How Not to Suck V1.0: A Guide to Domination.

Waybreaker · 12-19-2005 06:15 PM

How Not to Suck V1.0: An Unnesscarily Indepth Guide to Domination.
- Waybreaker ( Phasma Ara / Infinity )

Table of Contents:
1. Overview
2. Why Does my Dominator Suck?
3. The Care and Feeding of Dominators
4. Trying not to Suck
5. Stealth: The Art of Sneaky [censored] Exping
6. 32+ or Holy )&*@ I have a pet!
7. Pool Powers
8. Final Thoughts

1. Overview

I wrote this guide in part because I'm tired of seeing two things on the Dominator forum: Complaints about Dominators sucking and some people giving new players bad advice about how to build and play their Doms they're bound to fail miserable. Then come back and post yet more complaints about Dominators sucking. So, listen up. Here we go.

The Dominator is a tricky beast. But, frankly, one of the most versatile AT's available. A jack of all trades. A Dominator has the capability to address practically any situation. You have Control. You have ranged attacks. You have melee attacks. You'll end up with a pet. You have a happy button that will allow you to challenge situations you couldn't normally tackle. However, it's being proven time and time again that the AT isn't for everyone. Many have and will try the Dominator. A fair number of those who do will give up on the AT. Either due to it simply not being their playstyle or simply not being able to get a handle on how to use the AT. Dominators have a good number of pitfalls a player can fall into and end up fubaring themselves. This is true with all of CoH / CoV's support ATs. In some ways thats kind of a shame. But in other ways it does make you feel all special and tingly if you do get it right.

The purpose of this guide is, rather bluntly, to show you how not to suck with a Dominator. How to avoid the common pitfalls associated with the AT and how to get to high level without putting your fist through your monitor. Don't worry if you couldn't really get a Dominator going on your first attempts. Much like Controllers they don't lend themselves well to being the first choice of newer players. Every powerset definately isn't equal either. Like our Controller cousins, you really need some game experience and / or forum research to know how to drive one to best of it's abilities. But enough rambling. Let's begin.

2. Why Does my Dominator Suck?

An unfortunately common complaint: My Dominator blows! But why is that? There are several reasons actually. We'll cover them point by point and I imagine most people's issue fits into one of the following categories:

Potential Suckfest #1: Dealing with Active Defence

If you've never played a Blaster before the concept of Active Defence will be new to you. Not new in a "Wow, what is that?" kind of way. But new in a "Jeebus, what the hell is that sharp pain in my rectum?" kind of way. Only two ATs in the entire game rely on Active Defence. The Blaster and the Dominator. Active Defence means you must specifically address every threat to your toon at any given moment with an active power. Every other AT in the game has a method of generating passive defence. Whether through armours / defensive toggles, anchored debuffs, pbaoe debuffs, a private army of pets, etc etc. These are all methods of defending yourself and increasing your survivability that require little to no further input from the player after being "flipped on". They are constant abilities that aren't typically hampered by durations of effect.

Blasters and Dominators are different. They must specifically address each threat, each mob, with an active power to defend themselves. With Blasters their best defence is a great offence. With Dominators, or defence is Control. We must use an active power on every threat to our person. Every mob needs to be targetted directly or indirected. Every mob needs to be addressed with a Hold, Disorient, Sleep, Confuse, Knockdown, etc. After which each mob, if still alive, will have to be re-addressed before the duration of Control expires. If we fail to do that, we die. Death on a Dominator is the result of you, the player, losing control of the situation around you. You've either missed a mob, failed to notice a mob, let a mob get a loose or been surprised by a mob. Your first and only level of defence is suddenly forfeit. There's no armour, toggle, debuff, anchor or anything to that effect left to save you. Unlike our Controller cousins who possess a Defender set loaded with any number of buffs, debuffs, heals, toggles and so on that can increase their surviability.

Ironcially, a Blaster coming over from CoH will probably have the best playstyle mindset to deal with a Dominator. Rather then a Controller. Who's life is actually much safer.

Potential Suckfest #2: Poor Power Choices

There are some suck powers in every Controller set. They won't cripple you or anything but they may prevent you from choosing better options. There's also some powers that in all frank honesty, just aren't of much use to us. Lastly, there are powers which ARE good but not until later on in the game when SO's, slots and Stamina are available. Controllers have already been using our primaries for over a year. Our best point of reference for which powers are good and which are passable is the Controller community. If you're unsure about a particular power you should read the associated Controller guide before bothering to ask on the Dominator forums. The Dominator community is a bit on the small side and our population is a bit on the low side. Not to mention half the advice given there is completely horrible. Whereas Controllers, as I said, have already been using these powers for a year. They've already debated all these powers to death. Read the advice of those that came before us. Even if they are filthy heroes.

I'll go more into specifics about power choices in the next chapter.

Potential Suckfest #3: Poor Slotting

Probably one of the most critical failures. To put it bluntly: 90% of our primary powers suck out of the box. They need slots. They need enhancements. Your core control powers WILL need 5-6 slots. Single target control can get away with 5 slots. AoE control NEEDS 6 slots. Your secondary, Assault, can maintain a solid amount of effectiveness using 4 slots for single target powers and 4-6 for Cone / AoE powers depending on the power and your perference about it.

Once again, I'll go into specifics next chapter.

Potential Suckfest #4: My damage sucks!

Honestly, it really doesn't. With proper slotting our damage is perfectly fine. We also have a snowball's chance in Hell of ever seeing any sort of significant boost in damage. So you'll have to get over it or go play a Corruptor. We're a support AT. We do deal a good amount of damage but we're not going to topple high damage ATs. Nor should we. If you really feel you aren't doing enough damage then pick Energy or Fire as a secondary. Both are heavy hitting and Fire has it's own inbuilt damage buff. Either that or wait for your pet. Most of our pets can contribute a significant and even surprising amount of damage.

Potential Suckfest #5: Not all Dominators are created equal.

Finally, and sadly, not all sets make a good Dominator. Simple as that. If you're looking for uber damage, Psi Assault probably isn't the way to go. If you're looking for control, chances are you shouldn't click on Gravity. Yes, it's unfair, but thats the way things are. Once again I refer you to the Controller community if you really want to know how a set stacks up. However, I will, bluntly, advise you to steer clear of Gravity. I know some of you love it and some of you will disagree with me. Even I love the graphics for it. But the painful truth is it doesn't make a good Dominator set. Even as a Controller set it's needed love for a long time. It's long animation times, few soft control options and a pet which isn't going to provide you with that which you'll likely be lusting for ( More damage ), you may as well save yourself the frustration.

Lastly, if you're truely unsure which set is going to do it for you in the long run, I suggest Plant Domination. Plant is the only primary that was specifically designed for our AT. Thus it's built for us and contains all the tools the devs felt Dominators needed. You can't really go wrong with it.

3. The Care and Feeding of Dominators

Building a Dominator doesn't have to be rocket science. But it does take some knowledge of the game and some trial and error. Chances are by the time you hit 24 you'll have something you want to respec out of now that you've had a good test run with it. Heck, you'll likely feel the same by 34 as well. 1-24 is more forgiving then 24+ and will serve as a good test drive for you to see what works, what doesn't work and which powers you picked just don't suit you. Or outright suck. All that being said there is a core Unholy Trinity of powers every Dominator should try and have. The minimum required to effective. These are a Single Target Hold, AoE Hold and some form of AoE or Cone Soft Control. You should try and have one of each of these by level 18-20. 26 with Ice. Having these 3, and having them well slotted, will be your core tools and the key to having a decent Dominator at higher levels. Which powers fit in each of the 3 differ from set to set. But should be pretty evident by glancing at your list of powers. Still, I'll elaborate:

Single Target Hold ( Take it as soon as it's available. Typically at level 1 or 2. )
( 5-6 Slots. Acc / Hold / Hold / Hold / Recharge. Throw in one more Recharge in the 6th slot if you want. But you can get by on 5. )

Your single target hold is the most important ability you have. Being a Dominator means your AoE control will take a lot of time to mature. Whereas your single target control is adequate from the get go. As a Dominator you'll end up doing a lot of single targetting and holding cycles as you lock down mobs one by one. The duration of your single target hold and the speed that it recycles will dictate how many mobs you can keep locked down at any given moment. Which is what you want. Typically you'll be saving your AoE control as an opener on larger packs of mobs. It's not worth using on smaller groups of 2-4 ( Depending on your level ). You can easily get them wrapped up once your single target hold has matured. You'll also need it for the mobs that you miss here and there with AoE control. Finally, when in doubt, you can use an AoE control to give you time to single target control some or all of the mobs. An ideal use of Aoe Control is to take the minions out of the fight and give you time to single target Hold the LTs and Bosses which will shrug Aoe Control off much faster.

AoE Hold ( I'd take it as soon as it's available. Typically at 18 on most sets. So you have plenty of time to give it some slots before SO's )
( 6 Slots. Acc / Acc / Hold / Hold / Hold / Recharge )

Recharge times are abysmal on Aoe Holds but duration and accuracy are more important. AoE control has suck and all for accuracy. You'll need 2 Acc SO's in it in the long run, to make sure you get everything. Frankly, your AoE hold will not be much use outside of Domination until after you get SO's at 22. But once fully slotted it DOES hold mobs for a significant amount of time and will make an impact on a fight in solo or team situations. It may not be uber but it is a good tool and you should get it as soon as it's available to give you plenty of time to get slots into it. Putting it off to later levels will leave you scrambling for slots and deprive you of a powerful tool till later in your career.

AoE Soft Control ( Take at least one as soon as it becomes available. Usually around 8-12 with most sets. )
( 6 Slots. Acc / Acc / CC Enc / CC Enc / CC Enc / Recharge )

Having some method of AoE or Cone soft control is ideal. By soft control I mean a disorient, fear, confuse, knockdown and what not. Ice also has a Cone recharge/speed debuff that can fill in ( Shiver ). AoE and Cone soft control recharges faster then AoE holds. In the long run you can likely look forward to having it up at the very least every other fight. If not every fight. On normal spawns, after SO's, you should be able to stagger between your AoE Soft Control and AoE Holds so you have at least 1-2 AoE control powers for every big spawn. Depending on your set.

Note that some sets have more then one method of AoE / Cone soft control. Mind and Ice are stuffed full of it, for instance. You don't HAVE to 6 slot every one of them. But you should have one favourite picked out and 6 slotted to use as your primary soft control tool. Although, honestly, there's little sense in choosing multiple forms of aoe / cone soft control if you don't intend to give them some slots. Not many are good right out of the box.

A small warning about AoE Sleeps: These can be quite effective solo but you may need to give your team a heads up that you're using it so they don't utterly negate it in the first 3 seconds of the fight.

AoE / Cone Soft Control is specifically:

Fire:
Flashfire. ( Recommended )
Bonfire ( Though it's rarely ideal for any situation and I wouldn't recommend it. )

Ice:
Ice Slick. ( Highly recommended )
Artic Air. ( I wouldn't try running it till it has some End reducers and / or Stamina behind it )
Flash Freeze ( Kinda weak for a level 18 power, but decent enough. )
Shiver ( Not technically soft control but a worthy substitute. )

Mind:
Mass Hypnosis. ( Great solo. Not much use in groups who will wake everything up in short order. Lasts a good while though. )
Terrify. ( Just because it's funny to watch them cower. )
Mass Confusion. ( Abject chaos at it's best. )

Plant:
Spore Burst
Seeds of Confusion.
Carrion Creepers. ( Creepers are awesome. Get em asap. )

Gravity:
Wormhole. ( Only soft control Gravity has. )

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "Ah ha! You're a retard! Where's the Immobilizes? They're soft control!". To which I reply: Immobilizes suck. There's no reason whatsoever to take your single target immobilize unless it's for the damage or PvP. It's a waste of a power slot otherwise. So is your AoE immobilize, frankly. The situations where an AoE immobilize is useful are few and far between. At low levels the aggro they draw will typically get you severely mauled. At high levels you'll have much better options at your disposal. Not to mention the endurance costs from an AoE immobilize aren't worth it either. Team combat in CoV is less restrictive then combat in CoH. The odd knockback or disoriented mob is not a critical problem. Immobilizes also have the added "benefit" of negating knockdown. An AoE immobilize can actually completely negate an Ice Slick. I use Flashfires religiously and never have had any need for Fire Cages to keep mobs together. If one does begin to wander thats what single target Holds are for. "But what about Corruptor stuff like rain of fire that makes stuff run!". Are you seriously going to waste a power slot and a bunch of enhancements slots on the odd chance you'll group with a specific AT and powerset? I know I'm not. Flashfires + Char alone keeps things together well enough. I should know, one of my SG mates is a Fire / Thermal corruptor. Both of us on a team is delightfully sickening with Flashfire + Rain of Fire + Breath of Fire x 2 ( and quite effective at debuffing framerates, I might add. ) and we don't have any problems with disoriented mobs wandering out of the area of effect.

Assault Secondary

Your other half. Some people might tell you that if you're going to team you should invest heavily in your primary. Well, they're wrong ironicially. Other people will tell you to build your Dominator like a Blaster and go heavy into Assault. They're wrong too. Skipping your Control powers will make things fair more difficult then nessacary. Skipping your Assault powers will leave you team relient. You are niether Blaster nor Controller, but Dominator. But that doesn't mean you need to take every power from your primary. As long as you get the Unholy Trinity of powers you should be decent enough. I should know, I did 24-32 using only 3 powers from my primary: Char ( Single Target Hold ), Cinders ( AoE Hold ) and Flashfire ( AoE Soft Control. ) I leveled in record time and was quite effective both solo and in teams. At level 32 I added imps. To this day I still only have 4 powers from my primary. Meanwhile I have majority of my secondary.

Your bare minimum arsenal should eventually look something like: 2 blasts, a melee attack and one AoE or Cone of some sort. After you get your pets, feel free to drop a single target attack if you want to make room for something else. In my case once I can find a respec team I'm going to drop my melee attack, as I don't get much use out of it anymore. Then I'll be adding Combustion for more AoE damage. Your pet will provide passive damage in the 32+ game, allowing you to scale back some of your offence and focus more on control or AoE damage.

Early in the game your cone and aoe damage should be reserved mainly to solo play. On a team they'll draw more aggro then you can justify for the damage they're doing. So unless your team is really rocking I'd save them for late in the fight when all the mobs are already locked down or pissed at someone else. Or else keep them to yourself until you can slot them and make them uber.

4 Slots is plenty for your single target attacks. ( Acc / Dam / Dam / Dam ). Typically you'll have enough powers going in a cycle between Control and Assault to not really notice any gap you may have in your attack chain. Meaning added rechargers aren't really worth a slot in single target attack powers cept maybe in things that recharge painfully slow ( Such as Energy melee attacks ). End reducers aren't worth it either. You'll likely find you're hard on Endurance early in the game. But you'll have enough post Stamina and plenty post pets ( Even with 1-3 toggles running ) so don't worry about it and don't bother slotting single target attacks for end reduction. You need those slots elsewhere.

AoE and Cone attacks also need a minimum of 4 slots ( Acc / Dam / Dam / Dam ). But I'd recommend cramming an extra one into them here and there if you can spare it. A recharge or two is a significant boost to your dps in aoe attack powers. But don't lose sleep over it if you can't spare more then 4.

Summary of Long Term Minimum Requirements to Avoid Suckage:

Control:

Single Target Hold:
5-6 Slotted ( Acc / Hold / Hold / Hold / Recharge. 1 more Recharge can be added as personal perference but isn't vital. )

AoE Hold:
6 Slots ( Acc / Acc / Hold / Hold / Hold / Recharge )

AoE Soft Control ( Pick one, it's not nessacary to 6 slot them all if you have more then one. )
6 Slots ( Acc / Acc / Hold / Hold / Hold / Recharge )

OR

Cone Soft Control ( In the event you have or perfer a cone over an AoE for soft control. )
5-6 Slots ( Acc / CC Duration / CC Duration / CC Duration / Recharge. 1 more Recharge can be added as personal perference. )

Assault:

1st Tier Blast:
4 Slots ( Acc / Dam / Dam / Dam. You can use less if you feel your first tier is inadequate. Ala Psi Assault. )

2nd Tier Blast:
4 Slots ( Acc / Dam / Dam / Dam. Again you may feel differently if you're Psi Assault. If you intend to not use your 1st tier blast alltogether. Give this 6 slots with 2 Recharges to make sure it's available when you need it. )

Melee Attacks
3-5 Slots ( Acc / Dam / Dam / Dam. This depends on your set and your perference for melee. Energy melee could use the odd recharger. While Fire: Incinerate I've never bothered to put more then 3 slots in. )

AoE or Cone
4-5 Slots ( Acc / Dam / Dam / Dam. Added additional recharge as needed. Don't worry much about end reduction. As I've said your endurance requirements will go down as you level and gain more tools. Such as Stamina and pets. )

4. Trying not to Suck

Ahhhh, simple to say, but perhaps difficult to accomplish. As I have said, your biggest challenge on a Dominator is similar to that of a Blaster. Staying alive without the luxury of passive defence. This means you need to be aware of whats going on around you at all times. One missed mob and you're going to be in some hurt. Especially later on in the game when one good melee whack from a boss can one shot you or come damn close to it. While it's good advice for any AT, it's even more so for us: Don't start a fight without some sort of plan of attack. I'm sure most of you can formulate such plans. But here's some advice just in case:

Solo:

1. Make sure you see them all.

Aggro'n a second group while on the first sucks bawls. Especially for us with the recharge times on our AoE control. If a group is too close to another, restrict yourself to ranged attacks or pull. Try and make sure there isn't another [censored] around the corner you can't see or another group standing just in range of the AoE you're about to use.

2. Look for the biggest target.

Act like a stalker. The biggest target is always the biggest threat to a Dominator. You want them locked down first. Lts and Boss's can be problems. Whereas you can safely take a shot or two from a stray minion.

3. Lock em down.

Pin down their arses with the control weapons of your choice. Don't let any of them remain unmolested by your primary unless you're positively sure you can take a hit from them. Because you *will* take a hit from them.

General Rules:

Minions:
Only require 1 Hold, Disorient, Fear, etc.

LTs:
Likewise, most of our control powers are high enough magnitude to affect an LT in one hit. Though the duration will be shorter.

Boss's:
Boss's will require two applications of love in order for it to stick. Some special boss's, such as Lost Anamethas, are hold resistent and will require 3 applications. However it's rare for a boss to have resistence to multiple forms of Control. Anamethas for instance have no such resistence to confuse. So if you run into something that seems resistent, try another form of Control if you have it.

Elite Boss's:
Elite Boss's can be tricky. Don't attempt one without having Domination up. With Domination up they'll require 2-3 applications of crowd control to lock down. However, once you have them Held, a single target hold with 3 Hold Duration SO's can actually keep them there even after Domination wears off. If you miss once they'll get loose and smack you one though. It'll take quite a while to wittle them down, but at least they can't hit back in the meantime.

Heroes / Archvillains:
Yes, with Domination you CAN hold one of these bad ( good? ) boys ( and girls ). At low levels it'll only be for brief moments. But at high levels you'll be able to get a good grip on them for a significant amount of time. Which helps immensely when taking one of them down in the later game. Teams will learn this and love you for it.

4. Go to town.

As a Dominator your primary goal in life is to tie people up and whip them. The principle is simple. Stick to it. Unlike your approach to Control ( Biggest first ) your approach to murder should be smallest first. Why you ask? Because smaller targets take less Control and Damage to deal with. The duration of control on them is also longer. While the duration on the frothing killing machine boss next to you is shorter. What this means is you need more regular applications of control on the boss then you do on the minions and you can kill the minions quicker. So what you do is reapply control to the biggest target as needed, while targetting the smaller targets for attacks. Chances are after SO's you can kill the minions before the AoE control you hit them with wears off. Leaving you to off the LT and/or boss at your leisure. Dropping AoE/Cone damage is ideal in this situation as you can aim for the boss and hit the minions as well.

Still not sure why you should murder the weenies first? If you focused on the boss first, it will take some time to kill him and your primary single target control, the Hold, will be tied up keeping him locked down. Since you can't hope to do enough damage to a boss before the duration of Control wears off, you'll have to reapply it continously. The minions can and will recover from the aoe control before you get all the way through the boss. So they can start pounding on you. But changing the attention of your single target control onto them risks the Boss getting loose. See what I mean? Go for the big, kill the small. Focus your single target control on the biggest threat while focusing your attacks on the smallest ones. Once you've cleaned up the annoyances you can mop up the big threat at your leisure.

Teamplay:

Dominators end up being one of the most significant contributers to a team at higher levels. We end up providing the highest amount of defence a team can have and people will end up seeking you out for this. Due to a combination of our contribution and the fact that not many Dominators make it to high level, your skills ( or lack thereof ) will be sought after. That being said we're often the first to die shrieking on a team. Since we're the most adversingly affected by mistakes made by teammates.

Teaming need not be difficult if use some common sense and follow some basic guidelines:

1) The temptation to AoE in a team is immense. But don't drop your AoE control opener until after someone or something else has taken the alpha strike ( Brute / MM Pets. ). This is a good rule for every CoV AT except for Brutes. We're too squishy to be taking return salvos from mobs we might miss or we didn't have enough magnitude to lock down. Let them shoot the Brute first. That's what he's there for.

2) Don't go to town with AoE damage either unless you're confident in your team's ability or you've waited a bit for the aggro to build up on other teammates / pets.

3) Your goal here is the same as your goal solo: Lock down the biggest threats to the team. Minions are dogfood to a decent team so you won't have too worry much about them after the intial AoE control hits them. But LT's and Bosses are a problem. As are any aggravating mob types that can mezz, sap, debuff, slow, etc. So target them for single target Control first.

4) Once you've locked down a spawn, feel free to go to town. If you see anything loose or remember something about to, lock it down, then resume murdering. Ideally you should still be throwing out single target control between attacks whenever it recharges. While no one invites a Dom to the team for damage, the fact of the matter is we can contribute a good amount. At high levels we can contribute a significant amount. Especially Energy and Fire.

5) While murdering is good fun, remember your role is control. Don't neglect it in a team situation because thats why they invited you. Otherwise you're basically just Gimplet the Halfwit Blaster. Keeping mobs from attacking you and your teammates should be your primary concern.

The Zen of Mental Timers:

Probably one of the most useful things you can learn as a Dominator is to keep mental timers going in your head. Get a feel for how long your various control powers last so you know when you need to retarget a mob to reapply control. This is especially critical when dealing with larger targets like bosses. Or mobs with aggravating powers ( Mezzers, sappers, etc ). Getting carried away with attacks and forgetting to reapply a Hold to a large threat can be fatal. Keep in mind that the duration of your powers is reduced depending on how big and how high level the target is in relation to you. Dominators are either completely in control of a situation or being beaten into a odd smelling carpet stain. Try to aim for the former.

Domination: The Happy Button:

For those of you that don't know, Domination is an inherent ability that can be activated whenever the Domination bar is full. This bar slowly fills up over time as you attack. When activated, Domination will, for a glorious 90 seconds, allow you to challenge things you probably wouldn't carelessly attempt normally or simply allow you to chew through a spawn or two that would have taken a while normally. Domination provides a full endurance heal, a boost to damage, a boost to Control duration and a boost to Control magnitude. What this means is mobs that typically required several applications of Control can likely now be locked down with only 1. For instance a Boss typically has to be hit twice with a Hold in order to be Held. With Domination up you'll only need to hit him once. Every mob has a magnitude that must be whittled down before they can be Controlled. The easiest way to picture this is that every mob has Control hit points and every Control power does damage to them. If they hit 0 or lower, they end up Controlled.

Never be afraid to use Domination if you see a tricky situation come up. If you know something bad is coming up ( Such as a large spawn of mobs, a tricky boss, an elite boss or AV ), consider saving Domination for them. If you are heading towards or have just spotted a tricky situation you aren't confident you can handle, look around for another mob and Hold his [censored]. Then sit there and Brawl him till you build up your Domination bar. LT's are particularly useful for this since they can take a lot of punches but are easy to keep held. If he's in a group, Hold him then off his minions first. Then resume punching him in the face till the happy button lights up.

5. Stealth: The Art of Sneaky [censored] Exping

I know not everyone will agree with me when I say this, but the Concealment pool is probably one of the biggest advantages you can ever get for your Dominator. Not only does it open up new tactics, but it will be a huge assistence in gaining exp at a faster rate when you're solo'n. Especially in your mid teens to late 20's. How you ask? By being a sneaky [censored].

Dominators are Stalkers too:

You ARE going to reach points in your career, pre-pets, where the solo exp you get for killing minions isn't worth the time investment required to kill them with your current damage output. By this time "Kill all mob" missions will also be very few and far between. Most of your missions will be based around a specific objective. This is where playing like a Stalker comes in. The exp reward for completing a mission can be earned faster and with far less fuss then the exp earned by killing every minion on your way to the mission objectives. The huge advantage we have here is that CoV's newspaper provides an infinite stream of missions so even if you zip through missions quickly ( passing up mob exp ) you'll never run out of missions and be forced to street sweep. By using Concealment to zip through missions straight to the objective you can gain experience at a faster rate then you would trying to use your moderate damage output to slug through all the mobs on every mission. In fact once you get use to the rate of exp you can earn, you'll probably end up Stealth / Invis'n your way through most the missions you do solo. At least until you get your SO's and / or pet to boost your killing ability ( and make slaughtering minions vastly more entertaining. ).

Mission Objectives: How to Win them with a Minimum of Fuss:

95% of your missions are going to be broken into 3 flavours. However there's a slight difference in how to complete them based on whether it's a Contact mission or a Newspaper mission. If you're going to be Sneaky [censored] exp'n, you need to know what these requires are:

A. Steal / Plant / Destroy (insert object here)

Find the glowies, plant the glowies, kill the glowies. Interacting with a glowie will NOT drop Stealth / Invis. So don't worry.

Contact Version:
Find all the glowies and click on them. Simple as that. These can typically be done without fighting a single mob. On a map with multiple glowies sometimes ambushes are triggered when you click a glowie. Don't worry about this. Ambushes seem like they're running to you. But if you remain Stealthed / Invis'd and move on the ambush will only go to the glowie in question. They won't hunt you down across the map.

Newspaper Version:
Newspaper glowie missions are pretty much always Steal (insert object here) missions. In the newspaper version you have to steal the glowie AND kill every mob in the same room as the glowie in order to win the mission. Simply stealing the glowie will not win the missions.

B. Kill (insert mob here) and his guards / gang / posse / groupies

Find the named mob. Spank him.

Contact Version:
The contact version of this mission will require you to kill the named mob and any other mobs in the same spawn as him to win the mission.

Newspaper Version:
In the newspaper version you have to kill the named mob, his guards and every mob in the same room as him in order to win the mission.

C. Kidnap / Rescue <insert mob name here>

Find the named npc. Lead him or her to the door. The objective here is identical in both Contact and Newspaper versions. However, kidnapping an NPC means you'll have to either fight your way in or fight your way out. Therefore kidnapping missions aren't the best choice for Sneaky [censored] exping. But thanks to the Newspaper, which will offer 3 missions at a time, you can typically avoid having to do these unless they're given by a contact.

Sneaking and Infamy:

The only real concern with Stealthing your missions is that you won't earn as much Infamy as you would if you had killed every mob. Missions do award some Infamy but it will pale in comparison to the Infamy you'll eventually be able to earn by selling DO's and SO's at the appropriate stores. This is a valid if somewhat minor concern IF you're solo'n ALL the time. However if you still team from time to time you shouldn't have any monetary woes. I've managed to earn Infamy just fine over the life of my Dominator even though I mostly solo'd and made healthy use of the Stealth approach. After you get your pets you can go on a killing rampage through your missions all the time anyway. Infamy comes easier the higher level you get. So don't worry about it too much. The DO to SO hump is always painful regardless of how you play. But it does get better eventually. If worse comes to worse, make friends with rich high level players. -.-

Concealment Benefits:

The other benefit to having Concealment is the simple fact that mobs can't see you until you attack. This comes in rather handy, especially if you want to use a pbaoe as an opener. ( Such as stacking Cinders and Char to hold a boss with Fire Control. ). Since you can sneak up to the mobs and activate it before they realise you're there. It also comes in handy in teams where you can avoid taking intial aggro by being Stealthed just as the Brute dives in.

Another big perk is 32+ when you have your pets. Since you can't command your pets like a Mastermind, Stealth allows you to still put them to work as tankers for you. By appoaching a spawn with Stealth or Invis up, the mobs will notice and attack your visible pet first. Likewise, your pet will attack them first as well. Generating some intial aggro that will ensure when you begin your attack the mobs attention will be diverted. Allowing you to put your Control to use with a minimum of risk.

Concealment Recommendations:

If you use Fly or Superspeed, Stealth alone will be enough for you to sneak through missions as long as your careful. Stealth only reduces the range at which mobs can see you. If you bump into one, he will notice. If you're using Superjump or Teleport you'll want to be more careful if you're only going to use Stealth or resign yourself to just sprinting through the mission. You might want to consider Invis so you don't have to worry about it at all.

Both Stealth and Invis are great out of the box with 1 slot alone ( Which should have an end reducer in it ). Don't bother putting any additional slots in them. They do have a very minor defensive bonus but it's hardly worth slotting. Their end cost is also quite minor so 1 end reduction is enough.

Unlike PvP, Mobs with +perception are actually very rare. So you won't have to worry about being spotted in Stealth / Invis for the most part. I've been Stealthing around for something like 16 levels now and have yet to see a mob that can spot me.

6. 32+ or Holy )&*@ I have a pet!

Pets have always been considered a huge turning point for Controllers. They're, frankly, an even bigger one for Dominators. The pet is the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle that is the Dominator. I can't say enough about how the pet completes the Dominator AT. I've seen people on the forum talking about how they don't think Dominators should have a pet, how the pet doesn't "fit" the theme of a Dominator or how they intend to skip their pet. To all of them I say: You're out of your friggan mind. Dominators were built with the pet in mind. This becomes crystal clear when you hit 32 and bust the pet out. When I finally got mine I truely felt like a Dominator. It felt like this is what the devs had in mind when they made the AT. The difference they make in your gameplay and effectiveness is *immense*. Not taking your pet is as good as completely gimping yourself in the high level game. Period.

The range of benefits having a pet brings to the AT is immense. Not only do you suddenly gain a significant damage boost ( Damage which doesn't require endurance usage on your part ), but you've also gained your own personal tanker. You finally have a form of passive defence that can take damage and aggro for you. Low on endurance? Let the pet mob up. See a tough spawn? Use Stealth and let the pet take the alpha. Just feeling lazy? Lock down the mobs and let the pet do most the work. While I completely enjoyed my Dominator from level 1-32, the difference in having a pet is like night and day as far as my effectiveness. The rate at which I can defeat mobs literally doubled. The situations I could tackle expanded even further. My Dominator just started working so much more smoothly. Not to mention they're just great fun to have around.

While the recharge timer on pets may seem long, chances are they'll always be up at the start of a mission and they honestly don't die often unless you start a fight then go afk or really screw the pooch during a fight. So don't be worry if you can't or don't want to waste a slot put putting a Recharge on them. If you're worried about it, back yourself up with the medicine pool and you'll rarely if ever have to resummon them mid mission long as you make sure to heal them up every fight or two. But you can probably find a better option for slots on them. Especially if they have control powers to enhance.

Pets are also one of the very few Primary powers that are great right out of the box. Slotting does make them immensely better. But they're good right from the get go.

Pet Behaviour: We're not Masterminds.

Like Controllers, we have no control whatsoever over our pets. They follow us loyally, but thats about it. If you want to know what a Dominator pet is like, think back to any number of "Rescue NPC" missions you had where the NPC helped fight after you rescued them. Thats exactly how a Dominator pet acts. They follow you, but they aggro like a mob does and pick targets of their own accord.

Your pets will actually go for targets that aren't locked down first. They always perfer to attack mobs which haven't been hit with a Control power. ( Except for Disorient. ). This is helpful in that it makes sure they're always rounding up loose mobs and keeping the aggro off you. On the other hand if you Hold a target they're attacking, they actually have a tendency to stop attacking that target and move on to a target thats still loose if one's available. However, if all mobs around them have been locked down, they'll attack them.

There's 3 specific rules you need to know about your pet:

Rule #1: Your Pet doesn't give a damn about you.

If you're attacked, the pet will not react and attack the attacker. Unless that attacker is within the pet's aggro range. In which case it's probably already on it's way to the mob. If you're attacked at a range your pet will stay by your side. In many ways this is actually beneficial. Since it keeps your pet from running off frothing at the mouth at the slightest provocation like a Mastermind pet does when the MM isn't paying attention.

Rule #2: Your Pet doesn't give a damn about itself.

Your pet likewise will not attack if it's attack by something outside of it's aggro range. In fact it's pretty much oblivious to anything outside of it's aggro range. Again this is actually beneficial. As it prevents your pet from running off on a killing spree unnoticed.

Rule #3 Your pet is friggan RABID.

Your pet will brutally assault anyone and anything that comes too close. Regardless of level. Doesn't matter if it's a archvillain or homeless orphan. Your pet will be on it like a starving dog on a bacon bit. I've had times when my pets started in on something and it ended up like a domino effect. They wouldn't stop murdering things at random till the entire area was clear. If you want to see how much chaos this can cause, try summoning them in a newbie zone and walking around. They'll slaughter entire city blocks before their bloodlust is satiated. Sometimes the only way to figure out where the hell they went is to follow the screams and bodies.

Which Pet is Right for You?

The strengths and abilities of pets vary from set to set. If you ever felt like Dominators were lacking something, I fully encourage you to pick the set with the pet that covers the weakness you percieved. Pets are surprisingly tough. But you don't want to leave them tanking a +2 Boss or anything without giving them a hand. But, you don't have to lose sleep over the possibility of them dying either.

Fire Control: Fire Imps

Pros:
Damage. A ton of damage.
There's 3 of them.
Reach peak effectiveness with only 4 slots ( Acc / Dam / Dam / Dam )

Cons:
Can't do anything except damage.
Really only have 1 attack.
No ranged attacks.
Their damage is diluted when they spread out onto multiple targets.
Individually, their not as tough as other pets.

Overview:

These are my babies right here. If you ever felt like you weren't doing enough damage, I highly recommend the Fire Control route. While Imps don't help out in any other area, they do do a ridiculous amount of damage. Out of the box they do a surprising amount. After being slotted it's absolutely sick. I love it. When on one target they'll kill the average minion in a matter of seconds and can reduce a even con LT's hitpoints to half in their intial round of attacks. However, when given multiple targets they'll spread out and tie up 3 enemies at a time. Which can be helpful, but their damage suffers. Though it's still good even individually.

There are a few drawbacks. First, they only have 1 attack. A melee attack. They can't attack at a range and they won't help out by controlling or debuffing like every other Dominator pet. Since you get 3 they're also individually weaker then other pets. In fact they have roughly the same amount of hit points as you do ( Around 700-800 hp per imp at level 32 ). Though they do take hits better. They can easily tank minions and LTs, but a strong melee boss can and will 2 shot them. Just as they would you. So you have to take a bit better care of them then other pets. Generally rule is: If it can kick your [censored]. It can kick their [censored].

Oddly, despite being made of fire, they really don't have much if any fire resistence.

Gravity Control: Singularity

Pros:
Tanking ability.
Control.
Stupidly resistent to damage and control.
Can fly.

Cons:
Poor damage.
Constant repel can aggravating teams and scatter mobs.
Cannot be healed.

Overview:

Much like the Gravity set itself, Singularity is a poor choice for Dominators. It's insanely tough and near impossible to lock down with any sort of Control power. But by the time you hit level 32 you undoubtably want something that provides you with a boost to damage. Something the Singularity lacks. Instead the Sing will constantly spam Gravity control powers. This does help you lock things down but you'll be hard-pressed to get it to kill much on it's own.

The other factor is it's essentially a floating Repel. Any mob that gets near it will be knocked back. In some situations this might be good. But as we all know from CoH, mass AoE knockback is rarely desirable in any sort of team situation.

It does look pretty cool though. Like a giant floating Repel effect.

Ice Control: Jack Frost

Pros:
Well balanced pet.
Decent Tank.
Helps out with Control.

Cons:
No real big ones, honestly. Looks slightly dorky, perhaps.

Overview:

Jack is a nice all around pet. Good damage with a range of abilities. Essentially an Ice Tanker, he can take a good amount of punishment and actually provides some help in the control dept. Can't really go wrong with him, honestly. Well, unless you have an Ice Tanker yourself. In which case Jack might make you cry at times.

Jack looks like Ice Tanker armour without the Tanker inside.

Plant Control: Fly Trap

Pros:
Well balanced pet.
Acts like a mini plant Dominator.
Looks extremely freakish.

Cons:
Like Jack, doesn't possess any major flaws. A solid choice.

Overview:

First of all, it looks and sounds really freakish. They're kind of creepy. Especially the way they skitter along (shudder). But a good pet none the less. As the only pet built specifically for Dominators you can't go wrong with the Fly Trap. I haven't had any hands on experience with the mutant beast yet but from watching teammates the little [censored] is fairly potent and uses powers from both Plant Dom and Thorny Assault. Though they do seem a bit relunctant to enter melee.

Mind Control: Mass Confusion

Pros:
Everyone's my pet!

Cons:
But only for a little while and not really.

Overview:

While not technically a pet by itself, Mass Confusion will briefly turn every mob struck into your pet for the duration of the power. They will then turn on any other mobs near them and begin to attack. This can create abject chaos in a spawn but definately keeps any attention off of you and your team. A Confused mob will act like any other Dominator pet does for the duration of the power. As an added bonus, if there's no enemies nearby they'll stand there and let you beat on them. This allows you to use Confusion as a ghetto AoE hold as well.

While it's accuracy does suck intially, like all AoE control, Mass Confusion actually lasts quite some time even unslotted. However, it's on the same long timer as normal pets are ( 4 minutes ).

7. Pool Powers

I won't flog you by saying you'll be gimped without this or that when it comes to pool powers but I will offer advice and reviews. The only one you really need is of course, Stamina. Since Dominators use a lot of active powers we really do need Stamina whether we like it or not. Domination does help, but it won't keep you going. Fire Assault: Consume is a nice perk to have too, but trust me, it can't replace Stamina. I've tried. I haven't tried Drain Pysche so I can't say whether or not it could. I do recommend at least Stealth from the Concealment pool for the Sneaky [censored] approach. Other then that I'll just offer reviews from my experience:

Concealment
Rating: 4 / 5

Recommended. The ability to just skip over parts of the level you don't feel like doing is a huge advantage. If you're careful you don't need any more then Stealth. If you're bored you could grab Grant Invis but I wouldn't waste a slot on it unless you really want it. Don't bother slotting any of the Concealment powers for defence. Their defensive bonus is so miniscule now it's not worth it. I guess you could grab Phase Shift if you're extremely accident prone or need an oh fark button for PVP.

Fighting
Rating: 3 / 5

In the absence of Epic Pool Powers we Dominators have no method of gaining significant additional defence or resistence ( Such as an EPP armour toggle ). So if you really feel like you're taking a beating and can fit it in Tough + Weave can provide you with a decent amount of Smash / Lethal resistence as well as some Defence. But you can survive without them.

Fitness
Rating: 5 / 5

Yes, I hate having to get it too. But we need Stamina, sadly. Though Health is a bit helpful.

Flight
Rating: 4 / 5

My favourite travel power. Offers the best option for manouvering and positioning mid fight as well as some ghetto knockdown / back protection with Hover. We don't have much use for Air Superiority though. You might think Group Fly would be nice for your pet. But if you do you've never been pissed off in a group after an MM teammate flipped it on.

Leadership
Rating: 3 / 5

After testing it out for quite a while I don't feel the Leadership values for Dominators are worth the endurance cost of the toggles, honestly. Manouvers is worthless. Assault will gain you maybe an extra 2-5 damage per attack at level 30 and can't be enhanced. Tactics isn't noticable out of the box. Perhaps it is if you waste 3 slots in it ( Which I can't ). Vengence requires someone to die first. I'll be dropping Leadership from my build next respec. It does affect your pets. But since Assault was only offering my Imps an additional 4 damage per attack, it really wasn't worth the end.

Leaping
Rating: 5/ 5

While not my personal perference, I can't deny that the extra defence and hold resistence this pool can provide makes it quite worthwhile to Dominators.

Medicine
Rating: 5/ 5

I didn't use to think much of Medicine in CoH. But in CoV where there's far less healing around I've seen some players put this to wonderful effect on teams. Our ability to lock mobs down gives us plenty of time to use Aid Self and we eventually get good use out of Aid Other after we get our pets. I've even seen a couple players that took the rez and loved them to death for it after they got the team back up a few times on an AV mission.

Presence
Rating: 1 / 5

Not much help to us. We don't want to be taunting things and we already have better control options then Intimidate and Invoke Panic.

Speed
Rating: 4 / 5

I've never been a a fan of Hasten or Superspeed, personally. But I won't pretend to deny that Hasten is a potent ability and I've seen a few players do some great things with Whirlwind. Even if it does look silly.

Teleport
Rating: 3 / 5

I've never liked Teleport and I can't recommend taking it unless you want it for PvP or like being able to ferry teammates across the map. Not only does it not provide any defensive toggles but it's just plain boring and requires far more input to get from point A to point B with then other travel powers. Still, it can be put to good tactical effect if you like the extra input required.

8. Final Thoughts

There you have it. While I won't pretend this is the only recipe for success as a Dominator, I don't think you can go wrong by following my advice. At the very least I hoped you gained something from this guide aside from the urge to flame me. ( I'm sure someone will over AoE immobilizes. =p )

Dominators have replaced all others as my favourite AT and I can't envision playing anything else anymore. The challenge combined with the ability to provide great team support without feeling like I'm babysitting people ( As I do on my Defenders and Corruptors ) has made this the most fun I've had playing CoH/CoV so far. I realise the AT isn't for everyone but I hope anyone willing to give it a whirl will get something useful out of this.

If I've missed anything, let me know. If you have anything to add. By all means.

Peace,
- Phasma Ara ( Fire / Fire Dominator. Infinity )

TheDeepBlue · 12-19-2005 07:05 PM

Good writeup. I suppose I'll meditate on some of this stuff whenever I get around to working on my Dom.

61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)

Centinull · 12-19-2005 07:24 PM

Great Guide !!

I may just break down and roll my first Dominator.

Centinull

Atilla_The_Pun · 12-20-2005 11:41 AM

Nice guide, very thorough.

I would just like to point out that Gravity's strength is it's single target "soft control", if you consider knockback/down to be soft control. Since a combo of Lift and Propel can keep an Anathema or other hold resistant boss on his back until you miss I don't think this is an ability that should be completely ignored. Granted my Grav/Eng Dominator is only level 19 at this point, but that been my experience so far.

Having said that, I'm going to go review and possibly revise my new Plant/Fire Dom in light of your power pool comments.

Check out the Repeat Offenders network of SGs! You'll be glad you did.

Warhamster · 12-20-2005 01:24 PM

lvl 39 Grav/Psi here. (SOB)

A few things I'd point out. The grav AoE and single imobs in the grav line do not negate knockback or the flop ability from ice as you said in your guide. I use imobs followed by propel and it sends them flying everytime.

While I remain disapointed with Psi in pvp, I've had great success with grav. Vs squishies I start combat with lift, followed by propel, then crush for the -fly/slow so they cant get away, then the hold, then go to work on them with damage. Right before they come out of the hold start the chain over. I can keep defenders/controllers/blasters on the ground and or held the entire fight. Its all about timing, and grav offers an 2 excellent damage dealers (lift and propel) that keep the target from attacking back, on top of the hold I also have. Gravs AoE attacks/holds really blow, but single target wise its quite excellent.

On a side note Wormhole is VERY useful in pvp. I've learned some really brutal tricks with it hehe. Using it to port hero's into gun drones to thin out base camping is unbelievably powerful. I recently ported 5 heroes at one time into our base and they were all killed. It also significantly increases the range of single base tp foe. Most hero's know how close they can be without being in danger of tp foe into drones. However, I can tp foe to me, and while its charging, prep wormhole. As soon as they are tped to me, I wormhole them into the base, effectively doubling my drone kill range.
The not so morally questionable strategy is using it in your attack chain to increase fall damage. Here is what I do. If you come across a flying target fly over them, use lift to bring them close to you and do some quick damage, follewed by crush, followed by a quick wormhole straight up. Crush will -fly/imob/slow, wormhole throws them straight up another 100 yards, then they plumet straight down right past you. Toggle off fly, drop almost to the ground, and toggle on hover. You will take no drop damage while they take a ton. In all cases thus far with this strategy they will not have moved as the disiorient from wormhole, or the imob/slow from crush will keep them there. I usually arrive a second or 2 after they hit the ground anyway. I arrive, slap on my hold, and finish them off with damage combo. Takes some practice but is insanely fun and boggles the mind of your target.

Voidstrider · 12-20-2005 02:33 PM

Going to make a quick note for 'why are AOE immobilizes' useful?

Well, not for the character, but for the group.. keeping everything bunched for AOE damage, burn patches, etc., makes them die that much faster.

Thornster · 12-20-2005 03:36 PM

Most of this makes good sense. My dom is not a controler nor is it a blaster. But yeah I do see what you mean that you need more of a blaster thinking for defence. Great write up ... thanks. Now I'm really looking forward to my pet plant. I haven't seen one in game yet.

Arc: A Little RnR (17523) - Poster
Char Site | My DeviantArt
Global=@Thornster

Warhamster · 12-21-2005 05:43 AM

Great post by the way. I suggest you also post it in the Dom forum if you have not done so already.

Ninja_NA · 12-21-2005 09:05 AM

Nice guide, I like the straightforward and slightly villainous writing style.

[ QUOTE ]
A few things I'd point out. The grav AoE and single imobs in the grav line do not negate knockback or the flop ability from ice as you said in your guide. I use imobs followed by propel and it sends them flying everytime.

[/ QUOTE ]

In response to this, it was my understanding that immobilize causes a limited duration knockback immunity (4 seconds, or something of that nature?) I'm sure the controller forum would be happy to expand on that, but it may be that the short resistance to knockback wears off by the time the long activation time of propel is completed

GOTerpsPvP · 02-21-2006 04:50 PM

Good guide, better than most. I think Dominators who read this are less likely to suck.

Good work

Frost · 02-22-2006 05:31 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Nice guide, I like the straightforward and slightly villainous writing style.

[ QUOTE ]
A few things I'd point out. The grav AoE and single imobs in the grav line do not negate knockback or the flop ability from ice as you said in your guide. I use imobs followed by propel and it sends them flying everytime.

[/ QUOTE ]

In response to this, it was my understanding that immobilize causes a limited duration knockback immunity (4 seconds, or something of that nature?) I'm sure the controller forum would be happy to expand on that, but it may be that the short resistance to knockback wears off by the time the long activation time of propel is completed

[/ QUOTE ]

I know it's been a few months...but...not all immobilzes do that. Grav being one of the exceptions.

Ice and Fire immobilzations supress knockback/knockdown for 10 seconds.

BallLightning · 02-22-2006 08:37 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Its all about timing, and grav offers an 2 excellent damage dealers (lift and propel) that keep the target from attacking back, on top of the hold I also have. Gravs AoE attacks/holds really blow, but single target wise its quite excellent.

[/ QUOTE ]

Er... I disagree. I feel lift is a horrible damage power. It's only use is soft control. In fact I'm spec'ing out of it tonight with any luck in place of a power from my secondary - since I use lift as a damage more than soft control.

However I suppose it may depend on your secondary. I use energy so there are plenty of high-damage powers I can put in Lifts place. But Psi isn't 'that' weak that lift is 'excellent' damage. Even slotted I find lift severly lacking.

I have a mind/psi and personally find levitate is MUCH better than lift even though it's basically the same power. That's why I went with lift originally. Oh well.

As far as their AoE Holds... why do you think they suck? I think the recharges are a tad long but what the hell... how fair would it be to be able to lock down EVERY mob you came against in one shot?

Again though this may be a YMMV situation. I always play with my BF who's a fire/fire brute. While locking the whole mob down slows his fury growth it also keeps him alive longer AND once we get a little higher and he gets burn... well I lock down the mob... he runs in, drops a burn... if needed adds fire sword circle and we sit down and laugh.

Oy don't even get me started with adding Power Boost (energy) and Domination. "What's that? You don't EVER want to move again? Sure, I can work with that request."

However solo I guess the holds aren't THAT great unless uber-slotted for hold/recharge so they come up fast and hold long. And the AoE Immob would only be good for keeping someone out of melee range for a short period.

Anyway... I think when it comes to the usefulness of gravs AoE holds/immobs it's really a YMMV situation based on your play situation and style.

As an aside, anyone know how PB/Dom stack? Do they each just add their bonus vs the BASE? Or does it matter which triggers first?

EX: Power Boost adds x to BASE. Dom adds x to BASE.
OR: Trigger PB which adds x to BASE and then Dom which adds x to the combined base/PB total?
OR: Trigger Domination which adds x to BASE and then PB which adds x to the combined base/dom total?

Not that it matters. PB/Dom wether they feed off each other or just add to the base alone are pretty devistating together.

AKA: Point of Balance - Liberty - 24 Grav/Energy Dom

Miz_Vypra · 02-22-2006 08:59 AM

Amazing write up!, I think during my spare time I will try out playing a dominator

Sinistar6000 · 03-04-2006 11:05 AM

Great Guide! I would just like to point out that although some builds are better, any primary/secondary combination can be viable if the player is good. In fact we are learning about new uber builds everyday. It was not long ago that bubbles where considered sucky, now they are strategy changing. Also a gravity controller won the PvP tournament on protector-although he is a freak and could probably make an emp defender average 8 kills.

I am PL in RL.

Freedom- Magnet Man, Hott Sauce, Stand-Up Comic

saurus_NA · 03-04-2006 05:18 PM

Wow thanks for the great guide. Once my guy retires I will be looking at this again.

BallLightning · 01-16-2007 07:15 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Wow thanks for the great guide. Once my guy retires I will be looking at this again.

[/ QUOTE ]

ShrikeX · 01-18-2007 06:44 PM

Theres a more updated guide than this, I think its vinni vidi vici guide to domination.

Mad0ne · 10-22-2007 12:03 PM

agree. very good stuff. thanks