Mr_Grumpums

Flash is a power that I rarely use solo on my Ill/Rad, but I use it at least once a mission on teams. I sort of use it like it's another debuff that reduces enemy damage rather than a hold, since it leaves tends to leave only the more dangerous enemies up and kicking while the minions have a short uninterrupted nap time.

Simply put, there are more ways to make a controller who CANNOT solo well than there are to make a controller who CAN. These are characters who trade attacks for support, debuffs, buffs, and various forms of control.

Ice/Them will be one of those controllers that won't be able to solo well. There just isn't enough damage in the Ice Control Primary, though it makes for an excellent team character.

Therm is the same way. It's got a lot of useful powers, especially towards the end when you get your debuffs, but most of your buffs will be useless solo until you pick up your pet.

That being said, teams that lack in terms of offensive or tanking power will love to have an Ice/Therm around for the soft control, debuffs, buffs, and heals.

Earth/Earth will have much more control, but tends to suffer from a lack of endurance for their giant holds. Its damage is primarily Single Target, as well. Rocky the Earch Control Pet is a tanker, essentially.

Elec/Elec possesses big piles of AoE melee damage, saps endurance from enemies, and can use Conductive Field to restore your own endurance while in melee range. Its Gremlins use Jolting Chain, making them useful for control as well as defense.

I've seen a lot of Gravity/Energy doms, and I can safely say that the knockback from Power Push and other powers can act like another ST hold, or even two if you're quick about it. That being said, it will also knock enemies out of their lockdown in Wormhole unless you're extremely careful.

Personally, I'd suggest either Fire, Elec, or Ice as secondaries for Gravity. Fiery and Electric Assault will add AoE damage so that you can kill groups clustered together by Wormholes all the faster. A Gravity/Ice Dominator would have less overall offensive power, but retain Power Boost, which is makes life much, much easier for a Dom.

My Fire/Elec Dominator has teamed often, in duos or trios, with a Gravity/Fire and a Gravity/Ice Dom. Between the two, I'd say that the Grav/Fire had an easier time, overall. The I18 changes have enabled them both to dramatically improve their performance (with changes in Epics allowing the /Fire to gain more damage and the /Ice to gain both damage and control), but the both of them still aren't "monster" doms, and benefit strongly from teaming with other dominators who can bring both more damage and added control.

Rolled a new dom yesterday to celebrate my purchase of Going Rogue. It was Elec/Fire, and I knew little about Electric Control when I made it. For the first 11 levels or so, I mostly thought, "Well these powers are look cool together with the Omega Aura, but I'm not seeing anything worth being excited." Jolting Chain was neat, but that Conductive Aura wasn't doing much to keep my character alive and the Immobilizes weren't worth picking yet because I didn't have any reason to hold the enemies down and lose the knockback from Jolting Chain.

Then I hit level 12.

I was told my my friend on skype about three minutes later that if I wanted to keep cackling, I should mute my speaker.

If you're asking whether there's a more POPULAR secondary to go with Earth Control, a lot of people would probably say that Fiery Assault is the way to go. Earth Control has amazing AoE control in multiple forms, and pairing it with the secondary that has the highest AoE damage makes for a very solid Dominator.

Earth/Earth is great, though. The added Stun and Knockback works very well with Earth Control, and Seismic Smash has a Hold built in, meaning that your strongest attack is also a means of holding boss enemies and higher without even using Domination. Basically, everything gets turned into a statue, and you're the one with the big hammer. I once popped Domination on my Earth/Earth and held three groups at once during a SF that went spectacularly wrong with Stalagmites, Earthquake, and Volcanic Gasses. In teams with brutes, however, I tend to let them duke it out and focus on the primary, only occasionally using Seismic Smash, Fissure, and Stone Spears (to stop runners).

So I'm considering making a Dom to celebrate my purchase of Going Rogue, and I've narrowed them down to two after, uh, writing this thread over and over.

I'm thinking HARD about Electric Control, but I don't know how well it would play at high levels. It seems sort of like Fire Control, only with knockback and a confuse instead of a stun and Bonfire. IS it that offense-heavy? Also, how does the Aura hold up?

Gravity has always appealed to me from a concept standpoint, since you can hurl someone into the air with Lift and then fry them before they hit the ground. Also, the pet looks awesome. I've always been put off by how long it takes to get Wormhole, however, and I don't know what powers are worth taking in the set, aside from Wormhole, Singularity, The ST Hold, and maybe either the ST or AoE Immobilize to keep enemies from running after they're stunned by wormhole.

Fiery Assault is definitely my choice for primary, because the thought of the newly available controller Epics with Fiery Embrace makes me drool. I've never made a /Fire dominator, either. Before picking the AoEs on my Fire/Elec Dom, I had this stupid idea that they should only be ST damage. Boy was I wrong on that front. :P

It's been a while since I've run a Dominator, and my choices were very different: An Earth/Earth Dom that uses AoE control and stomps into the fight next to his pet, and a Fire/Elec Dom which can attack at any range while the imps work their magic.

Both ARE very offense-oriented Dominators because, let's be honest, if I'm going to make a Dom, I want it to be able to lay down the pain. It's the reason why they're so fun to play!

Alright. Thanks much for the info. I've gotten the SS/Fire brute up to lv 8, and he's...Well he's a fire brute, so he's squishy and needs his second armor toggle. Pushing off getting a travel power until the 20s will get me Tough, which will help, also.

Really the title says it all. I'm trying out BOTH at the moment, and I'm currently leaning towards SS/Fire because it's a bit stronger in the lower levels, though lacking in resistance.

I plan on dabbling in PvP with this character, as well as farming. As far as I can TELL, they're relatively equal, with SS/Elec having a slight advantage in recharge and resistance, and fire having an advantage in terms of heals and damage.

Which one would YOU choose?

I enjoy my Claws/Elec Brute a whole lot on TFs. He's tough enough to go toe to toe with EBs and AVs, he only runs out of endurance when I use the Tier 9, and he cuts through mobs like an chainsaw.

I have a friend with a SS/Fire Brute who runs TFs with me pretty often, and his damage is VERY impressive. He just about has Healing Flames on auto, but he rarely get killed. Between the two of us and our friend the Fire/Kin, we've killed SF in the game that doesn't require GR, since I haven't bought it yet.

I personally love my Fire/Kin Corr. Sure, it isn't FoTM anymore, but it's an excellent buffing toon with incredible damage. Some of the most fun I've had in the game is teaming with 7 brutes and my Fire/Kin. It turns into a bloody insane massacre. Speed Boost them all, use Siphon Speed, zip in after they draw aggro to use Fulcrum Shift, Heal, throw an attack or two, and then you're onto the next big group.

Solo, it lacks damage mitigation, but I've still been able to take out the occasional EB without help.

My Fire/MM would make for a fun Blapper. As it is, going into melee is part of what he DOES, since he needs to get close to use Drain Psyche and Psychic Shockwave. It wouldn't be the same as, say, a Sonic/EM Blapper who can put a whole mob to sleep at will and then destroy them one by one with /EM melee attacks, but for an AoE spammer, I think it'd be fun.

I'll go ahead and post my current planned powers. As stated previously, this character is level 38. My biggest problem is a lack of knowledge on which IO sets can reduce recharge time, and where I can place them.

+----------------------------------------------------------------
+ Built with SuckerPunch's Online Planner v5.0
+ http://planner.cohtitan.com/planner
+----------------------------------------------------------------
Archetype: Dominator
Primary: Fire Control
Secondary: Electricity Manipulation
+----------------------------------------------------------------

01: Char => Empty(1)
01: Charged Bolts => Empty(1)
02: Fire Cages => Empty(2)
04: Lightning Bolt => Empty(4)
06: Hasten => Empty(6)
08: Hurdle => Empty(8)
10: Havoc Punch => Empty(10)
12: Flashfire => Empty(12)
14: Super Speed => Empty(14)
16: Health => Empty(16)
18: Cinders => Empty(18)
20: Stamina => Empty(20)
22: Build Up => Empty(22)
24: Combat Jumping => Empty(24)
26: Super Jump => Empty(26)
28: Static Discharge => Empty(28)
30: Stealth => Empty(30)
32: Fire Imps => Empty(32)
35: Thunder Strike => Empty(35)
38: Charged Brawl => Empty(38)
41: Charged Armor => Empty(41)
44: Ball Lightning => Empty(44)
47: Surge of Power => Empty(47)
49: Power Sink => Empty(49)

+----------------------------------------------------------------
+ Inherent Powers
+----------------------------------------------------------------

01: Brawl => Empty(1)
01: Sprint => Empty(1)
02: Rest => Empty(2)

Yes, I did deliberately leave out Hot Feet. I did so because I felt that I had plenty of damage with the Electric Secondary. Also, this build spends plenty of time at range, where Hot Feet will be nothing but a purposeless toggle. My Fire/Rad Controller uses the heck out of this power, but I didn't see it as essential for my Fire/Elec Dom.

If you have money to burn, go for a Fiery Melee or Electric Melee Primary and the Shield Defense Secondary. Softcap its defense. You'll have one of the best tanking brutes in the game, plus great damage. Shield Defense has a power called Against All Odds that functions as a taunt aura, and it draws in a big pile of aggro. Combined with Shield Charge, your melee attacks, and Taunt, you'll find yourself drawing enemy fire like no one's business. Also, A softcapped Shield Defense Brute has added resistance and health that a Super Reflexes Brute won't have.

I like pairing Fiery Melee and Electric Melee with Shield for different reasons. Fiery Melee has the top ST damage, and having Shield Charge makes up for it's slight lack of AoE. Electrical Melee has plenty of AoE, and Shield Charge brings it to an obscene level. You have Both Lightning Rod and Shield Charge to play with, and can use Thunder Strike and Chain Lightning while your big booms recharge and never have to make a single ST attack.

Willpower is a GREAT set for people who solo, and it doesn't require much in the way of money to make a great build. It's biggest issue for a TANKING brute is that it has a weak taunt aura. Pairing it with Super Strength or Claws will make a well rounded character with loads of damage and survivability, but just about any primary works well with it. Oh, and it lacks a heal.

Invulnerability is the best Resistance set, and is another good choice for people who want to play a tanking Brute. I don't know off the top of my head how good Invincibility is as a Taunt Aura compared to others, but I've seen Invulnerability brutes pull off some amazing stuff. It works well with just about any Primary, like Willpower.

I just got my Fire/Elec dominator to lv 38, and I can safely say that it's the most fun combination of power sets in this archetype I've played.

Of course, the problem is that it's going to be lacking in the control department unless I can make it Permadom.

I don't have Mids to help me, since I'm on a mac and haven't got a copy of Windows 7 in my budget just now. Is there anyone who has any suggestions about turning this fun build into a permadom monster?

Reset router (Direct Satellite, I think), and flushed dns cache. Not been able to log in since I first attempted at around 9:15. Currently 10:45.

So I currently have the following brutes at either lv 50, or so close that it shouldn't much matter:

- SS/SR
- SS/WP
- SS/Fire
- Claws/Elec
- Stone/WP

I tend to prefer brutes with heavy damage attacks or AoEs that they can use to start fights off with a bang (Footstomp, Fault, Spin, Shield Bash, Lightning Rod). I also like being able to at least 1v1 in PvP against another brute and not walk away weeping like a schoolgirl who's pet goldfish just died.

Any suggestions? I'm kind of thinking about another Elec/Shield. I had one at lv 50, but it kind of got deleted due to an argument. Also, I have no idea how Elec melee or Shield work in PvP.

Ugh. I thought this thread would have something useful in it, but it's just people arguing about math.

No hover blasting? How about Combat Jumping? That additional defense doesn't look like much, but it'll save you millions in influence trying to match it with IO bonuses.