Dominators vs Elite Bosses?

[The_Cheeseman]

2 hours ago, Overclock said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before me, but the tried and true method for taking out most EBs and AVs is:

Step 1.) Go to Bloody Bay

Step 2.) Lose your fear of being ganked because no one is there anymore

Step 3.) Earn a Shivan temp power by doing the quick mission for them

Step 4.) Unleash Shivan on EB/AV.

Step 5.) Help Shivan out if you feel like it (actually required on AVs, often not on EBs)

Step 6.) Profit!

 

Seriously, the Shivan temp power can be an incredibly decisive factor in any tough fight and its so easy to get these days. The P2W Vendor has other temp summons available but they're generally weaker than a Shivan and can be a lot pricier than an quick trip to Bloody Bay.

Good call. I guess I just take it for granted that, should all else fail, call in the Shivans and Warburg nukes. I generally try to avoid that, though, as it feels like I am not overcoming challenges by playing my character, but merely by being a vessel for OP temp powers. But the option is always there.

[Machariel]

On 9/8/2019 at 10:36 PM, Chirikiti said:

I never use Accolades, demoninc or force of nature or whatnot. Or Pets. Or Temp Powers. And I solo AVs and Giant Monsters. let alone purple-triangle EBs. And this is while leveling too

I don't want to call this player a liar but I would be very skeptical to see a dominator, an archetype that almost completely lacks any form of debuff or self-sustain, soloing GMs regularly while leveling with SOs with no accolades or temp powers.

Incredibly skeptical.  Would like to see videos.

[MTeague]

2 hours ago, The_Cheeseman said:

Good call. I guess I just take it for granted that, should all else fail, call in the Shivans and Warburg nukes. I generally try to avoid that, though, as it feels like I am not overcoming challenges by playing my character, but merely by being a vessel for OP temp powers. But the option is always there.

Well, on one hand, yes, using a Shivan does mean you're kind of not defeating them in a fair fight using just your own character's powers. 

But there's something to be said for realizing when the other side is already playing unfair, and being every bit as unfair, right back at them. 

 

Refa:  Why? Why did you do this?

Londo: To guarantee your cooperation! And because sooner or later, you would do it to me. Yes, we are returning to the old ways, Refa, and poison was always the instrument of choice in the old Republic. Being something of a sentimentalist, I got here first.

  - Babylon 5, Season 3, "Ceremonies of Light and Dark"

[Coyote]

4 hours ago, Machariel said:

I don't want to call this player a liar but I would be very skeptical to see a dominator, an archetype that almost completely lacks any form of debuff or self-sustain, soloing GMs regularly while leveling with SOs with no accolades or temp powers.

Incredibly skeptical.  Would like to see videos.

 

I'm sure that a /Psy Dominator with Hover could solo many GMs. A lot of them are low on ranged DPS, so if you stay out of melee range you don't take that much damage. And you can build for solid Ranged Defense, enough that you can carry a few Lucks and remain at the soft cap. And most GMs don't have debuffs, so you don't have to worry about -Def powers. Lastly, while normally the Regen of GMs is tough to beat, Drain Psyche almost shuts it down completely.

[Machariel]

56 minutes ago, Coyote said:

 

I'm sure that a /Psy Dominator with Hover could solo many GMs. A lot of them are low on ranged DPS, so if you stay out of melee range you don't take that much damage. And you can build for solid Ranged Defense, enough that you can carry a few Lucks and remain at the soft cap. And most GMs don't have debuffs, so you don't have to worry about -Def powers. Lastly, while normally the Regen of GMs is tough to beat, Drain Psyche almost shuts it down completely.

Fair enough, but in my opinion that is much less of a case of "lol get good" so much as a case of "I hope you picked the singular Dominator assault set that happens to also contain (one of) the best power(s) in the game for soloing AVs."  Not being able to do that with /Fiery or /Dark or /Energy doesn't make you unskilled, it means you didn't pick the set with Drain Psyche in it. 🙄

[Coyote]

True. I've soloed AVs with a Mind/Fire and a Fire/Rad while levelling, but.. I wouldn't call it a normal occurence. And in any case it's true that with regards to soloing AVs Doms seem to be the most set-specific AT (other than, maybe, MMs?). If you have a fast Hold you can perma-Hold AVs. But if you don't, then you have to try to fight at range, where some sets aren't that good. And there are fewer combinations that can shore up holes in your defenses, unlike Controllers.

 

Yeah, they are not an AT where you are unskilled because you can't solo an AV with some sets... there are just some sets where it's really difficult.

 

To be fair, though... the same probably applies to Defenders/Corruptors. A defensive buff set like FF or Empathy is probably not soloing AVs without extreme difficulty, while Sonic/Dark Miasma probably has few problems.

[The_Cheeseman]

I can solo (most) GMs on my Mind/Fire, as well. Though it can often be a struggle to overcome their regen. Using Degenerative or Diamagnetic Interface helps, but I am locked into Demons Lore pets for thematic reasons, and they aren't exactly the best choice. Could probably do it with a supply of poisoned daggers instead of relying on incarnates if you don't mind using temps, though.

It's not particularly challenging to perma-mez most GMs on Mind (except the rare ones like Jack-in-Irons who also has purple triangles, but his ranged damage is pretty poor). The trick is stacking enough -regen/max HP to actually make progress on their health bars. Totally doable while levelling, but I'd argue not really worth the time or effort.

Like I mentioned above, there are temp powers that can make just about anything possible, but I tend to enjoy playing around my character's weaknesses with what options are available, rather than relying on build-agnostic temp powers. Soloing GMs is just a personal challenge/pride thing, so I feel like enlisting outside help defeats the purpose of doing it.

[oedipus_tex]

I've been able to solo more than a few Elite Bosses with an Electric Dominator by flooring their endurance. Power Sink helps a lot. 

[mbre2006]

On 9/8/2019 at 9:34 AM, Coyote said:

To add another version of this advice, I soloed Protean in the 20s with a Mind/Fire as an AV. Obviously I couldn't have perma-Dom at that time, so I had to deal with him as if I were a ranged character... without having fully IO'd defenses for capped defenses.

 

So I bought a jetpack, came in loaded with Purples, and fought him while flying. His DPS is a lot lower at range, and I was able to survive while emptying out my entire tray. It was tough, but using flying helps a lot. You could also look into re-slotting, as I have for most of my Doms, with Entropic Chaos on the ranged blasts. It still adds +Recharge, and an attack cycle using the Heal-self IO pretty much doubles your Regeneration, which doubles the incoming DPS that you can survive long-term.

Man I remember fighting him on my elec/elec dom. Keeping him at range is best, But he hits hard regardless.

 

To the OP. For my dom I carry oranges and greens. You're going to get hit. Best you can do is mitigate the damage some and heal back up.