Miladys_Knight

Actually, if you have access to a super group base that has an empowerment station, you can craft a temp Knockback protection empowerment that lasts for an hour with just some invention salvage. It's cheap and you can renew it every hour until you are done with your gaming session. Iirc its mag 10 protection so it handles most Knock back the game throws at you.

You can sometimes find them in the market.

Death from Below trial (sewers) have some SOs as drops.

You can usually get some level 20-25 SOs as drops from the zombies in Dark Astoria that are in that level range (magic Origin only).

If you want to get them from a vendor they are only available at level 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50. You can buy them at levels that are not increments of 5 with Tickets from the Ticket Vendor in AE. They start at level 25 and can be bought from the time you hit level 22 (they are offered at your level +3).

You can also run missions in Faultline and unlock Mr. Yin. He sells Yin O's that have SO level of performance. Be aware that Yin O's have origin requirements (each origin can only slot one type of Yin O)

Mind/Energy/Primal is a thing of beauty and I'd happily post a build for you. A Power boosted Perma Dom is a real contender on TFs the only caveat is that on a TF Knock back can often be annoying to other players especially if it is uncontrolled or if you tend to run Pick up Groups (you would be the Chaos Queen of Knock Back with a Mind/Energy/Primal). If it's a regular team or a bunch of folks from your Super Group or Coalition then it should be fine once you get used to them and they to you

May I ask what your goal with this toon is or what use(s) you intend to put it to?

Are you choosing Mind/Psi for thematic reasons? There are better secondary options if theme is not a concern.

Is theme the reason for your choice of Epic powers? I don't understand skipping a single target, melee range, Knock Back causing attack, and then picking up an Epic pool that is mass Knock Back.

Is theme the reason that you want all the powers from Mind? Levitate isn't particularly useful for a Dominator since your secondary power set is all attacks. Telekinesis isn't really needed either since you have a single target hold and an Area of Effect hold and you appear to be avoiding Knock effects.

Apples and Oranges. The comparison is not a valid one. I can make Apples look sickly sweet by making the Orange the base we compare to or Oranges sour if Apples are the base. You are comparing a melee-centric primary to a range-centric primary.

I'm not calling it a "strong set" per se (though I believe that when used properly it can be) and I believe that it is much stronger than most of the posters here that call it a weak set realize. What I am calling it a useful and unique set that requires a different play style. If you take and use all the powers and layer your mitigation it's not hard to solo at +0/x4 on SOs at level 22. You'll need to use all the tools that are available to you, like inspirations, and Aid self can be particularly useful for reducing down time between spawns.

If I were to make a recommendation of any kind to the devs it would be to look at sleep powers in general across all ATs and power sets.

Um. Apples and Oranges again. It's hard to compare the usefulness of things that have few similarities. If most every one wants sweet does that mean that citrus is "bad food"?

I've played Ice in several different power combinations. If you use all the tools and layer the mitigation it is quite good. You can easily finish off a +0/4x spawn solo before your green bar empties out on SOs only.

No it doesn't compare to electric in that respect (the other melee-centric primary) as I can easily handle a +0/x6 spawn on SOs using only single target attacks. Once their endurance is gone all I have to do is make sure I keep my single target hold on the most troublesome target(s) and just plink away in relative safety.

I agree with all that but I just can't stand Psi. Too many icky things.

• Mob types that resist Psi damage often have high resists to psi damage.
• Psi Tornado is the only option in the primary for ranged AoE damage.
• Slow projectile speeds.

It's not hard to get enough recharge to make Archery worth while and a recharge + range build is much cheaper in terms of influence costs to complete than a defense based build.

I also tend to give up set bonuses in Fistfull of Arrows and Frankenslot it to maximize as many aspects as possible while maximizing range (I have mine slotted in such a way that it is 75' before applying Boost Range)

Fistfull's endurance costs are also low enough that I can almost justify using it against a single target and consider any other targets hit a bonus.

My own Arch/Energy has enough recharge that I can, Boost Range>Aim>Build up>RoA>Explosive>Fistfull>then throw a couple of single target attacks in depending on target health>Fistfull, and have not much left to clean up of the spawn.

By the time I'm ready for the next spawn RoA usually is too.

I like that combination the best. It has the largest amount of bases covered for my particular play style.

Actually blasters are "best" played as a mixture of range and melee and the sales brochure is several issues out of date.

If you looked carefully at the game even a few issues ago you could tell that the original dev design was based around players taking ALL primary and secondary powers and a travel pool. Blasters are still very broken when using that model for comparison as it is possible with just SO slotting to have powers that you never use simply because a better power is recharged and available to use.

It was far worse I7ish as I recall, AR and Arch had much longer animation times across the power set. You could easily rely on 4-5 powers total and have the others just sit in your tray. I would have gone with a toggle heavy build at that time because of that except that endurance costs were much higher and mez still detoggled ALL of your toggles.

This with these caveats:

AR lacks a tier 3 heavy hitter AND lacks Aim. It also pays for the extra range in the tier 1 and 2 attacks by having every thing else except Full Auto and M30 grenade at less than 80 feet base range. You can't really put together a smooth attack chain and expect to stay at maximum range.

Elec also lacks a tier 3 heavy hitter and Sparky is less than magnificent.

Energy is also good but the tier 3 is short range and has a long animation time.

The one that I favor and believe is the best all around option for a pure range build (and Arcanaville didn't mention):

Archery

• The tier 1, 2 and 3 attacks are all base range 80.
• The animation times and recharges are fast all across the set (ie: there aren't any real outliers compared to the rest of the set)
• The set has Aim.
• If you include the snipe you can slot 4 sets of Thunderstrikes
• The tier 9 is a range 90 Non targetted AoE that has a radius of 25 feet and a target cap of 16 (instead of AR's 10). That allows you to hit targets as far away as 115 feet before adding any range slotting or boosting the range.

[Inigo Montoya]
You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.
[/Inigo]

You may have the OPINION that 2+2 = 5. That doesn't make it a fact, it's not based in fact, and it certainly isn't factual (ie: right - as in the opposite of wrong)

From Websters dictionary:

Definition of OPINION
1 a : a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter b : approval, esteem
2 a : belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge

Definition of FACT
1 : a thing done: as a obsolete : feat b : crime <accessory after the fact> c archaic : action
2 archaic : performance, doing
3 : the quality of being actual : actuality <a question of fact hinges on evidence>
4 a : something that has actual existence <space exploration is now a fact> b : an actual occurrence <prove the fact of damage>
5 : a piece of information presented as having objective reality
— in fact
: in truth

Definition of IDIOT
1 usually offensive : a person affected with extreme mental retardation
2 : a foolish or stupid person

This is a term I usually reserve for describing some folks who don't know the difference between facts and opinion.....

just sayin'

It's neither sarcastic nor rhetorical. The only time I eat a huge alpha when I open with range enhanced Flash Freeze is the rare occasion when I misjudge my distance to the nearest mob.

There are mobs that are immune to sleep and mobs that are immune to knock effects those give me trouble but all power sets have some sort of weak spot in them.

Have you tried? Copied over to test and added some range slotting to Flash Freeze and then being patient enough to let your mitigation develop?

My wife reads the forums over my shoulders on occasion (she has a forum account but I think she's posted with it a total of 5 times in the last 5 years) she's been reading this thread and shaking her head because the very thing you say doesn't work is how we've been duoing +0/x6 missions with our level 30ish SO/frankenslotted toons. My Ice/Earth Dom and her DB/Regen scrapper.

I lead off with range enhanced Flash Freeze, move into Shiver range and use that, Block of Ice a lieutenant, move into close range and wait for purple bubbles to appear and drop Ice Slick on the spawn.

She jumps in when she sees the purple bubbles start or she picks up any bosses in the spawn when Domination is down (because they'll close because they aren't slept with a mag 3 sleep).

You all are going to make me break down and buy demoedit software and learn how to use it just so I can post a demo aren't you?

Edit - Also why on Earth would you actively select an Incarnate Interface you know will break sleep if you are using a sleep as an opener?

What argument would you use? Why is a survival buff for the least survivable class a bad argument? Who is supposed to benefit the most from team buffs? The Stone Tank?

Also you do realize that WITHOUT accolades and just frankenslotting cheap sets you can make Hoarfrost a pointless power for the blaster at level 41.

I completely agree here.

There is no rhyme or reason to the sleep powers in the game and they are a frequently skipped power and have been since release. Flash Freeze notifies, does damage, and has a base range of 60. Spore Burst notifies, does not do damage, and has a base range of 70. Mass Hypnosis does not notify, does no damage, and has a base range of 80.

If you want to look further at the wackiness that are sleep powers in this game....

Mass Hypnosis has a base recharge of 45 seconds and a base duration of 17.88 seconds and range 80 and does not damage.
Salt Crystals has a base recharge of 90 seconds and a base duration of 14.9 seconds and is a PBAoE and does no damage.
Blaster Sirens Song has a base recharge of 20 seconds and a base duration of 35.76 seconds and range 40 and does damage.
Defender Sirens Song has a base recharge of 20 seconds and a base duration of 44.7 seconds and range 40 and does damage.
Blaster Frozen Aura is a mag 2 PBAoE sleep with a base recharge of 20 seconds and a base duration of 23.84 seconds a 10 foot radius and does no damage.
Tanker Frozen Aura is a mag 2 PBAoE sleep with a base recharge of 20 seconds and a base duration of 11.9 seconds a 10 foot radius and does considerable damage (base 63.17)

There are many more but sleeps in the game are all over the map.

Sleep sets enhance duration and are very very light on recharge. The way that all sleeps but Static Field (Static Field was released after the sleep sets though) works this is entirely backwards from what you would expect. A single point of damage or healing, or a slight repositioning of a mob will make it instantly awake and attacking with out penalty of any kind. Making the enhancement of duration moot. Focusing sets on duration rather than recharge is the exact opposite of what would be logical.

The reason that sleeps have damage in them was revealed to us by Castle in the closed Beta Test that included the revamp of Tanker Frozen Aura (and this make no sense either but bear with me). We were told that being able to stack sleep mag was too powerful and that having enough damage to wake the mobs would still put the player in jeopardy, which was the intent. When I pointed out that some sleeps didn't have a damage component he didn't reply and just kept on doing what he was doing.

If they really wanted to fix this (the "Mass Hypnosis" slotted with "Induced Coma" and "owie I got a sliver but now I'm wide awake and not groggy at all" conundrum) add a -35% recharge debuff (unenhanceable) and a 20% to hit debuff (enhanceable) [and both debuffs should account for AT modifiers] to the first 1/4 of the sleep duration. That way if the sleep is broken 1 second after it is applied it still has a some value.

There are lots of power sets that don't have a lynchpin power and rely on layered buffs or debuffs. When the RNG is normal or kind these type of power sets are nearly unstoppable, When the RNG is unkind it gets ugly quickly. So this is nothing new either.

Well that's the nature of having a buff/debuff secondary as opposed to an assault secondary.

As an example Trick Arrow under performs as a defender primary but is nearly over powered as a controller secondary.

I understand where you are going but the game has lots of examples of proper slotting transforming a power. 5% defense is virtually nothing if you have 0 to start with but another 5% defense when you have 40% transforms you into a minor deity. Perma PA, Perma hasten, Perma Dom are all examples (and there are more) of slotting (not all cases are due to IOs either, there are some things that transform with 6 slotted SOs) transforming a power.


I have to agree here too but again there are a plethora of powers and abilities that are this way. There are lots of powers in Force Fields, Sonic Resonance, Empathy, Pain Domination, Cold Domination, and Thermal Radiation that are nothing but set mules if you are solo. The HEAT and Defender inherent powers are also in this category.

You and I are both having a hard time getting our analogies typed out the way we mean them. My wife told me to try the example that comes up when we talk about her brother in law. (My wife is the sarcastic one in our family so "SNARK WARNING").

She said that asking the devs to change Flash Freeze to stop Alphas when you can do it yourself by slotting range is like being 40 years old and having your mom cut your meat for you at the dinner table. You shouldn't really expect it unless you only have one hand (like her sister's husband).

Since, of all the ATs in the game, the one that is still defeated the most frequently is the blaster, the answer is no, it wouldn't be unbalanced. Buffing stalkers before buffing blasters might be unbalanced. Which is why some of us are responding to this thread.