[color= chartreuse]Plant Control Powers[/color]
Ah, Plant Control, said by many to be the best of the Dominator primaries, and said by others to be crap with a jewel in its center. This section examines the individual powers available to Plant Dominators.
Entangle (Available: level 1, but don't take this at level 1)
In creating, the only hard thing is to begin: a grass blade's no easier to make than an oak. --James Lowell
Immobilizes your target by Entangling their feet in a twisted mass of thorny roots. The roots do smashing and lethal damage to the target over time. More resilient foes may require multiple applications to Immobilize.
Entangle is your vanilla single target (ST) immobilize (important note for CoX newbies: an immobilize, or immob, prevents a target from moving but not from acting). It is in all things unimpressive. However, it will drop flyers out of the sky and allow you to use your holds on them.
I cannot emphasize enough how much youll need this power if you do not take Flight as a pool and thus have no access to Air Superiority. You simply must be able to drop flyers out of the air consistently and at need. Either plan AS or Entangle for this task; your other tools are too random, slow, or costly for the job.
If youre seeking an all-ranged option (not recommended), one slotting scenario you can try is to take Entangle and slot it with accuracy and three damages for use as another ranged minor damage power (its ranged damage-over-time is not trivial). If youre not looking for another ranged power, and also do not need a fly power, there are much better places to put power choices and slots than this, and your Fly Trap will do this for you at random, anyway.
Yet another strategy useful for powerful foes that you might be able to out-range (high level AVs, for instance) is to slot this for accuracy, range, and immob duration as a snipe immobilize. Ive had limited success with this, and, really, it wont work well with your secondary, since it lacks long-ranged attacks. But we need every trick we can get against those crafty Heroes and Arch-Villains.
Immobilize protection is not enhanced by EB, Hero, or AV triangles (Purple Triangles of Doom, or PToDs), thus allowing you to immob most of these foes.
Do not select this as your first power at level 1. Instead opt for Strangler.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: +20%
Endurance: 7.8
Recharge: 4 seconds
Activation: 1.2 seconds
Damage: 5 tics of 3.61 lethal damage and 5 ticks of 3.61 smashing damage
Immobilize: 22.35 second mag 4 (14.9 second mag 5 on a player)
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[color= chartreuse]Strangler[/color] (Available: Level 1)
Forests decay, harvests perish, flowers vanish, but grass is immortal. --Brian Ingalls
Holds a distant foe by Strangling him with massive root-like vines. The target is held helpless, while he is slowly crushed by the vines.
Strangler is your workhorse power and your ST hold (note for CoX newbies, a hold prevents a target from moving and acting while also detoggling all toggle powers the target was running). Take it first, slot it heavily and immediately, and spam it to survive.
Strangler has an inherent 20% accuracy bonus. I recommend 6-slotting this power. In training enhancements, I recommend 3 accuracy and 3 recharge. In DOs, I recommend two accuracy, two holds (or two damages), and two recharge. In SOs, I recommend one accuracy, three hold, and two recharge. Its more important to me to be able to have the power more often available than hold for a longer period of time, at least till Im in single origin enhancements. For PvP or when facing mobs at or beyond the purple patch, increase the number of accuracy and recharge enhancements at the expense of duration.
In play, this power will receive a nice buff from your Domination inherent (which will extend its duration, enhance its minor damage, and apply a magnitude six hold onto the target, one-shot-holding bosses and two-shot-holding virtually all natural EBs) and Power Boost from your Icy side, which extends its duration you can usually get 2-3 boosted Stranglers off in one application of Power Boost. Use it wisely, and learn to quickly switch targets to apply an ST hold to as many targets as you can.
While soloing, Strangler is an excellent tool for chain-pulling or kiting the process of drawing a mob away from a group one after another and killing them each in turn. Plant/Ice is particularly adept at kiting. In teams, use Strangler to eliminate the most dangerous individuals in a spawn (bosses, lieutenants, and certain minions that vary from team to team MMs will particularly thank you if you remove any minon that carries a flamethrower, for instance, and pretty much everyone hates Malta Sappers).
Note that Strangler will only hold targets that are near the ground.
Take this power at level 1.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: +20%
Endurance: 8.53
Recharge: 8 seconds
Activation: 2.07 seconds
Damage: 5 ticks of 7.95 smashing damage
Hold: 17.88 second mag 3 (or 11.92 second mag 4 vs players)
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[color= chartreuse]Roots[/color] (Available: level 2, but delay)
They tell us that plants are not like man immortal, but are perishablesoul-less. I think that is something that we know exactly nothing about. --John Muir
Immobilizes a group of foes by entangling their feet in a twisted mass of thorny Roots. Roots is slower and does less damage than Entangle, but it can capture many multiple foes in one attack.
Roots is your Area of Effect (AoE) immob. It keeps large groups in one place, but will not prevent them from acting. On its own, it is a weak power that will usually get you killed (AoE immobs have a very high agro effect due to their status effects combining with damage). However, there are a variety of situations you can create to use this power to great effect.
You can combine Roots with Seeds of Confusion to confine a medium-size group of mobs to a single location while they attack each other. Roots damage combined with a little help from you equals a high rate of xp for a low investment of time. You may also apply a ghetto hold by Rooting a spawn in place and hiding around a box or corner, out of your victims line of sight. This power often enables strategic withdraws (macro it with a RUN AWAY RUN AWAY!!! broadcast).
However, it is on teams that Roots becomes most useful, particularly if you team with Corruptors who take rains (powers that apply minor damage over a large area for several seconds, producing large damage) or anchored AoE debuffs, MMs, Brutes with Burn, or other Dominators who have AoE attacks. Your ability to immob the large group will maximize the damage that group takes from the rain of AoE death, thus speeding team xp along nicely.
Whether you take the power or not is wholly up to you and your needs. Generally, I recommend skipping the power unless you can guarantee its value through teaming (say youre a member of a large super villain group with lots of Corruptors in it). I recommend slotting this power with two accuracies as its good otherwise, though if you find yourself using it often, you would do well to also slot endurance reducers into it. If you plan to use it for quick Seeds/Roots xp, slot it with two accuracies, three damages, and an endurance reducer.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: -10%
Endurance: 13
Recharge: 8 seconds
Activation: 1.67 seconds
Damage: 3 ticks of 3.61 lethal damage and 3 ticks of 3.61 smashing damage
Immobilize: 22.35 second mag 3 (or 14.9 mag 5 to players)
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[color= chartreuse]Spore Burst[/color] (Available: level 6, but delay)
Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled. --Deuteronomy 22:9
You hurl a large fungi pod at your foes. This pod is full of Spores that burst on impact, engulfing the target and all those around him. All affected targets may succumb to the narcotic effect of the Spores and will fall asleep. The targets will remain asleep for some time, but will awaken if attacked.
Spore Burst is a take-it-or-leave-it AoE sleep power, and notably the only sleep power you have access to in Plant. It suffers greatly in that its actually very weak without slotting, has a short range, doesnt keep things sleepy for long, and will draw agro to you like Paragon City supers are drawn to little old ladies crossing streets.
For all its weaknesses (and they are legion), Spore Burst is actually a great power for Plant/Ice Dominators who plan on staying at range with ST ranged attacks or those who solo quite a lot prior to level 32. (Once you have your Fly Trap out, it will limit the effectiveness of this sleep power.) On teams, its a much better emergency power than Vines because it recharges quite quickly. Its also a solid choice for the Plant/Ice Dominator who wants to be control-heavy or who wishes to PvP some (as Forcefield bubblers and Sonic ringers have little to no protection from sleeps, and this power can completely detoggle them).
If you do take it and want slotting advice, Ive been successful with two accuracies and three sleep durations. Note, however, that with such heavy slotting of this power, your attack slotting usually suffers. Mostly Ive found it to be a fantastic power to respec out of since it works very poorly with your other powers once you reach the higher levels (Fly Trap, Im looking at you).
That said, sleeps are very useful against AVs (PToDs dont increase their sleep protection), though this one wont be all that useful when youre outside Domination.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: standard
Endurance: 13
Recharge: 45 seconds
Activation: 1.37 seconds
Sleep: 17.88 second mag 3 (11.22 second mag 4 vs. players)
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[color= chartreuse]Seeds of Confusion[/color] (Available: level 8)
Give fools their gold, and knaves their power;
Let fortunes bubbles rise and fall;
Who sows a field, or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree, is more than all.
--John chartreuseleaf Whittier
You throw a handful of seeds from a rare Baffle plant at your foes. The seeds spread out in a wide cone and release a dusty chaff that contain a number of alkaloids and hallucinogenic compounds. Foes that come into contact with these seeds become violently confused and will turn and attack each other, ignoring you and all your allies. You will not receive any Experience Points for foes defeated entirely by Confused enemies.
This is the power that you became a Plant Dominator for.
Seeds of Confusion is a wide cone confuse power with a medium range, which means you need to get pretty close to use it. It works just like other cones in that youll be more successful if you target a mob in the center near the back of a spawn. Use of the Stealth pool will improve your ability to use Seeds.
Once the mobs are confused, they work for you and turn on their friends. Its great fun, and sometimes high comedy. But note that while confused mobs do work for you, you wont be gaining any xp from their friends if you let them do all the work. This is where your secondary comes into play Ice Sword Circle and Frost Breath are excellent tools for making sure you do very little real work to get xp from confused spawns. (Roots, from your primary, can also be invaluable for this.)
Confuse works much differently in PvP (or if you, yourself, come under the influence of confusion in PvE say from a CoT Succubus). While in PvE, the confused spawns always turn on their friends with every attack and always work for you, in PvP Confusion merely randomizes a players targeting ability and confuses friend from foe. Sometimes their target will be what they hope it will be, other times, their target will change. While in some ways this is less ideal, I assure you it is maddeningly disturbing to be under confusion in PvP.
I recommend 6-slotting this power with 2 accuracy, 2 confuse duration, and 2 recharge; with this slotting, you can permanently keep a spawn confused (though you wont need to, since youll be doing AoE damage). Once you have Power Boost, you can also get away with slotting 2 accuracy, 1 confuse duration, and 3 recharge (which also works well for PvP). This makes the power sweet. But however you slot it, make sure you have six slots. (Even range enhancements make this power better!)
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: standard
Endurance: 15.6
Recharge: 60 seconds
Activation: 1.07 seconds
Confusion: 29.8 second mag 3
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[color= chartreuse]Spirit Tree[/color] (Available: level 12, but delay)
The unlimited capacity of the plant world to sustain man at his highest is a region as yet unexplored by modern science. Gandhi
You can tap into the elusive and powerful energy of the World Tree and extract a Spirit Tree at a targeted location. The Spirit Tree is immobile but possesses incredible regenerative powers. The Regeneration Rate of you or your allies will be greatly increased as long as you are near the Spirit Tree.
Spirit Tree creates a visually stunning, immobile pseudo-pet with a mid-size AoE health regeneration aura. The stationary nature of this pet, along with its size and opacity, is more curse than blessing, but IMO it gets a bad rap.
If you have the slots available to you (which you probably dont, but hey
), the health regen rate is actually very nice with three healing SOs in it. It recharges rather slowly, but theres not much utility in making it recharge faster, since you rarely need it (and if you find yourself needing it, you probably need to lower your difficulty slider a little). This power is most useful when your team has bitten off more than it can chew.
Even though I think this power gets a bad rap, its one of the skippable powers in the Plant/Ice build.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Endurance: 13
Recharge: 200 seconds
Activation: 3.2 seconds
Regeneration Buff: 150% for 90 seconds
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[color= chartreuse]Vines[/color] (Available: level 18, but delay)
All man has to do is cooperate with the big forces, the sun, the rain, the growing urge. Seeds sprout, stems grow, leaves spread in the sunlight. Man plants, weeds, cultivates and harvests. It sounds simple, and it is simple, with the simplicity of great truths.
--Hal Borland
Creates a field of Strangler Vines that can Hold multiple foes at range. The affected targets are held helpless by the massive root-like vines. Unlike the power Strangler, this power does not deal any damage, but it can Hold multiple foes at once.
Vines is a very-long-recharge, quite short duration AoE, damage-free hold that will only affect victims near the ground. Do not take this power prior to SO level (22), and I recommend putting it off as long as you are able (and there would be no crime if you skipped it entirely). Due to its many drawbacks, I try to refrain from using this power unless Im using both Domination and Power Boost.
Minimal slotting for Plant/Ices Vines is 3 recharge, and at least 2 accuracies (this power, in addition to being gimped in every other way possible, has a -20% accuracy penalty). I recommend 3 recharge and 3 accuracies. You can safely avoid hold enhancements, since youre going to take Power Boost, and we can use Domination. If your build includes Tactics (from the Leadership Pool), you can also try running Vines with just 3 recharge SOs (which I advise, even if you take Hasten), or include some hold duration SOs for slightly longer mez times.
When my power tray recharges perfectly and the stars are aligned, Vines is the ultimate control in my arsenal. I *can* hold things for a good long time with this power. But it takes a lot of effort and slotting to achieve that long hold, and it will never, ever be reliable.
That said, its also excellent for stacking magnitude on bosses (not that you really need to, but its useful). You can pretty safely take out the lieutenants and most minions in a spawn, then quickly apply Strangler to lock a boss down. Of course, under Domination, the whole spawn gets held, instantly. That can be handy.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: -20%
Endurance: 15.6
Recharge: 240 seconds
Activation: 3.1 seconds
Hold: 11.92 second mag 3 (8.94 second mag 4 vs. players)
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[color= chartreuse]Carrion Creepers[/color] (Available: level 26)
Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere;
My humble song of praise
Most joyfully I raise To Him at whose command
I beautify the land,
Creeping, silently creeping everywhere.
--Sarah Boyle
You can create a Creeper patch at a targeted location. The patch will snag foes, slowing their movement and preventing them from jumping or flying. Additionally, a Creeper Vine will burst from under each live and defeated foe in the area and start attacking your enemies. Creeper Vines do minimal damage, but they can knock down your enemies and its poisonous thorns can slow your foes. Any foes that are defeated in the Creeper patch will also produce a growth of Entangle Roots that will Immobilize any enemies near the defeated foe.
This is your third immediate-must-have power in the Plant set. Carrion Creepers is a location drop AoE/pet that creates a patch of vines that slows enemies and creates large, immobile, flailing vine-pets that do damage, immob, and cause knockdown. The best thing about the power is that since its classified as a (pseudo)pet, mobs will treat the vines as enemies. Carrion Creepers will absorb alpha strikes for you and your team; as such, it is invaluable on large teams.
What the power actually does is summon an invisible pet that follows you for a short time (two minutes) and creates the large grey immobile vines at random until its timer expires.
As for how to slot this power the more accuracies you put in (up to three), the better your initial vine salvo will be. Its very long recharge (360) calls out for recharge enhancements. The power could also benefit from a range enhancement. Ideally, you should slot this with three accuracies (or two and one range) and three recharges. But you can get a workable power with one accuracy and three recharge if youre looking to save slots (but this will reduce its effectiveness against spawns at +2 or 3 to you). The slow effect, while good, shows no noticeable improvement through slotting youre better off with higher accuracy and lower recharge.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Endurance: 26
Recharge: 360 seconds
Activation: 1.17 seconds
Bramble Patch
Slow: 50%
Creeper Vine
Damage: 3 ticks of 4.45 lethal damage and 3 ticks of 4.45 smashing damage
Immob: 22.35 second mag 4 (14.9 second mag 4 vs. players)
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[color= chartreuse]Fly Trap[/color] (Available: level 32)
A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way. - Goethe
You can summon a giant carnivorous Fly Trap plant beast. Fly Trap may be an understatement, as this plant beast has a taste for flesh. The Fly Trap will viciously attack any nearby foes, biting hurling poisonous Thorns and even casting its own Entangle Roots. The Fly Trap will fight by your side and can be healed and buffed like any teammate.
Audrey is freakish looking, skitters along, and helps you root things down in immobile little clumps. She favors being at range and launching immobilizes more than any other attack. But on those rare moments of courage, shell charge right into battle and deliver powerful chomps, or throw /thorny assault attacks that debuff enemy defenses making it easier for her (and you and your team) to hit. With all the immobs flying through the air, shell take a lot of ag for you, sometimes valiantly laying down her life. Shes a trooper.
She prefers to engage targets that have not been locked down/held by you. Since youll tend to lock everything down, this somewhat explains her ranged proclivities. To get her into melee range where she shines you have to somehow get her hit by a mob. Once shes hit, she becomes mad with rage (think Bruce Banner --> Incredible Hulk rage), and will do approximately the same amount of damage you do. Its an awe inspiring sight.
Slot Audrey with at least one accuracy and three damages.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Endurance: 26
Recharge: 240 seconds
Bite
Damage: 55.61 smashing with an 80% chance of 4 ticks of 5.56 toxic damage
Defense Debuff: -20% for 6 seconds
10 AoE entangle
Damage: 5 ticks of 4.45 smashing damage with 5 ticks of 4.45 lethal damage
Immob: 22.35 second mag 4 (14.9 second mag 5 vs. players)
Fling Thorns (cone)
Damge: 40.04 lethal with 80% chance of 5 ticks of 4.45 toxic damage
Defense Debuff: -20% for 8 seconds
Thorny Darts
Damage: 37.37 lethal with 80% chance of 4 ticks of 2.22 toxic damage
Defense Debuff: -20% for 5 seconds
[color= darkblue]Icy Assault Powers[/color]
Icy Assault is an intriguing Dominator secondary that offers a wide range of utility, debuffing, and damage powers and effects. It is a good combination of ranged ST attacks, melee damage and AoEs. You can effectively create AoE chains, ranged ST chains, or wholly melee chains using your Icy secondary. Additionally, you gain access to a potent secondary effect (-recharge and slows) for almost nothing while also opening up your build to the benefits of Power Boost.
What Icy Assault trades for this wealth of options is a low endurance-to-damage ratio. Youll need Stamina, and even Stamina wont be enough to stop the endurance bleed of /Ice, youll also have to mitigate the endurance costs with slotting.
Note for all slotting recommendations: I recommend slotting for SO level. At TO (and even DO level), slot nothing but accuracy and endurance reduction. Use Domination to get your damage boost, which will be a much higher boost than youll get from crappy TO and DO damage enhancements. Remember that its better to hit at all and spend less endurance doing it than to miss for full endurance on an attack that wouldnt have ever done much more damage for you unslotted.
[color= darkblue]Ice Bolt[/color] (Available: forced to take)
Winter is coming George R. R. Martin
Ice Bolt quickly pelts an enemy with small icy daggers; their chill Slows a foes attacks and movement for a time. Fast, but little damage.
You have no choice but to take this power. Happily its a solid low-tier attack: a minor damage, ranged blast with (a sometimes) noticeable slow and recharge component. It cycles quickly, builds Domination adequately, and is worth having on your bar for all these reasons.
You should slot this (after slotting most other things) with at least one accuracy and three damage slots. Definitely wait until your better powers have slots before devoting many here.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: standard
Endurance: 5.2
Recharge: 4 seconds
Activation: 1.17 seconds
Total Damage: 36.15 smashing/cold damage
Slow & Recharge debuff: 20% for 6 seconds
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[color= darkblue]Ice Sword[/color] (Available: level 2)
Thou art all ice. Thy kindness freezes. Shakespeare
You create a blade of solid ice that deals good damage. Being hit by this Ice Sword will Slow a targets movement and attack speed, due to the intense chill.
Ice Sword is just nifty! You grow a little sword of ice and beat something with it. It makes a neat swooshing sound, too!
That said, Ice Sword will be your best attack for a very, very long time. Take it. Slot it. Give it love.
I recommend the standard one accuracy, three damage slotting. But youll also want endurance reducers and/or recharge reducers. Id lean toward endurance reduction. You can slot it for slows, but thats not a very wise investment of slots.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: standard
Endurance: 8.53
Recharge: 8 seconds
Activation: 1.83 seconds
Total Damage: 68.4 lethal/cold damage
Slow & Recharge debuff: 10% for 8 seconds
Toggle Drop: 5%
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[color= darkblue]Ice Sword Circle[/color] (Available: level 4)
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-- Robert Frost
Mastery of your Ice Sword has enabled you to make an attack on every foe within melee distance. This will slash and chill your enemies, dealing moderate damage and slowing all affected targets movement and attack speed.
This is the power that made leveling my Plant/Ice fun. Throw Seeds, run up, Ice Sword Circle in perfect safety, reap the xp rewards. Its just
beautiful.
Ice Sword Circle will deal marginally less damage than your Ice Sword, but it does it to everything around you! It would be the Perfect Power but for its hideousness it will eat through your endurance bar faster than some of your control powers!
Slot your ISC with two accuracies, three damages, and an endurance reducer. You can still have a workable version with two accuracy, two damage, and two endred (with Tactics, Id go one accuracy, three damage, two endred).
Once the I8 Domination team buff starts working, ISC is the greatest power ever. On large teams, you gain a HUGE boost to your Domination bar without ever even hitting anything each time you use this power.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: standard
Endurance: 18.51
Recharge: 20 seconds
Activation: 1.5 seconds
Total Damage: 65.06 lethal/cold damage
Slow and Recharge debuff: 10% for 8 seconds
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[color= darkblue]Ice Blast[/color] (Available: level 10)
When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,
The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches,
In windless cold that is the hearts heat,
Reflecting in a watery mirror
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.
--T. S. Eliot
Ice Blast hurls shards of ice at foes and Slows their attacks and movement for a time. Slower recharge than Ice Bolt, but more damage.
Ice blast is a moderate damage ranged ST blast. It cycles fast. It builds Domination. Nothing much more to say.
Use standard accuracy, 3x damage slotting.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: standard
Endurance: 6.86
Recharge: 6 seconds
Activation: 1 second
Total Damage: 47.72 smashing/cold damage
Slow and Recharge debuff: 20% for 10 seconds
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[color= darkblue]Power Boost[/color] (Available: level 16)
All right stop collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention
Something grabs a hold of me tightly
Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop yo I don't know
Turn out the lights, and Ill glow
--Vanilla Ice {Sorry, couldnt resist
}
Greatly boosts the secondary effects of your powers. Your powers effects like Heals, Defense Buffs, Endurance Drains, Disorients, Holds, Immobilizes, Knockbacks and more, are all improved. The effects of Power Boost last a short while, and only the next couple of attacks will be boosted.
Remember back there when I was singing the praises of Ice Sword Circle? I lied. Power Boost is the greatest power ever.
What happens when you click Power Boost is that for a short time (15 seconds), pretty much everything you do, short of damage, range, and magnitude, gets better
more than twice as good, in fact. Healing, mez duration, to-hit buffs
all that stuff gets boosted. Power Boost makes powers that suck (*cough* Vines *cough*) not suck so bad, and indeed turns them into little jewels. Powers that are already good (Seeds, Vengeance) become down-right godly.
Sadly, Power Boost will not boost anything your pets do. Theyre left out in the cold, cruel, Power Boostless world with all the sad Dominators who didnt pick /Icy or /Energy Assault.
Slot this with three recharge enhancements and use it as often as you can! You will be a mez machine to rival almost any Controller.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Endurance: 7.8
Recharge: 120 seconds
Activation: 1.17 seconds
% increase: +149%
What is affected:
Durations of stuns, sleeps, confuses, terrors, immobs, and holds
Defense (positional and by damage type)
Repels, knockbacks, and knockups
Run speed and fly speed (including slows)
To hit buffs
Endurance buffs
Heals
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[color= darkblue]Frost Breath[/color] (Available: level 20)
The black, cold, icy water. Down and down, without end - if it would only end. --Ibsen
Unleashes a cone of frosty breath that can Slow your opponents movement and attacks. Very accurate and very deadly at medium range.
Frost Breath is your second and last AoE damage power from your secondary. Its a very nice cone attack that slows everything it hits as well as applying lethal and cold damage. Once you get it, your team strategy will change from applying Seeds, running in and ISCing everything to applying Seeds, Frost Breathing them, then running in and ISCing everything. Sometimes youll hop out and Frost Breath everything again, but not often. Ah, strategy!
For those scaredy-cat Dominators (being a scaredy-cat Dominator is not recommended) who are terrified of melee attacks, Frost Breath completes your ranged attack options, and fits in nicely to a ranged attack chain. It is *slightly* less ideal for those of us who melee a lot, and I respecd out of it on my main so I could get my Patron Power pet and havent regretted it *too* badly. Okay, I did regret it, but such sacrifices must be made in order to get PPPs
For some reason, this power actually has an accuracy boost! So theres little need to slot more than one accuracy except in the direst situations. Youll also want three damage enhancements and fill the rest out with endred and/or recharge (I always recommend endred, but this power is really nice to have available as often as you can).
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: +20%
Endurance: 15.18
Recharge: 16 seconds
Activation: 2.67 seconds
Total Damage: 50.6 damage, all cold, 2 ticks
Slow and Recharge debuff: 20% for 10 seconds
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[color= darkblue]Chilling Embrace[/color] (Available: level 28)
A winters day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
--Simon and Garfunkel
While active, you dramatically lower the temperature around yourself slowing the attack rate of all nearby foes, as well as their movement speed.
Chilling Embrace is a point blank AoE slow aura that, well, slows everything around you. Once things are so slow their attacks arent recharged, they will normally flee from you so they can shoot you again (thus its a ghetto fear). The radius of the AoE is very small, but the slow effect is rather good.
Moment of honesty: even though I play a mostly melee style, this power didnt impress me. I respecd out of it and havent really noticed any downgrading of my effectiveness. I doubt you will either. Sometimes the devs give us easy-to-skip powers. This would be one of those times. If this were the *real* Chilling Embrace, Id take it in a second. But its a poor imitation
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Endurance: 0.26 end/second
Slow: 70%
Recharge debuff: 50%
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[color= darkblue]Greater Ice Sword[/color] (Available: level 35)
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Klingon Proverb
Your mastery of Ice allows you to create an enhanced blade of solid ice that deals above average damage. Being hit by the Greater Ice Sword will Slow a foes attack and movement speed, due to the intense chill.
Also known to us as another ice sword, the greater part of this power leaves much to be desired. Still, well take any scrap were thrown, and it is a solid attack.
This power summons up a GIGANTIC Ice Sword that you use to beat people about their bodies. The sword will be taller than you, and is quite a sight.
While being only marginally more damage than your Ice Sword, GIS is your biggest melee attack. Slot with at least an accuracy, three damage, and an end reducer. A recharge is handy as well. Its slow effect is worth slotting as well, but youd be wiser to spend that slot on something else.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: +20%
Endurance: 10.19
Recharge: 10 seconds
Activation: 1.83 seconds
Total Damage: 81.75 lethal/cold damage
Slow and Recharge debuff: 20% for 10 seconds
Toggle Drop: 64%
[/ QUOTE ]
[color= darkblue]Bitter Ice Blast[/color] (Available: level 38)
Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life's relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window-panes, which vanish with the warmth. --Kierkergaard
A slower yet more powerful version of Ice Blast, Bitter Ice Blast deals much more damage and can also reduce your enemys Accuracy. Like other Ice Blast powers, Bitter Ice Blast can Slow a targets movement and attack speed.
Bitter Ice Blast is your best attack. Youll be taking this. Most ATs get this much earlier, of course, but as a crown-jewel, you could do worse.
It has a slight accuracy debuff, but Ive never really noticed it, so I wouldnt recommend slotting that aspect of the power. Slot at least one accuracy, three damage, and one endred. Your sixth slot should either be another endred or a recharge.
By the Numbers (@ level 50)
Accuracy: standard
Endurance: 13
Recharge: 12 seconds
Activation: 1.07 seconds
Total Damage: 82.42 smashing/cold damage
ToHit Debuff: 7.5% To Hit for 6 seconds
Slow and Recharge debuff: 20% for 12 seconds
Pool Powers
Concealment Recommended PvE, Skip for PvP
I recommend taking the Concealment pool for one and only one power Stealth. Stealth lets you get into optimal range for Seeds without drawing an undue amount of agro onto yourself. You should slot Stealth with at least one Endurance reduction enhancement (two if you can find the slots). If you want to PvP, youll have to avoid this pool.
The other three powers in the Concealment pool are bad for Dominating. Avoid them you dont have any space in your build for any situational powers beyond controls, and you can always get the PvP temp powers if you really have to have more stealth or Phase Shift.
Fighting Skip for all aspects of the game
Dominators have *plenty* of attacks. Theres no need to pick up low damage melee attacks. Dominators lack continuous mez protection; theres no need to pick up low-impact defense or resistance toggles when theyll likely be unneeded. Your first, best defense or resistance is in your primary. Trust the Seeds. Trust the Strangler.
However, Weave + Power Boost + the Mace Mastery shield + Maneuvers is some nice defense in PvE for 15 seconds. I would have trouble finding the space for all these powers in a regular build (and Id never take Mace Mastery instead of Mu Mastery), but for the record its a good combo. Ive tried everything but the Mace Mastery shield on Test, and just a well slotted Weave and Maneuvers boosted with PB makes taking the alpha a lot easier.
But, again, DONT TAKE THIS POOL. In spite of Defense being much better in recent issues, you have to sacrifice too much in order to get Weave. Its not worth it IMO.
Fitness Required for all aspects of the game
Plant/Ice is an endurance monster, even after you *slot* with endurance management in mind. Take either Swift or Hurdle as your entry power based on what your movement type is going to be (Flight = Swift. Jumping or Speed = Hurdle). If youre going to PvP, I recommend getting both Swift and Hurdle and skipping Health. If youre going for the PvE game, go ahead and pick up Health. Stamina, of course, is what youre getting the Pool for in the first place, and unless youre going to PvP, its the only power in the Pool Id put any slots in.
Flight Recommended for PvE, Skip for PvP
Flight is one of the best Pools you can add to a low-level Dominator. Take it for Air Superiority, which I consider to be the best attack available among the Pools. I have mixed feelings about Hover its good for knockback, but its bad in that it generally keeps you out of melee range where your damage comes from unless you put slots in it, and slots are more precious than blood.
Flying is the slowest movement power available to you, so I recommend initially investing in the pool for the extra low-level melee attack, then completely respecing out of the pool once youre ready for a fresh set of SOs at around level 32. Instead get Leaping for those levels, for both mobility and Acrobatics; youll never miss the extra melee attack.
I recommend skipping movement powers (but not the pools!) until your 20s, since you can easily get temp travel powers from mayhem missions.
Leadership Recommended for all aspects of the game
Any time you team, the stacking benefit of Leadership toggles is hard to beat, and since you have (and often use) Power Boost, Maneuvers, Tactics, and Vengeance become excellent (or godly in the case of Vengeance) power choices.
As an entry power, your best bet is generally Assault. However, if you notice that you regularly team up with Maneuvers users (or can convince your friends to all take it), Maneuvers is the way to go.
If youre going to take the pool at all, pick up and slot Tactics (1 end, 3 tohit buff). Power Boosted, it provides an excellent tohit buff, which will make Vines tolerable with as few as a single accuracy enhancement.
And, of course, get and slot Vengeance (3 defense buff; tohit buffs are also useful, but mostly superfluous) if you invest in the pool. A Power Boosted Vengeance is a thing of infinite joy.
Leaping Recommended for all aspects of the game
Combat Jumping (1x Jump PvE; 3x Jump PvP), Super Jump (1x Jump), and Acrobatics (2x End) are all amazing and excellent powers. Avoid Jump Kick.
I recommend skipping movement powers (but not the pools!) until your 20s, since you can easily get temp travel powers from mayhem missions.
Medicine Recommended for PvP
Medicine is a Pool youll need in order to be effective in PvP. In PvE its useful, but, really, you only get *four* Pools, and I much prefer taking a couple of green pills with me on missions I rarely take any damage anyway in PvE.
The powers to get for PvP are Aid Other (no extra slots unless youre a badge junky) and Aid Self (2x interrupt reduction, 2x heal, 2x recharge Power Boosted, this is pretty much a full heal). Stimulant and the Rez are purely optional powers best suited for concept characters.
Presence highly skippable, but some uses
Plant/ has no means of generating a terror effect. Mostly it doesnt need it in PvE Seeds: its whats for controlling but in PvP, Intimidate is a very good power. You likely wont have room for it in your build, and you *certainly* dont need taunts (youll be target #1 anyway), so most Plant/Ice Dominators really wont have room for this Pool in their builds. Its worth noting that both terrorize powers get benefits from Domination, if youre interested in that kind of thing.
If, for whatever reason, you have chosen to NOT take Ice Sword Circle (you are *reading* this guide, right?), then Invoke Panic is a very handy power to have and use after you use Seeds of Confusion. It will make sure you can take apart the spawn one at a time without losing much xp. But, really, take the *one* power (ISC) rather than *three* for Invoke Panic.
Speed highly recommended for all aspects of the game
Take this Pool for Hasten and not really anything else (unless youre a Super Speed fan). Hasten is critical for Dominators in the post I-8 world. Critical. Work it into your build somehow. Give it 3 slots (3x recharge).
The other powers in this set are mostly useless, although Super Speed + Stealth will effectively give you invisibility, making it moronically easy to set up your Seeds in the PvE game.
I recommend skipping movement powers (but not the pools!) until your 20s, since you can easily get temp travel powers from mayhem missions.
Teleportation not recommended
There is nothing a Plant/Ice Dominator needs that is available in the Teleportation Pool. Recall Friend has its PvE uses, of course, but your build is too tight for junk like this. Teleport Foe? Why pull one guy to you when you can just hop over hit Power Boost and Seeds a whole spawn, Vines a second spawn, Spore Burst a third one, and Creepers a *fourth* if theyre close? There is no reason.
Youll certainly never have the extra slots to make Teleport a useful movement power. And while I like Team Teleport, its mostly a super group/super team power that youll know whether or not to take, depending on the needs of your group/team. Im telling you not to take it on the Plant/Ice Dominator.
Patron Power Pools
Theres Mu Mastery, then theres three other choices that are worse than Mu Mastery.
Take Mu Mastery. Youll like the free endurance. Youll like the pet.
Thats all I have to say about this.
Solo Strategies
My Plant/Ice Dominator solos better than anything Ive played outside of Scrappers. Ill often finish even Relentless missions having taken zero damage. The strategies are simple: contain your foe and beat them to death. While your powers start off weak, they gradually grow in duration and effectiveness. By the time youre fully slotted out with SOs, youll never have any trouble soloing anything that doesnt get stupidly powerful Purple Triangles of Death.
To contain your foes, you have several options: Strangler, Seeds, Vines, Spore Burst, and Carrion Creepers will all create optimal beating to death conditions, but theyre not all created equal. Your best containing power is Seeds of Confusion. Its up very often. Its got a potent effect. It speeds along your beating to death phase. Its usually overkill for soloing, but heres the strategy.
Target a mob in the back of your solo spawn, hit seeds and run or jump nearby. Seeds will almost always take effect before the spawn gets a shot off, and youre still targeting the guy in the back. If you have Frost Breath, shoot that off, if not, continue forward into the middle of the spawn and fire off Ice Sword Circle. Commence the beating to death of the spawn. If youre bored, after firing off ISC, toss Roots and just leave everything to die assuming you hit, youll get virtually all the xp at this point.
If you dont wish to use that overkill method, or perhaps youre fighting Nemesis, DE, or certain Longbow spawns (gotta hate them) or you were a complete idiot and didnt take Seeds (you are *reading* this guide, right? Take Seeds), youll kite the spawns to death. You can try to pull one (youll tend to have the best luck with the guy whos walking around you know that guy, theres one in every spawn) with any of your ranged blasts, or you can fire off an immob and the other two will come after you. Heres the part where you take a little damage ST hold one of the two who are chasing after you, then beat down the third until Strangler recharges, then lock him in place too. Usually one of them will be slaughtered by the time the immob wears off, and ST hold/beat down the other two. Its slow. Its steady. Its safe. Its your standard operating procedure if you dont want to just run in and kill everything.
No other powers really play a role in this soloing scenario, nor does it matter if theres a boss in the spawn or not. Audrey will marginally speed you up, but otherwise, I never use Carrion Creepers, Spore Burst, Roots, Domination or what have you when Im solo. Seeds or blasts, melee attacks, and Strangler will get you from 1-50 (or rather from 8-50) against virtually any foes. And thats all the strategy youll need while solo.
Team Strategies
While youll solo like a trooper, Plant/Ice really shines in large teams. Although the variables are too great to cover in depth in a single guide, Ill outline several of the strategies you can use to maximize your teams xp gain.
Seeds of Confusion is a strategy unto itself. Nothing else in the game has a larger effect than a fast-recharging, long-lasting confusion power. The only flaw in this confusing strategy is that you have to get really close to that huge spawn of things that want to squash you. You have only a few options. Within your own powerset, you can throw out Carrion Creepers no danger of agro, then. Within Pool Powers, you could pick up Stealth (this is what I chose to do) to get close with no danger. Finally, you can rely on your team remind Corruptors and Masterminds that they can buff you, too, and that they should, since youre going to be taking the alpha strike for the team (and you are, you know, since you have Seeds). Fear not, and trust the power of the Seeds. Heck, you wont even need to Power Boost it, the spawn will melt so fast. However, you should hang on to a couple greens in case the bosses unleash fury on you too quickly; the other players on your team will get used to melting spawns rather than firing off a heal, and you can go from 100% to dead in about
2 seconds.
In a Corruptor/Mastermind heavy team, the useful Seeds/Roots combo is an effective tool. Once youve Rooted everything, your other teammates can unload with wild abandon while you hop into the middle of the spawn and do your little Ice dance of destruction (starting with locking down one of the bosses with Strangler, of course).
Sometimes Seeds just isnt up (hey, it can happen when youre unleashing destruction at a rapid pace), so youll have to rely on some less-godly power. This is where all those other things you didnt skip come in. Carrion Creepers is useful about every 3-4 spawns and will totally mitigate the alpha along with most of the danger for that entire spawn. Vines + Power Boost is up about every 3-4 spawns as well, and it, too, will make a whole spawn pitifully easy. So thats half of every spawn on a map that youre making into cakewalks, and thats just when Seeds isnt available. But lets say you need *more*!
Teamwork is the key to more power than what you, alone, bring. You *dont* have to take the alpha, you know. (Youll want to, of course, because other options are just unbearably slower once youve gotten addicted to the glory of Plant/Ice.) Once the alpha has been taken, youre usually quite useful for AoE immobs that contain whole spawns in rains of death and debuffs. Throw out Roots and fire Frost Breath and ST attacks from the periphery, though honestly with good damage dealers the spawns dont tend to last longer than a bit more than a Frost Breath.
On smaller teams that dont always spawn bosses (personally I dont know why youd run with these, but the xp/time ratio equations can make it work for you), even the unusually lackluster Spore Burst has a valuable place in your power tray. Sleeping mobs are easy to establish debuffs on, and Spore Burst recharges fast enough to let your Corruptors lay on as many debuffs as theyd like in total safety. Youll still have to take Stealth, but with Stealth, Spore Burst is quite handy. However, please make sure Audrey or your Patron Pet isnt around before you start this.
Finally, you can use Spirit Tree for those times when youre fighting a big, potent group, and then some idiot runs off and agros two more groups (one additional group is nothing for you, youre a Plant/Ice). Normally its the most gimp and useless of all your powers, but in this one case, it shines! Gather everyone around it, and it can help to maximize the number of teammates who survive the gathering hordes (at least until you get squished). I recommend a bind or macro for these situations, so that you can let your team know youre not just an interior decorator, youre a regen buffer, too.
Teammates of choice include anyone who isnt a moron. The Plant/Ice Dominator works well with virtually any combination of ATs. But toons with rain powers/burn patches or anchored AoE debuffs are those who love to have you around more than others. Ive also never met a Mastermind who didnt love to have my Plant/Ice on his team (when things dont hurt their pets, they tend to be pretty happy). Youll gain the most benefit from teammates who can buff you, or those who can destroy high-health targets efficiently (certain high-damage, mez resistant foes are your only real threat). Debuffing teammates (other than resistance debuffing teammates) dont really bring much to your teams (although they enjoy having you around), as they usually establish those debuffs after youve already got a spawn handled (debuffing confused mobs generally slows down the rate the spawn is killing itself; this is a bad thing as slow xp is worse xp), but they can still be helpful
sometimes.
Finally, a sample build.
Note that this is a level 50 respec build, and is not representative of how one should select powers as you level up.
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name: respec_plant_ice
Level: 50
Archetype: Dominator
Primary: Plant Control
Secondary: Icy Assault
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Strangler==> Acc(1)Hold(3)Hold(3)Hold(5)Rechg(5)Rechg(7)
01) --> Ice Bolt==> Acc(1)Dmg(7)Dmg(9)Dmg(9)
02) --> Roots==> Acc(2)Acc(11)
04) --> Ice Sword Circle==> Acc(4)Acc(11)Dmg(13)Dmg(13)Dmg(15)Rechg(15)
06) --> Hurdle==> Jump(6)
08) --> Seeds of Confusion==> Acc(8)Acc(17)ConfDur(17)ConfDur(19)Rechg(19)Rechg(21)
10) --> Ice Blast==> Acc(10)Dmg(21)Dmg(23)Dmg(23)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(12)
14) --> Health==> Heal(14)
16) --> Power Boost==> Rechg(16)Rechg(34)Rechg(37)
18) --> Vines==> Acc(18)Acc(25)Acc(25)Rechg(27)Rechg(27)Rechg(29)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(29)EndMod(31)
22) --> Super Jump==> Jump(22)
24) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(24)EndRdx(40)
26) --> Carrion Creepers==> Acc(26)Acc(31)Rechg(31)Rechg(33)Rechg(33)
28) --> Spore Burst==> Acc(28)Acc(43)
30) --> Stealth==> EndRdx(30)
32) --> Fly Trap==> Acc(32)Dmg(33)Dmg(34)Dmg(34)DefDeBuf(46)DefDeBuf(46)
35) --> Greater Ice Sword==> Acc(35)Dmg(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(36)Rechg(37)Rechg(37)
38) --> Bitter Ice Blast==> Acc(38)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)EndRdx(40)Rechg(40)
41) --> Power Sink==> Rechg(41)Rechg(42)Rechg(42)EndMod(42)EndMod(43)EndRdx(43)
44) --> Charged Armor==> EndRdx(44)EndRdx(45)DmgRes(45)DmgRes(45)DmgRes(46)
47) --> Summon Guardian==> Acc(47)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Heal(50)
49) --> Hasten==> Rechg(49)Rechg(50)Rechg(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
01) --> Domination==> Empty(1)
---------------------------------------------
Octavian,
Thanks for well put together guide. I was actually looking for mind/ice, but your guide fills in the gaps with regard to /ice and also the synergy with mass confusion.
Sorry for the thread necromancy, but this is a really good guide and it isn't yet linked in the stickied guide index. I've taken many dominators to the mid teens and hadn't yet found a combo I really liked, but after reading this guide I decided to try Plant/Ice, and I'm really enjoying it so far. Thanks Octavian.
Plant/Ice Guide
Contents:
I Introduction
II Plant Control Powers
III Icy Assault Powers
IV Power Pools
V Patrons (i.e., Mu Mastery)
VI Solo Strategies
VII Team Strategies
Introduction
Plant/Ice Dominators combine the excellent control of the Plant primary with the debuffing AoE goodness of the Icy Assault secondary in a frantic, action-packed combo that will leave you impressed at its durability. I hope you can use this guide to inspire your own builds and strategies. The status effects possible with the primary/secondary powers of this combination are: immobilize, hold, sleep, confuse, and knockdown with a minor ghetto fear effect thats unslottable. The debuffs available include speed, -recharge, -defense, and -accuracy.
But first, lets discuss our Inherent Power. Its the best Inherent in the whole game.
Domination
Domination is a click power that lasts 90 seconds and recharges in 200 seconds. However, in order to use it, you must generate Domination which is tracked on your handy Domination bar just below your Endurance meter. You must have your Domination bar built to over 90% capacity in order to be able to click the button Domination and activate the power.
To fill your Domination bar, you must use your powers. In PvE, each time you use a non-pet, non-toggle control or damage power while solo, youll generate 3 points toward filling your Domination bar (you must generate 90 before Domination becomes active). For each other person in your team, you will generate 16% more points toward building Domination each time you activate a power that builds Domination (this maxes out at around 112% on a full, 8-person team) currently this aspect of Domination is not functioning correctly, but a patch is on the way. In PvP, you generate an extra 8 points of Domination each time any of your Assault secondary powers hits a player; this extra 8 points is not affected by the group-buff. Heres some situations:
Solo: 3 points, or 11 points if its an Assault power and the power hits a player
4 person team: 4.44 points, or 12.44 if its an Assault power that hits a player
8 person team: 6.36 points, or 14.36 if its an Assault power that hits a player
Upon activating Domination, your entire Endurance bar is filled and your Domination bar is also filled (and will never fade for the duration of the power but will reset to zero after 90 seconds this is key for activating permadomination). For the next 90 seconds, your smashing, lethal, fire, cold, energy, negative energy, toxic, and psionic attacks gain a +75% damage enhancement (just like SOs enhance your powers). You also gain some protection from knockback, knockup, holds, stuns, immobilizes, sleeps, confuses, and terrorize effects.
If that werent enough, the Domination state also affects how many of your controls work by generating a second mez effect. This second mez effect generally has a 50% longer base duration and, importantly for PvP, this duration is unresistible (meaning no resistance to mez will lower the duration of this second effect). In effect, you get double magnitude for the full duration of your standard power, and an extra duration at regular magnitude once the standard power would have ended.
Domination may be made permanent (permadomination, or permadom), but it takes teamwork to do so. In order for Domination to be made permanent, you must first build your Domination bar to 90% capacity. In order for Domination to be permanent, youll need at least +125% in recharge enhancements (I really recommend getting 135%, though, just in case youre using a power when Dom is about to fade). Hasten nets you 70%. Youll have to find the other % from outside sources (Speed Boost: 50%, Accelerate Metabolism: 30%, Empowerment station buff: no idea on the %; mix and match). These buffs must be constant, so you might want to get 2 speed boosts and an AM, since Hasten will cycle on and off. Once youve achieved the correct +recharge enhancement, you can put Domination on auto and it will recycle before the Domination bar fades.