Gravity & Psi: WTH was I thinking? (a guide)
By
Luxury,
Posted on: 2006-04-24 13:32 in Player Guides
Nice guide - just a couple of things I thought I should point out though...
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Crush...Its also helpful for chipping away at the boss mag to stick a hold...
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Think you have misunderstood a bit how status effects work in the game - Immobilizes (like Crush, Crushing Field) don't stack with holds (Gravity Distortion, GDF).
Bosses need 2 stacked holds from a Dominator to affect them (unless they have Domination active, when all status attacks have double magnitude) - applying a crush before a Gravity Distortion will not hold the boss - you need two Gravity Distortions or a Gravity Distortion + GDF.
What I think may have confused you is that Crush (the single target version) is a Mag 4 Immobilize and so can Immobilize bosses with one shot - and Grav's Immobilize graphic effect isn't a million miles away from the Hold one.
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Wormhole (skipped) Similar to TP Foe, except whatever comes out of your end will be disoriented...
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It appears you might have missed one rather important aspect of this power... it's an AoE. Wormhole + Crushing Field = An effective second ranged area hold - and one where you can reposition the mobs almost anywhere you like, including bosses! It recharges much faster than GDF too. Even without crushing field, it can be a very useful tool for seperating groups of mobs that are close to each other, or for extracting a group of mobs from an otherwise nasty room and fighting them on your terms.
It also doesn't require Line of Sight to either the mobs your are wormholing, or the end point you are porting them to - meaning you can use this power pretty safely a lot of the time.
The main drawback of the power is that it also knocksback when it ports things - and it can be rather unpredictable. I try to Wormhole things into corners when I can in order to try and contain the knockback. If you have Crushing Field then applying that first can reduce the mob-wandering you get (although it won't eliminate the knockback). 2 Acc 2 Disorient 2 Recharge is good slotting for it - although with the faster recharge you could swap one of those for Range (it's like a reverse tp-foe in terms of the range requirements - you have to be much closer to the target, but can port them very far away - so range enhancement allows you to use it at safer distances from them, as well as allowing you to fire them even further away).
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Subdue...and it also lowers boss mags for other holds to stick.
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Same thing goes here as for Crush, however note that the immobilize in Subdue is only a chance to immobilize (you can't enhance that chance either), and it's only a regular Mag 3 too so won't immob bosses in one hit like Crush (unless domination is active of course).
Dominating with Gravity & Psionics: WTH was I thinking?
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1. Why!!!!!111!1 lololol
2. Gravity
3. Psionics
3. Generic PPs
4. My current build
5. What Id change now
Why!!!!!111!1 lololol11111
Theres not any real synergy between Grav and Psi aside from being able to dish out ok amounts of damage with one if youre getting resisted with your other--although I suppose thats true for all DOMs. ?
You wont find yourself doing awesome damages, and it may seem at times youre getting out Domd by other Dominators (but that changes at level 32 when you get Sing). Just keep repeating this to yourself for the next 38 levels: "Singularity-Psychic Shockwave"
Gravity Control
Crush is a single target immobilize that drops flyers (including people--and they do drop like wet bricks when you stick).
The damage is in DoT form and while its not really bad, its not really good either. It stops runners who when then turn around and shoot you for stopping them. Its also helpful for chipping away at the boss mag to stick a hold. This isnt a must have skill. Its just a matter if you want a crush damage skill or something that does Psi damage.
Lift has knock-up that works on bosses on the first shot. The rag doll effect gives you time to chip away at the bosss mag so you can stick your single target hold. This is what I usually have set to auto cast.
Gravity Distortion is your single target hold. This has the worst visual (as opposed to Ices solid block of ice or Plants very viney vine. On top of that, sometimes your held target wont appear to be levitating like its supposed to. If youre with other Doms, expect them to slap their single-target hold over yours.
Propel offers reliable knock back for bosses plus some hefty smashing damage. Use this skill freely when youre up against Psi resisty stuff. Its not a skill youll want in your normal attack chain since its got a slow animation time, but its worth having. Some people skip it, but when you find your Psi doing 1/2 damage, youll be glad youve got it.
Crushing Field is your AE immobilize. Its not very helpful since immobilized foes can still attack, and the damage from CF is minimal. Skip this.
Dimension Shift is an ut-oh button that lets you target and attack but no damage occurs from anything thats been shifted out. For this reason, youll want to make a bind or macro with this skill. (/bind b "group Dimension Shift in effect... find a solid target") Even with the macro, half your party will be confused and the other half will be annoyed. (Even if they were really going to die if you hadnt used it.) Its worth taking, but best used when people start dropping. If you want to add this to your build, add it later. There are more important things to pick up when this comes available.
Gravity Distortion Field is your AE hold that when six-slotted never hold as long or is up as often as you need to. Six-slot it anyway. 2 accs, 2 recharges, and 2 holds.
Wormhole (skipped) Similar to TP Foe, except whatever comes out of your end will be disoriented. Ive got TP Foe on one of my MMs and its nice, but unnecessary...this looks like a PvP toy.
Singularity is your whole reason for picking Gravity. It comes bundled with Repel aura, some hefty resistances, and all the single-target Gravity skills except Propel and Wormhole. For game balance issues you cant heal your Sing... its that good. Oh yeah, it flies too. If facing an ugly room, pull with Subdue, run around a corner and let Sings repel aura work for you.
Psionic Assault
Psionic Dart is your secondary skill that youre stuck with. Its not that hot, but the damage/endurance ratio is good. These are what Rikti monkeys shoot at you that slow your recharge time. Since I was stuck with it, I slotted it and use it in my chain. Anything that gets you to DOMINATION, right?
Mind Probe is your single target melee range skill. The damage cant get much better. This will also slow the recharge skills down of whatever youve hit. This does too much damage to over look and youll be in melee range anyway since youll have picked up P.Shockwave.
Telekinetic Thrust (skipped). I dunno .. I wish I tried this on Test. It would fit nicely with all the other Knock around that I have, but still the range is so close that Im not sure I could keep attack spam going without maintaining a 15 range with stuff .. and thats kinda close.
Mental Blast was an epic skill I picked for my controller, so I knew I could skip this here. Its a great pick for controllers, but DOMs have more choices. MB has a slow animation where you grab your temples and do a head bob and shoots out a Psionic Dart looking missile. The damage is ok.
Psychic Scream is your first taste at AE damage (cone form). This is just ok, but if you like doing mass damage, pick it up. It also has a -recharge component to it, and is good for leading with before centering yourself to use P.Shockwave.
Drain Psyche. (Before you wonder... the answer is "no.") Each secondary has a non-attack skill that functions more as a "build-up." Drain Psyche is THE reason I picked Psi: "You drain the psyche of your nearby foes, thus weakening their Hit Points and Endurance Recovery and boosting your own." At the time it sounded like a make-shift heal. (I didnt read closely). Its no more than a short duration regen with a comparatively long recharge time. And this is all dependant on it hitting (which cant be boosted with accuracy enhancers).
The truth is, you dont want this. Dip into the Medicine Pool for heals. Youll have Fitness already and remember that each time you hit DOM, your blue bar refills. Youll do better picking something else.
Subdue has a long range, does solid damage, and has an immobilize component. When I used my first respect, I ditched Crush and picked up Subdue. I use it for pulling, hitting runners, and it also lowers boss mags for other holds to stick. Its a little endurance heavy though.
Psionic Lance is the snipe of the set and really it comes too late. Like all snipes it slow and once the action starts, you wont be getting another one off. How slow? Slower than Propels animation.
Psychic Shockwave is the real reason so go Psionics. Its a PBAE attack with a 25 range and a wallop of about 5.5 in the brawl index to everything in range. But wait theres more... theres a chance of disorient, and thats not all... you see DOMINATION spam with this skill! Youre probably thinking to yourself "slow recharge" or "endurance hog." The recharge on this is about 10-12 seconds which means its up multiple times per fight. So does it come with a hefty endurance cost? No! I love it.
Power Pools (only PPs worth mentioning are mentioned)
Flight is my travel power of choice. I thought this would be my PvP toon since Sing flies too (not to mention hes aggressive, hold happy, and has a repel aura that you can hide in.) Oh yeah, I also three slotted Hover which is worth doing if you can find the slots. Hover is also a solid answer to getting knockbacked.
Fitness is a must and even with fitness I find myself holding back on DOMINATION and mashing it just to refill my blue bar. I really recommend Swift instead of Hurdle to open Health with. Get Health and try to three-slot it. Three slot Stamina.
Teleportation I just picked up Recall Friend here so I could PL lowbies. I also picked up Resuscitate from Medicine. And Recall and Rez are always a good combo.
Concealment would have been nice to grab in this build. Ill have to keep messing around though.
Leaping might be faster than fly unless you count all those times your forehead hits all those ledges, and you have to stop and jump straight up before you can start moving again. The speed doesnt always help you move through indoor maps very much. The main reason I avoid this pool is mainly since it kills me. How many times have I been killed by landing near something that Ive agroed? Countless.
Speed can be overlooked. You dont need Hasten at all. Super Speed sucks in COV and vertical movement is not overrated.
Medicine is a must. Sadly, you cant heal Sing, but you can heal your friends. Aid Other opens up Aid Self. While youre here, grab Resuscitate.
My Current Build
My first time through (before using a respec) I selected most of my hold-type skills in addition to most of the nice looking Psi attack skills. I remember thinking Id have the ability to choose between being a "controller" when DOMINATION is needed, or being a "blaster" when DOMINATION is needed. (still lol) Grav/Psi is neither/both, and that strategy left with me so many unused buttons it was plain stupid.
With this current build, I have the potential to fill my DOM bar just about when it wears off, and between me and Sing, Im able to lockdown the stuff that needs locking down without being control freakish. (And man, I love my Psychic Shockwave.) With this respec, I found that the best strategy for me with this set was to limit myself to picks from the best of both pools.
If youre really attracted to Drain Psyche as a blue bar filler, I urge you to copy your toon to the Test Server and check it out there before picking it up. With all this going on, you wont have to worry about endurance since youll have fitness and DOMINATION up.
It may look like Im missing Hold enhancers, but think DOMINATION. If I want to lock down a boss or two Ive got them locked down.
1. Lift (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Dmg)
1. Psionic Dart (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Dmg)
2. Mind Probe (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Dmg)
4. Gravity Distortion (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Hold, Hold, Rechg)
6. Hover (Fly, Fly, Fly)
8. Swift (Run)
10 Propel (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Dmg)
12 Aid Other (Heal, Heal, Heal)
14 Fly (Fly, Fly, Fly)
16 Health (Heal, Heal, Heal)
18 Gravity Distortion Field (Acc, Acc, Hold, Hold, Rechg, Rechg)
20 Stamina (EndMod, EndMod, EndMod)
22 Psychic Scream (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Dmg)
24 Aid Self (Heal, Heal, Heal)
26 Recall Friend (Rechg)
28 Resuscitate (Rechg)
30 Subdue (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Dmg)
32 Singularity (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Dmg, Hold, Hold)
35 Dimension Shift (Acc)
38 Psychic Shockwave (Acc, Dmg, Dmg, Dmg, Rechg)