_Ail_

QR

Try a /TA defender or a /traps corruptor.

QR

Since MMs are basically teams to themselves, they don't really need you for anything in particular IMO. I think you can feel free to play whatever you like (Corrruptor or Dominator or whatever) and it'll probably work out. Just think up a concept you enjoy and roll with it.

QR

My earth/thorns is only mid-30s, but I still feel like I am going to end out taking all of the secondary, as in-elegant as that makes me feel.

THorny darts is required, so whatever.

Skewer and ripper seem like too high damage to ignore.

Aim is aim, and I <3 it.

Impale recently got improved, and it seems a shame not to take it when you can pair it with thorn barrage.

And thorntrops is like quicksand to keep guys in earthquake, only it also does damage, so I have to take it.

Thorn burst is AOE, and AOE is still AOE. I can't make an AOE chain out of just fling thorns by itself.

So, I end out with a lot of secondary I guess...

Ordinarily, I like to snip it down more and come up with a tighter attack chain and ditch redundant assault powers. Frustrating...

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The tier 1's still aren't worth slotting

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolute bunk. Slot and use your tier 1 blast. Anyone who says it's not worth using has poor math skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, my math skills are fine. :P It's just that I have better dps chains on my characters.

Feel free to see some calcs at the end of the page on
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....ue#Post13706803
for /energy

Recently, I did both the steal artifact from Tavaris and eliminate Kit'Vol missions (solo) on my lvl 34 earth/thorns dom.

With both of them, upon zoning into the mission (and not encountering Kit'Vol or Tavaris at all and not attacking anything at all in the entire mission) they both started to run for the entrance.

I caught both of them (and since playing a dom, easy to prevent them from running more) but this is a really nasty bug. This missions are required for accolades, and it would be a real PITA to fail them because of some stupid AI bug.

Yes, I filed in game bug reports for both.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Being fair, he might find endurance costs more prevalent because he's killing faster.

[/ QUOTE ]Actually that would make it seem less because you kill more stuff between the time you rest or use domination.

[/ QUOTE ]Eh, I haven't found the experience of which I speak - but I hear it a common complaint about Stone Melee.

[/ QUOTE ]That just means your not thinking about it in the right way. If you are killing more stuff in between rests then its supposed to feel like you are killing more stuff for same amount of endurance. The issue is with doms is we have a ton of over kill damage. To be honest I like it better when all the tier 1s did more damage because I actually overkilled less and had reason to slot the tier 1 for damage. The tier 1 actually got used as opposed to now.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is my one complaint as well. The tier 1's still aren't worth slotting (except possibly for set bonuses. ) I guess their whole point now is just as an unslotted filler attack for low level doms to put in chains.

I know that this is what seemingly many people wanted though so I suppose Castle is just satisfying that.

I was actually just about to respond suggesting something more like your 2nd. I think you first build was too attack-light for an actual levelling build.

Ditching stone cages at the beginning so you could get ice sword was a good move IMO. It is at the beginning that you are starved for attacks, and your first build had you taking ice sword at 35 and ice slash at 47, which was a bit silly IMO.

Anyway, I like the 2nd build better.

I posted this in another thread a week or two ago. It's not my build, but it is a pretty good all-purpose fire/fire build. Combustion may have been weakened, but it *is* another AOE, and so you might as well take it.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Level 50 Natural Dominator
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Assault
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Villain Profile:
------------
Level 1: Char BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(5), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(5)
Level 1: Flares Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(7), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Fire Cages Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(11), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(11), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(13), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(13)
Level 4: Fire Breath Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(15), Posi-Dmg/Rng(17), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17)
Level 6: Hasten RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 8: Hot Feet Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(21), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), EndRdx-I(50)
Level 10: Fire Blast Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(25), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(25), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27)
Level 12: Flashfire Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(29), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(29), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(31), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 14: Super Speed Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 16: Fiery Embrace RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 18: Hurdle Jump-I(A)
Level 20: Health Heal-I(A)
Level 22: Stamina EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(33), EndMod-I(33)
Level 24: Combustion Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(34), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(34), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 26: Aid Other Heal-I(A)
Level 28: Consume Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(36), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(36), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(48), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(48), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(50)
Level 30: Aid Self Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-Heal(39)
Level 32: Fire Imps SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg(A), SvgnRt-Dmg/EndRdx(39), SvgnRt-Acc/EndRdx(39), SvgnRt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), SvgnRt-Acc(40), SvgnRt-PetResDam(50)
Level 35: Bonfire KinCrsh-Dmg/KB(A), KinCrsh-Acc/KB(40), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB(42), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx(42), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(42), KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB(48)
Level 38: Blaze Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(43), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45)
Level 41: Scorpion Shield RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(45), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RedFtn-Def(46), RedFtn-EndRdx(46), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 44: Personal Force Field LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 47: Stealth LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Invisibility LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination
------------
Set Bonus Totals:
10.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
10.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
10.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
10.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
10.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
10.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
10.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
10.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
4.06% Defense(Smashing)
4.06% Defense(Lethal)
2.5% Defense(Energy)
2.5% Defense(Negative)
4.38% Defense(Melee)
1.25% Defense(Ranged)
6.75% Max End
4% Enhancement(Heal)
27% Enhancement(Accuracy)
3% Enhancement(Stun)
3% Enhancement(Immobilize)
105% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
64.9 HP (6.38%) HitPoints
Knockback (Mag -3)
Knockup (Mag -3)
MezResist(Confused) 7.75%
MezResist(Held) 7.75%
MezResist(Immobilize) 15.5%
MezResist(Sleep) 7.75%
MezResist(Stun) 12.2%
MezResist(Terrorized) 7.2%
8.5% (0.14 End/sec) Recovery
16% (0.68 HP/sec) Regeneration
12.5% Resistance(Smashing)
10% Resistance(Lethal)
14.1% Resistance(Fire)
14.1% Resistance(Cold)
10% Resistance(Energy)
11.9% Resistance(Negative)
10% Resistance(Toxic)
10% Resistance(Psionic)
3% RunSpeed






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[ QUOTE ]

If you really wanted to, you could get 5 BotZ +KB prot, 5 Steadfast Prot +KB prot, 5 Karma +KB prot, and 5 Kinetic Crash 4 piece set bonuses and they would all stack because they're actually different "powers" as the game sees them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I sense a concept character here. Stone tank, make sure to take rooted also as well as the ones you list. Name it "hold the line" or "none shall pass". Be sure not to take any travel powers. You're not going anywhere!

QR

My bane also has no travel powers. It's no problem since I have both swift and mental training 2-slotted for speed.

QR

Since it is a pvp question, you might ask it in the pvp forums as well.

I used to pvp, but have not kept up on the new system and don't know what's good now-a-days.

QR

You have a lot of villains in your 50s list. Surely CoV has shown you that any old collection of ATs mashed together can make a perfectly viable team for almost all (i.e., not RSF as far as CoV is concerned) things a team wants to do.

Edit: Note to devs: You really [censored] up on RSF, didn't you? Said, by the way, by someone who has completed it many times with many ATs. The one thing I fear about Going Rogue is the number of tanker/defender/controllers who are going to be considered mandatory for RSF.

QR

I endorse everything KitsuneKnight has been saying.

/traps is nice because it really requires almost no IO investment to get up to speed. It can easily have more than soft capped smashing/lethal defense without any IOs, and other powers similarly don't require exotic slotting.

I think you could have some +recharge to get poison trap and other abilities up more, and maybe some procs slotted here and there, but it really works just fine at SO level.

(1) I think either aid self or tough/weave can be worth it. You're probably going to have to choose one or the other and not both though, because pools are tight with a dom. (Stamina and hasten benefit almost all builds.)

(2) If you have a spare power slot, but I wouldn't sacrifice anything terribly important for it. I haven't taken it in any of my builds, but I have had triage beacon in /traps and it can occasionally be useful despite all of the bad press it gets. It's unlikely to be useful more than once a mission though (say just inside the bank door in a mayhem mission after you ran there, or maybe in some long boss encounter with ambushes.)

(3) Yes, for the mez protection and end refill if nothing else. These definitely come in handy solo (you mentioned soloing.) Mez resist because it is just you out there so you want to be able to act. End again because soloing if you run out of end you are just sitting there doing nothing and wasting your own time.

(4) I'd say don't second-guess yourself. You went in and decided to roll a plant/thorns because something about it appealed to you. Just go with it and keep playing and enjoying things.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't feel like creating a new thread but would I gimp myself much by skipping both Bone Smasher and Total Focus? Hear me out.

I am trying Mind Control for the first time. Mind has a lot of useful powers and it is all ranged.

I looked at the numbers and /Energy's ranged dps is quite impressive. I mean Power Bolt, Push, Blast and Burst is a very solid attack chain. I don't know if I have much time using melee attacks to be honest. Mind control doesn't have -kb so my target after Power Push is always so far away unless I push him to a corner/wall.


Have any of you tried /Energy without melee? Or maybe just skipping Total Focus? I am not a huge fan of 3s attack. I feel 70% of the time it's either overkill or wasted. Another thing is other ATs use Total Focus for mag 4 stun as well but I already have hold. What do you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

See my calcs in:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....e=1&fpart=1

At the end of page one where the "real server time" dpa of the attacks are compared. I think pure ranged is very viable now.

[ QUOTE ]
LEt me get this strait. They nerfed damage and took out the damage increase through domination and you say thank you?

[/ QUOTE ]

On the off chance that this isn't a deliberate troll and that after 4500+ posts and a registration date of 4 years ago, you still don't know how to read patch notes, here you go

http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/pat...release_n.html

[ QUOTE ]
And Trout Defence sucks, because the scales obscure your costume, and the smell induces nausea in people with medical conditions.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol

[ QUOTE ]
Note that a game card for any NCsoft game will work for this one. I picked up some Auto Assault cards on the cheap when that game shut down.

[/ QUOTE ]

Auto Assault! I remember when I posted a constructive post on their forums which said (nicely, without using the word [censored] or any expletive at all and which even said "nice game otherwise" in an attempt to placate them), "The player avatars look like [censored] in this game," the post was deleted and I got a warning.

Sweet justice...

I would keep wormhole despite its faults. It is still the best AOE control option you have that is frequently up.

Well, disregard that damage per activation stuff. If you use those Arcanatime formulas (which I may or may not have correct) that disadvantage the quicker activating powers like power push, you get the following.

Using the formula of getting actual server time by:
(RoundUp(time/.132)+1).132

and computing damage per activation time by
(damage scalar * (either .95 or 1.05 depending upon ranged or melee))/(actual server time)

I get


Power Bolt 0.80
Power Blast 1.01
Lift 1.05
Power Burst 1.10
Power Push 1.18
Total focus 1.19
Bonesmasher 1.20

Lift thrown in for comparison because my energy is grav/nrg.

Note that I still think that because you are never going to get a complete chain out of bonesmasher and total focus, power push starts to look awfully appealing. But then if you don't want to run after things all the time (especially as a mind/ dom) the wheels start turning in your mind and you think about all ranged. In any case, when you add into your head the travel time it takes to get into melee (even if you don't use power push and stay in melee) you realize that power push is now freakin' awesome.

I am sure that there are many viable builds though, and I'm not just saying that as a cop out. I really think there are.

Edit: Also, the above table is kind of being maximally unfriendly to power push by using the Arcana time and maximally friendly to total focus by not considering the "overkill" effect that is going to be happening all the time with it where its damage is wasted and you still have to go with the longer activation time.

[ QUOTE ]
Just going to ramble a bit based on what you just said. Telekensis is a godawful power that I really don't like on dominators. Mass Hypnosis works fine at 5 feet or 50, and with Energy's lack of necessary AOE (it's not like you'd have to turn off Hot Feet as you close, for example), it's a great way to cut up an enemy spawn. You have two long-duration controls that care about opponents being attacked, and that makes the long animation on Total Focus less of a problem (after all, the guy's dying once it lands - you don't have to land two or three more attacks). And under the real numbers in game, for damage, Total Focus > Bone Smasher > Power Burst > Power Push. So sure, Power Push is better than it was, but I'd never ditch melee for it, and I wouldn't even bother with it if I was level 38 already.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds good. I could see doing it and supplementing the melee chain with some other attacks that just weren't power push.

Edit: And in damage per activation time, Power Push is better than any of bonesmasher, total focus, and power burst. I think it is definitely the best attack of the 4, and it has the best recharge of the 4 as well. What this basically means is that a high recharge dom should be using power push as often as possible if they want to do optimal damage, and it will be up a lot because of the high recharge so that they only need probably 2 other attacks to get a complete chain with no gaps.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
With Mind/Energy, I'd probably go all ranged though,

[/ QUOTE ]o.O

[/ QUOTE ]

lolz. I said there were a variety of builds and blah blah blah, so people can do whatever they want. I was just saying what I personally would do.

There is nothing about mind/ that makes you want to keep enemies close to you (quite the opposite with Telekinesis in fact.) And the new /energy with power push being the new hotness (and note because of minds lack of immobilize it is COMPLETELY INCAPABLE of applying -knockback so they WILL be flying away from you making going into melee a continual frustration) your ranged attack chain now packs a big punch.

Bonesmasher and total focus do not make a complete attack chain and you are going to want to be filling those gaps with the oh-so-awesome damage of power push but then they are going to go 100% chance flying away from you and you are going to have to haul [censored] after them yet again. And you are going to be doing this like every 8 seconds ad infinitum x 50 levels.

Looks fine, but there will be some gaps in your attack chain.

Some of your set bonuses seem kind of confused and I am not sure what you are really going for here.

With Mind/Energy, I'd probably go all ranged though, with the exception of taking the newly buffed whirling hands. Also, I would not take the soul mastery epic because I wouldn't be that close. Also, I'd take my travel power super speed before level 49, and probably exhange tough for aid self since I don't think you are getting full value from it.

There are always plenty of build options though so if you like what you have go for it.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Come on here, you are just throwing up poor little defenseless fishies as arguments at this point. Give up already.

[/ QUOTE ]How do you solo?

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought you were making the really ridiculous claim of fighting things 5 levels higher than you (and maybe even bosses 5 levels higher than you in some silly AE/NA exploit.) Now I realize you were just talking about bosses 3 levels higher than you. I am sorry for the misunderstanding.

This latter is still a case where the imps will be better IMO, though it is a closer race. Hot feet (with its damage and slow) still probably wins the race for fire here though.

As for how I solo, it varies of course. How you solo early in a toons life differs from how you solo later. Even when soloing later, are you merit farming (where you probably just want everything set to lowest so you can get merits as quickly as possible) or trying to get infamy (trickier as you might have a variety of difficulty settings here) or trying for purple sets?

I think it is pretty clear though that in most of the situations, fire/ is going to be a better solo bet than gravity/.

This is not to say that gravity won't be entertaining and quirky and fun though, and also solo all of the primaries are much closer to each other.