in melee/hybrid due to Thunderstrike.  It's too bad we can't skip both the the tier 1 and tier 2 powers.
• Energy Assault
  • Unique : newly added "energy focus" mode makes it much more interesting to play.  Can double up your pbaoe, or make your final blast hit really hard. KNOCKBACK.
  • Verdict: Energy has always been a "fun" set to pilot, I think the changes added a nice extra level to it, and I look forward to my next /energy dominator.
  • Note : None, I think the set looks great now. It's got mostly baseline damage balancing, but the ability to choose one of two items to boost and the hardest hitting melee attack make it a very well designed set now imho.   KB can be annoying though if you're not used to managing it.  Learn! 🙂
• Fiery Assault :
  • Unique : an end bar refiller, extra dot damage on everything, Embrace of Fire
  • Verdict: If you like damage in your damage, but don't need it all instantly, this is your stop.  Still a great set.  Good candidate for 100% ranged dom.
  • Note : I much prefer having a weaker build up type effect with a longer duration, that fits my playstyle better than the bursty standard build up.   The pbaoe does have a long animation time, so keep that in mind when you unload in the middle of a pack.  I'm working on an illusion/fire mostly pure range dom right now and it's working well.
• Icy Assault
  • Unique : slow/damage aura
  • Verdict : sort of like a better version of dark?  In the sense that it's kinda average and only has one special thing - the aura, but all the slows feel more noticeable to me than the -tohits, so I'd rate this set a little above dark.  Not a bad set, play it if you like ice or want a slow aura and don't like stone.
  • Note : I don't know why this set has a second low power range attack instead of a medium one, these are generally unnecessary once your build starts to tighten up.  Since Ice Bolt is always going to be skipped (right?) for the slightly harder hitting Ice Blast, that means you are locked into taking Ice Sword...which works out because you took this set for the pbaoe aura right, so you're definitely going to be in melee.  What this set is really missing for me is a ranged attack with a hold on it, one of the characteristics of its blaster counterpart.  I would add a hold to ice blast or bitter ice blast (preferably bitter), and "do something" to Ice Blast or Ice Bolt to make the choice more interesting/difficult.  Maybe Ice Bolt is like a snowball and it bounces once for half damage (like a 1 bounce Trick Shot), so you have better AOE but less ST?
• Martial Assault
  • Unique : A richochet shot, big ranged attack has splash damage, caltrops, no target melee cone, Envenomed Blades,
  • Verdict : Given its one of the newer/added sets, this set has a lot going for it.  It's another good option for pure ranged dominators, or if you want some extra control/denial from caltrops. 
  • Note : I miss Eagle's Claw.  I'd like to see that in place of weird no-target cone, but I know that's too much to ask in an already kinda loaded set.
• Psionic Assault
  • Unique : pbaoe has a 16 target cap (instead of 10), recovery & regen via drain Pysche
  • Verdict : Really strong set based around Drain Psy & Psychic Shockwave.  Single target range/melee is MEH but that's fair given the power of those two powers.
  • Note : I'd like Mental Blast to do more damage than Subdue, so you have a reason to take it other than you already skipped Psionic Dart (if you skipped it, it's one of the 3s recharge powers, so maybe you kept it for that), but really the set is too solid in total to complain... much 😉
• Radioactive Assault
  • Unique : hardest hitting (but smaller size) pbaoe, top tier final single target attack, ?contamination mechanic?, strong t1 melee attack
  • Verdict: This is the set I have the least experience with, but on paper it looks above average, heavily favoring hybrid or melee approach.
  • Note : I'm still waiting for the right combo/inspiration to strike me before I dig too deep into this one. I've done elec/rad but only into the 30s or so.  I do wish it had a version of Irradiate, as that's one of my favorite powers.  I'd favor swapping that in for the cone and making this a heavily favor melee, like stone, but I get that people want to blast with radiation too.
• Savage Assault
  • Unique: combo/power-up mechanic similar to energy's (but harder to track because it has multiple stages), teleport pbaoe, two pbaoes, longer duration+weaker effect build up, a self heal.
  • Verdict : An all around strong set with lots of uniqueness.
  • Note : Still felt a bit janky for me to play, something to do with the animations maybe?  Still, fun and strong set.
• Sonic Assault
  • Unique : Pbaoe -res aura, top tier melee attacks
  • Verdict : Maybe the best set for a pure melee dominator?  Definitely in the running.  Tiny bit of power creep? 😉
  • Note : Playing elec/sonic right now and it feels great in the 30s.  With the damage aura, the melee attacks are the strongest dominator attacks, except special cases like energy & savage charge effects and psychic shockwave target cap.  Earsplitter+Disruption Aura is more damage, faster animation, less recharge and less endurance than Total Focus, and keeps the hold effect (but shorter duration hold at least).  Honestly the set might be a bit overtuned.
• Thorny Assault
  • Unique : caltrops, very wide/short cone, the best baseline ranged blast, final melee attack is a cone - if you hit 2 targets with it on average, it out performs every other final melee attack (even Earsplitter+disruption aura), you only need to average ~1.3 for it to keep up with Total Focus/Earsplitter.
  • Verdict : very solid set that can shine at range, melee or hybrid. 
  • Note : Really good set if you have patience for dots (like fire, and arsenal to a lesser degree).

Here's a chart I put together to help me compare them :

M = melee, R = range

 

Set	T1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Arsenal	R1.1	M1	FAST CONE	M2	PU	TRIP MINE	+2HIT DRONE	SNIPE	R4.5
Dark	R1	M1	R2	CONE	PU	PBAOE	R2+HEAL	SNIPE	M2+
Earth	R1	M1	PBAOE	R3	PU	M2+	M3+	15slow Aura	CONE* (small TAOE)
Elec	R1	M1	R2	M2	BU	SNIPE	CONE	M3+PBAOE	SENTINEL
Energy	R1	M2	R2	R2.5	PU	PBAOE	M3++	SNIPE	R4
Fire	R0.9	M2	CONE	R2.5	EMBRACE 30/180	PBAOE	CONSUME	SNIPE	R4.5
Ice	R1.2	M2	PBAOE	R1.5	PB	CONE	15slow aura	M3	R3
Martial	R1	M1	TRICK SHOT	M1-CONE	ENVENOM 40/160	PBAOE	CALTROPS	SNIPE	R3+aoe
Psionic	R0.9	M2	M1+KB	R2	CONE	DRAIN PSY	R2+IMM	SNIPE	PBAOE+16cap
Rad	M1+	R1.1	R2.5	CONE	WEAK BU	M2+Heal	Small PBAOE+	SNIPE	M3+
Savage	R1.1	M1	M3	CONE	MID BU 25/90	SMALL* PBAOE	SELF HEAL	R4	PORT PBAOE+5cap
Sonic	R0.9	M2	R1.5	CONE	PU	PBAOE	-15RES AURA	R4	M3++
Thorns	R1.1	M1	SHORT WIDE CODE	R2.5	BU	PBAOE	CALTROPS	M3+CONE	R5

 

My earlier commentary about how I pair sets still holds - I try and find mechanical aspects that complement each other, and ideally a way to thematically tie them together for name/costuming purposes. I'm currently playing:

• ill/fire (30+) and focusing on the ranged aspect of fire to complement illusions mostly ranged focus
• elec/sonic (~35) since elec/ wants to be in melee with its pbaoe aura and sonic is best in melee
• plant/arsenal (53+) because I wanted to do another pure ranged dominator
• dark/savage (~40) - this is an old project character I need to finish up, it was chosen for more thematic than mechanical reasons as dark control doesn't favor melee to the degree that /savage does. I believe I was initially trying to build a ranged focused character, but that didn't work out with this combo, so I'm retooling as time permits.
• gravity/martial (~40) - another old project that I think has a lot of potential for a pure ranged dom, just need to rework post changes to both sets.

On the drawing board:

• symphony/thorn - I don't really like symphony control much BUT I'm going to try and make this work, choosing a heavy damage secondary to pair with a heavy control primary.  I haven't played thorns in a while, and haven't played symph on a dom, so here we go!  Not sure why they didn't just make the symphony hold a cone to keep up with the others in the set....
• fire, earth or ice / rad - Haven't decided between primaries yet, but I'm looking for a heavy melee focus since I haven't really dug into rad yet.  It's been the longest since I've played fire or stone so it will probably be one of those.
• something/energy - definitely need to do a new play through and check out energy.
• no arsenal/?? - probably not, I find the set very powerful, but visually boring (played it on a controller), and its best combos look to me to be martial and fire and arsenal, all of which I'm already working on characters with.

Edited October 3 by lobster

[twozerofoxtrot]

4 hours ago, lobster said:

gravity/martial (~40) - another old project that I think has a lot of potential for a pure ranged dom

 

 

Grav/Martial is one of my oldest and most played Doms and it's a melee beast.

 

Fight under your Singularity, Wormhole everything to you. They'll be stunned and clumped under the Singy. Beat them into a pulp. You can use ranged AoE powers up close, but you can't use melee AoE powers from afar.

 

Caveat that you're going to want KB to KD for both Wormhole and Singularity with this strategy. 

Edited October 3 by twozerofoxtrot

[Imaginary]

I've just thrown together a plant / sonic and it's quite fun. Curious what your builds look like. Not sure Sonic is as overtuned as you say, but it does seem strong.

[blaythesteuer]

What would yall say combos well with /Sonic? I feel like -res debuffing dominator could be something