Liliaceae

I guess so. It's basically average at everything, except endurance usage, in which it excels by which I mean it can empty your blue bar in no time.

That said, I really like Mind/Icy and I'm prepping it for the heroic main counter to Mind/Fiery villain main (incidentally named Oedipus Tex).

Check the powers guide in my sig for my full opinion.

You've encountered the biggest issue with Mind/Icy, you want every power. Except Chilling Embrace. The rest is preference, there is no wrong answer. Except for skipping Dominate.

You're very welcome.

Hi Everyone, I've posted the final version of the guide in the Player Guides section, so we can let this thread die now. I've also done a new first post for Player Guides, hopefully TheOcho will update it soon.

Thanks for all your feedback and compliments. Feel free to post references to the guide in response to people's questions here. It's what I do because I'm lazy lol.

Updated August 29, 2010

This thread is for posting Guide or FAQ links for Dominators. Please create your guides in the "Player Guides" forum (since posts in that section do not roll off) and link the thread here. Also, do not post your guide in this thread - only the link to your guide. For non-Dominator guides, check the master list of all Guides in the Guide to Guides.

Please note that due to a major rebalancing of the Assault secondaries in Issue 15, guides predating that issue may no longer be accurate.

Failing any clear identifier from the poster, issue numbers go by the original post date vs. Issue releases (I1: 6/30/04, I2: 9/17/04, I3: 1/5/05, I4: 5/5/05, I5: 9/1/05, I6: 10/28/05, I7: 6/6/06, I8: 11/28/06, I9: 5/1/2007, I10 7/24/2007, I11 11/28/07, I12 05/20/08, I13 12/2/08, I14 4/7/09, I15 6/26/09, I16 9/14/09, I17 4/28/10, I18 8/16/10) - e.g., if it was posted in March/05, it is an I3 Guide.

Guides appearing here were gleaned from links posted in one of the "Guide to Guides" threads (the Dominator GtG or the GtG threads in the "Player Guides" forum). We cannot sift through the hundreds of individual threads to find a posting, so be sure to
1) place your guide in the "Player Guides" forum, nowhere else
2) post a link to it in a "Guide to Guides" thread!


DOMINATOR

GENERAL

Comprehensive Dominator Powers Guide - I18 (Liliaceae) [I18]
Chaos Rift's Mind Dominator's Guide to The RSF. (Chaos_Rift) [I10]
Guide to Perma Domination with IOs (_Brev_) [I10]
Comparative Analysis of PBAoE and Ranged AoE Holds (Mystic_Amethyst) [I8]
Guide to the Dominator Patron Power Pools (_Brev_) [I7]
Hambone's Guide to Dominator Zone PvP(Hambone) [I7]
CONFUSION AND XP/Time (v2)(Enantiodromos ) [I6]
Freeform Domination – A Guide to Alternative Tactics (Skysaw64) [I6]
How Not to Suck v1.0: A Guide to Domination (Waybreaker) [I6]
Veni. Vidi. Vici: The Complete Guide to Domination (Waybreaker) [I6]


PRIMARIES

EARTH CONTROL

Earth/Earth Dom Guide (_Haze) [I16]

ELECTRIC CONTROL

FIRE CONTROL

Psychotic Break - Fire/Psi Dom guide v1.0 (Kane1) [I9]
Fire/Ice Dominator guide (g33z3r) [I7]
anarchy and arson a fire/fire domination guide (Project_O) [I6]


GRAVITY CONTROL

Gravity and Energy Assault Dominator Guide (Pulsewave) [I10]
Gravity/Psionic Assault Guide: Slow Start, Strong Finish v1.0(Sir_Quixotic) [I10]
Crush your foes—a Gravity/Energy Dominator's guide (LiquidIce) [I10]
Crow's Messy Guide to Gravity/Energy Domination (Crow) [I6]


ICE CONTROL

Laiyna’s Guide: Ice/Ice Dominator I10 (Laiyna) [I10]
STOP! Ice/Psi Dominator Guide [Version 1.0] (Chadius) [I9]
Ice/Ice Dominator PVE Guide (Artillery_MKV) [I8]
Ice/Ice Dominator Guide (Subzero) [I7]
A guide to Ice / Fire Domination v2.0(ShrikeX) [I6]


MIND CONTROL

A Guide to Mind/Fire Doms (Superadine_Junky) [I9]
The Mezmeron guide to the Mind/Psy dominator (Jupiter_M) [I7]
Vid-szhite's Guide to the Mind/Energy Dominator (Vid-szhite) [I7]
Mind/Energy Guide (Morcalivan7) [I7]
Guide to Mind/Psi Dominator (Vertigo_) [I6]


PLANT CONTROL

My guide to rocking a Plant/Fire Dominator (Beyeajus) [I18]
Rooted and impaled - i15 guide to plant/thorny (Panikaze) [I15]
Winterseed's Updated Guide to Plant/Ice with perma-domination slotting/IOs(Gearsmith) [I11]
Azu's Guide to Plant/Thorns (Azucar) [I10]
Botany for Badasses - A Plant/Thorn Dom Guide (Lord_Infamy) [I9]
Garden of Doom - PvP Plant Dom Guide (Plant/Thorn)(Serps) [I8]
Your Guide to Plant/Ice Domination (Octavian) [I8]
Edenfire’s Guide to Plant/Fire Domination (NightSable) [I6]
Blood Red Rose guide to Nastiness 2.0 (Plant/Thorn) (Malice) [I6]
Guide to Plant/Nrg Dominator (Vertigo_) [I6]
Brev's I6 Guide to Plant Domination & Psi Assault (_Brev_) [I6]
Plant/Thorns - guide with build and power review (OrphanedHope) [I6]


SECONDARIES

EARTH ASSAULT

Earth/Earth Dom Guide (_Haze) [I16]

ELECTRICITY ASSAULT


ENERGY ASSAULT

Gravity and Energy Assault Dominator Guide (Pulsewave) [I10]
Crush your foes—a Gravity/Energy Dominator's guide (LiquidIce) [I10]
Mind/Energy Guide (Morcalivan7) [I7]
Vid-szhite's Guide to the Mind/Energy Dominator (Vid-szhite) [I7]
Guide to Plant/Nrg Dominator (Vertigo_) [I6]
Crow's Messy Guide to Gravity/Energy Domination (Crow) [I6]


FIERY ASSAULT

My guide to rocking a Plant/Fire Dominator (Beyeajus) [I18]
A Guide to Mind/Fire Doms (Superadine_Junky) [I9]
Edenfire’s Guide to Plant/Fire Domination (NightSable) [I6]
anarchy and arson a fire/fire domination guide (Project_O) [I6]
A guide to Ice / Fire Domination v2.0(ShrikeX) [I6]


ICY ASSAULT

Winterseed's Updated Guide to Plant/Ice with perma-domination slotting/IOs(Gearsmith) [I11]
Laiyna’s Guide: Ice/Ice Dominator I10 (Laiyna) [I10]
Your Guide to Plant/Ice Domination (Octavian) [I8]
Ice/Ice Dominator PVE Guide (Artillery_MKV) [I8]
Fire/Ice Dominator guide (g33z3r) [I7]
Ice/Ice Dominator Guide (Subzero) [I7]


PSIONIC ASSAULT

Gravity/Psionic Assault Guide: Slow Start, Strong Finish v1.0(Sir_Quixotic) [I10]
STOP! Ice/Psi Dominator Guide [Version 1.0] (Chadius) [I9]
Psychotic Break - Fire/Psi Dom guide v1.0 (Kane1) [I9]
The Mezmeron guide to the Mind/Psy dominator (Jupiter_M) [I7]
Brev's I6 Guide to Plant Domination & Psi Assault (_Brev_) [I6]
Guide to Mind/Psi Dominator (Vertigo_) [I6]


THORNY ASSAULT

Azu's Guide to Plant/Thorns (Azucar) [I10]
Botany for Badasses - A Plant/Thorn Dom Guide (Lord_Infamy) [I9]
Garden of Doom - PvP Plant Dom Guide (Plant/Thorn)(Serps) [I8]
Blood Red Rose guide to Nastiness 2.0 (Plant/Thorn) (Malice) [I6]
Plant/Thorns - guide with build and power review (OrphanedHope) [I6]

Here's my updated powers guide. I'll include an update to the first post for this thread next.

Updated I18 Dominator Powers Guide

7. Glossary

• Aggro is the attention an enemy gives its target. To have aggro means to have an enemy attacking you, and to draw aggro is to cause enemies to start targetting you.
  
• AV is an Arch Villain class enemy, sometimes also identified as Hero. Confusingly some mobs identified as Hero are really more equivalent to bosses.
  
• Confuse is an effect which causes a mob to attack friends instead of foes. Although damage from confused enemies does reduce xp received, it is not directly proportional to the amount of damage, and instead favours the player. Furthermore since it reduces the amount of time spent in each fight it actually increases overall xp gain by time.
  
• Disorient is an effect which prevents power activation, drops some toggles, and reduces movement to a very slow pace. It is also known as stun.
  
• DoT is an abbreviation for Damage over Time, and refers to damage that some powers do for several seconds after they first hit.
  
• Hold is an effect which prevents movement, prevents power activation, and also drops some toggles.
  
• Immobilize is an effect which prevents movement.
  
• Knock* means all three of knockback, knockdown, and knockup. It's also important to note that knockdown and knockback are the same effect which causes knockdown if its magnitude is less than 1, and knockback otherwise. This means that knockdown powers which are slotted with knockback enhancement will start to cause knockback instead.
  
• Fear usually means Terrorize, but can also mean Flee.
  
• Flee is an effect which causes mobs to attempt to leave an area of effect. This does not affect players.
  
• -Fly is a debuff effect which prevents flight.
  
• Magnitude or Mag is the measure of strength of a status effect. When a status effect is applied it increases the magnitude of that effect on its target, and when the magnitude exceeds the target's protection to that status effect, the effect acts on them. For example, bosses typically have mag 3 hold protection, and a standard hold has a mag 3 effect. With a single hold on them, their protection is not exceeded, so there's no hold effect, but with two holds there is mag 6 of held being applied to them, exceeding their innate mag 3 protection, and they are subsequently held, unable to move and unable to activate powers.
  
• Mob is a mobile object, including friend and foe.
  
• Permadom is when Domination recharges before it expires, allowing the Dominator to activate it again and permanently receive the Domination buff.
  
• Sleep is an effect which prevents movement, prevents power activation and drops some toggles, but which is ended by healing, damage and many status effects. A new sleep effect won't end an old one, allowing it to be stacked, except for sleep powers that cause damage.
  
• Status Effect is a general word for hold, disorient, knockback, knockup, immobilize, confuse, terrorize and sleep.
  
• STH is an abbreviation for Single Target Hold.
  
• Stun is another word for disorient.
  
• Terrorize is an effect which prevents movement and prevents power activation, but whose effects are temporarily suspended when attacked.
  
• PBAoE is an abbreviation for Point-Blank Area of Effect, meaning it covers an area centered on the caster.

6. Pool Powers

Power pools should be chosen based on player preference, there is no must-have pool, although some are extremely beneficial. The most important pool powers, which all Dominators should consider, in order: Hasten from Speed, because it boosts the recharge of Domination; Stamina from the Fitness pool, to help with endurance problems; Acrobatics from Leaping, because knockback can kill; and Aid Self from Medicine so you don't have to stop. The power pools which offer the least beneficial powers are Fighting, because the values are so low, and Presence, because Dominators get much better control powers in their primaries.

In the late game, especially after level 40, enemies with status effects become very common. AoE mez attacks generate a lot of aggro, which means that Dominators are likely to experience a lot of these status effects. Being mezzed or knocked back can be deadly for a Dominator because rapid response often makes the difference between defeat and victory. For these reasons, many Dominators look to the power pools for additional status protection, because Domination isn't always available. Chief amongst the status protection powers is Acrobatics, which protects from knock* and hold. Hover provides a more limited form of knock* protection, turning it into a falling over effect, without the movement. Aid Self provides an unwieldy stun protection, Health provides sleep resistance, and Tactics provides fear resistance.

6.1 Concealment

Concealment is primarily a matter of preference for Dominators. Stealth is a useful power for opening fights with a well placed AoE control, notably Plant Control's Seeds of Confusion, or convincing a pet to engage the enemy and take the alpha strike, and it combines with Super Speed from the speed pool to give complete invisibility against most enemies. Grant Invisibility, Invisiblity and Phase Shift have no benefit specific to Dominators.

6.2 Fighting

Fighting is a poor choice for Dominators. Boxing and Kick do not provide significant benefit compared to attacks already available in the secondary. Tough and Weave provide low resistance and defence values which make little difference because Dominators have no other defence powers to stack them with until level 41 when patron shields become available. Additional control powers from the primary are usually a better choice for enhancing survivability.

6.3 Fitness

Many Dominators will want to take the Fitness pool for Stamina, since endurance is often the limiting factor in performance. Dominators with confuse powers, high damage pets (Fire Imps), or high damage secondaries may find that it's not necessary, while those with Icy Assault will almost certainly want it. Any two of Hurdle, Swift and Health can be taken as prerequistes depending on preference.

6.4 Flight

Air Superiority is a melee attack which provides guaranteed knockdown, making it very useful in early levels to fill in gaps in control, and in later levels against bosses specifically. Standard attack slotting is suggested. Hover is useful for its limited knockback protection, to keep dangerous enemies out of melee, and to improve Wormhole by directing it straight down thus reducing its knockback problem. Suggested slotting is 1 - 2 additional slots with 80 - 95% flight speed. Fly is a slow, but practical travel power. Group Fly's to-hit debuff makes it undesirable in combat, although it is entertaining when used with Fire Imps. Suggested slotting is 3 - 4 additional slots with 35 - 80% endurance reduction, and 35 - 95% flight speed.

6.5 Leadership

While Dominators don't receive the best bonuses for the Leadership powers, they are quite acceptable and can be useful on larger teams. The biggest drawback to leadership is the notable endurance cost. Assault provides an appreciable bonus for its endurance cost on large teams, but is less beneficial with fewer allies to buff. Suggested slotting is no additional slots with 35 - 40% endurance reduction. Maneuvers's defence bonus is very small, making it not particularly worthwhile since Dominators have very few other defence powers to stack it with, although it is useful alongside defence buffs from teammates. Suggested slotting is 0 - 3 additional slots with 35 - 40% endurance reduction and 0 - 95% defence. Tactics is a nice substitute for additional accuracy enhancements, and its perception bonus is useful in some circumstances. Suggested slotting is 0 - 3 additional slots with 35 - 40% endurance reduction and 0 - 95% to-hit buff. Vengeance can be a very useful power on occasion for a teaming Dominator, especially if it's used with Power Boost which significantly improves it. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with 35 - 95% defence buff.

6.6 Leaping

Combat Jumping provides nice mobility and protection from immobilize for a low endurance cost. Suggested slotting is 0 additional slots. Jump Kick is a poor attack with a long activation time, and knockback which isn't guaranteed. Super Jump is a popular travel power with a nice tradeoff between speed and vertical movement. Acrobatics is an excellent protection power, with a moderately high endurance cost, and can greatly increase survivability at later levels. Suggested slotting is 0 - 1 additional slots with endurance reduction.

6.7 Medicine

Aid Other provides some utility for a Dominator with pets, and can be appreciated on teams. Suggested slotting is heal, recharge, and interrupt reduction to taste. Stimulant provides a lot less utility, because mez is usually harder to identify, and only a problem in combat when the risk of the power being interrupted is high. Aid Self is often useful, depending on play style, and may improve efficiency when solo. It is also significantly improved by Power Boost. Suggested slotting is 3 - 5 additional slots with 0 - 80% recharge reduction, 0 - 80% interrupt reduction, and 35 - 95% healing. Resuscitate is a very mediocre rez power, largely due to it's extremely long activation and recharge times, and a Dominator would be better served by a power to prevent the defeat in the first place.

6.8 Presence

Challenge and Intimidate are very poor powers for Dominators who typically attract enough aggro, and cannot survive it well. Intimidate is a weak single target fear power, with a long recharge, which is not even guaranteed to always affect lieutenants. Invoke Panic is PBAoE with a long recharge, and only affects lieutenants who are weak to fear. Both Intimidate and Invoke Panic are boosted by Domination, at which point they will affect bosses and are quite usable control powers. Considering their limited usefulness outside of Domination, that fear is one of the weaker forms of control, and that a taunt power is required to open the pool, these powers are not a particularly good choice for Dominators.

6.9 Speed

Flurry is a slow and weak attack, with a long recharge time, and a small chance for disorient. Hasten is an excellent power, providing noticeably increased effectiveness when it is active. Hasten is of particular importance to Dominators because it makes Domination recharge more quickly. It is also an important component in attempts to achieve permadom. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with recharge enhancements. Super Speed is a travel power with good stealth as well, which can be useful in the same ways as Stealth from the Concealment Pool, and the two work well together. However, it can be a very frustrating travel power in vertical terrain. Suggested slotting is endurance reduction. Whirlwind is a useful power on occasion, when extra control is needed, as well as being quite entertaining. It can be used to push enemies into the area of effect of drop powers, although at the cost of doing much else. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with endurance reduction.

6.10 Teleportation

Recall Friend can be of use to Dominators with pets, to get them into melee, save them from bad situations, or position them near enemies to start the fight. Teleport Foe is occasionally useful to break up closely grouped enemies, although a ranged attack is almost always sufficient for such a task. Teleport is a somewhat difficult travel power with nothing special for Dominators. Team Teleport can be used to great effect with Singularity, because when teleporting directly into the middle of a group of enemies it will take the majority of the aggro.

5.9 Soul Mastery

Overview

Soul Mastery is a very aggressive AoE oriented patron power pool, which includes a strong self damage buff.

• Dark Consumption is a PBAoE endurance recovery which causes a damage to affected enemies. It has a very low endurance cost, a very small radius, a very long six minute recharge time, good damage and good endurance recovery. Suggested slotting is 1 - 5 additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 35 - 95% endurance recovery, 0 - 95% damage, and 0 - 95% recharge.
  
  Its low endurance cost means it can work even after being sapped by an enemy, and its small amount of damage is nice.
  
  However, Dark Consumption's small radius and long recharge time make it a very marginal power.

• Dark Embrace is a typical epic shield, see the Shared Powers section. It has good resistance against smashing and lethal attacks, and basic resitance against toxic and negative energy damage.

• Dark Obliteration is a typical epic targeted AoE attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a minor to-hit debuff.

• Soul Drain is a PBAoE attack which provides a large self damage buff for each enemy hit. It has a decent radius, a good damage and to-hit buff, a high endurance cost, a long activation time, and a long recharge. Suggested slotting is 3 - 5 extra slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 35 - 95% recharge, 0 - 35% endurance reduction, 0 - 95% damage.
  
  Soul Drain can provide a very large damage buff when there are a large number of enemies within range. It is a very useful power against large groups, when combined with AoE attacks.
  
  Soul Drain's longish activation and recharge times make it somewhat unwieldy to use.

• Summon Seer summons a typical patron pet, see the Shared Powers section. It has mostly ranged attacks, as well as an ally perception and confuse resistance buff.
  

5.8 Mu Mastery

Overview

Mu Mastery is a defensive patron pool, with a healing pet, two personal shields, an endurance management power and a single attack. It has a secondary effect of endurance reduction which is useful when mixed with endurance drain from other Dominator sets like Electric Control.

• Power Sink is a PBAoE endurance drain and recovery power on a medium recharge. It is auto-hit, has a long activation time, a small radius, but a high endurance cost. It is a decent, if unwieldy, power. Suggested slotting is 0 - 5 additional slots with 0 - 95% endurance modification, 35 - 80% endurance reduction, 0 - 80% recharge.
  
  Since it's auto-hit, it is very dependable for refilling endurance in combat, but its high endurance cost reduces its utility against endurance draining enemies who tend to fully drain endurance.

• Charged Armor is a typical epic shield, see the Shared Powers section. In addition to good smashing and lethal resistance, it provides good energy resistance.

• Ball Lightning is a typical targeted AoE epic attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a small endurance drain.

• Surge of Power is a self-preservation power which grants the user high resistance to all damage types except psionic, and greatly increases their recovery rate. It has a medium activation time, very low endurance cost, a very long recharge, and an endurance crash when it ends. It has an electricity visual effect which suppresses the caster's normal costume. Suggested slotting is 2 - 5 extra slots with 35 - 95% recharge reduction and 40 - 60% resistance.
  
  Surge of power is a dramatic increase to survivability, allowing a Dominator to survive a nasty situation and attack at the same time.
  
  Since it doesn't grant status protection, it is best combined with Domination or some other form of status protection. The weakness to psionic damage means that it's worthless against psionic enemies.

• Summon Guardian summons a typical patron pet, see the Shared Powers section. The summoned Mu Guardian has a single target heal, ranged attacks and summons its own Voltaic Sentinel pet.

5.7 Mace Mastery

Overview

Mace Mastery is a balanced patron power pool, giving a mix of defence and offence, with single target and AoE powers.

• Poisonous Ray is a single target debuff with a good resistance and defence debuff, as well as some damage. It has a medium endurance cost, activation time and recharge time, a slight accuracy bonus, and some noticeable damage over time. Activating the power causes the caster to draw an Arachnos mace. Suggested slotting is 0 - 3 extra slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 0 - 95% damage.
  
  It is useful in the toughest fights such as against EBs, AVs and Heroes, and can speed up some boss fights. This is a real benefit for Dominators who typically have trouble against AVs.
  
  The Arachnos mace animation won't suit all character costumes.

• Scorpion Shield is a typical epic shield, see the Shared Powers section. It has good defence against smashing and lethal attacks, basic defence against energy attacks, and basic resistance against toxic damage.

• Disruptor Blast is a typical epic targeted AoE attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a 20% chance of knockback, which can be an irritation.

• Personal Force Field is a self-preservation power with a slow activation time, which grants the caster very high defence, high damage resistance, but prevents them from affecting anyone else. Suggested slotting is 0 extra slots with 0 - 40% recharge reduction and 0 - 40% defence buff.
  
  Personal Force Field is a very handy power for escaping nasty situations. Once activated, very few PvE enemies will be able to hit through it, and the user can run and escape the danger. It also has a nice bubble visual effect.
  
  Personal Force Field's long activation time leaves enough time for defeat, so it's best to use it a bit early just to be safe.

• Summon Tarantula summons a typical patron pet, see the Shared Powers section. The summoned Toxic Tarantula has melee and ranged attacks, along with a single target immobilize.

5.6 Leviathan Mastery

Overview

Leviathan Mastery is a balanced patron power pool, providing offence and defence powers.

• Water Spout summons a short-lived, unkillable, very aggresive pet which knocks enemies up, disorients them, causes them to flee, reduces their defence and deals high damage. Suggested slotting is 0 - 5 additional slots with 35 - 95% recharge reduction, 0 - 95% damage, 0 - 95% disorient duration.
  
  It is useful for dealing with situations that have got out of hand, initiating difficult fights, and dealing damage to tough foes.

• Bile Spray is a cone attack, dealing similar damage to those from the secondary. It has a long recharge, average damage, long activation, long range, narrow angle and high target cap. Typical attack slotting is recommended.
  
  Bile Spray's most important advantage over the cone attacks in the secondary is having a higher target cap. Typically it would be paired with Fire Breath, Frost Breath or Psychic Scream to have two cones of similar shape for ease of use.
  
  The fact that it's a weaker attack than those from the secondary is very disappointing, but it still can make a nice addition.

• Hibernate is a self-preservation power with a fast activation which protects the Dominator from all harm and quickly heals them, but prevents any movement. The effect can be ended at any time, and automatically ends after 30 seconds. Suggested slotting is 0 - 1 extra slots with 0 - 80% recharge and 0 - 80% heal.
  
  Hibernate can be a real life-saver in a nasty situation, giving the Dominator some time to wait for a situation to be sorted out. With its fast activation, Hibernate may provide some tricks to absorb initial aggro, such as that generated by slow control powers.
  
  Its biggest limitation is that it prevents the caster from moving and escaping to somewhere safe. If there are no allies around to get a situation in order, then things are likely to be more dangerous when the effect ends, because control effects may have ended and enemies will have been able to get into melee range. For this reason it doesn't real suit a solo Dominator, and is more appropriate in a team situation.

• Shark Skin is a typical epic shield, see the Shared Powers section. In addition to good smashing and lethal resistance, it provides good cold resistance.

• Summon Coralax summons a typical patron pet, see the Shared Powers section. The summoned Blue Coralax Hybrid has melee and cone attacks.
  

5.5 Psionic Mastery

Overview

Psionic Mastery is a very defensive ancillary pool, with 3 team and personal defense powers, along with 1 attack and World of Confusion which provides a combination of defence and offence.

Essential Powers: Link Minds
Disappointing Powers:

Psionic Mastery is chosen for its defensive capabilities, which support the caster as well as the team. Link Minds is an essential power because it is such a good team buff.

The three defence powers together provide a significant amount of protection from psionic enemies.

Powers

• Link Minds is a team buff power which grants all nearby teammates defence against all attacks, psionic resistance and a to-hit buff. It has a long recharge, a high endurance cost, and a long activation time. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 extra slots with 20 - 55% defence buff, because recharge reduction and endurance reduction enhancements are not slottable.
  
  Link Minds works very well with any defence buffing powers from teammates, which are fairly common, meaning it's often a very useful asset.
  
  Multi aspect enhancements such as invention origin enhancements may affect its recharge, in which case slotting for recharge reduction is also recommended.

• Indomitable Will is a self buff which provides status effect protection and high psionic defence for 90 seconds. It has a high endurance cost, a long recharge, and a fast activation time. Suggested slotting is 0 - 4 extra slots with 0 - 60% defence, 0 - 95% recharge and 0 - 80% endurance reduction.
  
  Indomitable Will is very useful for filling the gaps in a Dominators mez protection when Domination is not available, perhaps most importantly after a defeat, when Domination has not yet been built. Additionally it provides very high psionic defence and is the basis for making a Dominator which is very well protected from psionic enemies.
  
  Its recharge is a bit on the long side, and it seems overall somewhat redundant for any Dominator who has Domination available regularly.

• Mind Over Body is a typical epic shield, see the Shared Powers section. In addition to good smashing and lethal resistance, it provides basic psionic resistance.

• World of Confusion is a toggle power with a melee range damage aura and confuse effect. It has a short confuse duration, a low endurance cost, low damage and a medium recharge time. Suggested slotting is 0 - 5 extra slots with 0 - 95% damage, 0 - 95% confuse duration.
  
  World of Confusion provides some extra damage and protection for a Dominator who regularly enters melee range and an interesting visual effect. The low endurance cost means that it's not a burden to keep active, even if it's not affecting any enemies.
  
  The small radius means most of the time it will have little to no effect, and the weak confuse effect and low damage are not terribly noticeable.

• Psionic Tornado is a typical targeted AoE epic attack, see the Shared Powers section. It inclues a chance for knockup and a strong recharge debuff which is useful for a little extra mitigation.

5.4 Primal Forces Mastery

Overview

Primal Forces Mastery is a primarily aggressive ancillary pool, providing 3 attacks, 1 defence power and an endurance management power. It adds to the Dominators damage potential, either in melee range or AoE damage.

Essential Powers: Energy Torrent
Disappointing Powers: Conserve Power

Energy Mastery's unique quality is having two targeted AoE attacks. Energy Torrent is its best AoE attack, since it includes control through knockdown, while Explosive Blast is much like the targeted AoEs in the other sets.

• Energy Transfer is a single target melee attack that deals extreme damage as well as damaging the caster. It has a small accuracy bonus, long activation time, typical endurance cost, long recharge, and high accuracy. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
  
  Energy Transfer really gives a big melee damage punch and can be an excellent tool for finishing things off. It's also got a fun activation and strong feeling to it.
  
  Of course, sacrificing your own hit points to do damage is a risky prospect for a Dominator, and in tougher situations Energy Transfer will not see much use because the risk is too high. The long activation time is of course a serious problem as well, since Dominators are so dependent on combat mobility.

• Conserve Power is a self buff which significantly reduces endurance needs for 90 seconds. It has a noticeable endurance cost, medium activation time, and a very long recharge. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 slots with 35 - 95% recharge reduction and 0 - 35% endurance reduction.
  
  Conserve Power provides a very nice endurance buff for Dominators having trouble with endurance management, and who are presented with a drawn-out battle. Combined with various other endurance management powers, such as Domination, Stamina, Consume, or Drain Psyche it may prove to be very useful on a rare occasion, for when other options have failed.
  
  Its long recharge makes it difficult to use for regular endurance management. Considering that Domination grants endurance back, the benefits of Conserver Power are marginalized.

• Temp Invulnerability is a typical epic shield, see the Shared Powers section. It provides higher smashing and lethal resistance than the other shields.

• Energy Torrent is a cone attack with a good chance of knockdown. It has a fast activation, average damage, and a wide and short cone. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
  
  With its high chance of knockdown and fast activation, Energy Torrent is a very useful AoE attack combining damage and damage mitigation. Its wide and short cone means its appropriate for use at close range.
  
  As for all epic powers, its recharge is a little long.

• Explosive Blast is a typical epic targeted AoE attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a 50% chance of knockback, which can be problematic, especially since protecting the enemies from knockback also prevents Energy Torrent from helping with damage mitigation.
  

5.3 Ice Mastery

Overview

Ice Mastery is a strong ancillary pool, balanced between offence and defence. It has two rain powers, one for damage, and one for debuff, along with three personal defence powers.

Essential Powers: Sleet, Ice Storm
Disappointing Powers:

Ice Storm and Sleet provide very good offense, while Frozen Armor and Hoarfrost provide very good defence, making Ice Mastery possibly the strongest epic pool. Sleet and Ice Storm are essential powers because the vast majority of Dominators have AoE immobilizes available to them, and using them together is a very effective strategy.

• Sleet is a 30 second drop power with a 20ft radius which significantly reduces affected enemies' defence and damage resistance, slows them, causes knockdown as well as dealing some damage. Enemies will attempt to flee the area, but will have trouble. Suggested slotting is 0 - 4 extra slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 0 - 95% recharge, and 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
  
  Sleet is an excellent AoE debuff power, and is something that can contribute in every fight.
  
  The endurance cost of Sleet is high, but reasonable for its effects.

• Hibernate is a self-preservation power with a fast activation which protects the Dominator from all harm and quickly heals them, but prevents any movement. The effect can be ended at any time, and automatically ends after 30 seconds. Suggested slotting is 0 - 1 extra slots with 0 - 80% recharge and 0 - 80% heal.
  
  Hibernate can be a real life-saver in a nasty situation, giving the Dominator some time to wait for a situation to be sorted out. With its fast activation, Hibernate may provide some tricks to absorb initial aggro, such as that generated by slow control powers.
  
  Its biggest limitation is that it prevents the caster from moving and escaping to somewhere safe. If there are no allies around to get a situation in order, then things are likely to be more dangerous when the effect ends, because control effects may have ended and enemies will have been able to get into melee range. For this reason it doesn't real suit a solo Dominator, and is more appropriate in a team situation.

• Frozen Armor is a typical epic shield, see the Shared Powers section. In addition to good smashing and lethal defence, it provides good cold resistance and some fire resistance. It has a very prominent visual effect on its user, and may not work well with some costumes.

• Hoarfrost is a self heal power which also increases hit points. It has a medium sized heal, close to a third of the Dominator's hit points, and a similar size hit point buff. It has a high endurance cost, a very long recharge time and grants some toxic resistance. Suggested slotting is 1 - 5 extra slots with 35 - 95% recharge, 35 - 95% heal and 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
  
  Hoarfrost provides a very effective increase to the Dominator's survivability.
  
  Hoarfrost's biggest issue is its very long recharge, which prevents it from becoming a permanent increase to hit points, at least without extreme levels of recharge.

• Ice Storm is a 15 second drop power with a 25ft radius which deals high damage, slows run speed and recharge and causes enemies to flee. It has a high endurance cost and a long recharge. It works primarily as a damage power, but can also serve as control through fleeing and area denial. Suggested slotting is 3 - 5 additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 95% damage, 35 - 80% endurance reduction and 35 - 80% recharge reduction.
  
  Ice Storm can do a significant amount of damage if enemies are forced to remain within its area of effect, such as with an AoE immobilize, almost double what a regular AoE delivers. With the majority of Dominators having AoE immobilizes at their disposal, combining them with Ice Storm is fundamental. It has a very fun graphical effect as well.
  
  The high endurance cost means that it should be used judiciously, when there are enough enemies to make it worthwhile, and it's certain that they will stay in its area of effect. If used on uncontrolled enemies it will earn significant amounts of aggro for the caster, and is very likely to be followed by defeat.

5.2 Fire Mastery

Overview

Fire Mastery is a very aggressive ancillary pool, with 2 AoE attacks, an AoE debuff, a basic shield, and a self-rez power for when extra damage wasn't enough. As a result, it provides significant AoE damage potential, but very little mitigation.

Essential Powers: Fire Ball, Rain of Fire
Disappointing Powers: Melt Armor

Choosing Fire Mastery means choosing more AoE damage, because that's what it delivers best, and because the first two powers are AoE attacks. Fire Ball is really the poster child of AoE in the game, making it essential.

Powers

• Rain of Fire is a 15 second drop power with a 25ft radius which deals high damage, slows run speed and causes enemies to flee. It has a high endurance cost and a medium recharge. It works primarily as a damage power, but can also serve as control through fleeing and area denial. Suggested slotting is 3 - 5 additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 95% damage, 35 - 80% endurance reduction and 35 - 80% recharge reduction.
  
  Rain of Fire can do a significant amount of damage if enemies are forced to remain within its area of effect, such as with an AoE immobilize, almost double what a regular AoE delivers. With the majority of Dominators having AoE immobilizes at their disposal, combining them with Rain of Fire is fundamental. It has a very fun graphical effect as well.
  
  The high endurance cost means that it should be used judiciously, when there are enough enemies to make it worthwhile, and it's certain that they will stay in its area of effect. If used on uncontrolled enemies it will attract significant aggro for the caster, and is very likely to be followed by defeat.

• Fire Ball is a typical targeted AoE epic attack, see the Shared Powers section. It deals the most damage of all the targeted AoEs.

• Fire Shield is a typical epic shield, see the Shared Powers section. In addition to good smashing and lethal resistance, it provides basic fire resistance, and some cold resistance.

• Rise of the Phoenix is a self-rez power which damages, stuns and knocks back any nearby enemies, including most bosses. It deals a high amount of damage, provides a good duration stun, and heals the caster about half way, as well as half filling their endurance. Suggested slotting is 0 - 5 extra slots with 35 - 80% heal, 0 - 40% endurance modification, 0 - 80% disorient duration, 0 - 95% damage.
  
  Dominators fall, it's almost inevitable, so having a self-rez can be really useful, especially one that incapacitates the enemies dancing on your lifeless body.
  
  Of course, having a power to prevent defeat in the first place like Personal Force Field or Hibernate might be nice, but Rise of the Phoenix has a great feeling to it.

• Melt Armor is a targeted AoE debuff which reduces its targets defence and damage resistance. It has a small debuff effect, a long recharge, a high endurance cost and a small area of effect. Suggested slotting is 0 - 4 extra slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 0 - 80% recharge, 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
  
  Melt Armor can provide a nice little debuff against tough enemies to make them fall faster, and has its best use when fighting AVs.
  
  While having a debuff power is a very good idea, Melt Armor falls completely flat. Its small radius means you can't hit a full spawn, and instead have to focus on a single target, but then its short duration relative to recharge means you can only expect it to be active half the time on that target at best. But the real problem is the low resistance debuff, at 11.25%, unenhanceable, it doesn't feel like it does much at all. Defence debuff is nice, but hitting is not usually a problem for most teams. Poisonous Ray from Mace Mastery is a vastly superior power with 60% more resistance debuff, and permanent coverage of a single target, with other benefits besides.

5.1 Shared Epic Powers

• Fire Shield, Frozen Armor, Temp Invulnerability, Mind Over Body, Dark Embrace, Scorpion Shield, Shark Skin, and Charged Armor are the epic shields. They all have a low endurance cost, and provide a high level of resistance or defence to smashing and lethal damage, and often an additional damage type as well. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with 20 - 55% resistance or defence and 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
  
  They are recommended powers since they provide quite a bit of survivability for a fairly low endurance cost. When facing mezzing enemies, defence shields are often better than resistance, because they can prevent some mezzing attacks from ever landing.

• Fire Ball, Explosive Blast, Psionic Tornado, Dark Obliteration, Disruptor Blast and Ball Lightning are the epic targetted AoE attacks. They do similar damage to the AoEs in the assault sets, but have much longer recharge times, and can hit 16 targets instead of 10. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
  
  Their biggest advantage is that they work well both in melee and at range, and are convenient to use along with either AoE attack from the assault sets. They can be taken in addition to the AoE attacks from the secondary to provide even more AoE damage, or along with either a cone or PBAoE attack to fit with a preferred combat style. The higher target cap is another important factor which can be noticeable in large team environments. The problem of the long recharge can be mostly addressed by the use of recharge buffs.

• Summon Coralax, Summon Tarantula, Summon Guardian, and Summon Seer are the patron pets. They have a long recharge and summon pets with a four minute duration with abilities that are useful but not impressive. The pets are primarily damage dealers, able to take a small amount of aggro, although the Mu Guardian will also heal its summoner. Standard attack slotting is suggested, with a strong preference for recharge.
  
  The patron pets are useful in tough fights for an extra bit of damage and aggro management, and can also speed up general mission battles. They tend to be somewhat fragile, so the Dominator will need to pay attention to their survival.
  
  With a base duration of four minutes out of every fifteen, they can be a frustrating power to use. Saving them for the perfect moment means they only contribute very little overall, while using them regularly means they may not be available when you want them most.

5. Epic Powers

The epic power pools become available at level 41 and give the high level Dominator additional versatility, providing abilities not available in other places. They consist of four ancillary power pools (Fire, Ice, Primal Forces and Psychic Mastery) which are available to every Dominator upon reaching level 41, and four patron power pools (Leviathan, Mace, Mu, and Soul Mastery) which can be unlocked by villains or rogues by doing a level 40 or higher story arc for one of the Arachnos patrons.

At level 41 the Dominator may choose any one of the available epic power pools, and the first two powers are available, at level 44 the second two become available if one of the first was taken, and at level 47 the final power becomes available if two earlier ones were taken. Because of this structure it's not possible to heavily slot more than two of the top three powers from the set, and the early powers are much more convenient to slot. The Dominator may change the choice of epic power pool during a respec.

The ancillary power pools have a lot more variety than the patron power pools. Historically the choice of patron pool could not be changed, and so they were originally created with very similar effects so that players would not regret their decision.

All of the epic pools provide additional damage, typically a targeted AoE attack, along with personal survivability in the form of a smashing and lethal armour toggle. The patron pools all have an Arachnos themed pet. The remaining powers are varied. Selecting an epic pool has more to do with desired function than raw stats comparison.

4.8 Thorny Assault

Overview

Thorny Assault is a high damage assault set, both for AoE and single target damage, with a heavy focus on melee damage. Its AoE damage is easier to use than Fiery Assault because the cone attack has a much wider radius, and Thorntrops works well for close range AoE damage. It has good endurance usage due to its high damage and long activation times. Most of its powers have a defence debuff secondary effect, and bonus toxic damage which complements its primarily lethal damage.

Essential powers: Skewer, Fling Thorns
Disappointing powers:

Thorny Assault is the most practical set for AoE damage, with four AoE powers that work well at melee range. Fling Thorns is its cone power which has a very wide arc, and is able to hit many targets close by, Thorn Burst is a PBAoE, Thorntrops is a short range drop damage power, and Ripper is a targeted melee AoE. The defence debuff secondary effect is useful on teams, particularly in the low levels when accuracy is not always well slotted.

Thorny Assault's powers mostly have long activation times, which can be frustrating and dangerous for Dominators who need combat mobility. The most notable is Impale with a very long activation time for a ranged attack. Dealing primarily lethal damage can be problematic because many enemies have some lethal resistance.

Thorny Assault uses a thorny visual effect on the Dominator, which has several different options available in power customization. This effect can look bad with some costumes particularly on small or large characters, but can also fit in very nicely with others. The visual effect appears and persists for a while when a power from the secondary is activated, and disappers when any other power is activated, including those from the primary. While the redraw of the thorny effect doesn't negatively effect activation times for the secondary powers, it can causes movement glitches and some players find it very irritating.

Powers

• Thorny Darts is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has a fast recharge, which makes it good for building Domination. It does good damage for its recharge compared to the other first blasts, but has a slightly longer activation time.

• Skewer is a typical first melee attack, see the Shared Powers section. Its activation is one of the longest for the first melee attacks, but it has the best damage, and a good defence debuff.

• Fling Thorns is a typical cone attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a much wider cone and shorter range than the other cone attacks, making it very practical for use when in melee range. It has a good defence debuff.

• Impale is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It deals high damage compared with the other second blasts, but has an uncomfortably long activation time. It has the usual defence debuff and toxic damage secondary effects, as well as additional immobilize and slow effects.

• Aim is a short self-buff to to-hit and damage. Its best use is as a damage boost for initial spike damage. While it can boost the accuracy of AoE controls allowing them to slot more duration and less accuracy, this isn't a recommended tactic because it creates a dependency where the control cannot be used alone and in practice greatly reduces the utility of both powers. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with recharge.

• Thorn Burst is a typical PBAoE attack, see the Shared Powers section. Its secondary effects are toxic damage over time, and a good defence debuff.

• Thorntrops is a 45 second drop power with a 15ft radius which is auto-hit, deals decent damage, slows run speed, and causes enemies to flee. It works as either a damage power or a control power. Suggested slotting is 0 - 4 additional slots with 0 - 80% recharge, 0 - 95% damage, 0 - 80% slow.
  
  Thorntrops does a significant amount of damage against enemies who remain in the area, which can easily be achieved using immobilize or hold powers. It also provides a nice control effect of area denial and damage mitigation through the flee effect, particularly if slotted with slow enhancements.
  
  Thorntrops's tendency to cause scatter reduces the effectiveness of other AoE powers. Its slowness in dealing damage makes it often appear that it's not really doing much.

• Ripper is a high damage, melee range cone attack with a chance to knockdown and a long spin in the air animation. Standard attack slotting is suggested.

• Thorn Barrage is a typical final blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has reliable knockback effect, which can be a useful control tool.

4.7 Psionic Assault

Overview

Psionic Assault deals average single target and AoE damage. Its ranged and cone attacks have much greater range than other sets, but also has significant melee damage. It has typical endurance usage. Many of its powers have a recharge debuff secondary effect, and additionally Telekinetic Thrust provies a knockback effect and Subdue a chance for Immobilize. Psionic Assault's single target damage matures at level 28, earlier than many of the other sets, while its AoE damage doesn't mature until level 38. All of its attacks all deal psionic damage except Telekinetic Thrust which deals smashing as well.

Essential powers: Drain Psyche
Disappointing powers: Psionic Lance

Psionic Assault's damage is quite typical, and doesn't present any special benefit except against enemies that are weak to Psionic damage such as Clockwork and ghosts. Its most notable special benefit is Drain Psyche which provides additional survivability, endurance management for the Dominator, and gives a very useful debuff against tough enemies like AVs. The additional range of the attacks is a nice benefit for pulling enemies or dealing with any runners. Its recharge debuff secondary effect is strongest in its AoE attacks and can be of considerable benefit, particularly in the low levels.

Psionic Assault's biggest weakness is against psionic resistant foes such as Carnies, robots, and vault doors. These enemies typically have very high resistance meaning it takes a lot more damage to defeat them.

Powers

• Psionic Dart is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has a short recharge time and lower damage amongst the first tier blasts, making it good for building Domination. Its long range, slow moving projectile and short root time make it an excellent tool for pulling.

• Mind Probe is a typical first melee attack, see the Shared Powers section.

• Telekinetic Thrust is a melee attack with smashing damage and guaranteed knockback. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
  
  With its guaranteed knockback Telekinetic Thrust fills a dual role of control and damage, particularly useful against bosses who are weak to knockback. Additionally, as Psionic Assault's only source of smashing damage it's highly recommended for psi resistant enemies.
  
  Sometimes knockback is not desirable, and if there's no knockback protection granted from the primary set, it can be a problem.

• Mental Blast is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section.

• Psychic Scream is a typical cone attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a higher recharge debuff than the single target attacks.

• Drain Psyche is a melee range click PBAoE which debuffs enemies' regeneration and recovery and increases the caster's regeneration and recovery for each foe affected. Suggested slotting is 5 additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 35 - 95% recharge, 0 - 95% healing and 0 - 40% endurance modification.
  
  It is a useful power when solo to help with endurance problems, and on teams to improve survivability. Its regeneration debuff is very useful against AVs, and its recovery debuff works nicely with Electric Control's endurance drain.
  
  Because of its small radius it can be difficult to hit a large number of targets, and can encourage the Dominator into dangerous places with lots of enemies. Because it's a regeneration debuff rather than a heal, it doesn't work particularly well against sudden damage spikes or if the Dominator's health is already low.

• Subdue is a good ranged attack with a chance to immobilize. It has the same stats as Mental Blast, except that it has a high chance to immobilize insted of a recharge debuff. Standard attack slotting is suggested.

• Psionic Lance is a typical sniper attack, see the Shared Powers section. Its range is slightly greater than the sniper attacks from the other sets.

• Psychic Shockwave is a typical PBAoE attack, see the shared powers section. Its secondary effects are a strong recharge debuff, and a 25% chance to stun.
  
  It has a higher target cap of 16 targets, making it the best AoE damage against large clustered spawns.

4.6 Icy Assault

Overview

Icy Assault is the average assault set. It does typical single target and AoE damage, both at range and in melee. Its one stand-out feature are its fast activating ranged attacks, and accompanying high endurance usage. Its secondary effects are all recharge and movement slows and are noticeable, but not remarkable, providing some benefit against hard targets. Its attack chain develops at a reasonable pace, not being complete until level 38.

Essential powers: Bitter Ice Blast
Disappointing powers: Chilling Embrace

Icy Assault's fast activation times are very useful because they enable high combat mobility which is critical for a Dominator. Its secondary slow effects stack, even from the same power and when combined have some benefit against single hard targets, but are not overwhelming.

Its biggest drawback is high endurance usage, meaning it can quickly deplete endurance reserves while doing less damage than some of the other Assault sets. This is primarily because of the fast activation times on its blasts.

Powers

• Ice Bolt is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section.

• Ice Sword is a typical first melee attack, see the Shared Powers section.

• Ice Sword Circle is a typical PBAoE attack, see the Shared Powers section.

• Ice Blast is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has the shortest activation time of all the second blasts.

• Power Boost is a short self-buff, see the Shared Powers section. It has the nice bonus of boosting all of the secondary slow effects.

• Frost Breath is a typical cone attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a longish activation time, an accuracy bonus, and is one of the narrower cones. Its narrow arc can make it difficult to use effectively, particularly from close quarters.

• Chilling Embrace is a toggled PBAoE slow effect, with a small radius, reaching slightly beyond melee, and a low endurance cost. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with 0 - 40% endurance reduction and 0 - 80% slow enhancement.
  
  Chilling Embrace can provide a big slow and recharge debuff against uncontrolled enemies in melee range, reducing their damage output over time.
  
  The biggest drawback of Chilling Embrace is that to have an effect the Dominator must be in melee range with an uncontrolled enemy, which is very dangerous. Unlike the Blaster and Tanker versions of the power, it doesn't include a damage debuff effect, so the enemy remains very dangerous. Finally, it doesn't work well with Hot Feet and Arctic Air, the toggle effects from the primaries, since they cause enemies to flee and rarely enter melee range.

• Ice Slash is a decent single target melee attack. It is 20% greater than Ice Sword in all aspects, including a 20% accuracy bonus. Graphically it is much larger than the regular Ice Sword, to the point of absurdity. Standard attack slotting is suggested, with a little less need for accuracy.

• Bitter Ice Blast is a typical final blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has a very fast activation time for a final blast, and an additional to-hit debuff secondary effect. It is highly recommended to increase Icy Assault's damage output.

4.5 Fiery Assault

Overview

Fiery Assault is the overall highest damaging of the Dominator secondaries, with high damage ranged and melee attacks. It also has excellent AoE damage potential, with the significant practical barrier or optimizing the use of both its cone and PBAoE attacks. It has good endurance usage due to high damage output, and the very useful secondary effect of more damage. Its damage is all fire damage.

Essential powers: Blaze
Disappointing powers: Blazing Bolt, Consume

Its high damage makes Fiery Assault a very aggressive set, and a good contributor even on an effective team. Many of its powers do additional DoT, lasting up to 7 seconds for Combustion, and with no upfront damage for Incinerate. In order to not waste DoT effects, it's a good idea to use the longest DoT powers first in combat.

Fiery Assault is the most dangerous of the secondaries for several reasons, the higher damage means it generates more aggro, the damage over time effects interfere with sleep and terrorize effects from the primary, and it provides no extra mitigating secondary effects like the other secondaries. Fire resistant foes can be problematic because no alternative damage type is available.

Powers

• Flares is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section. It does less damage and has a faster recharge than the other first blasts, which makes it good for building Domination, but slightly less important for damage.

• Incinerate is a typical first melee attack, see the Shared Powers section. Its damage is better than the other first melee attacks, but is spread over several seconds, so it's best to use as an opening attack, and not a finisher.

• Fire Breath is a typical cone attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a longish activation time, an accuracy bonus, and is one of the narrower cones. Its narrow arc can make it difficult to use effectively, particularly from close quarters.

• Fire Blast is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has a nice short activation time, and good damage for its recharge.

• Embrace of Fire is an excellent self damage buff with a long recharge. It increases the damage of all attacks for 10 seconds, and the damage of all fire attacks by even more for 30 seconds. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with 35 - 95% recharge reduction.
  
  It makes a dramatic difference when active, although its long recharge time means it's often not available.

• Combustion is a typical PBAoE attack, see the Shared Powers section. Most of its damage is DoT, which means that it appears less effective than it actually is.

• Consume is an endurance recovery power with additional minor PBAoE damage. It has a negligible endurance cost, minor damage, long recharge, and recovers a medium amount of endurance for each target hit. Suggested slotting 3 - 5 additional slots with 40 - 80% accuracy, 35 - 95% endurance recovery, and 0 - 80% recharge reduction.
  
  Its negligible endurance cost makes it very useful in situations where endurance has been fully drained. When surrounded by many targets it can easily refill the endurance bar completely.
  
  It is only recommended to characters suffering from endurance problems who have already explored other avenues for endurance management because it is rather difficult to use, and requires the investment of slots to ensure it works even when there are only a few available targets.

• Blazing Bolt is a typical sniper attack, see the Shared Powers section. It deals the most damage of all the sniper attacks, making it more attractive.

• Blaze is a typical final blast, see the Shared Powers section. It has a short activation, high damage, and a fast recharge, making it the best of the final blasts, and the most important power of the set.
  

4.4 Energy Assault

Overview

Energy Assault is a primarily single target assault set, with good ranged attacks. It deals good single target damage both from range and in melee, while its AoE damage is non-existent from range and poor in melee. It has above average endurance usage and somewhat useful secondary control effects. Its single target attack chain is full very early, with four attacks available at level 10. Its attacks all deal smashing and energy damage.

Essential Powers: Power Push, Power Burst
Disappointing powers: Sniper Blast

Energy Assault performs well against single targets with its wealth of ranged and melee single target attacks. The secondary control effects can be useful against a small number of enemies, particularly because Power Push gives a guaranteed knockback and Total Focus gives a guaranteed stun.

With only a single AoE attack, Whirling Hands, Energy Assault does not do good AoE damage. The chance for knockback effects from its three blasts can also be a source of difficulty because often its preferable for an enemy to stay put. Bone Smasher and Whirling Hands both have a chance to stun, but these are not dependable and typically will be worthless because Dominators usually only melee with already controlled enemies.

Powers

• Power Bolt is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section. Its secondary effect is a chance to knockback.

• Bone Smasher is a typical first melee attack, see the Shared Powers section. Its secondary effect is a decent chance to disorient.

• Power Push is a high damage, high accuracy ranged knockback attack with a fast activation time. Standard attack slotting is suggested, with less accuracy required.
  
  With high damage and accuracy and guaranteed control that works against bosses, Power Push is a very useful and versatile power. It can incapacitate bosses so they can be held, or just fit in to the regular attack chain with fast good damage. Its high accuracy makes it particularly useful in the low levels where it can be enhanced just for damage.
  
  Sometimes knockback is not desirable, and if there's no knockback protection granted from the primary set, it can be a problem.

• Power Blast is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. Its secondary effect is a chance to knockback.

• Power Boost is a short self-buff, see the Shared Powers section.

• Whirling Hands is a typical PBAoE attack, see the Shared Powers section. As Energy Assault's only AoE attack it's a good choice for a Dominator who teams.

• Total Focus is an extreme damage melee attack with a guaranteed stun and a long activation time. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
  
  The Total Focus animation is fun, and has a very powerful feeling.
  
  Total Focus's long activation means that it can be a dangerous power to use, preventing the caster from reacting for several seconds. It also can be wasted on a team because a teammate may defeat the target before the damage is applied.

• Sniper Blast is a typical sniper attack, see the Shared Powers section.

• Power Burst is a typical final blast, see the Shared Powers section.

4.3 Electricity Assault

Overview

Electricity Assault is a fast and primarily single target assault set with good melee attacks. It has excellent single target damage in melee range, and at range performs similarly to the other assault sets in both single target and AoE damage. It has average endurance usage and its secondary control effects are not terribly useful. Its single target attack chain matures very early, and is mostly full by level 10, in exchange for not having an AoE attacks until level 28. Its attacks all deal smashing and energy damage.

Essential Powers: Charged Brawl
Disappointing Powers: Zapp, Thunder Strike

Electricity Assault really performs well against single targets at melee range, and using Build Up can deal a lot of damage very quickly. The fast activation of these attacks means it can fit them all into the time of a single Build Up buff, and gives the set a lot of manoeuverability.

Electricity Assault never excels at AoE damage because Static Discharge is its only real AoE attack, Thunder Strike's AoE splash damage is incredibly small and Voltaic Sentinel is rather slow at dealing damage to multiple targets. Its fast activation times mean it can use up endurance quickly, although the fight should typically be over by then, this is somewhat mitigated by the powers having a chance to return endurance to the caster, but not completely alleviated.

The most common secondary effect is endurance drain and recovery debuff, which unfortunately comes in such small amounts to be irrelevant without other sources of endurance drain, particularly since most enemies will be controlled in other ways and won't need that endurance. While its endurance drain and recovery debuff effects do support Electric Control, its not crucial support, and its knockback effects work against Electric Control. The next most noticeable effect is the knockback from Thunderstrike and Havoc Punch, which proves to be more of an irritation for such a melee focussed set. A very observant player may be able to take advantage of the chance for sleep effects in Charged Brawl and Havoc Punch to provide additional damage mitigation in the low levels, by quickly switching targets. Finally, Thunder Strike's chance for stun may be useful if control is failing in other ways, although it is a dangerous choice since it requires entering melee range.

Powers

• Charged Bolts is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section.

• Charged Brawl is a typical first melee attack, see the Shared Powers section. It has a lightning fast activation time making it the best of the first melee attacks and a must-have power for Electricty Assault.

• Lightning Bolt is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It is unique in that it is available at level 4, but is typical in other ways.

• Havoc Punch is a single target melee attack with good damage and a fast activation. It is highly recommended for increasing single target damage. It secondary effects of sleep and knockback are not particularly reliable or dependable. Standard attack slotting is suggested.

• Build Up is a short self-buff to damage and to-hit. Its best use is as a damage boost for initial spike damage. While it can boost the accuracy of AoE controls allowing them to slot more duration and less accuracy, this isn't a recommended tactic because it creates a dependency where the control cannot be used alone and in practice greatly reduces the utility of both powers. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with recharge.

• Zapp is a typical sniper attack, see the Shared Powers section. It is more useful than the other snipes, solely because it is available much earlier when the Dominator is not yet fully mature. However it is still not a regular attack. When well slotted and combined with Build Up, Zapp may able to defeat a minion with one hit which can be useful on occasion. However, it's not the best power to use after Build Up, because of its long activation time, the fast activating attacks should be used first, and then followed by Zapp.

• Static Discharge is a typical cone attack, see the Shared Powers section. It is a wider cone than the others, so is much easier to hit a large number of targets, particularly from melee range, and the jumping technique for activation is much more effective. Being Electricity Assault's only real AoE attack it is recommended for Dominators who will play on a team.

• Thunder Strike is a high damage single target attack, with a very powerful feeling animation, a small amount of AoE splash damage, and AoE knockback. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
  
  Thunder Strike's best use is the entertainment of watching the animation.
  
  With damage not much greater than Havoc Punch, a very long activation time and considering the fast recharge of the other attacks there is usually a better power available. Additionally, in a team setting the AoE knockback can be very inconvenient, and there is a fairly high chance that the target will be defeated before Thunder Strike's damage is even applied.

• Voltaic Sentinel summons a short-lived non-targettable pet with a single high accuracy weak lightning attack. It has a high endurance cost, and good damage over its full duration. The sentinel may not be unsummoned, but the caster may have only one at a time, summoning a new one kills off the old one. Suggested slotting is 2 - 5 additional slots with 0 - 40% accuracy, 95% damage, 0 - 80% endurance reduction.
  
  In battles which last its full life time, the Voltaic Sentinel can contribute quite a bit of damage. Against tougher enemies, this may be possible often, in which case it can noticeably improve a Dominator's efficiency. To get the most from Voltaic Sentinel, it's recommended to always summon it at the start of a fight, not when the previous one expires.
  
  The short duration means that Voltaic Sentinel must be regularly resummoned, which can feel like a frustrating burden, especially considering the endurance cost Since it's untargettable, any aggro generated is immediately passed on to the caster, which may be troublesome since it can't be unsummoned. If summoned at the end of fights, a lot of its damage potential can be wasted travelling between spawns.

4.2 Earth Assault

Overview

Earth Assault is a close combat assault set with a slow and powerful feeling to it. In melee it does good AoE damage and average single target damage, while at range it does poor single target damage and no AoE damage whatsoever. Its single target melee attacks are light on endurance, while its AoEs are expensive on endurance. Earth Assault provides some useful secondary control effects, most importantly a reliable hold in Seismic Smash, but also chance for knockdown, knockback or stun in several other powers including the AoEs. All its powers do exclusively smashing damage except Stone Spears which does lethal damage and Mud Pots which does fire damage.

Essential Powers:Stone Mallet, Heavy Mallet, Seismic Smash
Disappointing Power:Stone Spears, Hurl Boulder, Fissure

Before level 20 Earth Assault feels slow and its damage feels weak because of the slow activation times of the ranged attacks. At level 28 the set feels complete, and the final two powers add the extra ability of decent close range AoE damage. The secondary control effects can be quite effective if the primary fails to deliver, and can even provide sufficient mitigation themselves against a small number of foes.

Earth Assault's AoE damage is much easier to use than that of the other assault sets, because it doesn't require movement across the battle to use effectively. Its two PBAoEs and short range targeted AoE can all be activated from the same location in the fight.

Several of the Earth Assault powers require the caster to be touching the ground, which reduces the mobility of Earth Assault Dominators.

With Power Boost and an additional hold power in Seismic Smash, Earth Assault is the best secondary for a Dominator trying to maximize the hold magnitude on an enemy.

Powers

• Stone Spears is a typical first blast, see the Shared Powers section. Its 80% chance for knockup makes it a very handy source of damage mitigation, particularly in the low levels, and against bosses. However, its long activation time and requirement for the caster to be touching the ground make it the worst of the first tier blasts. Finally, it currently suffers from a bug where it doesn't damage targets in the air, which can be a source of frustration on occasion.

• Stone Mallet is a typical first melee attack, see the Shared Powers section. Its 50% chance for knockdown is somewhat useful, but unfortunately not reliable enough to be trusted with survival, especially in melee range.

• Tremor is a typical PBAoE attack. It has a 50% chance of knocking down enemies, which provides noticeable damage mitigation in the early levels. With the longest activation time of the PBAoE attacks, and its low damage relative to them, this is the worst of them all.

• Hurl Boulder is a typical second blast, see the Shared Powers section. It also has a -Fly effect and a 50% chance to knockback its target. With its long activation time, requirement to be on the ground, and because 50% chance for knockback is more of an annoyance than a benefit, this is the worst of the second blasts.

• Power Boost is a short self-buff, see the Shared Powers section.

• Heavy Mallet is a good single target melee attack. With a fast activation and good damage, it is an important part of Earth Assault's damage output. It's 50% chance for knockdown is more entertaining than dependable.

• Seismic Smash is an extreme damage melee attack with a guaranteed hold, and a fast activation time. It is a very important part of Earth Assault's damage and is highly recommended. Typical attack slotting is suggested.

• Mud Pots is a small radius damage aura with an autohit slow and immobilize effect. It has a high endurance cost and deals moderate damage. Suggested slotting is 35 - 80% accuracy, 70 - 95% damage, 35 - 80% endurance reduction.
  
  The damage is noticeable over the long term, against enemies who survive long enough.
  
  The small radius is difficult for a Dominator to use effectively, because enemies should be controlled before the Dominator enters melee, and it can be difficult to ensure they are close together when this happens. Confuse powers and slows can be useful for clumping enemies up together.

• Fissure is a very short range targeted AoE, with a very small AoE radius. It does damage similar to Tremor and has a 50% chance to disorient. Standard attack slotting is suggested.
  
  When enemies are closely packed, Fissure is a good source of AoE damage, and being a targeted AoE is practical to use in conjunction with Tremor and Mud Pots. The disorient effect provides a small amount of additional damage mitigation.
  
  Fissure's small radius means it's very wasteful of endurance against enemies who aren't closely packed, and generally not useful in such circumstances. The small range requires the Dominator to be close to the enemy, which is typical for an Earth Assault Dominator anyway.