Hold em Down!

[Silvanthis]

Just finished my rad/fire brute, and I'm eyeballing Controller and Dominator. 

The two control sets that interest me are Gravity and Dark. I have not played them before, so any insight is appreciated!

 

1.) Do Dominators do decent damage?

2.) Is it worth it to bring buffs/debuffs over said damage?

3.) Which secondaries pair the best with these two control sets?

 

Thank you!

[RayeGunn]

While I can't speak to Grav, I have a Dark/Dark Dom at level 46, and he is a blast to play. He solos easily and does decent damage, but that depends more on your secondary rather than the primary. Dark Assault is very DoT heavy, so you end up with lots and lots of little numbers melting them away over time, (especially with my build that uses Enflame cast on my ghosts on top of that, DoTs everywhere). If you want something more bursty you may want to choose a different secondary. But Dark Assault does pair well with Dark Control to get stacking tohit debuffs. It's no Dark Miasma or Rad, but if you have a bit of defense happening from maneuvers, or stealth or whatever, it adds up to some pretty solid extra damage mitigation. But I think Psi or Fire would also pair well, depending if you want a more ranged or melee playstyle. I favor ranged, personally.

 

But it's very solid AoE control, once you get Fearsome Stare, and I love sets with a confuse, it's so handy to confuse mobs with buffs or heals, or if Domination isn't up, and the group is not aggroed, i like to confuse bosses before using holds on them, so i can enter the fight with the boss not attacking me. Though a Shadow Field then immediately holding the boss also works. My usual is to open with a Possession since it doesn't aggro, then Fearsome Stare, Living Shadows, Haunt, hold and /or confuse some guys, and AoE till they're dead, more or less. Shadow Field if there are adds, the map means a cone won't hit them right,  or they are resistant to Fear (damn Nemesis), or i just want some extra tohit debuff, or i am trying to lock down multiple bosses or a tough opponent like an EB/AV.

 

On teams you will likely end up spamming Fearsome Stare and your attacks most of the time, honestly, maybe Living Shadows if managing knockback is a concern. Most other controls will be wasted as things tend to die too fast. But AVs will benefit from more of your skills, you should be able to easily lock down an AV with Shadow Field and your single target hold, triangles permitting.

 

You'll also greatly benefit from a lot of +rech even if you don't opt to go all the way for Perma Dom, Since Shadow Field, Haunt, and to a lesser extent  Fearsome Stare have hefty recharge times, so definitely fit Hasten in there.

 

I took some video of me playing the character at level 36, he's a bit more beastly now. I may take more once i hit 47 and have World of Confusion.

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by RayeGunn

[Mercurias]

Gravity is one of the more unique control sets in that it has emphasis on offense. You can easily acquire a 1-2-3 rampage combo of your ST hold, Lift, and Propel before level 10 (and yes, after 8 years of Propel being an awful power, newer tweaks have made it one of the gems of the set). It’s pet, Singularity, is uniquely strong and survivable. It can handle mobs all on its own, and I frequently just let it do its thing while I got on my own Controller rampage.

 

For unique control powers, the most noted are Wormhole and Dimension Shift. Wormhole is an AoE stun that group’s up enemies and teleports them to a location you indicate while disorienting them. This can be extremely handy in the right situation, but be wary on teams of your Scrappers might start to fuss when the boss they were punching moves away fro them. Dimension Shift is a phase power that essentially places enemies in a bubble where they can’t attack you, and you can’t attack them. This can be useful in emergencies, but damage ATs often hate it and I personally find it to be a little too situational.

 

Energy and Electric Assault pair very well with Gravity if you aren’t afraid of going into melee. If you prefer ranged, you’ll have a hard time beating Fiery Assault. 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Mercurias

[Uun]

18 minutes ago, Mercurias said:

Dimension Shift is a phase power that essentially places enemies in a bubble where they can’t attack you, and you can’t attack them. This can be useful in emergencies, but damage ATs often hate it and I personally find it to be a little too situational.

It doesn't work like that any more. You can enter the bubble and fight the enemies while they're phased. Also, it's now a toggle.

[SeraphimKensai]

Having in my experience a lvl 50 dark/rad controller and a lvl 50 grab/fire domi, I can say that both control sets are very strong at what they uniquely do.

 

Dark control has a lot of soft controls with to hit debuff paired with some pretty solid pet support.

 

Grav control plays similar to a traps/devices build in that it's often beneficial to wormhole a whole group of mobs into a corner where they can now get wrecked by everything you throw at them including the kitchen sink.

 

I would suggest you roll up one of each, as I feel most people would like each set.

Edited September 5, 2019 by SeraphimKensai

[Dark Current]

Wormhole is one of the best control powers in the game.

 

A ranged stun that hits from around a corner out of LOS and moves an entire spawn from a hazardous location to one of your choosing for AoE destruction?

 

It's downright surgical.