Dominators ???

[natewest1987]

Forgive my noobdom, but where does a dominator fit in the hierarchy of AT’s? ? Are they a control set ? DPS? DPS hybrid ?   

 

Obviously a hybrid, but hoping someone can explain to me why you roll a dominator?   For instance I typically roll ranged dps because I like to blow shit up.  What does a dominator let you do ? 

 

[Coyote]

14 minutes ago, natewest1987 said:

Forgive my noobdom, but where does a dominator fit in the hierarchy of AT’s? ? Are they a control set ? DPS? DPS hybrid ?   

 

Obviously a hybrid, but hoping someone can explain to me why you roll a dominator?   For instance I typically roll ranged dps because I like to blow shit up.  What does a dominator let you do ? 

 

 

Hold shit so it doesn't move, and THEN blow shit up 😛

 

Compared to Controllers, it has similar plan to Control, but instead of having the ability to add buffs to a team or self, or debuff mobs, it blasts them.

Compared to Blasters, it blasts them at range and in melee (like Blasters), but where a few Blasters have some controls (mostly single-target), Dominators have AoE controls and much longer-lasting single-target controls. But Blasters do more damage and especially more up-front damage at the beginning of a fight. Blasters also have more HPs and better regeneration so while they don't stop as much incoming damage, they're better equipped to survive taking some damage.

[Mercurias]

Doms are a Control/DPS Hybrid class that's heavy on the Control and very light on the Health bar. They solo pretty well, especially at high levels, but they aren't tanks. Don't bring a Dominator into melee unless those mobs are locked down. They generally don't hit as hard as Blasters, and have less AoE, but they can get the job done. They're better at using strictly their Control primary than Controllers because of Domination, which makes them lock stuff down easier.

 

Perma-Domination (Also called Perma, or Permadom) is something you'll see mentioned. That means that a Dominator has enough Enhancement bonuses for Domination to recharge before it wears off from the last time it was cast. This makes a Dominator vastly more powerful, basically like it's always in overdrive. It is recommended at level 50 to find a way to make your Dominator hit Perma, because it dramatically increases one's overall power in combat.

 

A few examples of fun Dominators are:

-Electric/Electric: Electric Control is a set with a lot of ways to make enemies either locked down, extremely weak, or punch each other. Electrical Assault is a Melee-focused set that has some very satisfying heavy hits. 

-Fire/Fire deals Fire damage, and a lot of it for a Dom. Fire Control has very solid control options, but it also does good AoE Damage. Fiery Assault deals good damage overall. Together, they're thematic, blasty, and a lot of fun.

-Gravity/Energy is sort of a kinetic puncher Dominator. With the ranged offense baked into Gravity Domination and the heavy melee damage in Energy Assault, you'll be doing a whole lot of damage to single targets, but your control will be a little light, so you have to kill things quickly.

-Plant/Dark is an odd duck, but it's one I've greatly enjoyed. Plant Melee has some really nice control, as well as good options to slot proc into powers. Dark Assault hits decently hard in melee and at range, and it also has a heal to match the Tree of Life in Plant Control. When I hit Perma on this Dom during Live, I was able to do nice damage while sitting i my own little heal pocket away from the massed enemies. 

 

 

[Ozryk]

The Dominator is Magneto. This archetype expresses the ultra-powerful super-villain which can render their enemies helpless before blowing them to Perdition. Where a Blaster relies on raw damage and some light regeneration to stay live, a Dominator prevents their enemies from ever throwing a punch. Grouped, the Dominator should focus on identifying key difficult opponents and neutralizing them. Healers, Summoners, Debuffers and Sappers can, left unchecked, wreak havoc on your team. Finding those troublesome enemies and swiftly reducing them to piñatas will make your group much more smoothly demolish your opposition. Once threats are handled, Doms casually stop runners and swiftly turn unexpected defeats from becoming a party wipe, through quick and judicious use of their AoE mezz abilities. Finally, a well-built dominator can even turn Archvillains into punching bags, given enough time to stack up hold magnitude.

[biostem]

19 hours ago, natewest1987 said:

Forgive my noobdom, but where does a dominator fit in the hierarchy of AT’s? ? Are they a control set ? DPS? DPS hybrid ?   

 

Obviously a hybrid, but hoping someone can explain to me why you roll a dominator?   For instance I typically roll ranged dps because I like to blow shit up.  What does a dominator let you do ? 

 

Think of them like a a lower damage blaster with tons of control.  The degree to which you lean on the damage side or control side of the see-saw, and whether you're more single target or group-focused, depends heavily on which primary and secondary sets you choose.  For instance, I'm in the process of leveling up a gravity/earth dom, and she absolutely annihilates single targets, but groups can give her some problems, (she's still relatively low-level, so that may change later).  I'd imagine that a dark or plant dom would fair much better against groups of enemies...

[Chirikiti]

What does a dominator let you do? Everything

 

Doms are the tits. I pretty much only play my Dom (Number-Six for those of you who may know me). There's some good sum-ups above.

 

They're super powerful far as I am concerned, I can do anything on one. Don't even have to take damage if I don't want to (I do cuz I'm lazy and quick heh). You can solo anything when by yourself, and in a group it's awesome. Identify and neutralize the most problematic targets while keeping an eye open for team-mates dealing with a harsh foe. EBs/Bosses all held or confused. Dive in at the AV lay a smackdown. Perma-Dom, 1 hold bosses 2 hold EBs, never take any status effects, fills up your stamina bar every 67 seconds (I run 7 or 8 toggles sometimes). 

Sadly everyone is copying me and I'm not the only one on the team anymore (less chance for show off =p)  <---- =p

 

-Number-Six/Implementor  Torchbearer

[oedipus_tex]

Dominator was designed as a kind of 'blapper' class that was supposed to be able to use control powers to mezz enemies and then run in in relative safety and kill them. Their significant gap is ranged, radial AoE powers: unlike Blasters, the only place they receive ranged AoE radial blasts is in the tertiary pools, and they lack nukes. Instead they have only cones and PBAoEs (generally with 15ft range).

 

The class has been adjusted a few times over the years. It was long considered a lopsided class during the early City of Villains days, extremely weak out of Domination mode and powerful when Domination was up. It only really coming into stride in later years when Domination was changed so that the Damage buff it provided was removed and the classes overall damage upped. The second big upward shift in power is when better radial blasts were added to the epic pools, when Villains got access to hero pools.

 

It's a relatively balanced class these days, trading away the Blaster's overwhelming AoE damage potential for very strong controls (the best in the game) with some ability to provide AoE damage.

Edited August 24, 2019 by oedipus_tex