Ethric

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And and... because the 75% boost in damage isn't as flashy as in the lower levels (as it is off the base damage, not total damage), maybe a scaling damage boost? Starting from 75% boost from level 1 and increasing as you level?

[/ QUOTE ]Or a lower boost, but to base damage instead of a damage buff?

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Wouldn't that need some serious game changes to implement in the core code, whilst a damage buff is already in there and it works.

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There are level scaling Defenses (i.e. SR) so I think adding level scaling damage boost. Yes, there is a damage buff already in there and it does work, in it's full effect it's at the TO levels when you get to feel the 75% boost directly, making you able to 1-shot minions. Levels 30- are not the case, as you should have SOs by then, and when you have SOs the damage boost you get from Domination feels small because it's off base damage.

Controllers, who are supposed to be the low damage AT, get straightforward 100% more damage in PvE and 200% in PvP, and that's not even off base damage, that's off REAL damage.

Etc, if a Controller does 120 with propel (slotted with SOs) he will do 240 in PvE and 360 in PvP.

If a Dominator does 60 damage with Ripper (unmodified with enhancements), he will do 105 damage while under Domination. If he has slotted the attack with 3 SOs, he will do 118 damage without Domination. With Domination that damage will be 162 damage. That is 38% percent boost to damage by then. It is working! Woo! My damage is just laughable. Blasters say "lol still taking long?" and then just fix me in 3 shots. But, if Domination was your damage x 1.75 = total damage then we'd do alot more, and actually be significant threats in the manners of damage, y'know, near Blaster levels.

If you think that's ridiculous look at Controllers with their "low" damage 2-shotting people with Propel. "Yeah ok that's fair!"

"Mind/Nrg is teh good ya'll!!" "No, Mind/Psi is the best" "ZOOMG! Fire/Ice hands is teh best hands doooown!"

My main is a Plant/Thorns, and I've specced her for PvP. I find that your sets do not matter much, note, much compared to the player's skill to handle things. Sure, /Psi might be good at detoggling things with Drain Psyche and Mind/ has alot of control, but here's what I've found useful:

- read The Harsh Reality of PvP

- Be friendly with people, especially if they're new

- a GG after a good fight is nice

- Learn to joust, especially with Total Focus or Ripper

- Aid Self makes you more survivable, even with 1 Interrupt I can heal myself from Spine Toxin ticks

- Acrobatics or you are finding yourself on your back all the time

- You will be tasting the ground alot if you are new

- Never gloat when you win

- If the opponent uses BFs, make him burn them really good

- If your opponent is using a long animating move (i.e. Total Focus), use your toggle dropper on him and jump away, get ready for Aid Self

- Get a Team

- Get Stamina, if you're a /Psi you might not need it

- Stay silent if you got defeated in a rather unfair way, telling them that they're stupid etc. will just provoke them to do more

- Use insps [highlight 2 Lucks is teh cheeat!!omg ]

- Use corners and walls and obstacles to make your Dominationbuilding easier & safer

- PvE a little in the zone to get some ready Domination incase you meet a Blaster, where it's either you or him dead

- If you find yourself useless after the opposing Empath has turned his allies unholdable, don't whine

- If a FoTM build beats you, don't whine, because even Corruptors get spanked by good FoTM builds, or ATs (Scrappers and Stalkers)

- While jousting, hop twice instead of once (hard to explain)

And the most important of all
- Carry alot of breakfrees, some Lucks

And just to remind:
- Whine as least as you are capable of, unless you want to be known as the "carebear" duh

Why I am pointing out to be silent is that people will respect you more, that was hard for me in the beginning but now I stay silent as a rock if I get royally spanked. Yummy. Also compliment other people if they've got effective, but different tactics to use (generally anything other than Aim + BU + Spank or TPFoe + Spank)

I got it slotted with 2 accs, 2 confuse durations and 2 recharges, but that's just my own personal reference, the mobs don't need too much confuse duration, but I'm not sure if just 1 duration enhancement is enough. If it is, I'd go with 1 duration, 2 acc and 3 rechg.

Before you get DOs, you don't need to slot this heavily, I started out with 2 TO Accuracies, when I got to near DO levels I put a bit more slots, and those were recharge, then I finally put some durations in it.

My Plant/Thorns rocks in PvE and is pretty good in PvP, although I die alot to Spines/SR Scrappers and Ice/EM Blasters and Ice/SS or Ice/EM Tankers, well, the FoTM.

You can't go wrong with Plant/, arr! (unless you forget to take Seeds of Confusion and take Jump Kick instead)

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personally i dont find seeds the most important power in a plant dom, there are other moves i consider more vital than confusion, but they are later on.
(although i havent played my plant dom much since she hit 40 a while ago)

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My Plant/Thorns Dom is sitting at 38 right now, thanks to Seeds of Confusion. This power makes you unstoppable, making you capable of taking down +3 enemies easily, negates the damage dealt to you, makes your enemies die alot faster, recharge fast and all this at level 8!

I find Seeds of Confusion as important as Strangler (hold), after your 40 levels with a Plant/ Dom, I'm surprised you don't find this power the most important? Sure, Carrion Creepers are nice but if you'd have to choose between the two, which one would you choose?

Yeah, HP boost to Blaster levels would be great. I was thinking of a Dull Pain thing when you pop Domination, as you become a weapon of destruction after all!

The dull pain component wouldn't have a heal, otherwise people would use it to heal themselves (duh!) so Frostwork-style of a boost would fit in.

And and... because the 75% boost in damage isn't as flashy as in the lower levels (as it is off the base damage, not total damage), maybe a scaling damage boost? Starting from 75% boost from level 1 and increasing as you level?

SC isn't the best place for Doms IMO, because our strengths just aren't available there. Let me explain:

In SC it's 1, 2, splat, dead Dom.

In Warburg it's still 1, 2, splat, dead Dom but you get your Toggle Dropper powers which make you a beast. The way how the Dom gets kills is killing fast, and tier 8s and 9s will give that. Can't wait until I get Thorn Barrage on my level 37 Plant/Thorns slotted up and can finally do a pretty good damaging attack chain on held foes.

In SC that option isn't available, just you and your weak attacks + the highish damage melee attack.

I get much more kills in WB than in SC, due to these reasons. While they can always splat me right away if they get in melee range, they will be killed faster, alot faster when you get your attack chain completed.

Sure, Elude and other godmodes will be tough nut to crack, but always remember that there is a crash in the end, which will be victory for you.

Megalomaniac + Domination + Power Boost = a lot of control.

And yes, the Domination "hold duration buff"
IIRC when launching a Dominationjuiced hold, it fires off a second hold along with your normal hold, and this extra hold has higher duration.

Yesterday night I was around BB with my low-ish Rad/Kin Corruptor, I just had gotten Cosmic Burst and I wanted to test it.

So after running around a while, I see a juicy Defender come at me. "Ahh finally something else!" I thought, then I engaged at him. I shot green beams, he shot green beams, "Cool!" I thought.

Then we used our Kinetic powers, we both Siphon Speeded eachother but it didn't work because they both negated the effects. -- I was fighting my lawful twin from Paragon! After I got him to the Scourge-area he fled with IR, but the battle was so sweet because both had the same sets.


Anyone else had similar experiences?

I planned taking my nuke (Atomic Blast) on my Rad/Kin Corruptor. Going to slot it with 3 Dmg and 3 Rechg, because I will not launch it without Aim (and I will have Tactics aswell)

For non-kinetics Corruptors I'd not take the nuke, because of the endurance crash and that it can't kill even-con minions (As I've heard)
The nukes need 0-1 Acc, because most of them have a high-ish accuracy bonus. Nova has 40% accuracy bonus IIRC.
3 dmg, 3 rechg.

I was going to make a long post of what each set has (both control and assault) and noticed you can't go wrong with any combination (even Grav/Psi when you think about it.)

Mind/ is strong in SC, but Fire/ annihilates pretty anything much in WB. (Unless you get 2-shot, which will happen often )

Now, I found something interesting, although it is perhaps only PvP.

Invisibility


Pros:[*] Silently in, silently out. You become a Stalker-Blaster-ish with holds.
[*] Related to the first one, this helps alot with Aim + BU stuff. Invis might not be full invis if the other one has Tactics or other +perc but helps you get away much easier.
[*] When the hold suppression kicks in, you can go invisible and get ready for the second strike, really useful against Radiation Emission.
[*] Gets you extra slots from not 6-slotting anything in Concealment (Aid Self needs that)
[*] Doesn't suppress like Hide (in my experience)
[*] Ehm, Ghost Widow in the cinematic CoV-scene uses Phase Shift... might tell something how everyone will target Dominators.


Cons:
[*] You need to take either Grant Invis (Stalkers love getting it I think) or Stealth (can bee seen a mile away)
[*] Doesn't make you able to zerg from Hospital if Rest is not recharged yet
[*] People keep you a cheap bag of boots when using Invisibility or Phase Shift, but no no, Aim + BU definitely isn't cheap, no way!
[*] Costs alot of END
[*] Even more reasons to hate CM from Empathy-set for it's +perc.
[*] That specific Ice/SS Tanker with Flight (you know who you are) will be able to p00n you even easier!

Soul Storm is a broken hold at the moment and they're going to fix it, the reason why you can't use BFs during it is because you are in "knockback" while the animation rolls.

I don't mind the villain PPPs being stronger than hero APPs, but I do not like the fact that this one hold is better than any Dominator's (in the utility way) and that Dominators did not get it.

Comparing things like FA against a Stalker's 3 spiderling pets is like a Mastermind with no pets against a fully buffed Blaster who is going to 2-shot the MM. The pets 4/5 of the villainous Archetypes get are nice, but you can't compare them to eg. Blaster's Force of Nature or Controller epics.

If I'd be able to choose a Patron now, I'd not choose Ghost Widow for a broken hold. Why? Because they are going to nerf.. I mean adjust it. Black Scropion might be more appealing due to the web grenades which just are eeeevil.

Spirit Tree + Thorntrops combo is good for long fights like against a Defender or another Dominator. Against Blasters it's not good because of both people moving.

Scrappers take pretty many holds to take down, and if you're stationary, no regen will save you.

Guess it is still best to use Aid Self, with it you can survive things a tad easier and you can semi-zerg from the hospital.

So today I tried Intimidate.

In PvE play you can't fear anything higher than a minion. That's right. Only minions and under.

In PvP it has been only good at stopping an Aim+BU'd Blaster (he had no BFs) for a few seconds. Might have some uses, but not for me.

If you're wondering about the animation of Intimidate, it's like x-ray beam with no beam, instead, a birdly scream.

/Psi doesn't need Stamina neither you need Spore Burst after you've gotten Seeds. Sporey would have some uses for LRSF though.

One of the reasons I'd take mace mastery would be that Toxic Tarantula... -drools- Have you seen them in combat? They're like seeing Carrion Creepers for the first time around the minions of Ghost of Scrapyard (and that was lots of vines)

Why psi dart has only 1 acc? It's the reason why /Psi is a fast demon at building Domination! 2 accs or 3 accs for PvP.

Slot Psychic Shockwave with 3 dmg, 2 acc and 1 rechg or 3dmg, 1 acc and 2 rechg, it's your "OMG!"-attack and a holy jewel in the assault set. 10 seconds for an AoE which does nice damage and stun? That's just grrrreat!

And I will say this again: /Psi-people just don't need Stamina unless Drain Psyche misses.

My latest observations so far:

With hasten and 3 recharges on Spirit Tree you can easily have it on perma, also, the Spirit Tree is strong enough to heal the wounds from a single minion away (tested with a Galaxy)

When using Thorntrops under a boss who has escaped from a hold, he will try to first get out of the trops and THEN attack you. This is mighty handy against EBs and will save you time.

The way to use a Spirit Tree is first hold a boss (without Domination it's 2 tries) then you move in, put on Spirit Tree, hold, trops, attack! Put more trops when the old ones have been unused

The Spirit Tree is targettable, and probably can be dragged on with Recall Friend.

-addon-

Spines Scrappers will get much easier kills because you can't heal the damage from Impale instantly, and if you want to heal that, you have to be stationary.

Thorntrops help alot with the running problem easier to Dominate!

Having a high Def is good with +regen, very good with alot of -rchg like /Icy Assault or /Psionic Assault.

I wonder what you could throw away in exchange of these and Aid Self... hmm.

My Dominator has been on 35 for a quite long time, and often when I step in a PvP-zone (Siren's Call mostly) I get tells that I am a "copy" of of course Bilharzia teh uberdom.

The build of a Plant/Thorns optimized for PvP is really tight, things that Dominators need (Acrobatics, Aid Self and Hasten) and the way which powers you have to take from both powersets. Anyway, I came up with something.

Usually when I die, it's because I got 2-shotted by Aim+BU combo and Aid Self doesn't help with that, holding does. If he has a breakfree, I will pop purples and hop away unless I'm dead meat anyway and build Domination on him.

Me being a /Thorns, I have 2 advantages compared to others, but they have their pros aswell. Thorn's pros are Aim, Thorntrops and Impale, but suffers from the drawback of being completely lethal and a smidge of toxic.

Many times I have died because I tried to use Aid Self during a DoT (which usually works) but I am rooted that while.

Many know the way how melee types hit hard while using BU or something similar self-buffing, Aid Self helps alot with that, but so does running/jumping. Avoiding damage is better than healing it away.

Skipping on Aid Self

Aid Self might be necessary for other Control sets but Plant Control has a +regen, which just might synergize well with a Dominator's way to "Dominate" their targets than getting a big pop of HP then being unable to do anything (other than move) while the animation is on. IIRC this however can be fixed with a macro with Aid Self and an emotion like /e flip.

Skipping on Aid Self offers 2 extra powers, and I will get Thorntrops and Spirit Tree for exchange for them. I am not sure how this would work out yet, me being a huge fan of Aid Self. I will test this on Test Server (only level 35 mind you!) and see how it goes; better or not?

Why I did choose Thorntrops was because of -jump which is Plant Control's weakness (jumping negates control, which can make you invincible to them)
Wish I could've added Teleport Foe to make kills alot easier but the build is very tight unless I'd skip Flytrap which often messes up my KBing style. That also would grant me a few extra slots on other powers.

The things I'm going to test:
[*] How good is it in Zone PvP and
[*] Could it be useful in PvE?

Arena PvP is great but the people there are far more skilled than I am, but since Arena PvP is better for AoEs I think if it does well in Zone PvP it will do well in Arena.

Tell me what you would think, would this idea be worth a nickle? Going to make a CoHDemo of it aswell, and making a downloadable video (.wmv) for people to watch and flame afterwards how bad I am, heh.

Off to Test Server! >.>

"Ahh my eyes are burning! -scream-"

I kinda like it. [img]/uk/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I remember it's AoE aswell, sometimes when I go slowly into combat (the trick is to burst in, use seeds of confusion, jump on the other side and the Flytrap comes into his projectiling range, which is his most damaging position.)

I'm pretty good at controlling non-controllable pets, in means that I figure out how to get a "dumb" pet in melee, or at least closer. But if Bitey has already immobed all of them, I can't get him much closer because one of the ways to get him use his real attacks is to bring the enemy TO him. Heh.

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I don't see the fuss about dominators..yes their holds are a bit shorter

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The holds are 80% of Controller holds. This doesn't make much difference in the low levels. However, each level we get 1% increase in the hold's duration. By the time a Dominator is level 20, s/he has the same duration on holds as a Controller at level 1. When a Dominator is at level 50, s/he has the same hold duration as a Controller at level 30. So if a hold lasts 12 seconds (15 seconds for a Controller), at level 50 the values are 18 seconds and 22.5 seconds. This has the difference of 4 seconds, which doesn't seem much for now, but has a bigger meaning when you slap in SO Hold Durations. With 3 of them the hold duration has almost doubled, and so at level 50 the durations will be 36 seconds compared to a Controller's 45 seconds. That's a whole 9 seconds difference, which IS a big difference.


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without domination runnin

[/ QUOTE ] This is supposed to balance out things. Worse control before Hyde, better control in Hyde. Sounds fair.

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and yes they lack the support..but does that make a bad char?..not at all..they still have holds like any troller and can still break mez protect or 1 hit hold squishies in pvp which makes them a must..and if they are not holding they can always try to chain medium (even high sometimes:O) damage..

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Seems like you haven't played a Dominator yourself, at least to the high levels, or then you haven't observed things enough. Dominators can break mezprotection easily while in Domination, but what happens before that? A Dominator has an invisible taunt aura for 300 yards, and you're the target nr. 1 not just because you're a threat. Because you're just so easy to kill. Controllers can hold Brutes with a few applications while a Dominator either needs power boost or Domination to do that. Dominators have the least damage of every AT out there who are built well. You can't 1 shot squishies, you need alot of chaining to do to do any damage. You can only win Tankers and Scrappers only if they let you win, with Breakfrees, they can just kill you when you attempt to go melee. Yes, Dominators can 1 hold squishies in PvP except FF, Sonic, or people with CM, Clarity, ID, Thaw and many more. This leaves a Dominator a low TO medium damage range, which is melee, thus useless. A Controller however is NEVER useless, due to their a) Better damage with containment, and b) Support/debuff set.

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domi's aren't the BEST solo pvp choice but I would want 1 in every pvp/pve team I have

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Dominators are pretty good duelers, but that's about it. In teams (especially in Pentads) a Dominator is useless because the opposing team has at least 2 sources of mezprotection. The only thing I'd want a Dominator in my team would be the toggle dropping on Tanks and Scrappers. But then again, a Corruptor can use Benumb, Heat Exhaustion , Heat Loss or Transference to "toggle drop" by Endurance draining the enemies. Plus, those mentioned above are ranged, compared to a Dominator's melee/short range 64% toggle dropper.

Dominators are also the most unforgiving in PvP. Miss once and you are dead. Let that Scrapper in melee range for .05 seconds. Dead. Don't see that Blaster using Aim+BU above you with hover and stealth? Dead before you even notice it. Even the best Dominators can't beat the heroes with PvP builds and/or breakfrees. The only exception might be Fire/ with the Fire Imps, which deal so much damage it can drop a /Regen Scrapper in a matter of seconds.

I have a Plant/Thorns which I use regularly in PvP, and I have taken out many opponents. It requires heavy tactics, and mostly I am the one who attacks first. Why did I choose to play a Dom in PvP? I wanted to see the complaints of being slain by a Dominator in PvP. Especially Scrappers.

Some Dominator builds are just awesome in PvE (Plant/, Ice/, heck, any if you know how to maximize their potential) but like Dark Miasma, Dominators suffer in PvP.

Villain inherents superior to Hero inherents? Joking?

AS needs conditions to be used, unresistable Criticals, a portion of unresistable Blaster damage nor unresistable debuffs don't. Heroes have multiple inherents compared to Villains. Heroes do well without their inherents, but Villains were given these inherents to work their whole thing around it, without their inherent they are weak as heck, and things are balanced when Villains are using their inherents and Heroes aren't. (But they still do)

Domination sure is a force to be reckoned with, but how can you build it if you are dead the second they see you? An impale or an Aim + BU combo can shred the Dominator apart, and all in 2 seconds.

The only burst damage option for villains are Stalkers, and that can be negated EASILY. Aim+BU combos can only be survived by running away, and "you run away = I win!!!"


Sure, Corruptors have uber sets like Cold Domination and Radiation Emission, but the only Corruptors you'll see around are /Dark and /Thermal.

Empathy has CM, which is just an Anti-Stalker gotten at level 8 (or 16 if you're a troller), and that set is the most popular of the Defender sets.

Villains have also bad epics, sure, we get armor, but Heroes get them too! And godmodes! FA! Indomitable will! Force of Nature! And villains get... a subpar pet which lasts 4 mins with a 15 min recharger. Compare a Blaster's Force of Nature to a Corruptor's pet, say Arachnobot Disruptor. The Blaster will chew through the Disruptor, or just ignore it and kill the Corruptor in 2 hits. Blap!

Heroes have more sheer firepower, Villain ATs need more skill to play with, but a skilled Hero will always take out a skilled Villain, at least in the 50s when Heroes have many advantages compared to Villains.

.. Gah, might aswell turn to the hero side and become a freaking do-gooder myself.

Ahh yes you're right! Entangle has a -fly though so Khelds can be dropped down from the sky from stacking impale + entangle. Always thought that Entangle works all the way to the height cap.

Carrion Creepers (Plant Control) and Thorntrops (Thorny Assault) have -jump component in them, so I guess those must be used tactically to get 'em down, or just buy a webnade from SC shop and use it with Aim (Thorny Assault) so it will connect better.

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It looks like it's bugged to me, I just tested in the arena, jumping up and down (even without CJ) results in immunity to Strangler Holds. Not just one but several stacked Holds... I'd like to do a bit more testing but it looks pretty bad so far, get ready for the bunny hopping horde.

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Seems that taking the immob for PvP (for Plant Control) seems more critical.

With CJ combined with a Scrappers' or Tankers' mezprotection, how many times you have to cast the immob on him to get him, you know, immobilized?
As far as I know, Dom and Troller holds are mag4 in PvP, but how about immobs? How much protection does CJ give?

Seems like I have to slot more on my immob that just 2 accs

Some effective PvP combos for Doms I know:

Mind/Nrg - Lots of single target control and burst damage (in Doms' perspective) /Nrg offers secondary control: stunning. Gets a high damage attack early (lvl 26, Total Focus)

Mind/Psi - The big amount of single target control, and the -regen, -rechg, and PSW which is awesome anyway. Can take on both /SR and /Regen Scrappers.

Fire/Fire - The monkeys' damage is enough to get anyone's health down in seconds, when held at least. /Fire offers a 20 second damage boost, to make things even better.

Fire/Ice - IIRC, this combination brings out the best DPS, nice slows and power boost, and of course, the monkeys.

Fire/Thorns - Thorntrops, TPFoe, monkeys, etc. death. Feels like those /Traps Corruptor ways to PvP.

Plant/Psi - The regin. Flooring the recharge and regenerating with both Spirit Tree's and Drain Psyche's help, this set is becoming to be the new FoTM which can take on any melee character. "Fight like a man!"


Of course there are many other PvP builds out there, don't say how you beat someone with your this/and this in RV.

The other PPP-powers have slightly more activation time than Black Scorpion's powers have, so this should make things even when thinking about the activation time.

A pet? Or a hold? ... Hmm, a giant-ish robot who shoots electricity and webnades, or a power which allows you to throw one of those webnades yourself?

<.<
>.>

Arachnobot Disruptor all the way!