Grav/Energy, and which powers to take

[Troublechuter]

So on live I used to run a physics-themed Grav/Kin controller. The only issue I had with him was that his damage output was basically nothing so soloing with him wasn't really an option, and while I like being on crowd control duty in a team setting (my main is a tank), I don't really enjoy being relegated to a purely support role. But now that Dominators aren't strictly a villain thing, I'd like to try remaking him as either Grav/Energy or Grav/Rad, my only questions are around which specific powers I should be taking, since the combination of powersets, particularly Grav/Energy seems kind of wonky.

 

For example, as a Grav/Kin controller, my main damage powers were Lift and Propel, but as a Dominator with an entire secondary set full of damage powers, they both seem kind of redundant. Should I be skipping / not slotting them and focusing on my secondary powers for damage? Or do they still serve a purpose? On my Grav/Kin I would skip Crush entirely as it seemed redundant with both Crushing Field and Gravity Distortion (which I always saw as just a better version of Crush) available pretty early on, and I needed a damage-dealing power more than a hold in those first few levels. But for a Grav/Energy it seems like I don't really want either? I would expect that as a Dominator I'm going to be using Gravity as my crowd-control set, and Energy as my damage set, so I don't really need a Gravity power that just deals damage. I have a whole other powerset for that! I'm also told that Power Bolt is kind of useless, so it seems like I'm going to have to pick up a bunch of powers that I don't actually want early on as placeholders until the "better" ones are available.

 

So what to do? Am I going to be forced to take a bunch of "useless" powers to begin with, or is there some synergy here I'm not seeing? I figured that Gravity's holds would at least counteracts Energy's knockback somewhat, but other than that these don't seem like sets which gel together all that well.

[Erratic1]

You want Propel and Lift, even with having the blasts from Energy Assault, for the Impact modification to damage.

 

I went without Lift for thematic reasons but will be grabbing on my character's next respec having justified it as fitting theme.  Propel however has been a definite plus to damage output. I admit I do not use Crush much at all. My respect plan drops it. Gravity Distortion I am keeping. As for Power bolt, you don't have a choice other than to slot it or not. You might as well slot it because some damage is better than no damage. 

 

As for synergy, it is partially what you state--you can choose which targets get held and so not knocked back by your attacks. That is huge. It allows you to single out targets and to temporarily remove from consideration others. Something causing problems for a team member? Knock it away from them. Or if you have the time to spend, hold it and blast it down. I do sometimes wish we had better pet control but ultimately you can move to  force your pet to engage, and it is a real help in terms of controlling things.