Liliaceae

3.3 Electricity Control

Overview

Electricity Control has a medium level of control compared to the other Dominator primaries. Its effectiveness is spread across several powers, instead of being concentrated in a simple AoE power like the other sets. It provides average to high damage, with a notable portion coming from its confuse effect.

Essential Powers: Tesla Cage, Synaptic Overload
Disappointing Powers: Paralyzing Blast

Electricity Control is a versatile set with a variety of control options, and can contribute well when more refined tactics are required. It has low endurance usage because all of the powers have a chance to return endurance to the caster, in addition to providing confuse effects, and having activation times on the longish side. Its most notable unique effect is strong endurance drain, an excellent backup for when other control methods aren't working, which raises it above other control sets in some circumstances.

Electricity Control does not provide raw blunt power, it requires patience and finesse to work well. Other sets permit faster soloing because they have instant AoE mitigation powers, while Electricity Control needs to wait for Synaptic Overload or Conductive Aura to take effect to guarantee safety against larger spawns. Before level 26 it is particularly hampered with having to balance endurance drain, knockdown and sleep to assure safety. Electricity Control also benefits very little from Domination, the only mitigation powers that are boosted by Domination are the two holds, and only the first target of Synaptic Overload.

Two of its powers, Jolting Chain and Synaptic Overload use a chain mechanic which works like this: the power is activated on a single target, and if it hits, it will start to chain to other targets. If the power misses the first target, it will have no effect at all. Once a target is hit, there is a brief delay and then if there's another target nearby which hasn't been chained to already, the chain effect will jump to that target, with an increased chance to hit. A miss in the middle of the chain does not break it, it will still try to chain to more targets. The chain stops after 16 targets, or when there's no unaffected target in range.

Powers

• Electric Fence is a typical single target immobilize, see the Shared Powers section. It provides minor endurance drain which will help when using endurance drain tactics against single tough foes like AVs.

• Tesla Cage is a typical STH, see the Shared Powers section. It's activation time is long, but it has a very obvious visual effect.

• Chain Fences is a typical AoE immob, see the Shared Powers section. It does not prevent knockdown or knockback so it is still useful in conjuction with Jolting Chain, or knockdown powers used by other teammates.

• Jolting Chain is a chain knockdown power. It has almost no chain delay, long activation time, short recharge, and minor damage. There is a small endurance drain which applies only to the first target. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy and 0 - 35% recharge.
  
  Jolting Chain is a very important part of Electricity's low level effectiveness, particularly in a team environment where sleep isn't always appropriate. It is fairly compatible with Static Field because targets will usually be put back to sleep before they manage to stand up again.
  
  In the higher levels it is less important, when there are better things to do with the 2 seconds it takes to activate.

• Conductive Aura is a PBAoE toggle which causes endurance drain in its targets, and buffs the regeneration and recovery of the caster, according to the number of enemies in its radius. The endurance drain effect is strong, and the radius is large, while the recovery and regeneration buffs are minor. It costs no endurance to run. Suggested slotting is 2 - 3 additional slots with 35 - 60% accuracy and 35 - 80% endurance modification.
  
  Conductive Aura is the most important part of Electricity's endurance drain tactics, probably contributing more endurance drain than the rest of the powers combined. When slotted for endurance modification it is able to drain all of a boss's endurance within a few seconds. Since it costs no endurance to run, the only reason to turn the power off is to prevent unwanted aggro.
  
  Conductive Aura has a slightly long recharge time, which is unfortunate if it gets detoggled through being mezzed. It has little effect when enemies are mezzed in other ways, or if endurance drain is not a primary tactic. It does not provide significant healing, because the regeneration buff only applies when enemies are within its radius.

• Static Field creates a patch on the ground which slows enemies and applies a sleep effect to them. It is not a typical sleep power because the sleep effect is continuously reapplied, but the Shared Powers section about sleeps may still be of interest. Additionally it grants teammates within the patch area endurance for each enemy in the patch area. It has average accuracy, a long sleep duration, a medium recharge, a large area of effect, and minor endurance drain and endurance buffing. Recommended slotting is 0 - 5 additional slots with 35 - 80% Accuracy, 0 - 95% Recharge and 0 - 95% Sleep Duration.
  
  Static Field has a very big advantage over other sleep powers, because it will reapply the sleep effect if an enemy wakes up and stays within the field. This is particularly important because the Gremlins wake up enemies with Jolting Chain, and Static Field is able to put them back to sleep before they can attack.
  
  Static Field takes a bit longer to affect enemies than the other sleeps, because there's the extra step of summoning the pet before the sleep effect is applied, which reduces its effectiveness in emergency situations.

• Paralyzing Blast is a typical AoE hold, see the Shared Powers section. It uses a different visual effect from Tesla Cage, one which is a lot less obvious.
  
  Paralyzing Blast is the only AoE in the set that prevents enemies from attacking and which is boosted by Domination. For this reason it is more important than the AoE holds of the other sets.

• Synaptic Overload is a chain confuse power which doesn't alert its target. The power has a noticeable chain delay, an average activation time, medium recharge, average accuracy and a long confuse duration. Additionally it does a minor endurance drain on the first target. Suggested slotting is 2 - 5 additional slots with 35 - 80% accuracy, 35 - 80% recharge, 0 - 80% confuse duration.
  
  Synaptic Overload is Electricity Control's most powerful AoE control power, and can be used to trivialize most encounters. It is a natural opener for each fight, because it doesn't alert targets, and the confuse effect causes the affected enemies to bunch up tightly for AoE attacks. The long duration and fact that the targets will damage each other means the Dominator should be able to finish the fight off before the confuse effect wears off. Following it up with Chain Fences is a good tactic, to keep the enemies grouped and fighting with each other.
  
  Synaptic Overload requires patience, because it takes a few seconds to chain across targets, but moreso because a miss when initially cast prevents it from affecting anything. It also fails quite badly against enemies who are very spread out, because its maximum jump distance is not very long.

• Gremlins is a typical pet power, see the Shared Powers section. Two Gremlins are summoned, at one level below the caster. They have a melee attack, Jolting Chain, and a small damage aura. They favour melee combat, have average damage, and are fairly fragile.
  
  Their Jolting Chain provides a nice extra bit of control, and combined with their damage aura makes them capable at holding a bit of aggro.
  
  They are not terribly compatible with Static Field because they tend to wake things up with their damage aura and Jolting Chain.

3.2 Earth Control

Overview

Earth Control has more AoE control powers than the other primaries, but most of them do not benefit from Domination. As a result it provides the most consistent play experience, providing the most AoE control while Domination is off, with no significant boost when Domination is active. Its secondary defense debuff effect is useful both while solo and teamed, particularly in the low levels.

Essential powers: Fossilize, Stalagmites
Disappointing powers: Salt Crystals

Earth's large number of control powers give flexibility to choose a preferred control style. Stalagmites provides complete damage mitigation against weaker enemies for shorter periods of time, Earthquake provides partial damage mitigation for longer and is effective against bosses and high level enemies, Volcanic Gasses has a long duration and works against all enemies, but is not available as regularly, Quicksand provides some partial mitigation as well, because enemies spend more time moving, and less time fighting. Alternatively, taking them all allows for overcontrol even when things get out of hand in a large team environment. However, Stalagmites is essential as the most important AoE power which is boosted by Domination.

Earth's defense debuffs make it possible to be effective without slotting accuracy at all, even against enemies a couple of levels higher. This allows the Dominator to slot more damage in attacks, which is highly beneficial at lower levels when there are never enough slots. The key to doing this is to use Quicksand all the time for it's autohit def debuff. The base debuffs are quite sizeable, which is why none of the powers (except Earthquake) accept defense debuff enhancements.

All of the drop powers (Quicksand, Earthquake, Volcanic Gasses) have an interesting property that if the caster is out of line of sight, and not too close, they will not cause aggro. This means that they can be placed in any preferred order, usually Quicksand first, without concern of retaliation or scatter.


Powers

• Stone Prison is a typical single target immobilize, see the Shared Powers section. It has a good defense debuff which can be useful against hard to hit enemies.

• Fossilize is a typical STH, see the Shared Powers section. It's activation time is long, but it's visual effect is obvious and it has a strong defense debuff.

• Stone Cages is a typical AoE immob, see the Shared Powers section. It is even more marginal for Earth Control than the other primaries, because there are so many other AoEs available, it prevents Earthquake and Quicksand from preventing attacks, and the visual effects are very large and obtrusive. Furthermore, it's prime benefit of preventing enemy scatter can be emulated by Quicksand slotted for slow. The defense debuff is nice but provided equally by Earth's other AoE powers.

• Quicksand is a placed power which slows enemies' movement and debuffs their defense in a medium sized area, and without requiring an accuracy check. It has a good slow effect, high defense debuff, good duration and fast recharge, it is recharged well before it expires. Suggested slotting is 0 - 3 additional slots, with 30 - 95% slow, 0 - 40% recharge, and damage procs.
  
  Quicksand is very effective from the beginning of any fight, many enemies will immediately try to engage in melee, but will be significantly slowed in their approach, and thus unable to attack for a while. The defense debuff is the largest of any of the Earth Control powers and requires no accuracy check, making enemies significantly easier to hit for the whole team.
  
  Some enemies will attempt to flee the Quicksand, and gather at the edges, causing a bit of scatter, particularly if it has not been enhanced with slows. This can be mitigated by placing it slightly to one side to encourage enemies to gather on the other.

• Salt Crystals is a typical AoE sleep, see the Shared Powers section. Its major drawback compared with the other sleeps is that it is PBAoE and not ranged. The defense debuff not only is duplicated with the other powers, but does not provide any benefit if you aren't attacking the targets because you want them to continue sleeping.

• Stalagmites is a targeted AoE disorient. It has a large area of effect, poor accuracy, medium recharge, short disorient effect, and minor damage. Suggested slotting is 3 - 5 additional slots, with 60 - 80% accuracy, 40 - 95% disorient duration, and 0 - 80% recharge.
  
  Stalagmites is Earth Control's reliable AoE power, and doesn't give affected enemies small opportunities to fight back like the other AoEs. Since it's also boosted by Domination, it is the most important of the AoE control powers. It can be combined with Stone Cages to prevent affected enemies from slowly scattering, although this is not essential.
  
  Its short duration means it underperforms in the lower levels, when mez durations are shorter and enhancements are weaker. Its recharge feels a bit too long, meaning it may not be ready for the beginning of every fight.

• Earthquake is a static patch on the ground which significantly reduces incoming attacks by knocking down all enemies on, above, and below it. It is auto-hit, has medium duration, doesn't require line of sight to place, has a large area of effect, and a medium recharge. Suggested slotting is 1 - 2 additional slots with 35 - 95% recharge.
  
  Because Earthquake's duration is unenhancable and unaffected by level scaling, it is very effective immediately and doesn't require many slots like most other control powers. Because it uses knockdown, Earthquake is also effective against bosses, making it more useful on the largest teams. Also, Earthquake may be placed out of line of sight, so it can be cast in safety from around a corner, thus neutralizing the enemies' alpha strike. Unlike the other Earth Control powers, Earthquake accepts defense debuff enhancements, which opens the possibility for slotting various procs.
  
  Care must be taken when starting a fight with Earthquake, because enemies have a chance to attack before they are affected by the knockdown. Also there is some terrain, notably underwater, where the quake is not visible, which can slightly hinder its utility. Even when Earthquake is active, enemies will attack occasionally, and if they escape or are pushed away, they will be able to attack again immediately.

• Volcanic Gasses is a static patch on the ground containing several pets which apply short holds to enemies in the area, that provides almost total lockdown. It has a medium recharge, a medium duration, good accuracy, and a large area of effect. Recommended slotting is 2 - 4 additional slots with 0 - 40% accuracy, 0 - 40% hold duration, 60 - 95% recharge.
  
  Volcanic Gasses is better than the AoE holds available to the other primaries because its base duration is the same as the maximum enhanced duration of the others, and with some duration enhancement it is able to hold normal bosses on its own. It may be able to hold more protected bosses (eg Arachnos Spider and Fortunata bosses, some Longbow Wardens, Cimeroran Traitors) and Elite Bosses, but certainly not reliably. Also, even if it fails to hit an enemy the first time, it will try to hold them again soon. While inside the Volcanic Gassess, enemies seem unwilling or unable to move.
  
  Volcanic Gasses accepts hold duration enhancements but their effect is deceiving, they only increase the overall duration minimally, by a few seconds at the most, but they do increase its ability to hold harder enemies such as bosses. Volcanic Gasses' long recharge means that it is not an every fight power, just like the AoE holds from the other sets.

• Animate Stone is a typical pet power, see the Shared Powers section. He has three attacks, a ranged Hurl Boulder which can cause knockback, a melee Seismic Smash which applies a hold, and Stone Fist which has a small chance for a weak stun. All of his attacks have an additional taunt effect. He has very high resistance to damage, and protection from most mez effects.
  
  Stoney brings additional benefit to his caster by taking some aggro and some additional damage. He prefers to fight in melee, and will quickly run up to engage the enemy.
  

3.1 Shared Primary Powers

• Stone Prison, Electric Fence, Ring of Fire, Crush, Chilblain, and Entangle are single target immobilize powers. They are mag 4, which means that they can immobilize a boss or AV in one hit. They have an accuracy bonus, high endurance cost, and low damage over time. They are acceptable powers in some circumstances, but most other powers are superior. Suggested slotting is 0 - 2 additional slots, with 33 - 80% accuracy, 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
  
  They can be useful in the low levels for a solo Dominator, when enemies are much less dangerous at range, and it's difficult to hold bosses outside of Domination. Additionally, they can also be used in combination with terrain to stop enemies from attacking by keeping them out of sight, although the AoE immobilizes are better at this. Their fast recharge makes them tempting for building Domination, but in practice this is problematic due to high endurance consumption. At the higher levels they are primarily useful to immobilize AVs, giving the team greater control over how to engage the enemy, and also against some bosses who are still weak at range, such as Freakshow tanks. Another good application is in missions where an enemy must be prevented from escaping.
  
  In many ways applying immobilize powers makes enemies more dangerous: as control powers they draw aggro; the target is unable to move and will spend more time attacking; they are protected from effects which causing fleeing; they are protected from sleep effects due to the damage over time; and finally all of them, except Crush, have the unfortunate effect of protecting the target from knockback, knockup and knockdown, which are common forms of damage mitigation. Later in the Dominator's career, when more powers are available, immobilizing a single target is not nearly as useful, especially since the targets you really want to immobilize like Warwolves, CoT ghosts and Synapse tend to be protected from immobilize anyway. They are not viable as sources of damage, primarily because of endurance cost.

• Fossilize, Tesla Cage, Char, Gravity Distortion, Block of Ice, Dominate, and Strangler are single target hold (STH) powers, which provide the foundation for a Dominator's control. They have a long duration hold effect, fast recharge, an accuracy bonus, high endurance cost, and low damage. They are indispensable, and should be taken as soon as available (either at level 1 or 2). Suggested slotting is 4 - 5 additional slots, with 33 - 70% accuracy, 70 - 95% hold duration, 33 - 80% recharge, 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
  
  The STHs are useful throughout the Dominator's career, and in almost every situation. In the low levels and against smaller numbers of enemies they provide mostly enough damage mitigation to keep the Dominator alive, while in higher levels and on teams they are ideal for pre-emptively removing problematic enemies from a fight. Their fast recharge and long duration means they can be cast repeatedly on the same target, allowing them to be used to hold tougher targets through multiple applications, most commonly useful against Bosses out of Domination, or some Elite Bosses during Domination. Some of the STHs have additional debuff effects which makes them useful even if the target is not held. Their damage is best treated as a nice bonus, rather than a primary damage source, because the secondary provides more damage for less endurance, and their hold duration is so important to survivability.
  
  The activation times of the STHs are not all the same, and this affects the Dominator in a couple of ways. Most importantly, since the STH is used so regularly, a long activation time takes time away from other things, like actually dealing damage. Secondarily, since powers don't start recharging until they have finished activating, a long activation time increases the overall cast cycle, which increases the time it takes to stack effects on a target and reduces the total number of holds which can be stacked on a single target. Practically speaking, STHs with a shorter activation time can be used to hold Bosses and Elite Bosses faster, and are better suited to attempts to hold AVs and Monsters. Char and Dominate have markedly shorter activation times than the other STHs.

• Stone Cages, Chain Fences, Fire Cages, Crushing Field, Frostbite, and Roots are targeted AoE immobilize powers. They have high endurance cost, low accuracy, decent immobilize duration, and low damage over time. They are marginal powers, and are not a foundation for good control despite the fact that they are available early. Suggested slotting is 1 - 2 additional slots, with 60 - 80% accuracy, 0 - 40% endurance reduction.
  
  They can be used for effective damage mitigation in conjunction with terrain because they can immobilize enemies near the target even if they are out of line of sight from the caster. Enemies immobilized out of line of sight cannot attack, and sometimes may not even attack other targets which are visible. To use this tactic, arrange yourself so that most of a group of enemies are out of line of sight, but at least one is visible, target that one and activate the immobilize. These powers can be useful against certain types of enemies who tend to scatter, (eg. Air Thorn Casters), but are unfortunately ineffective against some mobile enemies (eg. War Wolves, CoT ghosts). However, the most potent uses for the AoE immobilizes are in conjuction with other players' powers, for example, keeping enemies in AoE debuffs or attacks (eg. Mastermind Assault Bot's Ignite), or preventing annoying knockback (eg. Mastermind Bruiser Handclap).
  
  The AoE immobilizes can be a source of problems for Dominators, especially in the early levels, since they can make enemies more dangerous, as discussed above in the Single Target Immobilize section. This is compounded by them having such a large radius and target cap, meaning they will draw more aggro than typical AoE powers. They can be fatal, particularly in the early levels, if used too early in a fight, or if teammates are not competing for aggro through aggro control powers or AoEs. Their utility doesn't really come to pass until later in the game when they can be enhanced properly, and teammates have more powers which work together with them.

• Salt Crystals, Flash Freeze, Mass Hypnosis, and Spore Burst are the AoE sleeps, which prevent affected targets from moving or attacking for a short time, or until they are damaged or healed. They are marginal powers, which are primarily useful solo or on poorly performing teams. They have average accuracy, medium durations and medium recharges. All of them except Salt Crystals are ranged AoE which make them handy for crisis situations. Suggested slotting is 2 - 4 additional slots, with 70 - 90% accuracy, 35 - 95% duration.
  
  Sleeps are useful when a team has aggroed more enemy groups than they can practically deal with, by shutting down one group, so the team can focus on others. This can happen when enemies are too close together, ambushes arrive, or teammates are just to careless. Additionally, if a group of enemies is a little too tough, a sleep at the beginning of the fight can just take the edge off. A solo Dominator who prefers single target damage can also use sleeps to very good effect. AVs have no special protection from sleep effects, which allows these powers to be used to very good effect in a handful of end-game content scenarios which involve multiple AV class enemies. While Domination is active they are able to put AVs to sleep in one hit, allowing groups of AVs to be put to sleep and giving the team the option to fight them one at a time.
  
  The majority of the time AoE sleeps are not terribly useful because teammates have a tendency to use AoE attacks which will wake the sleeping enemies up, and because the other controls are usually enough for a well-performing team.

• Cinders, Paralyzing Blast, Gravity Distortion Field, Glacier, Total Domination, and Vines are the AoE holds. They have long recharges, poor accuracy, and short durations. Unslotted they are poor powers, and with many slots they are passable and can be useful in bad situations. Due to short durations at lower levels, and lack of slots and good enhancements, it's not recommended to take the AoE holds before the mid-20s. Suggested slotting is 4 - 5 additional slots, with 70 - 90% accuracy, 35 - 95% duration, 35 - 95% recharge.
  
  One popular use for AoE holds is combining them with the STH to hold a boss quickly when Domination isn't available. In a rough situation, they can definitely turn the tide by locking down an enemy for a number of seconds. At high levels and with Domination and Power Boost they can achieve a remarkably long hold. When slotted with multi facet enhancements, they can reach 90% enhancement for recharge, accuracy, and duration, at which point they become respectable.
  
  Their long recharge means they will not be available for every spawn, relegating them to more of an emergency type of power. Their short duration and poor accuracy mean that they must be heavily slotted to actually be useful in emergencies.

• Animate Stone, Gremlins, Fire Imps, Singularity, Jack Frost, and Fly Trap are the pet powers. These powers summon pets which follow their summoner, attack any nearby enemies and can be attacked themselves. The pets remain until they are killed, the summoner dies, dismisses them, or recasts the summon power. Their damage is treated as coming from their summoner, and if they die their aggro will be transferred to the summoner. The pets have average accuracy, and can contribute nicely to damage (except Singularity) and survivability, although they do have a few AI problems. Suggested slotting is 3 - 4 additional slots, with 35 - 70% accuracy, and 95% damage except for Singularity, for whom hold duration slotting is suggested.
  
  The pets will move towards their summoner if they are more than 20ft away normally, or 100ft if the pet is engaged in combat. Pets will attack any enemy they perceive, normally within 40ft, although this can be increased with powers such as Tactics. They will perceive and attack invisible enemies within their perception radius. When an enemy becomes aware of a pet, they become aware of the summoner as well, so an errant pet is very capable of bringing unwanted aggro onto their summoner.
  
  The pets noticeably increase the Dominator's effectiveness, particularly when solo, and these powers are highly recommended. They all increase damage output, but by different amounts, and they all improve survivability, because they are capable of occupying one or more enemies. A stealthy Dominator can have their pet take the alpha strike, by running past a spawn, allowing the pet to be sighted first, although this can significantly reduce the life span of a pet.
  
  The pets are all aggressive, and prevent stealth type behaviour or quick travel when summoned. They all have behaviour quirks which reduce their effectiveness.
  

3. Primary Powers

All of the primary power sets are effective, with different strengths and weaknesses. By the mid 20s they can all be used to solo very effectively, with varying effectiveness in the earlier levels. After level 32 they can all contribute effectively to teams, although some struggle before this.

Earth Control and Mind Control provide the most AoE control. Earth Control has the greater number of AoE powers, including Earthquake which doesn't lose effectiveness against higher level enemies, while Mind Control has an AoE confuse, all of its AoEs are boosted by Domination, and both Mass Confusion and Mass Hypnosis do not cause aggro. Plant Control and Ice Control both provide decent AoE control from early levels, thanks primarily to Seeds of Confusion and Ice Slick respectively, with some support from other AoE powers. Electric Control provides decent AoE control, spread across all its power, hence improving progressively to level 32. Fire Control and Gravity Control provide poor AoE control and are only acceptable in the late 20s when powers can have proper slotting and Gravity gets Wormhole.

Mind Control provides the best single target control through all 50 levels, Gravity Control is second best, and the remaining sets are all about equal. However, Dominators are disadvantaged against the hardest targets, including most Archvillains, Heroes and Giant Monsters, who typically have very strong status protection. In these fights, Ice Control's slow effects, Electric Control's endurance drain effects and Earth Control's defense debuff effects become more useful. However, an exceptionally well slotted permadom can overcome this protection and even defeat such enemies alone. Mind Control and Fire Control are the best placed for such attempts because of their fast activating STH, although others can achieve it when paired with Earth Assault by using Seismic Smash and Power Boost.

Fire Control provides the most damage thanks to Fire Imps and Hot Feet, while Seeds of Confusion gives Plant Control a significant amount of indirect damage through its confuse effect. Electric Control can be quite damaging after level 26 if Synaptic Overload is used regularly, otherwise it's equivalent to Earth Control and Ice Control which have pets doing decent damage. Mind Control gets some indirect damage through confuse powers, but otherwise its damage is not notable, while Gravity Control's pet does more control than damage, and the set doesn't have any notable damage sources. In all cases the damage from the primary pales in comparison to the damage from the secondary set.

2. Domination

Domination is the inherent, a click power which significantly increases effectiveness for a short period, and defines the overall feeling of an archetype with bursts of power. Domination can't be activated until the Dominator has filled the Domination bar by attacking. When activated, Domination refills the endurance bar and for 90 seconds grants status effect protection and significantly increases the effects of the Dominator's control powers.

Attacks and targeted control powers all fill the Domination bar, at 3% per attack plus 0.5% for each nearby teammate and 5% more if the attack hits an enemy player. When the bar is 90% full Domination can be activated if it's recharged. The Domination bar empties slowly over time, and empties completely when Domination ends or if the Dominator is defeated. While Domination is active, the bar stays full. During Domination, control powers apply an additional layered status effect of longer duration, meaning they can affect harder targets more easily, notably most bosses are controlled in one hit, and will affect weaker targets for longer.

The biggest challenge of playing a Dominator is deciding when to use Domination. It needs to be available when things get really tough, but saving it too long reduces the Dominator's effectiveness overall. There's nothing more frustrating than encountering the final mission encounter with multiple bosses just as Domination drops. The Dominator must learn to predict upcoming fights, look ahead, determine if Domination will be needed soon, and if not, activate it immediately. Being familiar with the maps is very useful, knowing which rooms are particularly nasty and likely to result in multiple spawn aggros, and which ones are likely to hold a larger end-of-mission encounter. Leaving some enemies undefeated in empty rooms or dead-ends makes it possible to go back and build Domination if necessary. A Stalker or someone stealthy can also help by removing the guesswork of where the tough encounters are.

Even with Domination active the Dominator is still dependant on control for survival, and is still fragile in the face of uncontrolled enemies. For this reason, Domination must be activated pre-emptively in the face of a potentially bad situation. It's not an uncommon misfortune for a Dominator to fail to anticipate a problem, activate Domination too late, and be defeated shortly thereafter.

Domination's recharge is affected by global recharge buffs such as Hasten, Speed Boost, and Invention Origin enhancement set bonuses, making these buffs doubly desirable for Dominators. Furthermore, with sufficient global recharge, Domination can be made to recharge before its effect expires, and can be activated again, creating a state of "permadom". Because the Domination bar is kept full while Domination is active, it's not even necessary to attack to preserve the permadom state.

There are a few tricks to speed filling the Domination bar, which may be useful on occasion. The first is a long-standing bug which makes Mastermind henchmen count as teammates for bonus Domination building, and will speed the process if they are close by. The second may be considered a minor exploit, the sniper attacks add Domination when initially activated, but if the Dominator interrupts them by moving, they don't fire, won't aggro the target, and may be activated again immediately for another boost, but at a sizeable endurance cost. The third is simply activating the PBAoE attacks and getting a Domination boost without the necessity of nearby enemies.

1. Introduction

Welcome to the Dominator Powers Guide, a comprehensive guide to powers and power sets available to Dominators. Individual powers, as well as power sets, are discussed, compared and critiqued. Some power-specific strategies are also included. This guide is based primarily on my personal experience playing Dominators, and secondarily on discussions from the forums. Basic knowledge of the game and Dominators is assumed, although some terms are described in the glossary. I have tried to make it comprehensible for new player, and hope that many years of experience haven't prevented this.

For each primary and secondary power set I provide a list of essential and a list of disappointing powers. Essential powers are the most effective ones in the set, skipping them significantly reduces effectiveness. Disappointing powers are ones that are either useful only in rare circumstances, have limited effect, or are weaker than other available powers.

For each power I recommend characteristics for slotting, along with percentages for those characteristics. I do not address specific IO sets or set bonuses, since that is a much more individual decision. Currently, going for sets with global recharge bonuses is popular, because this increases the availability of Domination, and in sufficient quantity can allow Domination to recharge before it expires, achieving "permadom".

This guide is exclusively for the PvE game. In PvP the control durations and damage of each power is very different, as well as the playstyle required to fight players, so most of the conclusions drawn here do not apply to the PvP game. For these reasons, Dominator PvP really requires its own separate guide.

There are many other useful Dominator resources, including Waybreaker's Guide to Domination, detailed power data available in-game, and the Guide to Perma-Domination. There are also many guides that cover specific power set combinations, or even specific powers like Power Boost.

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Domination
• 3. Primary Powers
• 3.1. Shared Primary Powers
• 3.2. Earth Control
• 3.3. Electric Control
• 3.4. Fire Control
• 3.5. Gravity Control
• 3.6. Ice Control
• 3.7. Mind Control
• 3.8. Plant Control
• 4. Secondary Powers
• 4.1. Shared Secondary Powers
• 4.2. Earth Assault
• 4.3. Electricity Assault
• 4.4. Energy Assault
• 4.5. Fiery Assault
• 4.6. Icy Assault
• 4.7. Psionic Assault
• 4.8. Thorny Assault
• 5. Epic Powers
• 5.1. Shared Epic Powers
• 5.2. Fire Mastery
• 5.3. Ice Mastery
• 5.4. Primal Forces Mastery
• 5.5. Psychic Mastery
• 5.6. Leviathan Mastery
• 5.7. Mace Mastery
• 5.8. Mu Mastery
• 5.9. Soul Mastery
• 6. Pool Powers
• 6.1. Concealment
• 6.2. Fighting
• 6.3. Fitness
• 6.4. Flight
• 6.5. Leadership
• 6.6. Leaping
• 6.7. Medicine
• 6.8. Presence
• 6.9. Speed
• 6.10. Teleportation
• 7. Glossary

Hi everyone, I've posted the new version of my guide to the guides section, and done all the relevant linking. The following is a draft version which I'm not going to bother deleting.

The last revision was in issue 12, so I've had to make quite a few updates:

• I15 Dominator revamp which significantly changed all of the secondaries.
• Addition of Earth Assault and Electric Control.
• Addition of new patron powers.
• Addition of new ancillary pools.
• PvP revamp which invalidated most of what I said about PvP.

Enjoy!
Lili

Perhaps some of you remember me. It took me years, but I've finally hit level 50, with every available primary and secondary. (And with less than a week until a new set comes out!)

Fire/Icy
Mind/Fiery
Gravity/Thorny
Plant/Thorny
Earth/Psionic
Ice/Energy
FIre/Electricity
Plant/Earth

And with that, I'll be bringing out a new version of my powers guide pretty soon, all updated to I18, perhaps earlier now that the NDA is lifted.

This Wednesday I'd like to do a Master of Lady Grey Task Force attempt, if enough people are available. If not, we'll find something else to keep us occupied.

Ice/Earth can overpower the PToD. You need to build for reliable holds with long duration, and fast recharge. Focus on:

• Global Recharge, the more the better, I'd aim for 100%+ and Hasten.
• Well slotted Block of Ice - 95% recharge, 95% hold duration.
• Seismic Smash - 95% recharge, 95% damage, 95% hold duration if you can.
• Power Boost - 95% recharge
• Jack Frost - 95% damage, 95% hold duration if you can.

From your build, I would:

• Remove Lockdown and Devastation %Hold, and replace with hold duration enhancements, they just aren't reliable enough.
• Slot Stone Mallet, it's critical for your damage output.
• Consider Mace Mastery for the -Res power, and the chance to slot more LotG.
• Slot Glacier for maximum recharge and duration, and use it as a fill in for when Block of Ice misses.

Have fun

Any special requests for tonight? If not, I'll propose something when the time comes.

Last night we did the third respec trial, then split into two teams to do the Ice Mistral and Virgil Tarikoss Strike Forces, including a first timer for Virgil.

See you all next week.

This Wednesday 14th July will be a Lady Grey Task Force, possibly more even. Heroes can join, but may be mocked.

I won't be able to be on tonight for family reasons. I encourage people to organize something in my absence.

Oedipus Tex proved his supremacy and retained his grasp on the Red Star by prevailing over Plantatia and Sa'Kage in a 2 vs. 1 PvP match.

I expect they will only bounce back stronger, it is the way of SINISTER.

Next week SINISTER will be inaugurating two new leaders of Archvillain status. Celebrations will start with some PvP matches where I will defend the SINISTER throne. After that we'll head off to do something suitably celebratory as a group.

The +4 ITF went very nicely until the final battle, which proved somewhat difficult as people quit the team.

I determined the issue I was having sleeping the Nictii, the healing one will trigger its heal even when asleep, and that's what was waking them up (should have realized that immediately) which means I have to position myself so that I'm not in range of the healer, but am in range of one of the others. A little tricky since they like to all move to the same spot. Probably the easiest tactic is to use Rommi as the sleep target, and then pull the nictus away to fight instead.

So, I've unlocked Viridian, and will be ready to get started on his arc at 20:30. This arc is a lot of fun with plenty of AVs and a unique Grandville map in the finale.

All levels of villain are welcome to join, I'll just adjust difficulty level as necessary.

No worries, we're around every Wednesday if you ever want to join in.

Sounds fun! I would bring Oedipus Tex, Mind/Fiery Dominator, and quite adept at sleeping multiple AVs to make the final fight that much easier. I'll confirm again later in the week.

Veluta Lunata? *Twitches at horrible memories of fighting hordes of ghosts*

Enigmatic indeed. We are on Justice, and 20:30 Aussie East is 6:30 US Eastern time, which is 5:30 US Central if I'm not mistaken, stretching the definition of "all hours of the night" to it's logical conclusion "way too bloody early in the morning."

And damn, I've gotta get me one of those cards too!

Welcome Madam Enigma, I take it you will join us next week, although your motives are enigmatic.

Ricktu's right, our opponents didn't have a chance during the Silver Mantis. The only reason I didn't push the difficulty up was because it was late when we got started.

For next week, I'm going to set up the Viridian story arc, non SF mode so we can add people as we go along. For those who don't know, Viridian is an unlockable contact in the 45-50 range with a cool story arc involving lots of AVs and intrigue. Since there's the team max size of 8 feel free to register your interest now, and make sure you're on time if you do, 20:30 Aussie Eastern time.

A first respec trial and a Silver Mantis SF kept us entertained last night. The respec trial was a little slow, but the Silver Mantis rolled nicely, smashing pretty much everything in sight.